Archive for February, 2010
Just watch that first step...
My shrubs are starting to re-emerge from under the mounds of snow that were heaped upon them as I shoveled out my driveway weeks ago and for the most part, they seem to be in pretty good shape. The ones that were directly under that monster icicle that fell last week are still buried so I’ll have to wait a little while longer to see what damage might have been done to them.
I see a few little flakes on the weather map for Saturday, but I haven’t heard any warnings of impending doom — at least for the DC area. Is it possible it might be OK to try and come out to run with the club this weekend?
I got out my Winter Run Schedule, dusted it off, and took a look. Taylorstown! Oh boy! The last two miles of this run is a really cool out and back walk (up) and run (down) opportunity. And the W & OD trail from Tuscarora Creek Park on Sunday should be pretty well clear!
Hey.. it could happen!
I hope I’m not setting myself up for a big disappointment here.
Saturday:
Sunday:
Directions to Tuscarora Creek Park
I’ve got my fingers crossed for a twofer!
This could be really ugly when the sun comes out...
My insurance company sends me too much snail mail, and so does my mortgage company. Since I’ve got my payment going out automatically, I don’t need to see the monthly statements, or pay attention to the equity loan offers and refinancing deals.
I make several different piles when I go through my mail:
Bill — set aside to pay.
Statement — set aside to reconcile.
Junk — straight to trash.
Other junk — to be shredded
Other stuff — worry about later.
The envelope from the mortgage company was going into the last pile, but since it was a pretty slow mail day, I went ahead and opened it.
Holy Canoly, there was a check for $200 in it! Seems my escrow account has gotten larger than it needs to be (the bad news is this has happened because my taxes have no doubt gone down because the value of my townhouse has gone down), and they are going to be lowering my monthly payments, and they sent me the overage.
Woohoo. Found money!
Grateful for small favors
And I wasn’t under this when it fell from my neighbor’s roof:
Yeah.. I’m putting this in the “It was a good week” column.
I’ve spent my time this week running at the rec center, and walking indoors at Dulles Town Center, where I’ve been enjoying watching some Police K-9 teams training some dogs in the food court in the mornings.
(At least I hope it is a training exercise! )
Weekend Runs:
The parking lot of Dulles Town Center has some mighty huge MOUNTAINS of snow piled here and there within the lot, but for the most part, the perimeter is clean. I’ve run around the perimeter in the past before the mall is open and it works reasonably well. It’s about 1.4 miles in circumference, and it’s not completely flat. I might head out there Sunday morning.
If anyone else is interested, let me know.
Does my insurance cover a collapse?
After I had finished digging out my driveway last weekend, I saw some of my neighbors tossing snow off their decks and I considered whether or not I should follow suit. My initial decision was negative. As predictions for yet another major snowstorm started to bubble up in the forecast, I started to think seriously about the possibility that my deck would collapse.
Now, since I’m not able to immediately lay my hands on the latest epistle from my insurance company outlining precisely what my coverage is, I finally decided on Monday to eat my Powdermilk Biscuits and do what needed to be done. My deck has a southern exposure and with the sun shining that morning, it was actually quite pleasant out there. I got most of the snow off — definitely to the point where there was no longer a danger of collapse — and then a funny thing happened:
All clear -- at least for 48 hours...
I hit wood. A little bit here and a little bit there, and then I started to see the possibility of the entire deck being cleared off down to the wood and I just kept going. The longer the remaining snow was exposed to the strong sun, and the more I kept shaving, the softer the icy/slushy stuff at the bottom got and the easier it got to keep going.
I suspect it is something like this that must happen in order to turn a wimpy runner into an ultra-marathoner.
Weekend Runs
I see absolutely zero possibility there.
I just hope the rec center opens again one of these days. Never thought I’d say it but… I need to run!
...before the melt...
The arrival of Groundhog Day this week, plus the now-familiar forecast for more snow have not surprisingly brought back memories of the 1993 movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. Evidently there’s still more to come.
With a 90% chance of snow on Saturday and predictions of an accumulation to rival that received last December 19, I don’t know what else to say except… who am I kidding to even pretend that I’m going to be outside running this weekend?
I have made a rather interesting discovery — listening to a podcast of This American Life or Radiolab seems to work just as well as music does to give my mind something to do when I run. That was a bit of a surprise.
…and I’m sorry that you’re not going to be able to get Sonny and Cher out of your head for the rest of the day.
Really. I’m sorry.