Observations

Today’s Walk 1.091

When:  Friday–Mid-Afternoon- 3/30/2018
Weather: Very nice and 70’s
Observations/Thought
I put up with quite a bit when I am out walking.  I see guys walking topless.  I act as a pylon on some bicycles obstacle course.  And, I have been swarmed by a flock of bicycles as they trained for some sort of event.  (Did you notice a “bike theme”?)  But, there is one thing that bothers me more than any of those things.  I hate it when anyone sharing the sidewalk with me has their radio/iPhone cranking so loud I can hear it right after they leave their house.  And, as they get closer to me, the volume only increases.  I commit to doing no harm on the sidewalk.  I try and anticipate possible collision problems.  I try to move to the far right to give bicycles ample room to get around water puddles.   And, I can’t think of even once when I have walked down the path singing at the top of my lungs.  I try and acknowledge all I see.  And, if I even get a hint of my actions bothering anyone, I will stop doing it.  Why must I listen to someone blaring their music as I attempt to solve the world’s problems while usually just settling for getting clues how to solve a couple of my own.  I just wish people could ride/walk/run and take pleasure in the activity rather than the part of your activity that intrudes on what others might be seeking.  (Little bells on bikes are not as sweet as hearing a human voice announcing an upcoming bike, but they are far superior to the anticipating of the Doppler effect.)
When something interferes with my walk once or twice, I may be cranky but I am capable of taking it in stride.  When the same stretch of sidewalk seems to be infested with a plague of construction, I lean toward poor planning.  Such has been the case with the stretch of the sidewalk that parallels the train tracks.  Over the past year, there have been numerous inconveniences as new concrete railroads ties have been distributed and installed on the tracks.  Then, to better prepare for the train that will begin west of my present location and provide a “park ‘n ride” for people heading to the airport, the various roads have needed to be closed at various times to allow the tracks to be safe for the passenger trains to cross.  On top of these issues, there have been cables ran along the tracks that seem to have been destroyed by the construction equipment that was not quite careful enough.  Finally, this week the sidewalk was “closed” on both ends to allow for holes to be dug and sidewalks to be re-destroyed for some unforeseen reason.  As a pedestrian, there is usually a path–this includes crossing the train tracks and walking on the “non-sidewalked” side.  Bicycles can’t as easily negotiate these obstacles without walking their bikes.  The only comfort I take is knowing any further destruction will absolutely confirm the company managing this project has no planning skills.  I want to give them a little bit of credit. 🙂

