Milestone #2

 

 

The old black Toyota made it to 200K.  The car is 15 years 2 months and 16 days old.  That is an average of 13,129 miles per year and 36 miles per day.

Zero

 

We are now eight months into the pandemic.  If you get infected, get sick, or even die, it is because of two reasons.  First, you believe the whole pandemic thing is a huge hoax.  Or somewhere along the line you heard about "masks" and "social distancing" but it went in one ear and out the other.  Either way, it's all on you then!!  Do we need Biff banging on your head saying "Hello, McFly, anyone home?"  Either way you made the choice.  So if you are sick or dying, I have ZERO sympathy for you.

Milestone #1

 

   

Today was the 174th consecutive day on which I went for a run.  That's right.  The last day I took off was May 1.  That is an O.M. (Old Man) Record.  Back in college I remember going past 200 days once but my running logs from back then are lost.  So my next goal is to hit 300 which will insure that it will be the longest streak ever. 

The weather is still pleasant on mid-October and I am still running in shorts and a tee.  Total miles for the streak is 710 miles which is about 4.08 miles per day.

Satisfying Moments In Life

    

Yes, there are satisfying moments in life.  Your lawn mower starts up with little effort in the spring.  Your 15 year old car still passes inspection.  And here on October 18, another one took place.  Turn on and turn up the thermostat, cross my fingers, listen for the furnace to light up, and then wait to feel the warmth coming out of the baseboard heating unit.  Aaaaahhhhh!!

Peppers Anyone?

    

 Covid-19 had no effect on my summer garden and I had another bumper crop, mostly peppers.  In normal years I give out many peppers to the parents of my runners during our summer workouts.  But there were no summer workouts this year and the season didn't even start until mid September.  I was able to give some out to my two assistant coaches and some friends, but most of the peppers remained with me.  I diced up every pepper I had and the picture is a bit mis-leading.  Once I was halfway through shoving them all back into the freezer, I noticed another bag on the counter that I missed.

The Fitzpatricks

 When I was a kid, my Mom had a friend named Mrs. Fitzpatrick.  I can't remember her first name but her family lived on Herbert Avenue, about 1/2 mile from my house.  My Mom was associated with her thru our church since their kids went to the same Catholic school as I did.

Anyway, the thing about the Fitzpatricks was that they did not have a phone.  I used to ride my bike to their house with messages written on a piece of paper from my Mom.  Mrs. F would read the note and write down an answer in the available space on the note and back to my house I would ride.

I never thought much about that whole scene but looking back I remembered their kitchen (the only room I went into) was very messy.  So now I assume the lack of a phone was due to economic hardships.

So why am I posting about this?  Well, last week at a X-C practice during a steady rain, I was receiving many texts from parents as to where they could pick up their kids.  It turns out that the exposure to the rain affected my cell phone in that it could not accept a charge.  So now, many years later, I am in the same boat as the Fitzpatricks.