Ideas, Insights,& Intuitions

So, did you think I had finally given up? Naw! “Dolly” was a good excuse to not go out walking last week, but since I brought the bike indoors, I did pedal it once in a while. Here’s a running diary:

Monday–Weather partly cloudy and 80F at 10:00 am. Pedaled bike 31:00 min. for 4.11 miles, and burned 370.5 calories. NOTES: Weather is still and humid. “Dolly” coming.

Tuesday–Weather is HOT! Today I did not take my walk in the neighborhood. I got enough exercise hauling plant containers & porch furniture to safety and helping install plywood covers over our windows. I also had to go back to the store for trash bags and moist wipes. Store was very crowded,  no shopping carts to be had. The bread, bologna, and bottled water had almost all disappeared from the shelves. (I didn’t understand why people would be eating bologna sandwiches when the power went off, since I had stocked up on canned and dry food, but that seems to be the custom.)

Wednesday–Rain with 30 mph wind @ 12 noon. The bike is indoors, so while the wind blows, I can pedal and work off some of my anxiety. Time: 30:10; Distance: 4.26 miles; Calories: 383.6. Listening to 24/7 coverage by KURV radio. Cable is out. Spent time on cell phone talking to my son in another state, and checking up on friends in this area. Sent final emails, then shut down before high winds arrived.

Thursday–The wind & rain just kept coming. “Dolly” is here! I can’t think of anything else. Windows are boarded, but I can still hear the wind & rain. I packed an emergency bag, just in case. Listened to “Dolly” coverage on radio. Slept a few hours, but dreamed of working in my former job as a Home Health PTA. We never lost electric power, but lost Cable for 1½ days, so my daughter lost her cable internet, but my DSL stayed connected. We have spent more time together this week than we had for several weeks previous to the storm.

Friday–No programmed exercise today; I didn’t need it! The storm is past, though it is still windy and overcast. I moved the container plants and bricks back to the porch and paved the little square garden around the birdbath and the 4 bushes planted there. Helped my daughter bag the fallen branches and oak twigs. Hung the birdfeeder back up and fed the birds. (For the story and pictures of our experience with Hurricane “Dolly”, scroll down to GOODBYE, “DOLLY!”)

Later, I did lie prone on the bed and performed hip extensions and hamstring curls x10 each to relieve my lower back. Tried to catch up on my sleep so I could enjoy our favorite scifi programs on TV that evening, since Cable was back on.

Saturday–78F indoors at 8:00 PM. Pedaled bike. Time: 30:15 min.; Dist.: 4.08 mi.; Cal.: 367.8.  NOTES: Two days this week of inactivity & my chest starts to burn after a few minutes of pedaling! But it went away after a few more minutes. The standing water on the yard has all soaked in; the sandbags are still drying out, but we can put the plywood boards away until the next time they are needed…which won’t be for a long time, we all hope!

I’ve actually been to most of these places, too!

Very well-done video…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scjb_f95diA

Hurricane Dolly poised to srike

For most of us, “Dolly” appeared quite suddenly as a tropical storm crossing the Yucatán peninsula over the weekend of July 19-20, 2008. She was moving rapidly into the Gulf as a ragged, poorly organized system that was expected to make landfall by Wednesday 23rd as a strong Category 1 hurricane at most, follow the Rio Grande River up the border of Texas-Mexico, dump 6-12 inches of rain along her path, and be gone in a day.

But as these things are prone to do, “Dolly” hung around over the warm waters of the Gulf, slowing down and organizing into a system large enough to torture the lower coast and Rio Grande Valley for 2 days after making landfall as a weak Category 2 hurricane, with its eye about 30 miles north of Brownsville, Texas. At the end of the week, she was still flooding west Texas and New Mexico, refusing to break up and go away.

