We’re nearly done with 1/12 of the new year, I hope everyone made good use of it. I’ll get my second vaccination this week. I guess it’s a booster shot, getting me that last little way to 95% effectiveness. I think that’s a fair contribution to the common good.

It’s Sunday. I used to take the day off. Pause my literary output. I guess I thought it would keep me fresh. But an odd thing happened. The word spigot, once turned on, likes to stay that way. So, here I am on a gray winter’s morning sitting at my screen, coffee cup to the left, and the cat at my feet or in my lap or just walking around meowing, because she’s been out all night and needs a little love before her daytime slumbers.

Yesterday, I heard the sound of children laughing. I had to pause and listen. They were coming out for lunch, heading to the tables beneath the trees. One of them chased a squirrel. Another called out a shouted admonishment to stop.

I did another long walk yesterday. When I got home, I was pooped. Two and half miles with more elevation change than the last trip, probably because I got closer to the river. In addition to being pooped I felt enervated, totally lacking the will to do anything, which is what I did most of the day, nothing.

The ranch that butts up to our property has cattle roaming the range. Not many, five or six heifers with their calves. The ranch is a fair size, so I mostly see them when they come to drink at the windmill or wander by our fence grazing fresh green grass.

I swear. Sometimes I think my body holds a lottery every night to decide which part is going to hurt.

Being lost in space and time has its advantages, except when you want to get things done, and forget that Monday was a national holiday. So, no bank, no post office, no courthouse.

What a nice surprise. Eight hours of sleep. All at once. Straight through. One tiny wake-up, I think, it may have been a dream. Feels like the old days. Go to bed, wake up to the alarm. Can I repeat the feat tonight? We shall see.

Call me Mr. Industrious. Yesterday. I got my car inspected. Pruned a peach tree and dug up a dead one. I spent three hours burning a pile of brush.

It’s a fine winter’s morning here on the outskirts of our little town, and I confess to feeling blessed.

Information traveling at the speed of light is the blessing and the curse of the internet. Arcane scientific debates get played out in full view and people woefully ignorant of any facts get to have opinions.

I’m starting the fourth day of my vaccination vacation, although it’s not really a vacation, I just wanted to use two words that started with V. And now that I think about it, I should go with venture, as in a venture into the unknown, a vaccination venture. But enough with the alliteration.

My vaccination symptoms, such as they were, have abated. My shoulder is no longer sore. I did wake up last night with a fiery pain in one of my arthritic feet, but it too went away. Hard to know if it was a symptom of the shot, or just some random old guy nerve thing.

Vaccination day went off without a hitch yesterday. The Covid emptied highways made for easy traveling. The vaccination givers were all in place. I answered questions, had my temperature taken, was handed a sheaf of papers and got my shot.

What a day. It started snowing mid-morning and continued snowing through early evening. When it was all said and done the ground was covered in a blanket of snow and all its imperfections were erased.

It’s raining in the Hill Country this morning. Later today we might get snow. It’s Sunday morning. I’d go to church if I could because it just feels like a day for that. It’s been a hard week.

Whenever I walk around the yard and the back lots, the cats follow me. I think they’re hoping I’ll kill a gazelle and there will be something to eat.

I remember two things about 1954. The New York Giants beat the Cleveland Indians in the world series; I was crushed. And I participated in the trials for the new Salk polio vaccine; we were living in Corpus Christi at the time.

I had a good day yesterday. Made the bed. Took down the Christmas decorations. Talked to my children. Talked to old friends. Watched a bit of TV. Bought some shoe polish. Checked the mail. Got a package. And my college team won a basketball game. Pretty ordinary stuff.

I could really do with a hard freeze. Something in the teens. Winter is passing here in the Hill Country and we’ve yet to see one. There’s a bit of rain this morning and a front is on the way. But it’s only going down into the high 20s this weekend, and no one has ever called that hard.