De Fenestra

The girl is changing jobs on the 20th and my own operational tempo is likely to be hellish for the rest of the year, so I took Friday and today off for a four-day weekend. We got the kayaks down to Lake Ahquabi today. Snuck up on a green heron, a blue heron, and a wood duck with her brood. The latter was a new checkmark in the bird log, as were the red-headed woodpeckers we saw on the way out.

Had lunch and dessert in Indianola, along with hitting the local bookstore. Funaro's Deli was a pretty good local sandwich place and bakery, though none of the staff were masked. The Outside Scoop is local small-batch ice cream that finally presents an acceptable local substitute to Graeter's. Pageturners is a delightful little shop, but with emphasis on "little," the inventory was pretty hit-or-miss for our tastes.

Tomorrow, back to the nightmare.

Holy shit, nine months since I've posted here. Probably not a record hiatus but close.

Good evening. Broke loose from work early, ran home, picked up the girl, and changed. ISU's Outdoor Recreation program lets faculty, staff, and community members into most of their programs. We linked up with three of their staff and a handful of undergrads (mostly foreign students, I think, here for the summer because it's easier than heading home) and spent about an hour kayaking on the lake at Ada Hayden Park. We hadn't been in kayaks since last summer's Wyoming trip and it was pretty damn therapeutic.

Got buzzed by a number of tree swallows. Saw one frog along the shoreline as we were retrieving trash (note to selves, bring garbage bags for cleanup). The girl saw a low-flying hummingbird that I missed because I was looking for more frogs.

Went home, cleaned up, went out for dinner at Great Plains Sauce and Dough and dessert at DQ.

Not a bad date night.

This week, I started a trial run of a couple of analog practices to help with the sense that constant digital immersion is making me dumber, or at least less able to focus.

First, I've started a bullet journal. I've flailed at pen-and-paper note-taking practices before but have lacked a solid organizational system, so they've all eventually descended into organized morasses. The whole point of a bullet journal is the organization, so I'm hoping this will provide the structure I've been needing. I'm going to commit to the practice through the end of the year before re-evaluating.

Second and related, I picked up my first fountain pen. I loved the first-generation Pilot V-Ball extra fine pens when I was in college, but Pilot is on much later generations that seem to have lost something in both aesthetics and contact with the paper. In more professional settings, I've carried a Zebra F-701 (quietly recognized as the mainstream office pen best suited to stabbing someone) for a few years but have always been dissatisfied with the scratchiness of the writing experience. Along with my new notebook, I grabbed a LAMY Safari (fine nib) and have been delighted with how smoothly it flows compared to every ballpoint and most rollerballs on my desk. I don't know if it'll make my legendarily-illegible handwriting any better, but the control required may force me to slow down and concentrate a bit more.

Yesterday, the girl and I went out to Canoe Kentucky and rented a couple of kayaks for their shorter Elkhorn Creek float. We did this same trip with a canoe last summer, but last fall's kayak experience in North Carolina convinced us of the entertainment value of lighter personal watercraft.

By my Garmin track, we did five miles in 2:15ish, going with the current in no particular hurry. That included one stop to dewater the kayaks and ourselves after an unexpectedly-active set of riffles and a second stop for lunch on one of the islands.

Seen: a ridiculous number of turtles; one unconfirmed mink (could have been a different rodent of similar profile); grackles; robins; red-winged blackbirds; goldfinches; turkey vultures; hawks of undetermined flavor; an unconfirmed killdeer; mallards; Canada geese; and a small population of bank swallows (a new one for our bird book) hunting over the water in tight, energetic aerobatics.

The sport camera works nicely and no misfortune befell it despite my failure to bring a lanyard.

I also determined that I in a kayak am as fast as a goose in the water, but not faster than a goose in the air.

Also, this was a another three-bike-commute week, but without the implausibly-aggressive headwinds of the month's early parts.

