Spring Chore Sore
Posted at 5:20 AM on May 28, 2009
by Dale Connelly
(23 Comments)
One thing that has to be done every year at my house is the ritual washing of the windows and screens. I dread it. But yesterday was perfect for the job - cool and cloudy - so I spent part of the afternoon on a ladder fumbling with a sponge, a rag and a squeegee, trying to be thorough enough so the windows won't appear to be a streaky mess when the sun comes out today.
Earlier in the week I watched a professional in downtown St. Paul as he gracefully did his squeegee twirling act, suspended from a harness in front of a much larger window than any of those I face at home. Repetition has made window washing a dance for him, and as he effortlessly went through his sequence of motions, quickly covering large swaths of glazed real estate and making short work of a large task, I thought 'I can do that'.
Not really.
I made long work of it. And I can't lift my arms above my head today.
What I saw the window washer doing was the result of 'muscle memory'.
The job is so familiar, he does it efficiently without thinking, unlike my once-yearly experience yesterday, which is an example of 'muscle bewilderment'. I guess 'muscle memory' is a benefit you get from regular work, or just having a comforting routine.
There are some tasks I can do with a professional window washer's panache.
Like putting a cd into a player. And taking one out.
And I used to be quite good at changing diapers and moving the pin placement on a golf course green (not at the same time), but I would be a clumsy hazard to babies and golfers alike if I tried either one today.
What are your programmed-in-the-muscles job skills?
Comments (23)
I did not always love coffee - had to learn to make it after I got married. Your statement about muscle bewilderment fits in here, Dale. Took years to get the movements down in the right order and to have successful outcomes. Then one day, without any kind of plan, the muscle movements included pouring a cup for myself, drinking it and enjoying it! Now, its ALL muscle memory. Could make it in my sleep - and usually do : )
no surprises here: hand milking a goat - closing my thumb against my forefinger and the rest of my fingers following sequentially to gently but quickly encourage the milk out of an udder. relaxing the grip to allow the teat to fill again and then the same sequence repeated about, oh, once every two seconds until the milk is in the pail. no hard squeezing or pulling, please!
the first time i ever milked was for a friend - 5 goats twice/day for four days. my hands were "asleep" for days after.
good morning, All
welcome back Lavender Wench!
Morning Heartlanders. I'm been sitting here for a bit now, trying to think of anything I can do by "muscle memory" and I think my main muscle (brain) must be on strike! I can name off a mountain of things that I do over and over again (dishes, laundry, picking up after the teenager) but can't think of anything that has become second nature.... maybe I just need a little of Teri's coffee!
It was no muscle memory after filling the raised bed with yards and yards of dirt in the garden had my muscles talking back the next couple days for certain!
With only one more bed to fill and knowing I'm not likely to ever do this again, I expect more back talk and no muscle memory at all!
I hear you Dale on washing windows, doing west side this morning and east side tomorrow afternoon.
How bout playing Van Morrison Window Washer Man (or whatever title like that?)?
I'm kind of a slow moving person and don't easily develop skill at doing things, but I can get moving faster if I have to. i should be a good typer by now, but I do more thinking about what I want to type than I should while typing and there are lots of errors which I also have trouble finding when I am done. Some of you might have noticed this in my entries.
I have to enter a thousand different passwords into systems each day. I'm probably not exaggerating, though I've never actually counted my password entries in a day. Related to keying in passwords is entering certain commands and arguments into those systems and devices. A lot of my routine activities, however, involve recall. I can recall the IP addresses of most of the machines in our development and production environments at work even though other information that I'd like to recall might be dancing around just outside of my memory... the name of a song, for instance.
After having been involved in a work related event last night from ten until midnight, I'm going to need that ability to function on autopilot today. 6:00 a.m. arrived way too soon! Here's hoping that there are more tasks that are second nature to me than what I listed here.
I beg to differ. While there is some muscle memory-just spend a day with a paper-cut and see how many times you inadvertently use that finger. But the grace of the window washer was more than that. Dale, I'll bet on his first day he was more graceful than you. He was doing a task suited to his previous experience, balance, coordination, visual perception, body size, etc. It's likely that even if you squeeged on a daily basis you would not clean like he does. On the other hand he probably is ill-suited to inspiring bloggers, Photoshopping goats, or starting a radio service.
I just wanted to thank you for that last song-Happy Adoption Day. I had just tuned in so I don't know if you said anything about it but my little girls birthday is tomorrow and she just happens to be adopted. I didn't know there was such a beautiful song out there. So thank you!
I was surprisesd by a returning muscle memory the night I had two cardboard boxes of bees to put into hive boxes...it had been 25 plus years since I last had hives of my own. Nervous and with three layers of clothes, gloves, head net, as soon as I opened the box, it all came back.
Feeding animals...and, yes, milking goats...are all based on muscle memory. Milking goats, however, includes building strength again. My "rent-a-goats" Poplar and Venery goats are due to arrive this weekend...ah yes, sleepy arms.
Barb in Blackhoof...my first time milking took me 45 or so minutes with a very patient cow who had been milking for several years and had not much quantity. My neighbor had time to build me a new stool while I struggled with the technique. I think he had time for breakfast also....
Greetings Heartlanders! I just tuned in and see I just missed Michael Doucet's "Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky." Bummer ...
My best muscle memory task is typing. Having been a secretary 20 years, I can type anything I see or hear and correct all spelling errors automatically as a human dictionary (mostly -- I'm out of practice for a few years).
