Hungry

I drove to White Rock this morning to check out the Jemez House Thrift Shop for old jackets with elastic sleeves. I want to cut off the bottom of the sleeve above the wrist to make homemade gaiters. The gravel that I collect in my shoes when I hike isn't doing my orthotics any good. I didn't find any jackets or anything else to buy. Stopped at WRMPL and got out a bunch of new books that I don't have time to read in a week but I'll browse them next week.

Spouse is at work now putting the finishing touches on his hour long presentation that he'll give next week.

Got gas at Metzgers and then decided to drive back up to the townsite and check out the library's non-return shelves. Found nothing but did buy Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone for $4. I'll never actually use it but it will be good for reference and loads cheaper than buying it brand new! It has loads of recipes using dairy in it so it's vegetarian and not vegan but recipes are adaptable.

Oh, yes, I dumped some wheat grass powder at the icy edge of Ashley Pond for the fishies! When took out the plastic bag, it smelled so grassy! My smoothie this morning tasted so much better without it!

Drove back home and plan to eat a very late lunch soon and then get back on the computer for some web surfing. Always questing after some idea or another! I want to find a place to order printer ink cartridges online. Computers are timesavers but also timewasters but I'm insolubly hooked into them!

I'll tape Prairie Home Companion at 4pm and listen to it when I exercise by walking downtown tonight!

Wonderful to Be Able to Hike

I hike pain-free nowadays with the wonderful orthotics from the Albuquerque physical therapist - what a blessing!

Went with spouse on WRSC hike on road to sewer treatment plant. They actually were adventurous enough to take a look-see at the new sewer treatment plant. The payoff was that they also got to see all the fantastical shaped tent rocks in Pueblo Canyon near the new plant. They enjoyed speculating on the shapes and imagined they saw Jaws, Darth Vader, an eagle, Cyrano de Bergerac. We did 4 1/2 miles altogether. There were only five of us. There is talk that the group may go on the Railrunner trip January 27. Mary asked if I would check out the Nambe Badlands from the Salzman's book for a future hike. I would like to do that next week.

Enjoying quiet time at home after finishing load of laundry. Am surfing on the computer. Spouse went into work this afternoon to refine his presentation that he'll give next week.

Not Much Accomplished

In fact, it was more of an anti-accomplishment day in that I wasted a lot of time feeding the ducks. This morning, I took the pile of brewers yeast candy (brewers yeast and honey) to Ashley Pond and threw it on the ice and quickly got out of there. It honestly looked like a pile of cow plop. I wonder if anything ate it. I've thrown some really disgusting looking stuff for the ducks. I just couldn't eat it anymore. It's not that it tasted terrible - when I was hungry, it was actually quite good for brewers yeast but I don't need all that honey.

Then, this afternoon in an attempt to get rid of the blackstrap molasses (also purchased to make the brewers yeast palatable), I cooked the ducks up a nutritious batch of glop - aforesaid molasses, cooked whole quinoa, wheatgrass powder, canola oil, masa harina, wheat germ, soy-rice milk and I think that was all but that was bad enough. Actually, it didn't taste too horrible except it was somewhat gluey and I certainly didn't need to spend the next couple of weeks trying to eat it.

I feel badly about wasting all that food but if the ducks or some other animal eats it, I guess it wasn't wasted. It was just a really bad idea to buy the honey and molasses to try to use up the brewer's yeast.

In between feeding the ducks, I stopped at the library. After that, walked up to the first chain turnout and back down on Camp May Road. I swear - the trunks of the aspen sapling are already turning green! The skies were absolutely cloudless.

When I went out this evening to gave the ducks their blackstrap molasses glop (it was too dark to see if the faux "cow plop" was still there), the bank clock said the temperature was 29 degrees. It felt cold and I was glad I walked earlier in the day.

I'm still agonizing over ending the scanning of my genealogy records but I scanned all the records pertaining to our parents and then just plain ran out of steam to scan anymore. I just want to donate the records and get them out of my life. They're not doing anyone any good just sitting in a box in my closet. Maybe someone will find some value in the records and it will help in their family research.

Funny thing this morning - I went out to our trash barrel to pull out the empty bag that the Whole Foods salted roasted peanuts in the shell came in to see if they were recalled due to the Peanut Corporation of America salmonella scare. To my surprise, there were two pieces of trash on top of my twist-tie-sealed black, plastic trash bag. Each had some large pieces of dog poop in them! Once before I found large pieces of dog poop on our sidewalk. One morning when I had to get up around 6am, I noticed a tall man walking two huge dogs on our street. Maybe I'll start waking up at 7:30 am on trash-pickup morning to put out our trash barrel. I guess dog poop in the trash barrel is better than on our sidewalk but I really don't appreciate either!

