![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I dragged myself out of bed this morning at 5:45 to realize that, yes, it is now officially Dark at 6 AM. Instead of hitting the trail, I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill. There is no wind in the gym, or any trees, or any bunnies. (Not even gym bunnies, at that hour of the day.)
I keep the gym membership for the months when it is too dark, cold, or rainy to go out in the morning. I have to say, though, that it really is a poor substitute for the real thing. But it'll keep me going until spring.
*****
Had very strange dreams last night about aliens who were deeply concerned with whether my car registration and insurance were up to date, and then proceeded to shoot laser beams from their eyes. (I blame the Mongol thing I'm working on, which has wolves that shoot frickin' leaser beams from their eyes.)
Desk will be acquired tonight, and then organization will begin. I'm also pondering doing a bathroom redecoration when I'm off work; some minor improvements like actual color on the walls and shelves rather than the étagère that's over the toilet will, I think, make a huge difference in the room. Right now, the walls and the ceiling are off-white. I'm strongly considering painting them either a purple-tinted white or a medium blue-green. Blue-green is winning, currently. I need to go back to the hardware store and pick up some more paint chips.
This bathroom's a difficult room, because it has no natural light whatsoever. I think some pretty new paint and a new shower curtain are just the ticket. And maybe some full-spectrum bulbs for the light fixtures.
It's weird; two years in a row, I took most of a week off of work in July and painted a room. Then I moved in July last year. I evidently missed my July "fixing up the house" spurt, though it could be argued that the garden was this year's project. So it might have to be October, this year. We'll see how I feel after PMS has passed and my office is back together. I have an idea that I think would be pretty cool, though. There is a perfect place to put some really strong color into the room without overwhelming it, I think.
I've never painted a bathroom before. This ought to be amusing.
****
I rode twenty-two miles on Saturday on the Cedar River trail. It was a beautiful day, warm with the remnants of summer, and I wanted to see where the day and the trail went.
I stopped at some of the most heavily bearing blackberry bushes I've ever seen and browsed, thinking that there are many things I will never get tired of, and one of them is the taste of ripe, sun-warmed blackberries straight from the bush. Then I got back on my bike and kept riding, as the river ran on one side and the side of the valley sloped up and away at the other.
I got to Maple Valley and kept going...until I ran out of pavement.
There had been a section earlier where it had gone gravel, as they were working on it. However, as I pedaled along the dirt and gravel trail, I realized that the pavement wasn't about to start up again any time soon.
I stopped. Looked up at the sky. Decided that I probably wanted to get back before dark, and turned around. On the way back, I stopped at what has to be a very old apple tree, heavy with little apples that tasted a lot like Gala apples. They were wonderful.
It took me just shy of two hours to go those 22 miles; like my bicycle, I am not built for speed but stamina. I don't go so fast, but I can go pretty far when I put my mind to it. Evidently, the trail continues on as gravel to Landsburg Park, but I'm not sure how much farther that is. My bike tires can handle the gravel with no problems, so when I have some more time, I'll go back and see where it goes.
I keep the gym membership for the months when it is too dark, cold, or rainy to go out in the morning. I have to say, though, that it really is a poor substitute for the real thing. But it'll keep me going until spring.
*****
Had very strange dreams last night about aliens who were deeply concerned with whether my car registration and insurance were up to date, and then proceeded to shoot laser beams from their eyes. (I blame the Mongol thing I'm working on, which has wolves that shoot frickin' leaser beams from their eyes.)
Desk will be acquired tonight, and then organization will begin. I'm also pondering doing a bathroom redecoration when I'm off work; some minor improvements like actual color on the walls and shelves rather than the étagère that's over the toilet will, I think, make a huge difference in the room. Right now, the walls and the ceiling are off-white. I'm strongly considering painting them either a purple-tinted white or a medium blue-green. Blue-green is winning, currently. I need to go back to the hardware store and pick up some more paint chips.
This bathroom's a difficult room, because it has no natural light whatsoever. I think some pretty new paint and a new shower curtain are just the ticket. And maybe some full-spectrum bulbs for the light fixtures.
It's weird; two years in a row, I took most of a week off of work in July and painted a room. Then I moved in July last year. I evidently missed my July "fixing up the house" spurt, though it could be argued that the garden was this year's project. So it might have to be October, this year. We'll see how I feel after PMS has passed and my office is back together. I have an idea that I think would be pretty cool, though. There is a perfect place to put some really strong color into the room without overwhelming it, I think.
I've never painted a bathroom before. This ought to be amusing.
****
I rode twenty-two miles on Saturday on the Cedar River trail. It was a beautiful day, warm with the remnants of summer, and I wanted to see where the day and the trail went.
I stopped at some of the most heavily bearing blackberry bushes I've ever seen and browsed, thinking that there are many things I will never get tired of, and one of them is the taste of ripe, sun-warmed blackberries straight from the bush. Then I got back on my bike and kept riding, as the river ran on one side and the side of the valley sloped up and away at the other.
I got to Maple Valley and kept going...until I ran out of pavement.
There had been a section earlier where it had gone gravel, as they were working on it. However, as I pedaled along the dirt and gravel trail, I realized that the pavement wasn't about to start up again any time soon.
I stopped. Looked up at the sky. Decided that I probably wanted to get back before dark, and turned around. On the way back, I stopped at what has to be a very old apple tree, heavy with little apples that tasted a lot like Gala apples. They were wonderful.
It took me just shy of two hours to go those 22 miles; like my bicycle, I am not built for speed but stamina. I don't go so fast, but I can go pretty far when I put my mind to it. Evidently, the trail continues on as gravel to Landsburg Park, but I'm not sure how much farther that is. My bike tires can handle the gravel with no problems, so when I have some more time, I'll go back and see where it goes.
