Day 34 - Governor Newsom imposes new restrictions

“Steampunk” antelopes at the Desert Woodland Preserve…

12/19/20. Saturday.

8:30 – I’m up.

9:00 – 10:30 - I go downstairs and the dog is up and waiting for me, tail wagging. Out we go so she can do her business. I grab my coffee and then back upstairs to start Raising a Rare Girl.

10:30-11:30 – I do a blog post.

11:30 – 12:00 – Dress in Covid-19 uniform, grab my lunch bag with snacks (just in case) and leave for the Prime Desert Woodland Preserve.

12:00-1:00 – Driving.

-I get turned around when I go 35th east instead of 35th west, BUT I get there, eventually.

1:00-2:30 – I like this Woodland Preserve.  It’s funny that it’s called a “Preserve” because I grew up in the desert, ran and played and rode horses on desert trails just like the trails here, and never once considered the environment special or something worthy of preserving – it was just my playground or basically any spot in the Antelope Valley, Littlerock, Pearblossom, etc., free from development and urban sprawl. 

So, walking through the Preserve is odd to me.  I guess I would liken it to someone picking up your entire backyard (several acres), moving it to another town, and then pretending that it’s sacred and worthy of protection.  I can appreciate the plank bridges along the way and there is an interesting focal point of “steampunk” antelope, painted a cobalt blue [I took a picture – do you see it?], but ultimately I’m  walking around the same backyard as my parents’ backyard, it all looks so similar… I can walk around my parents’ backyard and call that a Preserve if I want to. I find the ‘reverence’ [air quotes here] associated with this place highly amusing and I can’t help but smile as I walk the past [Oops, Freudian slip here – I actually meant to say ‘path’]. I might return…

Walking along the trails is not going to serve as my daily exercise allotment.  I will have to do cardio tonight (sigh).

There is more to explore, but I promised L. a “Beehive Smoothie” from the Whole Wheatery, our favorite restaurant AND my stomach is set on today’s special, “Chicago Vegan Dog.” I call it in from the Preserve parking lot.

2:30-3:00 – Driving.  Traffic is surprisingly bad.

3:00-4:30 – Food pick-up and return home.  I eat half of my Chicago dog on the way home.  Very, very good.  BC, I used to live in my car, running here and there, always arriving in the nick of time, adrenaline rush in check…now, I’m chronically late wherever I go and it’s hard to get moving with no time constraints.  I kinda miss those adrenaline-fueled days…

Driving.

4:30 – 6:00 - Home and I put away everything, then go upstairs and resume reading Raising a Rare Girl.

6:00-7:00 – Walk the dog.  We take two laps this time.  Many of the same neighbors have added even more Xmas lights.  What’s that about…?

7:00-7:30 – I eat the rest of my Chicago Dog.

7:45-8:45 – Talk to B.

9:00-11:00 – Resume reading Raising a Rare Girl.

11:30-1:00 – I do a 40-minute cardio workout, but L. arrives around 12:00 and wants to talk to me about a scary premonition she had involving R.  I continue doing squats while she talks but eventually decide this is worthy of a sit-down, so I stop the app and give her my full attention.

-Resume cardio

1:00 am – I go downstairs, take the dog out, and lock everything up.  Back upstairs and L. is doing a tarot-card reading for R. so she can determine his fate.  I tell her it won’t work – it’s much better if the recipient shuffles the deck, otherwise his/her/their energy isn’t conveyed to the cards – and then remind her that I need a reading, too.  I get one every year, but Eric, my regular tarot reader, is closed this year because Covid.  L. agrees to give me a reading soon.

Night time routine. Bed.