Bird Buddy updated their app with a new feature. On live streaming on my phone, I can now snap photos. That’s how I got the photo above. Before, the app took photos on its own and for some reason, the Cardinal wasn’t getting many photos. I mostly got Mourning Doves and a Curved Bill Thrasher. My Cardinal couple probably flit away too quickly to get their pics taken. Now, when I spot them at the feeder, I can take their pictures. FYI, that’s a sunflower seed stuck to the bird’s beak or he’s in the process of chomping it down.
Enough with birds. This post was meant to be about changing my schedule back to being an early bird. It hit 90 degrees last week, which meant after I woke up between 6 and 7 a.m., wrote my morning pages, Bible readings, shower, etc. it was too warm outside. Although I still walked, I needed to make a change. The answer was to flip the script, get out of bed earlier and straight to walking. The rest of my morning routine could wait until after our walk.
The temperatures dropped to a low of 50, high of 70 degrees, but I decided to stick with the new schedule. I found it hard enough to get out of bed an hour earlier for a few days until I got used to it. Now that I’m used to it, I’ll stick with it throughout the summer.
My husband decided to make our morning walk more challenging by rucking. What is rucking you ask?
Rucking is the action of walking with weight on your back. Walking with a weighted rucksack (aka backpack) is a low impact exercise based on military training workouts.
Hiking is rucking in the mountains and urban hiking is simply called rucking. You’ve probably even spent time rucking – traveling, bringing books to school, or on your commute to work. Carrying weight is a necessary part of life, and as it turns out, humans are naturally good at it, too.
ACTIVE RESISTANCE TRAINING™
Rucking builds muscle and strength while improving cardio and endurance. Bringing both types of exercises together provides a fuller range of benefits to improve your health. You can burn up to 3x more calories than walking.
I don’t know why, but he’s embarrassed about his new rucking hobby. I think it’s too cute. Rucking is a popular thing now, not quite like pickleball, but more and more people are doing it. But hubby is motivated to get out the door early to avoid any neighbors seeing him with a rucksack on his back. Today, we saw ran into someone when we were less than a block from home.
“Five minutes earlier and we would have made it,” he said.
How does your schedule change with the seasons?
Have you heard of rucking before and do you think you’ll try it?
View from before sunrise during a morning walk. I love the pastel pink and blue skies.
The summer heat is here. Today it’s supposed to be 108 degrees. We’re at an elevation of 3,000 feet — rather than near sea level at our old home in Palm Springs. That makes it seven to 10 degrees cooler here.
But after our freezing cold wet winter, my body hasn’t adjusted to hot temperatures — even though the days are under 110 degrees. When I lived the Coachella Valley for 38 years, I would say it’s not hot until it’s over 110. Now, in Arizona, after two and half years, my tolerance is 100 degrees.
Our solution? Waking up early. Alarm is set for 4:30 a.m. We’re out the door by 5 a.m with a temperature of 78 degrees. Sunrise is almost half an hour later. Our goal is a one-hour walk through our neighborhood for three miles. We’ve upped our mileage and time from a 40-minute two-mile walk. We don’t see many people out, except for an occasional neighbor walking their dog.
I am getting somewhat adjusted to the new schedule. I’m very tired in the afternoon and I want to nap. But I’m not a napper. Also, I’m afraid if I do nap, I won’t be able to fall asleep at my new bedtime!
A benefit of the new schedule is I’m finding lots of time to read. I’m done with my reading and writing blogs and rewriting my manuscript hours earlier in the day. Plenty of time to settle on the sofa with a book. I’m also getting pesky chores done that I’ve managed to put off for months — or should I say years?
Here’s a photo of sunrise around 5:25 a.m.
What are your summer temperatures like?
What do you consider a perfect temperature or too hot?
What adjustments do you make to your summer schedule, if any?
The early birds I’m talking about aren’t these gorgeous creatures in my backyard. I’m talking about me and my hubby.
We’ve become the couple we used to laugh at. You know, the ones who have dinner at 4:30 or 5 p.m. to save money. Now, when we go out, we go early to take advantage of early bird prices that end at 6 p.m. Only these days, it’s no longer called “early bird specials” but “happy hour.”
A neighborhood couple invited us to dinner for restaurant week that features three-course meals at reduced prices. We declined because their reservation was too late for us! It was at the wee hour at night of 6:30 p.m. To be fair, my husband works in the financial world and he’s on east coast time. His work day begins three hours earlier than most people out west.
This is the state bird of Arizona, the cactus wren.
It’s gotten hotter the past couple weeks. I began setting my alarm so that I’m up before sunrise. We’ve changed our walking schedule to avoid the heat. We are heading out the door before 6 a.m. — which also makes us early birds.
One of our neighbors told us her method for walking. (Who knew you needed a method?) She turns right out of her driveway and continues to walk on the right side of the road. By doing that, she said she hits every road and cul-de-sac in the neighborhood — and ends back at her front door. My husband and I have been random walkers, going whichever way our whims take us. But this week, we tried it and not only does it add a little distance to our walk, we’re seeing streets we were previously missing.
I wrote about successful people who are early birds HERE.
What are your thoughts about early bird specials and getting up early?
Yesterday I went to the post office to mail a package to my son. I waited in line between two people who were sending certified letters. I figured out they were sending their tax returns! On January 11.
What the heck? Who are these people? How can they have their taxes done already? I was mailing pillow cases to go with the sheets I gave my son (I forgot the pillow cases at home) and these other people are done with their taxes?
We don’t have a W-2 yet. I guess I can start organizing what I need. I may get started earlier this year. I usually get them to the CPA in March. I’ll shoot for February this year.
Are you an early tax filer? Or do you wait until the end?
Saguaro across the street on the nature’s preserve.
If I wake up in the middle of the night, I often turn on a podcast or a radio station and find myself falling back to sleep quickly.
Last night I listened to someone talking about circadian rhythms and something they called “midnight brain.” I fell asleep so of course I only remember a little bit. They were talking about how more crimes happen late at night.
Most people have been tempted to stay up late at some point in their lives. Others may have to work late, often past midnight, due to the nature of their job.
But a new research review, recently published in the journal Frontiersin Network Psychology, suggests that staying awake past midnight may have implications that stem beyond needing an extra cup of coffee the next day. In fact, the study authors suggest that the mind simply isn’t “designed” to be awake into the wee hours of the night.
While prior studies have explored the effects of sleep deprivation on cognition, the new research focuses more specifically on what happens to the human brain when it’s awake past midnight.
The resulting “Mind After Midnight” hypothesis states that the mind isn’t set up to operate as it does in the daytime, and as a result, we’re more likely to make impulsive and even “risky” decisions.
The article also mentioned that some people are night owls and are more creative at night. They don’t experience any of the downsides most people do.
My husband has said for years that nothing good happens late at night. I stayed up late as a teenager. Friends and I would try to stay up until the birds sang. It was a badge of honor.
But the older I get, the earlier I fall asleep. In fact, I go to bed so early it causes me to wake up in the middle of the night!
What are your thoughts about circadian rhythms and midnight brain? Are you an early to bed early to rise? Or are you a night owl?
