Tag: walk

The Wandering Hermit: Hat & Heels & Illusionary Fat Loss

   17 July 2024  Leave a Comment on The Wandering Hermit: Hat & Heels & Illusionary Fat Loss

I went on a walk with Justin this afternoon.  He’s been feeling sick, so we couldn’t do a full 2 miles, but he did a mile and a half.  I think that’s pretty good.  He went to his room to sleep the rest of the day, but that was likely his plan anyway.

I feel like going to local parks and walking as many as possible for a while.  Maybe mixing that with my usual walks in the morning… maybe doing those in addition to the morning walks.  It’s just so much better on my feet to not be on gravel, but I do miss my usual walks.  It’s been almost a week since I did one out here.  I’ll try to get one in tomorrow morning.  Change is uncomfortable, even when it doesn’t matter.  Walking the paved sidewalks just felt so good, I could have done twice as much as I normally do.  I need to pay attention to those sorts of things.  Wherever I can increase distance without overdoing it, I need to do that.

I need more hats.  I’m trying to get used to wearing hats more.  I like the look of them and they do protect me from the sun.  If I’m going to be spending increasing time outside when the sun is up, I need to wear hats when I walk.  I’m wondering if my 5:00am walks are over for now.  It is my favorite time for a walk, but it’s already too dark now.  If I was going to a gym, I could continue, but I think I might need to push back to 6 or 6:30.  I don’t love that, but I can still get up and do things at 5.  I just need to shuffle around my routine.

Okay, I need to get more work on my sides.  I’m not sure what to do exactly.  I know I can just look it up, and I will.  But it is apparent I need more work on that.

Over the weekend, I lost too much weight.  I had lost 7 extra pounds since last Thursday, which I felt was too fast.  I actually had that revelation while showering on Monday morning.  I just felt like I had lost too much and I wasn’t feeling great about it.  I was eating, but I just felt off.  I confirmed that Tuesday when I noticed I’d lost 7 pounds.  Rapid weight loss is fine, but if it is too rapid that can cause a lot of problems.  In the hopes it was an illusion caused by dehydration, I got some higher calorie foods and just packed in calories for the day.  When I woke up this morning, things made more sense.  It looked like I had lost 2 pounds since last Thursday, which is more reasonable.  I also feel a lot better than I did… and I wan’t feel bad per se.  I was just feeling a little off.  I felt like the fat was decreasing, but not correctly.  I was drinking a ton of water, but it’s dry out there.  I think it might have just been dehydration.  I’m back to normal eating and I’ll just have to wait to see what next Monday’s weight is.  I’m taking this morning’s as my end of week.  I just don’t trust Tuesday’s, even though it would be nice.  I never want to do anything illusionary or so quickly that I make myself sick.

[Walk #126]

The Wandering Hermit: Community

   15 July 2024  Leave a Comment on The Wandering Hermit: Community

My cousin Denise joined me on my morning walk.  Of course, I was a little less attentive than I should have been.  She did tell me that she had been doing 1 mile and we just kept walking until we did 2.  That seemed a bit much for her, but she didn’t say anything about it.  Overall, it was a wonderful walk.  I do enjoy walking with people; I just don’t like walking with others everyday.

Canute is small enough that this, the third time walking the town, I was starting to run out of new things to see.  There were a few streets I didn’t walk up and down, but not many and all of those are just houses.  I’m fairly certain I’ve walked by every business.  We went up to the park next to the cemetery, and it is extremely nice for a town of Canute’s size.  It looks like the local Lion’s Club funds a lot of things in town, and they apparently have the funds for some nicer things.  It would be nice if a place like Glencoe, which is the same in population, had something as nice as that.  It is also on a highway, and also just off a larger highway.  I’m not sure Glencoe has places that do that kind of community funding of local projects.  Denise and I actually talked about that and what the future looks like as things like Lion’s Club and similar community organizations fade away.  They don’t get younger members at a rate that they need to stay alive, and I think that’s a shame.  With our focus on global connections, donations of money tend to go to the places that are the consensus of the group, but that leaves out local communities that might respond by raising taxes to fund some of the common projects.  That annoys some people, and makes things harder.  

