Don't know how I ended up with a sore, swollen left leg. Tuesday night, when I did my calf stretch, I felt a twinge in my left leg but it was fine on the LL hike Wednesday and didn't start hurting and swelling until Wednesday afternoon. The left calf was 1 1/4" more in circumference than the right one yesterday. I saw a doctor yesterday evening. He doubted it was a deep vein thrombosis but said get a doppler ultrasound to rule it out. He thought it's more likely a calf muscle tear.
My leg felt a little better today and is less swollen and sore so I didn't bother with the doppler ultrasound which isn't terribly reliable anyway for diagnosing calf thromboses. Usually, calf thromboses don't cause pulmonary emboli. If it's a thrombosis, I doubt it will kill me. If it's instead truly a calf tear, it will take a while to heal. The odd thing is that it doesn't feel horrible to walk on it but stiffens up when I'm sitting down for a while.
I had written a blog draft bemoaning my husband's neglect of his health but maybe it's more my health I should worry about.
I hiked with the WRSC group to Guaje Pines Cemetery and back. Spouse invited two of his coworkers, one who is moving back to Nebraska. They are in their 40's. They were polite but it was hard to tell if they honestly enjoyed hiking with us old folks!
I am working on matchmaking for our widower in the WRSC group. I met a widow in her 80's this summer who lives in Arizona and who would like to meet a man, I was told. I've put in a phone call to her daughter to find out her contact info. All this is with the consent of the widower. Matchmaker, matchmaker: make me a match!
Spouse has started worrying that our roof is going to collapse. This is because he once heard a loud noise originating from the roof - perhaps bats in the belfry... He has been pointing out to me deck separation at an undereave seam. He says the longer life the shingles are, the heavier the roof will be on the rafters. He's right about that and perhaps the roofer should have taken this into consideration but I don't think the roof is in danger of collapsing. To humor him, I'll go up on the ladder this weekend and peer into the attic space above the big living room to see if I see any evidence of damage and to make sure everything below the ridge vent appears dry.
We had a small leak in the furnace room on Wednesday night during the big rains. The roofer came out Thursday and replaced the furnace chimney cap. Hope that will stop the leak!
Thought of this on the hike today: The purpose of a relationship is to laugh and enjoy someone's company so much that you forget you're going to die one day. Let's call this the Noir Theory of Relationships!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Having My Doubts About La Niña
Today's LL hike was only 3 miles and attended by 13 people. Weather was cool and wonderful. We walked on the Perimeter Trail, starting from the Mitchell Trail trailhead, over to the Dot Grant Trail and back to the North Mesa-Barranca Mesa Roundabout where we had left parked cars that morning.
Across from Ponderosa Estates housing development, we found a lot of yellow golf balls that someone had putted across Rendija Canyon. Picking them up was was as fun as an Easter egg hunt! I now have more golf balls for the putt putt golf course at East Park than I need!
At Guaje Pines Cemetery, the group visited a memorial cross on a hillside above the graveyard. The cross had a plaque that said "Brad". The hikers told me there used to be a guitar at the memorial but it wasn't there today. Don't know who Brad is. Maybe someone's guitar playing dog??
The predicted rain didn't begin until we got to the pedestrian underpass near the North Mesa-Barranca Mesa Roundabout which is right where the parked cars were waiting and by the time we walked through the underpass, the rain stopped. We saw a warning sign posted at the Bayo Canyon trailhead with photos of a dog that was attacked by coyotes in broad daylight. The dog lived but the photos show obvious wounds.
We drove up to the sheltered North Mesa picnic area for lunch; afterward, I drove three hikers back to the Mitchell Trail trailhead.
Then I drove to the Ocean and walked the flat part of the Route to the bottom of Guardrail Hill. There was some rain on the way back but no thunder or lightning.
Now, it's been raining off and on all afternoon, with some hard rainfall. How could a La Niña event, which brings dry weather to the southwest, possibly be occurring this winter when we're getting all this moisture?
I'm afraid that all this rain (yes, yes, I know - the mantra in the southwest is "We need the rain!") will cause the aspen leaves to drop before they turn yellow. The aspen leaves at Ice Lake near Silverton, CO are already completely golden but they are several hundred feet higher than us. One of the LL hikers camped there overnight recently with her husband. She wanted to camp several nights but the husband got altitude sickness so that nixed that.
There has been a full moon the last few nights. I'm enjoying all my day time hikes but realized last night that I'm lately divorced from the wonder and splendor of the night sky. I did step outside the other night and gaped at the moon riding high overhead. The clouds nearest the moon were edged in silver from the bright moonlight.
