So, well, realizing we’d become serious couch potatoes, Jane and I have taken to power-walking (tranlation: moving one’s tailfeathers, walking as if there were a prize involved) not for blocks and blocks, but on our short street, which has only 4-5 houses. We walk up to the corner, down to the other and do it twice about, fast and hard.
When I started, I was panting by the time we got to the first lap down. A week into this and I am not panting even as we complete the two circuits and come up the steps. This is rapid improvement. By next week, we may take it 3 laps. I’m completely content to push it to 10 before we start phase 2 of this, which is to take the car several blocks over to a very pretty public park—huge Ponderosa pines, which gives you not tangled trails, but a high canopy of shade and a flat prospect, where you don’t have to negotiate right of way with strange people in overcoats in July and people walking their Great Dane on the paths. Very nice place, where you can walk any sort of course you please. There’s even a latte stand at the end—but we’ll try to stay away from that.
My breathing is better, and we’re going to get better by starting with the do-able and finding something we can do quickly. This power-walking takes, obviously, less time than a casual stroll, and kind of wakes you up for the day, which is a good thing in allergy season.
Don’t know what our next drive may be, but I’m thinking of going on an overnight to Spencer, Idaho, to dig opals. Yes, there is an opal mine. I’m quite fond of the stone, and know something about them in their native habitat. More about this when it happens.
Don’t think we’re taking vacations: this will be a reading trip, again, to remind me of some background. And there’s just about enough of the book left to get us to Idaho. I just have to be sure the site is open. This is the sort of thing you want to do before high summer heat. I’d rather freeze atop a rock pile than feel like a fried egg on a griddle.
I don’t know whether your phone has this ability, but many of the newer models have motion sensors which apps (e.g. Google Fit) can monitor. Mine does a decent job of telling me how much time I’ve spent walking, cycling, etc.—it even guess which activity, and with uncanny accuracy. Might be helpful.
Neat. My phone is sensorless, but we kind of track things by how we’re breathing—sort of like on a treadmill. If we’re gasping, we’ll figure we’ve done our job for the morning.
Which raises a good point: Jane and I have both realized that we have a sedentary lifestyle, and we don’t have time for extensive exercise programs, nor are we of a disposition to take to a fitness lifestyle… What we CAN do, however, is pick something we can do easily, and will do because it’s easy, so that we end up doing it every day.
Our neighbors may conclude we’ve lost our minds, circling our street as we do (walking the two arterial side streets is too dangerous: even crossing them is a pita) but we figure to do that every day until we can do the park, then do the circle-walk every day we can’t (say, because of weather) do the park, but keep it up.
Our problem re exercise in the past has been grand plans, great start, lousy execution over time…except when we were actively skating. Since age has made skating risky (I do not take falls as well as I used to) we have to find something that, if not fun (I hate walking) is within our capability and easy to do and get done daily.
Anybody know if bobcats will swim after fish? The pond here is a good 4 ft deep, over 3,000 gallons, and has plenty of hiding places, yet something got in and demolished the koi last night…. not happy!!!
Do you have raccoons? They are very destructive and nasty in ponds, especially if they can wade into them from a sloping shore line (don’t know how your pond is configured, though). My spouse has declared war on them in our yard/ex-urban woods because of their depredations into my (tiny and very accessible therefore) water garden.
So sorry to hear—I definitely feel your pain. Raccoons are highly suspect. Bobcats? I don’t know. But we had to net our pond after the eagle incidents. Aluminum tent stakes and bird-netting such as they use to protect fruit trees.
Oh, coons we have, and they ARE a possibility, but the pond is DEEP, a good 4 feet with steep overhanging edges everywhere but the waterfall… They COULD have gotten in there, but we built the pond with hiding areas and such in mind. There’s only one rock, about 18 inches deep, where they could have stood and gotten anything.
There have been heron and such hunting the pond, and osprey are regulars in the area, but I found lots of evidence so I figure it was 4 legged predators who played more than they ate. I have seen bobcats drinking at the pond before, so… They got one of the big koi over a foot long, a couple smaller koi and a handful of the 6 inch goldfish.
The scarecrow (motion sensing sprinkler) is now back up and running for the first time in 4 or 5 years…. Sigh… BUT, on a positive note, the remaining 3 koi have all shown up again, unharmed.
I’ve never quite believed the claim that most cats don’t swim. I don’t know if bobcats swim much, but I’d think if something looks tasty to them, they’d be motivated.
However, IIRC, CJC has said at least two species of raptor birds have tried to get their koi before. So it could be birds of prey.
——
Cats! Can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em!
I’d ordered the Nature’s Recipe Grain-Free moist cat food, two different flavors, since CJC had suggested it here.
The order of one flavor finally arrived, as my previous moist food was now out. The other half hasn’t yet arrived.
So tonight was the big affair. The cats know when it’s dinner time and double-team me into the kitchen. (I’m trained better now, it seems. They approve.)