Denise’s word of the moment is community and I love that because it has been on my mind so much in the last few months.  People need community.  And I think our reluctance to finding our community is a bigger problem than we appreciate.  That’s one of the few benefits to being part of a historically marginalized group.  There is a forcing into community that actually ends up being beneficial, even if outliers don’t always love the result.  The downside is that that community exists because of external forces pushing it together, but a community of people pulling themselves together is so much stronger.  That is was seems to be dimming with time and I hope we can find ways to reignite and revive our passions for the places we live or the people who share both our interests and proximities. 

[Walk #124]

The Wandering Hermit: Grounded

   14 July 2024  Leave a Comment on The Wandering Hermit: Grounded

This morning brought on a sense of calm I was missing for a couple of days.  I slept so well.  My legs felt drained and my mind clear.  Brent has the thermostat set really low, almost too cold to be comfortable.  But it makes sleep easy, and I felt like I could breath all night.  My morning felt hopeful after that.

Last night, I spent hours talking to cousins again.  It’s what one does when they haven’t spent time with people in many years.  It was such a nice talk, but I did keep getting little reminders of how different our worldviews are.  I was already aware of everyone’s fairly—or extremely—conservative views, but sometimes it came up in off-putting ways.  I think the euphoria of the first day needed—demanded in fact—that kind of grounding.  I don’t want to move forward in my relationship with my family members with some kind of façade layered on everything.  They are real, tangible, flawed.  All of that is what I appreciate most about them.  I am all of those things too, and I would assume they’d feel similar about views I hold that oppose their own.  I don’t voice those things though.  I can handle being in a competitive talking environment, but I’m a spectator and not a participant.

We might stay here another day.  That’s fine, but I didn’t pack clothes for that exactly. There is a washer & dryer here, so I could use that.  I’ve been trying to stay here very gently.  I don’t want to take up too much space or use things in the house.  I realize Dad’s cousin is never here anymore, so she doesn’t care.  But I know her.  I know how she is and how she feels about things that I have trouble getting on board with.  It’s Sunday and even in agreement there were guilt trips concerning going to service at her church this morning.  I avoided her and the topic altogether.  I didn’t pack for that, and I’m not really interested.  I still might get dragged there, but I’d rather not.  And I don’t want to feel guilty for that.  I have the reasons I have for the decisions I make.  And I won’t take judgment for that.  So, we’re staying at her house.  I don’t want to be disrespectful when I know me being here would bother her.  It’s a weird position to be in.  She’s always been like that though.  I’m not coming to a new understanding; I’m just realizing what that means when it comes to asking for her hospitality.  That said, she’d give it if I asked.

[Walk #123]

The Wandering Hermit: The Cousins Reunite on Route 66

   13 July 2024  Leave a Comment on The Wandering Hermit: The Cousins Reunite on Route 66

Canute is so small, but it certainly doesn’t need to be larger.  I walked through town and then down Route 66, to the water tower, and back to the house where I’m staying.  It was perfect weather for a walk.  Clear, cool.  Perfect.  

I got a good reminder last night that sometimes what you need is family.  I spent the evening talking to my cousins, and I hadn’t expected to see them at all.  It was nice.  It’s great to be around people who don’t need to catch up to get back to enjoying each other’s company.  The last time we were all together was in 2000.  Sadly, Rechelle passed in 2017.   She should be here.  But the rest of us will all be together again, and I love that.

I feel fantastic this morning.  I slept well, if briefly, and feel energized for my day.  The Alaska folks are still asleep, which is to be expected, but today promises to be a nice day.  I may do some additional exercising this evening, but I’m going to try to remain present with family, so I may not.

[Walk #122]

The Wandering Hermit: Onward To Canute!

   12 July 2024  Leave a Comment on The Wandering Hermit: Onward To Canute!

I thought I wouldn’t have time for a walk, so opted to wait for evening.  Brent’s apartment has a gym though, so I was able to do that for 25 minutes.  Knowing Brent was just waiting in the car, I didn’t do my full 2 miles.  That’s mildly disappointing, but it also turned out that I didn’t need to wait anyway.  

We are on our way to Canute, Oklahoma where we will be staying for the weekend.  My great aunt’s birthday party is in nearby Elk City, and we are staying at the home of her daughter.  I’m nervous because family makes me a little nervous, but it’ll be good.  My aunt Rita and uncle Jerry will be staying at the house with us.  It’ll be a weird weekend!  

[Walk #121]

Edit: Jerry did not come down for this vacation, but my cousins Les & Denise did, as well as my cousin Rechelle’s daughter Ashleigh and her daughter Daisy.  

