Archive for the ‘Musings’ Category
water... water.... water....
When I go out to run in the morning, I make sure (several times) that I have my house key. In the summer I take my water bottle along too. This week I realized I need more than that — especially when I go out alone.
I met two women for a business lunch, and one of them became violently ill and the other woman and I wound up accompanying her by ambulance to the Emergency Room where she was treated for heat exhaustion. Fortunately she was conscious and could answer the medical questions that the paramedics were asking her — and also give me enough information to track her husband down so we could call him to come.
I realized that I really need to be carrying identification with me, and some indication of who to call in case of an emergency.
And keep drinking that water!
Weekend Runs
I think we’ve caught a break with the weather this weekend. But I’ve got water duty on Sunday from Greenberry’s, so I’ll definitely be there for that. Wouldn’t want to be responsible for someone else taking a trip to the ER for heat exhaustion on my watch!
Name that dog!
We interrupt our normally scheduled commentary this week with a brief Public Service Announcement from Click and Clack, the Car Talk guys on how to properly adjust your mirrors in order to eliminate that dangerous blindspot.
When I first made this change several years ago, it took me a couple of days to get used to it, but it’s definitely worth the effort.
It’s pretty cool the first time you watch a car pass you and see it move — one headlight at a time — from your rearview mirror to the side mirror.
EUREKA — NO MORE BLIND SPOT!
Weekend Runs
I’m probably only going to run once this weekend because of the heat, and it’ll probably be Hamilton on Sunday.
Rumble, rumble, rumble....
If it had happened at 3:00 am this morning, I might be able to say that’s what woke me up, but since evidently it happened at 5:00, I’m going to have to say I slept right through the big earthquake this morning.
From what I can tell, it was no great shakes — no pun intended of course.
But whatever.. I slept through it.
I’m going to be sleeping through the Mule Run again this year as well. Good luck to the runners — I’ll think a good thought for you as I climb into my comfortable bed Saturday night.
Weekend Runs
I see Taylorstown on Sunday. I’ll definitely be there walking up and running some if I feel like it for the last two miles out and back. I really do like that part of the run. Nice and shady and really tranquil.
But I don't wanna!!!
My kids have been after me for a long time to get a Facebook account.
So far, I’ve passed on it. I think I keep in touch with the people I want to keep in touch with and I don’t need another TSA (Time Suck Activity) in my life. I don’t really understand the concept of writing on somebody’s wall, or updating your status, or the newsfeed. My daughter has given me a little tour of her page a couple of times and my eyes just sort of glaze over.
But all around me, I see the tide rising.
Wednesday night at the LRR Board Meeting, for example, the discussion was about how to organize social events “on the fly” and get the word out to LRR members. The problem with posting on the website is that it would require people to check the website. Sending out an email to let people know the website had been updated seemed like defeating the purpose. What about an RSS feed? Maybe.
Someone mentioned Facebook and that seemed like a really good option. There were a few questions about how it would be kept for the benefit of LRR members only, but overall, the Board was confident it could be worked out.
Sounds like if I want to find out about LRR happy hours, I’m going to have to suck it up.
Weekend Runs
The weather forecast would seem to indicate it will be cooler on Saturday for the Waterford Elementary run, but I’m also seeing a good chance of thunderstorms. Tough call.
There’s always Bluemont on Sunday.
And if the humidity is still ugly, there’s always the rec center. Such a wimp I am. :::::sigh:::::
What a face!
I’ve had a couple of ideas for topics for this week’s blog, but mostly, now that push has come to shove and it’s time to get letters on the screen (can’t say “put pen to paper” anymore, can we?) nothing’s really working for me.
So I’m going to fall back to Plan B and go with a quick:
Movie Review
I took my mother (who is here for the week visiting five of her seven great-grandchildren) to see Babies yesterday. Excellent choice. The movie is simple: four camera crews document the first year in the life of four babies from four different places in the world (Tokyo, San Francisco, Namibia and Mongolia).
There are no special effects or computer generated images. There is no plot. There is no dialog. There isn’t even any narration.
And… if narration is not needed in this movie, why am I sitting here trying to figure out what to say about it?
Just go see it.
Weekend Runs
I see the chance of a few raindrops over the weekend.