Today’s Walk 1.090

When:  Thursday–Brief after dinner- 3/29/2018
Weather: Wet and 70’s
Observations/Thoughts
I seemed mentally sluggish today. It is like my brain was willing to make assumptions my senses were not consulted on first. This bit of laziness caused me to not be nearly as sharp as I would have liked during the entire day. Yes, my sassiness was still maintained at work. Once I dug down below the “defensive retort” level, something seemed missing in my day. I provide 3 pieces of evidence:
As I was driving to work at the early hour I so enjoy, it is not unheard of for me to get behind a slow vehicle. Today was no exception. Once I survived the slow vehicle on the 2-lane road, I had to make the necessary adjustments to get into my preferred lane on the multi-lane road. The preferred lane is the lane that takes any cars that remain on it onto the freeway that leads to the airport and eventually my job. On this day, the left/preferred lane was moving slower than I desired. The middle lane had a pickup moving even slower, and the right lane was free. I did whatever calculations my sluggish brain would allow and began the adventure. The truck and another vehicle in the middle lane were easily passed. I then switched to the middle lane. After clearing the final traffic light before the left lane committed to being the on-ramp to the freeway, I took a quick glance in my mirror before going into the left lane. My failure to consult all mirrors as well as a turning of my neck to the rear nearly allowed me to have an early morning accident. The car in the left lane must have seen my turn signal and anticipated the move. After seeing his headlights, I swerved back into the middle lane and accelerated before moving back left. I was slightly embarrassed. Fortunately, I have done enough stupid things like this before my pulse no longer rockets up like it used to.
After a full day of work, the sluggishness apparently persisted. I left my work parking lot and headed toward the main road that leads to the freeway. As I arrived at the stop sign, the traffic was pretty steady both ways. The final car coming from the north would have done me a great favor by using his turn signal. As I now looked left, the cars were still coming. A truck pulling a big trailer was also coming. And, lucky for me (you are meant to read “unluckily”), it wanted to turn on the road I was on. I continued to gauge car speeds from the north while trying to keep track of the cars coming from the south. This would include the cars from the south that were switching lanes to avoid being slowed down by the truck who was slowing further as he was coming up on his eventual turn. Thinking I had calculated every variable and made visual contact with every car, I went ahead and pulled out to make my left hand turn. Whether I flat out missed a car or it was cleverly hiding and then accelerating around the truck/trailer combo, I was nearly t-boned. The car stopped when they saw the nose of the car peeking around the truck/trailer. I stopped, too. Since I was in his path, I won the battle and continued my turn–grateful I had not missed a car coming from the north–on the lane I was turned into. I was not pleased with myself. Maybe sluggish is not the best word for it. Maybe it would better be described as driving arrogance. I need to be reminded occasionally that I am not the best driver on the road. And, if I am, I need to do a little better job of showing it.
Lastly, I think this issue is more of a communication problem. On the one road of any significance my walk crosses, there is a designated crosswalk. It does not have a light, but it has a sidewalk on both sides. The cars are controlled by lights on both ends of the road, so it is usually not to difficult to cross them to the sidewalk on the other side. Yesterday was an exception. I waited for a number of cars coming from each direction. And, on the other side of the road, there a husband/wife bicycle team waiting to cross as well. Apparently, bicycles make a more compelling argument for cars to stop then a walker does. The car going east stopped for them to cross. Before I could also cross, I needed to wait for one final car to cross in the westbound lane. After it cleared the crosswalk, I began walking across. The car that stopped must have been so focused on the riders, he failed to see me. As I approached his path, he already had taken his foot off of the brake and was preparing to continue his journey. Fortunately, he did see me. I hope I caused him only a minor inconvenience. I quickly scampered across his path and resumed my walk. I didn’t turn around to see if I left any hand gestures or disparaging remarks in my wake. I just assumed it was a continuation of my distracted day.

Today’s Walk 1.089

When:  Wednesday–Brief after dinner- 3/28/2018
Weather: Wet and 60’s
Observations/Thoughts
Today’s walk was of the neighborhood variety. This means shorter and a need on my part to be less particular what happenings I embellish here.
The only really notable occurrence was a lady in the backyard with her dogs. She was wearing a thin plastic grocery bag on her arm. She was walking around the backyard saying numerous times, “Where did you guys poop?” She seemed to favor looking around the edges facing out toward the sidewalk. As I was passing her house, I heard her say, “Oh, there they are.” It seemed those words brought her a great deal of relief. I suppose if she didn’t find them the accelerated growth of the grass in that location in a few weeks would have been an additional clue of where she neglected to look.
When I am heading to work at 5:30 during a weekday morning, there is radio show I normally listen to. Today, as I was driving to work, I was quite surprised when the radio show seemed at least 5 minutes further along than where I would have expected it to be. I double checked the clock in the car to make sure I had not set myself up to be late at work. Everything checked out. As I kept driving and kept listening, I realized the radio show had probably started at least 15 minutes earlier than normal. I was catching the last 10 minutes. As frustrating as this was, I tried to rationalize what may have happened to allow the radio’s time to get off. The only theory I came up with was something to do with power outages due to the recent thunderstorms. The radio stations challenges continued as their 6:00 show started at 5:45. I am not sure what they did to slow down the rest of their schedule of shows (or even what show was cut the day before to get them off schedule), but everything was fine and as expected when I tuned in the next day.