The Wandering Hermit: Smile Because You’re Winning

   11 July 2024  Leave a Comment on The Wandering Hermit: Smile Because You’re Winning

I’ve been smiling a lot lately.  I hate it.  Smiling has always made me a little uncomfortable, but it’s one of the things I appreciate so much on others.  For many years, when I smile I’ve felt like the quintessential garden gnome: rosy, puffed up cheeks; a bulbous little nose; an unkempt beard; and most importantly, a round little face.  I have usually opted instead for a stoic pose, which tends to look better in most photos.  Looks better, but says nothing.  And when I say it looks better, that isn’t to say I’ve hidden the traits that made me uncomfortable.  I clearly have not.

One of the universal criticisms that I get about myself is that I am grumpy.  Or sometimes people just ask me what is wrong, but I’m hardly ever having a bad day.  It’s just that my face has that expression.  I don’t get those comments from people I rarely see in person, so I am pretty sure it’s just a response to how my face is.  I shouldn’t care, but I don’t want my mind and my face to be so different.

So, lately I’ve been smiling.  And even more, I’ve been doing so while showing my teeth, which I probably stopped doing 30 years ago.  It’s awkward, it’s embarrassing (yes, even by myself), but it’s something I want to overcome.  I’m too old to care if people like my smile.  The hardest part is remaining sincere.  I can usually handle it for one or maybe two photos, but then you can see my discomfort clearly in the photo.  I have to reset, smile again, mean it.  It’s all a process.

[Walk #119]

The Wandering Hermit: Kameoka Trail by A Sliver of Moonlight

   10 July 2024  Leave a Comment on The Wandering Hermit: Kameoka Trail by A Sliver of Moonlight

So, I got out of Glencoe for a morning walk.  I went to Stillwater and walked Kameoka Trail & Couch Park.  Neither is lit, so actually it ended up being a bit too dark with all the tree cover.  It was still nice, but my pace was slow as I needed to keep checking where the path was going.  Boomer Park would probably be a better one to walk early in the morning, although I don’t remember it being lit either.  I may just have to save the parks for afternoon/evening walks.  Either way, it was so nice to be in town.  I miss traffic and people jogging and trucks loading stuff.  I just do.  There is a quiet I love about living among trees, but I’m at a place in my life where I need the sounds of humans around me more.

[Walk #118]

The Wandering Hermit: It’s Not Me, It’s You: Rules for Walking

   5 July 2024  Leave a Comment on The Wandering Hermit: It’s Not Me, It’s You: Rules for Walking

It isn’t that I mind having company on my morning walks—I don’t.  In fact, I welcome someone joining me while I walk.  But there are some caveats.  

  1. Brian doesn’t talk in the morning.  I’m not cranky or in a bad mood, but the parts of my brain that do the talking aren’t even scheduled to be at work until I’ve been awake for an hour, and they are often running late.  There is a misconception that this means I’m grumpy.  I wake up most days ready to go and with a lot of motivation.  I also don’t want to talk… about anything.
  1. Brian doesn’t want to hear you talk in the morning.  Without the support of the speech staff, the listening staff isn’t really organized and ready yet first thing in the morning.  They hear you, but they cannot give you their full attention.  The morning agenda rarely includes people talking, so they just aren’t sure what to do when it happens.
  1. Brian is not admin.  I’m never admin, but it is especially true when I first wake up.  I cannot solve your problems for you yet.  That takes skills I won’t have until much later in the day, if at all.  I hear you.  You have an issue.  I appreciate that, but I cannot help.
  1. Brian will become cranky if you keep accusing him of being cranky.  We are all different.  My morning process involves quiet for an hour at minimum.  I love the sounds of morning, from birds in the trees to the sound of a coffee maker.  Because I don’t talk, I’m often accused of being cranky as I said.  I’m not; I’m just enjoying the stillness before my day gets going.  However, if asked enough times I will in fact deliver what you are ordering.  And I hate that I become so annoyed, but it just seems like some days I’m wrong for existing the way I am.

None of these caveats negate my interest in exercising with someone else.  I’d love to do that, but maybe what I really require is ground rules.

