Thursday, October 29, 2015

The Impending Darkness

Well guys... the time is coming near. Soon we'll have to set the clocks back and life in dreary darkness will begin.


OK... the above meme is a tad bit of an exaggeration. At the moment the sun is setting around 6pm. After the time change it will set around 5, and slowly set earlier until about the end of November when it will go down at around 4:30... and hover there until about mid-December when it will slowly start climbing back the other direction.

Yes... I'm a bit obsessed with this topic.

Anyone who's followed my blog for a while knows that I'm NOT a morning person, and that I get really depressed with the darkness this time of year. So every year about this time I vow to reform my night owl ways, and every year I fail spectacularly. Sigh.


This year, things seem to be going a bit better than usual though, so I've got my fingers crossed.

It actually started with my flu shot... or maybe it was the Tdap (Tetanus, Diphtheria & Pertussis vaccine.) Just in case you were wondering, going for a 45 mile bike ride the day after getting a vaccination is probably not the smartest move. It was such a beautiful day though... and it seemed like a good idea at the time, but by mile 15 my legs felt like they were made of lead, and by the time I got home I felt like I'd been hit by a truck!


The long and short of it is that I felt totally miserable for a few days. Normally I would have just taken some ibuprofen an not worried about it - but somehow I got a little voice telling me that it might not be a good idea, so I took to the interwebs and discovered some new research showing that taking any sort of analgesic before or after a vaccination makes said vaccination significantly less effective. Basically you end up blunting the immune response, which is sorta the whole point of the vaccine!

So I decided to just tough it out... which meant that I've been going to bed really early (for me) at around midnight. And remarkably enough, I've actually been sleeping through the entire night... like several nights in a row... that NEVER happens!

Of course, I've got some extra incentive to get out of bed at a reasonable hour... actually 4 little hungry feline incentives outside...


Plus, with the greenhouse cover on the hail house, it gets really warm in there once the sun comes up, so I need to open the windows lest I fry all of the plants I'm trying to protect!


Anyhow, I'm feeling much better now, and CatMan & I have been cramming in all of the long bike rides that we can before winter sets in.

This was from the ride the day after the flu shot... see why I couldn't say no?

I also ordered a few strings of Christmas lights... the neighbors are gonna die of shock... the grinch is decorating?!? 

Actually, some of them are little solar garden lights that I put on my little kitty cemetery - somehow it makes me feel better knowing there are lights out there. And the others I bought to use as indicator lights because I've decided that it's a real pain to keep plugging and unplugging the outdoor kitty heating pads, so I bought some remote control switches - but since I can't see if the heating pads are on or not, I wanted something that would make it easy.

So yes... cats are really the only thing that motivates me!

Speaking of which... Little Blackie is getting less scared of me, so I finally got a few shots of him/her... Not totally in focus but you get the idea...


And I think there are gonna be some early mornings involved in trapping them and getting them all fixed...

Anyhow, that's how I'm dealing with the impending darkness... how about you? Do you get depressed when the days get shorter? What do you do to deal with it?

32 comments :

  1. The cat is a female. Tortie cats are always female.

    It's the genetics - coat color carried on the X chromosome.

    To offer more (probably unnecessary / unwanted / irrelevant) information = ginger cats are mostly male but occasionally female which only happens if the tom is a ginger and the queen is carrying that ginger coat color. Calico queens very often produce ginger tomkittens..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Judy... just found your comment, somehow Blogger thought you were spam. Anyhow, I've heard all of the above too, but I wasn't sure if the cat had to have three different colors to be considered calico and therefore definitely female. Or are "tortie" and "calico" different?

      Delete
    2. Very occasionally there is a male calico. But rather than the normal XY male they are XXY, and sterile.

      Calico is patches of red / black / white, or a muted cream / gray / white.

      A tortie is mingled patches of soft black and pale orange. Think or tortoiseshell, which is what they are named for. They generally have no or only very little white fur.

      Delete
    3. OK... that's totally fascinating! Well, I'm gonna assume that Little Blackie is a girl unless the vet says otherwise!

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ack! I clicked the wrong button and accidentally deleted your comment! Can't figure out how to undo it, so here's what you wrote:

      ________________________________

      LIttle Blackie almost looks like a Calico. Is there any white on her?

      I hadn't heard that about taking an analgesic with a vaccination. Gonna have to remember that. I usually don't take anything, but I won't for sure now.
      ______________________________

      So... that was my thought too on Little Blackie - I've heard that all calicoes are females. I don't see any white though, so I'm not sure. Guess I'll find out when I get them fixed!

      Delete
  3. See, now, I take the opposite view -- I love standard time. My day is easier to start if it's light out earlier. And I hate sending my family off, into the darkness in those early morning hours, just before the time change. I do prefer to have more daylight. But I can accept evening darkness better than morning darkness. (And I love the extra hour of sleep on that Saturday night!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've heard this point of view before - I suppose it depends on when your day starts. I'm almost NEVER up early enough to see the morning sun, so for me it's just lost daylight. I sorta think it's inhuman to ask anyone to do anything that would require them to be up before daylight!