Today’s Walk 1.088

When:  Tuesday–It didn’t happen- 3/27/2018
Weather: Wet and 60’s
Observations/Thoughts
Due to a bodacious amount of rain, I had the opportunity to reprioritize my post-work schedule.  Today, I was able to recharge my battery (a.k.a I took a nap) before completing the purchase of the ingredients for dinner AND before visiting my buddy at the pool store.
At the pool store, I was able to get complimented on the present chemical makeup of the pool. I was given a couple of pointers post-rain, but overall a pretty good report.  With a new pool store opening up closer to the house, I will have to decide if it is worth the drive to see my pool buddy in Colleyville.
At the grocery store, the most critical item on the shopping list was ground sausage.  With a french toast casserole awaiting the girls and me for dinner, the sausage was essential.  If you are a Gruenbaum, you like your sausage.  Links are fine, but patties are best.  (A digression…when I was growing up, we used to get a half [or was it a whole] hog for our freezer.  I learned to love ground sausage.  It is hard for me to eat sausage patties without my mouth watering for a good sandwich with the patties and a couple squirts of ketchup.)
Lastly, there is the part of the evening that not all parties will agree are worth sharing.  Since I am including it at the bottom, maybe no one will read this far.  As the sausage was cooking on the stove, I attempted to make good on my promise to unplug the girl’s shower.  For a couple of weeks, the girls have showered with a few pauses between the beginning and the end.  I had to ask to realize this was caused by the drain being very slow.  Tonight, I finally was able to confirm why it drained slow.  I cant say for sure, but it appears someone attempted to shove a sweater down the rain.  The sweater was now caked with soap and other things I would rather have not touched.  A few ounces of drain cleaner put the finishing touches on the project.  Very glad to get that done!

Today’s Walk 1.087

When:  Monday–Afternoon and Evening- 3/26/2018
Weather: Low-70’s, Humid, Breezy
Observations/Thoughts
The walk of the day turned into another split walk. The first walk was what I referred to as “my walk”. The second walk was the spousal walk. It is the one where walking together is more important than the depth of the dialogue. It is the one where the silence is only silence to those observing. My wife and I just view it as pauses between the next discussion topic.
  • Dead things: With spring looking like it is moving in for a few months (to be followed by its sister-summer), it is hard to ignore the emerging leaves and the overt and discreet blooms nearly everywhere you look. The effort to find the dead things takes more concentration. On this walk I was able to assume a number of items were dead because nothing green was sprouting off of them. I did see some roadkill that occurred because a squirrel became a little lazy as he let his curiosity get the best of him. (Why did the squirrel cross the road? It is a nut-thing.). I saw the dead foliage that was not cut back over the winter trying to camouflage the new emerging growth. Soon the dead will be completely obscured by the bounteous life. Since life is for the living, I approve.
  • Cow walking: As much as I sometimes want to deny it, I am a rule follower. I give some rules varying levels of authority. Conversely, when my wife follows the rules, she prioritizes rules I would consider unworthy of notice. On today’s walk, I saw a puppy poop bag thrown into the cow pasture. I did not verify the bag had an occupant. The wind was not blowing it, so I feel confident believing something was preventing it from being a little, green, untethered kite. Are people really so lazy they can’t hold the bag for another few yards and throw the bag away? (There is a trash can 30 yards away.). Were people to walk a cow, I could understand. The field I passed had plenty of cow patties lying around. If you had to clean up after your cow, you would need a trowel and maybe a bigger bag. The burden of lugging such a poop bag around could possibly be excused. Maybe people should only choose dogs as pets who will not poop beyond their tolerance for carrying the results of one of their #2s. Just a thought…
  • Bad trees: Those who live in the suburbs are often a little spoiled. We want trees, but we don’t want the things that trees drop in the spring and fall. We want pools, but we don’t want the headaches of skimming all of the goodies the trees want to contribute in their “busy” seasons. As my wife and I were walking, one of our neighbors said, “I don’t remember the trees having so many seeds before.” Whether the trees are just having a prolific year or whether the memories of myself and my neighbors fades after 300 or so days, the trees continue to drop their gifts. And, those who don’t own the trees that drop all of the stuff in their pool can still dump the contents of their skimmer in a place where its evacuated contents can get blown into the offending neighbor’s garage. Yes, we got to love our trees!
  • Buckeye ants: During a gap in the conversation, my wife and I both looked down at the sidewalk. The ants had been busy. In one of the cracks between the larger pieces of sidewalk concrete, it almost seemed like we were dealing with some transplanted OHIO ants who were Buckeye fans. Both my wife and I agreed, it was like the ants had removed the dirt in a pattern where 3 letters were on the sidewalk–“O-IO”. Recognizing fully these letters do readily lend themselves to being mimicked in nature, it still did not make it less interesting. Getting 75% of the letters in the correct order-yes, I know one letter was missing but space had been left in anticipation of smarter ants coming along to create the final letter.

