The Raven's Roost

The official first day of autumn actually feels like fall. Yesterday was pleasant and today it was actually nice and cool when I got up. The humidity is still high or we'd have the house open for a while, but by next week it should be comfortable enough for some of that.

So, while I knew it was extremely likely that Disney Marathon Weekend was going to be cancelled, yesterday they finally made it official. But they seem to have learned from the Wine & Dine cancellation and actually took steps to entice people to not request full refunds. For half our Dopey Challenge fee, we still get all six medals and the "opportunity" to run virtually. You also get the Dopey tech shirt, and you can get the other five if you want to pay extra. We're awash in tech shirts so we're going to pass on that one.

I think with Wine & Dine, if they'd allowed people a similar option maybe more would not have cancelled. I was just not thrilled with the medal designs, and for me the big draw of doing that race was actually being there for the Food & Wine Festival. But for this, it will allow me to do my fourth Dopey Challenge, and while there isn't the "Disney Experience," there also isn't a required minimum pace, no bathroom lines, no corral waits, no getting up at three a.m. unless you just really want to, and no mental pressure to try to PR.

Today I'm trying to clear some chores and routine things early so around noon, I can start downloading Untitled Goose Game on Steam. I can pretend to be a bird and terrorize people! Wait, I already do that ...

Speaking of, I purchased the instructions for making a paper raven mask from one of those papercrafting sites. Next time I'm out I'll need to pick up some sheets of colored card stock.

Finished this up this evening.

I'm seriously considering learning to "grunge" and adding a little of that to it, then putting it up on RedBubble. Because I would actually buy a t-shirt of this and wear it around. I guess it's a tad egotistical to wear your own stuff, but I also drew this mostly for my own amusement, so why not? And I feel like a little wear and age would give it the perfect 80's surf t-shirt vibe, like the Ron Jon shirts half the kids in my school wore. (I grew up in Tennessee. No one surfs there.)

Meantime, I'm going to go cool it for a while. I had a busy-ish day.

 I had my first real bike crash yesterday. I am working on learning to turn and corner, so right now I'm playing with balance and steering, trying to keep in a more or less straight line, that sort of thing. Some places are very hard because the sand has gotten dry and soft again, making some areas very hard to keep your momentum in, so there were a few times when I basically just slid sideways - no biggie. Until I got severely off course and hit a tree. Not a big tree, but one covered with those stupid thorny vines that grow everywhere around here! So I just laid there for a moment doing an internal 'system check,' decided I was more okay than not, and slowly began extricating myself from the brambles. I cleaned up my very minor injuries and called it a day. I scraped one elbow, which looks awful because of how much skin was torn off, but is actually a pretty shallow wound, have scratches up my left arm and on my hand, and yesterday was having minor muscle pains in the left leg, probably from tensing up and then falling on it, IDK. But this morning I was all right when I got up (scrapes and cuts aside) and after my morning yoga I don't really feel any muscle or joint pains.

So like the very stupid and very persistent person I am, I'm going out again today. But hopefully I won't be examining any plant life close-up.

I guess I should think about getting a helmet.

 I'm considering doing a supply run Saturday. Again, not low on much except fresh produce, and I'll be topping off other things like cat food, some canned goods, flour if I can find it. I'm pretty sure you've all seen the idiots beating the drum to "re-open America" and I know we're going to just Leeroy Jenkins it. But Fox and I are going to continue staying home as much as possible and keeping contact to a minimum. I understand people want to get back to work because they've been living paycheck to paycheck, and no real help is forthcoming. I also worry about governmental overreach and loss of the freedoms we still have. But I also don't want to go spreading deadly viruses around, either. So when you see me making fun of the "re-open" crowd, I mean the people who just want to go to Bass Pro Shop, or who've been stockpiling dried beans and ammo for decades getting ready for "the big one" and are now losing their shit because Baskin Robbins is closed. "I need a haircut!" No, darlin' you want a haircut, there's a difference and it's not one of mere semantics. 

I mean, I've had a MAD craving for Tijuana Flats these last few days. Florida peeps know what I mean - gotta get some of that Slap My Ass Sauce. ;D I wonder if they're doing curbside take-away. Hmmm. 

