1. I was out for a drive and
went past a house that had one of those racks filled with bundles of
firewood. That’s pretty common, especially on Cape Cod. Then you’ll
see a cheaply made sign that says something like ‘Fire Wood $10 a
bundle.’ Well, this particular house must have been having bad luck
with its sales. Their sign said exactly what I just wrote, but then
scribbled in black marker next to it was the word ‘Good.’ So,
putting ‘good’ next to your firewood sign, I don’t think, will
bring new potential customers, but that’s just me. It’s like
Milhouse on The Simpsons saying ‘but my mom thinks I’m cool.’
Nah, doesn’t work.
2. Nothing is better than ending a
day of work by being challenged to a race on a ski ergometer by
your boss. A ski erg basically mimics a skiing motion and is great
for cardio training. If you’re not prepared, it can leave you wiped
out. We battled it out to see who could get to 500 meters fastest. My
boss did it in 1:29, I finished in 1:31. Both really great times. I
was gassed and then had to drive home with my arms destroyed and
feeling like I wanted to lay down and sleep. I will be trying to beat
his time, though, in the future, just after warming up first.
3. I can still run, not as
fast or as far as I used to, but each time I do, I feel a little more
confident. Nothing kills that confidence like playing some
basketball. I go to a full court at a recreation area less than a
mile from where I live. Rarely, if ever, do I see people playing there
so I usually have it all to myself. Running up and down the court is
doable. Stopping, cutting, and most of all jumping, these are a
different story. I played a ton as a kid and was even on the school
team in 7th
and 8th
grade. Now staring down 50, I feel my age when trying to do any sort
of jump shot. My left knee has nothing left to give. I’m surprised
I can clear an anthill with my sad hops today.
4. It’s late May with
Memorial Day Weekend arriving. Yet here I sat one evening this week, bundled up in my winter night clothes, wrapped in a blanket. A heavy rainstorm on Thursday was dumping 1-2” of rain. That kept
temperatures hovering around 50. Coupled with gusts of over 55mph, it
left it feeling like it was in the mid-30s. Of course, I’ve had my
heat off for over a month, since you know it’s spring. Memorial Day
Monday will be sunny and 65 but still that one chilly night was like
the scene in a horror movie where the killer comes back for one more
scare.
5. Few things will stop your heart than having it say your credit/debit card
was declined. Luckily, when it happened this week, it was because I had
mistyped my own PIN number. I was paying for something at a store and
saw the ‘declined’ pop-up. Even though I knew that I had simply
typed the wrong PIN number, my heart jumped. In this day and age, with
identity theft being a real issue, your mind immediately goes to ‘oh
no did I get hacked?’ I breathed a sigh of relief when I tried a
second time with my PIN, but there was a split second where I was
terrified.
6. I love rabbits. They’re
so cute. The only thing cuter than a rabbit is a baby bunny. So you
can imagine my thrill when coming home one evening this week, I saw a
little puffball bunny eating grass in the front yard. I am working
hard to get photos and/or video. I could try to coax it closer with
food. The problem is that it’s a little one I don’t want to
get it used to people as it’s not going to be a pet. I’d feel bad
if this little baseball-sized fluffy bunny got hurt because it
started hanging around waiting to be fed. There are coyotes, owls,
foxes, and other animals living nearby that would love a rabbit
dinner. So I’ll have to work on my skills with a zoom lens to get
some bunny photos.
7. The Planet Fitness location
I go to this week, finally, and I do mean finally, updated its
equipment. I have the Black Card membership and have visited probably
close to 10 other locations. Each of those has equipment like
medicine balls, kettlebells, bands, foam rollers, and other things
that are great for exercise. The gym closest to me seemed to think
dumbbells and machines that constantly broke down were good enough
for us. They were closed 2 full days putting in all new equipment, and
I will say I was pleasantly surprised by what is there now. Although
true to form when I got there, one of the new cardio machines already
had an ‘out of order’ sign on it.
8. It was an odd sight while
sitting in a mostly empty beach parking lot that I saw a car parked a
ways away. It backed out of one spot, but rather than leaving, it moved
about 3 spots down and parked again. I thought to myself, was the view
really that different, like 10 feet away? They only stayed a few
minutes longer, so I’ll never know what was up with them. Maybe they
have a parking spot checklist and they’re trying to spend a few
minutes in all of them before the end of the summer?
9. I have fallen down a rabbit
hole of watching other people play the Friday the 13th
game that came out in 2017. You can play as a counselor trying to
survive, or even better, you can play as Jason and kill people in some
really gruesome ways. I enjoy watching others play for a few minutes
as long as there’s no commentary from the players, just the sounds
of Jason on a killing spree. I should probably just get the game and
play myself. Then I can post YouTube videos of me playing just like a
15-year-old!
10. It takes a special kind of
person to pull up to a trash can at the beach and get out to throw a
full garbage bag into it in broad daylight. This lady didn’t
even try to hide what she was doing. I debated saying something but I
figured at least she threw it in the can, unlike the scum who leave
full bags of trash on the side of the road. After she left, I briefly
thought about checking to see if she had thrown anything away with
her address on it. I had a fantasy of finding her house and throwing
the bag on her lawn. Then I remembered this would mean I’d have to
dig through someone’s bag of trash in a public place. There’s no
way I wouldn’t end up looking crazy.