I get the package open, get a tin (plastic cup) for each, and open it. Hey now, that stuff smells good enough, *I’m* tempted. But no…. So I put it in their dishes and set them down for the two lucky diners to feast. I am envious. (It’s whitefish and supposedly crab meat. The flavor not here yet is the tuna and salmon.)
Mr. Assertive (Smokey) Takes to it immediately. (He loves food. There are a few things he won’t eat, but he always wants food. And is now tubby. Thus, the desire for a better diet for them.) Smokey is one happy cat with this. Bravo! Win!
Mr. Non-Assertive (Goober) — Sniffs it and backs away. I think I was making too much of a fuss, too close, or some other feline faux pas in non-assertive cat land. Goober then took off.
I, being only a foolish hew-mon, spent a few minutes trying to locate him, brought him back in, and put him down at the dish, with him protesting he was a good cat and why was I so unhappy? I wasn’t at all, but this was his interpretation. Poor guy. Goober again refused it.
So OK, I said, he can go back to it when he’s ready. (Or Smokey will polish it off later.) I am hoping Goober will relent and try it.
Or maybe he’ll like it tomorrow, because I have this and some ordinary Friskies or 9-Lives, but no other moist food for them until the other flavor arrives. In any case, they have dry always, so Goober will not starve.
But come on, guy, this is good enough, I’m envious. It smells good. It’s the real stuff. — I have, however, never been brave / foolhardy enough to try cat food. I know some people do such things on a dare.
Hmm, I do have a couple of salmon fillets in the freezer. I suspect I will have to have some fish this weekend. I may succumb to a need for crab or shrimp, when I get enough room in the freezer next week. Heh.
I’m pretty sure Goober will be fine with the Tuna & Salmon flavor. I’m hopeful he’ll like the Whitefish & Crab Meat flavor after all.
Darned silly feline….
Meanwhile, Mr. Assertive is *very* pleased with himself. And me. I believe I’ve earned kitty brownie points….
But not from Goober. Yet.
It appears I will be taking on yet another gato. Due to a solitary complaint about staff feeding cats on the premises, all libraries in the county who have Library Cats (either indoor or out) must get rid of said felines. The library where I used to work has one venerable cat, raised indoors from a kitten, and I seem to be the only one who can take Junior. I hope he can deal with Zorro.
I’ve heard that when introducing a new food, it’s best to mix a small amount in with the old food, gradually increasing the new ratio of new-to-old over a few days, until the kitties are eating only the new food. Might be worth a try 🙂
I got a walking treadmill last year and my spouse built a desk for it. It only goes two mph but I can do most of my work at it, I can read and edit and take calls. I could also watch tv if the tv was in my office. Sk8tr thought it was a good idea, she had heard of companies who encouraged this among their employees having good results.It keeps me moving even though it is not aerobic. Just a thought…..
I go non-motor when I’m working—I just kind of lock joints while sitting, and freeze in place while thinking, which can really give you sore joints, for sure. I think on a treadmill I’d roll right off the end.
🙂
i think i might be just that little bit ADHD. the movement sometimes helps me focus. and the multitasking buys me more time in the day. but i hear you. i can well imagine the creative force becomes very still and inner.
I read somewhere in one of Linus Torvalds’ posts about a “zombie shuffle”. Apparently he works from a standup treadmill desk going at 1 MPH.
Desk work, writing, drawing, figuring (math) while simultaneously exercising? Oh dear. For me, it’s one or the other, not so simultaneous. Although I could probably talk into a recorder for writing while exercising or other chores.
But on my own, I often listen to music while working, low and in the background. There are times that helps my concentration or relaxes me, rather than hindering. Other times, I have to have it quiet, no music.
But the musical genre doesn’t matter too much. If I start paying too much atteniton to the music or words, it means I either need to turn it off, or I need a study break before getting back to business.
It’s never seemed to help or hinder my retention or comprehension or productivity to any degree. It just usually feels better to have music going. Not sure why, but it helps my mood. I enjoy working more that way.
However, listening to spoken words, information or leisure / entertainment content, or news, while I’m trying work, concentrate, write, draw, do math, anything requiring real thought or creativity? I can’t listen to that while doing something else. (I can cook or do chores and listen, though.) My mind doesn’t like having to divide my attention between the two information streams. It sort of jams up the gears and the wheels don’t turn so well. I can manage, but it’s not nearly so efficient, because I try to do both at once. So no listening to information or entertainment in spoken form (or video) while doing other work, creative or technical.
Other people seem to be able to do that, but not a lot. I suppose it all goes into different thinking or processing styles, how we manage the different types of content we process, audio, visual imagery, speech, spatial manipulation of objects, whatever things there might be.
Heh. I can sympathize, I’d probably fall off the treadmill too! — Hmm, but my muscles / joints don’t lock up while at a desk. That’s different.