I've already  heard a woodpecker calling this morning, and just now heard the Blue Jays. There are three of them, and they usually come to the feeder in a group. The only way to tell them apart is the differing amounts of gray in their plumage. I don't know if it's possible or not but they may have interbred a little with the local Florida Scrub Jays. There was also a hummingbird on the back porch feeder, which seems to get much less traffic and the bird was able to perch for at least a minute and just drink as much as it wanted. Droopy the Crow is back! I worried that s/he either found a new place to hang out or that something bad had happened to them.

I found a big package of breathing masks this morning. They're not the N95 PPE masks, but the basic ones you often see Japanese people wearing when they're sick. One package is just a big clear cellophane bag of about a dozen, the other is literally Japanese, with kanji text, and has three masks. We acquired these when Kitty was still alive on the off chance she could wear them to avoid catching other peoples' crud - though obviously the idea is that sick people wear them to avoid spreading their own crud. But this is America, where we have the freedom to spread infection willy-nilly because no one can tell me to wear a mask or practice basic hygiene, or show any regard for my fellow humans because fReEdUm. So my plan was to start masking up when I need to go out, though I was previously going to just use a bandanna because that's what I have.  As I think I've said before, I'm not so much worried about contracting corona myself - there won't be any avoiding coming into contact with it. But I am trying to avoid spreading it to others as much as I can.

When I last went grocery shopping, the dried beans were pretty well all gone except for the 15-bean soup mix. No idea why. But I picked up a couple of bags and I plan to make this - https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/very-versatile-baked-beans-with-cabbage with a partial head of red cabbage I have already. I find it difficult to believe all these people are suddenly baking their own bread, cooking beans from scratch, and other such homey undertakings and NOT just stockpiling food. But I already had a decently stocked pantry so at the moment I'm not too worried about it. Might make some Navajo flat bread to go with my beans.

Since we all live in an Edward Hopper painting now, here's Early Sunday Morning, which for whatever reason I tend to mis-remember as Easter Monday.

Fox and I discussed it a bit this morning and since we were up, had eaten breakfast, and had nothing else pressing to do at home, we decided to go ahead and try to get grocery shopping for the next seven to ten days done. I filled up the water jugs and we bought some extra cat food and litter for in case there's a more strict lockdown in our county. Despite preferring a vegan diet, I will happily go to subsisting on a diet of meat and rice so long as the cats have everything they need. Although when I come out of that lockdown I'll probably be just as ravenous for a green salad as I was when we got back from Tokyo. "I will fight all y'all for a head of cabbage."

Anyway, since it was very early we were able to score everything on the list. We weren't there right when the stores opened, but close to it, so I was even able to buy things like sugar. I'm not exactly using that much sugar, but I wanted to get at least a four-pound bag for feeding the hummingbirds. I know they're perfectly capable of finding their own food, but I enjoy watching them. Speaking of which!

We were looking through footage from our security cameras today. They have infrared, because what good's a security camera that can't see at night? Anyway, I've been leaving my hummingbird feeders outside at night because I didn't have a free dish tub to put them in. (It's a long story that involves ants) The bears haven't found them yet, so it's a "so far so good" thing. Anyway - a couple of nights that particular camera recorded movement, and it looks like a huge moth is drinking at those feeders! You can't see it very well, but it's probably too small for a bat, and the flight is sort of moth-like, if that makes sense. I would like to set up a better or closer camera for a few nights just to see what we're getting.

So I bought veggies and stuff, and I'm pretty happy. Going out that early also meant there weren't many others around. Fox and I were able to stand in the street in front of Walmart and have a conversation, which is normally a good way to get run over. But there were hardly any people there. Publix was a little busier, but not by much.

I wasn't feeling too hot last night but it passed, and today, while I'm not 100%, I do feel better. It was all stomach related though. I have no idea why, as Fox didn't have any problems, so it couldn't have been what we ate. I also didn't run a fever. Maybe an overblown stress reaction? I carry stress in my gut, and when I'm anxious or scared that's the first thing that starts cramping and complaining. (The reason I rarely eat much when I'm flying anywhere.) But I did wake up for a while last night and decided to read, so I finally got around to starting In RE: Sherlock Holmes, The Adventures of Solar Pons, which happens to be just as good as I was hoping. It's obviously not Holmes, but I don't care.

