a bit of irony

Well maybe it isn't irony. I always get them confused. 

Every year Tail on the Trail does a winter challenge in February. I am motivated to get my ass back in shape before spring. I want to enter spring fit and ready—I have a lot of walks in April. And I'm going to keep loading them. I need people to walk with or I put it off. Tuesday or Wednesday this popped into my FB feed. I took a screenshot because it's nearly impossible to find things on FB five minutes later. They are kicking off the challenge with snowshoeing today at 1 pm. I was all-in.

Yesterday it snowed all day and amounted to nothing. They were calling for a Nor'easter that was going to hammer the shore. We were expected to get 1-3 inches. I blew it off. The weather people are wrong frequently. This time they were right. It's still snowing and we might top out at 3 inches. Perfect for snowshoeing. Not perfect for taking country roads to Covered Bridge Park. Maybe Whitehall plows better than they do here. I bet they do. But the fact remains my street isn't done, and it might not be. 

My city concentrates on the main roads, not the secondary roads or back roads. I live on a hill. I might get out, but I'd never get back in. Maybe I'll have better luck doing the one next weekend at the Wildland's.

Instead of snowshoeing I shoveled. I might walk down to the bodega for bread and milk. Or not. Bodega's are front loaded with snacks and candy—my mortal enemies. But I can only listen to my sister count her knitting for so long. I've reached the saturation point.

 I came in and warmed up, then fired up the computer. I had three classes to check into and two books to finish. I was sending out the weekly email and realized this is the first time we are meeting in person. They might not know where they are going. So I downloaded the map. Our building is 5. As I was looking at the map I saw white type on the bottom center. It says Low Ropes Course and Walking Trails. Say what? Now I'm sure the rope course is taken down each time it's used. They probably have non credit classes that uses it. Maybe the XC athletes use it. But a WALKING path? This needs further investigation. Good thing I'm returning to campus Monday.

I talked about NCCs secret walking path in September of 2009. It's marked on the top of the map in pink. That's the only one I knew of. Could this path be for the XC athletes as well? I know at Goodman fields there are many paths for the XC athletes.

Weather permitting, I'm going to check this out. I park in lot K or I, come down the hill, cross the street and go into my building. When I investigate I'll need to leave at least a half hour cushion. Then I'll head up to the East40 (7) and into the woods.

Hell, if there wasn't a snowstorm I'd go now.

more chair yoga

 

Pam and I went to chair yoga again. This time everyone wore a mask for the whole thing. Why? Because Pam raised Cain. Last Thursday she sent them an email saying they needed to enforce the rules, and they followed thru.

This week there was four people. She took a poll of the class and then focused on stretching. It was a good workout, I was warm wearing a t-shirt, but it still wasn't the chair yoga I experienced at the Yoga Loft back in '19. Oh well. Next week were going to concentrate on the 10 somethings. I don't remember what they are. I'll have to write it down.

You might be wondering when this blog will get back to walking. I'm getting there. Baby steps. February first the party is over. It's time to get back in the saddle. This yoga class has lit a spark. Hopefully the fire is next. I'll be happy with a spark. For now.

Monday I'm going to go to the chair workout sponsored by the AARP. My sister is doing it too. We'll see how that goes.

The Tail on the Trail February mini challenge starts February first. I'll have to use a map to measure my mileage since my FitBit is dead. Or maybe I'll try and remember my phone and use the app that comes with it. You only need thirty miles, but that's a lot more than I've been doing.

The other day I also signed up for two snow shoeing events, and I am leading a volkssport walk in February. 

Oh and I have a doctor's appointment looming in mid-April so I need to clean up the way I eat and move more. My doctor retired, so this will be a new, hopefully unbiased one, and I want to make a good impression with my blood work. If she leads with obesity I'm asking for someone else. I'm tired of doctors assuming that if you are fat you are unfit. And watching those numbers so they can call you pre-diabetic and put you on a pills and a diet. News flash. You can be skinny and unfit and diabetic. Get over yourselves. I wish my gyno was a family doctor. She gets it.

Finally my friends in Virgina just keep having more kids. The four legged kind. They've had six more this week. Congratulations. Baby goat pictures are my favorite part of Facebook.

i must have been insane ...

 

 

 I hope my coat really isn't this dirty. Ick.

It was 16 degrees (F) out when I headed to CVS this morning. It's been a few days since it snowed and I really wasn't thinking too much about ice. Then I got to the alley and areas were a skating rink. So what do I do? Do I take the easy way out and go by car, or do I force myself to walk? I was dressed for walking so I walked. But I had fallen in that exact spot on some black ice Monday or Tuesday and that was in the front of my mind.

I arrived at the Bastian street alley and say holy crap. The corner was a skating rink. I managed to get around it and proceeded to Fiot. I looked and the sidewalks were mostly clear. I took the sidewalk. It wasn't until I reached Itaska that I realized I made a huge mistake. The side walk was clear, the street was clear, but from the curb to the street (basically the parking area) it was ice. Not smooth ice either. Frozen snow piles of ice. I found the narrowest area and got out into the street. I walked in the street down Itaska, Alaska, and Canning Street alley, and Jischke Street alley. (Aunt Dorothy's alley). 

The sidewalks on Broadway were surprising clear. The corners were hell. Especially the one at Carlton and Broadway by the old Aharts. The plow that did the sidewalk just left a wall of snow, which turned to ice.

