Posts Tagged ‘random’
Rambling Randomly
Late Sunday afternoon we got the horses fed, ushered Delilah outside to her kennel and then set out toward the far side of the twin cities from us, to the far side of Lake Minnetonka, joining our friends Barb and Mike at their house for the Superbowl game. It seems like it should be too far to go for a short evening visit, but spending time with them proved more than worth the drive. Plus, it being a Sunday evening, there was minimal traffic on the road and we made excellent time. It inspires me to avoid letting the drive interfere with staying connected to friends.
It’s now well over a year since we moved from the suburbs to farm country and I have finally taken the steps of transferring to a local doctor and dentist. I scheduled appointments with both for checkups next week. The transformation is becoming ever more complete. Now, if I could just learn to recognize good horse hay when I see it.
We have a number of bales that are moldy. We have a lot to learn about hay. Right now we are dealing with the accumulation of bad hay that we can’t feed to the horses. Online searches haven’t easily revealed any brilliant descriptions of what to do if you discover your stored hay is moldy. I don’t know if we need to get the bad bales away from the good ones. The most common suggestion is to use moldy hay for mulch in gardens. Maybe I need to advertise that we have garden mulch for sale.
While I was outside moving firewood up on the deck and splitting logs by the wood shed yesterday, Delilah was freely romping in the snow and exploring our woods. Eventually, she appeared with a kill clenched in her jaw. I have no idea what kind of animal it is –or, was. It is interesting to witness her demeanor change when she gets possession of a dead animal. Instinct seems to take over and she slips into wild carnivore mode. When she comes back in the house, I get nervous about the way she looks at the cats.
Gutter and soffit replacement resumes on the house tomorrow. I have made their work a little easier by clearing the most recent snowfall off the eaves and away from the vents at the peak. It had gotten so deep that our vents were covered completely. I haven’t heard anything from the builder who ordered our replacement window, but that should be arriving sometime soon. As much as I want to see progress there, I think it would be best if gutter and window replacements don’t overlap.
I’m back at the day-job 3 days a week now. I think it has me rambling randomly to process Wintervale responsibilities in my head so there will be some room for work related thinking that needs to happen. Don’t know if it will help any, but I see the rambling as a valuable exercise, regardless.
New Insight
I awoke with a song in my head. It was a Roches song, but I didn’t know which one. I let the short snippet play round and round, over and over, enjoying it thoroughly, but that still left me wanting.
It took only a few tries to locate the right song, “The Scorpion Lament,” from their album, Keep On Doing. Ahhh. It’s like scratching an itch.
While processing all that, something else was revealed to me this morning. It is probably obvious that we would have a list of things demanding attention here on our new property. – I wonder how long I get to refer to this place as ‘new’ to us. I will probably use that term through the first year, since every day is still new to us, because we have not experienced spring or summer here before.
Anyway, regarding that list, …there are a couple of things that seem to me as though Cyndie should take the lead. When I don’t hear of any results on those, I toss out a few hints, occasional reminders and eventually realize I’m simply nagging.
“Yeah, I could do that.” she accommodates me.
With regard to one particular issue, last night I finally asked her if she needed something else to happen first, as if there was some step in a sequence that hadn’t yet occurred. That is a loaded question, in a way, because she is so classically random, …like the way she mows the lawn.
I was becoming confused with her choosing not to act in cases where it seemed to me it would be something that could be quickly knocked off our to-do list, or at least trigger action that can bring subsequent progress. What was holding her up from taking this step? If she was truly random, things should be able to happen at any time.
That’s it! This morning I realized that her not doing things isn’t the result of waiting on a sequence, it is the very manifestation of her randomness. That is why it doesn’t appear to bother her that a particular step gets done by a certain time. Meanwhile, I grow uncomfortable. I want it to happen in sequence, meaning, do this now, and then other things can follow.
It is why I am bugged by the fact that we suddenly find ourselves working on one thing, when I feel like we haven’t yet finished another. I also realized that after we accomplish some of the random tasks, I don’t get the same sense of satisfaction from having done so, as Cyndie does, because I’m still framing it as having been out of sequence.
Eventually, things work out for both of us, one way or another. We are invested in learning from our styles, and in achieving more together than would be possible, each on our own. I know that I have benefited greatly, over and over, as a result of her randomness through the years.
Our success is the reward that comes from the attraction of opposites, which is accomplished by overcoming the difficulties inherent in being so different from one another!
More Randomness
mirror all fogged up!
Think about this: when you look yourself in the eye, in the reflection of your mirror, which eye do you naturally default to looking at?