I was a bit leery of them, but logically I knew if someone had gone through the trouble of reprinting these from Derleth's original publications, they can't be that bad. But I was afraid of them being bad fanfic. I might go ahead and order the second volume - I know the mail is running a little slow, which I understand.

So for tonight, just going to make dinner as usual and work on drawing. I run out of energy more easily today, so even an hour drawing means I need to go stretch out for a while. It's annoying to not have the stamina I'm used to, and I was supposed to get an eight-mile run in today, but it's not like I have anything else to do.

I should put more of an effort into posting here, and I can't even use the excuse that I've been busy, just that it hasn't crossed my mind as much. There isn't a lot going on out here. With the exception of not going into town, life is kind of the same as usual. Fox's allergies have picked a less than stellar time to start bothering him, and he's miserable. It hasn't rained in a long time and I'm now watering my garden daily, looking to step up to twice-daily. My seed tray looks good, though some of the seedlings are leggy, but everything's coming up nicely. The garden itself is full of leafy greens, and the serrano pepper is coming back to life after the winter, though it needs pruning.

Today I'm going to do a detailed assessment of what food I have, make menus with what's here, and from there determine when I next need to go grocery shopping. Considering I have already found two packages of prepared jackfruit, that needing-to-go-out date got pushed forward a couple of days. I should have more than enough meats for Omnivore Fox. Since I've got a garden started, and Middleburg is one of those towns where no one's a vegetarian, Veggie Bird should be fine, too. The last time I was at my local Publix, the produce section was really well stocked up. We're still out of or have limited amounts of other staples - rice and beans, flour, sugar, etc, but I had already started stocking up on those things before everyone started panic shopping. And since we're on Team Bidet, toilet paper isn't a problem, either.

Basically the only thing I'm interested in doing lately is drawing. I finally have a title for a new comic story, which for whatever reason for me is necessary before I really get writing. So now I can start drawing character sheets, writing an outline, etc. I'm going to take on a commission and maybe do some personal pieces while I'm gearing up for that.

Some of the books I stress-bought through Amazon Marketplace are coming in. One is It Must Be Art: Big O Poster Artists of the 60s and 70s which turned out to be a huge hardcover and is in really good shape. The color register is good, the binding is a bit cracked, but the pages are secure, so I'm really pleased with it, considering I paid three bucks for the thing. It covers a lot of illustrators and artists whose work I grew up looking at - HR Giger, Roger Dean (of Yes album cover fame), Rudolf Hausner whose surrealist-inspired self portraits I saw in the pages of Omni Magazine, Rodney Matthews, and the sublime Abdul Mati Klarwein. Absolutely wonderful.

Today I have some hill repeats to run on the treadmill, a weight lifting workout, and I'm painting my nails. No one but me and Fox will see them but it cheers me up. Especially the choice of color - OPI's "Orange You A Rock Star?" which is this retina-poking neon orange. I mean, this is a really obnoxious color, I love it. Also doing homemade pizza tonight. I did these recently and didn't chicken out on cranking the heat up, so I actually got nice char and blisters on my crusts. It'll probably get a little smokey in here but it shouldn't be too bad. Last time I did this, the windows were still open.

Middleburg wasn't exactly a ghost town, but there are far less people out than would normally be on a nice spring morning. No waiting in line at stores, very little traffic, though not exactly eerie or anything. Saw several people in facemasks and gloves, etc. I elected not to glove up, but washed my hands thoroughly a couple of times. There wasn't a single solitary sheet of toilet paper to be found - luckily I don't actually need any. Publix has instituted rationing on a lot of items, so only two cans of veggies, only two boxes of pasta, etc. The dried beans were wiped out except for some lonely bags of cranberry beans. Maybe people just don't recognize them? I love cranberry beans, so I picked some up. I also splurged and bought myself a dark chocolate Easter rabbit - one of the small Lindt ones.

I was able to top off the diesel can and the truck, and some lady a few pumps away was talking about, "Well, what will happen if there's no gas?" I will tell you - it will be sort of like the week right after a bad hurricane passes through. Except it will be that way forever. I'm not being flippant, either, I've been in the aftermaths of some serious storms and we've had to be very careful in our self-rationing, and even when you know the power and everything will eventually be back it's kind of stressful. So if there's no more fuel period, you'd better start rearranging your life.

