The Two R's

Remember how early one room school houses were said to focus on teachin' them kids The Three R's?

Readin', 'ritin' and 'rithmatic."

Well, at this point in my life, I am focused on the Two R's.  I couldn't care less about that Third R.  So I spend my days in R&R, so to speak: Readin' and 'Ritin'.

We generally get up around 6 AM and go back to sleep around 8 PM every day.  For who knows how many days, my life has been occupied by studying the Canyon Diablo Train Robbery. It consumes hours and hours of The Two R's.  It might not technically be considered "R&R" in the traditional sense of "rest & relaxation" but it gets the job done.  It helps me pass what would otherwise be a tediously long day while being consumed by the arcane details of history surrounding that 1889 event and the saga that followed.

I know this might seem hard to imagine but I love it.  I get so immersed in the Two R's of the CDTR that it never seems like there are enough hours in the day to do what I want to do.  It's one of those projects that seemingly has no end and sometimes I can imagine going on forever and forever into eternity.  Yes, I know that's a tad bit of an exaggeration...but not too much.

Each night, the call of nature gets me out of bed right around 1:30 AM...almost like clockwork. When I come back to the covers it takes at least 30 minutes (and sometimes 60) to go back to sleep.  It's during that precious "wee hour window" that I get my most productive thinking done.  That's when I can think the clearest.  That's when I can see new avenues.  That's when the really GOOD ideas come to light---ironically in the pitch black dark of night.

Every night I think of things to do the next day which eat up mass quantities of hours.  Sure enough, I get up the next day and start off following the threads of the "wee hour window" ideas and, POOF, the day is danged done before I even know it got started.

That's just how fast it happens--almost in a blink of an eye.  And there isn't a day yet when I don't go to sleep lamenting more what I didn't get done than what I did.  I never know what gift of insight the "wee hour window" is going to give me but I always know it will be Good.  I now look forward to that time of day perhaps even more so that broad daylight....or maybe even morning coffee.  Nah, coffee wins that game.  But whatever.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Just in case yer curious what last night's "wee hour window" suggested, it's ALL about this horse hoof you see here on the famous Buckey Statue in the equally famous Prescott Plaza.  So, one of our many projects today was to produce a post on the "Celebrating Historic Prescott" Facebook group about this horse's leg.  Yeah, that's what the "wee hour window" will do to a guy....help him get a leg up!