"If it were easy, it wouldn't be awesome." These were the words of encouragement from older son as I was struggling with my sixth mile this morning. I've been walking while he runs, though on weekends he runs carrying a 30-pound metal plate in his rucksack. I've been walking seven miles each morning; it will be a while before I move up to eight. Right now, the seventh mile is hard enough to tell me I should not yet try eight, at least not on a regular basis.
Back in April, the digit in the ten's place in my weight hit a number I really didn't like. I started seriously watching what I was eating and using the decades-old ski machine daily. I lost a pound or two most weeks, which was good. When refinishing the floors made us relocate to younger son's cabin, I started walking. I kept it up when we got home; it seemed more of a workout than the skiing. A couple of weeks ago, I hit a point at which I had lost the weight that I put on over the six years of three major joint surgeries. I'm trying to lose a bit more now without being overly compulsive about it. I no longer track what I eat, but I watch it very carefully as I go through the day.
HWSNBN spoke from a White House balcony this afternoon. The headline I saw on CNN said he gave a divisive speech to a mostly brown and black crowd. He removed his mask in order to speak. It looked as if most members of the crowd then removed theirs. He is still declining to say if he has had a negative covid-19 test or when his last negative one before the first positive one was. His even more erratic than usual behavior suggests he's still getting dexamethasone. Older son read that the normal course of that treatment is ten days. He's gone about eight days now. It will be interesting to see how steroid withdrawal is for him. His behavior may deteriorate even more, strange as that may sound. I am probably more scared now than I've been in the last four years. It seems quite clear that no one is going to try to stop him, and I don't want to know what he might do to try to get re-elected. I would not put it past him to start a war or try to impose martial law here at home.
The local county is talking about increasing the amount of in=person instruction in the public schools. Right now, the only students going to their physical school are some English language learners, some special education students who need in-person instruction, and kids who cannot get an internet signal at home. The division's administration say that a recent survey showed parents wanted their kids back in in-person school. Teachers, on the other hand, do not want to go back to teaching in person. It sounds as if keeping your kids in virtual learning is an option, though no one has explained what that might look like. It's not clear, for instance, whether the virtual teacher a kid has right now will remain his or her virtual teacher if the family opts out of going in person. Once again, I am glad that my kids have grown out of K-12. Actually, it's nice they've grown out of college as well given the covid-19 issues at that level as well.
1 comment:
I managed my first recent 6+ mile* walk today which is notable since I twisted/strained my ankle on Tuesday. That foot didn't bother me at all; the other (that I sprained or broke [?] 20 years ago) did, a little bit.
I feel that Russ Douthat's column from today (Sunday; "There will be no Trump coup") captures my view of HWSNBN's incompetence regarding his not accepting the election results if they don't go in his favor. Douthat, however, doesn't deal with Stephen Miller's possible machinations; though, since both he and his wife also tested positive he may not be a factor either.
*On pavement, where I do a lot but mor all of my linger walks. I've done longer outings while orienteering but that' a lot easier on the joints foe the most part (as long as you don't turn an ankle while looking at your map...).
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