Saturday is Faith Chapel, and I’d like to actually make it to the run at Unison on Sunday. Seems every time that’s been scheduled something has come up for me, or the weather has been too crappy (for me), so I’ll cross my fingers those raindrops hold off until later.
Casper, WY -- 5/12/10
You thought I was kidding, didn’t you? I told you spring in Wyoming meant there was one last snow storm coming and you thought I was making it all up.
I’m going to Wyoming tomorrow morning to see my Mom and I’m going to have to pack my winter coat! =:O
But that’s not what I wanted to talk about this week.
Over the weekend Todd and I went to Hot Springs, VA so he could play in a golf tournament. We stayed at a cute little bed and breakfast located just next door to The Homestead. I was looking for a place to walk/run Sunday morning while Todd golfed, and the proprietors of the bed and breakfast told me there was a lovely little hiking trail through the woods that was about three miles long. That sounded perfect. They said the trail was very well marked and I couldn’t get lost.
Of course, they don’t know me. If it is possible at all to get lost — I’m the one that can do it.
Since it was cool and three miles isn’t that far, I set out without the water bottle that I had purposely brought with me for the weekend. I also didn’t bring a cell phone along. Hey.. I’d be up in the mountains were coverage was spotty and I couldn’t get lost. It would just be an annoyance in my front pocket.
The owner told me it was a loop that could be joined in several places. Just keep following the South Trail signs. She said there would be a sign that pointed how to get back to The Homestead from the trail.
Now, the only thing worse than my sense of direction is my memory, so at the critical moment when I saw that sign, I couldn’t remember whether she had said to follow it or not. I had been walking already for about an hour, so I figured even with all the hills and rough terrain, I must have been pretty close to the end. I was also getting really thirsty.
Shoulda brought the cell phone. Shoulda brought the water bottle.
I took a chance and followed the sign, reasoning that even if it took me to The Homestead, at least I would be able to get back to the bed and breakfast from there.
I walked for another ten minutes and started to get real nervous. Was this little side trail going to take me to The Homestead by way of the far side of the golf course? I started considering options. Keep going (maybe it’s just a bit further….), or turn around and go back to the fork and take the other one.
I eventually went back and took the other fork. After another ten minutes in that direction, I encountered the first two human beings I’d seen on the trail and asked them if they were familiar with it, and was I anywhere close to the end? They said I was very close to The Homestead.
They wanted to know had I seen any bears.
Bears?
Bears?!!
I said no, and we each continued on. Then I saw the sign about the bears. Do you know what to do if you encounter a bear along the trail?
- Don’t make eye contact.
- Back away slowly — do not run.
- If attacked fight back and try to intimidate the bear.
All I could think about after reading the sign was “And of course, I don’t have my cell phone so I won’t even be able to call 911 as I lay bleeding and battered afterwards. Good planning!”
The point is — I didn’t know what I was getting into when I started out.
I think that’s true of a lot of things in life, and apparently it’s true for a lot of runners. It can start innocently enough with a little 5K and the next thing you know, you’ve entered a marathon.
Or so I’ve been told.
Weekend Runs
Saturday’s run is the Loudoun Roadrunners Invitational at Rust Library. We’ve invited members of other local running clubs to join us for a run through Morven Park and enjoy refreshments at the Ida Lee Picnic Pavilion afterwards. Please bring a dish to share for the potluck afterwards. The club will provide beverages.
I’m sorry I’ll miss that. I’ll be snowshoeing in Wyoming!
Combine lines 26, 32, 37 and 40. Enter the result on Form 1040NR, line 18.
Remember when every April 15th the big story was how late the Post Offices were going to be open? Reporters were sent out to interview the procrastinators who were filling out their tax returns while they stood in line.
Postal Service workers stood outside with large bins so you could drive up and drop in your return. (I’m not sure how that worked — how would you know how much postage it needed?)
That’s all changed now. E-file is a wonderful thing. As is TurboTax.
My personal plan to get the tax code simplified would to be lock every member of Congress into a room with multiple copies of the entire code, and every form imaginable and tell them to knock themselves out preparing their own returns without the aid of a CPA or TurboTax. Maybe they could use a calculator. Maybe.
Then, of course, their returns would be scrutinized extensively by the IRS to make sure they were filled out properly.
