BATCHIN' IT - DAY 11

RON'S BACK FROM MINNESOTA!

A DAILY JOURNAL

MONDAY, DAY 11

THE LAST DAY

Tropical Storm Ivo greeted us with steady rain again this morning when I got up at this time.

I was able to get the dogs out for their morning ablutions by 6:45 during a lull.  The usual chores, then off to town for Monday morning Tai Chi class. 

 Today we finished learning the last of the 108 moves of this style of Tai Chi, which are taught in Beginner class.  Classes are on-going.  Repetition of Beginner class is encouraged, as well as moving on to advanced classes, called Continuing classes.  My plan right now is to do both.  I've taken Beginner class 3 times and finally feel like I can do all the moves at the Beginner level.  Each time I take the class again I both learn more and get to practice what I know.  However, I'm also going to start Continuing class and see what that's about.  

I had a break between Tai Chi and violin lesson this morning, so I came home and took the dogs out for a walk, giving Gypsy a break from the crate.  Back in to town for a violin lesson with Emily.  She's a pleasure to work with, teaches me a lot, and does it well.  I tape our lessons, and when I review them later am always tickled at how much we laugh-my lessons sound like the fun they are.

Home for laundry 

and dog training, between rain showers.

I spoke with Ron in the evening as he was leaving Sky Harbor on the shuttle.  A BIG thunderstorm with the hardest rain yet came around 7:00, scaring the dogs into the bedroom to hide.  

I picked Ron up at this time

from the Flagstaff Visitor's Center, where the shuttle drops off and picks up passengers. Pretend it's dark in this photo.

On the way home it began raining again, as another thunder and lightning filled storm moved through.  Ivo is keeping things unsettled!

The dogs and cat were delighted to see Ron.  He and I enjoyed visiting and catching up with each other for a couple of hours.

Final bedtime:

WELCOME HOME, RON!

BATCHIN' IT - DAY 10

RON'S OFF TO MINNESOTA!

A DAILY JOURNAL

SUNDAY, DAY 10

Up at 

to rain.  I'm not sure if Tropical Storm Ivo was responsible for yesterday morning's rain, but Ivo's  eastern edge is here today, as predicted.  Steady rain until about 11:00.  Thanks for doing the watering, Ivo!  Like other running friends, there was a day when a not-too-cold rain wouldn't have kept me from running.  Today, the motivation just wasn't there.  Raingear or not, one gets wet, and the dogs get soaked.  Yep, not interested. 

With my work all done, I was able to enjoy the newpaper and couple cups of joe (decaf), as well as some other reading.  It had been on my mind to go to the theater for a movie Ron's not interested in seeing:

I went, and loved it.  Denzel is a favorite of mine and Mark Wahlberg is a pretty funny guy.  The movie is straight-up Hollywood shoot-'em-up. Nothing believable, but entertaining with some quite funny parts.  I'm thinking of calling movies of this sort "paycheck movies"-for the actors, that is.  Hey, they're actors, they're working & doing a good job, they're getting paid.  

After the movie, I stopped briefly at the grocery store for a few supplies.  Ron, who regularly does our grocery shopping, did so before he left, but I've used up all the fresh fruits and veggies.

It sprinkled a few more times throughout the day, but I was able to get a couple of dog walks in without getting anything damp but my shoes.  

Ron called and gave me the update on his trip:  some time on the lake in nephew Steve's largish motor boat including a dockside dinner, bike rides, some home movies, some "twinning"-where Ron is mistaken for Don (unavoidable, he says).  

You won't be surprised that any gaps in the day were filled with violin and flute playing, more reading....

Bedtime was early:

BATCHIN' IT - DAY 9

RON'S OFF TO MINNESOTA!

A DAILY JOURNAL

SATURDAY, DAY 9

Up at 

I chose both somewhere else and later in the day as my running guidelines today, so I did chores first.  It was cloudy, with at 50% chance of rain.  The cup half-empty version of that is 50% it WON'T rain, so while it sprinkled, I watered the whole yard.  

The somewhere else I chose to rain is a residential county road, with mostly summer residences for the first mile or so, then opening up into National Forest.  It happened that about 1 1/2 miles in there was a Disc Golf Charity event.  The combination of summer, weekend,mid-morning and event made for a very traffic-y run.  Oh, and it rained the whole run.

I baked bread

trained dogs when the rain stopped in the early afternoon

played violin and flute

 and 

I finished the 

Bedtime:

BATCHIN' IT - DAY 8

RON'S OFF TO MINNESOTA!

A DAILY JOURNAL

FRIDAY, DAY 8

I got up at 

and went out for an early run.  YIKES!  After two pickups with men in camo passed me and a group of men on quads in camo appeared ahead of me, I asked one of them if it was archery season...sure enough, opening day for deer archery season. 

 Now overall, it's not as dangerous to be out for archery seasons as it is for rifle seasons, but opening day of anything needs a bit of consideration.  Like running later in the day.  And/or wearing something orange.  And/or running somewhere else.  And/or not running at all.   I'll be taking all of these under consideration for the rest of the weekend.

Maggie's shoulder injury is greatly improved, so I took her on the run today.  My routine is to always have one of the dogs leashed (both off leash = TROUBLE).  Usually I keep Maggie leashed for the first half, then trade off at my turn-around point.  I chose to keep Maggie leashed the whole way to avoid any crazy-mad dashes after squirrels and such that might cause a re-injury.  She looks good.

