“There
is a privacy about it which no other season gives you…. In spring, summer and
fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in
the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging
to yourself.” – Ruth Stout, author
I found this quote at Vanessa Runs and felt it really defines my need for (cold, gray) winters and rainy days in any season.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
Love All This Snow...Wish I Could Get Out and Enjoy It!
There is nothing I love more than the muffled quiet of snow covered trails. Our first winter back in Illinois was a huge snow winter. Lots of days of snow covered trails. My favorite thing was to be the first out on a few of our favorites, my footprints being the first. Then the next two were a little sparse. But this winter has been fantastic! Record snow for many parts of our state. It snowed a bunch on Friday, a little more on Saturday and today has been nonstop, mostly snow, some ice, since about 7am (it's almost 2:30 now). We even had snow thunder! I keep thinking about how amazing the trails would be for a hike with the dogs....sigh.
Our bench out back does a pretty good job of illustrating how high the snow is in the backyard. There are drifts throughout the yards (front and back) that are higher, but this is pretty indicative of the average amount of snow that will start melting this week. It's going to get soupy.
Our bench out back does a pretty good job of illustrating how high the snow is in the backyard. There are drifts throughout the yards (front and back) that are higher, but this is pretty indicative of the average amount of snow that will start melting this week. It's going to get soupy.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Heart Day...Not The Flowers and Candy Kind
February 4 my Dad had a stroke due to an undetected heart arrhythmia, specifically atrial fibrillation. It was, fortunately, a mild stroke that has impacted the posterior portion of his frontal lobe. The damage he has suffered is affecting his speech and his ability to understand some things being said or asked.
Heart disease and circulatory issues are a common concern in his (my) family history. His older brother died of a massive stroke when he was just 40 years old. One of his sisters died from a heart attack when she was 43. His other sister suffered for years with breast cancer, finally losing her fight at the age of 52. Two of his nephews have partially carried on this genetic tendancy, one having a heart attack and one have 2 strokes (both due to Afib), but both are still alive and doing well.
My Dad is 71 years old and other than having his gall bladder removed a year and a half ago, has been healthy. As a matter of fact, he thought he was having a heart attack because the symptoms of gall stones include chest and arm pain. Before scheduling him for surgery the doctors had him examined by a cardiologist to make sure that his heart was healthy enough for surgery (had a treadmill stress test and EKG readings were done) and there was no sign of an arrhythmia at that time.
My Mom does not drive. Never has. Never will. She is Irish, born and raised, lived in Dublin, Ireland until her early twenties and never needed or wanted to drive. My folks live in a suburb of Chicago, about 3 hours from me, so that is where I spent the past 10 days. My brother and his wife flew in from Seattle, arriving 13 hours after he had his stroke. He spent 6 days in the hospital, getting his blood pressure under control and working out what anticoagulant would work best to prevent a future stroke. He is home now, started speech therapy yesterday and will soon start occupational therapy, with the goal of getting behind the wheel again. My brother, sister in law and myself have worked out a schedule to be with my parents through the end of March, getting Dad to therapy sessions and helping my Mom.
So now, in addition to figuring out if there is anything I did to get this stress fracture (other than running a lot of miles), I am going to get established with a cardiologist and find out what type of preventative checkup schedule I should embrace. Got to keep my heart happy!
Heart disease and circulatory issues are a common concern in his (my) family history. His older brother died of a massive stroke when he was just 40 years old. One of his sisters died from a heart attack when she was 43. His other sister suffered for years with breast cancer, finally losing her fight at the age of 52. Two of his nephews have partially carried on this genetic tendancy, one having a heart attack and one have 2 strokes (both due to Afib), but both are still alive and doing well.
My Dad is 71 years old and other than having his gall bladder removed a year and a half ago, has been healthy. As a matter of fact, he thought he was having a heart attack because the symptoms of gall stones include chest and arm pain. Before scheduling him for surgery the doctors had him examined by a cardiologist to make sure that his heart was healthy enough for surgery (had a treadmill stress test and EKG readings were done) and there was no sign of an arrhythmia at that time.
My Mom does not drive. Never has. Never will. She is Irish, born and raised, lived in Dublin, Ireland until her early twenties and never needed or wanted to drive. My folks live in a suburb of Chicago, about 3 hours from me, so that is where I spent the past 10 days. My brother and his wife flew in from Seattle, arriving 13 hours after he had his stroke. He spent 6 days in the hospital, getting his blood pressure under control and working out what anticoagulant would work best to prevent a future stroke. He is home now, started speech therapy yesterday and will soon start occupational therapy, with the goal of getting behind the wheel again. My brother, sister in law and myself have worked out a schedule to be with my parents through the end of March, getting Dad to therapy sessions and helping my Mom.
So now, in addition to figuring out if there is anything I did to get this stress fracture (other than running a lot of miles), I am going to get established with a cardiologist and find out what type of preventative checkup schedule I should embrace. Got to keep my heart happy!
Sunday, February 2, 2014
The Saddest Little Man
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| 75lbs of unhappy |
Poor little guy. Not only are we not able to go out and play (crutches=sad doggies), but he gets introduced to the pack. Not at all what he was expecting and he is currently not a big fan.
Yesterday was the first day we tried it on him to see if it fits. It's actually pretty cool in that the pack portion or panniers detatch from the harness portion. We had him wear the harness for about a half an hour and then only for a couple of minutes added the empty panniers. He stuck by my side the entire time he had it on (actually he's never heeled so nicely...) I guess hoping I'd rescue him from his burden. Today just before sitting down to type this I put on the harness and guess who is sitting on my feet....
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| Really? What fresh hell is this? |
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| Dude, help me out here! |
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Saturday, February 1, 2014
Motivational Video...Needed This
Thanks to Ultrarunner Podcast webpage for this inspirational video....useful when feeling less than.
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