c19 observations and other miscellaneous stuff.

The other day I forgot to put my Fitbit on. It was a day that I had taken a neighborhood walk so it was only short by maybe two miles. I went on to the web site to log in the data and was shocked to see the data. It was low. Very low. And in May I didn't walk every day but I walked a lot, and far.

So I went investigating. When you log into the website, you get a line chart. If you keep it on all day— like I do—the lines are high and low, and then your actually fitness walk pops really high up and is maybe yellow or sometimes even green. But you can see that the red lines are pretty consistent. No super big gaps in activity. These are the walking around the house, in and out of stores, basically moving thru life lines.

Now look at this C19 day. There's my walk in the middle. But what happened to all the little red lines? They are gone. Why? Because self-isolation is forcing me to park my ass and read books, watch tv, do puzzles, and spend too much time on social media. Even with those big mid-day walks I am not reaching my goals. And it pisses me off.

I mentioned it to Bonnie when we were coming home from walking on Monday and she said that they noticed the same thing. Thank goodness it is not an illusion.

Do you know what else it doesn't read? My sister has five seated exercises to do daily, three sets of each. It only takes maybe 15 minutes. Guess who does them with her? Me. Guess what doesn't register on the Fitbit? You got it. But on the bright side my knee feels better than it has in months. Physical therapy does have it's advantages.

It also does not read my walks with her. We generally go slowly up or down the hill and with the broken sidewalks, litter and other hazards. One day she went around the corner and the sidewalks were worse. It's slow walking with a walker. But she does it. I am so tired of the block. We need a better solution.

Today we went to Target during old lady hour. I dropped her at the door. We didn't take the walker she was going to use a cart. We had no intention of buying anything.  I parked and returned to the entrance and the rent-a-cop at the door said "I'm sorry ma'am, but you must be older than 60 or disabled to enter the store the first hour." I wanted to hug him. Instead, I said I just dropped off my sister, and went inside. With the smooth floors and no hills, and a general lack of people, she made it all the way around the store. One big square and only stopped three times. That actually did register on my Fitbit. But I can't take her to stores everyday to walk.

I did not walk up to vote yesterday, I mailed my ballot in. Our polling place gets little action. Hopefully someone braved the pandemic and went.

I was supposed to go to Franco Farms and walk again with Bonnie and her grandson, but she cancelled at the last minute. She was looking at radar and a big storm was on our doorstep. It never arrived. I walked in the neighborhood.

Saturday I walked around downtown Bethlehem. Everyone was wearing masks including Comenius and the Penn State Lion and Moravian Greyhound.

The stray cats are multiplying in the neighborhood again. They sit and stare in my back door. Or take over the patio furniture. But more than anything they leave me gifts —birds, mice and even a squirrel. The three on the patio are regulars. The one in front of the car I thought was knocked up. But apparently she's post pregnancy. There are five kittens under that car. It is time to call the trapper again. I just need to find some money.