Hike Went OK

My co-leader was indispensable as she was the sweep and made sure we didn't lose the 12 hikers.  It's really hard to get the group's attention to tell them something about the trail or what we're seeing.  They are too busy chattering as they move through the surrounding lovliness.  I have to work on communicating with them.  Also, some tend to walk ahead but don't actually know the way.  I need to be more proactive in asking them to wait at upcoming intersections. 

It's surprising to me how many of the hikers don't know our local trails.  They say "Where does that go?", pointing to a turn off.  I always like/need to find out where "that" goes so I was able to tell them.  I guess not every one can be a professional hiker like me!  However, my hike leading skills are far from "professional"! 

Now a Pensioner

Tomorrow I co-lead the Tuesday group hike.  This makes me nervous because of fear of what others expect.  I hope they don't expect a professional educational tour.  My only goal is to share this area with them but I don't profess to be an expert on what we'll see.

This is a momentous year - in February I got my national park service senior pass and today applied for social security.  I'm getting old as dirt!  Now spouse and I are sitting in the office, he messing around taking tags off his new bicycle helmet and me typing nonsense at the computer, listening to 30 Years of Great Folk Hits from Reader's Digest.  I'm afraid there's little hope for us!  Then again, on Saturday, we met our neighbor's 100 year old father and, man, he looks good!  We can only hope for such longevity!

Yesterday I walked the Cañada Bonita Trail to the two mile turn around point.  Today I walked up Pajarito Mountain to the wooden bench, now overturned, on the south side of the mountain.  Winds were blowing and it was hazy.  I'd do pretty well just hiking on a ski hill every day except in the winter.  I love Pajarito Mountain!!

Red Dot-Blue Dot Hike with LL Gang

Great hike and a beautiful day.  12 of us braved going down the Red Dot Trail to Pajarito Springs and then along the River Trail and up the Blue Dot Trail.  The rest of the group did a relatively flat hike along the White Rock Rim Trail.  Male hiking leader kindly showed us petroglyphs including the Spanish Lady one but "she" looks more like a "she-man" because of obvious graphic details.  Some speculated that the "appendage" may have been added later.  I made careful notes on how to find the Spanish Lady so next year when the Monday women's hiking group does this hike, I can show them this petroglyph. 

Only disappointing thing is that groups go into White Rock canyon but never go down the the edge of the river, at least along this trail.  When groups hike the Falls Trail or Ancho Rapids, they do have lunch at the Rio Grande.  Along the way today, I saw a wonderful beach where we could have dined riverside but since it was in the sun, no one showed any interest.  Instead, for lunch we holed up in the shade of some junipers - kind of a blah lunch spot IMHO.

I saw scarlet mallow and I think chocolate flower but wildflowers are sparse even in warm White Rock canyon.

On the way down the Red Dot, I was pathetically slow.  Once when the group all stopped to strip outerwear off, I caught up with them.  They were talking about a hiker who barely lived through this hike.  They were perhaps inspired to bring this up by watching my slow, cautious descent into the canyon which most likely made them sure that I was losing it physically.  But, on the way up, I smoked them!  Only one hiker was ahead of me.  I decided that I would go for elevated heart rate and walk up the Blue Dot in one continuous flow.  I like uphill much better than downhill because I feel more stable.  Although, on the way up, when my foot got caught on a rock, I nearly "bought the ranch"! 

Ignominy of Horn Blasting

Picture me this morning, gliding down Diamond Drive, still in its perpetual state of construction.  I have the luck to be behind someone who's obviously brain dead in the right lane.  When we get to the part where the speed limit is 40 mph, he/she is barely able to come up to that speed.  I debate if I should follow this car until the golf course parking lot turnoff where I will meet fellow hikers but then I grow impatient. I pass, exceeding the speed limit, pull in front of the car but then see the parking lot is sooner than I expect.  When I suddenly brake and turn, I am embarrassed by the loud blaring of the brain dead's car horn that heralds my arrival.  Ah, the ignominy of being caught in my own brain deadness!  Fortunately, the other hikers are not there yet so no one I know witnesses my stupidity!

I hiked with the Tuesday group which had planned to hike Atalaya in Santa Fe but changed their plans due to snow we received on Sunday.  So, instead a small group of six hiked Upper Guaje Road to the Cabra Loop Trail.  We followed the Cabra segment that goes to Beanfield Mesa and then down to the Rendija Trail.  I told them we didn't have to go uphill on the Upper Rendija Trail to get back to the vehicle parked at Guaje Pines Cemetery but instead we could go on the flat through the Rendija Narrows.  I'm afraid, though, they didn't consider it impressively narrow enough because after we had walked out of it, someone asked if we were in the Narrows yet!

