The Week in Walks, etc. Vol 11

I'm making some changes to my walking routine; while the long walks are nice and very good exercise, they take too much time out of my day, and I always seem to be quite unproductive after I go for my walk. So, from this week, I'm going to do a combination of long and short walks, depending on how I'm doing with the work I've got slated for the day.

Monday, 1st October - Long Walk

A very interesting, and different, mushroom seen along one of the paths...

I went out walking between rain showers; I started with the sun out, but not long afterwards, the clouds started to gather. While I was walking, I wound up chatting to someone who lives not that far away and who takes his dog walking in the park during the winter. I know I won't be alone then. ;)

Total Distance - 10304 steps 8.24km

Tuesday, 2nd October - Short Walk

Some nice red leaves in the park, right along the edge of the path.

It's been a while since I've done a walk this short, but after thinking about how I can improve my time management, I realized that it wouldn't be the end of the world if i cut back to a one-hour walk, with the occasional long walk thrown in. It was a cloudy day, but not too bad for walking. Interestingly, the train that was there when I went out was still there when I came back.

Total distance - 5021 steps, 4.01km

Wednesday, 3rd October - Short Walk

Fallen leaves cover the path through the park; they're really loud when you walk on them. ;)

The sun was out today and the weather wasn't too bad. I took some time to try to eradicate some more weeds from the trees, but wasn't totally successful. I also tried walking off of the road for a bit as the sides were nicely mowed by my town earlier in the day.

Total Distance - 5433 steps, 4.34km

Thursday, 4th October - Short Walk

A hint of color appears above some still-green leaves.

If someone came here and you told them it was October after witnessing the weather, you could excuse them for thinking that it was a nice spring day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was quite warm. It made for a nice walk.

Total distance - 5383 steps, 4.30km

Friday, 5th October - All-day counting

Leaves of all sorts look gold during the "golden hour" - sunset. :)

Admittedly, I got lazy with the counting today, and just counted at two points - before my walk, and then at the end of the day. Also, I'm not sure that all my steps were counted as I was wearing different pants and wasn't hearing the clicking of the pedometer as I was walking. I got done with volunteering a little bit early, so I walked the long way around to my ride; it was really windy there. The walk was shortly after getting home, and it was quite warm, so I got very sweaty...

Distances - before walk - 4288 steps, 3.43km
end of day - 10357 steps, 8.28km

Saturday, 6th October - Short Night Walk

I've mentioned where I walk in the past; anyone wanna guess what this interesting contraption is for? ;)

It was quite warm today; you could have confused the weather for the middle of summer. By the time I went to walk at 6pm or so, the temperature had only gotten down to 28°C (82°F), with a dew point of 21°C (70°F). It was not a fun walk, especially when I was getting disoriented (that's because of the white light, not because of some kind of heat stroke or anything.

Total Distance - 5327 steps, 4.26km

Sunday, 7th October

I'm delaying the walk again until a little bit later when it begins to cool off a bit; as I write this, the temperature is currently 29°C (84°F). I'm thinking that it might be better off if I change the week in walks to Sunday-Saturday (still posting it on Sunday), so that way I can focus on just walking on Sunday, with all the rest of the photos done. Let me know what y'all think in the comments. :)

In other news, my little assignment notebook experiment has been going quite well. I've actually made to-do lists for each day over the last week (even though yesterday's just had one thing on it - "f--k with template"). I'm also managing my time better, and actually finding that, with the to-do list and focusing on what I should focus on, I feel like I have more time in my day.

This week, I'm continuing work on the new version of my blog, on WordPress; I've been playing around with the template. It's starting to look really slick, and I feel that I'm only a couple of changes away from it being perfect (for now). :)

Also, my goal for the week is to get in at least 2 long walks; it's supposed to be cooler, so the conditions will be much better for walking.

The Week in Walks, etc. Vol 10

Note: Like last week, I'm posting this before the Sunday walk. Check back in about 3 hours for the Sunday walk write-up and the In Other News section...

Monday, 24th September

Looking back towards the parking lot of the park from the road leading to the entrance/exit.

It was a warmer day, and I made a really bad decision. I went out of the park and around the long way, up the road that I go under to get to the park. That led to me having to slide down a big hill very slowly. Not an experience I'm going to be repeating anytime soon, unless I want to take a really long walk.

Total distance - 11324 steps, 9.05km

Tuesday, 25th September

Looking down a slide on the playground equipment? Wanna go down it? ;)

I walked just after the rain ended and got back just before it started raining very heavily. Quite good timing, I should think. Even the mosquitoes weren't too bad though their numbers did increase as I went along as it was still quite humid. Hopefully it will end soon and they will go away!

Total distance - 10418 steps, 8.33km

Wednesday, 26th September

A grab shot experiment - this is of the parking lot; I really liked the colors as they wound up in this picture. :)

I really cheated today. I was making good time when I started walking, but due to some conflicting events (such as needing to head to the grocery store to visit the bank before a specific time), I wound up only walking halfway back home until I was picked up. I decided to then make up the rest of the way to 10000 steps by doing some walking around the house. ;)

Total distance - 10337 steps, 8.26km

Thursday, 27th September

An anvil cloud forms to the north of the park; I don't know if it actually caused any rain though.

It was another wet day, this time with thunderstorms in the area, but I waited it out until the rain stopped. Just to be sure, I took the umbrella with me, and that was good since just as I was walking out of the park, a light shower started which lasted for maybe 30 seconds.

