walking and bingo

Walking I love. Bingo, not so much. But it was for a good cause, near and dear to my late nephews heart. So we go. We even have a name—Jarrod's Jems. That boy was a lightening round for winning. Once we had to take all his stuff to the car at the intermission.

Sharon, Lyd and I met at my place, and came in one car.  We were to meet Bonnie at the Fearless Fire Company at 1:15, leave our car, and take the other one back to Bonnie's, and walk. Bingo started sharply at 3. Sounds great in theory, but with me along you know things won't go easy. And they didn't. I pre-bought our tickets and put them in a basket with my daubbers. Then I forgot the daubbers. So we lost a little walking time having to go back home. I stuffed the tickets in my pocket, and left the daubbers. Didn't want to carry them.

So we walked down Tioga into the wind for several blocks. Finally we turned and headed down to Emmaus Avenue, and cut back at the V. After walking a bit around that neighborhood, we headed to the cemetery, said hi to Jarrod, and went to the fearless. It was close to 3 miles. Considering a straight shot from Bonnie's is about a mile, we did pretty good.

Then at 6ish, when we got home, we took a very excited Adonis for a walk. He wouldn't go out for Pat at all, so he needed to go! Sadly it wasn't a fun walk. We met up with 4-5 other dogs. (Big A doesn't play well with others.)

Another week or so we start training for Bonnie's Derby Half Marathon. I think I'll plan loops so that marathoners are not subjected to 13 miles.

Bonnie only has about 300 minutes for the Iditawalk. Training for the half might get her to Nome before the snow melts.

cold and wet

We were supposed to have freezing rain last night, but instead we got plain rain. (Hurray. Love snow. Hate freezing rain.) We had planned to walk in Hellertown because Bonnie's new car needed it's 1000 mile checkup.

Lyd calls early and asks if we're going. I thought probably not, because Bonnie doesn't go any time the weather is iffy. We decided no. The mist would ultimately turn to rain, and we'd be soaked.

Ten minutes later, Bonnie calls, we're still going. In the rain. I decided not to call Lyd back. No use the three of us getting sick.

We dropped the car off and they said it would be a hour. We headed up Main Street, and found a cupcake shop that also makes crepes. Bonnie went in to ask the gluten question. No for cupcakes. Yes for crepes. Crepes. Yum.

We continued on, and near the old high school picked up the Saucon rail trail. Then took the rail trail to Water Park. Headed up Water Street and crossed Main to Laubach Park. Where the fountain was on and frozen. Bonnie took a pix with her phone. Then back down Main for a stop at Saylors meats. Where we bought smoked till they were rock hard bacon strips for Adonis. Almost bought him the smoked pigs ears.

Then finally back to the car dealer. An hour, on the nose.

When we dropped it off, Bonnie asked them to check a tire. It wasn't holding pressure. When we arrived, he said everything was done but the tire, they were checking that now. Somewhere she picked up a nail. Forty-five minutes later it was finished.

It's now past four. I have not done any work. I falling further behind. Adonis has arrived and loved his treat. However, we've gone for a walk and twice to the yard. He'll need another walk before dark. He's antsy today. I also had to go to school and burn a disk. And balance Sharon's checkbook. Some days, I am just running backwards. Looks like today is one of those days.

big fat lazy day

Today started like every other day. With great intentions about walking. I've had a pretty slim week, all week, under 10K steps, but usually around 8K.

The plan for today was to start early and set up my new online class. Hit the streets for a walk and get a sympathy card, then come back and grade and attend a webinar. I knew it wasn't going to be a supper active day, but I thought it would be a little active.

Wrong.

It is 1 pm and I have done a grand total of 484 steps. Even with taking the scenic route to the parking lot to class and back.

Things when out of whack when I discovered that one of my classes, that I haven't taught in a year, was rewritten. Instead of taking a 1/2 hour, it took took two hours. And I still have to read everything. By the time I was done, it was time for the webinar.

Some days you can't win. On a happier note let's talk about the Color Me Rad—it's like the Color Run (7/14 in Philly), but in Bethlehem. All the fun, less travel. It starts, of course at ArtsQuest. The most artsy place in south Bethlehem.

Angel and Bug and I are already signed up for Color Me Rad/Bethlehem. If you want to join our team go register. When it asks if you want to be on a team, enter every two feet and hendricks. And you're in. We picked the 9:15 wave.

Does this mean I'm not doing Philly? Heaven's no. It just means I haven't decided yet. It's the day after the 5K off road challenge in Palmerton. Will I be able to move?

