glitter fell from the sky

It's February in Pennsylvania, so that means it's snowing. Again. But today was different.

I woke to about 2-3 inches of the finest snow possible. I was out shoveling and it sparkled. Like Mother Nature dropped a bottle of glitter. I'm guessing it was micro pieces of ice. But I have no idea. It was beautiful. Made my day.

I shoveled it and it blew right back. It was that light. After clearing the front sidewalk, I walked up the hill and back down the alley and did the back. Then retraced my steps and went home.

The only other walking I did was my scenic route around the college.

Otherwise I've been working on my resumes, job hunting, and trying to build an online portfolio.

Saturday, I'm doing the Tail on the Trail snowshoeing event. I have to call and reserve.

baby it's cold outside

It snowed maybe an inch last night. Okay. Maybe two inches. Clearly wasn't worth the end of civilization weather reports from last night.

At about 7:30 I went out to clear the snow. Shovel, might be too strong a word. It was single digits. And very windy.

This is what I wore. I probably looked silly.

TWO pairs of gloves. When I came back in I couldn't feel my fingers
Long undies, top and bottom
Long sleeve shirt
Pullover fleece
LL Bean coat with hood up
Sweatshirt with hood up
Fuzzy hat under all those hoods
And a scarf

Except for my fingers I was not cold.

I did the front, walked up the hill, around to the alley and did the garage and the back sidewalk, then went up the hill and came back down to the house.

After getting half that clothes off, I went out to make breakfast. Bonnie called. "Let's drive to the Poconos and go for a three mile hike." "Okay." Alas, she was teasing. But I really did want to go to the Poconos. Angel was picking the girl-child up from Moseywood. I toyed with the idea of hiding in her car and walking around lake Moseywood. (Supremely jealous of girl-child—snowshoeing, cross country skiing, sledding, painting snow—why don't they have adult weekend in winter?)

I did some work, then put all that clothes back on, and headed out at lunchtime for my walk. Alone. Lydia had been a maybe for today, but she called and said it was F@*&‡!G cold out. She was going to the movies instead.

I went down to Itaska, and wove my way to Broadway. Out Broadway and back up thru Lehigh.  One reason I chose the university is I knew the sidewalks would be clear. They were so clear they were dry.

Even the stairs were clear. So I took them.

At the top of the hill I headed out 8th Street toward home.

Sadly, it was barely two miles. I only have 7500 steps for the day, but I do have 38 floors. So I'll need to do at least 2500 steps in the house later. Unless I decide to bundle back up and head back out.

 The view from 8th Street

Oh, I weighed myself this morning. Up another two pounds. I think I'm going to stop watching what I eat. More exercise. Less and better food. I do not understand.

boom boom splat

It's snowing! A gentle, light snow. It shouldn't add up to to much this round. Another round is coming tonight that could bring anywhere from an inch to six inches. It's Valentine's Day and I'm sure the restaurants were booked solid. They'll probably lose money hand over fist. Me, I'm having leftovers. That's what we have on Saturday night.

Lydia and I planned to walk about 11. It was already snowing in the boonies, so she chose not to come.

I went out by myself about 2. Getting up my hill was no problem. Getting up Sassafrass was a horse of a different color. There is a five foot section that really steep. Cars often scrap bottom on it.  Normally it's no problem walking up it. Today I kept wishing I had my snow shoe poles with me. I could not get traction at all. I decided to give it one more try before I went a different way. I walked in old snow and it worked.

Up the alley I went. I turned left on to Wyandotte and came down Fiot Avenue. It was harder getting traction going down than up. I was taking baby steps. Before I could get out into the street, down I went. I went out into the street the first chance I had.

Finishing the hill, I decided on a shorter walk. I headed right on Sioux and down Ontario to Broadway. Once I reached Broadway it was back on the sidewalk, around the bank, and up Wyandotte back to Sioux. Once I reached Sioux again, back out into the street I went until I reached home.

Since I was dressed, I also cleared the snow.

The walk was only about 6K steps and 22 flights of stairs. Clearly, tonight I'll be walking in the house again.

fat girl, shoveling

Last night it snowed. They were calling for 6-8 inches. I had thought about going and clearing it, but it was still snowing pretty heavy when I went to bed. There was maybe 3 inches.

This morning at 6 I go out to shovel. It is three inches of snow saturated by rain. It felt like it weighed a ton. The drain that I so carefully keep open, was covered in snow. So I shoveled that first. The water came like a river and it was two inches deep, for a while.