Meandering Through Life

Woke at 8am. Swept gravel from driveway. Got started on kale soup - just kale, garlic, onions, water, canned diced tomatoes and seasonings, including chili powder, red pepper, thyme, mint, coriander, cumin, garam masala, mango powder, ginger, tumeric and sesame oil. Each night, I'll add it to beans or canned fish and add some miso for the salt.

The soup and brewer's yeast candy took a lot of time and I just now finished breakfast. Brewer's yeast candy consists of brewer's yeast mixed with honey. I had managed to finish a whole huge container of plain brewer's yeast and then bought another huge container but I balked at eating it plain (actually, I mixed it with orange juice) and discovered that honey nicely drowns the flavor. Our backyard neighbor, Irma, highly recommends the stuff but it doesn't taste very good. Even she can only stomach it with honey! I had even tried to make Tiger's Milk with it - soy yogurt or soy milk, brewer's yeast, wheat germ, molasses, and orange juice but that wasn't as good as the brewer's yeast candy!

Finally sitting down at the computer to begin scanning my father's Navy record and after that, the guardianship papers that sent all five of us to our aunt and uncle after we were orphaned when our father died in 1966. I scanned my mother's medical records the other night. Sad to read how quickly she went downhill and died at age 39 during her last hospitalization. I don't plan to donate any of these very personal papers anywhere but am trying to put most of my genealogy records in digital form. I will be scanning for hours today!

Spouse took grandson to see Inkheart. He is so good about taking grandson to the movies and they both enjoy it!

Tomorrow I check out both Deer Trap Mesa and Otowi Mesa (end of Los Pueblos) for the WI. I wonder what has happened to the snow we were supposed to get?

Pundits on Obama's Speech

Pundits on NPR are commenting on Obama's inaugural speech and saying it wasn't soaring or poetic like speeches he gave in the past. I thought it was just right because it was reality based and telling us that it will be a long, hard row to hoe to get this country back on its feet!

Daughter was watching inauguration on CNN and posted a zillion enthused comments on Facebook! I was delighted to read how interested and excited she is about Obama's presidency!

Watched Barack's Inauguration on PBS

Even though I said I was only going to listen to the inauguration on NPR, as soon as I heard mention of Aretha Franklin's arrival, the Queen of Soul, I caved and turned on PBS's inaugural coverage! I bawled during Aretha's singing of My Country Tis of Thee! I bawled at various other moments too. I've now turned off the TV and am once again listening to the NPR coverage.

Barack slightly flubbed the oath but Biden recited his perfectly. Barack's inaugural speech was stirring and makes me wish there was something like a silver corps for seniors by which I could do service for my country. Michelle Obama and Laura Bush were both stunningly beautiful. I felt sorry for George Bush but happy to see him go back to Texas and Cheney to Wyoming.

I hope Barack Obama is a great president who does great things for the United States and the world! God bless and protect his family!

Quiet and Tired

That's from going to bed at 1am the past two nights and waking up at 9am.

Walked ski hill bypass road today for my four miles. Upped weight vest to seven pounds.

Grandson here now. Spouse took him to see a movie. Daughter and son-in-law are driving back from trip to Las Vegas, NM where they looked for ghosts in Plaza Hotel and toured Pecos Monument and Fort Union. Spouse will fix dinner for them tonight.

Started project of going through genealogy files to organize them to donate to Stark County District Library when we visit Ohio this year. May work on it during the day tomorrow and walk downtown in the evening.

Haven't heard from WI's on Wednesday outing. Saw Susi at MPL and she's interested in going.

I have a rash on the back of my hands. It may be from the Aubrey hand lotion that I bought. I plan to return it. I've been not wearing gloves and the lotion may have caused a photo-toxic reaction.

Road to Pueblo Canyon Sewer Treatment Plant

Hey, they've fixed it up - there's no more small stream running across the road at the almost two mile mark and the ice skating rink right before that is gone too. All this is apparently due to the county having repaired the gutter that drains the treated effluent water underneath the road.

