Last day in Albany 6-30-07

Yesterday was cloudy and gloomy all day. Larry went jogging without me. I could still barely walk, so I opted out of even trying to walk with him. We drove over to Corvallis to pick up Seth so he could spend another night with us. He hadn’t had a nap so he was in bed asleep by 8:30. He loves taking a bath in our teeny bathtub. The satellite was down most of the day so I couldn't post a blog.

Today was a stunning day. Clear and warm with a cooling breeze. Seth woke around 8 and we were off and running for the day. We took a little walk first thing around the RV park and then later I decided I would walk out to the park with the “guys”. I’m getting better, but it is going slower than I would like and the pain is just amazing. Makes a girl rethink this exercise business! I just have to build a little slower.

Seth and Larry had fun on the slide and then we walked on to the pond to see the ducks. Seth was slower than I was on the walk back and took some coaxing and a ride on Grampa’s shoulders to get him back. Then it was lunch and nap time. After nap it was time to play cars and then we loaded him and his mountain of stuff into the truck and headed back to his place.

We hung out until bath time and then we headed back home to rest and recover. Tomorrow we plan on hitting the road and heading south.

Carpet cleaning 6-28-07

I am still able to walk, all this pain and I somehow did it to myself! An elderly lady with a walker passed me today. I have a new respect for older, arthritic people…no wonder some of them are cranky. It is frustrating when your body isn’t doing how you want it to and then add pain to the equation…not fun.

It was cloudy and rainy today, a good day to clean our carpets! So that was the highlight of our day. It didn’t take very long. We had the windows open and the fantastic fans going. This was the first time we have cleaned them and they look really nice.

I hobbled with Larry through Target and the mall. After we got to the truck we sat and watched a Swift truck driver get himself out of a sticky situation. He didn’t make the turn right and almost took out a hunk of landscaping. We had more time to kill so we had a nice lunch at Red Robin. We love that place, but only get there maybe once a year…not exactly low-cal! Limped through Safeway for groceries and back in the truck just in time for the sky to open up and start pouring.

The carpet was pretty much dry so we got everything put away. I got some lovely new throw rugs at Target and now our nest is all fresh and new looking.

Tomorrow is jogging day, but I’m not sure if I’ll even manage walking the three miles. I may have to take another day or two off.. darn it. I am suspecting my new running shoes as the culprit.

Lame Jogger 6-27-07

A jogging setback today, I’ve got inflamed tendons around my knees and in the side of one foot and I pulled up lame. I got back home on my two legs, but I was really tempted to have Larry get the truck and come back for me. Thank goodness for sunglasses, I was blubbering along and feeling sorry for myself…good thing I’m not a horse. Our time was 49 minutes today…yuck. Larry just kept jogging ahead and behind and got in a good workout for himself anyway. I was hurting to begin with and rather than listen to my body and take it slow, I listened to all those diehards out there that say “push through the pain”, it’ll work itself out…NOT. Oh well, a few days taking it easy and I’ll get back at it, just frustrating because I was making good progress.

It is overcast today but in the 70’s so still kinda pleasant. This is our last few days here so we are getting things wrapped up.

We spent the evening over at Michelle’s and brought home her carpet cleaner.

Gorgeous Day 6-26-07

Today was a gorgeous day here in northern Oregon. It was sunny, in the mid-80’s and breezy which kept it from getting too warm in the trailer. I hate having to close up and turn on the air conditioner.

Larry was busy re-programming Michelle’s ham radio. I puttered, we made a trip to Home Depot…Larry has come up with another minor remodel project and I bought a couple small red, white and blue flowered petunia pots.

I made a lovely marinated broiled salmon, black beans and rice and a teeny salad for dinner…yum.

Just another stunning day!

Catching up 6-25-07

I think today was jogging day 7. It was a good day. I jogged farther, I had good wind (didn’t need to use my inhaler at all) and we shaved off another minute…our time was 42 minutes. Kinda hobbled around the rest of the day though, muscles I didn’t know I had keep acting up and making themselves known…what I wouldn’t give for a bathtub!

We had a good time with Seth over the weekend as always. He spent the night Saturday and until dinner on Sunday. Granpa showed him the best use for a piece of tape (no children were harmed in the making of this picture).

Lori had her girls’ graduation party on Saturday and here are a few of the pictures she sent me. Jaclyn made that huge cake. There wasn’t much of it left so it must have been yummy.

My brain has taken a vacation and words are failing me…short blog today.

