Well the last post was depressing. Stumble, get back up, move on.
So what do I have on my plate these days? My sister has been on vacation in Italy, so I’ve been laying low in Jerome all week.
Health wise – I’m leaning more and more towards the primal lifestyle. It’s kind of rocking my world. There is a lot that goes against the conventional ‘fitness’ wisdom that I spent so much time trying to adhere to, so there are a few places that I still struggle. But I’m looking better than ever, and more importantly – I’m feeling better than ever. Even after an exhaustive day of digging holes, lifting weights, and walking the dog, I still have energy to do fun things.
Fun things – Like cook. Along with the change in exercise comes a change in diet. Now that I’m not confined to living and cooking in the truck on a five dollar a day budget, I’ve started to re-learn how to enjoy cooking. I’ve cut almost all the grains out of my diet. So no bread, no pasta, no corn-based products. I still grab the rare bagel, or slice of pizza, but it’s not often. With summer upon us here in the desert I’ve been shooting for lighter fare. Alongside the big hunks of meat there is generally fruit, lots of salads, plus I’ve been on a spinach and cauliflower kick of late, so those are making it in regularly.
Other fun stuff – Bouldering. My weekend exercise. Every weekend for at least an hour or two Courtney and I are on the rock. We’ve gone outside with some friends in Prescott and torn our hands up on the granite. We’ve gone out just us on some nice black basalt boulders by Thumb Butte, until they got too hot to hang out on. And we’ve also gone up to the climbing gym in Flagstaff with my friend Ben who lives up there, to crawl all over colored holds until our fingers were too sore to grip a pencil. I’m still really bad at the sport, but I’m starting to get better. Every time out gets me a little closer to the goal of feeling proficient.
Work stuff – I’m still in the vineyard, and I’m still thoroughly enjoying it. The temperatures are ridiculously high, and with monsoons here we see a bit of humidity as well. Lots of days digging holes, or spending all eight hours on my knees planting new vines. Sunshine that makes the new-hires drop like flies, and a grueling schedule with low pay that would understandably make most people run for the conventional jobs in an office. As bad as all of this sounds – I really do look forward to going to work every day. It’s such a nice change of pace from staring at computers all day, I can’t help but be thankful to be out there. As of next week our new install should be finished – 18,000 new vines in the ground, and I was a small part of it. Kind of cool.
But the vineyard work won’t last forever. My girl is over the hill, and seeing her only on the weekends isn’t something I want long-term. So after the harvest season this fall I’ll be heading over to Prescott to live with her, and hopefully find a job waiting tables, which is a job I’ve always wanted to try.
Things with the girl are obviously going well, since I’m planning on moving in with her. We have a trip planned for St. Louis in a few days to hang out with her family and friends. We’ll be out there for a week full of fun.
Ummm… yeah, that’s about it. Hope everybody out there in the blogosphere is doing well and enjoying summer time!
