Reminder to self: send trail maintenance to Green Mountain Club, work on Duncan's package, add info from Dawn Harvey. It is also time for asset reallocation.
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| View from our condo balcony |
31 Dec: Does it seem to you like we are approaching the end of something? Hmmm! I bet it’s the end of the month. Or maybe the year? We have walked 139 miles so far this month. Ron finished logging his receipts and preparing recycling. He is pleased to have received many responses to his annual letter, mailed and e-mailed in the last four days. Tomorrow is tomorrow !!
30 Dec: Not up early, but oatmealed, exercised, and happy. Late morning Cynthia went by herself to the doctor's office to pick up a prescription and then stopped at the storage unit. Ron stayed home to clean the kitchen. We walked twice for a total of 7.5 miles.
Wow !! It is truly a surprise that I feel so strongly motivated by an article that will outrage liberals, but I do feel the need to post this exposé showing how much socialism has infiltrated America. It also explains why we now have such a labor shortage, so much inflation, and the election results. https://committeetounleashprosperity.
29 Dec: The rain came early, but dried up by 10:30 AM. Ron printed his Christmas letter, mailed more cards, shopped for groceries, and we walked twice, 7.5 miles, 17,816 steps. Cynthia is icing her sore tootsies while the salmon (Mmmmm) is baking. Rain returned after dark and came down in torrents accompanied by lotsa lightning until after midnight, when Ron finally retired.
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| Cynthia (in red) and Ron |
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| Emily, Eric, Cynthia (the short one) and Ron |
27 Dec: The sun is up, and so are we. Now exercised, oatmealed, and happy, we will go for a long walk in the early afternoon. Ron took care of his MRD for this year and is still working on Christmas cards (Yes, for this year.) He has the letter ready to e-mail, but the list of recipients is still a work in progress. The cards are nearly all addressed, but only a few have written messages. As usual for Ron, these projects just drag on and on for almost ever. After two walks totaling 7.92 miles, we reached a total of 18,891 steps! Yay for us!
26 Dec: And just like that, Christmas is over? Or, it is only 365 shopping days away? The church celebrates the Season of Christmas for twelve days. Norwegians celebrate twenty days of Julbukking. Yay for us. We walked 7.27 miles, totaling 17,641 steps.
25 Dec, Sunday: Merry Christmas ! and God bless you. Nothing more needs to be said. We enjoyed a short church service. (Most of the congregation attended Christmas eve services last night, but we don't drive in the dark.) 6.8 miles today.
24 Dec: We walked at three PM, 37 degrees. On the return from the lake, it was likely below 32 because the puddles were freezing. Four-mile walk. Ron pruned the Christmas letter down to one page.
22 Dec: Ron is sending at least a few Christmas greetings ahead of Christmas this year. At eleven AM we walked 4.75 miles at 53 degrees. By six PM the temp dropped to 29 degrees with a real feel of 10, thanks to 20 MPH winds. By ten PM real feel of -6. Walden has been having rolling blackouts. We experienced one of them at six PM. Thankfully, the salmon had finished baking.
21 Dec: We slept late! Cynthia had labs nearby at one PM. After returning from the doctor’s office, we worked on the book, walked four miles, and researched Walter G. Rambo. Ron sent an annual Christmas letter to his MIT friends, and Cynthia is writing email Christmas notes.
20 Dec: Cynthia has an appointment with the retina specialist to take a test they forgot to do on Friday. We will also stock up on groceries for the big freeze anticipated Thursday. Oh, my! The traffic was abysmal. The drive to the retina specialist, to Aldis to two Walmarts, to Kroger’s, came to total stops often and took nearly two hours. Once we arrived home, we ate and then walked to the lake and back. The Dr. phoned while we were on the trail with excellent news, the macular degeneration is stable. Yea! Cynthia will have an eye exam in January to see if her prescription can be tweaked. Great news! 4.75 miles!