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Updates: Lydia and Adonis joined me yesterday in "Nome". They are not staying in the cold, rather they are going back to Anchorage. I'm staying put in the hotel, right on the finish line drinking so much hot cocoa that I'm going to be sick.

I have cloned myself and am also walking to Jerusalem. The whole group should be there by Good Friday. Right now we are a little way into the Atlantic and are walking on water. Not a new idea.

I'm not good at cartooning so I think I might spring $5 for a 5 minute logo for the "Round the World" virtual walk. I might start another blog just for that, or have a colleague put together a simple site, or maybe ask my brother Dave to help me with WordPress. Just in case someone else wants to join me. Then I could put together fun things like a logo or a map, or a tshirt pdf for people to download. I don't want it to turn into a new career!

Finally,  this summer I'm thinking about taking a class to become a certified walk leader. I think it's more own a business oriented (like a Zumba instructor). That's not me. I have enough trouble balancing my own budget.

splat!

This morning I drove one of ML's friends to the airport. At 4:45 am. By 7:30 I was back at their house. I parked up the street, so I could move my car out of the spot, move their car in, and then drive home.

I'm walking back to the house and I see a man with two huskies. They were beautiful. We exchanged good mornings and beautiful dogs, and before I knew it I was laying on the macadam. How I have no idea. I saw no ice. I hit one hand, one knee, and somehow landed on my chest. Thank goodness no face plant this time.  But I totally knocked all the air out of my lungs. I could have cried. But I didn't. I got up. Finished the car switch and drove home.

While eating breakfast Lyd arrived. We hopped in the car and headed to Bonnie's.  There we walked around her neighborhood about three miles, for about an hour.  Including one large hill that was "no outlet". Shit. We also saw some lovely ice art, and a deer mounted on a pole.

When we returned to my place, Adonis was itching to go for his walk. And we did.

When returned again, I logged my Idita walk minutes. I was at 1021. Less than a half hour to go. Sharon is at my place and I told her we were walking to CVS for a sympathy card, and Aharts for something for dinner. Ca-ching. Another hour on the asphalt.

My Facebook post reads "Nome Sweet Nome".

Finally, I just synced my FitBit. It was a 15K plus day. Not bad for a day that started off with a splat.

odds and ends

My Idita-Walk pin arrived today. It's nice. I also ordered t-shirts for everyone.

I joined the virtual walk to Jerusalem with the churches in Jim Thorpe. How I'll get from Nome to Jim Thorpe by Easter is beyond me.

I also signed up for a virtual walk on April 12-14. It benefits the American Cancer Society. Will be interesting.

I've pasted 10K steps a day several times this week. But have not reached 15K. With an all day training tomorrow, I'll be lucky getting 5K.

Walked today with Betsy in her 'hood. It was great. The temperature was in the 40s. Tonight it is supposed to snow.

The wacky weather continues.

around the world in 365 days?

As you know my family, aka "the Scoobies" are participating in the Idita-walk. Symbolically walking the route that the sled race takes. One mile =one minute of exercise. If you walk 30 minutes a day you can make it in a month.

Just before I left for class, I received an email from my brother Dave. A few members of his church is participating in a Virtual Walk To Jerusalem activity for Lent. It begins tomorrow. It's being organized by churches in Jim Thorpe. Dave asked whether or not we could walk two directions at once.  I said sure. Half kidding. Half not kidding. That got me thinking on my way to school. Is it possible to make both trips?

Nome to Jerusalem is 5726 miles as the crow flies over Russia, China and the middle east. If everyone arrives in Nome by the end of February, I'd have to walk 192 minutes everyday.  It's almost the same as Bethlehem (Pa.) to Jerusalem—5773. That will be really tough especially with three jobs. That's three hours of walking a day. That's training for the 3-Day times. I sent for the info anyway.

But it got me thinking about something. How about a virtual walk around the world? July 1 to June 30-365 days. Can it be done? The circumference is 24,900+ miles (some say 24,901 some say 24,906...let's round! I like rounding. And the world is round, right?) Divided by 365 that comes out to a rounded 68 minutes a day. (One mile=1 minute.) That is so doable.

If someone doesn't want to walk the whole world we could do continents using a web app like MapCrow.com. Plug in two cities and it will tell you the distance as the crow flies. For example—North America. You could plug in the northern-ist most city in Greenland and the Southernmost city in Central America and get the distance. For South America it is 4,750 miles from Panto Gallinas, Colombia to Cape Horn, Chile. Want a bigger challenge, then calculate Asia. A smaller one Australia. Fun right? And you get to learn geography as a bonus.

