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Still here
Aug. 30th, 2020 07:30 pm When I fall off the wagon of posting here regularly, I really fall. Two weeks since I even read my reading list. Almost three since I posted.
I can feel the turn of the seasons. Back in the Before Times, I'd measure the end of summer by the light levels on leaving and returning home. Now the most granular measurement is the angle of the sun at 8am when I "go to the office". Since my house aligns NW to SE with the back wall (and my office window) facing NE, the angle of the early morning sun is very evident. Which side of the curtains do I need to draw? At what time? And when can I pull them out of the way again?
But there's also the fact that it's still twilight at my normal rising time, so I've gotten out the "daylight" alarm clock again (the one that turns a light on gradually at a set time). And sitting here at 7:30 in the evening, the sun is down already. At high summer, it's light until my preferred bedtime. [Side note: I swear I'm hearing coyotes crying out in the hills. Might be some other source, but coyotes aren't implausible.] I need to start thinking about some things I want to do for winter mode of WFH. My office doesn't have any built-in lighting and the various portable lights aren't doing the trick. I'm thinking of having recessed ceiling lights installed like I did in the library.
I spent almost all weekend working on podcast stuff. Not the usual tasks of writing scripts and editing recordings, but instead re-mastering all the existing episodes (all 174 of them) in preparation for something I'll be announcing in the next podcast episode. It was very tedious but I got to a point where I decided to just power through and finish the job.
I feel like my quarantine brain has turned a corner in the last couple weeks. I read a couple of e-books this weekend. (Short story and novella, but still...) By necessity I'm back in a regular routine of reading and summarizing for the LHMP blog. On Saturday, I cleaned one side of the garage! The other side requires me to think seriously about how to arranged my "workbench" area. No actual workbench, but that's where it would go if I had it. In fact, organizing it probably requires actually acquiring a workbench with storage area for larger items underneath as well as surfaces that are usable for projects. Ha. This assumes that--now that I'm not making medieval camp furniture--I'm likely to actually do major woodworking projects. But you never know.
It's also time to start thinking about what I want to do with the garden over the winter. Before, I just let it rest because I never had enough daylight at home to do anything serious in the winter. But now? I'm thinking about trying some cold weather crops. Definitely start some winter onions, maybe try peas and beans? And speaking of the produce of my estates, I was checking out the citrus grove the other day and my Buddha's hand citron has two fruits! Plus, the kumquat tree is covered with blossoms. I have my second bushel basket of apples needing to be processed. After that, a break before I need to do anything with the pomegranates, quinces, and medlars. In the mean time, it's still high summer as far as the tomatoes and eggplant are concerned. The secret to eggplant seems to be to give them enough water. (My water bill is suggesting to me that I find a slightly happier medium.)
And now it's dark and the mosquitos are waking up, so time to go back inside and do something productive again.
.
I can feel the turn of the seasons. Back in the Before Times, I'd measure the end of summer by the light levels on leaving and returning home. Now the most granular measurement is the angle of the sun at 8am when I "go to the office". Since my house aligns NW to SE with the back wall (and my office window) facing NE, the angle of the early morning sun is very evident. Which side of the curtains do I need to draw? At what time? And when can I pull them out of the way again?
But there's also the fact that it's still twilight at my normal rising time, so I've gotten out the "daylight" alarm clock again (the one that turns a light on gradually at a set time). And sitting here at 7:30 in the evening, the sun is down already. At high summer, it's light until my preferred bedtime. [Side note: I swear I'm hearing coyotes crying out in the hills. Might be some other source, but coyotes aren't implausible.] I need to start thinking about some things I want to do for winter mode of WFH. My office doesn't have any built-in lighting and the various portable lights aren't doing the trick. I'm thinking of having recessed ceiling lights installed like I did in the library.
I spent almost all weekend working on podcast stuff. Not the usual tasks of writing scripts and editing recordings, but instead re-mastering all the existing episodes (all 174 of them) in preparation for something I'll be announcing in the next podcast episode. It was very tedious but I got to a point where I decided to just power through and finish the job.
I feel like my quarantine brain has turned a corner in the last couple weeks. I read a couple of e-books this weekend. (Short story and novella, but still...) By necessity I'm back in a regular routine of reading and summarizing for the LHMP blog. On Saturday, I cleaned one side of the garage! The other side requires me to think seriously about how to arranged my "workbench" area. No actual workbench, but that's where it would go if I had it. In fact, organizing it probably requires actually acquiring a workbench with storage area for larger items underneath as well as surfaces that are usable for projects. Ha. This assumes that--now that I'm not making medieval camp furniture--I'm likely to actually do major woodworking projects. But you never know.
It's also time to start thinking about what I want to do with the garden over the winter. Before, I just let it rest because I never had enough daylight at home to do anything serious in the winter. But now? I'm thinking about trying some cold weather crops. Definitely start some winter onions, maybe try peas and beans? And speaking of the produce of my estates, I was checking out the citrus grove the other day and my Buddha's hand citron has two fruits! Plus, the kumquat tree is covered with blossoms. I have my second bushel basket of apples needing to be processed. After that, a break before I need to do anything with the pomegranates, quinces, and medlars. In the mean time, it's still high summer as far as the tomatoes and eggplant are concerned. The secret to eggplant seems to be to give them enough water. (My water bill is suggesting to me that I find a slightly happier medium.)
And now it's dark and the mosquitos are waking up, so time to go back inside and do something productive again.
.
