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Take a walk on the mild side.
October 2008 - Posts
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All of a sudden, it’s cold outside. It seems that we were in the midst of a long hot summer that we thought would never end and then, in one day, the thermometer is showing a forty-degree drop. I decided not to wait until the temperature drops to freezing. I am going to prepare for the coming winter.
First I will change my wardrobe from summer clothes to winter clothes. I do this twice a year, once in the beginning of the warm weather, and once at the beginning of the cold weather. I have my clothes divided into two separate areas. During the hot weather all my heavier clothes are packed away, not in my closet where they will take up room, but in a storage area; I don’t even see them until the next cold season. This is the time to change things around. My closet is now equipped for the cold and I will not see my summer clothes again until the spring.
One favorite piece of clothing that I really enjoy is my robe. Of course, I have two robes, one for the warm weather, and one for the cold weather. My winter robe is floor length and is constructed of very heavy material that makes it very warm and comfortable. I appreciated having it this morning. There was frost on our lawn for the first time this season. I had to turn the heat on in the house today and I got out my small space heater at work today. Winter is definitely here.
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There is something about the change of seasons that suggests physical movement. Maybe it is the fact that the temperature changes heighten our awareness of our bodies and we are reminded that we should be paying more attention to our health. Or, maybe our clothes don’t fit like they used to and we see a need for a change in our daily routine. Whatever the reason, I have decided to add more exercise to my daily routine.
Since my husband is a personal trainer, I am never at a loss for personal advice, or equipment, to facilitate any exercise routine that I might want to undertake. (My husband is very wise not to offer any advice unless I ask him, but it is nice to know that I have the option of asking him if I get stuck not knowing how to go about constructing an exercise regimen.) We also have regular bikes for riding the roads and trails; this makes for hours of steady exercise, weather permitting. Also, walking is one of my favorite activities and we have a lot of places near the house where we can walk together to enjoy the fresh air.
A couple days ago, before the weather turned so cold, we decided to ride our bikes for a long exercise session. My legs could really feel the unaccustomed workout. As the afternoon started to ebb, we stopped at one of our favorite restaurants and had a very good meal. It was good to sit down for a while before continuing to ride at a slower pace, as we headed for home and the comfort therein.
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Recently I noticed that one of the pedals on my bicycle was broken. I could still pedal the bike but it was uncomfortable and possibly dangerous. My husband said that it could not be fixed and should be replaced. It was the original set of pedals that came with the bike and I guess the manufacturer was not concerned with putting high quality parts on the machine. I searched the internet for better quality pedals and ordered a set for each of our bicycles. When they arrived my husband replaced both pedals on my bike and adjusted and lubricated the chain and other moving parts. The bike runs smoother than before. When I was ordering the pedals online, my husband wanted to alert me to the fact that one of the pedals is mounted with a left-handed thread (the opposite pedal is mounted with a standard right-handed thread). This is important to know because not all pedal cranks are made this way and, if you order two pedals without specifying a reciprocal set, you could get a pedal that cannot be attached. Luckily, the order came to me with the correct pedals and he was able to attach both of them without any trouble.
Our bikes are the standard, old-fashioned type. They have only one gear, coaster brakes, and more hefty tires than any of the “English” type bicycles. Getting this type of bike was my husband’s idea. He said that these bikes are much sturdier and that they will take more abuse than the racing type bikes. In addition, the coaster brake works much better than the caliper type brakes and they need much less adjustment.
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For the past year, my husband and I have gone to our favorite place, the Cantina, on Saturdays around noon for lunch. We see the same people there every time, and have gotten to know them. Usually only by first name, but you learn enough about them, and they you, to ask basic questions each week to keep current with the goings-on in their lives. There was a couple, both looked to be about mid-40's, that also went to the Cantina every Saturday for lunch. They would ride up on a motorcycle, the woman riding behind the man, and a little dog riding in a bag carried by the woman. They sat at the same booth every week outside on the covered porch. The little dog stayed near their feet and would bark at anyone going into the Cantina. I always thought it was sweet that they would sit on the same bench instead of on opposite sides of the table. They must really like the Cantina because they decided to get married there a few months ago.
Yesterday we saw the man sitting at the table alone. He seemed to be staring blankly off into space. We asked where was his "other half". I was expecting a reply like she was in the bathroom, or she had to work, or she was off visiting relatives. I was shocked when he said she had died a week ago. Her name was Cougar. I don't even know her real name; I think it was an Indian name meaning "eyes of a cougar", but everyone called her Cougar. He looked so devastated sitting there. He told us more of the story and it kept getting worse. She was riding home on her motorcycle and he was following in his truck. He saw her veer off the road and run into a tree. He got to her no more than 30 seconds after the accident and tried desperately to revive her. He worked on her for 20 minutes doing everything he could before the sheriff and ambulance arrived, but he knew she was gone. It turned out that she had had a massive heart attack and was probably dead before she even went off the road. She was 46 years old.
