january walks

We went out walking on Tuesday. It had been Code Blue the night before but by afternoon it was warm enough for a trail hike. I thought about the recent decreased frequency of walks we drive to, which seemed measurably higher today when I washed the car and had a little extra mud to vacuum out the back seat relative to the last couple months. Tonight Cecily said we've had three inches of rain in the last week, and the creek was showing it on Tuesday even before the downpour yesterday.

We were out for a good hour and a half then hopped in the bath. The dogs napped while I hacked away on the computer. I peeled myself off the couch to make peanut butter and hummus and to attend the boro council meeting. The rain didn't roll in until yesterday afternoon but I set aside entire the day to read on the couch. I left only for this week's Tree Tenders class then read some more.

I slept in this morning and missed the garbage trucks. I thought about putting out the cans yesterday before the rain and said if I don't do it now it's not happening like some kind of psychic. The previous owner had left a note that she didn't have collection service, that she'd drive to the dump herself. Sometimes I think about trying that but I don't know how to navigate it in the suburbs. I found a comment thread discussing the idea and somebody said it's too small a savings compared to the cost of making the trip, especially in places with minimum pricing.

I went out running errands today. I wanted to stop by the historical society anyway so I started there. I was slow leaving the house after our morning walk and was late to arrive. I read for an hour then cleaned the car and stocked up on groceries. Back home I replaced the water filters and made too much food, potato soup and pasta with chickpeas. I caught the news and Jeopardy while I ate and saw a story about a man driving his car into a Grand Junction police station. I checked the Internet for more information and found an article celebrating the town's recent inclusion on a New York Times "List of 52 Places to Go" sandwiched between other stories from the town this month about a man arrested for "child sexual exploitation", a man operating an opioid resale business with his family, a drunk man driving a flaming truck firing a gun at police and a FedEx driver, a bank robbery, a shootout on the streets, and finally about the man who drove his car into the station paranoid he was being targeted and followed and unheard. I finished the soup and took a shower.