19 Dec: Ron has maintained his target weight of 175.4 this morning, the third day in a row (mostly because he cannot find his favorite Snyders sourdough hard pretzels at a price he is willing to pay). Heavy cold rain is falling now at 1 PM and is forecast to continue until dark, so we should make good progress with housecleaning and with editing the James Lea book. Conversations of interest… Ron asked: "Do you know why a hubsand’s work (the dishes) is never done?" Cynthia replied, "Because it takes him so long to do it." Ron said, "No, it’s because he doesn’t do it." Cynthia said, "I can’t lift the heavy mattress to get the fitted sheet corners tucked in." Ron said, "Let’s go make the bed. Don’t we get to cuddle first?"
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| Silent children, teens reading |
17 Dec: Life is good! Ron weighed 175.8 this morning, which allows him to buy pretzels again. (This is noteworthy because the pretzels help him sleep longer through the night - we still have no explanation for that phenomenon.) At high noon the temperature reached a balmy 52 degrees. We walked four miles to the lake and back in the warm sunshine. After attending a Christmas party at the yacht club, we walked to Walden Road and back despite the cold. This coming week the temperatures will dip to frigid degrees by Friday when the temperature is forecast to stay below freezing all day. Seven miles total.
16 Dec: Cynthia had an appointment with the retina specialist who said her macular degeneration is stable. We shopped, got fuel, and walked to the lake, and back after the rain stopped. We enjoyed baked salmon for dinner. Four miles.
15 Dec: It was a delightfully cool day for our first walk in the early afternoon. Eureka, success. Ron's search for photos came to an early and successful end around dusk this afternoon. Now for a second walk before cornbread for dinner. Seven miles total
14 Dec: We awoke to an amazing skyscape, a surreal blue was mirrored in the lake beneath our balcony. By ten AM, a cloudy gray enters our view. We walked to the fitness center, and home in time for Cynthia’s doctor's appointment. Now it’s time to do a longer walk. Yay for us! 7 miles today! 16,691 steps.
13 Dec: Good grief !! We have now passed the halfway mark in December, halfway to Christmas. Today we were on the road at about nine-thirty for the trip to Hempstead and Brenham, Texas. We have stops at the bank, post office, CPA, and social security office before Ron sees the ophthalmologist. This is a very busy day. Woo Hoo! Have a successful day! but no walking.
12 Dec: At 2 in the afternoon our walk is still awaiting . . . and we did walk, although there was an unnoticeably slight mist.
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| Cynthia holding Charlotte |
10 Dec: Other than a 4-mile walk, we spent the entire day in the condo, especially since the rain started at about 5 pm. Ron wrote an annual letter in preparation for mailing several cards and letters.
9 Dec: A landmark weigh-in at 175.6, so Ron again bought pretzels and snacked. We plan a busy day, first closing up DNA notes and files, second finances including writing checks to pay for the motorcycle, third shipping Cynthia's old heated gear to a delighted new recipient. Ron is finally positioned to resume working on James Lea - tomorrow - or maybe the next day.
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| View straight down from our balcony |
7 Dec: Good grief !! The high for the day is forecast to be 81 degrees, and the same for tomorrow. We can go swimming! Ron's weight is down a pound, to 178, on its way towards his target of 175. Snacking on frozen mango is a great solution. We again slept well and walked our normal four-mile round trip to the new benches beside the lake. All right !! A second walk this evening increased our mileage to 7 miles; this includes all of Cynthia's walking throughout the day. Finally, a successful day of "activity" as measured by her AppleWatch. Ron uses other measures to determine successful activity.
6 Dec: We did our usual exercise, oatmeal, and fruit routine. At about noon we walked four miles to the lake and back, stopping at the fitness center both ways. Ron continued making notes about his DNA pursuits until his Safari stopped responding; then he had to close all his windows and shut down Safari, which terminated his note-taking. Now he is free to retrieve all his financial statements to see how badly his portfolio has been affected by the last year of market volatility and inflation. Wish me luck.
5 Dec: It is wonderful to be reunited. Ron and his beloved bride enjoyed a good, long night of sleep in Montgomery, Texas! Yaay! We had to leave the condo at 9:20 to attend and join other retired pastors for the bishop’s Christmas Hymn Sing, followed by a social hour with snacks including pineapple, broccoli, and other foodstuffs we could actually eat. Cynthia drove her new, used Lexas to and from without undue discomfort.
4 Dec, Sunday: RON IS A CHRONIC HYPOTHERMIC. He left Illinois three days ago, riding towards Texas in temps of 35 degrees, with 20-30 MPH winds. (35 degrees at 60 MPH is the equivalent of 25 degrees.) The motorcycle handlebars and seats are heated, and he is bundled and swathed in layers. He says everything is good, except that high winds are scary on elevated roadways and bridges. Ron enjoyed a good morning of conversation with cousin Rex and Danielle and left the afternoon to wander about in the vicinity of Dallas hunting for I-45 south. He was about to stop and dig out his GPS when he discovered I-45 in Wilmer, TX, and arrived home to his bride in Montgomery as darkness was falling!
Drop bite-size dollops onto a paper plate Microwave two minutes Eat or freeze
3 Dec: Today's question is whether Ron can make the 316 miles to Rockwall, Texas to visit cousin Rex? If not, where will he come to rest? Spin that bottle again. Cynthia spent her day walking and cooking soup! Ron arrived in Rockwall, Texas by 5:30 PM! Hint, this is only 3 hours and 6 minutes away from Cynthia. Cousin Rex and Danielle were delightful, and we enjoyed conversing all evening into the night. Ron was quite surprised to discover that Rex's kids are mostly grown, with one graduated and two in their final years of high school. Kayla, the graduate, was in and out; Kylie was out until late; and the younger Rex was sleeping after an eventful day when he successfully tried out to become a left-handed pitcher for a national youth baseball team.
2 Dec: Ron rode about twenty miles to visit Clarence in Kansas City, Kansas, arriving about eleven AM. We had a marvelous couple of hours conversing until Ron decided that he had better get on the road and make miles south in the warm and windy weather since the winds are forecast to be much worse tomorrow with freezing temperatures. Spin the bottle: where or when he goes, nobody knows. The distance from KC to Dallas, TX is over 500 miles. Ron covered 200 miles in windy weather (gusts to 35 mph were forecast) and came to rest in a fleabag motel in Miami, Oklahoma. Cynthia awakened at five AM in Texas and loved the voicemail Ron left at 11:00 PM last night! She is oatmealed but is still sleepy. Should she arise and exercise, or go back to sleep? But arise! At 8:45, she has an appointment with the allergist. By three PM, the homemade vegetable broth is finished cooking and is refrigerated until Sunday; then it will be time to cook the lentils and veggies in the broth. Reminder to self, buy sourdough bread. Cynthia’s blood pressure elevated to unacceptable levels by eight PM, so her son Jon took her to St Luke’s to investigate; after multiple scans and EKG with all “excellent” results except for low saline and low heart rate, it was determined she needed IV saline fluids. Home by 2:30 AM, she slept beautifully, awakening on Dec. 3.
1 Dec: Hello December! Ron began the ride to Kansas City at 11:30 am in 36-degree temperatures. It was a cold ride. In Missouri, soon after crossing the Mississippi, the thermometer rose a whole degree and then a second degree. After six, not five, cold hours, Ron arrived in Excelsior Springs at Joan's house. Les came by an hour later and stayed until almost 9 pm. Ron and Joan continued discussing the peculiar world that houses us all for another hour before Ron excused himself to ride another half hour to a SafeStay hotel in Kearney, MO. The headlight on the new bike lit up the roadway quite well so that Ron was comfortable riding at night despite the possibility of deer & other fauna on the roadway. Cynthia found a recipe for lentil soup with homemade vegetable broth which she will prepare for Dec. 6th. Together by Dec. 6! Let Christmas begin!
The time between Dec. 1, 2022, 8:30:00 AM and Dec. 6, 2022, 5:30:00
5 days, 9 hours, 0 minutes, and 0 seconds
5.375 days
129 hours
464,400 seconds