We saw valerian, blue bell, golden banner, golden smoke, clematis, claret cup cactus, and perky sue.  We especially enjoyed seeing the seed heads of the pasque flower.  The seed head is silky soft.  Gambel oak is beginning to bloom in anticipation of forming leaves.  Currant and mountain mahogany are leafing out.  The flowers we saw were not plentiful.  Everything is slowed because of lack of moisture.  I wonder if the record-breaking frigid temperatures affected the native plants.  I know that in Santa Fe, lavender and rose bushes were killed in the cold but those are domestic plants. 

When we first started walking on Upper Guaje Road, Forest Road 442, we went through a section of the road that Paul Parker's employees were grading.  We asked what they were doing and they said they were flattening the road and that a new subdivision would be built.  This lower section of Upper Guaje Road is owned by the county not the forest service.  The forest service boundary is just past this and the road there is still very steep.  It looks like the grading will cause erosion because the steepness of the forest road above the graded section will allow water to cascade down faster.  Below this short graded section is a segment of the Rendija Trail, a Los Alamos county open space trail, which could also be eroded.  

Slept Long

Went to bed last night around 10:30 pm and woke at 8 am but can't say I'm any better rested than when I get less sleep.  We had to turn the heat up a degree last night - to 65 - because it was so cold.  Before this winter's episodes of record-breaking sub-zero temperatures, I would close my heat vents in my room at night.  I don't do that now because I'm so afraid of pipes freezing.  Now, with the heat running while I'm sleeping, I wake up slightly headachy and sneezing.  My bedroom has two heat vents which means more crap blowing out of the heat ducts while I'm sleeping.  I don't like forced air heating.  We had our vents cleaned once but that's probably a waste of money.

Here I am on the computer when I should be going out to the library and to exercise.  First, I may as well eat lunch so I don't fall down starving on the trail. 

Still have 4 more Y classes to use up.  I want to try the Full Body Conditioning class.  Yesterday, I didn't go out in the blowing snow and freezing cold but instead did a Jillian Michael's dvd - Ripped in 30.  I did the two segments for the first two weeks and it was good exercise.  Then I did my lower body exercises and called it a day.

Spouse remains convinced that if we move into the senior condos that we will never leave Los Alamos.  I remain convinced that he's short-sighted.  He will teach at UNM-LA this summer and fulfill his dream about teaching or at least determine if he wants to teach but I have no dreams to fulfill.  I'm just waiting for life to begin.  Waiting, waiting, waiting... 

Sometimes I feel that life is not worth living even though I know that, overall, it is.  I especially feel this way in the evenings.  At least during the day there is hope and activity.  The evenings are spent locked inside of this house, spouse is either laying on his back, glued to the TV, or sitting, eyes glazed, in front of the computer.  OK, OK - I too spend some time on the computer and I watch some selected library dvd's or public TV (the only commercial show I watch is Dr. Oz which I tape earlier and speed through the commercials) while I'm doing resistance exercises and, truthfully, I don't feel like going out in the evening. My time to go out is during the day. It seems though, that anymore, I hate when darkness falls.  It's so much cheerier when it's daylight out. 

Sister will come again this summer to visit.  The thought makes me even more tired.  I just feel like I don't have energy for a visit.  Now that she doesn't visit our Aunt, she's decided she enjoys vacationing with us. 
Fortunately, daughter doesn't mind having her sleep over there where they have an extra bedroom.  That helps a lot.  Daughter has two cats and sister is allergic to cats but I think sleeping in a bed at daughter's would be better than sleeping at our house on the floor on an inflatable bed. 

I'm looking forward to seeing my sister but just feel so tired and un-energetic about the actual mechanics of a visit.  Also, her devoted religiosity is so unlike my own agnosticism.  Like last year when we mentioned on a hike that the last volcanic explosion in the caldera was 1.1 million years ago and she couldn't help commenting that she didn't agree with that.  My thought was "Yeah, but you're WRONG!!!" but I made no comment even though I find her close-mindedness irksome. Like really, the world was only created, according to Bishop Ussher, in 4004 B.C.E.!! Ussher died in 1656 and I'm supposed to believe what he believed??? 

Probably best not to obsess over the visit and just handle it as it happens.  I've found in the past that she's able to argue far more effectively for her point of view than I am for mine so it's best not to bring up any religious discussions as it would only create acrimony and prove nothing.  I believe what I believe and she believes what she believes and never the twain shall meet!!

I Don't Care

All the news is about the killing of O____ today but I don't care about any of it.  Why should I celebrate the killing of any one, even someone evil.  Yes, if I had lost loved ones in the Towers, maybe I'd indulge in some blood lust but from my perspective, I'm not any safer after the long sought after demise of O____.  Al Q____ is still alive and well and will probably even be strengthened by what they see as the martyrdom of O____.  (I'm not putting in his full name because I don't want this to come up on a Google search.  There's nothing of wide interest to anyone in this blog posting.)