Saw several other couples out walking the road with their dogs. Saw a runner at the parking lot with shoes full of mud but he must have ran far to get that muddy because the road had recently been graded and was the least muddy, snowy and icy that it's been in recent years. Saw two climber-type dudes wanting to get up onto mesa east of big Otowi Ruins. They wondered why on one side of the fence the signs read DOE - stay out and on the other side, San Ildefonso - stay out! Does seem a conundrum!

Only went as far as muddy trail into Bayo Canyon.

East Fork Is Lovely!

I had an enjoyable snowshoe on the East Fork today. Parking is somewhat limited because of snow piled up in the back of the parking lot but there is a bare strip wide enough where people can parallel park and even double park.

There were seven vehicles parked at the trailhead so I had to turn around and park at the sign that reads "Snow Plows Ahead", near the Las Conchas rock climbing area. That was fine because you can actually snowshoe/ski over to the trail/river from there and I did just that in the afternoon to get back to my car. There's space enough for maybe three or four vehicles where I parked.

At the start, I actually walked on the road from my parking place and carried my equipment over to the trailhead. I went down through the gate on the left. The snow was thin and semi-icy but it was much less steep than trying to negotiate my way down to the river from the right edge of the parking lot.

Going downstream, I mostly snowshoed along/in the frozen, snowpacked river and tried out as much of the trail as I could on the way back. I went all the way to where Trail 137 turns left to go steeply uphill and where the river goes into a narrow canyon at the VCNP boundary. Here, the river resurfaces from underneath the snow and ice.

I managed to avoid crossing any of the wooden bridges. The area of the river between the first and third bridges has some obvious spots that are melting out but I could easily avoid them. (When I say first bridge, I'm referring to the first river crossing that used to be a hop from rock to rock underneath a stony overhang. That's now been bridged over.)

I saw lots of snowshoers and skiers. I saw one couple that hiked all the way to the end. I asked if they sunk in much and they said it wasn't too bad as long as they stuck to the packed trail.

Skies were sunny and blue. Views along the river were stunning and made more so by all the beautiful snow. The WI's could enjoyably hike, snowshoe and ski on this trail as it is today.

NM-4 is in fine condition. Along the way, people will enjoy stopping at one of the VCNP's parking aprons to admire the Preserve all cloaked in white!

No New Cookstove After All

Last night, CO detector went off for second time; first time happened was a month or so ago.This afternoon, called county utilities department and they came right out and pronounced the cookstove healthy. It's an 18 year old Kenmore gas range. Guess we'll keep it for now. The CO detector has only gone off when I've had a stovetop burner on for several hours cooking my stews. Solution is open a window or turn on the vent fan during the process.

Mish mosh stew very good but there's a lot of it! Had to freeze some.

WRSC Hike in El Rancho

Wandered around the streets of El Rancho, dodging cars. No one interested in walking along Nambe River but I was. Eight of us, including new couple, Beverly and Frank, who have only gone twice with group. They like to go to the low impact aerobics fitness classes at the WRSC. Says that the class exercises to a Richard Simmons tape every time but they don't get tired of it and everyone enjoys it. I had one of his exercise tapes once. He was fun! Enjoyed talking to Beverly. She said she hiked with the LL group back in 2000 and remembers me.

We drove to SF after hike and hit Walmart and Wild Oats.

Spouse is beginning to sign into my Facebook account a lot as a way to keep up with daughter!

Turned out that Barbara wants East Fork Trail at Las Conchas checked out for possible WI snowshoe next Wednesday. I'll do that tomorrow. This is pretty exciting for me - a volunteer position requiring me to snowshoe trails!

Monday, daughter and family come over for spouse's homemade baby back ribs.

Wish I Had a Brain!

I offered to check out snow conditions on specific trails for the WI's. Kathy thought that Water Canyon and Valle Canyon looked promising. She asked if I would check them out and let Barbara know because she will be leading the next two Wednesday snowshoes.

Today I snowshoed up Water Canyon to FR181 and then down old FR181 to West Jemez Road and walked that road back to my car.

You can park alongside West Jemez Road at the Water Canyon entrance road or those with adventurous vehicles can drive in. From West Jemez Road to the Water Canyon trailhead locked entrance gate, there is thin snow and ice cover but I was easily able to snowshoe down from the road. The snow is thin right at the locked entrance gate and if the warm conditions continue, may get bare this weekend.

After that, the snow is hard packed and most recently traveled by hikers. Then there is a section that gets lots of shade where the snow was softer. In the area on the left of the first major side canyon to Water Canyon, which gets a lot of sun, there was a bare spot which was easy to get around.