Next would be karate moves and techniques we learn in class are pretty well in muscle memory. The newer stuff isn't quite there, yet. Have a beautiful day, everyone!
After years of set construction, muscle memory kicks in without me really thinking about it when I need to finesse in a screw with a stripped head (or into a difficult piece of wood or...). I find I have a difficult time explaining it to my - often volunteer - help when they have a similar problem, so I just take the screw gun and do it. Painting I can at least explain - but working with a screw gun enters that realm of "I just do it - I don't know how."
Used to be there with diapers, too - thankfully, that muscle memory is fading.
Thanks everyone for informing us about what is stored in your "muscle memory". If I ever have to milk a goat, Barb, I'll refer to your clear instructions.
Thanks for the note about "Happy Adoption Day", Marianne. Credit is due to Nils, Heather, Mingli and Kai, the family that made the request.
The song is on John McCutcheon's disc "Family Garden", on Rounder Records.
getting some good chuckles today - thanks!
Cynthia in Mahtowa - i'm still very slow (i'm sure the Girls are muttering to each other about this - but hey - they just get to eat more!) so i think Beth-Ann is right. some people are suited to what they do much better than others. i've heard of folks milking 60 goats by hand twice/day. about the time i finished morning milking it'd be time for evening milking to start! i suppose it feels that way with diapers, etc. at least with a goat (or cow) empties out. seems babies just keep contributing - even while securing a clean diaper.
I accidentally discovered 2 muscle memory tasks I can't do consecutively. Several times after playing the piano, I've headed directly to my computer keyboard. My fingers worked very slowly. For a time my fingers were still stuck on the piano memory. While disconcerting the first time, I've found it fascinating how much my hands are doing without intentional "instructions" from my brain.
Interesting comment, Vicky.
Perhaps some scientists would want to study how your brain works when you try to make the piano-to-computer keyboard switcheroo.
How do you feel about electrodes pasted to your skukll?
Sensors, I mean.
Electrodes on the skull would be a Frankenstein scenario, and he had NO muscle memory.
We're all subject to some muscle memory activities. Lots of little day-to-day things that we don't even think of (which is why the muscles are remembering). Driving a car is really quite a complex task but most of us do it without even really thinking of a lot of the individual details that go into it. Remember learning to tie your shoelaces? Remember all the time that your Mom (in my case) spent going through the routine ("...chase the rabbit into the hole, wrap around his ear..."). Now we really don't even think about the individual steps.
I try to be at least cognizant of when I go on "auto pilot" but there are times when I slip in without noticing. I was giving tours on the S/S Wm. A. Irvin in Duluth one time. And I'd given so many tours that day that I just fell into a rhetoric rather than be invested with my particular group. I had to stop and ask if I'd already told them about one part of the ship becuase I caught myself reciting the tour...very embarrassing.
as far as i can tell (Google) the Mahtowa that Johnny sings about in "I've Been Everywhere" is YOUR Mahtowa, Cynthia!! is that true of Chaska also? cool
Barb in blackhoof...Johnny Cash in MY Mahtowa? Is that possible??? there is a Mattawa Ontario...what are the chances that's the one he is referring to?
course, if he was going down Hwy 61 from Canada to New Orleans, he couldn't miss Mahtowa.
Good morning everyone...sunny day here. Cedar Waxwings eating apple blossoms this morning. (smile)
There are those in my life who might say the more scary thought is what the electrode experiment might reveal.
I geekily (is that a word?) love thinking about how the brain -- and consequently the people attached to them -- work. Why/how do we do what we do? What keeps us from doing? Could go on and on but this shows over!
My two most prominent muscle memory actions:
1) Braiding hair (two little girls with braided hair
grew up in my house).
2) Brushing teeth---if you don't think so, try
brushing with your "other" hand!
Not exactly a work task, but for me folk (or any kind of?) dancing, t'ai chi, etc. If you do a set of movements enough times, it gets "in your nerve endings" we call it...
Dale, you've made me aware that it IS time to wash the windows. We no longer have to change to screens since "we" installed combinations, so it ISN'T automatic...
I love the piano thing. Makes me want to practice the piano more so that I can see if the same thing happens to me!
Certainly typing is muscle memory. I was taught to type when I was 12. I absolutely think the words, not the letters. That might sound impressive, but my accuracy isn't the best. I am constantly backspacing and deleting to correct errors (the actions of which are firmly in my muscle memory). I think that muscle memory is probably gradually replacing the muscle memory of hand writing these days.
And then there is knitting, also learned as a child; once I get into the rhythm of a project, (unless it is very complicated and the patter changes often) I don't even have to look at my hands. Kneading bread dough, even though I don't do it so much anymore it is definitely in my body. Mundane, every day things like hair brushing and washing, hand washing, putting earrings on, contacts in, glasses on, tying shoes and all the little actions of dressing. I, too remember learning to tie my shoes. I watched my mom's hands as she tied my shoes and thinking that I would certainly never be able to acheive such swift, graceful movements. Hair brading, tooth brushing, washing a dish, washing my face...
I'm not a construction guy, but I ended up getting a bobcat for a house renovation and use it quite a bit. I was a clutze at first, but after casual use over several years, I rarely get things backwards anymore. I think about the pros running more complicated equipment. I don't know if you call it muscle memory, but it's impressive to watch. The machinery actually becomes an extension of their body.
On a side note, Dale it's really fun listening you do radio skits again for the Grammer Grater podcast. I'm sure it helps fill the void of no morning show skits. I love the podcast too. :-)
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