Who Knew?

For the past few weeks I have been getting up around 4am, reading, and the heading off to the gym to work out with my brother Eric.

This is a very odd mid-life development.

For the past 30+ years, I was always a night owl usually staying up until well past midnight. In my college days I didn't dare take morning classes since I'd sleep through them. I didn't much care for afternoon classes either since I'd be skiing or playing golf....and evening classes didn't fit my social schedule so I was scrambling around trying to make it to class or copy notes from some cute girl. Hey, I graduated okay - barely. Last I checked, my degree didn't list the total number of absences so I got that going for me.....which is nice.

Anyway, back to this 4am thing.....I wake up with more energy now than since I was in high school and all that testosterone was just starting to coarse through my body.

But 4am?

Really?

Some obeservations about that hour of the day:

1. The sky is beautiful, the air crisp and the smell of spring is abundant - even in Nevada. Granted, the now pungent flowers will all flame out once the 100 degree heat hits in a few days (and stays for 4 months - but it's a dry heat - haha) but right now, at this moment, it's pretty neat. We even have a hummingbird nest going up in the secret garden area of the yard.....2nd year in a row now.



2. No one is on the road. I even beat the newspaper guy. I really don't read the newspaper since every bit of news and information is available online, however the paper people are sneaky - they just keep renewing my subscription automatically and I never find their phone number to cancel the delivery - I'm killing trees and everyone knows what an enviromentalist I am. Each morning when I see the weeks pile of newspapers stacked up I say, "Damn, I gotta cancel that subscription."

3. Working out is fun. Really it is. Once you get over the soreness of the first few workouts, the routine gets easier. The day after I hit the gym it felt like I was run over by a truck. I have this penchant for always going full speed and acting like I'm 20 years old. I'm told I need to "take it slow," and "work yourself up slowly." Slow is not in my vocab. It just isn't. Therefore I suffer from my overzealousness. In everything.

4. What started the 4am wake up? Dunno. Maybe it's a sign of middle age. My father would arise well before dawn each day and hit the ground running. Me? For most of my life I stumbled out of bed, stumbled to the john, stumbled to the shower and so on. I had a horrible time waking up and staying alert. Now, not so much.

5. Getting up early is not without problems however: What does one do between 6am and 7am? It's not like I can go to work at 6:30am and beat everyone in by 2 hours. I can't go back to bed since that will screw up by circadian sleep rhythms. I figured I can blog since blogging is my outlet for all that right and wrong in Keith World. My blog is my journal and one day wifey-poo will take all the posts from all the years and have them bound into a book so that my posterity can read of my escapades. I'm sure it will make for good bathroom reading material.

6. I am back to being Yard Rambo. Sure Super Pedro takes care of the yard but even he misses some things, plus I enjoy planting flowers, weeding, and tending to my garden patch of tomatoes and strawberries. This is my 2nd go around at a garden - last year we did okay but I'm thankful for Von's Supermarket being close by since I would starve if left to my own devices to feed myself and my crew. I was born in the right era.



7. Even the dogs aren't ready to get up and get after it. Zeus and Ray-Ray usually like to get rousted from their kennel at 8-830am but with my new schedule, I get them up earlier - 7-730 now. They look at me like, "Hey man, what's the deal dude?" They do their business and go back to bed - a dogs life. Not bad.

The new schedule is agreeing with me. Somehow, going to bed earlier hasn't been a problem and waking up is a breeze. Utterly amazing to me - a 180.