Tag: coffee

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ramblings of a madman

Today is Sunday, July 16

Happy Sunday. It is sunny and almost noon here in Northern New Mexico. I have had my morning coffee, paid the bills, caught up on some news, and managed to get to the grocery store. Quite a productive day, so far. I found a brief moment to rush a posting on the blog. So here we go…

Yesterday I managed to take a Steve day. A Steve day is where I get out of the house and go off on some adventure or execute a ritual from times past. Well in this case, I went to Santa Fe, for all things…wait for it…lunch at Red Lobster. Yes, it is the simplest things in life. Given the distances between points in the west, compared to the east, one can drive miles as part of the adventure.

Except this was not much of an adventure. Only a 30-mile trip by car. Checking out the blue sky, running the air conditioner on high, and blasting the music while driving. Relaxing! Yet with gas still at $3.59 a gallon, the road trip has become somewhat more of a luxury than an adventure. That may be why it is best to combine the trips into the weekend getaway or plan multiple errands for the same trip.

I finally used that gift card that the kids got me for Christmas. It was tasty and filling. Followed that up with a trip to Dillard’s. Yes, I was at the mall! Malls still exist and are an important socio-economic element in society. Dillard’s remains an anchor tenet at Sante Fe Place, the mall south of Santa Fe. Malls were first hit hard by on-line shopping, and then the pandemic. There I bought some dress clothes for a possible trip in August, to attend the wedding of my cousin’s daughter. Not sure yet because there is much going on later in the month work wise. After clothes, some coffee and a grinder. Necessary for my morning habit.

When I first got to New Mexico, I spent lots of time at the mall, trying to adjust to my new surroundings, meet new people, get out of the house and have something outside of work look forward to. It was typically lunch and a movie, or lunch, a movie and a trip to the bookstore. After the long years of work, marriage and divorce, what I have become to call the hibernation years, I am finally resuming what I hope is the return to normalcy. After all, I am a human of habit. As the kids get older and are onto bigger and better things in their own lives, what becomes my third act in life is slowly taking shape, or so I may think.

For me, life is basically reduced to three acts. The first act encompasses the first 29 years and covers growing up and going to school. The second act, which I guess is slowly coming to an end, are the work years. These years represent the 30+ years here in New Mexico. When I retire, which remains unclear, will be the end of the second act and the start of the third act.

As soon as I have laid out that third act, then I can pull the lever and make it happen. I find that music is an important element of those periods and perhaps that is part of the problem. I have not found the correct sound for the next act. Yesterday I found myself dusting off some old music from the 80’s and 90’s, in the form of the Screaming Trees, Husker Du, the Buzzcocks, and other vintage sounds. According to Wikipedia, the Screaming Trees are no more, but the Buzzcocks released an album in 2022.

I don’t know why music fills much of the stages of my life. Corny to call the selections an operatic soundtrack? I have a lousy voice, cannot carry a tune, I cannot play an instrument, but find that music is at the center of many of my memories, from growing up in Pennsylvania, to college, to today. I have given thought about taking up an instrument when I retire, so maybe that will happen.

Sadly, I should have gone back to Pennsylvania last weekend for my uncle’s funeral. The last immediate relative from my childhood passed away earlier in the week. Except for the neighbors, who are in their 80’s, some cousins scattered throughout the state, there isn’t much of a reason to return. My connections with that time are limited and relegated to memories.

Except for the occasional Facebook postings, much of my interactions with where I grew up are now just memories. There is no more Chief Logan High School. Most of my friends from high school, or for that matter, college, have moved on. Away from Pennsylvania. Contact is reduced to Facebook.

It has been very hot the past week or so, with the daily temperatures getting up into the high 80’s or low 90’s. Some wind, low humidity, but no rain. I have been growing tomatoes and sweet peppers on the back deck. So far, so good, but I have been applying lots of water to them.

Too hot, unfortunately, to work outside at the stables and finish the fence. Might have to adjust my schedule and work very early in the morning. We shall see. Hay deliveries resume in a week and so I need to get into the summer weekend activities. After the fence, I need to work on repairs to the stable buildings, the back yard at the house, and my ultimate desire to find land away from everyone to have a weekend retreat, a compound, a place to get away from it all.

On that note, I will end it here. No pictures for this update. Just words about the weekend. Nothing about the happenings of the past week. Hope you have a great weekend and week ahead. Until next time…

Categories
the week in review

…tis the end of January 2022

Good morning everyone. I cannot believe that it is already the final few days of January. February is just around the corner. I have been awake for several hours now. Did some light reading than rose from bed to put a load of laundry into the washing machine. This has often been my typical routine of late as I try to figure out how to spend the day and the week.

Last week I found myself on travel. Work related, having to travel back east to Savannah River for a number of meetings. As with all travel that I have done of late, it completely disrupts my routine, resulting in the addition of unnecessary pounds for myself. Found full planes and no issues, delays, COVID or weather impacts. Masks required for planes, airports and some other locations. Largely not required for eating and drinking establishments in the state of South Carolina. Yes, the source of my extra pounds. Refreshing to see this, and old colleagues, and to think that we may be returning to normal.

