Change is the only constant in life

12/24/2018 - 12/30/2018

Monday (2) - Dave was busy cooking and I was busy staying out of the way running last minute errands, well going to the stores to watch people meltdown to remind myself not to sweat the small stuff and most stuff is small stuff.   Isn't there a saying about if you aren't going to be a good example be a bad example or something like that?

3:00 p.m. Jax wandered through the kitchen, it was time for him to go somewhere.  He has us really well trained, doesn't he?  I was going to take him to Riverwood but there were three or four cars in the public parking area, and while they may or may not have been going there, they may have, we went to Grills, the Chase Hill entrance.  My goal was a mile maybe two, totally depended on what Jax seemed like he was up to.  I knew he was going to have an exhausting day on the 25th, he, of course, didn't.    Big accomplishment, he ventured on to and went over the Tomaquag Brook bridge on his own.  The way out he got to the stairs of the bigger bridge side and waited for me and he led me across.  We walked till my watch buzzed a mile and turned around.  He would keep going, again a rested Jax is a happy Jax and a tired Jax is a Grouchy Jax, he didn't seem to phased and was happy to run ahead and down the hill and on to the bog bridge and over the higher part of the bridge.  Who is this dog?

And over he goes!

Tuesday (5) - I got out for a Christmas Day run and meandered this way and that.  Made 5 miles, I was kind of surprised when the watch buzzed and it clearly said 4 miles, huh, I have a mileish to get home and wasn't in too big of a hurry, I'd have about 90 minutes before we would leave for MA.  Contemplated a 10K but decided 5 was good and I'd like the time before going to the in-laws.  I got home to "We are leaving in 30 minutes."  Huh?  It isn't even 11:30...  There is no point in starting an argument.  27  minutes later I was washed, dressed, hair washed and dried, even some make-up!

We left in another 30 minutes...  Jax was beside himself with glee.  Oh sweetie...

Nice celebration, far too long of a day getting back at midnight.

Wednesday (5) -  Felt like crap, like the crap stuck between the treads of shoes crap.  I agreed to meet up with Ro and Mark for a hike and contemplated backing out.  But it was 3 ish miles and it would be nice to see them.  I won't be seeing them much between now and July with all their travels.  I felt better after our hike as did Mark and Ro who got in at 2 a.m.

Me and Ro on the 'chairs' on the ledges of Mt. Tom Trail.

Jax and I had a nice in-town evening walk so I could see the lights, he was most tolerant of this, he prefers the trails and being off leash.  Don't we all buddy, don't we all.

Thursday (3) - Massively uninspired hike with Jax in Patchaug.  I managed to successfully complete the loop I messed up a few weeks ago, otherwise, neither of us were into the hike.  Some days go like that.  We got an hour of fresh air and sunshine.

There is a tree in the house.

Friday (0) -  It rained all day, I had zero motivation.

To entertain my brain I started a puzzle.  I used to do them with my Dad over Christmas Vacation and I found a neat one at the discount store and instead of giving it as a Yankee Swap or to my Nephew, I kept it.

We keep him very busy!

If it wasn't for plans to meet Rachel for beer, and we ended up bar hopping, I would not have left the house.  Bar hopping translated to a beer at Beer'd and then another beer at 84 Tavern on Canal because they started brewing their own beer and Rachel, a beer geek was curious about their creations.  Two IPA and a Brown Ale.  I'm NOT an IPA person so these smelled like the usual cat piss to me, the brown ale was good, better as it warmed but thin like a Guinness.  Definitely, something to have with a meal, or have more than one.   Beer'd ran out of their Vegemite IPA, it's a Rachel thing, but they did have some Midnight Oil stout square in my dark viscous beer wheelhouse!

The experimental sweater.
Not sure if I'll have enough yarn for sleeves.

Saturday (3) -  Gosh a week off even with the plethora of activities and it feels like I've been away from work a month, a good thing, but we are all sleeping in past 7 a.m., a bad thing.  Jax better get back on his 5:50 a.m. wake up calls by the morning of the 2nd.  I don't want to have to use a clock.  I've LOVED not having that glowing beast on the nightstand on my side of the bed for a few years now.