It’s one or the other.
When you are doing tasks in front of the bathroom mirror, say, like brushing your teeth, gazing at yourself because that is what is there in front of you, (discounting you are one to wander off and walk around during the process like some people I know), do you look into your own eyes and not just at your general appearance?
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I was listening to my iTunes music library on shuffle last night. Just like how I enjoy the random images that my screen saver pulls out of the collection of jpeg images on the hard drive, I discover music anew when the random mix pulls up something I haven’t heard for what feels like lifetimes. One out of the many that gave me a kick last night was, Pat Benatar’s 1984 song “We Belong” with the chorus of children’s voices singing in the background. It’s the kind of song that I would have been driven mad from hearing it too often, and acquired a particular distaste for, but from the distance of almost 30 years… fun to hear again! Like magic!
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I’m a big fan of live recordings, but there is one thing that goofs up my shuffle mode of the digital era: introductions to songs that get coded as a separate cut. I hear the setup for the song by the artist, and then shuffle whisks away to a completely different artist/song. It just doesn’t work.
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I saw the movie, “Safe House” last night and got what I was expecting out of it, which was good. I was entertained. But… I tend to struggle with suspending my disbelief for details in movie scenes. It is distracting if something illogical is allowed to play out without acknowledgement. If you are going to have your main characters drive right up to a very large gathering of people at a major event, at least make up a reason why they would be able to pull into an open parking spot right in front with no delay in traffic. There was too much movie to make for them to worry about details like that. They had a story to tell, and that was just a piddly detail I was supposed to ignore.
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There is no denying that I am growing increasingly excited for the pending visit of my lovely wife this coming weekend. It will be an exercise of managing expectations, I am sure. Managing my expectations is an exercise I could use some work on lately, in a variety of areas of my life. I seem to be off target, because certain ones just aren’t being met.
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Speaking of exercise, I’m on a roll for the half-hour daily walk and series of therapeutic exercises for my back ever since Sunday’s unpleasant return of lumbar disk pain. So far, so good, for preventing any further discomfort. Was this a warning shot to help me realize these steps aren’t going to be just occasional projects for me, but a lifelong mode of operation?
Some Thoughts
How about some spontaneous Sunday morning thoughts? A post of very little forethought.
I find myself a bit hesitant to go on and on about the impact of living alone. I am aware of people who have lived alone for much longer than me, and whose likelihood of that status changing is nothing like mine, and it gives me an impression that my perspectives on the topic might come across as disrespectful to them. I fully expect to be reunited with Cyndie, so my living alone is a temporary situation. Nonetheless, I am increasingly feeling the impact, the ambiance and nuances, of living alone. This will definitely provide me a deeper appreciation for the experience of others who live by themselves, which I hope I remember long after Cyndie returns back home again.
This weekend, I am getting a remote dose of family energy over FaceTime visits with Cyndie because Elysa is there in Boston for a weekend visit. I do get a beneficial buzz of connection, even though they are there together and I am here alone. It may be aided by my knowledge that Cyndie will be home to visit as soon as the end of this coming week. Just thinking about her being here in a matter of days is energizing. It doesn’t hurt that it also means I will only work a 4-day week, because I have taken Friday off to maximize our time together during this brief, 3-day visit.
With winter weather taking it easy on us this year, I’ve got no snow-related activities underway. Today is predicted to be sunny and warm. I plan to do a little bicycling. It just so happens to be one activity that I do without Cyndie, whether she is home or not. What will be missing is the part where I get home and tell her stories from my adventure and grovel for some comfort in the way of a meal or a massage of aching muscles.
I guess living alone is what’s on my mind this morning, don’t you think?
It’s not all bad! I’m enjoying the heck out of the good parts. Off to seize the solo day!
Random Thoughts
Can it be called stalking if you are married?
Funny or fantastic things are funnier or more fantastic when you have someone to share them with.
Why won’t she answer?
Jigsaw puzzles become incredibly more difficult to assemble after eyesight no longer focuses short distances.
Back in the 1800s, when February temperatures climbed 20° above freezing in this area, did people worry about global warming?
I wonder if Bradying will become the craze that Tebowing was.
How many text messages is too many when not receiving a reply?
How much can you tell about a person from what they wonder about?
Do drivers who don’t use turn signals to indicate their plan to turn ever get bugged by drivers in front of them who don’t use turn signals?
Is it possible to discern what the last thought is before falling asleep?
How do I know when its just a thought, and not the first dream of my night’s sleep?
