birds, tipping points, renovations…

What is it with birds? They move too fast. Either I chop off their little heads…

 

…or I miss them entirely.

A chickadee was there just a split second ago, I swear.

Maybe I should stick with plants. Or inanimate objects.

Here we have the exploding seed pod of some mysterious roadside beauty.

Your basic stone wall. This is where most of the green is to be found these days, as even the ferns are juuuusssssst starting to go yellow.

 

Here we’ve got some goldenrod…

 

And now, for the inanimate objects portion of our visit today, we have Public Art. Actually, I just realized when looking at the picture that this fellow is a sundial.

 

And, perhaps this could also be considered art? The contents of the bathroom, now housed out in the garage. See the tub?

In other news, my running has been screwed up lately. Here’s what happened:

• It started getting colder, and I started wanting things like  mac and cheese. and seconds.
• chocolate heroin sauce was involved.
• I realized I’d need to get more exercise to counteract the above mentioned, so I started walking more. I added something like 10 or 15 miles of walking, in the first week and only week of this new regime.
• Plus I started doing several sets of sun salutations every morning.
• This all culminated last Sunday, when I walked 4 miles and ran 5 miles in one day.

In the middle of all of this, my legs started hurting just the tiniest bit, and I figured it was because I’d gone about 400 miles in this pair of running shoes. So I started researching replacements online, and was bummed to see I couldn’t get my favorite Asics Gel-Cumulus 11’s for love or money.

So Monday rolls around. My legs were tired. I figured I could take a break from the daily walk, so I imitated a slug. Tuesday rolls around. I imitated a napping slug – but a slug with internet skills: I ordered up a pair of Nikes on zappos.com.

On Wednesday I bit the bullet and did my normal half hour run. It went fine, and I felt great all day until the late afternoon, when my lower legs started aching like hell. On Thursday, the Nikes arrived. I admired them. I even took a picture of them. And then I went for a wee little walk, which I cut short, because whaddaya know, my legs hurt.

Oh My God did my legs hurt that night. I retreated to an epsom salt bath. And I remembered this invention called “ibuprofen” and took some. On Friday I took the Nikes out for a spin. I got as far as 100 yards down the driveway before I decided that I was way too ambivalent about how they fit to have just spent $90 on them.

So I took them off, in the driveway, and walked home in my socks. I cleaned them off carefully and popped them back in the mail.

And I’m wondering, where was the tipping point in all of this?

It was AFTER I’d already started to ease up. I find this confusing.

I’ve been using a foam roller to torture myself/work out the kinks, and last night I ordered up some Asics – a very similar model to what I’m in now. Today I ventured as far as the mailbox. Kevin accompanied me.

 

 

   Naturally, we smooched.

 

 

 

 

On to the current renovation project…

The shower has been delivered! (It wouldn’t fit in the Escape.)

I’ve wiped down the walls in the bathroom to prep them for painting. Kevin’s been removing the crown molding and baseboard. I’ll paint tomorrow and Monday. Our Hero Michael shows up on Tuesday to install stuff.