I've been on Yoga Journal's mailing list for some time now, and they're giving away access to some of their online courses for free. You might need to subscribe to them, but you can always unsub later. For example, I enrolled in a six week pranayama course taught by Rodney Yee, which is really taking me on the deep dive with yoga that I wanted to do this year. Iyengar said (and I paraphrase) that prana IS yoga. Some of the other classes are things like basic and intermediate asana, meditation, one on yoga nidra which, if you're dealing with a lot of anxiety around current events I'd highly recommend it. Anyway, you get the drift. That being said, whenever I roll out my yoga mat, I usually have a couple of cats who come along and show off how much more flexible they are than me. Like okay Feisal, you can lick your own junk, good job. Dork.

Anyway, got some cleaning up to do this afternoon, an easy three-mile run, roleplaying online tonight while I work on the last two comic pages for "The Cat's Inheritance."

I'm exhausted. I am not sleeping as much at night as I need to, and part of the problem is that while I get tired and get into bed at my usual clock time, I am not falling asleep like I used to, so I may need to go back on melatonin for a while until my body resets. Of course, the other beneficial thing to do would be to abolish the time changes, but you've already heard this rant from me. And if you ever followed me on LiveJournal, you've been hearing it for the last twenty years! Huzzah, have a cookie.

Today in Stress Baking, I am going to whip up some protein bars. I follow this formula from No Meat Athlete with the slight modification that I find them a bit dry and add a little more peanut butter and sometimes a shot of almond milk to loosen the mixture up. My personal flavor preference is for cocoa powder and almond extract, which gives them a sort of amaretto chocolate taste, but vanilla is perfectly tasty, too. Later this week I'm making my blackberry tart, and I found a recipe for blondies that calls for the addition of crystallized ginger candy, which sounds amazing.

I also missed my morning yoga for several days but I'm back to it. Normally my rule is "don't miss two in a row," but sometimes exceptions have to be made to every rule. I can tell that I did, though, when I do anything that flexes and puts weight on my shoulders, I can feel the left one complaining. Gentle complaining, but it's still there. Recently I was reading an article about gut mobility and running. If you think about the general body movement of running, you can see why it's beneficial to have internal organs that can shift and move without too much problem. People develop issues when trauma causes adhesions, though. I had always wondered what those were, and it explained that any tissue that endures trauma can develop adhesions through a chemical bonding process, and the result bond between tissues can be stronger even than scar tissue. So when the physical therapist told me that my repeated falls on that shoulder weren't the cause of my troubles, they were only partly right. While I didn't actually damage the joint, I apparently DID traumatize the shoulder enough that - you guessed it - adhesions formed. The shoulder has a shroud of tissue that stretches as it moves, and then folds up when it's at rest, and it is structured sort of like a pleated cheerleader's skirt. In my case, that's the thing that is damaged.

Normally today would be a day for running errands, but I'm probably not going anywhere. The schools are closed this week, and next week is their scheduled spring break, so I'm not going to pick up the neighbor's kids, either. Fox and I may venture out Friday just for looky-loos and to grab a few things at Walmart. In all my preparation, I neglected to check how much soy sauce we had. Can't survive an apocalypse without soy sauce.

I also ... may have bought some books. I've been very good about my personal "dumb shit" spending, but I blame stress. I picked up some used books through Amazon Marketplace, and found that there are a lot of Friends of the Library programs that use it, possibly as an alternative to on-site book sales. Anyway, I bought some volumes of 1960's era poster art and print advertising illustration, and a Dark Mountain anthology. I would love to get my grubby claws on Rian Hughes' books on lifestyle illustration and typography of the 50s and 60s but hot damn they're expensive. Anyway, all that will be landing on my doorstep this week.

I had this idea earlier about pet portraits or furry pieces. I've seen a lot of great pictures people are doing of animals in medieval or Renaissance costume, high fantasy outfits, etc. But what might be fun is to offer mid-century modern portraits. Mad Men-type suits and dresses, dirty hippies, mod British swingers, etc. Beehive hairdos, psychedelic color schemes, Pushpin Studios-style stuff. I dunno, maybe no one will really bite, but it would be fun to try.