The Raven's Roost

Today is Boxing Day - which contrary to what I believed for years as a kid, has absolutely nothing to do with the Boxer Rebellion. AKA the Yihetuan Movement. Anyhoo, it's also the first day of Kwanzaa, so if you're celebrating that, have a blessed one.

My holiday went really well. It was quiet, which we like, and lots of lemon crumb muffins were made. We're not big gift-givers so we tend to buy ourselves things we really wanted anyway as "gifts," or use the Christmas sales as an excuse to get big-ticket items. For example, I lumped some Amazon gift cards together and bought a set of Aftershokz bone conduction headphones for running. I've wanted some sort of open-ear or ambient sound headphones for a long time, and it's hard even buying normal earbuds because my earholes are apparently weirdly small. I've tried demo models of Aftershokz and they will allow me to still hear my running music as well as clearly hear anything around me. I worry about being a jerk to my fellow runners by accident. The bone conduction thing is neat, and it's why some churches and cathedrals have horse skulls buried in their floors.

I also have some books in the way: Memoirs of Hadrian, Thoughts in Solitude, and a couple of books on the yoga sutras. I also picked up Bill Porter's Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits which ought to be interesting.

Fox and I ran into some problems yesterday with what was supposed to be a small, easy project. We were going to install hand rails around the front deck, ramp, and rear deck. Except as he was running the weed-whacker around the base of the ramp he found it was rotted out. Since we built it in 2011, the ground has risen around there and the wood's been in constant direct contact with wet earth, and the lower deck is likely to need replacing, too. We ripped the ramp out and early this morning went to buy supplies to build a new one, including extra concrete and stuff to raise the posts and hopefully keep the wooden parts out of the ground. Partially it looks like just normal sand shift that we should have stayed on top of, and partially it looks like animal activity. Something has been using the decks as a small highway, and we found dug out spots and burrows, so it could be a rabbit, squirrels, cats, who knows. We were up against a time constraint when we first did this, and we aren't now so we can make sure things get done properly.

Eventually the lower deck will be replaced with concrete, but I'm looking at using some pavers, old bricks, and acquiring some gravel to do something artsy with the surface. I skimmed through photos of Japanese garden paths and some some interesting ideas. I'm not looking to do anything as fancy as wave patterns, but maybe line up the square pavers, then fill in with brick, then fill with gravel so it's even and lined up, but also has a sort of flow to it. It's an autumn/winter next year problem.

So I'm catching up on some chores today, doing a short training run, and pondering my 2020 moves. I don't typically make "New Year's Resolutions," as in "I'm going to do This or That." But I do like to think about where I am now, where I'd like to be this time next year, and start planning how to get there. NYE can be a good time to set goals, but so is Monday, or your birthday, or any day really. But "special" dates can help nudge you in the correct direction.