May Sweeps - Day 483

It's a holiday weekend (Memorial Day on Monday), so I figured we'd all get enlisted to go to the cabin and paint, but my brother must be on call for work (he's a lineman for the power company one town south of me) or is out doing something else.*  So, I seem to be on my own this weekend, which means writing, going to the library, probably recording audio, and--

Oh, it's the end of the month, and I haven't gone on a hike.  One of my goals was to hike every month, and even though I planned on Wednesday or Thursday to walk around the lake or see if I could find the frog pond through the woods (I could hear them from the cabin when I went out on the front deck), I either forgot to do it, or chose not to.  That means it's either today, tomorrow, or Monday.  Computer, don't let me forget.

I took my nephew for a walk this morning, because I didn't feel like working (I guess I should count my blessings that I can take a three and a half hour nap on a Wednesday and do only about an hour of work on Saturday, and not suffer for it), and we went alongside the river, which is usually pretty high this time of year (a child drowned in it two years back, so I get nervous around it), but is low due to the drought.  I mentioned that the other day, right?**

There's a tunnel--presumably for bicycles that goes under the main road and alongside the river.  I went through it with my nephew, and he didn't seem very afraid, although it is a pretty terrifying place.  I took a couple of pictures, just in case I could use them for cover art sometime, and the boy did keep referring to it as "the scary tunnel" afterward.

(not sure if this is cover art material or not)

On the way back, we were walking through it, when there came the loud sound of rushing water, and the two of us made a run for it toward daylight.  Honestly, it sounded as though a dam had burst and a torrent was going to pour down and wash us away, but when we emerged into daylight, no water followed us.  I can't really explain what would've made that sound, unless there was somehow a toilet right above us that emptied into the tunnel.  There's a pleasant thought.

Sit-ups Today: 111
Sit-ups In May: 2945

You know that picture I posted yesterday of the hot chicks all looking at their phones?  That was actually the second photo I used to exemplify teenagers nowadays.  The first one was of a group of five teenagers, four of them looking at their phones, but one of them smiling for the camera.  I posted it, was about to move on, then thought, "No, that girl on the end defeats the whole purpose."  So I trimmed her out.

I reposted the picture, but then worried, because she was black, that somebody out there (not that anybody reads my blog, but you know how it is) would think that's why she was cropped.  So I put a little caption mentioning why I had cut her out, that I wasn't like China, I just . . .

And before I could even get that far, I reconsidered.  

And I actually deleted the photo and found another one, the one with the dubiously-hot girls in it.  Sigh.

But double-sigh, now I'm worried what people will think about me referring to the previous photo as "dubiously hot chicks."  Maybe I'll post this one instead:

No way THAT would get me in trouble.

Push-ups Today: 176
Push-ups In May: 3340

I only got three hundred and fifty-nine words written yesterday.  I'm setting a goal to do better today.  By at least one word.

I didn't get much done because just as I thought of an interesting scene to start the story (a student manipulating her teacher in order to get her way), the lights flashed and they told us to leave.  I actually wrote another couple paragraphs, trying to get it all down before it was gone, but everything takes longer than you think it will, and they were saying "The library is now closed" before I got out of the building.

I was torn as to what direction to go in with the story, and called Big Anklevich to ask if I was making a mistake, but he didn't answer, so I guess I'll write what I want.  I'm the only one who'll ever read it anyway.

Words Today: 458
Words In May: 19,088

*I really know very little about my brother's habits or social life--he's got plenty of money and no one to spend it on, so you'd think he'd have a different girl in every port.  But he's also related to me and definitely looks like a brother of mine, so he could be cursed in that regard as well.  Hmm.

**We live in a desert, so there are droughts from time to time, but I've never been through one severe enough that they tell people to stop watering their lawns (they did say to water only after sundown a few years back) or washing their cars.  I wonder if this year will get that bad.