When you get to the meadow where you have to cross the stream (the crossing is getting marginal but a fraidy cat like me was able to do it!) there are some bare spots in the meadow but the trail into the Water Canyon narrows on the left was fine.

I didn't think I was going to go up Water Canyon to FR181 by myself because I can get spooked in narrow canyons but it seemed friendly enough. The snow was nice and had been snowshoed enough to pack it nicely until you got closer to FR181 and then it was less traveled but highly doable. I managed to slide off and into the snow when I crossed the final stout fallen log across the trail before going up to FR181. Imagining a mountain lion coming in for the kill, I got a bit perturbed at myself as I frantically tried to extricate myself from the soft snow.

FR181 was like a groomed trail because a narrow axled motorized vehicle had driven over it. The vehicle tracks went almost halfway down old FR181 until the sharp curve area where it gets really rutted. Surprisingly, no one had recreated on the old road since the last storm. At one short area of southern exposure, there were outright short bare stretches. When I got to the area where the Perimeter Trail (coming from Water Canyon) intersects old FR181, I couldn't see any tracks and decided to walk down to West Jemez and return to my car via the road.

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day of bluer than blue skies with high, silvery clouds and fantastic views, from FR181, of the Sangre de Cristos.

Distance snowshoed today was 4.4 miles and walked about .5 miles on West Jemez back to car. GPS batteries died so got the mileages from Craig Martin's book. Took about 2 1/2 hours.

Hopefully, I'll be checking out Valle Canyon on Sunday or Monday.

The Wish I Had a Brain! refers to my experiment: I wanted to see if the snowshoes would be healthier for my feet if I wore waterproof shoes and no overboots. Big problem was, though, that I forgot my gaiters at home! I only remembered that I had planned to wear them when I noticed cold snow going down the back of my mid-cut Keen Targhee hiking boots. At the end of the hike, my socks were soaked.

I need to dry the Keen's out for a week and then try the experiment again but this time with the gaiters! I did feel I could move my feet more naturally without the overboots but getting soaked feet is certainly not an ideal situation. Still, it may work with the gaiters on short trips. All day trips would definitely require the overboots!

I'm going to make a huge stew: onions, garlic, whole wheat pasta, jarred red peppers, canned pumpkin, jarred artichoke hearts, black soybeans, jarred tomato paste, canned tomatoes, leftover red coleslaw, okra, spinach, seasonings and olive oil. The canned foods are low in sodium except for the jarred artichoke hearts and jarred red peppers and they are reasonable amounts that will provide the sodium for the stew. In addition, I'm making spouse a potato kugel. I have to get to work now!

Glad I Went

Last night I was so tired that I planned to sleep in this morning and not bother with the WI snowshoe today. Fortunately, I was so tired that I actually went to bed around 10pm and naturally, sans alarm, woke at 7:30am which gave me time to get ready to meet the group up at Pajarito Ski Area at 10am.

Nine people showed up. Right away, we broke into two groups. The Zinn's, Wilson's and a couple I didn't know were in the group that wasn't going to the top. Kathy, Barbara and I were in the group that went to the top of Pajarito Mountain via Rim Run and Columbine Corner.

We had lunch on the backside of Pajarito on a tall wooden bench that looked like a picnic table. I didn't eat lunch because I wasn't sure I had time but it turns out that I would have. (On the way home, I ate my two Clif Bars on the drive down Camp May Road.)

Barbara was wearing hiking shoes. Kathy put her snowshoes on after lunch and I used snowshoes both up and down. On the way down, I told them to not wait for me. I'm very slow slapping down the mountain in the MSR snowshoes. They went down Bonanza while I followed Zero Base Road down to Lone Spruce and back to the Lodge, getting back around 2pm.

Barbara did very well in hiking shoes, only sinking when Kathy took us back down to the groomed roads after lunch. Then she sank to her hips in one spot!

Kathy has asked me to report on snow conditions on any snowshoe trips I take. I volunteered to check out specific areas if she has any in mind. This is good because it will encourage me to snowshoe!

On the drive home, I was amused listening to Colin Fletcher's book on tape, River, where he mentions how elated he got after an hour and half walk interspersed in all his river running. I could identify with that because I dearly love mobility with my feet attached to the ground. Maybe if I could get a more comfortable pair of snow shoes that don't feel like I'm slapping like a duck out of water on the downhill....

