Missing an hour of sleep

Skydiving women at Safety Day

Yesterday I drove in the rain down to Snohomish, the first time I've gone there this year. Since there is no skydiving on Safety Day, it was fine for it to be raining. Last year it was sunny, and there was a lot of grumbling that we couldn't be outside playing in the sky, but were attending seminars instead. The Skydive Snohomish staff provide a really wonderful day for the skydivers, and after the layoff that most of us take over the winter, a refresher is in order. I needed to be put in a harness with handles to pull that simulate my own, be reminded about how to service my own gear in between their mandatory visits to the rigger every six months, and canopy control. I enjoyed myself, but I didn't stay for the dinner (provided by the owners), and instead drove back to Bellingham in a driving rainstorm.

 I am uncomfortable driving in the rain on a freeway, surrounded by cars traveling much faster than me. The windshield wipers were barely able to keep up with the rain. We've had much more rain in our part of the country than usual; I read somewhere that SeaTac (the airport south of Seattle) has set a record for the most rain in March, and we're still only a third of the way through the month.

Anyway, I made it home without incident.  It was good to be home after a long day, and I settled into my favorite chair to share my day with Smart Guy as I drank my much-needed glass of wine. It was a long day, and now I'm missing an hour of sleep because of this pesky Daylight Saving Time. If you cut a piece of fabric from one end of a blanket and sew it onto the other end, you wouldn't have a bigger blanket, now would you? And these days we only experience Standard Time for four months out of the year. Why do we do this? The clock says it's after 7:00am, but it isn't really, not according to my internal clock. It will take me a week to get accustomed to the time change. Do I sound like I'm grumbling about it? You would be right.

I finally went to the doctor about my infected finger. He drained it and gave me a topical antibiotic to apply to it, and it's now much, much better. There is only the residual damage and no new areas of pain or swelling. It was not until I went on my hike this past week with the Senior Trailblazers and Al thought it was taking way too long for it to heal that I finally agreed to see the doctor. I still think it would have gotten better on its own, but he was right: it was taking too long.

That's one thing that bothers me about getting older. I don't bounce back from things like I once did. Since I am one of those people who takes good health for granted, when I don't have it, or if I don't recover quickly from an illness or an injury, I think there's something wrong. And it's only that people tend to slow down in every aspect of life as the decades accumulate. It's normal, I tell myself, to take longer to heal. It's rather disconcerting, however, to be sidelined by a hangnail.

I have taken the advice of my commenters and stopped feeding the sweet kitty any milk. Now it's only dry food, which he seems to like, and a little treat once a day. He waits for me now. Yesterday after I got home from the Drop Zone, I went outside to fill his bowl, and there he was, with his welcoming meows and anxious to see what I might have brought him. He wouldn't let me pet him for long, but that was all right. He has his own life to live. I'll try to get a picture or two, so I can share him with you as well.

The robins have returned to the area and are everywhere. Now that is a true sign of spring, isn't it? Last Saturday when I was at Lake Padden, dozens of robins covered the grass and were busy pulling up any poor worms or other critters that emerged in the early morning light. Today I'll putter around my home and later, go to the YMCA to work out. I did nothing yesterday but sit in a chair, or sit in a car, so I'm anxious to get a sweat going. Funny how much I miss it when I don't have the chance to exercise. Now that is a good addiction to have, I think.

This post seems a little rambling, but it was hard to think about what to write this morning. My Sunday is marked by this activity, first thing, but since I was not at home yesterday, I didn't have a chance to ponder what I would write about. Sometimes it will come to me in the middle of the night, but that didn't happen last night. I was just tired and slept well. No periods of wakefulness when I reflect about my life, just blissful sleep. Except for that missing hour.

I do hope the coming week will bring you some good weather, some respite from winter at least (unless you're in the Southern Hemisphere and need respite from summer). Skydivers often sign off with my wish for you this week: blue skies! And fluffy white clouds, if that's what you like.