justing.net

Week Notes No. 42: Daily Bits

By Justin G. on 25FEB10MON

Rain and wind and cold sun.

Almanac / outlook

Off and on rain most of the week. Actually could be quite a lot of rain. And wind. Lows in the 40s, highs in the 50s.

The sun is rising closer to 7, and setting at half past 5. The moon is a quarter illumined, so nights may not be that dark by the end of the week. But there will be clouds to help.

Day Bits

1. FEB03MON
   • The weatherman finally started keeping his promises today. In the morning there was a faint “spitting” rain. Neither A nor I even bothered to mention it. And before lunch, a light but insistent rain began just as I stepped off the porch for a 5K run. It dampened me the whole way.
   • I just realized: the lemon tree is laden, laden!, with lemons this year. Are there more lemons than leaves? No idea. A situation like this demands of us one thing only: the best goddamn lemonade you’ve ever had.
2. FEB04TUE
   • Morning brought the kind of rain that will sneak under an umbrella. It’s annoying, and it makes you want dry pants. The weatherman always keeps his promises.
   • Thunder! Close too. That’s exciting.
   • Afternoon rain so hard the dog wouldn’t even leave the porch.
3. FEB05WED
   • Sunny and cold–we get a bye day between storms. The dog wore her purple sweater. She is not a small dog.
4. FEB06THU
   • Yes, there was more rain today. And it was good rain, serious rain, sheeting and ponding and all that. Not important now. I want to tell you about the wind. This was ‘Bay Area storm 2025–Never Forget’ wind. I swear it was going to rip the conduit thing right out of the chimney! The hammock flipped. We will rebuild. Who knows what else happened out there. We’ll see in the morning.
   • The bad news about all this weather is that the dog won’t go out. She suffers. Or, she suffers when she does, finally, go out in the rain. Well, less rain. Today, neither walk happened. Neither. Not a sound from her about it either; the rain drowned her usual protests.
5. FEB07FRI
   • Minor damage. I saw two small trees toppled by yesterday’s wind. One was landscaping; the other, a wrist-thick youngling in a parking strip.
   • I was doing a midday workout and I noticed something to share. It’s progress, but not fitness progress: it’s thought progress. After a month, I’m getting into a groove with these functional workouts. I’ve started to do that thing where you think about whatever it was from the morning, and solve the problem, while lifting a kettlebell. I’ve always done this while running and I look forward to it. Today, for the first time, I caught myself doing it during weights too. I think I might be getting into this.
6. FEB08SAT
   • Slept poorly last night. Something at work is probably bothering me. I’d have noticed if I was endlessly turning something over in my head. Nothing. I got up and puttered around: read, write, review notes, listen to music, that sort of thing. Sleep was refusing to come near anyway. After an hour I began feeling tired. Sometimes at that point, I can just go right to sleep. Not last night. It was at least another half hour, tossing, turning, before I noticed it was already light. Sleep caught me unawares, I guess. I had a groggy, underdone feeling. Yeah, I was up very late, wasn’t I? Coffee—hot and bitter—eventually revived me.
7. FEB09SUN
   • We saw a golden eagle this morning. Two golden eagles! Or… red tailed hawks? On further investigation, definitely red tailed hawks. They’re huge. One was carrying a snake. Or a stick? Yeah, it’s a stick. They’re building a nest in a tree high above the school. That’s so cool.

Outside Events

1. The trade war is paused. What is this, a clown show?
2. It is Tuesday, and I guess there’s an administrative coup on.
3. We are not accepting packages from China; we are accepting packages from China. I think the point is confusion. Also: yes, this is a clown show.
4. Makes sense that the Treasury was first. FWIW, the courts told them to stop it.
5. I guess we’re giving up on cancer. And everything.

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