The man told us the dog didn't eat for several days after it happened. Instead of barking at everyone coming to the Cantina, he would sit up and look at everyone approaching like he was looking for Cougar, expecting her to appear. I pet him some and he looked up at me with big brown eyes that seemed to ask the question, "Where is Cougar?". I didn't have an answer for him.
I can't imagine anything worse than watching the one you love die right in front of you, trying to save them, and failing. We could see how much pain this man was in, but there was absolutely nothing we could do or say that would help him feel any better. I felt so helpless. Then he told us about a tattoo he had gotten at the time of their wedding. He pulled up his sleeve and on his upper arm was the date "07-12-08", a large picture of a cougar head, and underneath that was the word "Forever". He looked at the tattoo, shook his head hopelessly, and lowered the sleeve. I started crying at this point. I kept my sunglasses on and bent down to pet the dog some more so no one would see. Forever, in this case, was only 3 months.
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How many times have you walked into a bathroom and found an empty cardboard tube on the spindle of the toilet paper holder? If you are lucky, you might find a roll of toilet paper nearby, usually on the back of the toilet. Why is it that some people (like men) aren't courteous enough to replace the roll when it is used up? I came to the conclusion that it was to be my "roll" in life (pun intended) to always be the one to put a fresh roll of toilet paper on the holder.
I could hardly believe my luck when I moved into a new house and found something I had never seen before. A toilet paper holder that didn't have one of the those plastic spindles that can easily fall out and roll away from you. The design is simple -- the holder attaches to the wall or cabinet on one side only and the toilet paper roll easily slides onto the bar from the other side. It took several weeks of living in a house with this kind of holder before I realized that I wasn't constantly having to put a new roll on the holder. Someone else in the house was putting on a fresh roll whenever necessary. As you can see from the picture on the right, placing a roll of toilet paper onto the holder is extremely easy.
I wish we had this kind of toilet paper holder where I work.
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With the advent of Photoshop, any picture can be altered. This can be a good thing for many reasons. Let’s say you take a picture of your friend but you forgot to look in the background to notice that she has a stop sign growing out of her shoulder. In the “old days” of photography, getting that unwanted stop sign to disappear required a lot of work. (In fact, I didn’t realize it could be done at all, but since my husband has been a professional photographer for almost forty years, he has pointed out quite a few things to me in the photographic process.) So much work, in fact, that is was easier to just ignore the background – or go take another picture. The computer industry has changed the process so much that changing something in a photo is a small matter; if you have the right software, it just takes a few minutes to change whatever you like. You can “open” closed eyes, remove unwanted elements, change the perspective, or add new elements to the picture that were not there when the original photograph was taken. Therein lies the “problem”.
Part of the authenticity of photography lies in the fact that the “camera doesn’t lie.” Whatever the camera sees is represented in the finished print so that you could rely on a photograph to show what really existed at the time it was made. Unfortunately, because digital pictures can be so easily manipulated, we can never really be sure that what we see in a print is really true. It is very disappointing that we can never know, for sure, that a beautiful sunset was real in Nature, or was created in Photoshop. Part of the “magic” of photography is in viewing the scene as it “really was” without embellishment. As good a tool as Photoshop is for some purposes, it also robs the viewer of the ability to be “awe-struck” by a real event.
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On Sunday we enjoyed the great outdoors. We took the morning hours very slowly; we were still wanting more rest from the activities the day before. Our dogs, however, always get us up early. They want to eat and run in the backyard no matter if it is a weekday or a weekend. So, we got up, fed everybody, and then lounged for a few hours; it was heavenly. Then, since the dogs had not gone on their walk the day before, we got the leashes and had a nice walk down to the boat dock and park. This is our usual route anyway but we also wanted to see how crowded the boat ramp might be. When we got there we saw that it was not too crowded. This was good because it can be nerve racking while waiting for some of the inexperienced boaters to launch their boats. It seems that, just like “Sunday drivers”, there are “Sunday boaters” who have trouble with their boats and trailers. Since the place was not overly crowded, we thought that we would go home to get the small boat and take it for a spin.
We had not taken the little boat out in several months – no time when you are selling a house and setting up a new place. My husband knew that the motor would be difficult to start after sitting for so long and he wanted to run the boat to keep it in tune. After finally getting the boat in the water, he worked hard to get the motor cranked. It does not have an electric starter so he had to pull the starter cord. Just as predicted, it took more than a few minutes to get the engine purring. Once started, we proceeded down the river to the lighthouse. It is about five miles to the park at the lighthouse and we traveled at about five-and-a-half knots so the trip took us a little over an hour each way. The wind was moderate and the water choppy and we had to be aware of every big boat creating a wake that could potentially swamp us. The boat operated well and we had a nice ride although it got a little wet now and then. It was good, and refreshing, to get out on the water again.
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We’ve been in the new house now for a few weeks. As anyone knows, it takes a few weeks to get settled, find places for everything, and rearrange things to your personal liking. Until all these matters are taken care of, you don’t feel comfortable inviting anyone over to see your new abode. This past weekend was the time to invite friends.