Total distance - 11230 steps, 8.98km

Friday, 28th September

A bit of a time lapse look at some bugs flying around alongside the road. I decided to go around them ;)

Again, being Friday, I decided to repeat the keeping track of my steps during the day while at volunteering. I walked in the evening using the white light and it worked actually quite decently, better than I would have expected.

Distances -
10.13am (after walking to volunteering and working for a couple of hours) - 1403 steps, 1.12km
3.35pm (after volunteering) - 1651 steps, 1.32km
6.15pm (after getting home and before walking - 4433 steps, 3.54km
8.20pm (after walking) - 13354 steps, 10.68km
end of day - 13560 steps, 10.84km

Saturday, 29th September

A 30-second timelapse looking towards the southwest. The purple light is actually a combination of the white and red lights on my headband.

I went to walk late in the day again, just because I still have time management issues. It's something that I desperately need to work on. Anyway, as I was walking, I spotted what I thought was lightning in the southwestern sky, but I think now it was just a camera's flash, as it only happened a couple of times, and wasn't followed up by thunder. I continued on though and it never did rain.

Total distance - 11446 steps, 9.15km

Sunday, 30th September

A woodpecker goes to work on a tree. (I'm having problems with the image showing up, so it might not appear for you...)

Today's walk was a bit different because I decided to break it into two distinct sections. I decided to get to the shelter that's at the park and then stop to do a bit of writing - it worked pretty good, I think because I don't have the distractions that I have on the computer available to me in the park. Hopefully, it will help me to focus on writing when I'm at the computer.

Total distance - 10752 steps, 8.60km
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In other news, I'll be honest and say that it wasn't the greatest week with keeping on target with my goals. I'm still falling victim to temptations on the internet. As I mentioned, what actually worked was taking 15 minutes with a pencil and paper to sit and write in the park. I also fell down on the work with putting together a to-do list every day; I only admittedly made one on Thursday.

I've now purchased a very simple day planner (no fancy type on it that says "Day Planner" or "DayRunner®". Nope, this is just a $1.84 "assignment" notebook, with a line for the date on it; it's simple and, provided I make myself determined to actually stick with it, should work. I'm also taking advantage of a small egg timer I have here to help me with eliminating the distractions by allowing myself only to do them after doing something, and only for a short period of time (10-20 minutes).

The final GYST Update:

Has it been 4 weeks already? The time certainly seemed to fly. I've successfully made it to walking 10,000 steps every day this week; however, I am still around the 2-hour mark for my daily walks. I've gotten to the point now where I will walk in just about any conditions, including the dark of night, with the assistance of a headband flashlight.

However, this week, I've been bad with my eating by having junk food (really the first junk food that I've had for almost a month, but still it's bad) and doing a bit of overeating. It's a minor setback, but I feel that I'm ahead of where I was at the beginning of the month.

I still have issues with resolving the distraction issue I have, along with managing my time so that I can do everything I want to do in a day. I've invested in a small notebook which will be only for setting out tasks for me to do on the day, and am going to make use of a small egg timer that I have to put a limit on the time I take in pursuing my distractions, if they do arise.

I feel that I've made a start on the way to improving my life, but I know that there is still a long way to go for me to get to where I want to be. However, I know that I can make the changes, I just have to commit to them.

The Week in Walks, etc. Vol 9

Just a note - I'm posting this before walking today as I have a function to attend this afternoon and didn't want to delay the posting of this. Be sure to check back later tonight after I have walked for today's picture and the write-up of the walk.

Update: I've now posted today's walk. ;)

Monday, 17th September

One of the younger trees in the park, picture taken just as the rain was starting; I put the camera away shortly after.

Well, it worked out well to walk when I did. Never minding that it was warmer so the mosquitoes are out in force (again!), right in the middle of my walk, it started to rain. However, I was not deterred, and kept on walking. As it turns out, I went the farthest that I had in a walk up to now.

Total distance - 9996 steps, 7.99km

When I took the pedometer off and saw that, I was tempted to put it back on and make the four more steps to make up the full 10,000, but I figured that's be cheating ;)

Tuesday, 18th September

An interestingly placed penny in the park's shelter. I don't know why someone nailed it there, but it's there so I took a picture... ;)

I decided to do some exploring by heading furhter down the road I walk along before heading into the park. I did find the remnants of a guardrail that was there at one point in time, but went away for some reason. I also found an alternate path, but that had a no tresspassing sign, so I made the wise decision to just turn around and head back to the park. I followed the mostly usual trail around the park and the soccer fields, then headed toward the parking lot to check in on the trees, which are still there.

I then headed back via the disc golf course and cutting between a couple of the holes in the high grass that is there. When I got back, I checked the pedometer and saw that I was close to 10,000, so I decided to walk around the house, and that worked. ;)

Total distance -10017 steps, 8.01km

Wednesday, 19th September

This is one of the stands of trees - you can see the colors starting to come; they're a bit early (thanks to it being kinda dry in this area), and not very colorful...yet...

I tried a different route today, by going up the old "longer" route, and wound up actually doing less steps for what seemed to be a longer distance (go figure eh? ;)). It was quite warm again, but the mosquitoes were actually tolerable (I think they're naturally sorting themselves out).

On my way back, it turned into a race, which I won ;)

total distance - 9566 steps, 7.65 km

Thursday, 20th September

A hint of color here, thanks to a red oak(? - it might be a maple leaf) leaf lying in the middle of the path

I started out walking thinking that I'd make it a bit of a shorter walk because my ankle had been giving me grief all day long, but as I started to walk, I got into my rhythm and started to just "do my thing". I went and explored another part of the park that I hadn't in the past, which led me into a couple of swarms of mosquitoes - aside from the general annoyance they cause, it was not that big of a deal.