Same applies to the recent news about the killing by NATO of G______'s son and grandsons.  Why should I celebrate the killing of someone's progeny knowing how much I love my own?  Have we become like the Romans who routinely killed off all rivals to ensure their ascension to power?

New Orthotics

So tired.  It snowed lightly off and on today.  So far, no accumulation in town.  I did Weeks 1 & 2 of Jillian's Ripped in 30.  It was very good exercise. The difference, though, with YMCA fitness classes are that they change day to day.  Eventually, I get bored with an exercise DVD which is why I don't do them often.  Only did one today because I was loathe to go out in the freezing cold and blowing snow.

I picked up 4 new orthotics yesterday in Albuquerque.  He says each pair is different and I should let him know which works best for me and he'll make more of that kind and ship them to me.  I tried one pair last night.  It didn't ease the left foot's ball of foot pain.  I'll keep evaluating the others.  They all feel fine just wearing them around the house but when I go outdoors and hike fast, it's a different story and they cause pain.

Wish that the Richie-type brace was more comfortable.  Now that I have the new orthotics, I may start only wearing the brace around the house all day and wear the orthotics on hikes.  The brace can make my arch really ache after I hike a steep, rough, rocky trail.

Made yeast-free whole wheat bread (extremely dense!), napa cabbage coleslaw and apricot-almond bars.  Worked in kitchen for 4 hours but that shouldn't tire me out this much.  I feel like going to bed right now and it's only 8 pm.

Spouse and I looked at senior condo for sale at Oppenheimer Place.  It's in like-new condition but spouse can only picture it as an investment property to rent until he deems us old enough to live in it.  He's delusional!  If we bought it, of course I'd want to move right in!  It's priced right to boot.  Think of it - no more watering the towering blue spruce, no more fear of getting hanta virus when I go into our shed aka the Mouse Motel 6, no more despairing over our gopher ridden back yard, no more worrying that the gas stove or furnace will explode - it's an all electric condo, no more freezing in the winter because a third of the house is unheated, no more breathing wood smoke because since there is no fireplace or wood-burning stove, no more fear about what-in-the-world the crawl space water pipe insulation is, no more dealing with the roof leak in the furnace room, no more living with filthy wall-to-wall carpet, no more living in a house that one realtor termed de-modeled.

Retirement Transition Seminar at LANL Today

I attended a retirement transition seminar with spouse at LANL today, even though he's still working part time.  Facilitators, a husband and wife team, said to call local YMCA and Los Alamos Fitness Centers to get free month membership for attending seminar.  I'll check into that.

Best line from seminar was when husband facilitator described his reaction on his first day of retirement in 2005 when wife facilitator, who hadn't yet retired, innocently asked "What are you going to do today?"  He blasted back "What are you - the cops?"  I'll be using that line on spouse and he's welcome to use it on me.  Now, wife facilitator, who since retired, merely says "Have a good day!" It's true - sometimes spouses get too much into each other's business.  If I lived alone or vice versa, we wouldn't be expected to answer to anyone for our day! 

Yesterday, I finished yet a third class at the YMCA - Zumba.  I had fun but am not particularly adept at it.  OK, it WAS my first time.  Room was crowded - woman to my right kept encroaching on my space which ensured that I'd quick-footedly move out of her way.  Some women wore belly dancer belts with coins to jingle jangle when they shook their bootys, even though the music was too loud anyway to hear their shekels shake! Toward the end, it's an hour long class, I was fading after taking 3 fitness classes yesterday so I virtually  stopped trying to do all the arm action - I was lucky to still be able to move my feet!    There were some really good Zumber-ers in the class! Zumba is also offered on Tuesday and Thursday mornings in the larger gymnasium so I'll try that some time.

Our health insurance may offer us a reduced price membership at the YMCA.  Have to check into that also.  The YMCA fitness resources may help me keep me  strong and fit in my old age!

Trying Out Fitness Classes at YMCA

I, in my wisdom, purchased a $60 pass to 8 YMCA fitness classes.  I did Power Up earlier this afternoon and will soon do Gentle Yoga and Zumba.  I want to see if there are any classes I can't live without. 

Power Up was a good workout.  My tricky knees don't allow me to do squats and lunges and there were some so I improvised.  I discovered my triceps and core are weak. Next time I need to allow more time to set up my mat, step, barbell and dumbbells - whew!

A Y membership would be nice but than I'd have to use it to make it worthwhile and I'm not sure I want to shell out buckaroos every month. 

I read a comment on the Y's bulletin board where someone took the Los Alamos Y to task for being more expensive and not having as much equipment as the Genoveva Chavez Community Center in Santa Fe.  The Y's answer was that the the recreation center there is subsidized by the county.  I remember a while back that the Los Alamos County's Walkup Pool wanted to offer fitness classes or some sort but the Y board protested it as unfair competition from the county.  The local businesses assume they have a lock for life on the market here and fight against any competition.