Six degrees with minus eight windchill.  Yeah, I'm not going out there.  Happy New Year,

"And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been."----Rainer Maria Rilke

     It is gorgeous out today.....50 degrees and sunny, so Charleigh-dog got some actual exercise!  We took advantage of it. Tomorrow, the last day of the year, though, will have a high of 14 and snow. It's a good thing I'm a New Year's Eve home body because I wouldn't be venturing out tomorrow night.

All joking aside:

And finally Winter, with its bitin', whinin' wind, and all the land will be mantled with snow. —Roy Bean

(We haven't gotten any snow this winter, but we've gotten the biting cold). It's 5 degrees out so no walking around the lake today, instead opting for a mall walk. It should be fun.  Hopefully the gift exchangers and sale shoppers will sleep in a bit on a Saturday.

I've got to get back into the exercise routine and the not eating all the junk food routine, and yes there are lots of vegan junk foods.  Poor Charleigh has been getting minimal walks. That has to change, too. Resolution time.

I love this kid!

Intelligence

Travel the road less taken

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lINLhw7iv0&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0grjgKhpX8wbkS2l0QMozuqTsTb2V6O7jyE9Myxy6HpOWNM-3caEj6m6I

Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store.

Today be thankful, and think how rich you are.  Your family and friends are priceless , your time is gold, and your health is wealth.

Merry Christmas from me and my Charleigh Brown

Such a great tradition....I will do try it this year.

     I have several books waiting to be picked up at the library this morning.  Perfect timing.


     I got out early with the dog.  What a beautiful full moon and moonset.

     I just now saw a red fox with a big slice of pizza in its mouth running down my court. He did have the good sense to be looking back over his shoulder while he ran.  Merry Christmas Reynard.

     Last week I put a big pumpkin out in the back yard for the deer.  I hadn't gotten around to cooking it, so thought I would share.  For a day or 2 it just sat there, with only a couple of squirrel bites.  Then suddenly it was just gone.  Not a seed, not a stem, not a shred of orange left.  Unless it was neighbor kids, who never before have wandered into my yard, what could have carried that big pumpkin off without a trace?  My mystery of the week.

Still punny!

“it is a serious thing // just to be alive / on this fresh morning / in this broken world.” ― Mary Oliver, Red Bird

Pa-rum-pa-pa-pum

Basic elementary school biology:

Dad jokes

Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is the special occasion.

(Guilty of this, but working on it)

If you can't play sports, run. If you can't run, run long......Author unknown

     I've got a lot of years to make up for:
https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a25378840/running-keeps-your-body-younger-study/

Santa Stampede yesterday

     First rule of running.  Locate the camera man, look up and smile, no matter what!! (Near the finish line of a 10k)

Very Interesting

Muscle mass should be a new vital sign.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-10/ghn-mms101718.php?fbclid=IwAR01S6T8c6orN_fFbHho9lTivVdVE-H3sGkNRIoQf6gbe_-S8XAuOCTeAnE



I've always loved this graphic:

https://www.bettermovement.org/blog/2012/use-or-lose-looks-like



     I need this info for motivation.  I haven't been exercising much lately.  Hopefully this will help me get my mojo back.

Thoughts for the day

Never cut what you can untie.
                ----Robert Frost

   

      but what about:
          "When one burns one's bridges, what a very nice fire it makes."
                                           ― Dylan Thomas

     it seems:

           "The hardest thing in life to learn is which bridge to cross and which to burn."

                                           ― David Russell

"Dog Songs"

“LITTLE DOGS RHAPSODY IN THE NIGHT
(PERCY THREE)

He puts his cheek against mine
and makes small, expressive sounds.
And when I'm awake, or awake enough

he turns upside down, his four paws
in the air
and his eyes dark and fervent.

Tell me you love me, he says.

Tell me again.

Could there be a sweeter arrangement?
Over and over
he gets to ask it.
I get to tell.”

― Mary Oliver

tags: dogs

Sorry.....had to share

HaHaHa

     I almost caused a traffic accident yesterday.  I was stopped at a cross-walk with my dog and a car actually stopped for me!  The car behind it was going way too fast causing lots of braking, skidding, honking, swearing, and having to veer off to the side. So glad it worked out okay.

Quote of the day

- The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit the views, which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering. - Doctor Who

Have an awesome weekend.

The joys of home ownership.

     I guess I'm ready for winter.  I have new circuit breakers and a whole house circuit breaker installed, the gutters have been cleaned; today the furnace and hot water heater will be maintained and a functional new garbage disposal installed. Anything else will have to wait.

     Update.....grrrr, hot water heater is 16 years old, too old to flush as that could cause more damage than leaving it alone at this age. Have to consider a new one at some point.

     Update to the update.....to bring house up to code for the water heater, need to install new smaller chimney for it since I have a high efficiency furnace which vents itself.   Also discovered the pressure reducing valve to house is no longer functional and must be replaced.  We're talking big bucks here.  Darn aging house and new safety codes.  The furnace better not require anything new, or else. All this will have to wait until new year. It might be cheaper to move. (Just kidding....I'd have to fix it anyway due to code changes).