Across from Ponderosa Estates housing development, we found a lot of yellow golf balls that someone had putted across Rendija Canyon. Picking them up was was as fun as an Easter egg hunt! I now have more golf balls for the putt putt golf course at East Park than I need!
At Guaje Pines Cemetery, the group visited a memorial cross on a hillside above the graveyard. The cross had a plaque that said "Brad". The hikers told me there used to be a guitar at the memorial but it wasn't there today. Don't know who Brad is. Maybe someone's guitar playing dog??
The predicted rain didn't begin until we got to the pedestrian underpass near the North Mesa-Barranca Mesa Roundabout which is right where the parked cars were waiting and by the time we walked through the underpass, the rain stopped. We saw a warning sign posted at the Bayo Canyon trailhead with photos of a dog that was attacked by coyotes in broad daylight. The dog lived but the photos show obvious wounds.
We drove up to the sheltered North Mesa picnic area for lunch; afterward, I drove three hikers back to the Mitchell Trail trailhead.
Then I drove to the Ocean and walked the flat part of the Route to the bottom of Guardrail Hill. There was some rain on the way back but no thunder or lightning.
Now, it's been raining off and on all afternoon, with some hard rainfall. How could a La Niña event, which brings dry weather to the southwest, possibly be occurring this winter when we're getting all this moisture?
I'm afraid that all this rain (yes, yes, I know - the mantra in the southwest is "We need the rain!") will cause the aspen leaves to drop before they turn yellow. The aspen leaves at Ice Lake near Silverton, CO are already completely golden but they are several hundred feet higher than us. One of the LL hikers camped there overnight recently with her husband. She wanted to camp several nights but the husband got altitude sickness so that nixed that.
There has been a full moon the last few nights. I'm enjoying all my day time hikes but realized last night that I'm lately divorced from the wonder and splendor of the night sky. I did step outside the other night and gaped at the moon riding high overhead. The clouds nearest the moon were edged in silver from the bright moonlight.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Pajarito Mountain Every Which Way
Oh, I love the onset of Fall's cooler temperatures after summer's heat and before winter's deep freeze. I love the way the forest floor is dappled with spots of yellow and red. Gathering boletus and admiring wildflowers is just a fond memory that I hope to repeat next year.
Today I hiked up Pajarito Mountain, going up Zero Road East from the Lodge, over and up Evershine Ridge, connecting back with the Zero Road East, then taking bike trails on the back of the mountain over to the Mother Lift and down Rim Run to the Logging Road back to the Lodge.
The aspens are very slow to change this year. I see some color on the hillside above Pajarito Canyon, below the Knife-edge, but can't tell if it's really aspens or just shrubs that are turning. Pajarito Mountain is not showing much color except for isolated patches here and there. Looking across at Cerro Grande today, the aspen patches were still green.
Some of the small aspens on Pajarito Mountain have brown spots on their leaves. A woman who works at the library told me that maybe the aspen colors will fizzle this year due to all the rain we got this summer. I admired a patch of thimbleberry that's turned yellow. I'll take what I can get even if it's only a patch of autumn colors here and there.
I saw a WI hiker on top, eating his lunch in the shelter of the Mother Lift. His wife had gone to the top of the Lone Spruce lift but then went back down to gather some wood. She seems to be the wood handler of the family, having badly injured her finger while splitting wood last winter. The couple won't be going to Los Griegos tomorrow with the WI group. Neither will I - the LL group switched hikes because of the predicted heavy rains and will hike locally tomorrow to get done before the rains come. Anyway, I wouldn't be able to keep up with the awesome Amazon who will lead the group up Los Griegos tomorrow!
The weather was cooler today and even some rain. I need to bring a windbreaker next time. There are still many ways left to tackle Pajarito Mountain. La Niña this winter may give me lots of opportunities to do so. The weather forecasters say that this winter's La Niña has established itself with stunning rapidity. If I understand correctly, we're supposed to have warmer and drier conditions this winter because of La Niña. I know that last winter was an El Niño event and, boy, did we get snow - lots of it!
I had this thought: If I had to troll the woods everyday to gather and hunt my food and shelter, would I love being outdoors as much or would I curse the hard work and harsh lifestyle? I thought this after reading about the hunter-gatherer lifestyle in The Peopling of Bandelier. It's one thing to go out and blithely admire and appreciate Nature, garnering mental sustenance from the land, knowing that the creature comforts of home await, but entirely different to derive all physical sustenance from the land.
Today I hiked up Pajarito Mountain, going up Zero Road East from the Lodge, over and up Evershine Ridge, connecting back with the Zero Road East, then taking bike trails on the back of the mountain over to the Mother Lift and down Rim Run to the Logging Road back to the Lodge.
