Sephy’s Platzish

It’s the last update of the walking for 2007. Let’s get to it!

Sunday, 23rd December

This was a day that wasn’t suitable for being outside for more than a few minutes at a time. I started to walk, got to the end of the driveway and decided that it’s best for my safety (winds were upwards of 60km/h during the day with the temperature being somewhere around -15°C) to just let it go for the day. It didn’t help either that I wound up having to unstick all the doors on both cars which were frozen.

Total distance - 1012 steps, 0.80km

Monday, 24th December

The snow had been melting over the weekend, and then as I was walking, I started to notice that the camera was getting coated with some of the ice and snow that was blowing around. Don’t worry cos I then went and protected it in my jacket

Total distance - 1767 steps, 1.41km

Tuesday, 25th December

The sun sets on a white Christmas. Need I say more?

Total distance - 1954 steps, 1.56km

Wednesday, 26th December

My friends, the turkeys, are grouping together, possibly looking for a bit of leftover Christmas dinner? Maybe not cos after I came along, they started to go into the forest that’s in the background.

Total distance - 2822 steps, 2.25km

Thursday, 27th December

There was a light dusting of snow overnight, which made a really nice look on the trees, however you’ll see a different look of the same thing soon Here, I’ve given y’all a shot of the sun in the southwestern sky.

Total distance - 2997 steps, 2.39km

Friday, 28th December

See what I mean about the coating of things? These are some bushes that have gotten a major coating of snow during the storm we had during the day - it was really heavy snow, and I did a lot of work outside to clean up the snow from around the cars, but I didn’t get too far in that venture, and decided to just walk down to the mailbox to get the mail and come back, trudging through what had to have been about 15-18cm of snow (that’s 6-7 inches).

Total distance - 2068 steps, 1.65km

Saturday, 29th December

After the snow was cleared, the trees still hold the snow on them, as you can see from this stand of pine trees in the field by the horse paddock. Also, the snowmobilers were out in force, and I am glad to say that every one that I saw had helmets on.

Total distance - 2354 steps, 2.88km

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In other news, it was a quiet week around here, as I was by myself for the whole time. I did enjoy Christmas Eve with a family friend - we wound up having Chinese food as all the pizza joints closed up early for the holiday. Then I got to church just barely in time because I wasn’t 100% sure if it started at 7 or 7.30 pm - it was 7, and I got there just in the nick of time, for the very traditional program.Actually, I shouldn’t say it was totally quiet - I mean, since I was alone, I had the opportunity to have the speakers on at night, so I could listen to music without destroying my ears; of course on Christmas that changed to cricket to listen to during the night, which is always fun

This week, I go back into the routine of visiting the therapist again, and there are a few other issues that need to be mentioned, and then it’s back to the normal routine of the world.

And I have to say that, even though it’s been really nice to have the house all to myself (and the dog), it’ll be nice to have someone around again…

This was the week where winter finally came to fruition. However, that doesn’t mean the pictures aren’t interesting

Sunday, 2nd December

These were my footsteps onto the trail in the park. I only made it a short distance in there before deciding to turn back. Fortunately, the surface wasn’t too bad for the walk, but that would not stay the same for very long. We got about 5 inches of snow, but then some of it melted when it got above freezing and then started to rain. After the rain finished, it started to snow once again.

Total distance: 2098 steps, 1.67km

Monday, 3rd December

  

For the first time this winter, here are the turkeys. Here are a couple of little known facts - first is that they can perch in trees, at least temporarily. Then they fly down so that they can cross the road. There were about 15 of them and they would cross the road in groups of two or three until they were all across. I’m not sure to where exactly they were headed though. I made it to the park entrance, but didn’t go in since the surface was very slippery and hard.

Total distance: 1478 steps, 1.18km

Tuesday, 4th December

I didn’t take an “official” walk, but I did keep track of my steps for most of the afternoon after coming back from my driving test. I also didn’t take any photos, and I did take a small walk down the road when I went out to get the mail.

Total distance: 1952 steps, 1.56km

Wednesday, 5th December

We had more snow again, so my walk consisted mostly of shoveling a bit of the driveway so that I had a path down to the road and the mailbox. In the course of that, I also did a bit of cleanup on the road, pushing the shovel quite a distance along the road in order to clear away the snow from the white line which marks the outside of the lane. When I went back later to get the mail (this is when I took the picture), the snow had already drifted a bit of my path shut, so I went back to work at cleaning more of it away.

Total distance: 1627 steps, 1.30km

Thursday, 6th December

I didn’t do a full walk again, but I did a bit of walking around - including doing some more work cleaning the driveway (which included doing a bit of shoveling to see if it was possible to park 2 cars in the space we currently have). I did put on the counter though.

Total distance: 1122 steps, 0.89km

Friday, 7th December

I went for the full walk, but it didn’t quite go as planned. I got to the entrance of the park (just past these trees), and went for the entrance, got to the gate, and decided to turn back - the conditions in the snow was just not safe enough to continue, as in I was barely making steps, and there was no stability in the snow, and, to make matters slightly more interesting, I could still see the indentations left from my walk on Sunday, even though we had a bunch more snow on top of it.