July 1st I leave for my round the world adventure. Anyone want to come along?

the scenic route

I try my best to squeeze in walking where I can. I have no idea why, it's not helping me lose weight, but I do it anyway. (Just close your pie-hole Gayle!) Though someone I hadn't seen in a long time told me I looked great Sunday night. (Personally, I see no difference whatsoever.)

Maybe two years ago I started parking in the furthermost lot away from my class. I came down the path, went around the admissions building and arrived. Maybe a five minute walk. Now I've super-sized it. Hopefully when the weather clears I can make it even longer.

But why now?

Briefly I had signed up for myfitnesspal.com where it tracked my calories. I just found it totally frustrating as a food journal. When I went to log there was lots of restaurant food. There was lots of processed food, but little homemade food. I guess because everyone's is different. I'd have to spend a lot of time calculating the calories in my home made food—evey tablespoon of oil, herb, egg, noodle, whatever. What a pain. It lasted maybe two weeks.

But consistently on that site was an ad for a zipfit tracker. Was it yet another pedometer that didn't work? Gullible, I sent for it. The first two days it was amazing. Then it didn't work. It said 5K steps one minute and 89 the next. I spent the next week emailing customer service. When they said they'd send me a new one, the old one started working. Of course.

I love this thing. It's accurate, which is a first in a long time. You can wear it anywhere on your body. You can even hold it in your hand. (The one tiny thing I don't like is that if you're bored, standing at work and start walking in place, it doesn't count. You actually have to be moving forward.)

I've heard many times that you're supposed to walk 10K steps a day. I was sure I was doing that. WRONG. I always get over 5K but I usually settle in at around 8K. Except weekends when we walk 5 miles. (last weekend I only past 10K on Saturday w/the 2 hour walk. Sunday, I barely made 7K even with a walk with Sharon.) So I had to find ways to squeak in more steps. Hense the scenic route Tuesday/Thursday to class. By doing that crazy route I get 3/4 of a mile to and from class. In spring I can add the walking path and maybe get it closer to 1.5 miles each way. We'll see.

On this site there is also a food journal, and it does track calories burned. I fear I will run into the same problem as I did with the last one. If you get the better grade one, it also tracks your sleep and tells you how efficiently you are sleeping. Apparently sleep and weight loss is tied. I don't sleep well so it would be shocking to see those calculations. The only reason I'd think about that one is it also tracks stairs. I do a lot of stairs.

On this fitbit tracker you earn badges on you web page for milestones. I have 2-15K, 10-10K, and 23-5K. That needs to change. 10K needs to be the norm. 15K needs to be at least twice a week. And I will have my first 20K by the end of March.

snowy walk in pictures

Photo essay of one of my normal routes. I was out nearly two hours. 

Holy Ghost Cemetery. They haven't cleared the side walk yet.

Sure it's illegal to save your parking spot, but everyone does. At least you could clean it before you save it!

 Lehigh University

My friend Bug was out playing in the snow three hours and counting. No food. No drink. No bathroom. I think dark is the only thing that will bring her in. To this point, I had not seen a single child out. Finally I heard screams and giggles. Children sleding.

What's left of the Steel.

 Snow and weeds. Mother Natures sculpture.

A Hookah Lounge in south Bethlehem. Clearly the demographics are changing. Again. That's kind-of what makes south Bethlehem such a great place to live.

 A sign at Horn's. I took a little break there.

I could have walked another hour but I had class to attend to, Valentines and New Year's cards to make, and the dreaded PPAR to fill out.

Let's raise a glass of hot chocolate to the next snow storm. Hopefully it's soon.

it snowed!

It snowed. But only 3-4 inches. I was hoping for a foot. But I wan not hoping for the nearly 3 feet they received in Boston and Maine.

So this morning my exercise was shoveling—front, back and at ML's old house. I still have to finish the gutter, but the car parked there has not moved. The front was partially done as a random act of kindness. Someone used a snow blower and made a stripe down the block and out to the street. Happy moment.

I also did my section of the alley, because the city didn't do it. (They did a little while ago.) I think it was because the residents in my hood park in the alley. While in the alley,  I met and worked with one of my new neighbors.

Then, after it was all cleaned up, I drew on it.

So now it's off to walk in the snow. Do I walk in the 'hood, or do I get in the car and drive somewhere to test the snow shoes? I'd really like to test the snowshoes, but being alone, and the first time, that's probably foolish. What if I fall?

So the hood wins. I know. It's time for a photo essay. See you all in an hour and a half!

88 cents

What a difference a day makes. Normally I'd be overjoyed finding 88 cents on a walk. But after yesterday's bonanza, I admit I was disappointed. But it went into the charity can nonetheless.