The aspens are very slow to change this year. I see some color on the hillside above Pajarito Canyon, below the Knife-edge, but can't tell if it's really aspens or just shrubs that are turning. Pajarito Mountain is not showing much color except for isolated patches here and there. Looking across at Cerro Grande today, the aspen patches were still green.
Some of the small aspens on Pajarito Mountain have brown spots on their leaves. A woman who works at the library told me that maybe the aspen colors will fizzle this year due to all the rain we got this summer. I admired a patch of thimbleberry that's turned yellow. I'll take what I can get even if it's only a patch of autumn colors here and there.
I saw a WI hiker on top, eating his lunch in the shelter of the Mother Lift. His wife had gone to the top of the Lone Spruce lift but then went back down to gather some wood. She seems to be the wood handler of the family, having badly injured her finger while splitting wood last winter. The couple won't be going to Los Griegos tomorrow with the WI group. Neither will I - the LL group switched hikes because of the predicted heavy rains and will hike locally tomorrow to get done before the rains come. Anyway, I wouldn't be able to keep up with the awesome Amazon who will lead the group up Los Griegos tomorrow!
The weather was cooler today and even some rain. I need to bring a windbreaker next time. There are still many ways left to tackle Pajarito Mountain. La Niña this winter may give me lots of opportunities to do so. The weather forecasters say that this winter's La Niña has established itself with stunning rapidity. If I understand correctly, we're supposed to have warmer and drier conditions this winter because of La Niña. I know that last winter was an El Niño event and, boy, did we get snow - lots of it!
I had this thought: If I had to troll the woods everyday to gather and hunt my food and shelter, would I love being outdoors as much or would I curse the hard work and harsh lifestyle? I thought this after reading about the hunter-gatherer lifestyle in The Peopling of Bandelier. It's one thing to go out and blithely admire and appreciate Nature, garnering mental sustenance from the land, knowing that the creature comforts of home await, but entirely different to derive all physical sustenance from the land.
Cañada Bonita with Husband Yesterday
Husband made it to meadow - I continued on to my official 4 mile RT turnaround point.
On the hike, I asked husband about CNBC Obama-thon and he enjoyed telling me about the questions directed at Obama. He said that Obama has to be careful of what he says so as not to scare the stock market, that den of thieves!
Husband seems happy with his half-time schedule. He had to ice his ankle in the evening. I'm trying to convince him to use two hiking sticks, old ski poles, to help his balance but he's not interested. Probably if the physical therapist recommended using two hiking sticks, he'd believe it but he won't believe me. I hope he remembers to ask the physical therapist about it next week.
On the hike, I asked husband about CNBC Obama-thon and he enjoyed telling me about the questions directed at Obama. He said that Obama has to be careful of what he says so as not to scare the stock market, that den of thieves!
Husband seems happy with his half-time schedule. He had to ice his ankle in the evening. I'm trying to convince him to use two hiking sticks, old ski poles, to help his balance but he's not interested. Probably if the physical therapist recommended using two hiking sticks, he'd believe it but he won't believe me. I hope he remembers to ask the physical therapist about it next week.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Husband's First Day of Semi-Retirement
Lab still hasn't confirmed that husband is officially on half-time so this "day off" may come out of our vacation budget.
Husband decided to have an Obama-thon this morning. He's watching a townhall meeting on CNBC starring OBAMA! It's on from 10-noon and afterward, he'll hike with me. I told him that likely no new news will transpire and that this is just a campaign event (even though not billed as such!)
He can't tape the show on our VCR because it would interfere with my taping of Dr. Oz. I'm passing time, waiting to go out on the hike, by doing a load of laundry and playing on the computer while half-listening to This American Life which I taped yesterday. The show's theme was Life After Death - oh, oh... (Isn't it quaint that we still use video and audio cassette tapes?)
Husband decided to have an Obama-thon this morning. He's watching a townhall meeting on CNBC starring OBAMA! It's on from 10-noon and afterward, he'll hike with me. I told him that likely no new news will transpire and that this is just a campaign event (even though not billed as such!)
He can't tape the show on our VCR because it would interfere with my taping of Dr. Oz. I'm passing time, waiting to go out on the hike, by doing a load of laundry and playing on the computer while half-listening to This American Life which I taped yesterday. The show's theme was Life After Death - oh, oh... (Isn't it quaint that we still use video and audio cassette tapes?)
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Tomorrow is Sunday Too
Spouse begins half-time work schedule tomorrow. Usually I'm hiking with a group on Monday but tomorrow the group is going to Las Trampas and I'm not - too far to drive - so I'll hike with hubby.
