Unacceptable Losses

At very least, it was 9:45 p.m. before I was to bed last evening, my cellphone alarm set for 1:30 a.m. to get me up to ready for a five-mile+ walk. It was still lightly raining.

When my alarm chimed, I had been somewhat awake for a while. I was to see that the hallway light outside my bedroom door was alight, so I correctly concluded that my wife was home and not yet to bed. Fortunately, she was readying to do that, so I only had to endure the need for micturition a reasonably short time.

When the hallway light was extinguished, I did not dare wait overlong for fear that one of my two stepsons would take occupation of the bathroom.

Relief obtained, I then dressed for my outing.

Even though it was still lightly raining outside, I opted to weigh myself fully clothed, but without my jacket ─ I may have been 183 pounds at the very most.

Only my youngest stepson seemed to still be up, but he was in the lads' den area at his computer, talking with someone while wearing headphones, so he was not privy as I left the house.

It was 1:59 a.m. once I was outside the locked front door and set to embark on my damp hike.

I packed my umbrella, but I never felt the need to fetch it from my gym-style carrying bag. However, there was a point after about ¾ of a mile into the walk when the mist-like rain did begin to threaten. Fortunately, after that, most of the time the rain was barely perceptible ─ it truly did feel like mist or fog.

I did not bother stopping at the elementary school playground three or so blocks from home because the rain then would clearly have made it impossible to wipe a jungle gym monkey bar dry for barehanded use, and if I was going to have to use my gloves, I preferred not to have them wet through until I was on the homeward approach.

I recall nothing eventful about the walk, trying as I was to make good time during the latter half. But just prior to what I deem to be the midway point, I was experiencing hunger and such lack of vitality that the thought of later exercising at the school playground was practically inconceivable.

Happily, I did improve.

Although the fog-like and barely perceptible specks of rain were no wet threat, the metal bar I would be performing a few sets of pull-ups and chin-ups on did wipe dry enough to use, but the grip afforded was not flawless. Note that I had removed my jacket.

Still, exercising barehanded was securer than doing so with gloves.

Despite that, I was unable to quite complete an eighth pull-up in the first set; and in the second set, the same situation struck and denied me a complete second pull-up. So I performed one further set of two completed pull-ups.

As always, I only allow a 30-count between sets.

Then it was two sets of chin-ups, three repetitions in each.

After that, I moved over to the gymnastics-style rings, and opted to wear my gloves there, for the rings are encased in a hard plastic covering. I would be able to manage the usual two pull-ups in each set while barehanded, but holding the very final pull-up for a 40-count might not have been possible with just my bare hands, so I opted to wear the gloves for those.

Lord, that 40-count hold was all I could manage, and even then I was beginning to just slightly 'droop' ─ I was groaning aloud from the strain of keeping me elevated.

Then when I went over to the cement ramp for a set of full-range decline push-ups, it seemed to take my all just to endure through a baker's dozen of 13 ─ and further groaning was involved.

I do not feel as if I can wholly blame the damp for my failures to hit my highs, but I may not be entirely to blame, either.

It was exactly 4 a.m. once I was back outside the locked front door, so I definitely did make decent time ─ a mere minute over two hours despite the little bit of extra time spent at the school.

My youngest stepson was still up. After a time, his older brother got up to begin readying for his fairly long drive to Tree Island Steel to begin his 6 a.m. 12-hour day shift.

It may have been around 5:45 a.m. when I eventually got back into bed, but even then my idiot youngest stepson was still up.

It was just past 9 a.m. when I later rose for the morning, a little surprised that my younger brother was already watching T.V., apparently having finished with the Saturday morning edition of the Vancouver Sun that I subscribe to.

I soon enough joined him, expecting to eventually get invited to put our Android TV Box to work. But that did not happen.

Around 9:30 a.m. he announced that he was returning to his bedroom because he had to later get an early start to his day.

After he went upstairs to his bedroom, I forsook the T.V. and leafed through the Vancouver Sun. Around 9:20 a.m. my wife exited her bedroom to shower, evidently faced with another full workday at the Thai restaurant where she is employed part time.

When she eventually came downstairs to hustle about in preparation to leave on her rather long drive around 10 a.m. this wet day, she advised me that she had brought home a lot of food last night. Since I am on a Sabbath fast, I had not yet opened the fridge. When I later did, though, I did indeed behold a considerable selection of dishes that she had brought home from the restaurant.

Around 6 p.m. I am going to prepare my supper by amalgamating a selection from each by likely incorporating them into a soup that she had previously brought home a few days ago ─ I will heat up the melange I will be creating, and then bring the affair upstairs here to my bedroom for eating later. This is necessary, for once my eldest stepson is home from work, he will probably be taking over the kitchen area in gluttonous fashion.

I need to be able to have my food at hand, for I never know when my brother will be showing up in the evening when he gets home from his daily drinking, and I have no intention of sitting up tonight watching any shows with him. I want to be getting up at 4 a.m. to be set to head out around 6 a.m. on another good hike that will involve some grocery shopping.

As for his bed rest after the mid-morning today, he did not seem to have gotten much. I was not paying attention to the time, but he did emerge ─ maybe around 10:30 p.m. ─ and soon announced that he was heading out and would see me later.

I have no idea what he was about. I was to discover a short while later that he left afoot.

Either he still had sufficient alcohol in his system from last night that the ignition interlock device denied him the operation of his van when he went outside to leave; or else he fully intended to be going forth to do some drinking in time, and thus did not want to lose use of his van if he drove it to wherever he was going to be ending up.

So no T.V. for us this morning.

Incidentally, sometimes that rain out there does sound like it has become a little serious, but it always lightens up. We must have quite a blend of cruising rain clouds in the thickly overcast sky.

I have been working on this post over the late morning, and right now it is 12:52 p.m., and I have essentially caught myself up to the day's present. I am going to break from this post until much later into the day, and will anon be seeking a nap to help erase some time as I suffer through my fast and await the coming of dark.

☺☺☺

It is now 9:22 p.m., and my soup-based meal was far, far more than I reckoned it was ─ even halfway through it, I was already full enough. I'm just hoping that since most of it was vegetative, the bulk of that meal will prove itself to be primarily spicy juices that will not be long burdening my stomach.

I ate the meal while sitting here at my bedside computer watching Black Lightning ─ episode two ("The Book of Reconstruction: Chapter Two: Unacceptable Losses") of season four. The meal expunged all interest in having any beer with the episode ─ I would require a second stomach to handle the additional volume.

I ensured before eating that I weighed myself whilst fully naked ─ at very most, 176 pounds. If being honest, I was hoping for a little lighter reading.

The Black Lightning episode was average, but if you are interested, I watched it at this link at Supernova.to, and it played flawlessly.

Well, my brother finally showed up no later than 9:30 p.m. ─ I had been home alone. It's still much too early for me to be going to bed. I will attempt to hold out until at least 11 p.m., but even then I am most unlikely to be able to lay in bed for five straight hours ─ I simply do not sleep as efficiently as that.

By the way, when I rose at 3:20 p.m. from an early afternoon nap, it was gloriously sunny outside. Certainly there were clouds around, but there was also lots and lots of blue sky. That mix of weather was to remain until dark.