So I ran this morning. 3.15 miles, just spitting distance beyond 5k. Crappy pace by the standards I try to hold myself to, 12:25 mile average, but I got it done without stopping and I didn't curl up in pain afterward. Little sore from the bouncing but I'm mostly functional after three weeks off and don't seem to have lost too much cardio.

Still not gonna get back on the bike for at least another week, though. Only seems prudent.

Afterward, the girl and I got breakfast from our favorite local bakery and had a picnic in a park before hitting the farmers' market. Then I persuaded her to come with me to the range and work the spotting scope while I put a hundred-yard zero on a rifle. Afterward, we drove around the farm roads looking for birds, but they were mostly off work, save for the usual vultures and a couple of hawks. Got lunch at a local barbecue place that is far better than its squeaky-clean appearance suggests. Came home, cleaned said rifle, and took care of some paperwork management that I'd been putting off for a while.

Not a bad day.

Finally back on a regular running schedule. For the last four weeks, I've gotten three runs a week logged. Not great. I've lost a lot of cardio. Did 3 miles today but 0.25 of that was a walk, so it doesn't really count as a 5k. But it's more than I've accomplished since December.

( Also accomplished today: )

Whew. And now it's flake o'clock.

Random update. Sometimes no plan is the best plan.

Yesterday: Run, breakfast at Magee's, farmers' market. Went to Louisville for lunch with Grandmom at FDKY BBQ. Saw her koi, which are getting huge. Did not see her cat.

Today: Up at cat o'clock, early grocery trip. Came home, unloaded food, went back out for a walk around the UK Arboretum. McAlister's and Graeter's for lunch. Made a random pass through Fresh Market on the way home for interesting foods and came away with a few things we'd never seen before, including a cream cheese/Greek yogurt mix which I intend to try on bagels Real Soon Now.

Now: Excavating my inbox.

This morning's run was... unpleasant. 35º and 85% humidity... we've done worse. But this was with irregular gusty winds and a constant fall of snow and sleet. Going into the wind, we couldn't see - not because of whiteout but because of little bits of ice blowing into our eyes. No accumulation on the ground, fortunately, and only a couple of places where wet fallen leaves were dangerously slick.

We skipped the farmers' market today. Only a few vendors were set up and neither Reed Valley Orchard nor Lexington Pasta appeared to be among them. This is the end of the season in more ways than one.

Other than the run and groceries, today has not been the most productive. I did some excavation of desk and workbench, jettisoned a bunch of old airsoft material that I'll never use again, and got to inbox zero. Meh.

A coat of stain, two coats of polyurethane sealant, and a couple dozen more screws later:

( click to enphotonate. )

No, nothing's really perfectly square on there. Oops.

We've been in this house five years now, which is profoundly disquieting when I stop to think about it. In that time, we've done a few minor home improvement projects, most of which have been twice as hard as they should have been because of the lack of proper tools or workspace (the lack of proper skill is another matter entirely).

This weekend, we're taking a step toward fixing at least one of those problems. Dad recently presented me with a brackets-and-directions set for building garage shelves or a workbench - just add lumber and a saw. We hit Home Depot yesterday for eleven 2x4s, a 3'x8' sheet of pegboard, and a 2'x8' sheet of 3/4" oak plywood that will eventually form the bench top. Managed to get all of that home in the Subversaru without losing any wood in traffic. Today sees a lot of measuring and cutting, and hopefully no trips to the emergency room to reattach severed digits. There may also be insertion of screws into wood if the construction management committee feels particularly ambitious.

Also yesterday: breakfast at First Watch (surprisingly disappointing), farmers' market for fresh local apples, Trader Joe's for a few things they do better, Kroger for the rest of the food, Another Man's Treasure in an unsuccessful attempt to jettison surplus furniture, Antique & Modern Firearms, lunch at Kosi, PetSmart, and CostCo. We left the house at 8:30 to start errands and didn't get the last load of crap home until after 6. Relaxing weekend this is not. Productive? Possibly.