Tuesday

Well, I didn't ask the chaperone again That's the  schoolmarm looking lady who watches us work out and shushes anybody who accidentally makes noise. I was going to ask her how to use the other machines but she left the space just as I was finishing up - possibly to go track down the girl who clapped everytime she went another mile, to tell her to stop such displays! Yesterday I listened to her tell a weightlifter to make less noise as he lifted weights, much to his consternation, he  thought he was being quiet but apparently he was grunting too loudly. Oh, and there is absolutely no dropping of the weights.

The gym is almost silent except for some YMCA approved light pop muzak that is piped in. You can actually hear yourself sweat. You can also hear the person next to trying to catch heir breath. I think the machines have some sort of radio setting and I am going to have to get some cheapo headphones and try it out, its better to work out with a good beat or duh! just bring my phone out and make Spotify do its thing! I'll go to Big Lots at lunch and get a pair of the clunky headphones and use those, I really don't like the little ones, they don't stay in my ears and they hurt. I'll just stick the phone in my  zippy new exerbra and away we'll go. Problem solved.

Today I walked through  either Ontario or Toronto or possibly parts of both and then ultimately through some national park . What I really wanted to be doing was walking through hills and dales the whole time, I already walk through a city and lets be honest, all cities look about the same. Onces you've dodged one tourist, you have dodged all the tourists, they all look the same! And its not like they take you through the most attractive parts of the cities either, For most of the trip its just city streets, and not interesting or visually compelling streets either! Does anyone really think this is fun? I mean if you are a runner or a walker does this help pass the time? I want to walk along a path through the woods, I want  nature. I do not want  other people or traffic or buildings or concrete, I can not possibly be the only one.

Today I went a little further, 1.59 miles. Still a nothing walk for Rocket and I, but I kept adjusting how steep the grade was so some of it was very up hill, but I got tired of that very quickly and put it down to a more reasonable grade, but today I had it set at a much  faster speed setting, so that was good. Yay me. Tomorrow I really want to learn how to make the recumbent bike work.

There is another setting where you can watch yourself run laps around a track and that looks very boring, even more boring than walking past Italian dumpsters which is what I did yesterday. Today was a fish market and a sea wall.

Monday

Well, that  was a weekend. Rocket is still exhausted and I finally got the soden blanket out of the car. Rocket and I both learned that there is no dog ball small enough to get out of the rain

FRiday night I saw the Mr. Rogers documentary and it is as good as they say it is but it is not the weeper that they say it is either. I wanted more details and behind the scenes information and those were missing, it was more of a hagiography, which is nice and Mr. Rogers certainly deserved such tender loving care but at the same time, how about something interesting about the show? I understand there is a book that I might read because it may actually be what I am looking for formation wise. The Tom Hanks Mr. Rogers movie is based on that book.

Earlier Friday, I joined the YMCA. I  am gaining weight and I am tired of it and I need to lose it and my current walking regime is not doing it. So enter gym. Today I went for the first time.

It is very shiny. I went to the bathroom to change clothes and I got lost. I found my way out and went to the first time I knew how to operate, the treadmill. It had a screen! If I had a pair of headphones and could remember my Netflix password I could have watched Netflix.

What I ended up walking to was a pre-set trip through various European villages. Lovely, but I walk through concrete every day. I don't want to walk down streets and dodge cars, I do that every day. It took a long time to get to walking through wilderness and that was the very end. I think you must be able to change where you walk. I need to have someone show me how to make things work. I need a tour.

I spent a half and hour on the treadmill and was soaking wet and needed to get home to the dog, I got lost in the bathroom again. I'm going back tomorrow and want to do something not the treadmill, I already walk I don't need more walking. Tomorrow I'm going to get someone to help me out and show me what I can do in a hour that will be helpful to me.

TGIF

One of my neighbors said that he saw a "big fat woodchuck" the other day. And I said "really? on this street?" I have never seen one here, once on a walk I saw one downtown and it didn't belong there either,bit at least it most likely lived in the park across the street.

This morning I saw a "big fat" something that was most certainly not a woodchuck. I saw a big, fat raccoon and I and sure that that was what my neighbor saw and misidentified as a woodchuck. Woodchucks can be fat but they are not big. He saw a racoon and I'm almost positive he saw the same one I did. It was big and it was fat and it was most definitely a racoon. Not a woodchuck. Several years ago my coworkers and I wasted a lot of state time and resources researching woodchucks so I should know from woodchucks

Problem solved. Woodchucks don't eat your gardens either, they eat clover.

Anyway, this has been a horrible week, 45 has managed to not get forced from office or face impeachment and little tiny children are in cages and he is not. We had better pray for all those children and their families in Church this Sunday, did you see how they take their rosaries away from them? What kind of anti-Catholic bullshit is that? We should be doing lots of praying for them in Church and setting up vigils and pickets. Get on it Catholic Church! These are your people! Fight for them!


Deep, cleansing breath. I am going to go see the Mr. Rogers documentary and its suppose to be very good.

Here is a picture of Rocket.