"Do MIce Have Eyelids?"

I don't know!  All I know is when I grab them by the tail to release their squashed little necks from the trap, their eyes are wide open.  I suppose I could take a toothpick or something to probe around to see if they're just open in shock, or if indeed they just don't have lids.  I'll tell you this.  If they have this anatomical trait, they certainly aren't nothing like mine.  It's damn clear that I have eyelids, even though many of my friends would tell you that I've gone through life with them squeezed shut!  Not that it matters it seems, as the mice kept theirs wide open, and yet the allure of that bit of peanut butter still ended in tragedy.

I considered adding a few pics of the aforementioned tragic events because it's pretty cool to see the various poses they end up in, the only common aspect being the open eyes thing.  But if I had done that Alisha would probably have stopped reading my blog, and since she's the mother of my grandson, I can't afford to piss her off  :)

I've had lots of opportunity to consider this small mystery this year, as we seem to have a higher than usual winter invasion.  Either that, or I'm getting better at catching them.  One of the joys of living in the country I suppose.  I don't know where they get in, and haven't really worried about it, but maybe next summer I'll do a good analysis.  It may be futile however, as we live in a sided house, and the little fuckers don't need much of a crack to squeeze through.


But back to my question.  Do mice have eyelids and why do I care?  Well I don't actually.  I couldn't care less if they have eyes, or brains, or even souls.  All I care about is that they don't live in my house, shitting in the ceiling, or chewing the wiring.  It's not a personal thing, and if they were only house trained I would have no problem with a few of them as house guests.

But while I don't care about mice eyelids, here's something I do care about.

Is it okay for me to get up at 8:00 on a Tuesday morning, have a leisurely breakfast, got for a 5km jog, come back and shower, then have some lunch, sit in an easy chair and read for a couple of hours, have a nap, and then contemplate whether or not I'm gonna to anything productive today, or just do some more of the above?

Is it okay?

My mind says it's okay.  After all, I sure don't do it every day.  I live a busy life.  I try to keep my chores in order, and I try to think of stuff that may add value to those around me.  I never let things get into a state of disrepair, other than perhaps my emotional health. I'm 61 years old and have spent at least 2/3rds of them working fairly hard.  My wife is out earning our daily bread now, doing something she enjoys while I'm catching mice on her behalf, so that seems fair.  My children are all grown up and independent, and while I don't really think I did a good job of helping them get there, I did have the wisdom of marrying Roo to do so.

Is it okay?

Yes I'm sure it is!

Oh wait!

That's a lie!

If I was sure, then I wouldn't have this sense of unease, this sense of guilt, this sense of time wasted.

Damn!  It really pisses me off  when my rational mind tells me that not just is it okay, as the saying goes, it's more than okay.  I am not a lazy person!  If I would let myself do this when I felt like it, I think I would be a healthier, happier, and even a more useful human being.  And isn't that our purpose in life??

More work to do I guess.  I'm gonna start by focusing on this gratitude thing.  I think I mentioned that I downloaded a book called Gratitude Works, and so far I really like it.  It's fairly theoretical at first but promises to move into a practical 21 day exercise.  That probably appeals to me because of my left brain tendencies, and I suppose it could have the added bonus of giving me the task satisfaction that I seem to need.

We shall see.  I promise to keep you posted as I go through it.  Could be interesting.

On practical matters I must tell you that my run was interesting today.  I felt fine heading out the driveway until half way down when I suddenly knew I was gonna have a brown out.  I have had a few over the last month, always right at the start, but in all cases once I let it subside it went away and never came back.  When I got back, my watch automatically downloaded my data to the internet, which when I think about it, is kinda scary.  Never the less, I had a look at it just because I wanted to see whether I managed to improve my pace over the duration of the 5 kms.

The little application has graphing functionality, and this is what I seen when I combined pace with heart rate.

The shaded grey is pace so you can clearly see where I stopped completely for 15 seconds or so.  What's freaky as hell is the red line......you guessed it, my heart rate.  I'm not saying that it was any kind of serious heart event because I think you have a great deal of pain when that happens, but there is absolutely no question that the brownout happened at the exact same time as the watch showed this.  In case you were wondering, the app also shows precisely where I was in the driveway at the time, using its mapping capability, which confirms the timing of the event.  Did my heart skip a beat, maybe even 2 or 3?  I considered the idea that it maybe lost connectivity when I bent over, but that would be unusual. I will try to test that tomorrow.

I ain't worrying over this mind you, I actually just found it interesting.  And I also found it interesting that as long as I let myself recover for those few seconds, afterwards it was like it never happened.  I'll pay better attention next time, if indeed there ever is a next time.

Big day tomorrow.  I see both my doctor and my dentist in the morning, and while I don't expect to learn anything of direct value from either one of them, perhaps going through the motions will trigger my own brain into taking some affirmative action.

"The early bird may get the worm, but it's the second mouse that gets the cheese."---Jeremy Paxman

....and this is totally unrelated but as soon as I seen it I had to share.....lmfao

"On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."---H. L. Mencken

I had to look this guy up and although he seemed like quite a moron himself, he certainly nailed this one with some foresight.  He died 60 years ago!

And I thought I was all done for today and ready to post, but then this happened, and I couldn't quite leave.

Didn't I try hard to say some nice things about him the other day??

I'm trying to be grateful!

Love
Peter