Musings & Thoughts for Friday, February 26, 2021, or: The Saga of the Involuntary Early Riser Continues

Hi there, Dear Reader. It’s late morning in New Hometown, Florida on Friday, February 26, 2021. Currently, the temperature is 67˚F (20˚C) under sunny skies. With the wind blowing from the east-southeast at 3 MPH (5 KM/H) and humidity at 75%, the feels-like temperature is 64˚F (18˚C). Today, our area can expect partly sunny skies and a high of 85˚F (29˚C). Tonight, skies will be partly cloudy and the low will be 65˚F (18˚C).

Today I woke up earlier than I would have liked – around 5 AM by the kitchen oven’s LED clock. I probably could have slept an hour longer, but my bladder had other ideas and the mere act of getting up from my futon and going to the bathroom across the hall in a chilly house – The Caregiver never turns on the central heating – was enough to rob me of my drowsiness. I seriously thought about going back to sleep, but once I’m awake enough to do any “serious thinking” I can’t go back to sleep unless I have a dose of Ativan or Xanax handy. I had neither, so I decided to just stay up rather than lie on the futon – a loathsome piece of furniture, to be sure, but better than sleeping on a thin mattress on  the floor – and toss and turn for an hour or so.

As a result, I had to reconsider my writing plans for the day. Originally, this post was going to be a comparison/contrast piece about two books that delve into the Battle of Midway – Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully, and Craig L. Symonds’ The Battle of Midway. The first was published in 2005; the second in 2011, and although they deal with the pivotal naval battle that was fought by the American and Japanese navies on June 4-7, 1942, the two books approach the topic from two different perspectives.

I would explain those differences in perspective and how well the books tell the story of Midway in more detail today, but even though I’ve had my usual café con leche – the breakfast menu here is rather limited, at least in my opinion – and a single slice of carrot cake, I don’t think I’d do the topic justice. My ability to write anything in a coherent – not to mention engaging – fashion is impaired by lack of sleep. I don’t want to force myself to write that essay just for the sake of getting it published in time to get a few more pageviews today. So, I’ll just put that project on hold until tomorrow.

I might go out for a brief walk as soon as I publish this post, which, according to my Statistics page (in the Insights section), is my 400^th published article on my WordPress blog. I am already wearing “street clothes” and don’t need to shave all that much, so all I need to do is put my shoes on, put my housekey in my pocket, grab my phone (if I can find it), and walk out the front door.  I haven’t gone out for a stroll in a good while, so maybe some fresh air and a bit of sunlight might be beneficial.

And with that, Dear Reader, I will take my leave of you. Stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.