Some men would love to have 4-days of the silent treatment from their wives.
Is there an age limit for having imaginary friends?
Was it possible to misspell things when taking dictation using “shorthand?”
What makes a person suddenly think of “shorthand” when they haven’t had a thought about it in decades?
If you don’t think about something, are you less inclined to miss it?
Random doesn’t mean there won’t be a theme.
If you don’t have anything nice to think, don’t think anything at all.
Two can play at this game.
If two are playing this game, how would you know they are both playing?
Why won’t she answer my calls?
Striking Fancy
I no longer recall why I was feeling a need to try to define my tastes in music, but it has been looming as a task I should tend to since I mentioned it in a post last week.
So, what music strikes my fancy? First of all, keep in mind that I grew up in the ’60s and ’70s and that will be clearly reflected in the bulk of what appeals to me. I think it would be fair to say that a core interest of mine is singer/songwriters. Two people who come to mind right away are Bruce Cockburn and Ani DiFranco, but that list includes Greg Brown, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, John Hiatt, Rickie Lee Jones, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Joan Armatrading, Michael Johnson, Harry Nilsson, Karla Bonoff, Loudon Wainwright III, Lucy Kaplansky, Randy Newman, and Steve Goodman, to name enough that I’ll leave someone worth mentioning out.
I like the guitar sound of Eric Clapton and the ’70s rock of Derek and the Dominos, The Allman Brothers, Santana, The Band, Little Feat, Dire Straits, Hall & Oates, and Loggins & Messina, as well as the monumental groups, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Doors and The Who.
I have a weakness for harmony and that drew me to Crosby, Stills, & Nash. Some of my favorite harmony is provided by singing siblings, of which The Roches may take the cake. Los Lonely Boys are siblings whom nail some pretty fine vocal harmony.
There are times that I get a hankering for music out of the jazz category, and Weather Report is probably what best defines the subset of jazz that I find most appealing. Steps Ahead, a jazz fusion project of vibraphonist, Mike Mainieri, is also one of my favorites, especially when Peter Erskine was on drums. I’ve got some Al DiMeola and Larry Carlton in my collection.
I have always had an ear for acoustic guitar. The group, America, knew how to use several together to great effect, as did the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Guitarists Leo Kottke, Norman Blake, David Bromberg, Billy McLaughlin, Bruce Cockburn, Pat Donohue, Laurence Juber, Peter Lang and Rodrigo Y Gabriela come to mind.
I like randomness and that leads to my interest in Wookiefoot, Adrian Belew and his work with The Bears, Hindu Rodeo, Tim Curry, Trey Anastasio, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Moxy Fruvous, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, The Duhks, and Pomplamoose. At the same time, I am a fan of classics like Chicago, The Rascals, Lovin’ Spoonful, Three Dog Night, Cat Stevens, Joe Cocker, Leon Russell, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, Supertramp, Pink Floyd, Steely Dan and the solo work of John Lennon and George Harrison. I don’t think there has ever been a song that Stevie Wonder recorded that I didn’t enjoy. I like some Roxy Music and a fair amount of Talking Heads. I’m a huge fan of Stevie Ray Vaughan. That brings to mind the band, Indigenous, and their guitar star and singer, Mato Nanji.
More recently I have liked what I’ve heard of Ray LaMontagne, Of Montreal, Nickel Creek, The Avett Brothers, and Mumford and Sons. All of them probably reflecting the artists I have listened to for so many years.
For what it is worth, that is a painting of some of my musical interests using just a portion of the colors that make up the sound pallet from which I have been influenced. Time will tell what purpose it might serve… if any beyond what it is on its own here as a random Tuesday post.
Numbers, Again
Number of mosquitoes swatted in the house last night: 6
Mosquito count outside the house lately: Googolplex
Seconds until hoards of mosquitoes descend on my exposed flesh in the garage: 6
Amount of bug repellent I like putting on my skin: 0
Amount of day being worked today: 1/2
Hours to be driven out of town: 3
Number of mosquitoes waiting for me up north: nevermind
Related families uniting for the weekend: 9
Family reunions so far this summer: 2
The unqualified answer to anything: six
Number of kids who know what that’s all about: 2
What that has to do with anything right now: nothing
Number of ideas I had when I decided to create this list: 0
Number of times numbers have been repeated in the answers above: 3
Significance of that: come on, it’s a numbers list!
