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Refreshed, Reset, Ready to Go

I’m feeling good today, is spite of the unexpected expenses.  Life happens and there’s not a lot that can be done about it!  The plumber came a day early & they are bringing a new hot water tank tomorrow morning.  There’s a relief to that, especially since I have a home warranty for the first year.  This little hiccup was expensive, and left me with no flooring in two rooms, but that’s okay.  There are bigger problems in the world.  

My knee continues to hurt a little.  I should be wearing a brace until it feels normal again, but I have no clue where mine is.  I hate to just buy another one, but I think that’s where we are!  

Probably because my knee was hurting, but I found it disappointing that to downtown and back is about a quarter mile short of three miles.  That means I have to add tangents to make up for it, so I probably need to do that going.  After the second mile, all I want to do is get home.  I think when I get to the point where I can do two miles to downtown and then stop for shopping or coffee or whatever before returning, things will feel less daunting on the walk back.  Or maybe when the knee is not hurting.  Otherwise, my breathing is good.  My pace could be better, but I feel good on the walk.  It’s a nicer walk  overall than rural Glencoe was.  I do have things I love about those rural walks, but I think this one is just slightly better.  There’s greater opportunity for variation certainly.  One thing I might try is just going until I reach 1.5 miles and see where that is.  That would at least give me a walk I could do that would guarantee I meet my 3 mile goal.

[Walk #342, 3.13 miles]

  • Location of Walk: home to downtown, Guthrie, OK
  • Magpie: cypress cones

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Fievel Goes West

Life happens.  It’s useless to stay upset about it.  The hot water tank needs to be replaced; I’ve got a call in with my home warranty, so it’s going to be in their hands.  Meanwhile, the flooding, as little as it was, got under the flooring and since I don’t really know what the nature of my subfloor is, I felt like I had no choice but to pay for mitigation.  The wall between the laundry room and hallway got the worst of it, and it’ll dry in time.  They removed the baseboards and have fans on it.  They ripped up the flooring on either side because there was no way for the vinyl floor to dry out, and nobody knew what was underneath.  Concrete!  It would probably have been okay, drying really slowly.  But it likely would have dried.  I feel like I wasted $1700, but I am also happy that I won’t end up with any mold issues.  There is some value in peace of mind.  I’m going to have to live without flooring in those two spaces until I figure out what kind to go with.  I really do want rolled vinyl, but the water tank needs to drain properly!  

My walk was interrupted earlier, so I went downtown this evening to finish my miles.  There was a big screen where Fievel Goes West was playing, which I thought was fun.  I like how alive downtown feels here.  There are too many vacancies, but it seems like it is holding on.  I hope that continues.  

Cold showers for now.  That is a problem with Justin’s eye issue.  He really needs to stay on top of cleanliness.  Big fans (loud!) are on until Sunday.  Plumber comes Thursday for the hot water tank.  Hopefully they can get a new one quickly.  While I’m annoyed that it went out, it is fortunate that it went out within the year that I have this warranty.  

[Walk #341, 2.54 miles]

  • Location of Walk: home to downtown, Guthrie, OK
  • Magpie: magnolia leaf

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The Magnolia Seed Pod

What a great walk!  The temperature was great, so I woke Justin up to go with me and to get in his own exercise.  I had him choose three non-consecutive days to do exercise, and after a lot of protesting he chose Tuesday, Thursday, & Saturday.  Yesterday, I wanted to get in a specific early morning walk, so I wasn’t available (he won’t do it on his own yet), so we started his new routine today.  He will end up having a consecutive situation this week, but then we will be on track starting next week.  

I was a little misleading to start with, knowing full well that walking up to Highway 33 and across the bridge is almost exactly one mile.  I didn’t not tell him that, but I didn’t mention how far it was, just to say it isn’t too far.  I’m trying to encourage him to get in 25 minutes at least, and that should be one mile.  This little trick doubled that at least.  I will say, as nice as that walk is, highway traffic is very loud.  

After we crossed the bridge, and after I had paused to try and get a good photo of a blue heron (I didn’t; I never do), we made our way down along the side to cross under the bridge.  I wanted to see if there was another way back across the creek nearby, and after walking a bit, I pulled out my phone to check.  No.  The next bridge a on the other side of town, so we’d have to go back up and across the way we had come.  But by that time, it seemed just as easy to go around through downtown, so we did that.  A magnolia had dropped pods on the sidewalk, and it reminded me of the magnolia I would pick flowers from on the way home from school.  I loved picking up the discarded pods in Fall and picking the flowers in Spring.

As we turned onto Division to go up to the crosswalk, I failed to see the split level of the sidewalk and fell onto the sidewalk.  Crushed my phone’s screen protector, but it had done its job.  I was actually impressed that the fall didn’t phase me or my breathing.  It doesn’t even register on my heart rate tracked by my watch.  It just did not phase me one bit.

We made our way back across, Justin completely over me “stopping to take photos like you’ve never seen anything before.”  I thought that was funny.  We walked back through the neighborhood once across the bridge, and over to Banner Park, where I completed my walk by going once around.  I wanted to get that last mile in.  

It did teach me that I can easily just walk to downtown.  And I will.  Especially as I get more used to doing three miles a day, and if I start adding more.  It won’t take much to go down, stop in to the bookstore we passed by, or in one of the places for a coffee.  It could make for a more interesting routine.  And if that seems too far, there are easy places to park to do a downtown walk.  I do wish there were more businesses going in.  I don’t want to see Guthrie die.  Downtown is such a big part of its identity. 

I had expected to get in a short walk, but I’m so glad I did something longer.  I feel good.

[Walk #334, 3.12 miles]