I woke about twenty minutes before the alarm. I didn’t check the time at first, but when I didn’t fall back into a dream right away, I looked at the clock. I think my body knew I didn’t have enough to get back into a dream. Maybe next time, I’ll get up when I wake up before the alarm. But this morning, I didn’t.
I got going on my walk a bit after 6. It was below freezing again, but I walked fast enough to get sweaty by the time I finished. I sat outside for a few minutes, admiring the bright sky in the east and listening to some birds grumble. According to the Merlin app, they were partridges. I couldn’t see them, but there was definitely more than one out there.
Work went okay today. I felt like I was getting a lot done. I got a call from the Washington County probation officer, and I’ll be having a meeting with him in a couple of weeks. They only come to Weiser every other week, so it’s hard to schedule a meeting. Especially because their days are Wednesdays and that’s the day I have my weekly therapy.
I did start to feel very tired after lunch. It was hard to stay awake and focused on work. But I got through the day and my evening walk was energizing. I called the ReStore in Boise, and I am welcome to come in on Saturday to start my volunteer hours. I’ll be staying Friday night with a friend in Boise so I don’t have to get up super early on Saturday and drive in. It’s nice not to have to drive both ways in one day. I will probably drive home Saturday evening, because I like my own bed. Hopefully I can get a good 8 hours in on the 40 I need.
After my walk, I took a quick shower to rinse off the sweat and then got started with the cooking project. I had a family zoom at 6, and used my family’s presence to help me on my mission to chop vegetables, brown some ground beef, and get it all cooking in tomato juice. It wasn’t going to be ready in time to eat for dinner tonight, so I had some Campbell’s canned soup for tonight. But Gramma Conroy’s Kidney Bean Stew smells delicious. Might be lunch and dinner tomorrow.
While it was simmering, I got my exercises done. I did the first day of the fourth (and last) week of the Head & Neck level 2 program. And after I finished with the stew, I did another ten minutes of staff spinning. There’s something about that that I’m finding very soothing. Not just physically, but the concentration that the motion requires in the confined space of my living room feels good as well. It’s like a meditation. I’ve started tracking my staff spinning on my calendar. There’s room now that I don’t have to track days of being suspended from driving.
I’m in a tough period right now. I’m going to have to focus and get things done. But I can do it. I can push through this, and when I’m all done with my community service obligations, I’m going to be able to start driving out to early season trailheads and go on hikes. I might even check out some trailheads on Sundays, but that will partly depend on how tired I am from working all day on Saturdays. I need to make sure that I conserve energy for my job. But a drive to the woods just to be out there a bit… that might be doable this weekend.