The Oregon Garden 6-23-07

Yesterday was a field trip day. We went to the Oregon Garden in Silverton which is a 15 minute drive east of Salem. This whole area is very agricultural. Lots of blueberries are farmed and here Linn County claims to be the grass seed capital of the world. There are two huge Iris growers up here, Cooleys and Schreiners, one of these years we have to get here the end of May so we can see all of them in bloom, it would be stunning. Lots of flower seeds are grown too; these first 3 pictures are of a California Poppy field and some mystery flowers that we were able to get close to. We keep seeing ribbons of color way off in the distance here and there.

So anyway, the Oregon Garden was fabulous. It has only been open for 6 years and is 80 acres. It is on what used to be an Arabian horse ranch. We spent over 4 hours there. Amazing the growth that it already has and I think in a few years it will rival Butchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C. The different gardens flow together nicely and there are rest rooms placed throughout and a little café on site so we didn’t have to leave and come back. We could have brought a picnic, but we didn’t think about it. There are many water gardens and fountains and there is a tram that runs throughout so you can jump on it if you get tired. There were lots of places to sit and rest if needed. I took 154 pictures and I whittled it down to this first batch, I’ll probably bore you with more over the next few days. We were really glad we saw it and if I lived here I would have a season pass so I could the garden through all seasons!

Today was jogging day 6. It was a cool morning and it took longer to get warmed up. I tried to start jogging where I had on day 5 but the pain and stiffness was too much. So I walked more to get warmed up and then I jogged as far as I could and then walked for just a teeny bit and jogged again. I was jogging REALLY slowly though, I decided to slow down, hoping that I could jog for longer stretches, Larry could walk fast beside me and keep up, but all I cared about was putting my body through the jogging motions. Larry goes off ahead of me and puts on at least another mile going back and forth while I slog along. But my strategy worked for me today, because I was able to keep jogging more and when we got home we had gotten back the three minutes we lost on our last jog, so I was happy with that!

It is so weird to me how really AWFUL this jogging and pushing my body feels, yet at the same time I feel so good…when I’m done huffing and puffing and dripping sweat and can move again I notice how much better I feel overall. Makes a person want to eat a donut! And that starts to piss me off too because now I don’t want to eat as much, which means it WORKS…Exercise the 8 letter cuss word!

Tonight Seth is spending the night, so we’ll be busy. Can you find the Bullfrog in the picture of the green leaves on the water?

Jogging day five 6-21-07

Happy Summer Solstice! Today is the longest day of the year, hopefully we all have sunshine today so we can really enjoy it!

Jogging day 5 started out really good. I started jogging sooner and for way longer stretches and I was doing good, but on the way back when I started into a jog again I pulled a groin muscle…ouchy. But I kept walking and working it out and I was able to still get in 3 more stretches of jogging in our 3 miles. I made it back, but we lost 3 minutes today…darn it.

Larry spent the day reorganizing photo files. I went shopping at the Mall and stopped for groceries on the way home. Another exciting day in paradise…at least I can still walk!

Swimming Seth 6-20-07

Another sunny, warm, breezy day. I was off kilter all day, I felt like I was half a frequency off from where I was supposed to be. No motivation at all for anything. Seth wanted to visit us so he and his Mother came over for awhile. They had made a couple stops on the way over and Seth told his Mom to get out of her seat and he would take himself over to Gramma and Grampa’s. He is 3, makes you just shudder doesn’t it imagining the future!

Seth had his water wings today and his Spiderman swim trunks so Granpa took him swimming at the indoor pool here at the park. This kid is a fearless fish.

Jogging day four 6-19-07

Day 4 of jogging: went rather well. I jogged for longer stretches each time and nothing on my body tried to fail me today. My legs would get really rubbery each time I would push for longer or faster, but for the most part I am seeing and feeling improvements. The weird thing is that no matter how grueling or painful it is, because of the results I am already experiencing I actually look forward to going, though I am happiest when I am done….smile! Oh, and I shaved another minute off of our time, 43 minutes for our 3 miles. Woo Hoo!

So that was about the highlight of our day. It was sunny and got up to 87. We ran a couple errands and then spent the day doing the various things we always do.

More Roses and Shopping 6-18-07

Yahoo, today I was virtually pain free, now I hope I can actually run more of the 3 miles tomorrow. It was sunny and windy all day today and in the mid-70’s, lovely for northern Oregon.

Today’s pictures are more from yesterday’s excursion at the Avery Park Rose Garden in Corvallis, and one of Michelle and Seth blowing bubbles on Saturday. Larry didn’t take any pictures today. He and Seth hung out here today while Michelle and I went Mall shopping in Salem today. Larry said he wished he had the camera when the maintenance man here let Seth sit on the little John Deere tractor and move all the levers (it wasn’t running). Seth thought sitting on the yellow seat was pretty cool. They played in the park and generally talked nonstop. Seth’s mother was like that at that age, nonstop jabbering about anything and everything. Another fun day!