Inch by Inch

 

 

Still feeling exhausted.  I believe it really is due to the high heat and the tremendously strong sun at the moment.  For our region it is much more like mid-August, instead of early June in regards to dryness, high temperature, lack of clouds, and intensity of sunlight.  With my exhaustion, I suspect another bulleted list will be my best bet for today's efforts.  My various, scattered throughts feel akin to a ping-pong ball being batted back and forth in every direction:

• There are ample levels of , and more budget friendly than usual supplies of cherries at the moment at roadside stands and grocery stores in my region.  This is a great thing.  I have consumed a cereal sized bowl of the delightful fruits this morning and have a pile of pits to show for it. 
• As I had hoped, but I was not sure if it would happen..... my wife has spent considerable time thinking through the various shiny, gizmo-ey doo-dads the salesperson swayed her with.... and she has reverted back to our previous thoughts and ideas and the salesperson's spell has been broken!  We are stepping ever closer to pulling the "trigger" on her vehicle.... we have narrowed it down to two vehicles, and I am fervently searching databases of various sorts.  
• The "Hooch Moon - Contrabass Dubstep" music video I linked to yesterday.... still is on my mind.  So much so, that I have been listening throughout the morning to various other songs by Hooch Moon.  I am so impressed with their work.  Three musicians, working with the following four instruments are making some truly striking modern music..... contrabass clarinet, baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone, and basic drum set.  
• In my wildest pipe dream imagination, I would like to create an interesting video of a jazzy/cool song I am playing on my bass clarinet.  But the type of recording equipment to use, the cost of buying it, and the learning curve feels too daunting.  
• I am thinking that perhaps *if* Covid rates stay low through the end of June, I may be willing to venture into at least considering the possibility of swimming in the public (indoor) pool.  It has recently opened.  I so miss swimming.  
• I had a fairly large number (at least 15) of VERY violent, consecutive sneezes last evening.  This has happened occasionally for me for a lot of years.... but not usually as many as happened last evening.  I have tried to figure out a trigger for this happening, but I still think I am grasping at straws.  The *only* somewhat cohesive thread I can find is that it *seems* to at least OFTEN be associated with a meal where I eat a LARGE amount of raw onions..... BUT... the nonsensical part is that it seems to occur perhaps an hour to an hour and a half AFTER I eat the large amount of onions.  I do not really know if the association I see is real or not.... hell.... I eat a fair amount of raw onion every evening (at least in my gigantic salad if not on other things).  
• I mention the sneezing mostly because yesterday's sneezes were SO numerous and so aggressive that I think they caused some minor subconjunctival hemorrhages in the whites of my eyes.  These red lines worried me a bit when my wife first noticed them, but I was reading about them more this morning and it seems a common occurrence with such violent sneezes.  I rarely have ever had bloodshot looking eyes... so they took me by surprise this morning.  
• It was still oppressively warm this morning at 5:00am during my run (76 degrees F (~24.5C)).... so I was again a "Sasquatch" but I sweated so profusely through my run, that I was glisteny wet from head to toe (hair, beard, mustache, skin, socks, shoes, shorts) by the time I finished my 10.2 miles (~16.5 km).   I started out in dense fog, but it burned away about half way through the run.  
• Pat had asked me about my fluid consumption yesterday.  At least 25 or so years ago, I made a conscious decision to dramatically increase my fluid intake daily.  Now-a-days I typically consume between 120 and 150 ounces of fluid a day (3.5 - 4.5 liters).  It is very helpful for me with all the running I do.  But, my initial push to drink fluids was from some of the physiology scientific literature I was reading back then that highlighted how the efficiency of the body in eliminating waste products (including pollutants (like pesticides, herbicides) you may inadvertently ingest) is enhanced by greater fluid intake.  Since that time, there have been other important associations with high fluid intake..... better glucose balance (I tell this to my wife all the time)..... lowered stress hormones in circulation.... and others.  
• PCS score today.... 5.  A pipe sounds very appealing, very beautiful, and rewarding, but I can keep the thoughts mostly at bay.  
• I am so very close to submitting the new edition that I am starting to feel excited about it soon being off my plate!!!!!
• We are having an Indian dinner tonight!  I am very excited.  My wife has not been in the mood for such in a while and I have a big hankering for it.  I have made a simmering crockpot of spiced chickpeas that have been giving absolutely beautiful room notes to the house all day!  My wife is planning to make a spiced bread and perhaps some rice, and we have made an Indian "pudding" with pistachios for desert.  And, of course... I will have another enormous salad tonight as well (with raw onions).  And, I have a chickpea/chard cold salad I will be eating as a side dish as well!  It will look something like shown above.  It should be damn good!!!!!

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