ugh, heat

It's hot out there folks! A mere 102. Why just mere? Because tomorrow's forecast is for 110! Tune in and see if a thick layer of smoke will moderate that forecast. God knows, I'm dying of heat exhaustion to find out!

*sigh* tell me of the meats you grilled

Heya! Did y'all have a good 4th of July weekend?  I didn't do much on the 4th itself, but the rest of the weekend I spent doing pretty much anything except sleeping. Yes, it was the weekend of my favorite bit of community service - rice cooling for the Buddhist church in Walnut Grove. This year we worked 2-6 am on Saturday and 3-6 on Sunday (travel time not included!). I felt pretty lucky that the Delta was cool Saturday so all that hot rice cooled quite quickly. Sunday morning we just did fewer batches so it was ok that it wasn't as cool. My body is slightly sore from lugging the rice from table to cooling rack and back. Arms I understand, but I really can't figure out why my thigh muscles ache too. Maybe I'm getting better at lifting with my legs and not my back. [ha! says my back]

[I'm going to talk a whole lot about sleep (or lack thereof) in the next two paragraphs, so feel free to skip it and get some sleep yourselves ^__^]

Of course I tried sleeping a bit before we worked Saturday and all I can say is that the firework displays (for the city and just here in the 'hood) don't die down until almost midnight. So I didn't get a lot of sleep there. And, of course, I couldn't fall asleep after getting home at 7:00 Saturday morning (my body was quite hopped up on caffeine) but I tried for a couple hours anyway. Fortunately, I was able to drag myself into work to do the 1-5 pm shift. But, man, that had to be one of the most painful four-hour shifts I'd ever done (I even yelled at a person to quit popping her knuckles).

Scarily enough, I went to be at 11:00 pm Saturday with the intention of getting up at 1:00 am for a shower. Usually I'm a whizz at that sort of thing; I set my alarm and get on up no matter the hellacious hour. But not that night! I don't remember my alarm going off, let alone me turning it off! I was lucky to wake up when Spencer knocked on my window at 2:20. Eek! I guess I'll just take it as a sign my body really wanted sleep. Again, of course I was wide awake when I returned home that morning. Heh, so I did laundry, showered, walked to the post office, grocery store, and library all before 9:30 am. Crazy!! Me!! I did take a two-hour nap from 10-noon but then I made myself stay up until 11:00 pm. Then my body joyfully fell asleep until I got up to go to work this morning at noon (YAY! for comp time!!!).

Just one little note of interest about my neighborhood. When I left Saturday morning (1:00 am) some people were scavenging cans and bottles from our recycling bin. Then when I returned later that morning at 6:30sih, a different person was scavenging for more of the same from our recycling bins. 1) These people need to coordinate; do you think something new was added between the two groups (label me skeptical!)? 2) Did you know it's illegal to scavenge from dumpsters in Sacramento? Says so right on the bins. 3) I was slightly depressed to hear the 1:00 am guy talk of "hitting it big" someday (he said something about how nice it would be to get 50 cans at once). I'm about 99% sure he and his girlfriend were chemically altered at the time. Again, depressing. 4) I'm so happy my apartment is on the opposite side of the building from the bins because dumpster diving sure can get loud! 5) I love my life and couldn't be happier that I don't have to search out recyclables just to get by.