Woody Hill 

As no one got any exercise yesterday,  it was really important to get outside today.  Jax and I went out to a local preserve/management area and hiked around.  He was really focused so I was constantly on alert for whatever it was he had set his nose to finding.  A couple of other hikers.  I love hunters orange, you can see people from so far away and when he zigged and then zagged I knew I'd see people over the next rise, and sure enough.  They were far enough away it didn't look obvious when I turned around and ushered Mr. Nosey along a different cart path.  It took him a bit to be convinced we really should go that way...  I forgot his leash and his communicator device wasn't working great, running into people wasn't going to go well because I'd be nervous and he feeds from that.  This is truly a case of it's me not you.

The cool stripey yarn

Sunday (3) - Took the beast to Barn Island.  He kept heading back to the car.  Some days it goes like that.   Dave and I finished the puzzle, and now I want to start another one. 

Eddie:  Ah yes 50K miles on Eddie, he is 2015 put into service July 27, 2016 (Vinnie died on the side of the road with 250K miles on him that morning).    Honestly low miles for me for 29 months of driving, I didn't take two trips to MI, and one trip to NH so that makes up for some of the missing miles.  My yearly car mileage is about 25K.

Knitting:

Because I saw this cool yarn which knits up into broad stripes I had to buy it to make a baby sweater.  The experimental sweater is still a work in progress.  I'm getting a little concerned I won't like it, but I knew starting the project I could end up frogging the whole things.

Reading:

Still plugging away at George Washington.  He really had some teeth problems and was rather a flirt, the war is over and Sally Fairfax is back in the picture!

Sincerely,

Beth, spending the last day of 2018 remembering injury and illness and love and loss are constants in life, deal with them, learn from them, and move forward. 

Low Miles Low Stress

Monday (3) - In the NYC office early to set up for and execute the team meeting.  All went well, pshew.

Rockefeller Center
Such a beautiful tree.

I took myself on a walk down Madison Avenue, 5th Avenue ogling the lights and enjoying the sites.  I really do enjoy that, hopefully, I'll continue to have the opportunity to do this in the future.

Tuesday (0) -  NYC for General Counsel awards ceremony, went well, pshew.  Crazy busy day couldn't wait till I finally got to visit the Beer Table and plop my butt in a seat for the train ride home.

Harlem @ Park and 123rd
Wonder if they ever unearth anything when they demolish a building.

Jax's biopsy came back, benign with the caution it could have become cancerous. Glad he got a clean bill of health.  I've gotten a few of those biopsies, feh, no biggie.

Wednesday (3) -  Slow walk with Ro as the heels and dresses of the previous two days played havoc on my hips.  Crap I thought I had that all worked out, but no.  I felt better after the walk but as the day progressed I was back to where I started, going down the stairs backward.  Oh, it is so much fun to be meeeeeeeee, not.

He does love his bed, his fire, and recently started playing with Maxine again. 
His gums must be feeling better!

Thursday (0) - Back side still quite ouchy and tender might as well not annoy my annoyed SI or hip or whatever further even though it is going to rain on Friday and being outside in the rain if it doesn't warm up, isn't going to be fun.  Whatever.

This actually annoyed him, but I couldn't help but get into his space.
Squeeee super dork.

Friday (3) -  The run in the rain was really enjoyable.  Short due to my cranky hip.  At one point I didn't want to get too close to the water for fear of the ocean spray.  Yeah, let that compute for a second.

True Story.

Saturday (3) - Took Jax for a hike in the afternoon once the rain really stopped and we finished Dave's Christmas shopping.  He usually goes on Christmas Eve and if I'm home drags me with him.  I asked if maybe he wanted to go when the weather wasn't so great on Saturday.  After a bit of tooing and froing about how he NEVER involves me in this process, he seemed to remember that he did either IRL or via texting me in a panic from Talbots (for his mom), and he put together his list and we worked through it.  I think this is the earliest he's ever been finished and wrapped presents.