     It is cold, gray, and starting to snow.  I am staying in today, drinking coffee, and reading.  I am abdicating exercise for the day....a conscious choice to veg out.  Yay.

     FYI, the biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody" was excellent.

Prescient!

Experience the world of Vincent Van Gogh.

     This is gorgeous, calming and serene.

                                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-AykjLhKHw

I've always loved this quote......

LOL

What did the surgeon say to the patient who insisted on closing up his own incision?

Suture self.☺

Mary Oliver is the best!

Wrinkles mean you laughed, grey hair means you cared and scars mean you lived.

 From Charleigh Brown and me

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." — Maya Angelou

Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are....Mason Cooley

Mississippi Goddam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBiAtwQZnHs&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2T9NmMkEeq4ec49d6Y1Ny4NAGC0wYHlH6BTI5q5uWFE3_Jvmh3X_b3G10

"Every child is an artist until he is told he is not an artist." John Lennon

Pretty Amazing.

     This man's run streak has lasted over 40 years, he has run 207,000 miles, and he found $10,000 worth of money on the ground during that time.   


https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a25252787/when-running-pays-off/

“Those who have the privilege to know have the duty to act.” ― Albert Einstein

Today is Hug a Runner Day!

“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.” ― J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan

I can smell the grass, feel the stones with bare feet though I sit here shod and clothed with all the people.  That's my power.
                       Gary Snyder

    This is about imagination.
    I read the above quote yesterday and love it. It reminded me of a comment in a book I'm currently reading by Peter Sagal, who is a runner as well as host of NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.  He recommends running without headphones or music.  How often do we ever have silence in our lives and make the time to get into our own heads to commune with the bats and sweep out the cobwebs? The sounds of our thoughts can be deafening. We need occasional silence to release that inner noise, and to encourage our imaginations.  The background slap, slap, slap, left, right, left, helps.

“If you are a dreamer come in
If you are a dreamer a wisher a liar
A hoper a pray-er a magic-bean-buyer
If youre a pretender com sit by my fire
For we have some flax golden tales to spin
Come in! 
Come in!” 
― Shel Silverstein



“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” Mark Twain


     It's time to go commune with the bats.

Who did you eat today?

     Sheet ice under an inch of snow, today, but the sun is out.  I'll take it.

     I had an interesting start to my morning.  I was doing a short mile run with my dog in the dark pre-stormy weather.  I saw the rabbits and the deer, so held on tight to the leash, but I missed the fox dashing across the street in front of us.  In a flash, my daft dog got away from me and tore after it, turning the next corner out of sight. 
     That left me to jog up and down that street for 15 min. calling her name....at 6 AM on a Saturday! I'm sure all the people on that street loved me. She did return eventually, and I was extremely lucky it was just a fox and not a coyote which would have led her to its pack with her being the main course.
     She, of course, had the best morning ever!

Ahimsa

• Very little of the great cruelty shown by men can really be attributed to cruel instinct. Most of it comes from thoughtlessness or inherited habit. The roots of cruelty, therefore, are not so much strong as widespread. But the time must come when inhumanity protected by custom and thoughtlessness will succumb before humanity championed by thought. Let us work that this time may come........Albert Schweitzer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5XX35L4fmQ&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR09Rq3MIf_NqS5oYrxn7gESOZQBqQGadyJk777ji58jhGl2MukJT7qPFGc

My precious child
Wherever your journey in life may take you....
I pray you'll always be safe,
enjoy the ride and never forget
your way back home.
              --Vicki Reece

Just do it.

I don't feel like myself unless I run.  It's how I deal with sadness and happiness.  I need it.  It's like therapy.
             Kara Goucher

     I haven't been running much lately due to snow and ice.  I can tell.

First they came for the journalists.......we don't know what happened after that.

UN report on climate genocide

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/10/un-says-climate-genocide-coming-but-its-worse-than-that.html?fbclid=IwAR0AKmg1C5Y50yC4nVyhZ9AOo06x2l1qZS_6S5sUPhuK2R6wmBAqfQbytyo

The earth is in a death spiral:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/14/earth-death-spiral-radical-action-climate-breakdown?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=fb_us&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR3rusOPoN-bgVIhlXGln8uJN0uOM7ryqfYTJBrMRfjt10Rk6IvWatI6WWU#Echobox=1542181467

Your greatest contribution to the universe may not be something you do, but someone you raise.

What runners do when they forget something.....

     they jog their memories!

Plateaus.......the highest form of flattery.

Colorado humor.

     I did it.  It wasn't pretty but I kept the run streak alive. It is 25 degrees out, which isn't bad, but over-ankle deep snow with ice beneath made it tricky.  I slow jogged with walking all the icy intersections.  My dog was hyper and excited, and wanted to chase a fox, so was being her usual pain-in-the-butt self. It took me an embarrassing 20 min. but I did it.
     I started treadmill shopping yesterday.  This convinced me I need one.  When the weather is horrible out, I am not going to drive to a gym anywhere. 

Best Dad Joke ever!

‘And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth.’ — George Orwell, 1984

Ok, Ok, stop me if you've heard this one. Some Native American, Muslim, LGBT, and women candidates walk into a House......

Love Pearls before Swine.