osodecanela | I hear the drizzle of the rain…

Well, the rains have returned to Northern California, it feels like now perhaps in earnest. Predictions right now are for rain through next Monday.

The hardest thing for me to get used to after moving to this coast is that rain here is extraordinarily seasonal. Having grown up in the American Northeast where rains can come at any time of the year (providing it's above freezing), the concept that it's rare to see rain prior to mid October or after early April was difficult to get used to.

Odder still, is that I actually like rain. I find sitting in an enclosure and being able to watch/listen to the rain as it falls very comforting. The last home we lived in in San Francisco had an enormous bay window in the living room, at the front of the house one story up. My favorite thing in the world was to sit in that window on a rainy day with a cup of coffee, or even better, a shot of a nice single malt, & a good book, which sometimes I read & other times simply sat on the cushion next to me. We lived just north & downhill from Alamo Square Park, home of the famous five 'painted ladies', the iconic Victorian homes seen in many photos of that fair city. That bay window afforded me an amazing vista, one that spoke to me & to this day is one of the things I still miss about that place, even though it's been more than 30 years since we moved from there. I awoke an hour ago to the sound of heavy rain on the roof. Five in the morning is not a time that I'm "used" to doing. That said, I have both a new CPAP machine and a new & very different mask, so the sleep I'm getting is of a better quality I suspect. I'm back to where 5 1/2 or six hours leaves me feeling quite well rested. Since these days we tend to be in bed by about 10 or 11, & asleep an hour later, waking up by five or six is no longer unusual and thereafter I'm usually up for the day. I'm sitting now on the outside steps leading to the upstairs, but under the roofline, enjoying both the sound of the rain and a rather tasty cup of French roast. All in all, a very satisfying way to start my day, even though sunrise is at the least 45 minutes away.

They'll be much to get done today. I'm working my way through packing up the kitchen, a task I think finishable in the next 1 to 2 days, but ~~once daylight arrives~~ later this morning I will need to take a jog into Santa Rosa. LJ's phone is refusing to charge even though it's battery was recently replaced. It may well be time to step up to a newer iPhone for him, but before going to that expense, there are possibly two other options, both of which have me going back to the repair person who recently did his battery and my screen. I also need to go to AT&T itself to see about getting them to replace the microcell that recently failed. I absolutely will not go and purchase a new microcell. We'll be moving from here within the next month or four, and there's decent reception at the new house. No need for a microcell there. However, There is absolutely no reception at the current house without that damned microcell, so if they'll replace it, it would be handy to say the least. Last, I have my fingers crossed that the gentleman who is supposed to purchase the procedure table will have gotten his transportation issues 'taken care of' and will actually pay for and take the damned table. Once that happens, I'll never have to enter my office again. Everything, and I mean everything, will be out of that space & I'll finally be able to close that chapter of my life, something I am rather keen to be done with. As I've blogged before, the emptying of that space and the divestiture of things I no longer need, was a cathartic process, but after six solid weeks, I'm quite ready for it to be over and to move on with my life.