2020 Life Logs, Day 364: Loving My Christmas Present
Date: Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and Windy; High 48, Low 45 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
I am loving the Christmas present from my kids and grandkids. It is a recumbent exercise bike that I have placed in the living room where I can exercise while watching television if I choose. Eventually I will be able to read while riding, but right now I am just getting used to riding again. I am doing 15-minute segments as I haven’t ridden for so very long. My legs are a little sore, but not bad. I did 30 minutes total today, but my goal is to do four 15-minute rides each day. The bike is a Marcy. It is a low-tech bike which keeps the cost down, but it has 8 resistance levels and gives me a constant read-out of my speed, distance, time, calories burned, and overall odometer reading. It is simple, but fantastic. But between morning stretching exercises, my walks with Shadow, bike riding, and playing fetch with Shadow every afternoon, it feels like a lot of my day is dedicated to exercise. As the days lengthen, that feeling will change as there will be more daylight time for outside activities. This week I have been making two trips to Heather and Jed’s each day to feed to guinea pigs and today I did laundry while I was there. Then I went to the grocery store for the last time for a while. I came home with four big bags of groceries. For the month of January, I will order groceries and either pick them up curbside or have them delivered. I am anticipating that Covid cases will rise in January after the holidays. I hope not, but I am going to err on the safe side and do as Dr. Anthony Fauci says we should all do for the next couple of months, “Double-down on all public health measures.” I have also finally started working on the puzzle I got out a few days ago. Trying to work it on the low coffee table was not working as Shadow was eating the pieces, so I cleared off the dining table and using that as my desk and puzzle space for now. If the kids come over for dinner, I’ll have to put the puzzle away (I am working it on a piece of cardboard). It was Heather’s suggestion that I do this and it is much easier as I can see all of the pieces in one space. The problem is that when I am in the kitchen, I keep getting distracted by the puzzle. Not a bad thing, but cooking dinner sure takes longer than it should!
Heather and Jed got home tonight. Jed sent a text yesterday evening saying he and Ollie were the last ones off the slopes and got to watch the sun set and the full moon rise from near the mountain top. Jed said Ollie is “awesomely persistent” . . . as long as he is not hungry. I am anxious to hear from everyone about how their four days at Sugarloaf went. They had planned to head home this morning, but they spent 5 hours on the slopes and then headed home. Thus, the last evening arrival back on the Cape.