Today’s Walk 1.086

When:  Sunday–Mid-morning- 3/25/2018
Weather: Mid-70’s, Very humid, Slight breeze
Observations/Thoughts
When you go to Saturday evening church service, it opens up some possibilities.  I exercised one of those possibilities this morning.  I took my walk when the family would have usually been in the regular church service.  I  seemed to be out of sync with the other walkers.  If the other walkers normally take a Sunday morning walk, I just wasn’t quite on their schedule.  All walkers I encounters were “intersections” rather than fellow pedestrians I could attempt to pass.  The bicyclist I encountered came from all directions.  They seemed more somber or more reflective than the Saturday morning crowd.  Those determined to go maximize the speed on the less crowded sidewalk were reluctant to acknowledge me.  Those who were of the “Sunday rider” variety were willing to warn me as they came up behind me and prepared to pass.  Those who came from the front were willing to give a head nod or a raised hand as we intersected.
The only other observation was how cars handle walkers on the road.  When the upcoming car is the only car on the road, they usually are pretty good at giving a walker a reasonable amount of space.  When cars are on both sides of the road, the side of the road with the walk might consider slowing down to make sure the walker is not put in an unsafe position.  Today, the upcoming car seemed to have believed the thin strip of grass I had available was more than adequate to guarantee my safety.  I decided to stop on the grass and just wait for the car to pass.  As I began walking again, I was about to utter some sanitized curse for the unconcerned driver.  Before the curse came out, I smelled one of my favorite smells–lilacs.  My eyes scanned the landscape ahead and behind me until I found the plant.  I walked this same path yesterday and the lilacs were not blooming yet. As they were now blooming, all thoughts of inconsiderate drivers went to the bottom of the list of priorities.  I breathed deeply.  I stored as much olfactory pleasure as I could handle.  I completed the walk and anticipated the next breeze laden with lilac scent.

Today’s Walk 1.085

When:  Saturday–Mid-morning- 3/24/2018
Weather: Mid-70’s, with blue sky
Observations/Thoughts
Saturday’s walk took place early mid-morning. (“Early” may vary for the individual. I believe I left the house before 9:00.). The trail seemed to be loaded with lots of bicycles today. Remarkably, the proponents of 2-wheeled exercising were quite friendly today. Nearly all of them exchanged a greeting or some form of acknowledgment. (As stoic as the bicyclists often are, if they stuck their tongues out at me, I would be overcome by temporary paralysis.). Were people more cheery because it was the weekend, a nice early Saturday morning, or they were in the process of getting one of their weekend items checked off their list? Whatever their rationale, I joined them in being exuberant over the hours separating me from my Monday morning appointment with my job.
My main interaction was with those doing yard work. I can recall 3 distinct “Hellos”. There was the guy pulling out the plastic basketball hoop from his pool. He did not seem to be very angry with the wind for blowing it into the pool. The other two were doing various forms of yard work. They either felt my eyes burning into the back of their head imploring them to look up or random chance led them to greet me.  Whether walking or doing yard work, it was a great morning to be out!

