What Can Be Done?

When my younger brother arrived home yesterday evening between 9 - 9:30 p.m., I was here at my computer that I keep bedside, and my wife was in 'her' bedroom watching videos on her smartphone or tablet.

Rather than engage with him, I used the bathroom and went to bed, for my cellphone alarm was to be set for 1:30 a.m. to get me up for a five-mile+ walk. However, as often does happen, I was awake near enough before then that I just rose and cancelled the alarm.

Note that after my brother had gotten home and then went to his bedroom to change, I did hustle downstairs to check if he had been able to retrieve his van after having it impounded while he underwent a three-day driving suspension. 

The van was there.

My pre-walk online temperature check for hereabouts yielded the claim of 5.4° Celsius (41.72 F.). And a weigh-in while fully clothed for the outing had me just barely topping 190 pounds.

It was 1:56 a.m. once I was on my way, and the sky seemed heavily overcast. I wondered if it was a mistake not to have brought an umbrella and maybe even my ski gloves ─ these latter potentially to wear for exercising with after I stopped at the elementary school playground for some pull-ups and chin-ups three or four blocks from here.

To my surprised delight, I was to find the playground equipment both dry and not at all unbearably cold.

Notwithstanding, I could not match my opening set of pull-ups on Sunday evening when I squeezed our five ─ last night I only managed to open with four. But everything else was identical: two pull-ups in the second set; then three and two chin-ups in the middle two sets; and lastly, two pull-ups between a pair of gymnastics-style rings in each of the final two sets. I held the final pull-up at peak elevation for a 15-count.

And I concluded with 11 slow full-range push-ups in a declined position on a cement ramp.

As for the walk, the night was very still; and beyond the first 1½ miles at most from home, the walk was in a fog that maintained until ─ on the return ─ I was about the same distance again from home.

I was never to have to pause unnecessarily, nor even so much as cross a street to avoid somebody ─ I am not out there to be giving away my money, making friends, nor even to be meeting people (although it would be nice to interlocute on occasion with some attractive lass).

I ascribe this absence of interruption to my walk for getting me back home by 3:48 a.m., albeit I did do some slow and plodding 'old man' jogging betimes along a ¾ of a mile stretch of forested 96th Avenue whenever the sparse street traffic afforded me the opportunity ─ specifically, I am speaking of the stretch between 148th Street and Green Timbers Way (Google Map).

Incidentally, as I walked 148th Street on my way to 96th Avenue, shortly before I reached that intersection I heard a coyote somewhere in the forest let out a couple of yelping howls. This always adds a little something to think about when one is about to trek the area.

I know that it was after 5 a.m. by the time I made my return to bed, but I hope it was not too very much later.

This morning I was to gain possession of the T.V. at 9 a.m. because my younger brother had not yet emerged from his bedroom, but he was not delayed by too much. By then, I had used our Android TV Box to line up a video for us to watch ─ an hour-long (1:09:40) video uploaded December 8 to Rumble's Deprogramming With Graces Dad channel: How deep is the medical corruption? What can be done?

Don Downs was the husband of Brenda Downs and father of Melissa Atkins, Cara Bookman, and Joseph Downs. He and Brenda have 4 grandchildren and built a beautiful and loving family together for 42 years. Don is the pastor of a small non-denominational church in Ohio. He has been in ministry for 26 years. Don has a heart for young people and ministers in local youth detention centers. After the loss of his wife due to the covid protocols, he has devoted time to freeing himself of a gag order issued by Ohio Health and exposing corruption in the hospitals and courts.

There are various links related to the video content, so please refer to the full video description.

Then it was to be an episode from YouTube's Talasbuan channel, a 26-minute (26:08) vlog episode uploaded back on December 4 in 2018: Off Grid Life | Life and Death at Talasbuan.

Episode twenty-eight, in which we're butchering the lambs and cooking a tongue.

The book "Odd bits" that I was talking about: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

The really good butchering-channel I was talking about:    / thescottreaproject  

This is a vlog about our struggles and joys of living off the grid in the forests of Jämtland, Sweden.

And the final piece of entertainment was a movie that I had previously recorded. However, my brother felt that he only had time to watch the first 22 minutes, so we will probably complete watching it tomorrow and I will thereafter report on it.

My wife had to work a full day today beginning when the Thai restaurant opened at 11 a.m., so she rose no later than 9:50 a.m. to start readying, and she left on her fairly long drive before my brother headed out to pick up his girlfriend Bev to drive her to work.

He left here around 10:20 a.m. at latest, and I rode along so that he could stop at the government liquor store about two miles from here in order for me to stock up on another four dozen cans of Cariboo Malt (8% alcohol) ─ I was down to my last three cans.

Anyway, after we had finished our morning T.V. early into the noon hour, he sought some bed rest while I fixed up my day's first meal.

I had still not gone for a needed nap by the time my brother was evidently ready to leave for the day to socialize. In fact, I did not pursue my nap until just after 2 p.m. 

When I was awake again, I felt dreadful. I craved more sleep, but it was well past 3 p.m. I was feeling far worse than before my nap.

However, a mug of hot coffee did help me normalize, and I even tackled some light exercising late in the afternoon.

I hate this routine of having to walk so early into the wee a.m. just because anytime else results in oppressive street traffic and intrusive people everywhere depriving me of the isolation that I require for my so-called peace of mind.

But until I somehow become independently wealthy and can live far from here, this is what I have and must live with.

No wonder I am nuts.

I had myself one of my Cariboo Malts early this evening after eating some supper during an episode of 9-1-1: Lone Star ─ episode four ("Abandoned") of season four.

It's going to be bedtime by 9:30 p.m. or so this evening, and tomorrow as well. But after Thursday's early walk, I will also have an evening walk that will involve some sort of shopping, and that will free me up to sit up late that night having a couple of drinks while watching T.V. with my brother.

Yup ... quite the life, with so much to always look forward to!