      Delete
    2. We all have internal clocks which tell us when is right for us to wake up. Mine happens to be around 7:30, so for me, having to get up at 5, right now, is really difficult. What I get frustrated with is those folks who think we should all get up at 6, or whatever. And if we don't, then we're lazy. For some of us, we're more productive later in the day.

      by the way, Blogger has been sending legit comments to spam on my blog, as well, today.

      Delete
    3. 5am... OY! My head hurts just thinking about it. I'm a night owl by nature, but I'm sure it's exacerbated by the fact that I worked an evening job at the music school for so many years. I usually got off around 10pm, so my whole schedule was just pushed later.

      Of course, this didn't stop people (bosses, board members etc. from wanting to have "breakfast meetings" at 7am - because, you know, that's "the most productive time" - productive for who?!? When I was younger I would just cave in and be miserable working a 15 hour day, but I finally started putting my foot down. The amazing part is that until I pointed it out, people seemed oblivious to the fact that 2-10pm is an 8 hour day... guess they just assumed I was lazy!

      Delete
  4. What do we do to prevent depression? Hmmm.... those of us from Iowa hop a plane and go to Denver for a few days. (We just spent 5 days in the Mile High City.) We left yesterday. The temp in Denver when we left and Minneapolis when we arrived home were both around 50 degrees. But oh there's such a difference between sunny/cool/dry 50 degrees and raining/windy/overcast 50 degrees. We enjoyed walking everywhere for four days!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh man... I would NOT do well in a cloudy climate! We had a very rainy cloudy spring this year and it just about drove me over the edge!

      But more than just the emotions of the thing, it totally feels warmer when it's sunny than when it's cloudy, even if the thermometer reads the same. I went for 2 bike rides over the past week, and the temps were around 60 on both days. But one day it was sunny and the other cloudy. On the sunny day I wore just one layer of long sleeves and 3/4 length lycra pants and I was fine... on the cloudy day I wore an extra layer and used my fuzzy insulated pants and top, and I was still cold!

      Anyhow, I'm glad you enjoyed your visit to Denver... it's such a wonderful place to live.

      Delete
    2. We also went to the Sufjan Stevens show at the Paramount. I was mesmerized. Thought I'd mention that since you're a "folky."

      Delete
    3. Gosh... I've never even heard of him! I fear I've been hibernating for a long time here. After so many years of being surrounded by music 24/7 my brain sorta went on a rebellion. I still love it, just needed a break for a few years!

      But the Paramount is a gorgeous venue. I was so glad when they got the funding together to preserve it rather than tearing it down.

      Delete
  5. I was going to say little Blackie looks like a girl too :)

    I am one of those annoying morning people- am awake now at 5.30am (though our clocks have changed so this used to be 6.30am!) and am going to a yoga class that starts at 6.30am...
    I couldn't work until 10pm! (I used to when I waitressed as a teenager). I would be incoherent and useless.
    At this time of year I seem to need lots more sleep, so I try and let myself sleep more. Getting outside in the fresh air for walks and runs is what keeps me cheerful in the winter.
    I love autumn and winter, but sometimes it seems they don't love me- I definitely have a tendency to be a bit mopey as the days get shorter!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well... at least you're not rubbing your "morning person-ness" in everyone else's noses like we're somehow inferior. But honestly, I can't even imagine going to a yoga class at that hour. They always say you should do yoga first thing in the morning, but "incoherent" would be a generous description of me in the morning. Seriously, my eyes won't focus, my brain won't work, and I literally walk into walls for the first hour or so after I get up!

      But I totally agree about the fresh air. I'm hoping we have a nice sunny winter with enough dry and snow-free days for some bike riding!

      Delete
    2. I think doing yoga at any time of day is better than doing none at all! I do like the slightly smug feeling of doing exercise etc first thing in the morning whilst everyone else is still asleep..however, I suck at social events as they usually continue into the evening way past my bedtime...and if I stay up late I feel awful for the whole of the next day! So neither lark not owl sleeping pattern is better than the other.

      It's raining here today, so I might look at the great outdoors from the sofa today ;)

      Delete
    3. When I was doing a lot of computer programming I found the most productive time for me was midnight-6am - the phone doesn't ring, nobody stops by, nobody expects you to be out doing anything - you just get hours of uninterrupted time. Anyhow, I had the same sensation that I was getting so much done while everybody else was sleeping - it just happened at the other end of the day!

      Delete
    4. I prefer yoga (and other yoga-like exercises) after work because the relaxation and stretching and slowing down feel good after running around all day. I don't really get why this would be best in the morning. Maybe a way to wake up more gradually?

      Delete
    5. I dunno either, but it seems to be a "thing" in the yoga world. Of course, it could be that I'm just hyper sensitive to any messages that imply that "early is better" because I suck at early! :-)

      Delete
  6. I love torties! You've got a bunch of pretty new cats - the grays are lovely, too. Oh, and that's a great tip about the analgesics and vaccines. Regarding the time thing and shorter days, I am on the morning person side so while it's a bit of an adjustment to get things done before dark - like walking the dogs (because we live in a rural area with no street lights - very dark), I like having the earlier morning daylight. And like NicolaB, I'm not good at evening social events since my body is usually getting ready for sleep by 9 o'clock. The only way I usually see midnight is if I wake up in the middle of the night.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I guess my thought is always - why don't you just sleep later and get up with the sun? But I know it doesn't work that way.

