The body is catching up

A little cold front passed through here last night and this morning, leaving our temp somewhere in the low 80s this afternoon. Very nice. Around 4pm it occurred to my bored self that this might be a good time to go outside and make another stab at cutting a path through what used to be my garden. It's amazing what hot weather and plenty of rain can do to a garden (and weeds) in a mere 2.5 weeks.

This isn't the first attempt -- but I have to admit that I haven't been exactly anxious to get the job done. My efforts have been lukewarm and short-lived partly because of the heat and partly because I was just plain pooped after the 'vacation' (and yet, I cleared much excessive green stuff away nevertheless). Wouldn't you know that once I got outside I felt a couple of raindrops, then a distant roll of thunder. Mild stuff, nothing to run an Oregonian inside, to be sure. But, as I pulled and cut and tried to make headway, I kept hearing that little voice in the back of my head telling me that if you can hear thunder, you're in a position to be struck by lightning and should go inside. I spent 5 or 10 minutes rolling that argument around inside my head -- still just a smattering of raindrops, no lightning, thunder off in the distance. Wondering if I was being merely stubborn, or just plain stupid. Finally I copped to 'not smart', which is just another way of saying 'stupid', so I gave up the effort and came inside. I hauled a couple of loads of stuff back to the rear 40, but I can't say I can actually see that I made any difference. Next time. I'm leaving again in 3 weeks, so I really need to get it cleaned up before then or there will be no hope at all.

My new toy (aka food processor) arrived today and I quickly put it to work on a batch of almond butter. I make mine with cinnamon and cayenne and a bit of olive oil so it's nice and creamy. The machine certainly made short work of the nuts, I must say. I still resent having to buy a new one after only 7 years of light use on its predecessor. My first Cuisinart, which I clearly remember purchasing right after my Colorado bike ride in 1983, was still working like a champ when I sayonaroed it off in favor of the new one 7 years ago. By my calculations that was 22 years of serious use, without a flinch. I replaced it only because the lid never fit smoothly onto the bowl and I'd had to fight with it every time I'd used it for 22 years, and I was tired of the struggle. I guess they really don't make things like they used to. The component parts of this one were made in China, and I suspect the whole thing was made there. Go figure.

Life seems to have almost returned to normal. The raging poison oak on my arm has subsided, finally. Last Friday night I finally started sleeping again, and it seems that sleep is about all I've wanted to do, day and night, ever since. That's OK. The body is catching up. I've gone to Curves a couple of times (including today, just for the treadmill). I don't want to lose whatever stamina and muscle I might have built up by walking up and down hills all day for two weeks, after all! And, though I hate to say it out loud, I actually lost a couple of pounds, it seems. I'm surprised, because while I was getting lots of exercise, I was also eating a diet filled with carbs, which is not my usual choice, and expected that might have larded up a tad more. It felt good the first time I checked in on the balance scale at Curves, and it was still at the same point as of this morning. Now if I can only stop eating ice cream and other goodies.....