10 minutes
After arriving home last night, with the skies threatening, I started mowing the lawn. (I needed to have it completed before the weekend.) The wind was tremendous and I ended up with face full after face full of grass clippings and dust. This might be a minor annoyance were it not for my allergies. I won't go into any detail, because it's not really important, but suffice it to say, my sinuses and eyes were not doing well by the end of it all.
But that's not the point of this post. The point is what happened after.
Within 10 minutes of me completing the lawn and putting everything away:
- Dinner came out of the oven
helloheather wrapped up her gardening and moved the car into the garage- Nathan went to sleep for an evening nap
- It started to rain
It was like some sort of dinner nexus came together and we were able to relax and eat. With the temps dropping by the minute as the rain came through, and the strong winds blowing the trees to and fro, it was really quite wonderful. I love a good spring rain and a cool spring breeze.
Later, Nathan woke up from his nap and all three of us danced in the living room to Eli Paperboy Reed's "Take My Love With You."
It was a really nice evening.
Healthy or Cheap – Eat one
Eating healthy is not cheap. Eating cheap is not healthy. I'm sure this does not come as a shock to anyone reading this...it's just something that's been on my mind as of late.
As someone who often buys his lunch, this dichotomy is something I struggle with every day. Cheap food abounds in Chicago...but it's very unhealthy. Healthy food also abounds...but it's rarely inexpensive. As someone who wants to become more healthy through both better food choices and exercise, I find the battles between these two ideas difficult.
An all to common occurrence is that I will walk over 2 miles during one of my lunch hours, which was great, but it leaves me very little time to grab any food. So I end up grabbing a fast-food burger and fries, completely negating whatever I had gained from my walk.
I have been trying to bring my lunch in more often, which may help balance the two a bit, but it has been a difficult habit to start. More often than not I'm rushing out of the house in order to make the train with moments to spare. I'm not giving myself enough time to make those better choices.
I have a feeling this is going to be a constant struggle in my life.
Productivity
We worked in the yard a bit today. Nathan helped quite a bit.
We ended up getting quite a bit done on the back planting bed. It was a great feeling. Nathan was very content to play in the mulch and attempt to stab himself with various gardening implements.
Photos of Nathan – December and January
From the "Better late than never" department....
I have uploaded photos of Nathan (and family) from December (with captions)
http://www.bernhard.us/photos/nathan-122006
and photos of Nathan (and friends and family) from January (currently without captions)
http://www.bernhard.us/photos/nathan-012007
Thank you England…
The idea of a well-manicured lawn was carried to the US in the minds of the English. Their climate of rain, rain, and more rain is perfectly suited for lush green grasses. When people started leaving England and arriving in North America, they brought this idea with them.
During this migration, the Midwest, (quietly minding its own business,) was happily churning out mind-numbingly beautiful acre after acre of prairie. Prairie, mind you, that was perfectly suited for the hot and dry summers of the Midwest. Perfectly suited to the cycle of regeneration provided by lightening strikes and the resulting wildfires. Perfectly suited to the needs of the grazing animal and the predators they supported.
Short green grasses were not part of this ecosystem.
But the idea of the lawn has been passed down from generation to generation, regardless of the reality of the climate. Witness the golf courses of the desert southwest and the most extreme example of this.
*********************************************************
I try really hard not to get caught up in my lawn. I don't need to make it a showcase nor do I think it reflects on my value as a person. I don't like dumping chemicals on it and I have yet to figure out how to mow in any pattern than the one I already have.
But I do want it to look reasonably nice and I want it to be reasonably free of weeds. The previous owner had not been able to keep up on the yard for a while due to health concerns. And I've been slowly trying to win back the grass. But I feel like I'm losing both the battle and the war.
I have resorted to chemicals now a couple times. A pre-winter-post-fall dry spread and a anti-crabgrass spread this spring in addition to a liquid spray two years ago. But the weeds continue to advance and areas of extreme shade have lost more grass. In addition, the mulched beds in the back have yet again been overrun with weeds.
It's a lot of work and we're not even maintaining status-quo...we're actually losing ground.
And so I go back to my original statement. I try really hard not to get caught up in it all...but I find myself doing exactly that.
Extending the walk
(click for a larger view)
Yesterdays walk was a bit longer than normal. On the map above I went counter-clockwise starting in the lower-left corner for a total of 4.3 miles. My original goal was to walk along the lake up to Olive Park near Navy Pier, but sadly the park is closed due to construction. Not realizing that crossing Lake Shore Drive wasn't possible until Chicago Ave. I continued north from the park. But there was a nice cool breeze coming off the lake and I was glad to walk in areas new to me.
(click for larger view)
Heroes
Last week I started watching Heroes during my commute (I'm up to episode 12). I'm interested and the story seems compelling, but I'm a bit put off by the cribbing from Lost. Now, I gave up on Lost most of the way through Season 2, so I'm basing my character development on only those episodes I've seen. Though I've not done any Google searching on this topic, I'm sure this is one of those cases where everyone else has figured this out already...
Anyway here's what I've come up with so far:
Lost
- A doctor that is always trying to save everyone and who's father did some bad things then died.
- A slightly unshaven guy from Iraq who's a whiz with electronics and questions people
- Husband and wife from Korea, only one of whom speaks English
- A mysterious and beautiful woman with an apparently violent past
- A young child who has special abilities
- A musician who's addicted to heroin
- A mostly silent and rather large black man from Africa.
- A shadow organization that seems to be controlling a lot of what is happening
Heroes
- A nurse that believes he can save everyone and who's father did some bad things then died.
- A sometimes unshaven guy from India who's a whiz with genetics and questions people
- Two male friends from Japan only one of whom really speaks any English.
- A beautiful woman around whom terribly violent things are happening
- A young child who has special abilities
- A painter who's addicted to heroin
- A mostly silent and rather large black man from Haiti
- A shadow organization that seems to be attempting to control a lot of what is happening.
I've probably missed some similarities (is there a connection between the cops on either show?). Heroes moves at about the same pace as Lost but at least seems to be resolving threads, whereas Lost (again, as of season 2) suffered from its well documented case of open-thread-itus.