Call me Sonny
Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.
Friday morning. I wonder if anyone would find it surprising that I’m an early-to-bed-early-to-rise guy. I’m usually asleep by 9:30, and I often wake up around 5. I don’t use an alarm clock, as I feel that “shocked awake” feeling is a guaranteed way to ruin a day from its very beginnings. The time I awake changes, though; it’s about an hour to an hour and a half later in the fall and winter. I find these rhythms interesting. I’m 45, and a person has to put some years on before he or she can recognize the seasonal effects on themselves. Women have it over men in this, with a concrete connection to the moon and the universe outside themselves. Strangely, I’ve always been a little envious of this fact.
At any rate, I love the dawn, and it won’t be very long before I’ll be greeting it while sitting on my deck. It’s just a little bit early, a little too cool, but I’m making preparations. For example, I finally found the perfect wrought iron patio set. It’s sat in somebody’s kitchen for the last 40 years, so I guess it qualifies as an antique. I’m already thinking of ways to modify the table with a combination planter and umbrella stand. It’ll set right next to the deck chair from which I watch the grass grow.
I know we’re all creatures of instant gratification, but I’m going to delay getting my spinach and lettuce in the ground while I solarize the soil. Do you know this technique? Basically, you till the soil, level it out, water it well, put some clear plastic sheeting over it, and in a couple weeks, the high temperatures kill all the bad bugs and sprout all the weed seeds. That’ll make the summer season that much more pleasurable since I won’t be pulling weeds during the hours I should be sitting on the deck watching the sun rise.