Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

It was yet another wet weekend here in the Inland Empire and, because this lousy weather has dragged on for so long, with little sunshine, I experienced an episode of SAD (seasonal affective disorder) — got all weepy, sat on the pity pot over a thousand little things … like that I have the kind of family I have, don’t get to experience the best years of the great grandbabies lives and, on the rare occasion when I do get to see them, can’t hug or kiss all over them because the parents are so overly germ protective, and yada yada yada.

The downpour prevented my getting out and about to work SAD off.

I also had no chocolate in the place.

There’s something about the occasional piece, sometimes pieces of chocolate, that lifts me when I’m down. Perhaps it’s the release of dopamine and endorphins.

At any rate, I survived the weekend and, waking up this morning, SAD had let go of me … probably because it’s not raining, but will be later in the week.

Having read the lamps that simulate natural sunlight are a good antidote for SAD, I’ve ordered one.

Reading on Abby’s blog that a chocolate shortage was coming, then later learning the reason … that "Skyrocketing cocoa prices feared to trigger chocolate shortages worldwide", I headed straight to See’s Candy Shop after this morning’s workout.

Not now needing it, the chocolate is in the fridge, to be thawed out in case of an emergency.

Even a hard ass like me occasionally gets the blues, but the lamp and chocolate should at least keep me off the pity pot.

The Pain Cave experienced a break-in over the weekend.

I should say ANOTHER break-in because it’s the third time …… not to burglarize the Cave, but to gain access into the liquor store next door.

First time was June 2022. Bad guys broke through the thick glass of the Pain Cave window, managed to bend the steel burglar bars, entered, disabled the camera, and spent the night drilling a hole though the side wall to get into the liquor store next door where they went shopping.

Second time was four months later, November 2022. And just like the first time, they got in by breaking through the newly installed $1,000 thick glass window; but unlike last time, the criminals were unable to break all the way through the wall, steal lot and lots and lots of alcohol and the cash register from the liquor store because Trainer had upgraded his alarm system to a silent alarm that went straight through to the police department, alerted around something like 2:15 in the morning.

It’s assumed a lookout was stationed outside who saw the approaching cop cars because, by the time the cops pulled up, the bad guys were nowhere to be seen — had made a hasty empty-handed retreat.

This third time was a repeat of through the window, through the bars, through the wall.

Persistent little devils but, even though there was an alert around 3 a.m., they managed to get into the liquor store where the camera showed them crawling around on the floor, managing to grab lottery tickets and, believe it or not, successfully breaking into the ATM.

One good thing, if the cops follow through, is that because their hands were covered with plaster from the wall, they left white plaster fingerprints on the floor where they crawled and on surfaces they touched.

Crime scene technicians did come in, grabbed those prints, so hopefully they’ll follow through, find the bad guys in the database.

Trainer’s window is, for the third time, boarded up.

Since nothing Trainer sets up is deterring the break-ins, I’m thinking he’ll eventually have to move the studio. Some place that’s not next door to a liquor store would be advisable.