Slow Down

And after a long period of rush, things are slowing down at last. I'm taking today off -- first day I've had off since early October.

Eh, the older I get, the harder it is to keep up with these occasional bursts which are built into the nature of my work. I don't have the stamina I had in my 20s and 30s. Though it isn't like this most of the time. Only occasionally. Hope I'm heading now into a stretch where life will resume a more reasonable pace.

Busy

There are times when my workload cruises along at a manageable level. And there are times when the floodgate goes wide open: this past week has been one of those times, and it ain't through yet. I hardly know where I've been, or what I've been doing, except that I've been running mornings, afternoons, and most evenings, sometimes up and running even before dawn.

Oh well. Things will slow back down again eventually. In the meanwhile, as the old saying goes, "you knew the job was dangerous when you took it."

Requesting Floyd

Back in the 70s there was a song by 10cc called "I'm Not in Love." And at one point the lyrics ran, "Big boys don't cry, big boys don't cry, big boys don't cry..."

Except somehow, for years, I heard it as, "Requesting Floyd, requesting Floyd, requesting Floyd, requesting Floyd..."

One of the weirdest cases of misheard lyrics ever. No idea where I ever got it from, but that's what I was hearing: "Requesting Floyd, requesting Floyd, requesting Floyd..."

Back Door

Out here in deep rural America where I live, the main door to most houses is the back door. You enter and leave through the back door. The front door is vestigial, it leads nowhere, it is hardly ever used, and indeed I know of houses around here where furniture is blocking access to that unused front door.

I grew up in town, where people use their front door as a front door, so all this is somewhat unusual to me. Not that I was unfamiliar with it: my grandparents' farmhouse had the back door as main access and exit. But still, back door as main door is a somewhat peculiar custom if you think of it. Or so it's always seemed to me.

Oddly enough, my house, on a gravel road way out here in the country, has the front door as main door. This house was built about 1880, and apparently the front door has always been the main door. I know of one or two other houses in the area which also are structured so as to make the front door the door you mostly use. But such houses are very much in the minority, out here in the wide open spaces of Back Door America.

Snow

Yes, snowflakes were coming down most of the day yesterday. Not real thick, but not so very light either. A slow, steady presence of snow falling.

The ground is still warm enough that we didn't get any accumulation. Yet. Give it another few days. As usual this time of year, we go from near-summerlike weather to snowfall in just a few weeks.

Hip

Oh dear. Now I went and wrenched my hip joint. Left hip. It happened a couple of nights ago, something about the way I rolled over in bed. Now my hip is okay, until I lean at the wrong angle, and then...

This hip has been a trial to me ever since I was twelve years old. I repeat, twelve years old. At least a hot water bottle really does help. And as long as I lie on my back I'm okay.

It will be fine again in a few days. In the meanwhile, I'm just glad I've got today off from work...

Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

No, today is not April 1...