Number of times the State Fair was brought up at work yesterday: way too many
Calories in an order of cheese curds at the fair: 1,140
Miles of walking the fair grounds required to burn that many calories: 11.5
How much less that makes me lust for fried cheese curds: zilch, zippo, hardly at all
How fond mosquitoes are of fried cheese curds: now that’s just plain silly
I Can’t Explain
I don’t know why I do it. It’s like a bad habit. It doesn’t feel like stubbornness, but I’m probably not the one to judge. That trait is more easily seen from the other person’s perspective. I tend to adopt little pet problems that, by lack of any initiative on my part to take any action toward resolving the situation, I allow to negatively impact my activities over and over and over again.
I compare it to the plumber who works all day long fixing other people’s plumbing and then neglects to do anything about his own dripping faucet, except that my issues don’t all align with my day job activities.
Long ago, the battery for my laptop computer began to show signs of failing. When it reached the point of simply allowing the computer to shut down without warning, I responded by making sure to never use my computer when it isn’t plugged in. My son asked me why I don’t just buy another battery. Hmm. I don’t know why. That would sure take care of the problem.
He also tells me that it’s not efficient to keep many tabs open in my browser and may slow processes. Sometimes, when I’m waiting for the spinning beachball icon on my computer while it struggles to accomplish some invisible task, I think about what he said. For whatever strange reason, my attachment to navigating with multiple tabs open for days on end does not yield to such informed advice.
I’m inclined to wonder if growing up in a house where my father ripped out the kitchen cabinets and never replaced them, contributed to my ability to live with inconveniences. I didn’t know any better at the time. I liked the metal shelves that were put up to hold dishes and dry goods, like cereal and snacks. It was easy to see everything out in the open like that.
Using a vice grip pliers to turn on the water in the shower after the knob quit working never seemed that outlandish. Little did I know that such a skill of adapting to adversity would turn out to be a curse of tolerance for absurdity later in my life.
Mirrorless World?
Sometimes, I just can’t help myself thinking about strange ways the world might be different, if only…
What if there were no mirrors in the world?
In my opinion, the less time spent in front of a mirror, the less one becomes inclined to feel a need to spend time in front of a mirror. I don’t expect this to be something that will change anyone’s opinion about the subject. There’s no reason to believe that someone already accustomed to tending to their appearance in front of the mirror would find any reason within a silly mental exercise like mine here, to accept there exists any possible alternative in the civilized world to the tasks they perform daily before the looking glass.
First off, in a world without mirrors, think of all the time people would be able to reclaim from their daily routine of preparation. Second, spend a moment calculating how much money you could save in cosmetics and care products.
You would appear to others as the person you were born to become. What I can’t visualize is, how personalities might differ in the absence of our usual attention to appearance. Have you noticed how much better you feel when you think you look good? Would we lose that edge, or would we just always feel okay with ourselves, since we’d have no visual reason to think otherwise? People who don’t currently match the latest trends in the beauty and fashion world wouldn’t have any way to judge that they might not fit the mold and that may just prove more valuable than can be measured.
This gives you something to think about next time you find yourself doing what it is you do during all that time you spend in front of the mirror.
If only…
More Things
More things I don’t understand:
I don’t understand why a full team of 11 individuals can all at the same time, contrary to how they have performed for 14 games prior, suddenly fail to execute their duties in a satisfactory manner in order to succeed at a minimum of 50% of what they are trying to do, especially when the opponents they are facing are statistically inferior.
I don’t understand how all the gears and joints, wire connections, springs and seals, function as well as they do from intense summer heat to sub-zero winter temperatures in today’s vehicles.
I don’t understand why an almost invisible sliver in my finger can effectively render me helpless and why the pain is so incredibly large for something so particularly small.
I don’t understand why truth is so often stranger than fiction.
I don’t understand why I can’t will myself to not be bothered by a losing effort of my home sports teams and instead turn on a good comedy and spend the time laughing instead of being frustrated.
I don’t understand why the teams I root for do okay when I don’t watch, and then as soon as I return to viewing, their performance returns to dismal.
I don’t understand why things like sports competition that don’t really matter in the grand scheme of life, death and peace on earth, garner so much time and attention from so many people like me.
I don’t understand why death is such a surprise to some people, since it happens to everyone and can occur at any time.
I don’t understand why the phenomenon of a ghost is normally considered to be a scary and threatening apparition, with the exception of Casper.
I don’t understand why some people attach so much importance to a somewhat arbitrary marker denoting the end of a calendar year that in reality is no different than any other of the 364 days.
I don’t understand why some people don’t understand that not understanding is no problem if it doesn’t really make any difference in the world whether you understand or not.
Time marches on.
Relative Something 