I was so tempted to drive around the block to get to zero.

Sunday (4 + 3) - I wanted to go for a ride but didn't want to deal with lots of people so I left later when all the competitive people are done with their morning workouts and the recreational athletes get their turn to piddle around aimlessly on the trails and roads.

Following the red line from the left of the map to the right was the plan.  I made through most of the yellow patch.

Turns out I really wasn't all that into a ride.  I did explore part of the Groton Cross Town Trail and some other loop in the Merrit Farm property (part of Groton Open Space).  Not what I was looking to ride.  I was out for an hour of ride time so that's not bad.  It is hard to judge what is or isn't an adequate mountain bike ride.  I was soaked in sweat and my heart was pumping, calling that good seems reasonable to me, but only 4 miles?  I think its the time in the saddle, not the miles when it comes to off-road riding.  The adjustment I made to the level the seat on Barney was perfect, I'm still having problems with the quick release not holding the seat to the right height.  I need to take him in and have an appropriate thingy installed. Dave didn't think he had the right circumference bracket for Barney's seat post.

That Way?

Or That Way?

Or Down There?

Dave's mountain bike ride ended with Razz breaking a knuckle after hitting his hand on a tree, he was going back down the hill Dave was at the top of cobbling together his broken bike to ride out of the woods.  Dave broke two spokes, the chain, and the rear derailleur.  Most likely one spoke broke, caught another spoke and then the whole mess lodged into the chain and then the derailleur and chain broke when meeting up against the chainstay.

Since neither of us had a good morning on our bikes, far far far better than Razz, though, we took Jax on Mount Tom trail, it is new to me and had a lovely hike.  It is tough to find an interesting hike, part of the appeal of night hikes is you aren't bored with the same old same old.  This was definitely full of awesome things to look at and lots of tricky parts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All in all low miles this week, low stress, other than Monday and Tuesday, but even those weren't as bad as last year.  This is all as odd me as my lack of wanting to sleep all the time.  Usually, the end of the year comes and I can barely keep my eyes open and want to strangle anyone crossing my path for the last week of work.  Not so much this year.  Must be I'm on the right path with whatever the hell is going on with my immune system.  I have two diagnoses, both along the same spectrum of Connective Tissue Disease but I think part of that is just being able to give me medication, off-label prescribing is very much frowned upon. 

Knitting:

Still plugging away on the experimental sweater.

Reading:

Still plugging away at Washington, although I fear my iPod is going to die.

Sincerely,
Beth, thinking what a crazy ride this year has been.  Hopefully, 2019 is clamer.

Couple of bad beers this week

12/10/2018 - 12/16/2018

Monday (5) - Nothing spectacular, but damn my knees hurt during and after this run.  I need to adjust the fit on Barney is my thought.  Something isn't quite right and this is the second time I've ridden and then run the next day with a similar result.  It is also time for more shots, but I'd like to see how I do without them for a bit.

Shadow Figures by Common Roots
Ick

Met up with some new gals to knit, there are three of them and I made 4, all live locally and they got from house to house.  Seems like it will be a fun group, definitely lots of local gossip!

This popped up on Facebook this week.
Gizzy and Sage - they were like an old married couple.
November 2009 - Gizmo is 9 in December and Sage is just turned 7

Tuesday (Gut and Glutes + 2) -  Day 6 of Booty Core (there will be no before or after pictures, go ogle Leslie's perky patootie) not doing this daily, 2 times a week, maybe 3 if the urge strikes me to exercise at home.  The surprising thing is it is helping my SI Joint alignment issues.  Tuesday morning I was really hobbling and hurting, going down the stairs was excruciating, to the point I thought I'd just live on the third stair from the top.  Walking around campus painful. After the workout, everything seemed back to normal.  Weird.

Another FB memory. 
Jax and Sage
When she wasn't trying to teach him a lesson she kind of liked him.
December 2012 Sage is 10 and Jax is 2.