Today’s Walk 1.084

When:  Friday–After Dinner- 3/23/2018
Weather: Low 70’s, with humidity and a strong breeze
Observations/Thoughts

Having been too rigorous in my walking lately, I let that serve as an excuse for slacking off. As the last day of the work week, I also let myself have a nap after getting off work. Without a nap, I would fall into my normal schedule of wanting to go to bed before 10:00.  On a Friday night, my wife should have her husband around watching TV with her.

The nap did win but the walk did not lose. After dinner, my wife will sometimes wander out with me to take a short walk. She graced me with her walking presence again this evening.  As walks go, it was largely uneventful. I usually go thru a litany of things on my “to do” list. In some cases, this might be her only opportunity to veto any actions I may have planned. While discussing the activities related to the kids outside of the house gives us some level of privacy, there is not much we won’t discuss in front of the kids. And, the pace and distance are shorter on these post-dinner walks. With a trip planned this summer with walking being central to its enjoyment, these walks are certainly encouraged.

Today’s Walk 1.083

When:  Thursday–Late Afternoon- 3/22/2018
Weather: Mid 70’s,
Observations/Thoughts
Today’s walk was plopped into my schedule as my parenting duties allowed.  I had to pick my daughter up today.  I took the opportunity to work some errands in around her “Lyft” ride.
     The other benefit to picking her up is my walk got bumped back over an hour later than I normally take it.  Through 95% of my walk, I thought this was a bad thing. I have very little memory of the walk preceding my encountered with some old walking friends.  In the days when my wife and I walked our neighborhood in the post-dinner hours, we frequently ran across this cute couple in their early retirement years.  They both were walking a small dog.  The wife always wears ankle weights.  The husband is usually a few steps behind her.  The husband had a heart attack last year.  During one of our walks, we saw “mom” walking without her husband.  She told us the blessing the walk had been to her husband.  His body had a “Plan B” if his circulatory system failed.  The walking routine had allowed his body to suffer the heart attach BUT come out of it much better than he would have if he did NOT walk.

Just as I was nearing the house, I saw them.  I yelled out, “It looks like everyone is still walking and enjoying the low-fat diet.”  The wife immediately used this question as a chance to start talking. She indicated she missed seeing my wife and my smiling face as well. She is a good talker.  I tried to have good listening skills.  In light of the recent heart attack, I took the conversation a religious direction, ” A heart attack must make you think about eternity?”  The husband nodded, and his wife continued with her point of view.  We then touched on the spiritual direction of all our children (I have 4; the couple has 2.)  We tried not to touch on politics much–it was at a pretty high level.  We left with the certainty we will cross again on the path again sometime soon.

Today’s Walk 1.082

When:  Wednesday–During the Afternoon- 3/21/2018
Weather: Low 70’s, mid-afternoon
Observations/Thoughts
Even if I see nothing, a walk can be a success.
  • Some days my body is just physically present on the path. Every part of my mind with the exception of the part that takes care of the muscle/eye stuff is somewhere else. That happened a couple of times this week. Sometimes a thought may dominate the whole walk. It really lets nothing penetrate. This week the pool maintenance man hat I wear was fitting so tightly it cut off all the blood to my brain. I had been trouble-shooting everything I knew could be the problem with the pool pump. I had the pool people come out to fix it. They did the repair, but the whole pool apparatus was not functioning the way it should. When things like this come up, the walking time is a time for problem-solving. If I was at home I would be too distracted to be able to focus only on the problem. The other issue was my ongoing challenge of not being challenged at my job. While I work on solutions to this problem, I still have 40 hrs/week where I am obligated to give my best. The culture and the unwritten rules of my employer make it difficult to be as effective as I would like.
  • As much as I would like my walk to be a wonderful time to try and spy bunny rabbits and interesting people, my mind is not always open to this idea. It chooses to do what it chooses to do. A really interesting fellow pedestrian might break me out of my brain lethargy. If the problem I am trying to solve is a really good one, then I am practically a zombie with one purpose. (I don’t want to eat the flesh of other humans. I want to solve the problem.).