Total distance: 2526 steps, 2.02km

Saturday, 8th December

Something I’d have thought would have been going around by now are the snowmobiles. As you can see here, there’s a single track in the snow. As I was walking back around the corner, after having gone about 3/4th of the way up the hill toward the park entrance, I saw one heading towards where I was standing to take this picture.

Total distance: 2057 steps, 1.64km

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In other news, obviously the biggest news was the successful passing of my driving test. I was not expecting to get a car, but as the person who gave this to me said, they’ve noticed a big change in my life, and that I had turned a corner in my life. I have my weekly therapist appointment as usual tomorrow, and it is proving very worthwhile to have someone to talk to about the issues in my world. We also talk about some more offbeat topics, such as the quality of produce at local grocery stores; the hour seems to fly right by for me. :)I also have an appointment on Wednesday with the doctor to do a checkup on my meds and to see how I’m doing on them; I am doing quite well with them, and the current dosage I’m on is a good dosage to keep on.

This week, there’s quite a bit of work to do with clearing the snow (still), and I am getting ready to go on my first big car trip as a driver - it’s in a couple of weeks, and the destination (at least for me) isn’t terribly exciting - Orchard Field near Chicago - it should be an interesting experience (especially if I want to be cheap and skip driving on the tollway and take the surface streets - over the last 10 or so years, they’ve gone from 40¢ per plaza to upwards of $1.50). I’ll have more on that as it approaches, and probably some pictures from the trip - when I’m in the passenger seat, of course!

Also, I notice that this is volume 20 of the walks update - it’s hard to believe that I’ve been walking almost every day now for 5 months!

Since I’ve spent a lot of time in a car (just sitting and reading; not having a full license has its disadvantages at times) today, I’m just going to jump into it.

I’ve done a bit of experimentation with the positioning of the pedometer. From Monday, I’ve placed it on my sock; I’m not sure if the accuracy has gone up and down; you’ll see why further down.

Sunday, 25th November

The sun shines through the trees onto the still somewhat fresh snow. A bit of it had melted by the end of the week, but there were still large areas where the snow didn’t go away (due to shadows, etc.).

Total distance - 3080 steps, 2.46km

Monday, 26th November

This pile of dirt has been in this same location for quite some time now. I’m not sure why it was put there, but it’s there, and it looks like it’s going to stay there at least through the winter…

Total distance - 4333 steps, 3.46km

Tuesday, 27th November

Here you can see the effect of shadows on melting snow - the area that isn’t melted is part of the “official” path. All of the area that wasn’t shadowed in some way had pretty much melted already.

Total distance - 4958 steps, 3.96km

Wednesday, 28th November

Of course, that didn’t stop the snow coming again the next day. Fortunately, it wasn’t terribly heavy. Nevertheless, the wind was so strong that my umbrella broke somewhat (I believe I should be able to fix it with some crazy glue). Interestingly, although I did a normal-distance walk, the pedometer registered a really low number.

Total distance - 1740 steps, 1.39km

Thursday, 29th November

Well, here’s our friend the turkey; one of them at least. They were in the driveway of one of the houses along my route. It was really, really cold; in fact, I had on a scarf, which led to my glasses fogging up pretty badly. However, I can say that the water I had carried with me chilled off nicely

Total distance - 3917 steps, 3.13km

Friday, 30th November

I didn’t go out to walk today. However, I did do a little more semi-night driving.

Saturday, 1st December

Er, yeah. This is what I got for walking after we got back from the driving adventure. This was right in the middle of a storm. To walk, I put on my usual two extra layers, plus a heavy winter jacket. It really didn’t help, even with the assistance of an umbrella. I only went down to the bridge and back, and coming back, it was a difficult walk. I was walking into the wind, with the precipitation coming down as something in between snow and sleet.

The good news is that I figured out a way to keep my boots closed - I used some old drawstrings from a couple of old pairs of pants and looped them around the boots and my pants, which did the trick

Total distance - 617 steps, 0.49km

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In other news, tomorrow I should be having my first session of Holographic Memory Resolution. It is a treatment technique that focuses on resolving a memory that you have. You can check out some resources about it here.The other really big thing going on is the driving test.  As it stands now, there is a 60% chance of snow on Tuesday, with it starting sometime around noon. If it does snow during my test, I’ll be glad that I’ve done a bit of snow driving. We have all of the arrangements set for how we’re going to orchestrate moves to get the car I’m doing the test in (i.e. the same car I’ve been driving in). I know where I’m going, know how to get there. All I have to do tomorrow is get the timings down (I want to get down there about 15 minutes early, and have a bit of time to do some driving before heading in).

Honestly, I can feel the anticipation starting; I’m kinda looking forward to the test, and I feel prepared for it.

 

Going straight into it again

Remember that you can click on the small picture to view the full-size version.

