Hammock

All I could think of on Saturday morning, as my legs and lungs faded just past the Travilah convenience store, an hour into a 2.5 hour ride, comrades up the road, was the need to sleep.  My lids were heavy and I really considered stopping at the side of the road and taking a little snooze.  I told one of the boys to roll on ahead at tempo, don't wait for me; I could barely manage Zone 1.  I mapped out the day in front of me:  ladies were occupied in the afternoon, teenager could easily hang out with his buddies.  I saw a golden window of opportunity (for about 1.75 hours) for a nap in the hammock, one of life's true pleasures.

I was tired.

The previous weekend was spent fretting about the work that had to be done while I was at my Grandmother's funeral (and doing it before we left), going out of town for the sad reunion, and jumping back into the fire when we got back.  It's not that the work isn't abundant, rather clients aren't paying because money's tight for everyone, and while we should be comfortable we're going pay period to pay period, and that's no fun for a small business.  It'll work itself out.  It always does...It's just not fun while It's going through its gyrations.

So I rolled in just as the heat was rising, ready to slide into the arms of morpheus on a dangling sling in the yard.  It was still pleasant out, everyone was still around, there was a buzzing energy through the house, and there was an unpainted party shack out back and three cans of unopened paint beckoning me just a bit louder.

I realized that not only did I have 2 willing and able indentured servants at my command, but 2 of their friends too.  I figured that we could paint this thing within the day and prep it for trim next weekend, and I could even get a nap in to boot.

So out came the midtone paper (aka shopping bag) and colored pencils to decide on the color scheme...

Then the swarm of painters (2 girls on yellow, a boy on blue, and another boy on red).  I got to boss everyone around.

Pretty soon we were done.  Not bad for a couple hours of work.  They dripped enough paint on the deck to inspire an end of project Jackson Pollack exercise with the remaining paint.  More on that some other time.

Filial duties required that I help my dad move some bookcases and help my mom untangle the spaghetti of computer cabling while trying to figure out why her sound card wasn't working.  Then I was off to Ashburn to hang with friends from high school that I only see once a year.  I thought I wasn't going to stay long, but before I knew it it was 1:08 AM and I needed to get back home--I had CX practice at 7:30 AM.  Amazing how time flies when you see people you haven't seen in decades.  I literally hadn't seen a few of them for 27 years (1981).

And I did get up at 6:30, pulled out the 'cross bike, and had the best workout (except for an actual CX race) ever with some fine folks from DC Velo, NCVC, and DCMTB.  This is a keeper, and hopefully I will be able to finish in the top 100 in every race I enter this fall.  Joined up with the BP ride later that morning and got some more miles in.  An enormous seafood feast for supper with family and extended family (grilled tilapia, while flaky, is a definite go-to).  I hit the sack hard.

Quite a weekend.  I never did lay on that hammock, though.