      Honestly, part of me thinks this is all silly - we're so tied to our clocks instead of to our bodies and the sun. I read once that before the railroads connected everything across the continental US - with their need for precise scheduling - nothing was synchronized, and most people didn't actually own clocks. So the only times that were meaningful were "dawn", "sunset" and "high noon" - all of which could be determined by the sun. Of course it couldn't work in our modern world, but it seems like a much more sane approach!

      Delete
    2. Although I dislike clocks I still work for someone else so I have to schedule my time accordingly. Having the extra morning light means I can do things outside before I have to go to work. I like to think about living without a clock at all someday. And I like to get up while it's still dark even in the summer. That's interesting about the trains!

      Delete
    3. I have the same fantasy about living without a clock. Somehow I thought I'd be less tied to the clock after I stopped working, but no - if you want to regularly interact with humans who you aren't in close proximity to on a minute to minute basis, it seems one needs clocks to coordinate it. Sigh.

      Delete
  7. She is a beauty, I hope you can catch her eventually. I love the purramedic :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, we're on a waiting list for traps with the local TNR program, so hopefully we'll get everybody fixed and vaccinated soon!

      Delete
  8. Wow, I didn't know that about the interaction between analgesics and immunizations.

    Nor did I know that night owls could be depressed by not having light!

    I'm lucky that even though I prefer more light, I don't get depression symptoms. At least not here in the south where our nights never get super long and where it's rarely cloudy. Though the thought of living someplace with weather like Seattle's is unsettling.

    I prefer having the extra light after work rather than before, though I like both. I really hate when there is only light during work. So not fair! But now that I'm done working, it's not so important to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd HATE living in a place like Seattle! I need my sunlight!

      So I had another interesting thought about all of this. For most people, the time they have to get up in the morning is pretty much set by their job and when they need to be there, but they can pretty much go to be whenever they want. But for me it was always the opposite. I always worked late night jobs, so for me getting out of bed was something I had lots of freedom over, but I couldn't go to bed early because I often had to work past midnight.

      Anyhow, I'm betting that whole equation plays into how people feel about the time change and when they want to have light.

      Delete
  9. I go through a really rough transition every year as it gets dark earlier. I'm the night owl always have been. But while I love the darkness which to me is comforting almost as if being enveloped by a big blanket I don't want darkness all the time or I have to deal with SAD.

    So we changed the clocks Sunday and sure enough not thinking about it I went about my normal night activities, which is when I'm most productive. At one point it came to me that I was tired and glanced at the clock. It was 6:34 am! By the time I cleaned up and got read for bed I was climbing in bed almost an hour later. I did some quick math and realized I would be no good if I didn't sleep to at least 11 am and set an alarm. So then we had an overcast day with no sunshine and the reality of the shortened daylight hours and that my body will complain hit me full force.

    I guess I will have to rely on the alarm clock and try to get up earlier. The only thing I have going for me that will help, as I'm real good at turning off the alarm insisting I can continue to sleep, is the fact that my daughter-in-law and the children stop out a 2-3 times a week in the morning. She doesn't do this to make me get up earlier but because it's easier with the one year old to go out before he needs a nap and leave before the school buses make her 30 minute trip more than an hour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oy! I've been there with the 6am bedtime more times than I care to think about - and once you "go there" it's soooo hard to ratchet it back!

      So far I'm doing remarkably well at sticking to my going to bed and getting up earlier routine. I'm sure I'll fall off the bandwagon at some point, but for the moment it's making the early sunsets much more bearable. CatMan and I have changed up our routine a little bit too - so on days that we ride we have our evening phone call a bit earlier, making it easier for me to get to bed earlier. And since I'm generally good and tired after a long ride, it's pretty easy to fall asleep. I actually went to bed at 11pm last night! I haven't seen my bed that early in nearly 20 years! I was up before 9 this morning and the day feels like it's gone on forever!

      Keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to keep this up...

      Delete
    2. So nice to know I'm not the only one who misses the cues to head to bed until daylight breaks. I'm not doing much better, I'm stuck around 2-3 am but have been using an alarm on my phone to make sure I don't sleep too late. My hope is that one day the lack of sleep will make me tired enough to fall asleep at a "normal" hour and I'll be able to naturally reset like you have. :-)

      Delete
    3. I wish you the best of luck. I think part of what's making it work for me is that I'm not letting myself engage late at night. CatMan and I talk each night from around 11 to midnight, and I'm making myself head straight to bed after our call. Sometimes it takes me a while to get there, but I'm trying hard not to let myself get into the "second wind" that generally kicks in after midnight.

      Delete

I welcome your thoughts so please leave me a comment and I promise I will respond.

On older posts I've had to enable comment moderation to prevent spammers, so don't worry if your comment doesn't show up right away - unless you're just commenting for the sake of embedding a link, in which case I really wish you wouldn't waste your time or mine because I'll just delete it.

Thanks, and have a fabulous day!