It snowed a little last night so Bonnie had to cancel. With all her hernia surgeries she can not fall again. Ever. So Lyd and I were left to our own devices.

I chose Fountain Hill. I didn't want to walk on sidewalks because thery weren't shoveled, for the most part. (Does no one wake up till noon on a Sunday in your 'hood?) So side streets were a better choice. Most were just wet or maybe slushy.

Lyd wore her Idita walk sweatshirt and her silly dog hat so she could get an Alaska picture. It's Adonis, after all that's registered for the Idita-Walk.

When we got back we took Adonis out for another 1/2 mile. Then Lyd went off to a party and left A with me. So I got another walk in 2 hours later.

In three days I've gotten 249 minutes. I'm a 1/5 of the way to Nome!

Reality bites, and tomorrow it's back to work. I'll be lucky to get the 30 minutes.

$145

Today Bonnie and I walked after my dino adventure.  Lyd had other plans.

Bonnie arrived at about 1:30 and off we went thru south Bethlehem. We left my house, out Sioux and Summit, and thru Lehigh to Packer. Then we went up Hillside.

We weren't very far on Hillside when we saw some money on the ground. Bonnie stooped to get it. I thought it looked like a twenty. It was. Wrapped around two fifties. It was near the drivers door of a car. Bonnie decided to knock on a couple doors to find the owner of the car. While she was knocking on doors I found another $20 and a $5 under the tire. It's all Lehigh housing and she had no luck.

I suggested leaving it on the windshield of the car we found it by. Bonnie thought a random person would take it. So we took a pix of the license plate and I'm going on Lehigh's site to find if there is a Craig's List-type discussion board.  If I lost that kind of cash I'd be ripping everything apart looking for it. If the owner can't be found, we are going to give it to charity.

We continued all the way up hillside, past Hayes, and when it ended at St. Michael's cemetery we came down. Then finished coming down Hayes to the Greenway. Back the Greenway  to the bridge, up the ramp and out Ostrum and home. In all we were out about 90 minutes and went just under 5 miles with lots of large hills.

Keeping track of minutes is important. I have to log them into the Idita-walk!

dinosaurs and hotdogs

A week or so ago a friend mentioned there were dinosaurs in Alpha. I was intrigued. I love the weird and wacky. If I'm on a road trip and I see a sign or a rack card for "the world's largest ..." I am off the highway in a New York minute.

These dinos are in an industrial park. The former owner had them made for his grandchildren. Here we have two dinos and between them, that little brown spec, is the caveman. Sorry the pix is so far away. Big fences with barbed wire keep people out.

They are made of some type of metal, and are life-sized. Hense the reason the caveman is so tiny. I loved it. Took too many pixs.

She had also mentioned going to Charlies Pool Room. It was what my mama would call a dive. It was a restaurant filled with hand lettered religious signs and nice people. CPR uses a secret sauce developed by their mom in the 20's.

Angel had a bit of trouble finding it, but find it, we did. The building had tin ceilings, wooden floors, and wooden walls. Real wooden paneling, not faux 70s crap. This place has not been updated since Roosevelt was president. It had one communal table. And a pool table, covered with more religious information and articles about them. Think dive meet eclectic meets an episode of Hoarders (light). Bug found a copy of mom's article for The Easton Phillipsburg Chronicle on the table. Bug is 8. She wrote it when Bug was a toddler.

The owner was friendly. Really friendly. I can see how that could put people off.He remembered Angel.

Bug was also introduced to Ms. Pac Man and pinball. She picked up on Pac Man quicker and used all our quarters. Once she got the hang of it, she played with Angel. Her mama was dang good at it. Angel promised to bring Bug back, with gamer daddy, and a roll of quarters.

My hot dog was good. I don't know if it was the sauce or the brand of hot dog. But the meat was tasty. Kunzlers, I think.

The owner told us they would have closed if it wasn't for the internet and foodies discovering it. When I looked it up on Yelp, there was about 25 comments. All but two were very positive.  He told us that they are on at least 30 websites, and a couple books.

It's creepy. It's a dive. It's from another dimension. But that's okay. I'd go back.

the Idita walk starts today

I logged my first hour doing my Friday walk with Betsy.

But I have a quandary. My class is three hours. I spend at least two of it on my feet running around the room helping students. Do I add it to the log? I'd get to Nome way before anyone else. Perhaps I shouldn't. Quandary.

Signing Sharon up today.  You can sign up till the 15th. I figure I'll be there, with my regular walking in maybe three weeks. I'm shooting for Jarrod's birthday.

I found this on their FB page. They got it from Everybody Walks. My favorite part is improves balance and prevents falls. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha....