Some days the best thing that happens is that you nail the NYT “Connections” game in less than two minutes. Things just click and the answers just seem to be written in light like I’m some sort of idiot savant.
The rest of the day I just feel like some sort of idiot and the world is kicking my ass.
Tomorrow’s another day. (Unfortunately.)
Filed under Paul
It’s a covey of quail. There were at least twelve of them, might have been a couple more. They were scurrying about and refused to count off, no matter how nicely I asked.
It was just before sunset. They all stayed in the shadows.
They didn’t spook, even when I opened the shutters on the window to get a better view. Their markings and coloration were spectacular!
Most were brown like this one above, but a couple were jet black while still having the same patterns. I don’t know if that a different subspecies, one was male, the other female, or if it’s a total coincidence and normal variation within the species.
Between these guys and the roadrunner, it’s been a busy bird week at the Willett Nature Sanctuary (a.k.a., our back yard)!
Filed under Birds, Forever Home, Paul
There’s a line from Bilbo early in “The Fellowship Of The Ring,” when he’s talking to Frodo about how tired he is, something like he feels “thin, soft of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.”
I get it.
Getting old is not for the cowardly. The growing list of nagging physical twitches and foibles are not helping.
Nor is the news. But ignoring the news isn’t a good option either. I want to see the evil fuckers coming and have as much of a head’s up as possible.
I should make time to watch more Ted Lasso…
Filed under Paul, Photography
Back home, back to the routine, back to work tomorrow, back to the liminal spaces and brain fuzz tonight.
Goodbye vacation, goodbye restaurants, goodbye 150 step hike from the room to the elevator and 800 step Bataan-death-march from the hotel to the convention center.
Goodbye August, hello September.
Not sure what day of the week it is? Shit, not sure what freakin’ MONTH it is, and the year is up for grabs as well at times.
In an almost Biblical moment upon arrival back at home, “Consider the birds of the air…” (Matthew 6:26-27) Contrary to popular opinion, “our Heavenly father” doesn’t feed the ones in our yard, *I* do, and I’ve been gone for six days. They were pissed! Then, while re-filling the seed feeders, ALL of the sirens and fire trucks took off, headed toward a small brush fire less than a mile away, down in the Cajon Pass over the edge of The Mesa.
Maybe three acres, they stomped on it FAST (which is good!) but it’s a great reminder that we’re not in Fandom any more.
At least football starts in earnest in September…
Filed under Fandom, Forever Home, Paul, Photography
Today’s “really, REALLY, kinda sorta critical drop dead” deadline got met (I think) and even got met with several hours to spare. I was up until way past 02:00 last night working on things, and didn’t get much sleep, but got the last couple of checklist items wrapped up about 14:30. I had sort of expected that “Monday” might mean about NOW, 23:39 on Monday, but I beat that by about eight hours. Now we wait for follow-up tasks and questions and explanations and so on, but for the moment, my checklist is complete!
Which has left my brain in a somewhat odd and not entirely pleasant liminal state, adrift. My mind has been racing and running on maximum overdrive 24/7 for weeks, hopping from one deadline to another, and now that this HUGE task is done, or at a minimum has plateaued and left the ball in someone else’s court for the moment, it doesn’t know what to do. Yes, there are a gazillion tasks that need attention because they’ve been pushed off onto the back burners for days and weeks and month, but they can safely stay there for now. My brain is the flywheel that’s been working under a heavy load at high RPM at 115% of capacity for so long, and now the clutch has been popped and it’s just spinning and whining and slowly winding down.
As I said, while the pressure and drive and adrenaline weren’t a lot of fun, this isn’t necessarily better. Just, different.
Maybe some sleep will help. At least I might know what day of the week it is tomorrow.
Filed under Paul, Photography, Sunsets
When do I get to retire? No, seriously…
Too many deadlines, not enough time to breathe or relax, too many out of control roadblocks and random FUBAR situations that no sane persone could have forseen.
I’m still upright and taking nourishment, but I feel like I’ve done fifteen rounds with Ali or Frazier this weekend, and tomorrow’s not going to be any better.
On top of all of that, I’ve been fighting a cold for the last week and some sort of comes-and-goes GI issues that have made me extremely cranky for weeks.
The worst part is the lack of sleep – between the hours, and the pressure, my dreams are wall to wall stress, trying to complete monsterous Excel files and being trapped in old jobs with old coworkers who I was not fond of to begin with.
They say “this too will pass.” Well, yes, that’s true. Just like kidney stones do. Been there, done that!
Filed under Paul, Photography
When Ronnie (a.k.a. The Long-Suffering Wife) and I took a handgun safety course and then went out to the range to go shooting two weeks ago, I took pictures of her, but she didn’t take any of me. But our shooting instructor did!
Thanks, Diane!
I almost looked like I knew what I was doing!
Filed under Paul, Photography
It’s not a current photo, but from March when my birthday was. It just popped up while I was cleaning up photo files on my phone today, transferred over from Ronnie after she took it at the Sunday morning farmers market. It was bright, I was squinty.
If I don’t put on sunglasses, my face will eventually freeze that way. Some might argue that it already has…
Good thing I can rely on my wit and charm and cheerful nature instead of my good looks!
Filed under Paul, Photography
Cut off one head (i.e., hit one deadline, finish one task) and there are two more being regrown (finishing the anology is left as an exercise for the student).
So take a minute or two to look at the clouds, say hello to the neighbors, walk down to the community mailbox at the corner (still weird to me that we don’t have an individual mailbox at the end of the driveway), get buzzed by the hummingbirds.
With advancing years I find that I truly do not have any fucks to give about certain things – strangers’ opinions of me, for example – but I find it annoying that there are so many things I do still give a fuck about. Doing a good job even though my career is winding down and nearing its end, worrying about the evil that’s taking over out country, wondering if the Angels are ever again going to have a winning season, waiting for the Chiefs’ bounceback season this year and Season Four of “Ted Lasso.”
I’m juggling as fast as I can. And trying to find time every day to see if there are any pretty clouds overhead. (There were.)
Filed under Paul, Photography, Politics, Weather
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