Friday Library Day

Friday has been all about my weekly excursion to the library for years and it starts to dominate my thinking on Thursday afternoon so, as I’ve advised here before on other issues, I’m going to write it instead of fight it. You can expect my Friday and/or Saturday posts to be related in some way--about preparing for and making the trip to and fro; about the books and movies going back and coming home; the ones I finished and the ones I didn’t and the ones I’ve been in queue for for weeks or months that I anticipate with almost the same physical and emotional reactions as for that first bite of perfect in-season watermelon on a scorching hot summer afternoon.

Speaking of scorching hot summer afternoons. The forecast for the Rogue Valley tomorrow warns of the possibility of reaching the triple digits for the first time this year. My husband wanted me to consider changing my library day but failing that I am to try to be there when the doors open at one and return as soon as possible, take water and use sun screen and maintain a moderate pace. I’ve given him cause to worry. I don’t use good sense sometimes when it comes to physical exertion on hot days. Where I was raised, up north in the V where the Cowlitz River flows into the Columbia, we did not have many heat waves and the techniques for accommodating to the heat never became ingrained. Even though we have lived in either southern Oregon or somewhere in California for nearly half of the years we have been married, I still have to be reminded how to behave on hot days.

Last week I did everything wrong and tho it was only in the high eighties I got a stern reminder of the potential cost of not respecting the sun . I didn’t drink enough water before leaving the house and did not take a water bottle. I didn’t leave until almost two instead of the usual one-thirty and then pushed too hard to get there in hopes of still getting back by ten after three and thus missing only the first segment of Dr. Phil. Like I said, I give cause to worry. My priorities are sometimes a bit cockeyed. The chances were better than fifty percent that I had already seen the show as it was a rerun but I had missed a lot of shows last fall when I was up in Longview so I keep checking in. I should probably invest in a TV guide or make the time to check on all my upcoming shows a couple of times per week while I’m online. That would allow me to reassign those blocks of time for reading or writing or watching DVDs. I have been fairly good about shutting off the TV as soon as I recognize a rerun I’ve seen but occasionally I get hooked back in or I start surfing over to other channels.

Now that was a bit of a tangent. But oh well. The upshot of last Friday’s imprudence was that I missed both Dr Phil and Oprah and was almost late for dinner as I had to sit and rest and drink some water the librarian gave me before I could start looking at the books waiting for me and again after I had checked out and packed the books up. I didn't leave until just before the library closed at five. I had miscalculated how much longer it was going to take to make the walk to the new building two blocks and two extra street crossings further on from the old one. Then the air conditioning was on only intermittently while I was there--a guy was working on it. I hadn’t noticed how over-heated I was while I was still outside where there was a slight breeze added to the motion of my body through the air but within thirty seconds of entering the building I was sweating like a dog’s tongue. Bending over to unpack the backpack instigated a blinding headache that pulsed with my pulse and did not let up until after I was able to lay down for half an hour after I got home--though I am sure the fluid intake contributed even more to the recovery than laying down but the two combined lowered my body heat more than either alone.

I do not want a repeat of last week so I am intent on doing everything right this time and that means that I have to leave the house by twelve-fifteen at the latest. And before I leave I have to eat breakfast (another thing I didn‘t do last week) and drink at least one glass of water--more if I have coffee too. I need to fill a water bottle--which I will probably do before I go to bed so I can stick it in the fridge. And then I need to remember that this walk is not intended to be aerobic. I am already behind the game though as I did not get my shower and shampoo done before my mother-in-law went to bed which means that my best option is to lay down early--like before four instead of closer to six and failing that, get it done before I lay down which would mean going to bed with a wet head. I still have to prepare the returning books and there are a few I want to spend a little more time with--as always.

Which means I should be wrapping this up. It is after 1AM and I started this about 11PM in the hopes of knocking off a quick post about what I’ve been reading this week and then get on line shortly after midnight when it becomes possible for me to renew the library items up for renewal and find out what is waiting for me. But once again I went off on tangents. I do that so often I might as well expect it. I used to abandon these efforts--not delete them, just not post them and leave them sitting for future cannibalizations. But I am trying to be a little less persnickety. This is an informal forum and this post is definitely on this blog’s stated theme and is an accurate reflection of what is on my mind right now.