Today: Went to MPL, then we drove to White Rock, parked at WRMPL and husband walked a little bit with me but then went back to library. I went all the way to Potrillo Canyon trailhead and back. Stopped at Smith's afterwards - bought frozen veggies on sale for 88 cents a bag!
Today: Went to MPL, then we drove to White Rock, parked at WRMPL and husband walked a little bit with me but then went back to library. I went all the way to Potrillo Canyon trailhead and back. Stopped at Smith's afterwards - bought frozen veggies on sale for 88 cents a bag!
Landfill Cleanup Resumes with Radiation Detector Now on Excavator Arm
Los Alamos Monitor had brief story today by Garrison Wells: Pipe with excess plutonium halts lab clean-up. Now, the excavator arm will have a radiation detector on it to prevent any more breaches of the allowable above ground plutonium radiation permitted at the landfill cleanup. Idea is that the radiation detector will measure the amount of radiation before the excavator drags the contaminant above ground. Before, the radiation detector was placed on the ground next to the hole being excavated. That meant that they didn't know the amount of radiation until the cat was already out of the bag, i.e., after they had already drug the contaminant above ground! This is not rocket science. Not sure if I feel any more comforted by the change in procedure. I HOPE that some agency other than the lab is overseeing the safety of this cleanup.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
New Mexican Story on Plutonium Contaminated Pipe at DP Road Cleanup Site
Roger Snodgrass wrote an excellent article, on 9/16/2010 in the Santa Fe New Mexican, titled Contaminated pipe halts LANL cleanup project: Cylinder exceeds allowed radiation. Work has been shut down on the cleanup of the old landfill on DP Road dating from 1945 after a worker discovered a plutonium contaminated pipe and surrounding soil that had radiation levels that exceeded by six times those permitted above ground during the cleanup. The pipe and the soil it was buried in were measured to contain the equivalent of 40 grams of plutonium-239. Before cleanup began, the whole 5-acre site was estimated from soil sampling to contain only 200 grams of plutonium.
I live near this cleanup site and I'm not happy that the LANL spokesman, Fred deSousa, said the public was not notified about this discovery because, to quote Roger Snodgrass's article, "there had been no radioactive release to the public and no exposure". Regardless, the public SHOULD have been informed. LANL is not being very transparent about what's going on at the landfill cleanup.
The talk is that the landfill will be cleaned up to residential housing standards. I don't plan to ever live there. It's bad enough that we live so close to the cleanup site.
I live near this cleanup site and I'm not happy that the LANL spokesman, Fred deSousa, said the public was not notified about this discovery because, to quote Roger Snodgrass's article, "there had been no radioactive release to the public and no exposure". Regardless, the public SHOULD have been informed. LANL is not being very transparent about what's going on at the landfill cleanup.
The talk is that the landfill will be cleaned up to residential housing standards. I don't plan to ever live there. It's bad enough that we live so close to the cleanup site.
Eating Out Resolution
Resolved: Never order appetizers AND a meal - too much food. Went to Jinja House for husband's 60th birthday. He wanted to order the Tokyo Crispy Tofu as an appetizer and we shared it. I ordered the Jungle Green Curry with marinated tofu and brown rice off the lunch menu - the portion was enormous and I, of course, ate it all even though the appetizer had quelled my appetite. What's the point of appetizers except to make people too full to eat their real meal? I didn't want leftovers sitting in the hot car while we shopped at Whole Foods. I should start carrying a small cooler and ice to take leftovers home when I eat out!
Overheard at Jinja House (probably the WHOLE restaurant overheard) a motor-mouth woman talking loudly on her cell phone. Or maybe she was pretending to converse with someone because she left no space at all for the other person to say a word. She said she's going to move to Santa Fe, journal about the experience and write a book. Maybe it will be a talking book...
Daughter and son-in-law had husband and me over for dinner. Made pork BBQ, potato salad, roasted vegetables from their garden, green salad and chocolate-iced marble bundt birthday cake. Daughter gave husband home made plum jam for his birthday - very delicious. I had some tonight on bread and peanut butter.
Husband at movie theater seeing The Town because he gets in free on his birthday.
Exercised on Canyon Rim Trail and Mesa Trail this morning before Santa Fe trip. Saw coyote chasing something that ran off fast in a swirl of dust. Saw adorable boy bicyclist, with his Dad, who was maybe all of 5 years old. Little boy told me he liked my hat!
Last night we watched the DVD Temple Grandin, a made for HBO movie. It utterly enthralled me. It won loads of Emmys and I can see why - it was so well acted. I found the story of Temple's life and career moving, inspiring and so very interesting. Temple is one smart person!