Uh, if running / jogging, which I don’t do enough these days, I’d much rather go along a path. The treadmill thing…I’d start to wonder where the little wheel and the carrot or cheese were, and the Habittrail…. heheheh. — Other exercise, OK, if I must. I’d much rather swim! … Geez, way too long since I’ve been swimming. — However, I don’t see any danger of being as overweight as my parents got. Just a few too many pounds, and not as heavy as my dad was at this age. Still…getting the weight off, some exercise, is a goal for the summer, then to keep it off, if I can stick with it.
I’m another one who does better with a touch of background noise. TV works great, the radio works as long as its not the local idiot DJ. The art center where I teach pottery has overhead florescent lights and the buzz drives me batty, so I HAVE to have the radio on there. It gets crazy, the group usually has 4 or 5 people, half of whom want at least a bit of help at some point in the session. Plus I’m usually attempting to work on my own stuff, so I guess multi-tasking works for me!
I’m lucky enough to have lived in LA when KFAC was still a classical music station 🙂 , and then moved to Portland which has/supports KQAC, another classical music station. 🙂 🙂 🙂 You can stream it from allclassical.org with the right setup. 😉
If you’re feeling in a rockhound mood, you can extend the trip a bit and drive through Montana. There are several sapphire and garnet mines within a couple hours’ drive of the Idaho-Montana border, dig-your-own, like the opal mine; the owners bring up loads of likely gem-bearing dirt and rock, you buy a bucket or two, and pick through it looking for gems.
Years ago, I spent a couple of days in Coober Pedy in Australia, in a dugout hostel. My roomie and I went on a couple of tours, including one where we were allowed to spend time picking through the tailings of mining operations, with limited success. Back at the hostel, the owner was expanding by digging out more rooms. I poked about through the dirt pile, and found half a dozen opal chips. We later heard that the owner financed the expansion with the opals he found while digging.
I didn’t get to Coober Pedy—I was all about the rim of Australia. But I did come away with a few opals I treasure, gotten in a little store. I never have had them set. They’re pretty from all angles.
Thanks for the idea! Now a coworker and I are going to drive to Idaho next weekend and check out that mine! (I called today, they’re open I think Thurs-Tues for now, then every day during the summer.) We’re both new to Wyoming, and pretty desperate for things to fill the weekends!
Hi! Haven’t posted in a while, but your comments about “exercise you can stick with” and grand plans struck a chord with me. My work (bless them) does a 10K-a-day walking program every year, and gets us discounted pedometers to track motion. But they recently had a webinar on exercise for busy people, which reminded me of the importance of resistance training and sent me on a hunt for exercises that could be done in my cube. Here’s a great list that I found, which I figured I would pass on to anyone who is in the same boat. Some of the moves seem like they are too easy to be effective, until you actually try them! Enjoy! http://greatist.com/fitness/deskercise-33-ways-exercise-work
I know it hasn’t been a happy time in Nepal, but anybody here who think’s it’s cool that we can see the quake from the very northwesternmost tip of the US, a seismometer in Forks, WA, can find it here. Just pick the date 2015/04/25/. About 20 min after the event at 0611 GMT, one can see the fast P-waves (pressure) in the black line, then the arrival of the slower S-waves (shear), the ones that do the real damage, after that, going on (ringing the Earth like a bell) for two more hours.
We were in Priest Lake ID two days ago on a reading trip, and they’d had a 4.1 that had startled them mightily—there’s a bar and grill there that’s our turnaround point for the reading trips, and the locals there were all amazed by the quake.
They’d be really be surprized by a 9 from the Cascadia Subduction Zone, such as we had January 26th, 1700! Of course a 7.8 is strong–it takes that to build the Himalayas–but a 9 is something like 50-70 times stronger. “Banda Ache” 2004 Indian Ocean quake was a 9.1-9.3. The 1964 Good Friday Anchorage Quake was 9.2. More recently, the Tohoku 3/11 Quake that gave rise to the Fukushima Meltdown was also a 9.
Oh, yeah, Priest Lake would be surprized!
In 2006 we had a substantial earthquake in Hawaii, a 6.7, with a 6.0 aftershock that followed a few minutes later. We get one about that size every 30 years or so, and it makes people wonder briefly if that loose chunk of the Big Island has finally let go. If that happens, we have a route mapped out that goes straight up Haleakala, because the expected tsunami will be at least 500′, and we will have 20 minutes to GTFO.
Just reviewed the Nepal coverage—we were out yesterday on another driving trip and hadn’t heard. Monster quake. A big one has been forecast for there, quite strongly so, by scientists studying the region. And there’s no guarantee it’s the last. Beautiful, beautiful country, but building styles are perilous, and the mountain-building is still going on. Hope help comes quickly for those people.
When you are a bit fitter consider adding poles to your walking routine. There are a number of benefits to nordic walking over simply power walking. I’ve been doing it for many years and never saw anyone else with poles until recently. Now, I see someone every week or two and people stop me on the greeways to ask about my poles. It looks a litttle goofy but it feels great.
http://www.nordicwalkingusa.com