Staying the Course -- February 24, 2021

[Superbob]

Greetings, hearty Coursers! Hope all is well in your world, and you are proceeding smoothly and happily along your courses.

This morning Ellie dawg and I stepped out for a walk and instantly noticed a big warm-up underway. I thought to myself "I probably don't even need this light baseball jacket I'm wearing,"and sure enough halfway home I was sweating. Heading into the 70s today -- it's shorts and teeshirts weather! No, we did not have anything like the harsh winter invasion that Texas experienced. Still, a cold wind (along with cold rain most days) presented a challenge to dawgwalking. The sudden onset of spring weather is nothing to complain about; however, my very senior dog was panting pretty heavily by the time we got back home. Have to watch her carefully and make transitions gradually.

Heart Walks have been a motivational event for me in my senior years. I have participated every autumn in our local Waccamaw Heart Walk (named in honor of a local Native American tribe). Today, I up and decided to enroll in another walk this Saturday -- the Low County (of South Carolina) Heart Walk. I love the Low Country and heart walks help keep me going. Yeah, thanks to the pandemic, this one is virtual this year -- walk wherever you want; however, keeping in touch and in pace with hundreds or even thousands of other walkers is a kick. Hope Ellie dawg will be primed for it, too -- it's supposed to cool back down a bit by then.

Speaking of the pandemic, wife and I are now marking our one-week anniversary of having taken our second Pfizer dose. We check in daily via smartphone to take a CDC survey on how we're doing. I have had no real pain or problems. My wife has had only mild pain. But yesterday she reported being a little more fatigued -- a possible result of the vaccine testing the immune system and provoking a reaction (as intended by the vaccine makers). Today she is fine. We are glad we took our shots, and we hope widespread vaccination will help put this awful pandemic in the rear-view mirror for all of us.

Let us know how you all are doing.

Stay the course!

Cheers,
Superbob

 

[epstns]

Hey, SB - How the heck are you?

I'm still looking out the window at large snow piles. They have dwindled by about half, but still are close to 2 feet in some areas. At its peak, the snow was piled up so high along our driveway (120 feet long) that the snow blower couldn't blow snow high enough to put it on top of the piles. A real mess!

I'm still around, though. Kind of cooped up at home. We do still get out for groceries and occasional trips to the store, but not much casual wandering going on. We might go out to a "fast casual" restaurant once or twice a week, but we go at odd times when there are few other customers there.

Covid vaccinations are going anything but well in Illinois. I won't go into the entire situation because it would put me into full "rant" mode, and that's not pretty. Let me summarize it by saying that even at age 73, it has taken me over 6 weeks to just get an appointment for a shot two weeks from now. My wife, who is younger than 65, cannot even get that. The way our state (Illinois) is managing the vaccination process is, to me, criminal. I'd better stop there, or that rant mode will take over. . .

I haven't been lurking around much lately, and I apologize. How have things been going?

I'm still remaining active. Aside from shoveling tons of snow, I still get to the gym 5-6 days a week. I do push-ups, sit-ups and exercises with 15-lb. hand weights, then a few miles on a treadmill each time. I'm hoping that this level of exercise will make it easy enough to slip back into summer activities (and clothes) once the weather warms up. We've had an unusually cold and snowy winter, so I have no idea what to expect for summer. I just hope it gets here soon!

 

[Superman]

Good to see activity levels staying high for everyone and nice to see @epstns joining us again! Welcome back! I think those winter storms had you Illinois folks right in their bullseye, which kept it south of us a bit. We were fairly light this winter with February being our biggest month and only 6-8 inches being our biggest event. Almost time to get back on the roof and take down those lights!

I know what you mean about ready for outdoors. My wife and I did our first outdoor run of the season after spending all winter working out with the Peloton cult. It’s paid off. In the past, my first spring run was typically a walk / jog hybrid. I did 3.1 miles today and kept my average pace under 10 minute miles. Not winning any races, but I’ll take it. I didn’t have to walk any of it.

We have a house rented in Florida for the coming spring break the first week of April, so it’ll be good to get out and run there. We plan on getting down to Everglades National Park for a day as well. I may rent a nice telephoto lens for that excursion.

 

[dornole]

Ha I know what you mean about the driveway snow banks. One year we couldn’t even shovel to the side as it was too high to throw!! Had to walk the snow back toward the house and toss it there. Glad you’re doing well. My father in law lives in Chicago, is 80 with copd and heart failure, we did get him the shots but that was only word of mouth / Google fu to find a Walgreens on the south side that had one spot left ... kind of a free for all. Still more and more of my friends and family over 70 are getting shots all around the country. Glad you finally got an appt. I’m eager for mine but at MN wants 70% of 65+ done, plus a few others like people with Down Syndrome before hubs and I can go.

 

[epstns]

I'm now on the quest to find an appointment for my DW. I've got her signed up with a patient ID at the hospital where I'm scheduled. Next step is to play schedule/computer roulette for her.

Yesterday and today it has been sunny and clear. Some of the snow is melting, and I'm glad it is going gradually. The last thing we need is for huge amounts of snow to melt while the drains and sewers are still frozen over. Also, the snow is finally gone from the roof. I hope we don't have any hidden ice dam damage like we did a few years ago.