I was only off work long enough to sleep for a few hours and then come back, but the day was beautiful beyond belief. It was almost 80 degrees, no wind, and very cloudy early this morning but almost clear by noon. Just the feel of the day was perfection.
I woke up about 10 AM during a Christmas dream that was a combination of a Christmas in Austin from a few years ago and a Christmas more recently spent in Santa Fe. Even though I sometimes complained about yuppie blandness when I lived in both of those places, I loved the beauty they create and the non-violent enthusiasm with which they engage holidays (as opposed to here where stabbings, shootings, and drunken domestic rages are more the norm with adults, while their unsupervised/uncivilized children wander around apparently sniffing acrylics while they tag and vandalize vacant buildings, but if I think about that for too long I start to seeth with rage, and I would rather really be thankful for the positive that is present).
Now that I've been able to express that bit of internal conflict, tomorrow morning is a free time and I'm going to work on the pond to neutralize the bad karma from the house down the road that was trashed over the weekend. I guess we either beat them or we deserve to lose, but it is starting to remind me of the horrible situation at Canyon de Chelley, the Navajo holy land. Their local punk/thug/children have spray painted crip and blood gangster crap all the way up to the foot of those incredible monuments. It is so strange to see little Indian kids who live in either hogans or ratty trailers, behaving like they are cruising the streets of Compton. Pathetic, and so is the behavior of their counterparts here.