Overheard at Jinja House (probably the WHOLE restaurant overheard) a motor-mouth woman talking loudly on her cell phone. Or maybe she was pretending to converse with someone because she left no space at all for the other person to say a word. She said she's going to move to Santa Fe, journal about the experience and write a book. Maybe it will be a talking book...
Daughter and son-in-law had husband and me over for dinner. Made pork BBQ, potato salad, roasted vegetables from their garden, green salad and chocolate-iced marble bundt birthday cake. Daughter gave husband home made plum jam for his birthday - very delicious. I had some tonight on bread and peanut butter.
Husband at movie theater seeing The Town because he gets in free on his birthday.
Exercised on Canyon Rim Trail and Mesa Trail this morning before Santa Fe trip. Saw coyote chasing something that ran off fast in a swirl of dust. Saw adorable boy bicyclist, with his Dad, who was maybe all of 5 years old. Little boy told me he liked my hat!
Last night we watched the DVD Temple Grandin, a made for HBO movie. It utterly enthralled me. It won loads of Emmys and I can see why - it was so well acted. I found the story of Temple's life and career moving, inspiring and so very interesting. Temple is one smart person!
Friday, September 17, 2010
WRSC Hikers Walk Canyon Rim and Pueblo Canyon Rim Trails
Only a small group - 3 drove up from White Rock Senior Center and met spouse and me. We parked at the official parking lot for the new, paved Canyon Rim Trail (across from the construction site of the Los Alamos Cooperative Market on NM 502 aka Main Hill Road - slow down or you'll miss the turn off).
Had to quickly cross the busy road and walked behind the Holiday Inn to pick up the Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail (dirt trail that runs along fence on north side of Los Alamos Airport - great views of the tent rocks in Pueblo Canyon) which we took west to the airport terminal building.
Another access can be had by walking down the sidewalk along Entrada Road at Los Alamos County's new Pajarito Cliffs site and picking up the Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail on the north side of the county warehouses. Look for a small sign crediting the Youth Conservation Corps (sponsored by the YMCA) for the work they did on this trail and then turn left toward the airport.
After we reached the airport terminal, I continued west toward the paved Mesa Trail and East Park but the rest walked the streets back to continue on the Canyon Rim Trail at its western terminus near the fire station across from East Park (the Canyon Rim Trail will eventually extend to the Los Alamos Medical Center). Even so, I caught up with them and we all moseyed east back to the parked cars. I eschewed the car ride offered by spouse and instead did "walk fast-walk slow" intervals, fartlek style, back to the fire station and called it a day.
The Canyon Rim Trail is close to 2 miles RT if you do an out and back on it. The Mesa Trail is close to 1 mile RT out and back. A sign at the Canyon Rim trailhead suggests an almost 4 mile loop by walking on the Canyon Rim Trail, the Mesa Trail and the Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail. The eastern continuation of the Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail connects with the Camp Hamilton Trail near Eastgate Industrial Park. This opens up a number of possible hikes utilizing the trails in the Pueblo Canyon and Bayo Canyon areas.
Had to quickly cross the busy road and walked behind the Holiday Inn to pick up the Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail (dirt trail that runs along fence on north side of Los Alamos Airport - great views of the tent rocks in Pueblo Canyon) which we took west to the airport terminal building.
Another access can be had by walking down the sidewalk along Entrada Road at Los Alamos County's new Pajarito Cliffs site and picking up the Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail on the north side of the county warehouses. Look for a small sign crediting the Youth Conservation Corps (sponsored by the YMCA) for the work they did on this trail and then turn left toward the airport.
After we reached the airport terminal, I continued west toward the paved Mesa Trail and East Park but the rest walked the streets back to continue on the Canyon Rim Trail at its western terminus near the fire station across from East Park (the Canyon Rim Trail will eventually extend to the Los Alamos Medical Center). Even so, I caught up with them and we all moseyed east back to the parked cars. I eschewed the car ride offered by spouse and instead did "walk fast-walk slow" intervals, fartlek style, back to the fire station and called it a day.
The Canyon Rim Trail is close to 2 miles RT if you do an out and back on it. The Mesa Trail is close to 1 mile RT out and back. A sign at the Canyon Rim trailhead suggests an almost 4 mile loop by walking on the Canyon Rim Trail, the Mesa Trail and the Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail. The eastern continuation of the Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail connects with the Camp Hamilton Trail near Eastgate Industrial Park. This opens up a number of possible hikes utilizing the trails in the Pueblo Canyon and Bayo Canyon areas.
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