Some of us on higher ground were fortunate. Sandbagged and boarded up, stocked with water and non-perishable food, we endured a day and night of lashing wind and rain. All of us in my area lost Cable TV and Internet; and many lost electrical power for at least 12 hours. Some lost large tree branches, roof shingles, and parts of their fences. At our house, we had standing water in the backyard, many 4-ft. branches down from our tall Norfolk Pines, and the ground was littered with small twigs from our 80-ft. oak. We found one shingle on the ground, and a large limb from my daughter’s 12-ft. Schefflera, but no other damage. We never lost electrical power and my DSL Internet stayed connected.

In other areas, the power is still off and the water is 2-3 ft. deep. The State of Texas was well-prepared, as almost everyone knows who has been watching the news or listening to the radio, and FEMA appeared as soon as it knew what was needed and where. The crews are still out working day and night to restore power, pump out flooded areas, and provide food, water, and other essentials to those who could not stay in their homes, or now cannot leave. We had 24/7 coverage on Radio KURV until midnight of the 24th, although they were sitting in the dark, generating only enough power to run their monitors and transmit until their power was restored sometime Friday morning. One reporter had brought his dog with him, not wanting to leave him alone at home!

We and our friends are tired, physically and emotionally, but grateful and relieved that it was not worse than it was for us. We know, however, that for many, especially the younger families, it is the worst thing that has ever happened to them as far back as they can remember. It has been two decades since the Valley was hit by “Allen,” and we hope “Dolly” is the first and last to visit us for a long time to come.

Here are a couple of pictures of my neighborhood:

Branches on ground

Neighbors' front yards

Yes, I’m still at it, pedaling the stationary bike 4 miles on MWF and walking about a mile on TTS. I still have to stop several times along my walking route, but only for 30 sec.-1 minute. It is slow building up my endurance, but the changes in what I can do seem to creep up on me, until one day I suddenly realize that I can so something easily that I couldn’t do before, like rolling in and out of the bed without using my arms.

My walking will probably be interrupted this week if Hurricane Dolly lands right on center here in the tip of Texas, but I will bring the bike inside until it’s over. My daughter and I have plywood covers for our windows, and we may be installing them tomorrow. Will let you folks  who don’t live here know how it goes.

Day 1–Monday. It rained, all day long! YAY! The drought is surely broken, for a while, at least. Today I pedaled the bike on the porch and watched the rain.

Time: 30:10 minutes…………Distance: 4.2 miles……………Calories: 378

Tuesday I walked 0.8 miles with 2 rest stops in 35 minutes. 72F and light rain. I wore my rain poncho and carried an umbrella this time. Although I didn’t get wet, the air was humid and heavy, making it hard to move through my lungs. My legs felt tired and weak when I arrived back home.

Wednesday the rain stopped. It was 80F at 11 am, and partly cloudy. I pedaled the bike and listened to “Rush” on the radio.

Time: 30:30 minutes………….Distance: 4.27 miles…………Calories: 384.6

Thursday I walked my mile in 35 minutes, with 4 or 5 brief rest stops. I was aware of my heartbeat, which I felt to be at least 100, but it was not pounding. My resp. rate was increased, but I was nowhere near gasping for breath as I was a few months ago when I tried to walk 3 blocks and barely made it. But again, my legs felt weak when I got back home.

Friday it was 79F at 10:15 am. I pedaled at more or less the same rate of speed the whole time (8-9 mph).

Time: 30:32 minutes…………Distance: 4.3 miles…………….Calories: 386.5

Saturday I walked my mile wearing my elastic and velcro back brace with the 20 small circular magnets sewn into the lumbar section. I had been having low back pain and needed some extra support. I also took my cane along, and used it on the second half of the trip. I think it helped a bit–I only had to stop twice, though I slowed down on the way back.

How long, I wonder, does it take before a person my age–with my physical problems–to be able to walk a mile easily? Is there any way to know?