Messy. Messy. Messy.

We had a two hour delay for work which is great. I would have been late. It took well over a half hour to shovel that little snow. When I came in, I actually took my blood pressure. It was fine.

There will be no outside walking today. The sidewalks are icy and the curbs are awful. At work there isn't even a cut to walk thru. You get to walk thru knee high slush. Fun.

Update: I barely reached 5K steps Monday.

fat girl, shoveling

First time I've typed those words in 2015. It took a generous hour to shovel the front sidewalk, the garage and the back sidewalk. I'm thinking we received about 6 inches. I was not missing the days where I had to do five sidewalks. The first round of shoveling netted me about 1500 steps. Cool.

Thank goodness we got the snow and not the freezing rain. Ice is pretty, but it's dangerous.

I'm really itching to go snowshoeing. I could have walked up and down my block. They didn't plow until 12:00. (The alley at 12:30.) But alas, that is not in the cards today. Shoveling, school, now driving to the airport will take up my daylight hours.  I did manage two trips around my personal block, looking to see what was shoveled and what wasn't.

Another storm is coming Monday. Looks like Mother Nature has finally synced her calendar.

Do you want to build a snowman?

and it isn't even thanksgiving

It's snowing. Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Clearly global warming is messing with mama nature's calendar again. So begins the winter—in fall—shoveling.

The snow is wet and heavy. It's been a few degrees above freezing all day. So it's like falling slush. We have maybe three inches of it. The ground is warm so the main streets aren't too bad. But I wanted to get the slush up before it froze after dark. That would be a nightmare in the morning. And I have a 5K in the morning.

Shortly I'll be walking to the grocery store for some last minute items. I'm taking the direct route so it's going to be barely two miles. Though it's silly to be shopping since I am not cooking the big meal this year. (That's a good thing. I'm a horrible cook.) But the roomie is really looking forward to these calorie laden holiday treats. So I'll make them.

Between shoveling and the walk—I'm taking the most direct route today—I might, get my 10K steps in today. In an effort to get my mojo back I reduced my fitbit goals. Maybe actually meeting goals will propel me forward. They also designed all new silly icons. I like the old ones better.

Three hundred and sixty eight days till my sixtieth birthday. How the hell is that possible?

boom. splat. a snowshoeing missadventure.

Today it snowed. Again. Another three inches.  I think that brings the total to 44 inches. Or maybe it's 49. Does it matter at this point?

I spent the day in online class, or getting ready for my traditional classes. At about 3:30 I decided to walk up to junk park. Now that little Girl Scout voice was whispering "take a buddy". Bad Girl Scout, I didn't listen.

I put my snow shoes on in the garage and headed up the barely plowed alley. I arrived at junk park to a wall of snow. There was footprints, so clearly someone was able to climb up there. Not me. It was taller than my waist.

Okay, plan B. I'd go down to the road thru the cemetery and go in that way. Wrong again. But at least I had what was left of the fence to hold one to. It took several falls and several attempts to get on top.

I immediately sunk in.  My knee is at the top edge of the snow. Can you even see the snow shoes? Hmmm.  I thought with snow shoes you walked on top of the snow....sort of. Clearly not. I tried to walk and fell. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Finally I took off the shoes and slid back out into the street.

I was sore, cold, and wet. I just went home. And shoveled the latest three inches

Next time I must listen to the Girl Scout voice. And take poles.

the grocery store

If you are too lazy to shovel a larger space, you park on the sidewalk.

About 2:00 I walked to the grocery store. It's about a mile from my house. I was not busy. It took nearly 1.5 hours. Let's just say the walking wasn't easy.

Thankfully most people had shoveled. However, few—including businesses—shoveled out the corners. And we had 15 or 20 inches of snow.

I had walked out Itaska toward Wyandotte. In the street. It was a sloppy mess. I crossed to Wyandotte  and encountered my first wall of snow. Wyandotte is a busy street. Walking in the street was not recommended. I had to go all the way to Summit, around the corner and out to almost Carlton before I could enter the sidewalk.

To make matters worse, the plows piled snow at the corners. Then the residents piled theirs on top. There were walls of snow to climb over almost 4 feet high. The five points was ridiculous.