Took Jax out on a night hike, he was less than thrilled because we kept an eagle eye on him.  Usually, the creep stays 30 feet in front of us, but no, he was lagging behind.  We kept an eye on him so he didn't eat any deer or other poop and end up barfing before surgery on Wednesday.

Watchaug Pond with the moon reflecting into the pond

Wednesday (5) - Hills with Ro, always a good time to catch up and chat.  Peppy walk when it didn't feel as peppy as usual.

Jax surgery went fine, only one surprise, a cyst under the gumball. Tissues and fluids sent out for biopsy, he may need more surgery if the cyst comes back, but who knows.  He was pretty stoned and frankly pretty ticked he got shorted a meal.  He had me up at 1:30 a.m. to go out and then stood by his food bowl looking for his missing meal.  Persuading a dog to go to bed when he doesn't want to is much like persuading a drunk person they don't need another drink.  It's not an easy discussion and someone growls.

Dude, what the hell? 
I've behaved myself - well besides my recent 2 a.m. tissue barfing incidents. 
But really, they are in that single serve box, who wouldn't be tempted?

Thursday (3) - Holiday Fun Run/Walk at work.  We had a light snow for the occasion, it was very festive!

Welcome Beth?  That is so freaky... 

I had to backtrack several hours of work on the latest sweater.  Dave commented I've been unknitting as much as I've been knitting.  I am managing to get the right number of stitches back on the needles and getting started again correctly, but damn all the work I did Tuesday I had to undo on Wednesday and I'm back to where I was on Tuesday now.  Ugh.

Winner!  But not by much... :(

Friday (6) - Less than energetic feeling run at work, faster than I have been running which is odd for feeling so un-energetic.  Probably a Friday thing?  Who knows.  Definitely not like Friday's of past where all I wanted to do was sleep all afternoon.

Ok so this was from Saturday - I didn't have a lot of Jax pictures.
Zoooommmmm  outta my way lady, coming through.

We took Jax on a daylight to night hike.  His first since surgery.  He was happier in the day light, and slogged along after dark, about what we expected.

Saturday (3) - Jax and I hiked in Burlingame and he was peppy and perky!  That was nice to see!  We did some new to him trails, nothing to strenuous.  He was happy to be out in the day light.

Derp.
He actually sat long enough to take a couple pictures.
We've not enforced good doggy behavior with him, he is a wild child.
He is rather handsome, don't tell him I said that.

Sunday (2) - Between the rain drops we took Jax to Burlingame with the intention of slowly ambling camp roads with the expectation the skies would open up and the rain would start.  We veered off on to some single track and then back to camp roads.  The sun was out and it was sprinkling and Jax was running around like a mad man.  Clearly feeling back to himself.  We followed where he led and made a couple suggestions as to the direction he should take, but mostly we followed him. 

No Hero by Evil Twin (why do I keep thinking I'll like their beer?)
B3 by Transmitter Brewing - feh

Work took me to NYC for the evening (early a.m. meeting) I like it during the holiday season and am glad when I get an overnight to go see the tree and the shop windows.  Not exactly thrilled with two nights, or the exceptionally bad beer I picked up at The Beer Table.   Tomorrow the rain will stop and I can wander and take in the sites.

Knitting:

After un-knitting and re-knitting the latest sweater I am at a good point.  I am also at the panic point of "am I going to have enough yarn"  the second of the third partial skein is now the body of the sweater and I have about 6 more inches to knit plus put arms on the damn thing!!!  I laid it out and it looks ok, no picture, I spaced on documenting it.  I was sad to leave it behind in RI for two nights.

Reading:

"George Washington"
by
Ron Chernow

Status:  In progress

This is pretty good, except for the fact my ancient iPod keeps freaking out.  Which in and of it self is hysterical, I can't listen to a book about the father of our country because my iPod 5th generation is freaking out.

Guess if all I have to complain about is buying a few bad beers my week was pretty damn good!

Sincerely,
Beth, lacking things to whinge about, does this mean she has to give up blogging to the 5 people who read this? 

NYE 2011
Whaddaya saying there Beth?