Tuesday 100+

I rose after 7 and did not leave the house until after 8. The dreams kept me out of focus for half an hour and made me want to enjoy the covers for a bit longer. Even when I finally rose, there were regrets. Coffee, Equal Exchange, was located and assembled. There were no bananas, and I did not want any food until after my walk. I had a cup of coffee, cleaned up, dressed, and headed out to Reedville Creek Park. I remembered everything I needed this time.

The walk felt better. My mind was ready to daydream, and I found the walking painless and filled with thoughts. It was the same walking before in Casablanca and in my neighborhood–I could do this without risk and enjoy it. I did five loops, and if it had been cooler instead of heating up every minute, I could have done more. My walking is back.

I have to be careful after the surgery; when I am tired, I tend to lean back. I am aware of it and stop myself. So far, there have been no falls or events that approached falling. I am better today and did over 5,000 steps today. I feel like myself, and my focus is better.

My lawn service came and cleaned up a few items, but I had not watered the lawn, and there was no need to mow today. I may water it later in the week when it is cooler (and thus, the water won’t evaporate fast from the higher temperatures and low humidity). I usually water an inch a week (water is expensive in Oregon, with only West Virginia charging more, according to sources on the Internet), and my roses get a separate watering.

I returned and began on the blog. I had half a can of peaches for breakfast. I am trying to reverse the weight gain reported by my last visits to the scale, which is a harbinger of disaster if I do not reverse the trend.

I am reading Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style and trying to clean up my style by removing useless words: very, rather, really, quite, in fact, just, so, pretty, of course, and never use “actually” again. The result of this effort was that the writing and editing of Monday’s blog took more time and effort. I was not rushed, and the clock soon entered the afternoon while I was still developing the blog’s story and wording. I defrosted lunch while I wrote by placing a frozen item in the sun. The forecast is for 100+.

The writing, editing, and reworking were finally done, and I started on lunch. I discovered it was a steak and not a pork chop I had started to defrost. F**k. I put the steak in the frig and put a pair of chops in water to defrost and then used the microwave to get the chops at least not frozen solid.

I cooked a pork chop in butter with salt and pepper; the other one will be cut up and used in a stir fry on Wednesday. I added my newly purchased herbes de Provence from a brand I had not used before. Compared to my previous experience, the spice is lighter, finer chopped, and missing fennel seeds. I poured it on, and it buried the chop. Yikes! I had to take the chop to the sink and brush off the extra. I will have to sprinkle it next time. I was able to recover and cook the chop in the non-stick frying pan (thanks, Steve) and finished it in less than half an hour. I had some green beans that were at the end of their usability. I washed them, picked them over, broke off stems, and removed bits that had moved on from being food. I steamed the salvaged beans. I then wilted them in the same pan as I cooked the pork chop. I added almond slices. I found the rest of the bread from The 649, buttered it, and sprinkled some salt on the butter. I use unsalted butter, but I like a bit of salt on my buttered bread.

Lunch was delicious, but I slightly overcooked the chop, but it was still good. The beans were good and did not need garlic, which I often add to wilted beans. The butter, herbs, salt, and flavors from the browned pork chop were enough to flavor the beans. The bread was a good addition, and there were only a few pieces. The carbohydrate count would not be too high.

I watched the last Star Wars movie (2019), The Rise of Skywalker, while cooking and later for the clean-up. I bought the last three, but I only really enjoyed the last one. I watched about half and then saw it was near 5. Time to turn off the AC to honor PGE’s request: 5-8 reduced electrical usage. I saw that Despicable Me 4 was showing at the local theater at 4:45 and headed out in 104F (40C) temperatures with little humidity (40%) to make it worse. I did not invite anyone as I feared having someone risking travel in these temperatures.

I loved the movie, but I also liked all the previous Despicable Me movies. Somehow, for me, these movies are the right mix of ridiculousness, cartoon violence, satire, and family values, plus a light dose of irony and fantasy. Each movie stands alone and never feels like a transition movie (a goal I wished Star Wars had reached). If you enjoyed the previous movies, this one is recommended.

Air Volvo was hot but cooled off with max’d AC. The sun seemed to strike less, but the air was wickedly hot (104F/40C).  I was soon home, finished the Star Wars movie, turned back on the AC, did the dishes, and read more of Dryer’s book. I decided to write the blog tonight.

And that takes me to now. Thanks for reading.