listening after dark

Asleep, and dreaming deep

I can always tell I'm getting enough rest when I remember my dreams in the morning. Further, I can tell I'm either getting too much rest or stressed about something when the dreams are complex, endless and bizarre.

This morning was a perfect example. Over the weekend I didn't stay up past 10 p.m. and slept at least nine hours each night. So when I woke before dawn out of an elaborate action dream, and then fell back asleep and continued it, I wasn't surprised. What is unusual, though, is that I can't place the source of the dream. Usually a book or movie will have some connection, but I was watching some silly French Canadian cartoons (thanks, bro) and then reading a British mystery before bed.

Here's what I can recall, 13 hours later:

I was in a large house, possibly in the suburbs, with my family. I think throughout the dream I was a middle-age man. (It's fairly common for me to be another person or animal or even many creatures during a dream.) We were in hiding from some bad people who wanted to kill us. Our supply of water was somehow cut off, and they were hoping to force us out. They set a bomb or something, and I had only a few moments to get a few things together—a gun, but I couldn't find the bullets—before escaping. I had a very fast motorcycle that went 200 miles per hour, and somehow it was made of plywood, or I was using the plywood to carry my wife and child, who died in the explosion. I took these few things and made it out the side door just before the bomb went off. I drove uphill with the headlight off, to avoid being followed. Yet they followed me. Much of the rest of the dream involved high-speed chases on roads, overpasses, freeways and steep hills. Later I stopped at a bar to look for someone, I think, or maybe to sign up for a road race, but then had to speed away once my pursuers came close. I made it to a friend's warehouse by riding along a grassy concrete embankment above a stream. I put the plywood-sandwich bodies in a sort of storage area and my friend helped me hide them. I went inside to stay out of sight and probably to rest. Soon after, my pursuers found me there.

I don't remember any more. I don't think there was any conclusion or anything really tense happening at the end. I just woke up. The strange thing about writing out most dreams is that they usually seem very brief. But even while I was dreaming, I knew how long and complicated it was.

This wasn't even one of the stranger dreams I've had, but it stayed with me throughout the day because of its lack of connection to anything I can recall. Just what was going on in my brain?

Tornadoes in Wyoming? Really?

Apparently a tornado touched down in parts of Casper yesterday. I wish I could have seen that. From work, I had a nice view of the hail, the dark sky and the building across the street.

I don't ever remember a spring this wild. Of course, this is my first spring in Wyoming. After last week's snow, I suppose anything can happen now.

The view from here

One would think that May would not begin with two inches of snow. Wyoming doesn't agree.

Today I'm feeling better about things: It's sunny and warm, with barely a hint of breeze. Four days ago it was pouring rain, and the day before that it was 75. I've given up trying to predict anything. I dress for the weather outside the window and keep an umbrella handy at all times. My tomato seedlings will continue growing inside until at least mid-June.

Getting out of town, mmmmeat pie, hi house

There's been lots of communicating going on lately: phone calls, hanging out with some new friends, planning a trip to Colorado for a weekend with some college friends (leaving tomorrow morning! yay!). I haven't spent much time on my computer at home...I've been getting plenty of that at work.

When I am on the computer, it seems like I'm always looking up something relating to vehicles. I did some test drives last weekend and learned a few good things:
• The Honda Fit is not for me.
• The Toyota Matrix is a little better.
• I really just love my Subaru.

So when Elmer starts to sound worse, I'll probably look for a used Impreza or Legacy wagon. Why not stick with what works, eh? (Except for my sickening engine...which most sources say is unusual for my not-quite-150k miles.)

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Last night I made a meat pie. I had no idea it was so easy. And I must forever from now on use butter in my pastry crusts. Whyever was I using Crisco when butter makes it so much flakier and tastier?

After having leftover meat pie for lunch (which maybe tasted even better after a night in the fridge), I probably shouldn't have had that huge burger and beer for dinner...even though I only finished about half of each. These days I'm not able to eat as much as I used to. I can definitely tell my metabolism is slowing down. I also think having a desk job these past four years has really put a kink in my preferred routines. When I'm busy doing things at home or elsewhere, I don't really think about food until I'm hungry. But when I'm sitting at a desk all day, it's much easier to snack or think of snacking. If I didn't walk to work and get that hour of exercise every weekday, I would be having an even harder time.

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My mom sent me this cool photo of their house from above (click for a larger pop-up). It's the orangey one in the middle with the white trim, just to the right of the steeple. I forget how lush Walla Walla can be in the spring and summer. We moved there directly from Olympia, so it seemed like a desert. But now, after living in New Mexico and Wyoming, even eastern Washington seems verdant.

Snow, rain, flowers, sporks

Weather and work and hordes of children make me tired. In a good way, I think.

I found a couple of amusing links recently:

• Your Birth Tune: See here and here. My birthday song was "Billie Jean." I love that one; in fact, it's my favorite Michael Jackson hit.

• TorsoPants are, for lack of a more original descriptor, random. They reference things like midgets, sporks, beet farmers and knickers. See? Random. (I need this shirt.)

Also, I've been researching vehicles this week. I think I mentioned that my dear Elmer is ailing. I have some time, but I'm trying to come up with options. (Other than a new engine, which I still might consider. Maybe.) If I get something newer, I'm really liking the cheaper hatchbacks everyone is making. Especially the Honda Fit, Nissan Versa, Toyota Yaris/Matrix/Echo. Any advice, thoughts or other considerations would be welcome. (I love my Subaru but would like something more fuel efficient without giving up that nice station-wagony cargo area.)

9 p.m., 62 degrees

I think spring might have finally arrived. Yesterday it was in the 60s and today was nearly 70. We spent a while at the park yesterday, flying kites and throwing a frisbee. There were people everywhere, playing like they'd been in hibernation for months (they have). Wes broke his kite and I lost mine to some power lines, and we both have sore arms from frisbee, but it was a wonderful afternoon. (I wish I had pictures. There were also the college-age kids who had a hula hoop, a guitar, a harmonica and very white winter legs.) Then, to make the day even better, we watched the first two (original) Star Wars movies and ate jalapeño poppers and shrimp. Did you know that cocktail sauce is ridiculously easy to make and tastes way better than the stuff in a jar? See the (sort of) recipe below.

[I have public radio jazz playing in the kitchen, and I just heard "fell down the stairs and died." Who fell and died, I do not know, but there you have it.]

This weekend has also been spent catching up with friends. I've probably been on the phone close to five hours since Friday night. I forget how much I miss girl talk and reminiscing about old times. Sounds like I need to do some serious traveling/visiting soon. Good thing I have a girls weekend planned for the end of April—Boulder, here I come!

To round off the strange assortment of details in this post, here are a few...recipes.

Time for cleaning and exploring

Found a couple of interesting sites today:

unclutterer.com • It's getting to be the time of year when I feel the need to ransack my drawers, closets and cabinets—and get rid of stuff. Oh, stuff. Even after moving once a year two years in a row, I still have too much of it.

walkscore.com • My address gets 68 out of 100 points. (My parents' gets 91.) It is amazing to me how many people drive where they don't need to and when they don't need to. I walk to work every day and home for lunch—an hour total. (It's less than a mile each way. It would be only slightly faster to drive, and in the summer when it's too hot for walking, biking is the fastest of all.) I buy gas less than once a month, especially since I haven't been out of town much lately. I walk to the library, to church, the post office, the bank, sometimes to the grocery store. Even so, I could drive less.