The rest of the day consisted of the Usual Chores-watering, bird feeding & cage cleaning, minor housework, dog training.  Music of course, both violin and flute.  Flute is coming along nicely, with tone returning first in the middle to high registers.  Low register will take some attention, and I'll start working with that tomorrow.  The other main project I'm currently working on is

I have certain chores that I do on a periodic cycle - and believe me it's a generous period.  The cycle is over at the end of August and though I could have done these chores any time, I put them off.  So now I've got myself in a self-imposed box to get them done.  I've read and heard many times that one can resist routine activities they may dislike-washing dishes, housework, etc.  Or they can accept them and turn them into a form of meditation.  I'm still well in the resistance stage.  I'm doing a certain amount every day, and made excellent progress today.  In fact, I'll be able to finish entirely tomorrow, and won't that be a celebration!

I did set a 5:00 deadline to be finished for the day, as the resistance mentality takes a lot of effort and makes tasks feel like work.  The evening dog walk, a thorough-enough read of Time and National Geographic magazines, dinner, a Netflix movie and a bit of the current novel wrapped up the day.

Bedtime:

BATCHIN' IT - DAY 7

RON'S OFF TO MINNESOTA!

A DAILY JOURNAL

THURSDAY, DAY 7

After a good night's sleep, I got up at 

I decided to bike today; alas, I got caught up in other activities and didn't do so.

It was another cloudy morning, so I tried to make it rain again by watering....a bird sitting in the tree above me gave me an unequivocal opinion about that,

 and it wasn't a smattering either.  It was a full load on my right arm.  Fortunately I had the hose handy for a wash down.

I chose to break the day up into 2 hour blocks.  I decided on two anchor activities, meaning activities that got done during every time block:  music practice & house cleaning.  What time was left over I did lower priority activities.  This worked really well for getting a lot accomplished. 

I talked to brother Scott on the phone.  He's back home in NE from CA, where he attended his mother-in-law's funeral.  She's been ill for some time with emphysema.  He enjoyed some beach time there, and let his relatives drive him around in that crazy CA traffic.

I spoke briefly to Ron on the phone.  The neighbor Matt came over asking if Ron had any PVC glue.  We found the logical place for it to be with no result, and when I asked if he wanted me to call Ron to make sure it wasn't somewhere else, he said yes.  My phone battery had died talking to Scott, so we called from Matt's phone.  Fortunately Ron answered the unidentified call.  Still no glue, though.

We got another round of thunder this evening, but only a sprinkle of rain.  The chances for rain increase through the weekend, so I'll keep hoping and watering!

I want to spend a bit of couch time with Cinnamon before I call it a day.  It's looking like I'll make bedtime at

 

BATCHIN' IT - DAY 6

RON'S OFF TO MINNESOTA!

A DAILY JOURNAL

WEDNESDAY, DAY 6

After yesterday's combination of running and Tai Chi, I found myself needing a bit of extra sleep.  I got up at

Sometimes my night time slumbers are interrupted by the dogs.  We have an occasional nocturnal visitor in the yard, checking out the fish pond and the dog water bowl:

The dogs hear and quite insistently want outside to confront said visitor.  I quite as insistently refuse this request.  Raccoons are avid fishermen, but so far our fish are unscathed.

I didn't run this morning, and filled it instead with the usual morning chores, dog training, and a longer walk with the dogs.   It was a cloudy morning, but many mornings this monsoon season have been so without a rainy result.  So I did the daily yard watering.....and it rained!  Not taking the credit, mind you...just sayin'!

I went for lunch and some good talk with friend (and former co-worker) Kim at a newer semi-fast food place

where we ran in to several acquaintances from work, it being a small town and all.

Though I've been known to indulge in the occasional nap after lunch, it's always been short.  The length of today's postprandial snooze surprised me- a couple of hours. Guess I was still tired!

Music, both violin and flute, another dog walk, a light supper, and this easy but entertaining mystery kept me occupied for the rest of the day.

Because of that lengthy nap, bedtime was

 

BATCHIN' IT - DAY 5

RON'S OFF TO MINNESOTA!

 

A DAILY JOURNAL

TUESDAY, DAY 5

I got up at 

this morning for my first run since hiking & Climbing.

Though Maggie's injured shoulder appears to be improving, she's still benched for now and Gypsy was my only companion.  Often we see elk and coyotes, but this morning it was just birds-red tail hawk, mountain bluebirds, and finches.  

After morning chores and Gypsy's training session,  I made a quick run to my favorite cash drain to pick up inserts for the new running shoes I'll use tomorrow, as well as a few other items.

After lunch and the daily crossword,

I turned to an afternoon of music.  Yesterday's violin lesson was packed as they always are, and today I started organizing the new information to create the week's practices.  I tape my lessons, and find it hugely helpful to listen back and pick up what I've already forgotten.  

In a couple of weeks I'll be making a trip to Kanab, UT to visit friend Sally for a few days.  She and I played flutes together for about 10 years when she lived in Flagstaff.   Most times I take my flute with me when I visit and we enjoy some playing.  Being completely distracted by violin, I've not played flute for a long time.  Flute requires some amount of embouchure fitness to be able to play for very long, so I sorted thru my flute music for some pieces we'll play,  and played my first practice.  Oh, yeah.  Do I ever need it.  If I get in half an hour a day before I go, I should do well enough.

Tuesday evening is another Tai Chi class.

I intended to do a bit of this 'n that when I got home, but found I'd expended my daily allotment of energy, and enjoyed the second installment of

Bedtime: