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Children in the Park, Confetti in the Grass

Working my way back up.  My knee is a little sore still, but not unmanageably.  I got in a little over 2 miles.  If I had waited until it was a little cooler, I might have gotten in more.  The park was pretty full of kids from one of the churches across the street.  Relatively full, I should say.  It would take a lot more to qualify as full!

I worked on a template for a daily post in Day One, but when I played around with it, I hated having The Wandering Hermit & BookNotes in it.  I do like moving my daily checklist into a post with space for any blogging I want to do, or any notes I want to make for the day.  I think doing this will encourage more journaling, while almost eliminating the “Notebook” journal in Day One.  I’ll still use it for playing around with things, but my lists and plans can all live in the regular journal.  I think it’ll be better that way.  Until I decide it isn’t!

[Walk #338, 2.20 miles]

  • Location of Walk: Banner Park, Guthrie, OK
  • Magpie: redbud seedpods

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Justin’s Eye

Today is on Justin’s walking schedule, so I waited for him to get up and go to the park.  When he got up, his eye was swollen nearly shut.  He went to urgent care and they prescribed antibiotics, but also told him to take allergy medication and use ointment until it all clears up.  I assumed he was off the hook for exercise; there’s no need to push it if you have an infection, but after he got back I announced I was going for a walk and he came with me.  He got in a little over a quarter of a mile, but considering one of his eyes is puffed up and he can’t see out of it, I would say that’s actually impressive.  It tells me he is willing to put in some work.  Things change!

The day was a little too warm.  I said I was shooting for 2 miles, but after about 1.5, I started heading back.  It was too hot, the park was filling with kids, and I was starting to need to use the restroom.  I felt great, and I still do, but I decided to just go home and be done with it!  If I feel up to it this evening, I might go out for more.   We’ll see.  I really want to be doing 3 miles a day starting on the 1st, so I really should keep it up.  Twice a day feels very manageable.  There and back, four times around the park, plus just a little extra is 1.5 miles.  That sounds easy.  11 times around plus a little extra sounds daunting.

On the 24th, I picked up a magnolia seed pod and carried it home.  It sort of triggered me to start picking up things and bringing them home on my walks.  I don’t know if that is permanent, but it is fun.  Today I found confetti.  I might actually try to pick more of that up; we don’t need that much plastic in the soil, but it is hard to get a hold of.  Even if it is larger pieces.  I had decided to grab the strap in my walking photo during my walk yesterday, but forgot it.  It still counts!

I’ve been thinking about the way I organize my journaling.  The Wandering Hermit was on a separate site, so it has always been a separate entity, as are my book notes.  I think I’d like to create a new journaling template for 2026, something that has spaces for all the different things as well as my sort of daily to do list.  I can clip from it, but it would consolidate my days into a single post in DayOne, which I think I might quite like.  It also might make my website cleaner if I’m posting once a day (except for reviews and whatnot).  I’ll work on that.

[Walk #337, 1.63 miles]

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A Chase

I’m a little sore.  My knee was slightly swollen when I woke up, so I need to make sure to not overdo things for a few days and see if that resolves itself.  I didn’t do that much of a walk yesterday, but I was active and on my feet most of the day and the two days before that I did a full three mile walk, so I’m probably just dealing with the consequences of the long break I took from my walks.  

It feels warmer today than the thermometer indicates.  That could just be me; I did wake up in the middle of the night feeling little too hot, but it was only 71º in the house.  

When I got to the park, the only other person there was a woman walking the same path as I walk.  Her pace is much better than mine, especially today, so I kept finding ways to stay out of her way so she never had to cross paths with me.  I think it’s better for others, but it also prevents people from sneaking up on me from behind.  I did get in 20 step ups as a result.  Those feel so good and get my heart really going.  I know I need to add dumbbells; I’m dreading carrying them to the park with me for my walks!  But I will.  There are a lot of things I need to get over.

It’s Brad’s birthday.  He is going for his usual birthday dinner at Cattleman’s.  He’s invited me, and I’m on the fence about it.  On the one hand, I actually do like hanging out with him and that is a good opportunity.  On the other hand, Friday evening at Cattleman’s can mean long wait times for the opportunity to sit and not have anything to eat.  Not that I mind not eating (they don’t serve anything I can have), but it can be annoying for that to be after waiting two hours to be seated.  I’m thinking about it.

Brent’s going to be over this afternoon, and after he leaves for his evening photoshoot, I think I’ll go for a second walk to try to get in my three miles.  Maybe doing it all at once is part of my problem.  Maybe it’s the total.  Maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with my walking.

[Walk #336, 2.18 miles]

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Deer, Turkey, Toads

This was a surprisingly good and productive day.  Brent & I went to Glencoe to do a final cleanup of trash & get the propane tank listed and picked up.  The only thing left to do out there is the owner of the mobile home to come out and get it, but everything we were going to do is done (unless the mobile home pickup results in a mess, which we may need to hire someone to cleanup).  Everything takes so long.  On the way to the recycling center, there were deer and turkeys in the Johnson’s yard across the creek.  Both are common, but not usually at the same time.

Brent is fun to hang out when he’s not focused on trying to get out of the task.  He has relaxed since buying his house and moving.  When we couldn’t get find a place to take a refrigerator, we took it to Brad’s and to my surprise Brent went in and visited with Brad, AJ, & Kenzie.  They are remodeling at Brad’s and he is not talking about moving any longer.  I don’t agree, but it’s not my house and not my life.  It was actually a pretty good visit in spite of the smell of smoke.  Brad says he quit again.  I’m glad to hear it.  I would love if he started taking care of himself more!!

It was a long day, and I didn’t get home until 8, so I only did a 25 minute walk.  I got in a lot of movement throughout the day, so I still feel pretty good about it.  The park was full of toads and there were teenagers hanging out on the playground.  That made me feel good actually; I worry about young people not spending enough time just still being kids.  I got in my steps, avoiding stepping on toads, and got back home.  I’m so tired now, but I have a washer & dryer now and I put a load of laundry in for the first time and so I almost feel like this is where my time in Guthrie starts.  I don’t have anything to pull me away to do other tasks.  

[Walk #335, 1.15 miles]

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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]

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Threes All The Way Down

I’m feeling both exhausted and very accomplished!  I got in my 3.33 miles this morning, and while that was my goal, I almost felt like I could have done more…that is, until my headphones stopped working properly and my shoes started actively falling apart! 

Even after having those issues, I considered just continuing on until I heard a train coming and I thought it would be fun to be on the bridge as the train passed underneath.  I am just a kid in an adult costume after all.  And it was fun.  I enjoyed that quite a bit.  Little did I know, it was one of three trains that would be coming through, so I still could have gotten a little extra in.  I would have been pretty tired when I got back though, so I think I made the right call turning around when I did.

This is a great week to get back on track with soups.  I normally just have a crockpot of soup, and I have what I need to make a light version at the moment.  I can also make some cauliflower rice meals with broccoli & sweet potato.  That would give me some variety without going overboard on calories.

I had another excellent conversation with Robert last night.  He keeps me feeling motivated with my exercise.  Later today, I’m going to make a list of the things I need, like dumbbells and yoga bricks.  I might just get online and order them.  I’m trying to get back to being serious about fitness; it might be the push my body needs for some weight loss.  We will see!!

[Walk #333, 3.33 miles]

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Psychosis & Plans for the Future

I can’t stop thinking about how strange the world is right now.  There are many people who believe tomorrow they will be raptured.  There are stories online of people quitting their jobs, selling their stuff—one lady is keeping her kids home from school, so they can all be together when it happens.  It’s like a collective psychosis.  It’s funny, but it’s actually disturbing.  What are those people going to do on Wednesday?  Sure, the prognosticators will choose a new date to grift the gullible, but what about the people who gave up so much on a lie?  I’m concerned.

The influencers have convinced millions that a slain racist is a martyr, but they don’t look into it.  The system is set up for people to follow blindly.  If someone says it with a podium in front of them and a cross behind them, they cannot be lying.  And so, they are losing their minds.  Some are convinced that he will be resurrected, comparing him to Jesus.  The man who advocated hate and fear and division, the man who would take food out of a child’s mouth if their parent wasn’t sufficiently deserving.  The man who believed that LGBTQ people should be stoned to death, as it says in The Bible.  That man, that hate monger.  They are wrapping him into their belief system.  It’s gross.

My walk was warm, but good.  It’s been a year and a half, but I am still amazed when I can do these walks and not be out of breath.  I am a little under the weather today, but that’s the ragweed.  We just can’t seem to get a good break from it and the longer the pollen count is high, the worse I feel.  It’s going to be even higher tomorrow.  I’ll just have to take some extra meds.  I don’t know when we’ll get a reprieve.  We need a good sustained rain, but there are just more of these showers in the forecast, and those don’t really help much.  

In honor of walk #333, which I will be doing tomorrow, I’d like to get in 3.33 miles.  I just think that would be fun.  I’ve been going around the park 4 times, and that doesn’t even get me close to that.  I’d have to go around about 12 times.  I can do it, and I’d like to do it.  Maybe I’ll have to incorporate some of the sidewalks as well.  If I go really early, I can walk the sidewalk along Noble and go across the train tracks.  It sounds like a lot, but I can do it.

[Walk #332, 1.39 miles]

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