At Ontario and Broadway there was a path cut. It lead to a puddle. I thought is was a small puddle. Wrong. It came up past my ankle toward my calf. There was a woman behind me (we climbed the snow walls together) with a 3- or 4-year-old.  I turned around and said to her, watch the puddle it's nearly as deep as her! She laughed. But she picked the little one up. Hard with bags of groceries on her arm.

When I returned home the plow had come thru the alley. So I had to re-shovel in front of my garage. Then I offered to help the man next door.

It's going to snow again tomorrow. I guess I won't get to snow shoe again. Junk park is better for sledding.

i feel like the energizer bunny....i keep shoveling and shoveling and shoveling

It's been an especially hard winter. It's been awhile since we've had one like this. I'm eating more and walking less. It just damn hard to walk on uncleared sidewalks.

Yesterday we had about 15 inches of show.

Last night we had about an inch of sleet and two more inches of snow. Tonight we're getting more.

I spent four hours yesterday shoveling. And another two today. Still can't go anywhere since they haven't plowed my alley. They did plow my street an hour or two ago.

Four hours of shoveling was only 4000 steps. Really? I wanted a nap when I came in. My Fit bit told me I was "very active" for 14 whole minutes. Clearly, it and I have two totally different ideas of what very active is.

I had wanted to go snow shoeing afterwards—when I thought shoveling was a 2 hour task— but I was too tired to walk to the park. Maybe tomorrow.

This afternoon I'm going to try and walk to bottom dollar. Unlike Ahart's I can use all side streets and walk in the streets.

tri-to-help

 Jen, Nora and I at the finish line.

Today I did my first triathlon. Okay, it wasn't an Ironman, but it was a lot. And it was indoors and only took an hour. I did it with a few people from the sugar crushers group. Bonnie came along to take pictures and for moral support. Next year she's doing it.

Jen and Nora were in the noon group. I was in the 12:40 group. It started with the swim. Needless to say hell will freeze over before I wear a swimsuit. Bonnie even offered me one of hers. No, thank you. We were in the pool area while Nora and Jen were warming up. Then even drew on my number while I was waiting. Them, there was one space left in the Noon group, so I was able to go. Yeah, no waiting.

I can't swim. The little I knew I forgot. So I tried walking in water for 10 minutes. It was hard. I kept slipping. Water shoes would have been a good idea. Next year.  I did 13 laps. Not bad, I guess.

 Then we changed and headed down to the spin bikes. Again, I have never used one. Do you hold-on or not? I couldn't decide. We rode for 30 minutes. The seats are uncomfortable and my butt hurt. But more than that, my lady parts hurt. They still hurt hours later. I rode 6.8 miles in the allotted time.

 Then it was off to the treadmill. I've used a treadmill twice before. Both for testing as part of the Walk Your Butt Off panel. Bonnie stood behind me at the beginning and told me what to do. I set the machine a 4 mph and on level two. I was supposed to set it at number one. Oops.

I did 1.25 miles in the twenty minutes.

Afterwards we waited for the others in the 12:40 wave. We stayed in a group in one of the corners. I also walked the track several times. I'm not used to do eight miles in an hour. I had jelly legs!

We arrived home to another snow storm. I guess I'll be up even earlier tomorrow shoveling before work.

Me at the end with my tally sheet.

fat girl, shoveling

I got up at 5 and the snow had already begun to fall. When I left for work at 6:30 there was an inch or so on the ground. I went to work and arrived just in time for the 2-hour delay announcement. An hour later we were closed.

I stayed. After spending nearly an hour to get there, I was not going home during rush hour. Plus, I had a lunch date with my four Chinese international students.

When we left at 1:30 the snow had cleared considerably. It was very light. The roads were fairly clear. Until I got to Broadway. It. Stunk. Big. Time. My street, nor my alley was plowed. But that is pretty normal. I came down the alley, stopped just above my garage and got out and shoveled. It took about 40 minutes to clear the driving pad, and the sidewalk back to the house.

I came in to get warm, and then spent another 45 minutes on the front sidewalk. I never realized how much walking you do shoveling snow. I'm at about 8K on my Fit Bit, and I shoveled, walked too and from the Markle parking garage, and too the restaurant.

They have cancelled classes. So if I finish grading, and my online class. I'll try and get the other 2K in tonight. I got to get to Nome! I also need to buy new boots. This winter, one pair is not enough. They never are dry.