I then did a couple of laps around the parking lot, swerving between sides of the aisle to increase the distance I was walking. While on the stretch run, I can tell that I am getting tired when I walk as I was barely feeling like I was moving, even though my feet were going one in front of the other.

Total distance - 10658 steps, 8.52km

Friday, 21st september

One of the kites that were up flying in the park

A bit of an experiment, I've had the pedometer on all day. I've kept track of the steps at various points of the day, just to see how much walking I'd done while I was volunteering. The only estimated reading is the end of day one, as I had taken the meter off after getting back from my walk (yeah, I know, lazy!).

The walk was done straight after getting back from volunteering so that I didn't walk into the night like I did the last time I went volunteering. While out, I saw some folks with kites launching them in the decent conditions for flying - it was quite windy.

Here's the progression of the distance -
7.55AM (after arriving at volunteering after a short walk from my drop-off point) - 1152 steps, 0.92km
3.30PM (after volunteering, before walking back to the pickup point) - 1896 steps, 1.51km
4.30PM (before heading out to do my "daily" walk - 2923 seps, 2.34km
5.02PM (after putting bugspray on for the second time and on entry to the park) - 4673 steps, ~3.74km
5.25PM (in the park, after going through the forest and around one of the soccer areas) - 6506 steps, ~5.20km
5.53PM (still in the park, after going around the main area of the park) - 8011 steps, ~6.41km
6.23PM (after leaving the park, on the way back to the house) - 9942 steps, ~7.95km
6.50PM (after getting back in the house) - 11727 steps, 9.38km
bedtime - approx. 12000 steps, 9.60km

Saturday, 22nd September

Three hot air balloons fly to the south of the park. There wasn't much wind today, so they didn't last too long up there.

I went walking later in the day again, but it wasn't too bad, even if the mosquitoes were almost as bad as they were in the beginning of the month (they've gone away quite a bit, but are still there). I finally had to resort to taking out a notebook I have in my bag (a decent sized one, which I'm using to draw up my desk plans in) to try to swat at them. It wasn't the most effective thing, but it did work as temporary relief.

While out, I saw two groups of people playing disc golf; the only thought (aside from shut the f--k up for the one group who were screaming like crazy - ok, they're having fun I know ;)) was that these are the people responsible for leaving junk everywhere. Yeah, it still bugs me, even though the amount of trash isn't as bad as it had been at other times. Other than that, I have started to do a trick of walking back and forth in the parking lot of the park, just to build the distance.

total distance - 10670 steps, 8.53km

Sunday, 23rd September

I haven't gone walking yet, so I'll update the post later on in the day when I have gone out to walk. I have to go to an anniversary party and have to head out to my bank to put in a check I received, so time management is still an issue for me, obviously. ;)



It's a reflective sign, lit up by my head! ;)

I've come back from walking - I gave myself permission to do a shorter walk since I had first gotten out to start walking at 7PM. I have a new toy after getting a mention that it's hard to see me - this little head light. It works really good, and I prefer to use the "traditional" flashlight lamp.

Total distance - 9073 steps, 7.25km

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In other news, my desk plans are going somewhat slowly, mostly because I'm having a hard time coming up with a design I'd like. All I know right now is that it's going to be a corner desk, and somewhat large (I'm thinking like 11x11 feet, but that's just a first draft in which the feasibility hasn't even been tested with rulers yet). As far as my time management planning has been going, it starts good, but then I get off track, usually by finding something that will distract me.

I've made up the list of daily tasks, all I have to do now is actually put together the little sheet where I check off after I get the task done each day. As far as getting things together to make some spare cash, I've managed to get 4 items listed on ebay to sell; I'd share the information on that, but that would reveal my true identity; something I'd prefer not to do here. I've also gotten a reply on a bid I made on Sponsoredreviews, and you'll be seeing that coming later today or tomorrow.

Here's the GYST update for this week -

This week, I've gotten myself over 9500 steps every day, and over 10,000 steps on four days (so far, I'll update this after I walk today). I've also been better with getting tasks set for myself, but time management is still an issue for me as I tend to get distracted by random things like videos on youtube. I've also been keeping good with eating less, and have noticed that if I want something at night for a snack (bad, I know!), I usually just open the refrigerator and close it without taking anything out of it.

My goals for the upcoming final week are to work on the time I take to walk, by speeding up my pace I walk at, with the goal to get the time I'm walking down to between 1:30 to 1:45 from the current 2 hours. I'm also going to work on eliminating distractions from my work in order to improve my use of time. Also, I'm going to keep on making to-do lists for every day and making sure that I do reward myself for a job well done.

The Week in Walks, etc. Vol 8

Monday, 10th September

Here are the horses I blogged about ages ago, coming towards me. I bet they were drawn in by the orange shirt I was wearing... ;)

So, I've learned something about my new shoes - they're not waterproof! Then again, it might have something to do with the fact that I did walk a long way through grass that should be shorter than it is cut (you'd think that a soccer field would have short grass, but it doesn't for some reason). As I had mentioned, it was only 12°C outside when I went walking, so I did take the opportunity to take the I'm walkin' here shirt for a test drive. It worked very well, as everything I put into the jacket's pockets stayed dry, even though it got really cold. I also stayed nice and warm the whole time and relatively unbothered by mosquitoes.

That is, except for the one mosquito which decided to fly into my mouth. That was a very unfun time, until I spat it out. Probably TMI, but you never know.. ;)

Total distance - 8536 steps, 6.82km

Tuesday, 11th September

A look towards the southwestern horizon; sorry about the sky blowing out, the skies were blue, with clouds (as evidenced in other pictures I took).

The winds were really up, but this was the first time since last Sunday when I went without bug spray. The mosquitoes are actually down to manageable levels again, except for another one which decided to fly into my mouth....

While I was out walking, I spotted someone cutting the lawn in the fields, but I guess they must have lost interest or something since they only bothered cutting like 1% of the whole fields, and hardly any of the soccer fields.

Total distance - 8950 steps, 7.16km

Wednesday, 12th September

A hawk, in flight over the trees in the park. I have some more shots of a hawk up close (though not too close), which I'll post in the future. :)

It was a warmer day, so that meant the mosquitoes were back again. :( However, I just put on the bug spray and went along, not being bothered that much. I'm finding that as I walk more, I'm being able to "find" steps in unlikely places, like discovering the road that leads out of the park, and by walking around the disc golf holes. I'm also walking around the parking lot, along the outside of it. Right now, it's about building up the distance I'm walking.

Total distance - 8739 steps, 6.99km

Thursday, 13th September

An interesting tree. Does anyone know what kind of fruits these are? I don't believe that they're bananas since we're not exactly in a tropical environment...

A warm day, so more mosquitoes, and this time they were worse than the day before. Though that might have been because of the fact I didn't wear my long sleeve shirt because of the temperature. I decided to meander around the park, and generally stay away from the forest and that was a strategy that worked out for me, but not so much for the mosquitoes. ;)

Total distance - 8928 steps, 7.14km

Friday, 14th September

A squirrel which startled me sits on the tree before climbing further upwards

I went a bit earlier; it was much cooler today, and it wasn't too bad walking. I also did some exploration of the park, going down to the lower half of the park where the first part of the disc golf course is. I decided to go up one route where the course went, and wound up climbing straight up a hill that is meant to be gone down (there are some interesting grades along that course, incidentally).

I then went up a path and discovered two trees that had fallen down across the path. Instead of going back and going around, I just climbed over the one tree and around the other tree.

Before doing that, I came across a father and his son and asked if I could take a photo and they obliged, and the photo came out really nicely. However, I did not ask for permission to post it online, so I can't let y'all see it.

Total distance - 8865 steps, 7.09km

Saturday, 15th September

The last light of the day, with the moon visible in the distance

This seems to be happening every week now, where I go out way too late. I've been going out at around 7 pm, and this time wasn't an exception. Unfortunately, the sun doesn't like to stay out for the same amount of time, so I wind up walking further and further into the night. By the time I was getting ready to start out of the park, it was almost pitch black, and by time I got out to the road, I had to use a flashlight. The good news was that no cars came toward me and dazzled me.

The best part about walking in the really cold air (I'd guess it was around 10°C at the beginning of my walk and downhill from there), was that I encountered a grand total of 3 mosquitoes the whole time.

Total distance - 9131 steps, 7.30km

Sunday, 16th September

This is the other part of the grass story. As you can see, they did finish the grass cutting; except for the area inside the actual soccer goals.

My strategy as of late with respect to the bug spray is to spray when I get close to the park so that it's at its most effective level of work. I followed approximately the same route as yesterday, but did some more distance while out there. While at the park, there was a couple of parents with their kids playing around on the gym set. I decided to pass on the photo opportunity this time.

I did pause and sit down during a walk for the first time in a long time, but it was with a reason. I took time today to think up a plan to get myself to a place where I can improve my situation. I wrote it down in my notebook. :)

Total distance - 9458 steps, 7.56km

In other news, I didn't go volunteering this week. It has been a bit of a down week for me this week as a result of not being able to use the new scale I got - I'm too big to get a number on there, however now I do know what my goal is for that - to get a number on the scale.

The plan that I was mentioning above is for me to work towards improving the area I work in every day. I won't go into full details about this right now, but the short part of the story is that the desk I'm working at is the same desk we've had ever since we bought our first computer back in 1994.

My plan is to either save up enough money to buy a new desk outright or to actually build one from scratch (I'm up for the challenge of drawing the plans and building the desk on my own, I was thinking of plans while I was walking today).

The way I'm going to do that is to actively pursue opportunities to make money through my blog, such as bidding on a couple of offers on Sponsoredreviews each day, also checking in on Blogsvertise every day and seeing what they have up for offers. I'm also going to watch payperpost on Tuesdays like a hawk - they have some great opps that come up on their $1k Tuesdays. If I post about it, then you'll know that I got in on one of the opportunities. ;)

Another thing that I'm going to do is ramp up selling stuff on ebay. I've been talking about it for ages, but have only listed two items in just over a year. I'm looking to build that up to getting anywhere from 5-10 items listed over the next couple of weeks.

The last, and most important thing is that I have to get back on track with making daily to-do lists and rewarding myself when I finish something on my list of tasks.

I'll post my GYST update as part of the update tomorrow's blog round-up. ;)

The Week in Walks, etc. Vol 7

Time to recap my week of walking, and set some goals for the week. As always, clicking on the pictures in the post will bring them up to 1024x768 size.
Monday, 3rd September

A view of some of the rolling hills of the park

Whoever said walking was a good way to clear the mind never walked during an active infestation of mosquitoes. Although I had bug spray on (Deep Woods Off - 25% deet), it didn't do anything to make the bugs any less tolerable. It took me getting all the way to the parking lot before I could have a chance to pause for more than a brief second and drink some water without having to deal with the bugs.

total distance - 7358 steps, 5.88km

Tuesday, 4th September

Maybe 1% of all the mosquitoes in the area

Well, on the radio today, they mentioned all the mosquitoes in the area. The reason they're all out there is because of all the rain we had a couple of weeks ago. It turns out that the rain has hatched mosquitoes which have been eggs for many years. Not only that, according to this article in the paper, they're expected to stick around for upwards of a month!

Ah well, we have a lot of bug spray, and I've been using it quite judiciously. However, it doesn't help the fact that they will fly up to me, touch my skin and then fly away. At one point, I looked down at my legs, and they were just swarmed in mosquitoes. Again, I decided to go up to the parking lot to get away from them, and wound up in the middle of soccer practice for the local community clubs. I probably lingered too long up there before deciding to start back into the flying haze.

As I was walking back, I made the decision to walk in the middle of the road - that way, I'd be at least 10 feet away from the areas where they were congregating. Luckily, it worked out reasonably well, as they did tend to stay away.

Total distance - 7162 steps, 5.72km

Wednesday, 5th September

The gate I walk around to access the park, from the other side of the road

It was another hot day, so I made the decision to go out later in the day again. And yet again, the mosquitoes were evil! However, I'm learning some new tricks to handle them though, such as spraying my whole shirt before I go out and walk - that way they don't bite my back. Of course, if it were about 15 degrees cooler, I'd wear a long sleeve shirt because the feeling of the mosquitoes going on and off of your body is just creepy!

While I was walking, I heard something. It was the sound of all the mosquitoes buzzing around out there, one of the most horrific sounds I've ever heard in my life, but that's just me.

Total distance - 7134 steps, 5.70km

Thursday, 6th September

Some leaves fall from trees that have already changed colors, aided by the breeze.

After I tried on my new shoes, I went for my walk. I had to walk earlier (a good idea with the mosquitoes), and I went around 2pm. The bugs weren't that bad at all, especially in an open area like the soccer fields - they were actually not bothering me constantly! It was almost amazing. I also did some exploration around the parking lot area, and consequently wound up walking a longer distance than I had ever done before.

Total distance - 7890 steps, 6.31km

Friday, 7th September

A flock of birds fly towards the sunset.

After coming back from volunteering, it was already later in the day when I first had the opportunity to walk. However, I first went out to walk at 7pm - which meant that it would be dark by the time that I'd get back. As it so happened, that did occur. I could see well for the first part of my walk, but as I was starting to head out of the park, I could not see anything in the forest. The only light I had was from my mobile phone, which I only used sparingly so that I didn't attract mosquitoes to the light.

When I got back out to the road, it was dark enough that you could see the lights from cars reflecting off of things. At one point, a car came along the road, and then I got dazzled by its lights; I was already over to the end of the road, but I almost fell over from the dazzling.

total distance - 7146 steps, 5.71km

Saturday, 8th September

A better view of some of the turkeys. :)

I walked actually during the daytime, but it would seem that the bugs were just as bad, if not worse than at night - it took about three minutes of being in the parking lot before the swarm cleared away from me. However, it was still a good day to walk, with a nice breeze blowing. I walked back and forth on one of the soccer fields before heading back out, and decided to cut back across some high grass, but that didn't take away too many steps from my walk; that'll help out to get me to the next step for walking.

Total distance - 7798 steps, 6.23km

Sunday, 9th September

A fawn in the field; first one I've seen while walking. When I heard it rustling the grass in the field, I thought it was just another rabbit, but then I saw it jumping, and knew it was something else. :)

Over the last couple of days, I've been doing something different - listening to music or today, listening to the radio. I started to do it on Friday because of the experience I had on Wednesday with hearing the swarming, and it's something that's got a bit of a calming effect on me, even though the mosquitoes are still there. Also, I am a bit more attentive to exterior noises such as cars and other things when I'm walking with the earbuds in.

Today, I walked along the parking lot and then walked across the soccer fields and cut across a bit of the disc golf course to head back out of the forest; the mosquitoes actually weren't too bad away from the forest again, like on Thursday.

Total distance - 7350 steps, 5.88km

The update for the GYST challenge; this is what I'm going to post on Craig's site - This week, I've really come together with the walking, even though we are being bombarded by mosquitoes. In fact, I exceeded my goal every day this week, travelling no less than 7100 steps per day. I've even managed to cross the next goal of 7500 steps twice. I've also met my goal for water each day, mostly through the use of an ingenious idea - a pitcher that holds about 1.5 liters. I'm also watching my diet carefully, and working on that as well.

In other news, I mentioned on Friday that I went to volunteer; I went and when I got done, I was tired - it's been over two years since I've put in a day's worth of solid work in. However, I did like doing it and am going to continue to go in on Fridays.

I also worked on the proposal that I've been mentioning. Right now, it's being mulled over, but apparently they've had something similar in the past, so there needs to be some contacting made on their end to find out the story behind that.

This week's goals include improving on my time management - it's something that I really need to work on, and am kinda bad at keeping track of.

I'll be back with the blog wrap up

Volunteering my services

I'm actually not here when you're reading this; I'm off volunteering with one of the many organizations in the area that are in need of volunteers. I don't know what I'm going to do today, but it could be any number of tasks in the office.

The story of getting to this point, however, is one that has been long in the making. It was first recommended to me to volunteer back in November. I looked at a couple of opportunities, but didn't pursue any of them - I made excuses as to why I didn't do it, but the most reasonable explanation is that I wasn't ready to commit to something new.

Then we get to July, eight months having passed and I'm still in my comfort zone. If you've been reading for a while, you'll know the full history, so I'll just focus on my volunteering.

I was looking around for opportunities in an area that would be easy for me to get to without inconveniencing my mother, and without having to pay for transportation to get there, because I'm cheap and all.

Searching the volunteering website for a neighboring county, I found an opportunity at an office that sounded interesting. I look at the address, put it into google maps and find out that it's a very convenient spot - so convenient that I can walk there.

So, I emailed the person in charge of volunteering. A couple of days go by and I don't hear anything, so I then call the office and leave a voicemail. Yet again, I don't hear anything back, but that didn't stop me.

I called yet again, and finally got through to the person in charge, told them who I was and that I was interested in volunteering. They led me through what I would be doing, that I'd have to fill in a form, and that I can bring it with me the first time I go to volunteer or that I can fill it out when I go for the first time. I decided that I'd fill in the form before I got there, so it was picked up for me.

Then, I picked a day to go volunteer (it was a Thursday the first time), called the office and confirmed that I'd be there from x to y time; this caused a bit of confusion with my mother who though that I was only going to go there and drop off the form, not actually put in a stint at volunteering. However, I explained how it worked and everything went well.

Thursday comes around, and I head down there, and walk into a meeting taking place in the lobby of the building. There's no better way to introduce yourself to the office than by jumping in during a meeting which was just wrapping up. :)

Then, I was given the basics of what I'd have to do when I came in (signing in and out, etc) and given another form to sign which basically says that I will keep what I see to myself.

After that, I got the 5-cent tour of the offices and got to see all the amenities they have, including a full kitchen with stove. I then got to work with my assigned employee (who nicked me from another employee ;)).

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I have a tendency to be a bit of a pedant, so the job I got fitted perfectly with me. It was alphabetizing items and sorting ones of the same nature by date.

To a lot of people, this might seem like tedious work, but for me, it was quite enjoyable. The person I was working with thanked me about ten times for the work I was doing, and it made me feel pretty good. I have to say that the four hours flew by without me even noticing. Towards the end of my stint, I made the comment, which was agreed with, that by volunteering, I could turn it into a full-time job. :)

After I left and started walking over to the car, I was really beaming and feeling good for myself, and the first thing that I did was texted Snoskred and told her about what I did. Of course it was 6am down there, so I didn't get a reply until she came around later in the day, but she was the one who kicked me into doing this, however, it had to come from me to make it work.

That happened, and it has worked out. Now, I'm going to try to set aside each Friday for volunteering there, all day. All it takes is to call ahead, or to tell them as I'm heading out of the office when I'll be there next.

If you've volunteered, what has your experience been?

The Week in Walks, etc. Vol 6

Monday, 27th August

A couple of large mushrooms growing along the path.

There were some storms Sunday, so there was a touch of trepidation, not knowing if there is any other damage out in the park. As it turned out, there was minimal new damage. The only thing that I spotted was a tree that had snapped in two, but the part that had snapped off was just sitting over a path, and in not much danger of falling. I took the regular route.

Total Distance - 4955 steps, 3.96km

Tuesday, 28th August

A bird sits perched on a branch of a pine tree. I did try some up-close shots, but those were blurry, and by the time I set the camera to a faster shutter speed, it had flown away.

Hot hot hot could describe the day; it was somewhere in the range of 30°C, with high humidity. However, it wasn't too bad to walk in that weather as there was a nice breeze blowing, depending on where I was. While I was heading around the path, a dog came up behind me; its owner was over on another part of the path. I went on the reverse regular route.

Total distance - 5043 steps, 4.03km

Wednesday, 29th August

For the first time since I started walking, I gave up. Yep, I couldn't do it.

Nah, I'm just kidding. :) It was raining really hard, and I had gotten myself a little way down the road when I realized that the camera's batteries had died. I could have just gone ahead and went on without the camera, but I decided to go back, change out the batteries, and also devise a couple of systems - keeping my pants relatively dry, and stopping the umbrella from dripping through to me.

The solutions were somewhat ingenious - I used some clothespins to clip the pants together, and a piece of plastic wrap worked for the umbrella problem. As it turned out, in heading back, I managed to get into a better slot for the weather, as the rain had slackened off a bit from when I first went out. I took the regular route, without the diversion.

I really like how this picture came out - if you enlarge it, you can see that I've managed to capture some of the falling rain in the picture (which is part of the reason there's a bit of motion blur ;))

Total distance - 5665 steps, 4.53km

Thursday, 30th August

A view of the sunset over the trees in the area.

It was a fairly busy day around the house, so I didn't get a chance to get out to walk until around 7pm. However, unlike last week, I took along a flashlight, but I really didn't need to use it since the sun was out causing there to be some more light. I also walked a little quicker than I normally do, so I was out for less time. I took the regular route. As I was coming back out of the park, I spotted a rabbit, which scared the heck outta me, and then there was a dog that went after the rabbit. I don't believe it caught the rabbit though, and eventually it ran back to its owner (who I didn't ever see).

Total distance - 5128 steps, 4.10km

Friday, 31st August

I left y'all hanging there, just mentioning the caboose. As it happened, the train that was going through is called "Artrain USA". I'd not heard of it, but it certainly sounds interesting. It's headed towards Iron Mountain, MI for an exhibition in a couple of weeks. While I was walking, they were doing some inspection or other work on it; I didn't have my scanner with me so I'm not totally sure.

All I know is that when I was coming back, the train was still there, so I had an opportunity to snap some more pictures ;) I went along the normal route once again.

Total distance - 5494 steps, 4.39km

Saturday, 1st September

A plane flies over the area; I think they were doing some training exercises (i.e. pilot training, not any other kind) as a couple of times, I heard the motor engage after flying; as if they were trying to stall the engine on purpuse.

You'll start to notice a difference in the distances now. I'm challenging myself to walk longer distances every day, ultimately building up to doubling my current walking distance to 8km a day. I walked a new route around the park, and the disc golf course, combining bits of the regular and the long route.

Total distance 5877 steps, 4.70km

Sunday, 2nd September

Some of the trees have started to change colors now; it should be fall colors anytime now ;)

For the second time this week I've had to stop walking to get something.

However, this time, it was slightly less complicated as I just called back to the house for some bug spray. When you see the swarm of mosquitoes coming for you, this becomes a very good idea. ;)

When I had the bug spray, it was a very peaceful walk again, as I continued experimenting with new routes to take to get myself up to 5km of walking. This involves taking the long way around corners and curves, going around obstacles I'd just walk through, and a variety of other options. I've even figured out areas where I can pick up more distance as I up the length of my walks.

Total distance - 6324 steps, 5.05km

In other news, I did not have the opportunity to go volunteer this week, as the office I go to was actually closed on Friday. However, I already have my appointment set to go volunteer on this Friday.

Also, as I've mentioned, we've gotten a lot of work done around the house; today and tomorrow we're canning some tomatoes for the winter, since we got a bushel from our local supplier.

This week, I'm starting the Get Yer Shit Together challenge - my goals are to double the length of my walk in 4 weeks, watch my eating, and to drink 3-4 liters a week. This week, my goal is to walk 5km each day, and add a klick each week.

The Week in Walks, etc. Vol 5

It's time again to recap the week in walking, along with the other changes in my world. As always, you can click on the photos to make them larger. ;)

Monday, 20th August

Another shot of some of the beads of water hanging off the needles of a pine tree; you can also see some of the webbing created by a spider.

Yet another wet day, but it wasn't too wet. When I started. On Sunday I had noticed a tree that was somewhat across the regular path, and as it happened, the tree had fallen completely across the path, so I went ahead and moved it out of the way. It's now sitting at the side of the path. However, by the time I was coming back, the rain had begun to intensify and the wind was getting a bit stronger, so I gave up on the umbrella and let myself get wet. ;)

Total Distance 5121 steps, 4.09km

Tuesday, 21st August

Another of the flowers along the pathway, as you can see, the sun was actually out for a few minutes..

Yay! It wasn't wet today, finally! The mosquitoes weren't that bad either - though I'm expecting them to be pretty nasty tomorrow with the higher temperatures expected. I decided to go along the long route, and use a version of the grand rounds route, going around and then cutting back through a route which cut down on my stepping through high, wetter, grass.

total distance: 5926 steps, 4.74km

Wednesday, 22nd August

A butterfly and another insect occupy the same flower.

Amazingly, the sun was out today! However, that made it hot outside and quite humid, so it was a bit of a challenge to walk - I just had to drink some extra water while walking. I walked the regular route, with the diversion. I was quite sweaty, but it all went well. ;)

Total distance - 5013 steps, 4.01km

Thursday, 23rd August

I think this is a moth, but I'm not 100% sure - they're fairly prevalent, and tend to be really small when they close their wings.

On Wednesday night, there were some big storms that blew through the area - and they caused a lot of damage, including a lot of branches in the road. Fortunately, by the time that I went to walk, most of the branches had been cleared to the side of the road. However, in the park, there was a branch that had fallen on one of the paths, and in fact a whole tree had fallen into the path of one of the holes of the disc golf course that is there. I went along the reverse regular route, with the diversion.

Total distance - 5314 steps, 4.25km

Friday, 24th August

Uh, yeah, this was taken with the flash - at 7.45pm. Like I said, it was quite dark by that time - likely due to there not being any sun to help out a little bit.

This is what I get for not walking until after I eat dinner. ;) First, I get asked why am I going to walk so late - simple, I hadn't walked earlier in the day. It was after 7pm when I started walking. Everything was fine for most of the "out" leg of the walk, but I started having troubles seeing when I was in the middle of the forest - growing darkness combined with humidity fogging up my glasses led to me taking off the glasses, putting them in my pocket, and moving along carefully.

As I was heading out of the forest, I could barely see anything, but there was still just enough light to tell where I was going, though I was starting to lose sight of things. I then decided that, while it wasn't raining anymore, I'd use my umbrella as a visibility assist on the road. Fortunately, no cars came in the lane I was in, though one did to the other way. When I was on the final approach to the house, I then heard calling for me from the house, so I replied by calling on the phone ;)

By the time I got back to the driveway, it was hard to discern the lines on the road further away than about 20 meters. I'll definitely make sure to get out there earlier now ;)

Total distance - 5423 steps, 4.33km

Saturday, 25th August

Some of the damage that the storms did on the long route.

On Thursday, I had decided that I would do two 'reverse' routes - then I did the reverse regular with the diversion, and today I did the reverse long route. The thing about the path I take is that it's normally equally balanced between uphill and downhill. However, it just seemed that going this way was a lot of uphill, and not so much downhill, especially when I went up a very steep hill that I had only gone down before. Nevertheless, it was a good walk. I even managed to find a stick that could be used as a walking stick - it's got all the bark off of it, but I'd have to do a little work on shortening it, since it's almost 8 feet long.

Total distance - 5500 steps, 4.40km

Sunday, 26th August

A turkey shows its legs behind a tree - it wasn't there a few seconds later.

It all started out well, but then a little bit into the walk, I had to go over to the other side of the road due to a motorcyclist stopped at the side of the road - he wasn't in trouble, he just wanted to watch the train that was there. After that, it was a normal walk along the regular route (the diversion I've been taking has become regular now ;)). However, I did spot a snake slithering into the forest as I was making my way back around to head out.

Total distance - 5184 steps, 4.14km

In the other news, I've kept to my goal of having my posts made by 4pm each day. I've also started to work on getting them written ahead of time now. I didn't go to volunteer this week, but I will be setting a day from now on to go volunteer, and sticking to that.

My goal for this week is to keep up the work on having the blogs posted early in the day; I am also going to write up a proposal to establish a website for an organization that I'm a part of; it had been started by someone else, but never got to its completion. The biggest challenge, I think, will be finding a decent domain name - the most direct ones are already taken. Another goal for this week will be to have somewhere between five and ten posts prewritten, or at least started ;)

The Week in Walks, etc. Vol 3

Sunday means recapping this week's walks, along with setting some goals for the week. There's a surprise in the walks; if you're reading via RSS, you might want to check out the post on the site. ;)

Monday, 6th August


Some more of the flowers along my path.

It was a cloudy day, and it wasn't terribly humid or hot. However, I did take the regular route, and included a slight diversion - I took a side path that goes around a grassy area that I usually walk through (don't worry the part that I normally walk on is maintained by lawnmowers and such - though I do walk across a couple of feet of unmowed grass).

Total distance - 5112 steps, 4.08km

Tuesday, 7th August


The turkeys were in the field normally occupied by the horses today, probably enjoying some freshly wet grass. ;)

I waited a little bit to go out for my walk since it was still raining when I got up. However, when I did go out to walk, it was still a little wet, so I wound up taking the umbrella anyway. As you'll see, I'm getting used to having the umbrella by now. ;) I decided to take the normal route without the diversion.

Total distance - 4937 steps, 3.94km. If you include my mall walking, the total for the day was 11514 steps, 9.21km.

Wednesday, 8th August


Another butterfly, this one clinging onto some grass.

The sun was out, and it was a little bit cooler, so I decided to do some more exploration. I went up the regular route, but instead of turning left to head back towards the road, I went to the right to follow the "official" trail. I followed it up until I was on the other side of the soccer fields they have at the park and turned back. On the way back, I spotted a couple of dogs walking around with their owner. Having been prepared for them coming, I let them approach and then proceeded to pet them and have a short discussion about the weather with the owner.

Total distance - 6650 steps, 5.32km

Thursday, 9th August


A turkey feather that was sitting along the path.

The word for the day was definitely "wet". In fact, it was still misting when I went out to walk, so I needed the umbrella again. I also created a new phrase - "second rain" - which is defined as the rain that falls in a forest from the collected water on the leaves. While I was taking the long route, I came to a realisation - that the primary route back to the road would require a walk down a hill where there a lot of loose rocks. So I went a little further around to a different forest opening and walked back to the road.

And a bonus for y'all - I took some video of the forest, and you can hear the rain both hitting the ground and the umbrella.

Total distance - 5683 steps, 4.54km

Friday, 10th August


Some pink flowers along the path.

A thought that had been going through my mind for some time now is to go for a clean up walk. As it happened, the sun was out, and there had only been some rain the night before. So, after some searching, I grabbed a bag and a pair of work gloves and went out to walk. I wound up picking up less than I thought I would since the grounds crew went through and cleared the cans from part of the park, but I did pick up a few odds and ends that had been there for as long as I can remember. However, I did not pick up the dog droppings, or any of the prophylactics that I had found in the past. ;) I walked the regular route, with the diversion. I also collected the turkey feather that had been dropped the other day, along with another that was right by it.

Total distance - 5618 steps, 4.49km

Saturday, 11th August


Steam rises from the road after the rain.

This was the first day that I almost did not go out to walk. I had been waiting for it to be later in the day so that it wouldn't be so hot, but I wound up waiting too long, as it started to cloud over. I then checked the radar to discover that there were some storms on the way. However, I didn't let that deter me at first. It wasn't until I was out the door and heard a crack of thunder that I decided to wait the rain out. Luckily I did and it cleared up long enough for me to go out and walk. However, I did still take the umbrella - I needed it at first where I learnt an important lesson - mosquitoes like umbrellas. It seemed that I couldn't get rid of them unless I closed the umbrella. Fortunately, the rain stopped and I could close the umbrella. As I was walking along the normal route, the sun went away again, and I suddenly heard another clap of thunder (I never did see the flash of lightning during the whole storm however), so I picked up my pace. I'm fairly certain I did the walk in record time.

Total distance (including extra walking around the house) - 5299 steps, 4.23km

Sunday, 12th August


Water beads on some fallen leaves, about 13 hours after the rain stopped.

The sun was out again today, so it was a very pleasant walk. Nothing terribly exciting happened, though the mosquitoes didn't seem to be anywhere around today on the regular route - not that that's a bad thing. :)

Total distance - 4995 steps, 3.99km

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In other news, this week has been a week of, well, staying the course. The schedules didn't work out to go in for volunteering this week, however I have mentioned that I want to go in this week; it looks like Friday is the most likely day to do it since there are the fewest conflicts then. The other project that I mentioned last week did get started out and it is progressing slowly, but surely. I have quite a bit of learning to do about its inner workings though - it's all in a new language to me. ;)

This week, my major goal is to start a new habit - writing about my walking the day I do the walk; I've been waiting until Sunday to write about the walks the last couple of weeks, and it's a lot of time that I have to spend trying to remember the bits about my walk. The only thing I'd write down is the number of steps and possibly a word or two about the day. Also, I'm going to sit down and write out some of the prompts that I have in my notebook, plus some others that I've come up with, so that I can use them in case I have nothing; plus I'll be able to post in the morning so that I don't find myself at 8 or 9 at night with nothing posted for the day, and then rushing to post.