Behind

Saturday: Walked a good hour with my wife, she taking Loki, and I with Cleo. Very tired, fairly sore, extremely sweaty. Good stuff.

Monday: Angry I could not find my jacket, I walked from FUMC-Dallas to El Centro. About halfway there, found myself, for some strange reason, musing on why Shaquille O'Neal is the most overrated basketball player in history and why he is a lousy role model.

Tuesday: A little evening walk in downtown Royse City. Gotta figure out what is wrong with my back or I won't make more than a mile a day.

Thursday: Weighed myself while at wife's doctor's appointment. Didn't like the result. Didn't expect miracles, but damn!

Friday: Okay, no real walk, but I did give two library tours that exhausted me. Still a long way to go.

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Monday: I have figured that it takes roughly the same amount of time for me to walk from FUMC-Dallas to El Centro as it does to drive from there to Eastfield. The plus of going into my own office, other than it being my own office, is that I am in a comfortable place with a computer I am familiar with (and from which I can listen to my own music). However, I decided today to save the gas and gain the exercise.

    Diesel perfume hits me
    as I trudge through the West Transit Center.
    It is the sweet smell of movement.
    But quickly, I take note of the cigarettes
    from tired women and young toughs,
    and I must remind myself
    I'll be safe soon enough.

Wednesday: I suppose I got some exercise, but it was not, in my mind, a successful walk. I was distracted the whole time either by the dogs' lack of cooperation or the theme song from Craig Ferguson's show bouncing in my head.

Thursday: No walk, but I did participate in son's basketball practice by being part of the defense as they ran plays. Ouch. But fun.

Friday: Dogs were better behaved today, probably because they walked once in the morning with Tonya and once in the afternoon/evening with Alex. We took an extra ten minutes.

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Snow!

Friday: Yesterday we had a record for snowfall in a single day. This afternoon, I walked with the dogs where I could see the field I look for sunflowers during the summer. Saw a lot of kids playing and some grown up making the hugest snowman I've ever seen. Snow was melting from some of the trees and in the streets there was a steady stream to the gutters, which Loki seemed particularly afraid of. But there was no wind and so it felt pretty good outside (if I ignored my feet and ankles and back). It took a bit longer than it should have, but I'm glad I went.

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Almost back to routine

Monday: Got up around 4:30 and took Cleo and Loki on what has been my most used route. The odd thing was that Cleo, who has been many times was the one who kept wanting to stop and sniff everything. Loki went inside and outside of Cleo, but didn't do me too much damage. We had purchased a kind of split extension to the leash so I wouldn't have to have two leashes, and it worked, at least today, better than I had anticipated. Of course, I could not keep a dog at my side, and so they forced my walk to be more brisk than I normally would have taken. But my back didn't hurt as much.

In the evening, while daughter was at choir rehearsal, I walked from FUMC to El Centro and did some work there. Walk back took only fifteen minutes and I didn't have the pain in my hip or back I expected.
   

A siren turns

no heads here.
The ambulance
is no more
than a snippet
of conversation
or a wind blown bag

of chips. What we know
is we are not inside.

Tuesday: Cleo, Loki, and I took the usual route using a detour that added about ten minutes. Again, expected pain, but there was little.

Took a reasonably pleasant stroll that evening as the boy was at scouts around downtown Royse City. Perhaps there isn't much to see, but I saw some of it.

Wednesday: After two morning of the dogs being pretty good, they were a pain this morning. Cleo kept stopping to smell stuff or just look at things she'd looked at many times before. Loki kept jumping to either side of and getting himself tangled.

That afternoon, I had a check-up. No weight loss since the last visit and back on some meds. Got a new blood pressure drug. But at least I haven't gained. 

Thursday and Friday: Too much rain and running around to do.

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