Tidbits: Dave will be getting a knee replacement. Jake, Mahlon's dog, will be getting some surgery on his leg to realign the bones better. Barbara is the one who skiied last week all the way to Rosie's Point (Guaje Canyon Overlook). Barbara's husband may build a quinzee in a large drift near the Pipeline Road Overlook. I told Barbara and Kathy about a beautiful igloo that I saw off NM-4 at the Valle Grande. There is a nice drift on the back of Pajarito Mountain but the snow cover looks in places thinner than years past. Barbara mentioned a trail that has been worked on lately (believe inFall 2008) that goes from Valle Canyon Pass up to Cerro Grande. She seems to believe it's different from the Handline Trail. She said that when you're at the summit, you follow an obvious trail in a straight line from the summit. This sounds like the Handline Trail but would be worth checking out when the snow is gone. Ginny and Jeanne have handed over the hiking club to Annette, Kathy and Barbara. Called PEEC and they'll get back to me on what charge is just for Saturday workshop.

Doing two loads of laundry. Happy to be alive!

Pleased to Discover

Walked on West Road-Camp May Road bypass. Was pleased to discover that there is now a pedestrian opening in the tall, razor wire fence that blocks off entrance to West Jemez Road from West Road. Was even more pleased to discover that two roundtrips, starting from intersection of Camp May Road-West Jemez Road, equals my statutory daily 4 miles. Wore five pound Ironwear CoolVest to add oomph to the uphills.

Tomorrow is Santa Fe trip. I'll exercise in the evening. Hope the moon will still be bright and brilliant tomorrow!

Walking Around White Rock

Got a late start, 1:30pm. Stopped at MPL and then headed to White Rock about 2pm. Stopped at WR branch of MPL. Have to go in east entrance now because construction work being done on main entrance. Was trolling non-return boxes at both libraries. Not much of note found. Then on to Jemez House Thrift Shop. Looked at books but they were so messy - it would take a lot of effort to find anything unless you happened to spot it on top. Had no old ski poles or pretty cloth placemats so bought nada. Then, onto Smith's - bought frozen Welch's grape juice concentrate that I use to sweeten tea, Minneola tangelos (make spectacular juice and only 99 cents a pound right now) and frozen mild red chile. Had small cooler and two blue ice to keep things cold while I walked but juice concentrate thawed anyway - surprise, surprise! : )

Started walking down NM-4 toward Grand Canyon but then turned off on La Vista and simply wandered through some neighborhoods. Decided White Rock proper is too congested for walking compared to Pajarito Acres. Stopped in at WR MPL and orange outhouses along Overlook Road for bathroom stops. Next time will walk NM-4 to Pajarito Acres and back. I could start at WR MPL to add some distance. In the old days, I estimated that it was a three mile round trip from Smith's to Pajarito Acres and back.

Wonder if GPS is malfunctioning. At Overlook Road it read 3.33 and then read 5.16 when I got back to Smith's. Doesn't seem like it was that long.

Windy But Good

Snowshoed with WI on Cañada Bonita Trail. There were six XC skiers. Four of them, including Faye and David, made it out to the old VCNP fence in the meadow and then turned around because of the fierce winds and wind-whipped ground snow (not fierce enough to call a ground blizzard but daunting and strong enough to partially fill in our tracks). One of the skiers, Barbara, was very strong and was still headed out toward the Pipeline Road Overlook. Another, Leon, was skiing by himself.

There were nine snowshoers. Two, Ginny and Mahlon (and their dog, Jake), started late and I don't know how far they went. Four made it to the edge of the meadow. One more only went as far as the old VCNP fence and then said she'd wait for us in the trees while Kathy and I continued on. We went through the meadow, just to the top of the ridge and then turned around for four miles RT.

On the way back, we accidentally turned off on Nordic trail L so if Annette was waiting for us in the trees, we missed her. We didn't realize our mistake (we were yakking away!) until we saw Leon. At first, it still didn't dawn on us what we'd done and we asked if he had seen Annette. Then, with embarrassment and concern for Annette, we cut through the woods a short distance to get back to the snowshoer-legal meadow trail. We then back-tracked to where we had made the wrong turn to see if we could find Annette but couldn't. I don't know her phone number but sent her an email apologizing. I said in the email that perhaps our brains were addled by our exertion! I certainly hope she made it back all right.

If I heard right and did the math correctly, Kathy is 72 years old. She did wonderful! I enjoyed talking with her on the way back.

