The Raven's Roost

Those storms were pretty intense! That was kind of scary, actually. We came through all right with just some power flickers - enough to reset clocks but no real outages. There are a lot of small branches down in the yard, some on the roof, but nothing major at the moment. Last night when the net came back online we saw that 40% of the county was out of power so we feel like we did pretty good.

'It's My Salvation': At 80 Years Old, Artist Ron Nagle is Finally Getting the Attention He Deserves - I'm nowhere near UC Berkeley but I would go see this exhibit if I were. These sculptures are fascinating. I'm really obsessed with "Sudoku Seppuku."

I'm probably going to need to bring up my blood pressure with my GP next week. This morning's reading, after two cups of black coffee mind you, was 96/47. I wonder why I get dizzy when I stand up. Hmm. Anyway, I'm keeping a spreadsheet of readings I'm taking with a small wrist monitor if he wants to see it. I typically get a higher reading in his office due to White Coat Syndrome. So I thought making a chart of my readings would give him an idea of what I'm like in my natural habitat.

I don't know how some of the lower peninsula fared, but here in North Florida we had a pretty spectacular line of storms this morning. I was waiting on this - it's the front bringing more cold weather. And around 3:30 or so the lightning and thunder started, waking me up out of a pretty solid sleep. It actually took me a few minutes to figure out what was going on. We were still having gusty, strong winds at 5:30 when I got up really for reals.

The cats, of course, hate storms. Okay, Feisal and Crowley hate storms, Nana doesn't seem to care. I got up to use the bathroom and found Crowley hiding behind the toilet. Later when I fed them I could not find Feisal. He's infamous for pushing the window screens out, getting outside, and then getting scared because this adventure isn't fun anymore and crying to come back inside. I wondered if he'd panicked at some of the crashing thunder and gotten out, but didn't see any way he could have escaped. Actually he was hiding in a bathroom cabinet, so I found him when I went to see if Sheba had finished eating. He was very confused.

Brief explanation: Sheba gets fed a small portion of wet food separately so she can get a powdered probiotic I mix with it. I shut her in the master bathroom so she can eat in peace.

Anyway, I am considering postponing my weekend long run for tomorrow so we can go to the dump today. I'm also not feeling up to a long training run because I didn't sleep well after the storm started - I dozed for another hour and finally just got up. I normally get up pretty early anyway but I originally woke up when the storm started so I'm about two hours short.

Finally : Elder Orphans: A Real Problem or a New Way to Scare Singles? I've been bingo'd a few times when people find out I haven't had/don't want kids, but I never got the "who will take care of you when you're old?" one. My answer would have been, "No one. You can't assume your kids will want to care for your elderly ass." In some cases they do - my sister lives with and helps out my mom. Since my mom and I barely get along, I can't see myself doing this. She and I were "no contact" for several years because I can't deal with her shit. Having a child is no guarantee they'll grow up to live near you, have the time and money to care for you, and are even still on speaking terms with you.