random thoughts – Day 1,655 – (Saturday) – steps

It was warm and sunshiney and today felt more like we’ve taken a few steps back to summer than forward into fall. I'm not complaining, I wish summers were longer. There were lots of events going on to choose from, but I chose to stay home. There was no morning cemetery tour, no afternoon art studio open house, and none of the Lowell Celebrates Jack Kerouac events for me. Nope.

Domestic diva mode was activated. The sheets were laundered and put back onto the bed. The dishwasher was run and emptied. The rugs and floors were vacuumed. The litter box was changed.

Outside the house, a trip was taken to the gas station to finally deal with the low tire pressure situation. According to the alert on the instrument cluster, the driver-side front tire was at 29 psi and all the rest were at 32. For whatever reason, the driver front tire is always the lowest of the four. Now, they are all back at 35 psi where they belong, and hopefully it will last for a while.

The lawn was mowed, possibly for the last time this year. At least that is what I told myself. The backyard was shaggy and longer than I thought, and took a bit more exertion than it would have needed a week ago. At least mowing can be meditative, and the yard was shady and comfortable at 5:00. Steps were accomplished without breaking a sweat.

All Stars don't last like they used to.

The soles of my recently demoted to yard work shoes status Converse All Stars are worn smooth and slick and I nearly skidded out on the ramp going into and out of the shed. The rubber (or whatever cheap substitute is used now) on my several years newer All Stars has cracked and the last couple times I wore them, it started chipping off. The cost keeps increasing, but they sure don’t last like they used to. 

The deck chairs, used only two or three times all summer, were taken into the shed. The table still needs to be dealt with, which involves removing the glass top and rolling it to the shed, then carrying in the base.

It felt good. Well, not jump up and down eating ice cream good. It was more of a mildly content good in the sense of having accomplished something, no matter how basic.

Kiki, meanwhile, practices her life of a lady cat of leisure. Her schedule includes napping on the rug, the stairs, behind the couch, and on the chair. Today, Her Ladyship groomed herself on the chair – one leg extended high in a rather unladylike pose while she licked her legpit or whatever the feline equivalent of an armpit might be called. She used to hide to do her grooming and it's recent that she's come out of hiding. It seems like a positive sign of her comfort level that she now grooms herself whenever and wherever she feels like it.