The Stonecrab festival was also this past weekend. This is a time for everyone who likes crabs, beer, and motorcycles to gather, and gawk. I knew that most people would be attending the festival so I invited several friends to “drop by” the house to celebrate with us since it is quite close by. My husband also invited some of his clients and friends to join us. The turn out was great. We were pleased to show the house to everyone and my husband gave “tours” of the boat that he is still building. It was an added “plus” that the weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky.
After a while at the house, some of the guests moved on to other commitments and the rest of us rode down to the festival to see what was there. By now it was late afternoon but the festivities were still in full swing. There were several bands playing at the local bars, about a million motorcycles and scooters, and so many people that it was difficult to move around. We stopped into a barbecue place to try some of their food and it was very good. In all, it was a great party.
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On Saturday my husband and I attended the local Coast Guard Auxiliary meeting as guests. The story really starts about ten days ago when we were walking the dogs near the boat ramp. We saw some Coast Guard Auxiliary people doing courtesy vessel examinations and my husband approached the officers and asked them many questions. He said it was good timing that we happened on to this situation because he always wanted to join. He has a desire to help people and, since we intend to spend some time on the water, joining this group of people seems like a good idea.
The officer was very helpful in giving us information on the VE’s (vessel examinations) and he also gave us literature on boating safety. At my husband’s request, he also gave us an invitation to attend a meeting to see if we would be interested in joining. He mentioned that there is a lot of information to learn and a lot of time to invest. The whole venture is voluntary; no one gets paid.
The meeting was last Saturday and we rode our scooters to meet with them. There were about eleven people in uniform and they had a well-organized meeting replete with a pledge of allegiance (I was happy to find that I still remembered all the words), awards for outstanding service, and food. All the people were very nice, friendly, and they made us feel welcome. My husband asked them before the meeting if they were going to require us to eat a live chicken; the commander replied that live chicken eating was only done at the New Year’s meeting.
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Whew! I just got home after having done some shopping. I brought home two new buckets of kitty litter and some new litter boxes. The kittens are seven weeks old today and we are actively looking for good homes for them. We like to take good care of them so that anyone who adopts them will see them at their best. So far we have taken them to the Vet for a checkup and worming and we put revolution on them so they won’t suffer with fleas and other pests. We have learned from previous litters that sometimes all the cats can get a condition that causes them to get diarrhea. They can get this by using dirty litter boxes; if one cat has it, they can all get it. The condition is not serious and it is easily treatable. But the poopies smell horribly and the poor kitten may have a dirty bottom. We certainly would not want a person to pick up a kitten in this condition.
One way to treat the condition is to get the medication from the Vet and to administer it for up to fifteen days. It is given orally with a syringe. A better way is to catch the condition when you first notice it and clean everything that the cats touch. So today we threw out all the litter boxes – and the litter – and we replaced everything with new litter and new boxes. If we can catch the condition when we first notice a loose stool, cleaning everything works quite well. Even with the medication, we would still have to clean everything meticulously anyway. For the environmentally conscious, I'd like to point out that the litter boxes I threw away were not the plastic kind. They make boxes now that are pressed paper and meant to be disposable. Supposedly the paper box allows more air to flow through to keep the litter smelling better and getting a new box every month is healthier for the cat.
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My mother’s 70th birthday was a few days ago and so we went over to my parent’s house to take them to dinner. We went to Ruby Tuesday’s and we had a very good meal. The salad bar at Ruby Tuesday is so complete that you get a great meal without ordering anything else. My husband also took a salad bar, but not realizing the enormous amount of food available, he also ordered a bowl of rice and some chicken. Everything was okay until he ordered a dessert. He ordered a small portion, and I helped him eat a little of it, but two bites of cake were all he could consume. I guess the good tasting food tends to make everybody eat more than they should.
My parents’ house is having some renovations so we wanted to see how things were coming along. Since their roof was in need of replacement, they had a new style of shingle and a fresh new color installed. They also had an extension put on the back of their house. It made sense to do all the work at one time. There is a lot of work still left to do but the workmen appear to be doing a nice neat job. My mother’s cats (yes, they got them from us) are enjoying the partially finished room. There are four cats (one is the mother of the other three) and they are all full grown now. I can imagine that they are all looking at the new room as a potential playground.
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When we got to the restaurant with our friends we found that we were the first dinner guests. We arrived at five minutes passed the opening time of four in the afternoon. All four of us parked in the same parking space with our scooters; talk about efficiency. We entered and took a table that allowed us to keep an eye on the scooters. Our waitress was with us immediately and asked for our order. Drink orders always come first, as is the custom in most places and we told her what we desired. Then, my husband asked her about the freshest fish that they had that day. She said she would ask for us and then she disappeared to ask the cook what was available. When she returned she told us that the cook said that everything is available except the onion rings. We never asked about the onion rings. Okay, so we all had a good laugh and then the waitress said that she was going to write up an order for four orders of onion rings and then give it to the cook. We heartily agreed. A few minutes later, the cook appeared at our table and gave us a freshly cooked batch of onion rings. The whole meal was great and cooked to order, no complaints. This is really saying something because my husband is not shy about telling the server, or the cook, if something is not prepared well. So, for him to say that the meal was great is quite a compliment to the restaurant.
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