Memories of Painting

 

(PCS = 3)

I ran 9.4 miles (~15 km) this morning.  There was absolutely no wind, which was very nice.  It was a bit warmer at 6:00am too, being around 38 degrees F ( ~3 degrees C), so with no wind, I thought I would run WITHOUT sweatpants, and just ran with shorts.  I had a long-sleeve t-shirt and a sweatshirt and woolen cap on my head.  I decided to forgo the sweatpants because they tend to slow my running a bit, and they feel cumbersome on my legs.  I figured it my legs would warm up anyway with there being no wind.  It was not bad at all.  I also listened to the Capuchin Mass from Monday while I was running.  

One interesting physiological thing I have noticed ever since I lost weight... and it seems to be FURTHER enhanced when combined with running.... is that when finally sit to eat breakfast, I will within about 15 minutes of starting to eat, begin to feel VERY COLD.... sometimes I will even have goosebumps and shiver.  I never had that sort of sensation EVER back when I was more hefty fellow.  Being a biologist with a lot of background in physiology, I did eventually recognize why this now occurs consistently for me...

1.  Now that my body fat composition is in a healthier range (the last time I used one of those galvanic devices that estimates body fat, I was around 10 - 11 %) compared to when I was very heavy.... I do not have a tremendous fat energy reserve that is utilizable following eating.

2.  Add to this the "fast" notion related to breakfast (break fast)..... when I first eat in the morning, this is after several hours of not eating (due to sleeping).  My body is wanting/needing food.

3.   When we eat, the body has a shift in blood flow occur.... in order to activate the processes of digestion, there is shunting of more blood to both the digestive system and urinary system organs and tissues, with lower volumes going to the  skeletal musculature of the muscular system and also away from the integumentary system (the skin).  

It is the shunting of blood more towards the digestive/urinary systems and relatively less to the skeletal muscles and skin.... that causes me to feel the coldness now about 15 minutes after I start eating in the morning.  And, I never felt that before when I was much more hefty... because I had more insulation around me that kept me from feeling the change as drastically.   For me, this feeling last about one hour after eating breakfast and then dissipates, fortunately.  

+ + + 

My PCS score is lower than it has been in several days today.  This is rather pleasant, as it is not so much work to deal with when my PCS is low.  It is quite odd how each day can feel so very different in this regard, and there is not really any predictability to what to anticipate.  

I did have a very vivid.... memory type dream last night that included a lot of me smoking my pipes.  It was a rather simple dream too....

My dream was really a retelling in my mind of the few weeks prior to my family moving into the home we currently reside in.  This is our second home, and we moved only about 1/2 mile away from our first home that we purchased when we married.  The only reason we moved is that the layout of our first home was rather "odd" in some ways that very poorly utilized the space of the home.  Most notably, while the home was two stories (like our current home), the top floor was rather poorly designed to be only a single bedroom and a bathroom.  Added to this, our first home had windows that were rather small, and sat rather high upon the walls.  The third dislike we had about our first home was that it was oriented in such a way that the windows did not really let in very much sunlight into the rooms.... so it was a rather "dark" home inside.  Our current home is pretty much the same size, but it has all the bedrooms on the top floor, it has much larger windows in all rooms, and it is oriented in such a way that we get ample sunlight coming into the home.  

But, back to the dream.... the dream was was about the few weeks before we moved into the home.  We decided before we moved in, that we had had MORE than enough of wall-to-wall carpeting in our prior home (and had enough of the "joys" of keeping wall-to-wall carpeting clean with a myriad of pets and small children).  Since moving here many, many years ago, we have been using some area rugs on the floors when desired.... and when they would become unpleasant, we would get rid of them and either just have a wooden floor, or buy a replacement..... so much nicer and easier than wall-to-wall carpeting.  

So, my wife and I decided that before we moved into the new home, we would have all that home's wall-to-wall carpeting removed, and have the floors professionally sanded.   I then came in after the sanding had concluded, and spent the next couple of weeks putting a finish on the floors, and in painting all the rooms the various colors and hues my wife and I had agreed upon.  

During these three or so weeks, I would arrive at the home perhaps around 7am and start to get to taping walls, floor boards, etc and putting down tarps when needed.  Then I would begin finishing a floor in one room, and then start painting another room, slowly and meticulously working through all the various places.  Much to my delight, the prior home owners had smooth, completely white ceilings throughout the home... because while I do not mind painting, ceiling painting is to me, quite a bit more difficult, so I was happy they were fine.  

While I would sometimes smoke my pipe while I painted, much of the time... because of amount of time I was spending on the ladder, the hand-eye coordination required to manipulate brushes, rollers, and paint pans, and the focus I was putting into painting very meticulously.... a lot of the time I did not smoke my pipes while painting.  But, pretty regularly through each day, I would take a couple of breaks, and pour myself a tall, iced glass of iced tea, and meander out onto the back porch, smoke my pipe, and look out into our new back yard and the trail that runs behind it.  

During those few weeks, I was mostly alone in the house while I painted.  Other than a few visits by folks to inspect the furnace and water heater, to install cable television lines, phone lines, etc..... I was left to my own devices and simply worked through the manual efforts of painting and floor finishing.  And, it was rather awfully damn relaxing..... and sitting back on the porch, pipe in hand, taking long, luxurious pulls from the stem, with some quiet music in the background from the radio in the room I was painting felt peaceful in a way that is both hard to attain and difficult to describe.  At that point, I had no real worries or cares in the world at that moment for me.  I was simply working and striving to get the house ready so my family and I could move in and start living in this bright, tranquil home.  Life was pleasant, serene,  and yet also exciting.  Work at the U was filled with only kind, pleasant folks.  It was Summer, and I was not teaching during those few weeks.  And, each and every pipeful I indulged in felt special, magical, indulgent in the best possible of ways,  and pure...  and life felt utterly carefree. 

My dream last night was really reliving many of those memories of that period of time.  

PipeTobacco