Kids are back to school after their bout of COVID. Daughter resumed the daily care and feeding of the horses. I worry about son and how the past two years have taken much away from him. The whole on-line learning has not been good. How are we, as parents, to reduce his screen time from video games when school is now on-line? And it is not as if they are watching a video feed of the teacher in the classroom.

As for me, I remain lucky, knowing that it is just a matter of time before I too will become sick. We are told to follow the science but it has become more about politics and less about science. As with so many things about science in the mainstream anymore. Testing appears to be difficult to find. As a nation, I think we find ourselves weary of the pandemic. In talking with people, they are ready to return to a normal life.

I have to wonder how we can talk about normal in an environment where inflation is around and is impacting the cost of everything. People will want to travel but everything costs more, or is difficult to find, depending on what you are trying to accomplish. I know that I have cut back on my spending, trying to pay my bills, pay down debt, and save more. As I prepare for retirement, I watch the daily declines in the market. I see that my children’s college fund has also taken a hit. All of that makes me think that I need to work just a little longer.

But how much longer? This weekend I said bon voyage to a coworker and friend, who has left for a change of station. We had dinner and drinks Friday night and he dropped off a few things yesterday that he would have thrown out but didn’t want to waste. A couple of fishing rods, some laundry detergent, Kleenex, coffee, green chile vodka. His plans are to endure a year, maybe two in Washington and then to retire. As for me, its 31 years 1 month and 13 days. But who is keeping track? Sadly, I will miss our Sunday morning coffee cabals, or the occasional trips to the brew pub. They were great in that it got me out of the house, if only for a few hours.

Well it is a cold and cloudy 24 in Los Alamos as I write this. Jewel hasn’t had a walk in a week. While the kids did a great job of taking care of her with the feeding twice a day and letting her out for awhile, I am sure that she too could use a stretch of the legs. And so with that in mind, I will end this post and walk the dog. Until next time, stay safe, happy reading and be kind to everyone you meet. I have some Sunday reading to wrap up, some work related work to do and yes, begin that effort in which Americans refer to as tax time.

Categories
the week in review

…and its the last Monday of 2021.

Happy Holidays everyone. I trust you all had a warm and Merry Christmas. And now your thoughts turn ahead to the new year. I certainly hope for COVID to be gone in the new year. I found myself up at my usual time today and practiced my same routine: shower, get dressed, make coffee, and take the dog for a walk.

Outside it is cold and windy. There is some snow on the mountains above Los Alamos and Santa Fe. And there is snow in the forecast for today. As I sit writing this post, I noticed that the sun is shining outside.

For me it was a very uneventful Christmas. I believe that this was the first time that I had the kids stay over on Christmas eve. It has been a short 9 years (give or take) since the divorce. My first Christmas in awhile that I did not awake alone in this quiet house.

And so we awoke Christmas day to open presents and then feed the horses. As I have in past years, son and I put the tree up about 14 days before Christmas. For the past 5 years we have always put the tree in the same place. Unfortunately, this causes us to displace the dogs bed, which causes confusion with Jewel. She thinks that she is somehow in trouble and it clearly upsets her visibly.

The tree…and the stockings. Christmas 2021.

I certainly go for the minimalist look at Christmas time in terms of lights and decorations. Especially outside where this year I think that it was bells, a wreath, some canes with lights and an inflatable Grinch (my personal favorite). Of course, nothing brings yuletide greetings better than a visit to the local Starbucks for some coffee…

A lazy Sunday before Christmas.

Christmas is always another time for me to practice Chemistry. This year was Herb-Garlic crusted prime rib, a roasted Honey-root vegetable medley, baked potatoes, fruit cocktail and ice cream. The kids enjoyed the food, as did I, in terms of the preparing as well as the consuming.

Prime Rib on Christmas Eve 2021.

On Christmas day, we awoke to a cold and windy day, with some kids sleeping in until 7 am. Presents were opened, and I find it interesting to note that the kids actually had a theme for this year in terms of the gifts that they got me…

They try to get me to tell them which one is my favorite!

Hopefully it will be a quiet week. Had thought long and hard about going somewhere but looking at the inability to get travel arrangements on airplanes and the spike in COVID made that an easy decision.

Thinking that maybe I’ll spend the week cleaning up around the house, and do some reading. Not feeling too inspired or wanting to get out.

Looked at the postings over the year. Yes my son has changed clothes and although he is wearing the same shirt at Christmas Ever dinner as he did at Thanksgiving dinner, I can say he was delighted that school was out for a couple of weeks. Daughter is finally able to ride Roman and they both are starting a conditioning regime. So that has her smiling of late.

As for me…another year is winding down. I am still reading Atlas Shrugged, but I might work on that this week. I survived another year at work, but I am pretty sure that this will be my last. Managed to purchase some additional Made in the USA blue jeans, and now I am looking to get some shoes and dress shirts.

Oh how I wish that I posted more this year. Alas, I did not. Clear that as I ponder the postings, I see that my life revolves around work, horses, kids and the dog. I certainly think about a great many thing, but few of those thoughts actually get posted here. Most of my political rants get posted on Facebook, often after reading about things on a variety of web sites.

It’s Monday and so I’ll spend some time looking for investment ideas for the new year. Themes to put my savings so that they may grow at a rate greater than the inflation that the year had brought upon us. It is now over $50 to fill the gas tank, which is up 20% since this time last year.

Until next time…