Social Distance Art

On my walks around the city, I sometimes come across driveway art.  Many are the art of children but some are really nice ... like this parrot.

Chalk art Parrot.

It seems social distancing brings out the artist is some of us.

Comfy Chair For Chillin'

We got eight and a half inches of snow yesterday ... in the middle of April.  It was crazy.

A Comfy Chair for Chillin'

Today, twenty-four hours later, all the snow is gone except for a few traces in the shadows.

Photograph: "Praying For April Showers?"

Taken today during an ... April Shower.

"Praying for April Showers"
by Bruce H.

Can this please be our last winter snow?

For Easter ... A Goldfinch

Happy Easter to all today.  To celebrate, here is a picture of a Goldfinch.  Goldfinches aren't that common in our backyard but they are occasionally attracted to our thistle feeder.

A Goldfinch checking out the backyard.

I Expected This ... But I Don't Have To Like It

Having been outside for nearly one hundred seventy seven days while hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT), when I got home last October I had no desire to go outside.  I hunkered down playing computer games and watched TV and movies.  I practically became one with my recliner.  With the inactivity came bad eating habits.  I gained twelve pounds.  I sit so much that I hobble around like an old man when I get up.  I knew I should be doing things differently but I was just not motivated.

I tried to force myself to go walking but, again, the motivation wasn't there.  Since 2009 I'd walked a lot to prepare for my first Camino, my second Camino, RAGBRAI, and my two AT attempts.  With the AT and all the other goals behind me I no longer have any goal to push me outside the house.

The universe made it even more difficult when they asked everyone to stay home because of the pandemic.  But the universe is sending me mixed signals right now.  I had my blood tested for my annual exam.  My lipids are high but more importantly my Glucose and A1C are way too high.  As a matter of fact my A1C says that I am officially diabetic.  I'm not stupid (most of the time) and I was expecting the bad news.

So now I am motivated.  Now my body is forcing me to watch what I eat and to get off my butt and do more exercise.  In three months I will be retested and we'll see if I can wrangle my numbers into a better place using only diet and exercise.  If not I will have to add another prescription to the one I already take for my high triglycerides.

Have to say I am not very happy with my genetics right now. *sigh*

P.S. Damn I want a sweat snack right now!

Appalachian Trail - One Final Post

A year ago today I started my Appalachian Trail (AT) attempt at Springer Mountain, Georgia.  I'm not sure I was full of optimism on that day but I was determined to give it my best try.  That I did.  One hundred and seventy-seven days, and one thousand eight hundred and ninety-four miles, later I decided to end my attempt.

When I quit I told myself I was done.  A few days later I changed my mind and thought I would return to finish the last three hundred miles to get to the end at Mt Katahdin. Over the past seven months I have vacillated between completing it and calling it done.  But this week the last vestige of my AT was removed when, with the help of the Wife, I trimmed the long, bushy beard I grew on the trail back to where is was when I started my adventure. Now when I look in the mirror, Little Hill is no longer looking back.

So I have made a decision and I have settled on not finishing the AT.  I'm not getting any younger and those last miles are not easy.  My attempt is officially over.

Not that I don't have my moments when I look up at the night sky and regret and the desire to finish what I started wells up in me and I get a strange feeling in my gut.  But, in the end, I remember how I felt and the reasons I had for ending my attempt and the moment fades.

Despite knowing I did the right thing, these moments will haunt me for years to come and when I look up at the stars I feel Little Hill, somewhere on the AT, looking up at them too.

And The Cupboard Was Bare ...

I do my shopping on Mondays.  In this time of Covid-19 it is the only time I get out of the house.  Today I went to whole foods to purchase a couple items I use for homemade trail mix.  I add the trail mix to cereal and fruit and eat it for lunch.  Two of the items I was looking to buy in bulk were slivered almonds and pumpkin seed.  Here are the bulk bins at Whole Foods:

Empty bulk goods bin at Whole Foods.

At Sam's Club I am still amazed that there is no toilet paper.  What are people doing with all of this paper?  Paper mache?  I suppose this tells you how many people do their duty at work/school instead of home.

Empty toilet paper isle at Sam's Club.

Walmart is trying to keep things stocked but it may become a losing battle against all the people panic buying.  Soon grocery shopping may become a scavenger hunt.  The times we live in ...

Blackbirds ... Everywhere.

While some people mark the coming of Spring by the sighting of the first Robin, in our backyard it's the return of the flocks of Blackbirds and Red Wing Blackbirds.  They swoop in and empty our birdfeeders several times before moving on.

Blackbirds in and near the suet feeder.

While they are visiting, our backyard is full of the trill of birdsong.

A Red Wing Blackbird.

Book: Margaret Atwood's "Testaments"

My one and only read so far this year was Margaret Atwood's sequel to "The Handmaid's Tail".  "Testaments" takes place a few years after the events of both the original book and the Hulu streaming series.

"Testaments" is a collections of recollections and ... testaments ... from various girls and women in the theocratic authoritarian nation of Gilead.  Many of the testaments are from characters in the streaming series as well as a few from the original book.

When I started reading this book I had a difficult time trying to put the story together.  The chapters, while interesting, seemed disjointed.  This changed as you progressed and the various stories began to weave together to a satisfying cohesive ending.

While the original Handmaid's Tale was a bit dark and dreary, Testaments tried to end the reader with some hope.  I read this before the Pandemic exploded but I would say the ending is a good one for the times we live in teaching us that all bad things, through the work of many, will come to an end someday.

I gave this book four stars out of five on Goodreads because it was interesting and had an uplifting message at its conclusion.

A Bird ...And Not A Bird

Here is another visitor to our backyard feeders.  A Downy Woodpecker at our suet feeder.

A Downy Woodpecker on our Suet feeder.

A new visitor to our backyard was not a bird.  It was a squirrel but not just any squirrel - a black squirrel.  I've seen them in other parts of Omaha and Council Bluffs but this was the first in our backyard.  It's not the best picture but it's the best I could do before he scurried off.

A black squirrel looking for fallen bird seed at the bottom of a fence.

If I get a better picture I'll share it.