Ultimately I crossed at the bank and worked my way to CVS. No need for a mask today, my scarf was acting like one. I just had to remember not to pull it down!

Then I carefully worked my way home.

Miles/Steps:  It's .8 miles to CVS from my house, so I guess I walked a mile and a half. Without a fitbit, who knows for sure.
Weather:      16, sunny
PPE Found:   Minimum a dozen throw away masks, and one blue glove.

chair yoga

 

Pam, the friend that I walked the D&L with, and I usually walk once a week. But she's had a series of set-backs and we haven't walked in weeks. Probably since close to Thanksgiving.  Currently she is healing from a broken leg and torn ligaments in her ankle.

I had planned on stopping by last week but with my sister coming home that didn't work out. So I told her I'd stop by today and bring a quiche for brunch or lunch, whatever it worked out to be. She thought it was a good idea. 

Yesterday I got a text. " ... Also you mentioned coming tomorrow. I have a proposal—there is a chair yoga class near me  ..."

What? Did I just read chair yoga?

Sure, I'll go. I have no classes on Wednesday and am having way to much together time with my sister. She keeps telling me she doesn't need a babysitter. Needless to say, I'm driving.

The class is at West End Yoga at about 24th and Highland, so it's five minutes from her house. But if I learned nothing yesterday taking my sister to the doctor, you need to leave a lot of extra time for the differently-abled when there is snow/ice.

I arrived about 11. Pam is using one of those cool scooter things, zipping around her house. But since she's now allowed to use her leg a bit we used a walker to get to the car.

This is apparently a studio she frequents. Everyone was delighted when she "walked" in. And the instructor was very accommodating. However, she did not force the other participant to wear her mask. That was wrong. When the instructor asked if we minded I wanted to say hell yes, but I wasn't there to battle mask mandates. I said something like I always wear a mask when I'm inside with strangers. She didn't take the hint.

The yoga was good, but not like the experience I had in 2019 at the Yoga Loft. At that event she told us the poses as we did them. This time, I heard a few, but not all of them. And a few of them looked like qi gong. But it was good. I used muscles that I haven't used in a long time.

We might do it again next week.

shoveling a slurpee

 

 

This winter season has been pretty meh so far. Even though winter doesn't start until the solstis on Dec. 21, I kind of think of winter as any time between December and February. When March arrives, I want spring. This year we were well into January and having 50 and 60 degree days. Then ten days ago it snapped. One day it was nearly 70, the next it was 20, and it's been pretty downhill from there.

Don't get me wrong, I love winter. I love everything about it. I don't even mind shoveling snow. But I would rather shovel six inches once, than a half-inch six times. The one thing I don't like is wintery mix. That's a PIA, wrapped in danger, and served with broken bones and smashed vehicles. It is the winter equivalent of hell.

About ten days ago we had maybe two inches, and then it got a little warmer. That was mostly gone when I brought my sister home from rehab.

For the past several days it's been in the single digits. Yesterday the temps began to climb. It snowed about two inches last evening and then when the temp rose past 32, it began to rain. The meteorologist said this morning said at one point it was fifty, and then it started to go down again. It's going to continue to go down. And then it will all refreeze.

I grabbed my Wellies and my snow proof jacket and went out front to shovel. As you stepped it turned into mush. Each shovel full was heavy. I mostly pushed it. It was like shoveling a Slurpee. My sister had a doctors appointment, so I shoveled a spot out to the street. Then I shoveled channels into the snow to let the raging river of water continue down the hill. I sure didn't want it in my basement.

After I finished the front, I did the yard, and then finally in front of the garage. Where the plow went thru the alley it was clean. As usual, they dumped the slush toward my side, not the side without garages and that gets full sun. The water was backing up so I created more channels, cleared the spot in front of my garage and release the water down the alley.

I never got out the carpet for the back porch, so I decided to walk around the block. The sidewalks are a mess, but the streets were pristine. I walked down the hill, out Bastian, and back toward my house. As I suspected there was a water jam at the sewer. (People, there's a sewer in front of your house, don't pile snow on it. It's counter productive!) A giant ice slick was going to form when the temp dropped so I made an channel opening into the sewer. It worked. There is no longer a river in front of my house.

When I came in my coat was soaked, as well as my two shirts and my pants. But my feet were dry. Thank goodness for Wellies.

------

Congratulations to my sister-in-law for putting up with my brother for 52 years today. She must have the patience of Job.

Congratulations to my friends outside Williamsburg. Kidding season has begun and they now have five new kids. Welcome Q-ball, 8-ball, Sambuca Vesper (who came out tail first), Absinthe La Fée and Ginger Snap.

the kitties returned my fitbit.

 

I'm failing horribly at 2022. With my sister in the hospital/rehab and Pam breaking her leg, I have nothing but excused for not walking.

For a few minutes today I was excited about walking again. I was coming home from rehab and cut across the lawn. I walk this stretch every day at least twice. There, next to the snow was my long lost (Sept. 25) Fitbit. I guess the cats found it and played with it. Then dropped it. I picked it up, cleaned it off, and plugged it in. Hell, it has made it thru the washer, so why not?

It didn't charge. It's dead. I guess it had too much rain snow, heat, cold, and cat piss to survive. I can kind-of see water inside the case.

Oh well.

Maybe my sister coming home from rehab will motivate me.