  1. Speak softly an stay off my back.  A simple greeting or brief discussion is fine.  Get straight to it, but not too loudly.  My tone will be what my tone is.  Again, I don’t mind even if my mouth isn’t working yet.
  1. Have a plan.  The best time to discuss an exercise/walking session is the day before.  Plan what you are going to do, be flexible enough to change things as needed, and be ready to do the thing.  If your mouth is already fully with it, you body should be as well.
  1. Sort it out.  As I mentioned, I’m not admin.  If you headphones are tangled or you are having an issue with your shoes, you might need to figure that out.  And that is okay.  I wouldn’t dream of asking for help with that stuff for myself.
  1. It’s okay to do what it is that you can/want to do.  I walk at least 2 miles in the morning.  I wake up at 5am and I leave the house by 5:30am.  The times vary & the route varies, but if you think it is too far, or not far enough, that’s cool.  Do your own walk if you need to.  I’m happy to walk beside you while it makes sense, but the morning walk/exercise is about your own fitness goals, so we might not sync up precisely.  Don’t worry about that.  And if you’d rather do a different walk, but just at the same time, that’s cool too.  Do that.  Don’t tie your routine to me.  
  1. Post-walk is when I write.  I need about 20 minutes sometime after my walk for logging & blogging.

I think there is a sort of popular way people like to walk and talk.  It’s a nice leisurely stroll through a park and it is very nice.  I’m actually very interested in doing that sort of thing.  It just isn’t the same as my morning walk.  That is about increasing my heart rate, waking up, and enjoying the dawn.  

[Walk #113]

The Wandering Hermit: Don’t Panic—Walk.

   3 July 2024  Leave a Comment on The Wandering Hermit: Don’t Panic—Walk.

Things seem dire right now, and I understand how hopeless everyone is feeling.  I get that way often when events are pile up around me to prevent me from realizing how good things actually are.  

I’m troubled by any narrative that the United States is devolving into some sort of developing nation.  It’s all about perspective at the end the day.  People feel like they are struggling because there are challenges now that did not previously exist.  That’s not what struggling looks like.  That is what a slight decrease in privilege looks like.  Maybe that’s patronizing.  I’m sure there are people who are having a rough time in 2024… materially.  There are people in every time that struggle, but that isn’t the majority.

Anti-democratic sentiment has been on the rise for a while.  That is motivated by fear.  But I don’t think the response to that fear is to talk about how horrible things are.  That feeds the anxieties and it also obscures the good things we have.  While I think journalism is extremely important, I also think that media companies have an incentive to panic their audiences.  It’s good for their bottom line.  The good things in life don’t get airtime.  They are boring.  And the fact that we all live in a 24 hour news cycle is not healthy.  It’s a problem for everyone, and even when we try to shut it off, we still somehow get the information through our social media or friends and family.  It’s all too much all the time.

We have a lot to do, and nothing in recent weeks really changes what we know must happen to preserve our democracy.  A ruling by a court rarely changes a person’s mind on who to vote for, or rather what values to vote for.  And I think it’s more important than ever to realize that if you are living in the United States, you represent 4% of the global population.  Look at how people are living elsewhere, check global poverty rates and jobs numbers.  Then get back to me on how bad things are here.

This might be extremely cliché, but what if instead of doom scrolling people went outside.  Put your phone in your pocket & go for a walk or just go hang out at the park with friends.  Talk about the weather & think about the good things in your life.  Listen to the birds.  Be present in your own life.  Neither doom scrolling nor walking outside will change how a person votes in November, but the latter will make you feel a lot better than the former.

[Walk #111]

The Wandering Hermit: Sizing Down

   1 July 2024  Leave a Comment on The Wandering Hermit: Sizing Down

Got in a second walk after I saw the July challenge on Apple Fitness: 2.77 mile walks at least 14 times.  That must be based on my walking average because it is a perfect increase in what I’ve been doing.  But I don’t like taking longer than an hour, so I’ll have to get these extras in in the evening.  It’s so warm.  But I’ve always been averse to even the mildest warmth, but I actually thought it wasn’t so bad.  I suppose that makes sense.  I’m likely having some changes to my body relative to my own heat tolerance.  I’ve always wanted to be someone who could stand to be outside in July, so maybe I’ll get there someday. 

One of the new shirts I got for walking arrived and fits perfectly.  It’s a 2XL, and if I’m being honest, that still feels too large.  It’s been a long time though, and I can start retiring my 4XL & 3XL shirts I think.  My favorite part was that it fit, but was not clingy or snug at all… that’s progress.  My weight loss might be slower than I’d like at the moment, but I am shrinking an that’s the part I’m excited about. 

[Walk #108]