I think they’d be just a bit more willing to simplify things.
I’ve never understood filing for an extension, because you have to send in the money that you owe anyway. If you haven’t finished your form, how do you know how much to send in? If you know how much you need to send in, why haven’t you finished your return?
Seems like a Catch-22 to me.
Weekend Run
So, with your taxes all neatly e-filed and the weather looking near perfect, Saturday’s run at Waterford should be much more pleasant than completing your 1040 and writing out a check to the US Treasury.
So lovely -- for such a brief time.
I spent the first twenty years of my life in Wyoming.
Spring in Wyoming means the snow cover that’s been on the ground since mid-November is about gone. The grass on the prairie is at its greenest. And there will generally still be one last snowstorm (I remember one the first week in June) — a wet, heavy snow that breaks the limbs on the deciduous trees that were foolish enough to leaf out so early.
I don’t remember that trees bloomed in Wyoming. It could be that I wasn’t paying attention — because it lasts for such a brief period of time — but I don’t think so.
I learned about sagebrush and Indian Paintbrush and Aspen trees and Yucca, so you’d think if there were Forsythia trees and azaleas around, I would have known about it.
The cherry tree in my front yard bloomed this week. You’d think I’d remember from year to year that it’s just a few days and I should take time to appreciate it — but I always forget. Not even a week, and then the yard is covered in little soft pink petals and the green of the leaves starts replacing the flowers on the branches. Good thing I took a picture when I did.
I was worried about my Japanese Maple in the backyard — it took a big hit in the second snowstorm. I had to cut off three or four large branches that had broken with the weight of the snow. (We didn’t have those in Wyoming, either.) But it is leafing out nicely and I think it’s going to be all right.
My azaleas are even going to bloom this year. I was toying with the idea of pulling them out because they haven’t bloomed for a couple of years, and they’ve been looking rather leggy. I think they sensed that they were on borrowed time.
Evidently they want to stay.
Weekend Runs
Ohboyohboyohboy!!! Saturday is Taylorstown and it should be beautiful this week! I’ll just be doing a little walk/run for the last two mile section on Bald Hill Road.
Can Spring be far behind?
I went for a walk with my little grandson Tuesday afternoon and was excited to be able to point out undeniable evidence that spring is coming. There it was – a tiny little purple and yellow flower amidst the dried up leaves and twigs in the mulch of a neighbor’s landscaping. We bent down and inspected it and he said it looked like a butterfly. I suppose it did.
When we resumed our walk, he looked up at the cloudless blue sky and said, “What a beautiful day!”
No question about it.
My family is anxiously awaiting the arrival of another new life this week — my son’s first child, Amelia Elizabeth. The doctors have said that if she isn’t here by Monday, they will induce labor. I look forward to sharing a picture of her next week!
It’s that time again
Daylight Savings Time returns this weekend. Don’t forget to set your clocks forward Saturday night before you go to bed, or else you’ll miss the Sunday run — which is the trail cleanup, beginning at the high school — on the corner of Dry Mill Rd. and Catoctin Circle in Leesburg.
I’ll be there — unless Amelia has made her entrance, or the drops on the weather map turn out to be a deluge (which it looks like could happen on Saturday).
Ellen Kephart
Ellen Kephart died in Herndon this week at the age of 94.
She was a wonderful woman and she was warm and welcoming to me when I first came here 22 years ago. She became a sort of substitute grandma for my two young children, since their own grandparents lived half a continent away and weren’t available for regular hugs.
I haven’t seen her for several years. She used to walk around downtown Herndon, going to the Post Office or the Great Harvest Bread Store, and occasionally she would stop into my gallery when it was located downtown. She’d been in a nursing home for a long time and I knew from inquiries made to her sister that she had gotten to the point where she didn’t know anyone anymore.
For years, I kept thinking that I should go visit her, but I never did — justifying my inaction by thinking “she wouldn’t know I was there.”
The problem I’m having this week is that.. I know I wasn’t there.
Weekend Runs
I think I’m going to pass on the sponsored runs this weekend. If Sunday is somewhat pleasant, I may start from Partlow Brother’s in Ashburn (if you haven’t had one of their BBQ sandwiches yet, you need to put it on your TO DO list), and run on the W & OD trail for a while.
If you want to join me, let me know.