Author: way0utwest

Today is back to guitar in the am, working through some practice, and something new. First, some blues, which didn’t go well. Stretching to play blues in C is tough. Next, fingerpicking a new song, “Wherever You Will Go”, a song by the Calling. I vaguely remember it, but it’s nice to play acoustically.

Self care today, hitting the gym for a swim and a massage. I might do these things while at work, but I’d plan on working early/late, and wouldn’t do them on a practice day.

Then it was back home for more barn chores. I replaced another light in the barn and helped my wife get a few things done. Slowly, we’re repairing things. I measured out a feeder as well, which is something I’ll cut wood for and repair when it’s warmer.

It’s about 20F today (-5C), so more time inside, trying to stay warm and clean up a bit. A slow day, with volleyball practice tonight, but that’s the good thing about a sabbatical. I don’t need fill up every day with lots of stuff.

Slowly I’m coming to terms with not quite getting as much done as I’d like, but I am getting things done, and staying off the computer. Refreshing and good, even though I am starting to look forward to getting back to work.

It’s hard to take six weeks off. Not as hard as it used to be, but still hard. I have commitments, and today I popped up for a bit to work on some. I was accepted to speak at the Rocky Mountain Oracle User Group Training Days conference later this month. I did some prep before the break, but I need to do a bit more before I speak.

Today is prep day, going over my talk, submitting a deck, and working through some of the timing, and handling payments for SQLServerCentral. It’s a big deal to move these for a month to someone else, so I’m just doing them. Don’t worry, I’m taking a couple extra days at the end of sabbatical to make up for this.

After about 4 hours of misc work work, I took a break for lunch and then started on guitar. Trying to work through two songs today: Ain’t No Sunshine (easy) and “House of the Rising Sun” (easy, but tough fingerpicking). I got them outlined a bit, and practiced more of Wonderful Tonight, which is tricky.

That occupied a good portion of the day, which was ugly outside. It was 5F when I got up and got worse. This is my return trip from the gym. Weightlifting today, getting back on track.

Chilly outside.

I came home to cook and then do a bit more Marie Kondo’ing. I tackled some of the kitchen tonight, trying to clean up the pantry.

It looks crowded, but I found plenty to get rid of, including some cans that expired in 202-2017. Maybe they’re still good, but not taking chances, and some of them are things we won’t eat anymore.

Not the stuff I wanted to be cleaning, but it worked out well for tonight. Now off to a little more guitar work, which is becoming the focus of my time off.

Yesterday was a quiet day. I could say that it’s recovering from vacation, but I really felt fine. The weekend in Vegas with family was great, with lots of laughs, too much indulgence, and a few losses, but not too bad. A good time, and everyone would like to go back again next year.

I came home to 55F temps at the airport Sunday night around 8. Supposedly it was over 70F (21C) during the day and records were set. I woke up to something less than that. We went out and did chores, and while driving to breakfast (we treated ourselves), it was 16F (-9C).

No snow, as we went out early (815), and we were trying to beat it. While my wife got grain ready, I loaded up a bale in a net. These slow feeding nets work great in bad weather.

An hour later, it was coming down. We had to get out there and blanket horses. Not hard, but hard work. And it takes time, as we have 20 on the property. We want to get it done quickly, before they get too covered with snow and wet, just like humans. It’s supposed to get down to single digits tonight.

My daughter’s horse was sporting a new look, and I sent her a picture.

I filled water while my wife did blankets, and after about 2 hours, we were done with all chores and prep for the storm.

From there, we went for breakfast, since we didn’t get a lot of groceries the night before after landing. We got home, and I spent about 2 1/2 hours practicing guitar. It was a good time for me, and I worked on “Wonderful Tonight” for a good portion of time.

Late afternoon was yoga, then back home where my wife and I watched a little of “This is Us”. My sister in law told us about the show, and we watched the first few episodes. Great writing and enjoyable.