Day 56

Logger's Loop, my Friday.

Day 53: Back to work

My season started today.  Many of the same familiar faces, minus a few who have retired, and a few new faces.

My days off were changed, and my truck is gone, given over to the park stewards.  There is a new Ford Transit, which I will be driving on Thursdays and Fridays.  The route is a bit easier, as every day there will three custodians, so the number of restrooms is less.  McKay park restrooms will not be done until 2017, and Skyline is still being remodeled.  Once again, my submitted request to have Juniper demolished and built from the ground up has been politely ignored.  Everyone had a nice winter, except the ground crews who have to plow the snow off the paths and parking lots.  We even had popcorn for our first morning.

After work, I walked Logger's Loop, which is 1.3 miles.  The flags on the Old Mill foot bridge were various shades of blue.  I was tired, but I wanted make myself stronger and I felt the need to de-stress.  I plowed my way through the route, feeling more and more tired as I went, but knowing that when I was done, I could go home and relax.  The sky was overcast, the air cool, and there were some scattered raindrops, but not enough to do anything. I thought about some army where the troops were told to do field exercises until they broke a sweat.  I thought about the actor who played "Sulu" in the original Star Trek television shows, how he ran to get out the worries and the memories that he knew he could do nothing about, so that his mind and his body were too tired to care. It was in his autobiography, To the Stars, and I enjoyed his account of his run when he was waiting to hear back on his audition, of the scene of overlooking Los Angeles at night.

Years later, one of the things that resulted from his habit of running was that when he was called back to put on his uniform, he was one of two cast members who didn't have to have the seams let out.  For me, with the walking, I was able to put on a size smaller work tee-shirt, one which I couldn't get over my body last year.  This year the size I've worn for the past five years didn't get ordered, so yes, it's very good that I can get into it.  The shirt is snug (I told a co-worker, "I think I look like I'm headed out to the AARP wet tee-shirt contest")  but there are people wearing tighter shirts at work. 

His childhood and Star Trek years, published prior to Facebook.

Day 52: Les Schwab

I needed to get the studded snow tires off the Subaru, so soon after my husband left for work, I took the car to the Les Schwab on the south side of town.

There was already a line there, and even though some were there to pay and pick up the cars left the day before, the wait room looked rather full.

When it was my turn, I said I'd wait.

"It is going to be a few hours," he warned me.

"That's fine; I'll take a walk."

So I did. The walk was over a mile, and my time was good, for having to wait at each of the stoplights.  Back to the apartment, where I took the other car to run my errands.


 

Sing it!
"Look for the sign you're in Les Schwab country, 
Les Schwab, the store with tires for you"

Day 51: Logger's Loop

I kept my promise to myself to go for a walk in the morning.

There was plenty of parking at Farewell Bend Park at that time in the morning.  The summer river drift season is still a couple of months away.  I headed south, crossed over the river at the footbridge by the metal horses statue, and walked the path along Riverbend, passing by the otter statue that my kids used to play in when they were younger and shorter and it was at Juniper Park

I was glad to be wearing a wide brimmed hat, as I was able to protect my eyes from the still low-angled sun.

The path goes between the enclosed dog park and the river, and goes under the Old Mill Bridge.  The underpass is beautifully painted with park scenes.  The path goes down to the flagged bridge, then back up between Old Mill shops and the river, through another vividly painted pedestian underpass, and the on between the condos and the river.  There's a riparian are in the river, and a medium size blackish songbird was chirping and singing on a tall stalk.  I looked up to see if I could tell what type it was, but didn't see anything that made it look any different that a small raven.  Then it was back to the car, and the rest of my day.

Not a day

I returned to the pool on Thursday, and went through another low-impact class.  I'd planned on walking a mile afterwards, but didn't follow through with my promise to myself.  The next day, I wasn't feeling well, and things didn't look so good for the next few days.  I had a physical coming up, so I just drank a lot of water for a couple of days, about four extra glasses a day, and things improved.

At the physical, it was pretty much determined that I had dehydrated myself for a few days and I had a slight allergy to something.  My blood work looked good, except for a couple of things, one of which was a warning that if I didn't get my life in order, I could end up with type 2 diabetes type, and that my vitamin D was in the bottom of the tank, probably due to my being overweight.  (I looked up everything on-line afterwards with a .gov website, so it all checked out.)  So I'm to increase the protein and the fiber and continue drinking more water, and take 50,000 IU of vitamin D3 per week to get the "tank" filled.  No lumps, no bumps, everything okay, referrals for regular mammogram and (nine years late, supposed to have had the first when I turned 50) colonoscopy.  Check back in 6-8 weeks to see how the vitamin supplements are working.