The 43

After a productive Saturday and Sunday, I didn't quite feel in the mood to get a lot done on Memorial Day. I did run this morning, which felt great, and Ben and I went walked the dog in the evening. Dinner was cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and drumsticks on the grill, which was just fantastic. I always connect Memorial Day with generic cream soda -- I have a memory of drinking it at my Grandma Elsie's house for the holiday barbecue when I was a kid -- and I had a 12-pack of it in the basement to enjoy while I'm grilling. However, Michael drank all my sodas, so I was stuck with a beer (a Red Rooster Blackberry Cream Ale). The rest of the day I relaxed. Although I missed my soda, I did sit on the porch writing while enjoying a Dad's Root Beer. I also took a short nap in the afternoon, and played a game of Strat-o-Matic baseball in the evening. And I didn't even think about working, even just a little bit. This was a nice start to the "official" summer season. Let

I've previously written about how May is my favorite month , with plenty of memories of Mays past. I've also written, perhaps ad nauseam, about how time is zipping by far too quickly. Welcome to May 2021 -- my favorite month that lasted about four days. I was running yesterday morning out in the suburbs, continuing a weekend trend in which Ben swims and I also exercise. Except, it hadn't been much of the trend, because even though I felt like I had just run this route, four weeks had actually passed since I had. The time warp gets a little crazier. Michael and I took a Saturday morning/afternoon to scour the region for used video games. He has a membership to a used video game store that also has a location in Orem (about 40 miles south), and we took our time by finding yard sales and stopping at thrift stores, before finally making it to Utah County. Michael hit a bonanza that day, and we had a lot of fun. Did we just do that? I thought we did, but it was three weeks ago.

For this Memorial Day weekend, I made a list of things to get done. Today, I managed to cross off a bunch of those tasks: Removed branches from the patio roof Cleaned out my backpack (I'm going to write a blog about that soon) Organized my nightstand Replaced the AC filter Inventoried my Atari games (sounds silly, but I've now bought two games that already had purchased before and just forgot) Besides that, Michael and I went to Savers, where I found a bonanza of two good board games, an Escher jigsaw puzzle, a pair of basketball shorts and a 10-pound weight (we needed a second). Lori and I went grocery shopping at Smith's, and I bounced over to Walmart quickly. Ben and I walked the dog to the H Rock to watch the sunset. Not surprisingly, I didn't have time to nap. Maybe tomorrow.

I went for my longest run/walk of the year this morning, about five miles, while Ben was at swim practice. I actually got a little displaced -- I was running in West Jordan on a bike trail, and in an effort to not get stopped at a light, I took a detour and was concerned I was running too far out. But it worked out well, and I figured out the trail for next time.  The rest of the day was nice. I went to Kohl's and Harmon's and Home Depot to buy sunglasses, pork chops, and a roll of screen. Also took a longer nap. In the evening, Ben and I walked the dog and got ice cream, then I video chatted with friends.

Memorial Day weekend has arrived. Summer is beginning. And I'm resuming my annual quest to blog every day of summer. Day 1 was a mellow-ish workday after a long week. I cemented vacation plans for Ben and me to visit Chicago next month. Michael and I went to Kohl's. (Today was the boys' last day of school.) We all celebrated summer's arrival by going to Red Robin for dinner. I walked the dog and called the police on a bunch of teens who had climbed to the roof of an LDS ward house.  And now, I'm on my porch typing. I'm happy summer has arrived ... and am looking forward to Day 2.

A few days ago, a muscle in my back began feeling sore. The dull pain is right in the middle of my back, right of my spine, I think where the lat meets the trap. I can't explain what caused the strain. I think our couch isn't conducive to good posture. That sounds ridiculous, but it's not the first time that the couch has exacerbated back pain.  Unfortunately, the pain is in a spot that I can't sleep that comfortably on either side. I might turn slightly in the middle of the night and wake up in discomfort. The muscle is aching right now, after mostly feeling good all day -- I even ran this morning with no trouble. I was sitting on the couch, however ... I'll take a couple Tylenol PMs and hope I can sleep comfortably. The pain began so seemingly instantly, and not following any difficult activity, that the minor hypochondriac in me wonders if it's something that's not just a muscle strain. But, it just might be age. Popcorn turns 10 next week, and she has so

Looming somewhere on the outskirts of I'm guessing most American cities, and cutting through the countryside like sentinels watching over the expanse, steel transmission towers carry electricity onward, inward, and outward. These tower networks are stark and solitary. Not much resides underneath them -- maybe a park or a golf course, but not houses or apartments. The towers stand alone but define a path. Since I was little, transmission towers have always fascinated me. I could care less about the technical workings of how they carry electricity . The structures themselves made the impression. To me, they always looked anthropomorphic, as if many were designed to look like people, forming a socially distanced line across the land.  And when I saw those lines, I knew we weren't in the city anymore. If you look on a street-level map, the towers might not show up, but you can trace the course they take because most side streets don't cut across the land. Satellite maps offer a