When we were almost back, I heard a skier behind us say she'd pass on my left and I absolutely froze! Fortunately, she was an excellent skier and managed to go by me in the narrow space.

Going to daughter's for dinner tonight. She has promised me vegetables including potatoes and cabbage - yum, yum! She and grandson will come over to our house tomorrow for pizza.

Fun Day

Woke at 8:30am yet barely made it to Los Alamos Fitness Center's two over-fifty fitness classes on time. Attended weight-lifting class from 12:15-1pm and then cardio stretch until 1:45pm. Was a lecture on back safety afterwards but had to run to BESC for Strong Women info meeting that ended at 2:30pm.

I liked the LA Fitness Center classes but they would entail buying either a fitness center membership or a fitness-class-only punch card. Last time I looked at the cost for their fitness classes, it was 10 classes for $75 which is a bit pricier than the YMCA.

Strong Women is a possibility if they have space. Strong Women graduates like me only get second preference so we'll see. Haven't paid for anything yet until they tell me there is space.

I had fun in the cardio stretch class because it was moving to oldies and was almost like dancing! The stretch afterwards was to Enya music and very peaceful. Enjoyed weight-lifting but that's pretty standard stuff and would be similar in Strong Women.

After stop at library, went to Radio Shack to borrow specialized screwdriver to dismantle harddrive from outmoded Firewire device. Took a while but I was successful. This evening I have to twist the 4 disk plattters so they are unusable.

When got back home, threw everything in house and went to work on snow removal. Made good progress except for ice glacier next to my car.

I would really like to snowshoe tomorrow while the snow is fresh.

Snow Witch

Reluctantly donned Sorels this evening and went out bitching, moaning and complaining, riding my O-Cedar broom, to work on snow removal.

Ever since I tore down the gutters over the back porch a few years back, snow accumulates on the porch slab if it's a big, drifty storm. I cleared it so it doesn't melt in place on the porch because then it won't drain properly and forms ice. I also cleared a path for spouse to the satellite dish and even swept off the dish.

Out front, had to remove piles of snow that spouse earlier had "helpfully" pitched in front of the side gate. Had to do that so I could wrestle the recycle and trash bins out of the side yard and they will stay out for the duration of the winter. Next year, I plan to fasten the side gate open because it's too hard to open and close it when the snow pile behind it (that's where I throw a lot of the driveway snow) gets bigger.

Cleared full width of sidewalk. It helped that spouse had cleared most of it earlier. Scraped and shaved snow off front porch so mailman doesn't kill himself. Cleared path around front and driver's side of spouse's car and swept both cars one last time for good measure. It was snowing when I was clearing but not too heavy. Has stopped for now.

Plan to get up at 8am tomorrow to make sure I don't weasel out of going to the info meeting on the over 50 fitness classes at the LA Fitness Center.

I'm a little hepped up now from cocoa nibs that I had with dried fruit after supper.

Popcorn

I'm starving for popcorn and will make it soon. Sister suggests making it in ordinary paper bag but I have none so I'm forced to make it in killer-death number-7-triangle, old plastic microwave popcorn popper but make it I will!

I did a Jari Love exercise dvd - Slim and Lean. Laughed to see smiling exercisers while yours truly was grimacing and cursing under breath during pulses and isometric holds! Afterwards, did half of Yoga for Longevity and then took nap on floor during relaxation pose.

I feel less depressed today but no less tired. Technically speaking, I'm in bed long enough but just don't sleep well. Not sure what I can do about that because I can't control how I sleep once I'm asleep.

Will miss spouse's company when he returns to work tomorrow - go figure! : ) I guess I've gotten use to the constant company! Who knows - with the snow lightly falling and blowing all day, he may not.

Facebook can get somewhat addictive. It's fun to check it to see what your friends wrote and respond with short comments.

Old, Cold and Depressed

I'll keep trying to get more sleep to help the depressed part but not sure what I can do about the old and cold!

SF trip today. Stomach had the twisties while waiting in Border's for spouse who was checking out TVs at Best Buy. They never developed into anything full-blown but it was worrisome.

Don't go to Best Buy if you want to buy an LCD TV. Best Buy suggested that spouse could pay an extra $300 over the cost of the TV to have a technician come to our house to "adjust" it, plus they tried to convince him that he'd need to buy a sound system for it as well. Best Buy's 3 year extended service contract is $250 while Baillio's is $149. The salesman at Baillio's, per spouse, was much more honest. He showed spouse how easy it is to adjust the picture with the remote control! We haven't bought a new TV yet and frankly, I don't care if we ever do but spouse is busily researching all the options. I shopped at Vitamin Cottage while spouse trolled the TV section in Baillio's.