*************Scroll down for a really cute video!!

Click here to see video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCnAjel02lM

OK, I will admit it: I am a coffee snob! But not in the way you might think. I don’t necessarily have to have my coffee beans freshly ground–although that’s nice–and I don’t have enough knowledge or money to argue about the best process for brewing it. I use an automatic drip machine at home and I buy my coffee off the shelf in the grocery store. I am a snob about two things: it must be Colombian coffee, and it must taste good without cream, sugar, or any other adulteration.

Falling Rain

We had rain this week, the kind where the rain pours off the roof for days, and you want to catch it in whatever container you have and use it for something. Your grass and plants grow better after one good rain than after weeks of watering with city water. It makes your hair shine if you shampoo with it. And it makes the best coffee you ever drank!! After it had rained enough to wash the roof clean (2 or 3 days straight), I caught a pitcherful and poured it into my coffee maker. The water boils before it reaches the coffee, and the filter takes care of any small particles that might be in the sparkling clear water, so in my opinion, it is as safe as what comes from my faucet, which I have to run  though a filter to remove the minerals and chemicals before I can make good coffee with it. And it’s free!

My Coffee Maker

Several factors go into making a good cup of coffee: the right roast, grind, amount per cup, freshness, water temperature, and…the right water. Sometimes you do everything right and it still does not come out perfect. But today it did!

I drank my fill, and poured the rest into a thermos bottle for later. How, I wondered, could anyone think of spoiling such a perfect brew with milk–frothy or otherwise,–cream, sugar, or artificial flavors?

AHHHHHH! Have I teased anyone into trying Rainwater Coffee next time this pure water falls from the heavens?

P.S.-You can boil the water and let it cool first if you think there might still be unfriendly life forms in the rain water.

"Freshly Brewed for You"

This week started out with hot weather, like all the weeks before it since I started this project. But on Friday, we finally got the beginning of a protracted rainy spell, which not only cooled us off a bit, but gave the thirsty grass, trees, and plants a drink of pure rain water.

Monday I rode the bike, as usual. I traveled 4.51 miles in 31:15 minutes, and burned 406.1 calories. I think that must be a record for me. But that day I decided that I’d “had it” with riding a bike in one place for 6 days out of the week, so to keep it interesting, I decided to go to the next level: I would walk on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. So Tuesday morning I took my 1,000 ft. measuring wheel with me and rolled it along the road beside me as I walked west to the end of one street and back, then north to the main cross street and back. Adding the 30 ft. from the street to my door brought the total to 4,400 ft., or about 0.8 mile!

It was difficult to believe that walking 1 mile could require so much more effort than pedaling 4 miles! It took me 45 minutes to do it, since I had to stop 6 times along the way to lean on someone’s mailbox pillar and wait for the chest discomfort to pass! So, I thought to myself, just because I can pedal for half an hour without breathing faster doesn’t mean I am in better shape, eh?

So, Wednesday I pedaled and Thursday I walked again, this time without the wheel. I managed to shave 8 minutes off my time, go a full mile (I reckoned), and only stop 4 times to lean on a mailbox pillar.

Friday we began to get light thundershowers. I pedaled on my porch, enjoying the sight of water pouring from the rainspouts and the sound of birds chirping happily. Each morning before I got out of bed, I had been doing the prone hamstring curls and hip extensions 2 x 10 each, with the consistent result of being able to walk upright without a stiff lower back.

I also noticed that the swelling in my ankles was down quite a bit–probably because I had not eaten anything salty for a few days. So, Saturday morning when I went out to walk my mile, I didn’t put on my compression stockings. It was overcast, with very dark rain clouds to the west, but I thought it wouldn’t start until later. So I draped a hand towel around my neck and set off. With about  ¼-mile to go towards home a few drops began to fall. A couple of dozen steps more, and it started coming down! I had to rest and breathe for half a minute; then I put the towel over my head and walked the rest of the way home in a moderate downpour.

No problem–I was damp throughout, but it felt that much better to strip off the wet clothes and settle into my recliner in dry clothes, click on the TV, and sip grapefruit juice! (Next time it looks like rain, though, I will take the umbrella along.)