First, a confession – I didn’t run eight miles with the famed No Meat Athlete Guy during his ultramarathon on Sunday, which turned out to be a brutal, but successful experience for him. No, I woke up on Sunday with glands the size of golf balls. I gave up on the day and slept. Fortunately, Matt had actual, reliable people who were crewing for him, so it’s not like I stranded him without something he was counting on, other than the pleasure of running with a complete stranger at a point in the race where it sounds like he was debating the wisdom of being alive and all.
On Monday, I woke up feeling a lot better – thanks to the sleep, and to copious amounts of echinacea. So I took myself for an 8.3 mile run to at least burn the calories. And then it started raining.
Which was a wonderful thing. According to the folks who track such things, our corner of the state is in moderate drought.
So by now, Tuesday night, it’s been raining pretty steadily for what, a couple of days now? By “steadily” I guess I really just mean, it’s been drizzly and at times actually raining. But it’s been enough to actually bring water back to the brook that runs alongside and through our property!
This creek bed had otherwise been dry since maybe… July. Hooray! Back to full showers! We’ve got well water, and while we’ve had zero indications of being short on water, I’ve taken to minimal bathing. Such are pleasures of a life of hermitude – who cares if I slack off on showers? Do I really need to use multiple gallons of water to wash my 30 inch long hair every day? I don’t think so.
Was this Too Much Information for you? I’m sorry. Let me now go into full on formal mode, all professional.
Let’s see. I put on my flak jacket today and went into town to witness the celebration regarding the expansion of the Bratt Food Coop, where I’m a working member. This just means I bag groceries for a couple of hours every month in exchange for a discount.
Here are the official shovels and hardhats, at the ready. There was a tent, with speakers. Blah blah blah. Couldn’t hear them. It’s a great project – kinda bold, in this economy. They’re tearing down the current building and putting up an entirely new building, three stories; affordable housing / offices on the top two floors and the new store on the ground floor. Green building principles. Etc. We support this project, to the tune of we’re participating in the member loan drive. And hey: it’s a public event, only the second one I’ve attended since I quit my job for the Town. So that I even showed up tells you, I genuinely care about this project.
I mention all this by way of giving myself permission to now diss the ceremony. Let’s review. What are those shovels are sitting in? A randomly placed furrow of dirt. Which, incidentally, is actually nowhere near where the new building is going to be. Instead, we’re standing where a wing of the building – which until recently housed a bagel shop – was just demolished. So it’s really not a ground…breaking.
It’s a bunch of people milling around self-consciously wearing hard hats.
My goodness, please tell me I haven’t become cynical. Moi?
What really interested me was the sight of the most enormous backhoe ever, on the other side of the parking lot, ripping apart an embankment where the new building’s going to go. That’s where I really wanted to be.
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