We had 8.1 inches today. I want to go snow shoeing.

snowshoes and almost getting a ticket

I haven't done any real walks this week. It's been snowing. And snowing. And snowing. So all I've really done is shoveled. And walking tapes. And sadly, walking from the office to the bathroom and back a zillion times. I managed to get to 10K steps 5 out of the 7 days. Didn't make my 70K goal, again.

On the bright side, all that snow gave me an opportunity to try out my snow shoes for the first time.

I retrieved them from their perch in the garage, and headed to pick up Bonnie. (Lydia was hosting a coffee hour.) I realized that I lost the little paper that said how to adjust them so we went to LL Beam. The nice man adjusted them. Bonnie found me a coat. On sale. My old Land's End jacket is at least two sizes too big. But it comes in handy when you have six layers on.

My shoes adjusted, we headed to the car and out to the street. The light was red. We waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, I turned right, and went up a bit and made a U-Turn. Right at the no U-Turn sign. As a copy was driving past. He waited for me. I was sure I was getting an expensive ticket. I made an illegal turn right in front of me. But he left me off the hook! I got the follow the rules, especially in this weather lecture. Yes, Sir.

Finally we arrived at Upper Saucon Park and the gates to the main park were locked. I went down to DeSales and turned around and headed for the library lot. The trail goes behind the library.

The snow was deep at places. I'm sure it has been drifting.  Because of the snow we couldn't find were to enter the trail, so we just went into the woods. Oops. Missed it. We were in the section that isn't finished yet. We followed the tracks of a cross country skier.

After having to climb over a mound of snow, we finally got to the trail. In front of us was either Bigfoot, or another person on snow shoes. Alas, it wasn't Big Foot. Good thing because the battery on my camera was dead! Again. I really hate that it gives you no low battery warning. Bonnie did take some photos on her phone.

We went about a mile out, and a mile back. I felt like I walked a 10K. Using snow shoes is supposed to burn twice as many calories. I guess that is true.

We past people on cross country skis, snowshoes and lots of dogs. They need to plow at least one lot. Parks are not a one-season place.

On the way home I stopped at Popeye's for shrimp for the roomie and chicken for me. Now I'll need to do another hour of exercise.

Lydia is coming over shortly and we are headed to BJs for dog food. Maybe we'll walk there. Or maybe we'll go to the Monocacy trail. Stay tuned.

fat girl shoveling

It snowed! I really have no idea how much. At some places on my side walk it was 3 inches deep. At others, a foot. It's blowing around like crazy. My guess, about 6 inches. The paper hasn't come yet. I can't find anything on the internet. And the television channels are all having a snow wet dream.(The weather person just said 7.2)

I was out shoveling early, maybe 7:15 am. It's now about 10 and the neighbors are coming out one-by-one. If Sharon still lived in the 'hood we would have been out about 5:30!

It's odd just having to do my property. At one time we were doing five—two elderly neighbors, mine, Sharon, and the empty house in between. We would often do the house next to Sharons also. Then people moved in, the elderly went to live elsewhere, and Sharon moved. Last year my friends house was up for sale, and I did their property. But, thankfully, it sold.

Still I was out there shoveling for the better part of 90 minutes. I did the front and quickly realized I was under dressed for the "arctic blast". My hands were like ice pops. My ears felt like they were going to fall off even though I was wear 2 pairs of gloves and a hat. I came in for warmer gloves, and a hat that covered my ears, and went out again. When I finished that initial batch, I came in for breakfast. After the neighbors shovel out their cars, I'll go tidy it up, and dig out the storm drain. I don't want everyo nes melting snow in my basement.

Then I went out and did the patio, back sidewalk and the driveway. Thank heaven for my neighbor that plows snow in winter. He always plows the alley in front of my house, and then down the hill and out to the street. The city rarely does it. We always joke that they only plow the street if there is a funeral. That isn't quite true. But it seems like it.

All in all I only did about 3000 steps. I was kind-of shocked. My upper body—clearly my weakest point—feels like I spent the morning with Ali.

(OMG! The snow plow just went up my street.)

I think tomorrow I need to help Bonnie unpack her cupboards. Maybe after that I can go to Saucon Valley and try my snow shoes out on the rail trail. It's been a year since I bought them and they have never been worn. Hopefully Bonnie can come along to take a picture. We wear the same size, we could take turns.

In a little while, I'll head out for a snowy walk to the grocery store. I think I'll take the scenic route thru Lehigh. Still don't think I'll make 10K steps today.

(OMG! The snow plow just went up my street AGAIN. Miracles do happen. Will the alley actually get done?)