Had a late supper and didn't finish with everything until 9pm. This is because I had a late lunch on the ride home and then went out early to walk. Today I bought some raspberry apple sauce to put on warmed fennel muffins and also added some cinnamon. It tasted like cake!

Israel is acting like Hitler in its invasion of Gaza! When will the world care about the plight of the Palestinians?

I am looking forward to spouse returning to work on Monday while he is hoping for a snow day to extend the vacation!

Quiet Afternoon

Spouse and I walked five miles in the streets of White Rock and La Senda with the WRSC hiking group. I was surprised to see the mileage was that great. Eve had wanted to walk the trails near the Pojoaque Fitness Center, actually next week's hike on the schedule, but we voted to stay in White Rock as we had to pick up grandson before noon so son-in-law could go to work.

Gordon has a nice, new GPS that he was experimenting with. Our numbers were small - only seven of us. The walk was slow-paced but enjoyable. It was good to see spouse able to walk reasonably pain-free. His back hurt him a little but he did well to walk five miles.

Birds in White Rock were singing and flocking on trees like Spring had already come.

In downtown Los Alamos, the great melt is occurring and snowplows are clearing the roads of ice before the next big storm.

Spouse took grandson to McD's for lunch - always a winner and then to the Trans-Lux Theatre in Española to see Tales of Despereaux. I told spouse that he was grandson's friend and that spouse had better take care of his health. So far, grandson doesn't have a close friend but we're all hoping he finds one.

I took a sack of 1998 receipts to the bank's huge, heavy duty shredder and quickly made mince-paper out of them. Right when I finished, the machine jammed but they helped me un-jam it by putting it in reverse.

Then, kamikaze-like, I placed four bags of old magazines on the non-return shelves at the downtown library. I had already placed two at the White Rock branch. I'll have two more if son-in-law doesn't want the ones I separated out for him. Then, when spouse finishes reading the rest of the 2008 mags, I probably will have two more. Next time the airlines offer us magazines for our expiring miles, I don't want them because neither of us reads them! There were one and two foot piles in the office and now it's all clean!

On Monday, I check out the courses the Los Alamos Fitness Center will be having for people older than 50. That same day, an informational meeting for the Strong Women program is held. The Strong Women give you 24 classes for $60. I'll see how that compares with the fitness center. A Strong Men program will be starting too. They get a book but the women only get an email newsletter - not fair! ; )

Now to check Facebook. So far I have 5 friends - daughter, daughter's mother-in-law, sister, brother and a woman in town who writes a neat blog. I found out yesterday that you can chat in Facebook and I suggested to my brother that we do that one day. I may enjoy that better than phone calls!

Oh, one more thing that I thought of last night: Inauguration day will be like Christmas and New Year's all rolled up in one!

I have to admit to not being too excited, though, about Christmas this year. I don't know what it was but, now that it's safely over, I put on some Christmas cds last night while stretching!

Souped Up

Now I now the trick to walking fast. Walk six miles one day with a heavy load; the next day, walk, sans heavy load, a shorter distance and you'll feel like you're absolutely flying!

Flurry of Busy-ness First Day of 2009

Did three loads of laundry, made four dozen fennel muffins (after this, I'm through with muffins for a good, long while!) and did New Year's Day chores. New Year's Day chores consist of bagging up receipts from 1998 to take to the bank for shredding, creating a 2008 shoebox with last year's receipts, starting a new date book calendar and, most importantly, motivating spouse to get rid of the 2007 magazines that he never read to make way for the 2008 ones that he also won't read!

It's late afternoon. I'll go out this evening and walk under the starry skies. My energy came back today but my stomach is upset about something and threatens to twist. Let's hope it goes away.

Weather service says it's 43 degrees at the Los Alamos Airport - pretty darned warm!

Tomorrow we hike in White Rock with the White Rock senior center group. This will be spouse's first hike since the inflamed appendix business started. We'll see how he does.

After the hike, we'll pick up grandson at noon and spouse will take him to Trans-Lux in Española to see Tales of Despereaux.

Please, dear God, let Barack's administration contribute to world peace and to the health and prosperity of those who are less fortunate!