Sunday, 18th November

Some more of the wind damage that had happened in the park; this tree is laying over the main trail. I’d venture to guess that it will be cleared up sometime next spring, unless someone walking past it decides to sort it out on their own.

Total distance: 5375 steps, 4.30km

Monday, 19th November

This picture really sums up the day - gray and foggy. It wasn’t the most pleasant conditions outside, but at least it wasn’t icing over.

Total distance: 5086 steps, 4.06km

Tuesday, 20th November

Here’s one of the horses taking an interest in me walking past.

Total distance: 5507 steps, 4.40km

Wednesday, 21st November

Another flash shot of fun here. The two dots toward the lower left of the picture is one of the horses from the paddock. The white specks are the snow that fell.

Total distance: 4532 steps, 3.62km

Thursday, 22nd November

A trinity of snow pictures from the first snow of the year. On the left is a shot of the road and the field that has the horses, with plenty of snow along the side of the road. Next is a shot of the pine trees with snow sitting on the branches, and finally, the park with snow all over the open areas. Interestingly, in the park, there was quite a bit of the area where the snow had been cleared in the forest, but when I got into a leaf-covered area, the snow was still there.

Total distance: 3805 steps, 3.04km

Friday, 23rd November

I didn’t go for a walk today, but rather quite a lengthy drive. We had to go into the city for an appointment, and I said that I was going to drive. Although it was Black Friday, the traffic by around noon wasn’t too bad, and it was easy to get around in the city. I also took the opportunity to find where I was going to take the driving test and did a little bit of driving around the area before we headed for home.

Oh, and if you’re wondering, obviously I wasn’t driving when I took this picture.

Saturday, 24th November

This is a look at the path that I’d usually pass along, but I have to admit that I’m not 100% confident in walking in the boots I got. I went out on them on Monday, and I need to get a shoelace or something to tie them up, and the zippers on them wouldn’t stay up for very long when I was walking. Also, it kind of felt like I was wearing concrete boots on my feet. Oh well, I’ll get used to them soon enough

Total distance: 3755 steps, 3.00km

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In other news, the counseling is going well. I have to read up on a couple of options I have for treatment called EMDR and HMR. From what the therapist has said, both of these options have proven very effective, even if it does make you sleepy after you do a session of it.

My driving test is only one week away, and I have to say that my confidence is growing. On Friday, as I had mentioned, I found out where the testing location is; it looks like some decent roads in the area. I also got some advice about common ways that people fail their tests such as not checking mirrors often enough and also stopping before a sidewalk when you’re coming to stop sign. Also, I got a great tip for practising the parallel parking - use a trashcan or a witch’s hat (or cone or bollard) to mark the location of a potential car.

The big task for me this week will be getting some posts pre-written for the blog, as I am setting a goal of having a week prewritten so I can focus on other things, such as getting out there and commenting on blogs. Also, we should be getting a proper phone again this week; for the last two weeks we’ve not had regular phone service as the phone number we have has been transferred to our new phone service. Luckily we’ve been able to dial into voicemail to get messages.

I’m using some perogitive here and changing up the walks wrap up. Instead of my putting notes about the walk (which really are boiling down to, it’s cold outside and I’m wearing three layers ), I’m going to stick to photos and their descriptions, with the distances. If something unusual does happen, I’ll note it. Hope y’all don’t mind.

Sunday, 11th November

Pardon the blurriness, but time exposure shots handheld are kind of difficult, even though I’ve learnt a new trick to increase stability while holding the camera. However, the effect on this shot is cool - you should be able to see the reflection off of some of the cars in the passing carrier.

Total distance - 5699 steps, 4.55km

Monday, 12th November

These trees can cause me some confusion from time to time because when the wind passes through them, it sounds like it’s starting to rain. Of course, it’s just the leaves blowing around, and I probably should be less paranoid…

Total distance - 5374 steps, 4.29km

Tuesday, 13th November

A look from further back at the trees above, however in the background you can see the lights of an approaching train. It turned out to be a container train, likely loaded with products coming from overseas. I would guess that there were other types of cars on the end, but I didn’t see those as I kept going after taking a couple of pictures.

Total distance - 4790 steps, 3.83km

Wednesday, 14th November

This plane kind of surprised me as it wasn’t flying any higher than about 400 feet; thus I actually got a halfway decent picture of it, and not out of focus. Now, just if the light was better…

By the way, in case you’re wondering about these low step totals, I am walking the same route I have been walking, but I think I’ve been interfering with the pedometer’s freedom to count. It might just be a situation where I might need to find a different place to put it.

Total distance - 4392 steps, 3.46km

Thursday, 15th November

A look through the trees at the setting sun, which now sets more towards the Southwest since it’s up in the sky for a shorter time of the day. As I was walking out of the park, I spotted a car pulling to the side of the road by the gate; as it turned out, it was someone walking his dog. All’s well that ends well in this case

Total distance - 4560 steps, 3.64km

Friday, 16th November

Ah, another attempt at the handheld shot. I went walking later than normal because of my volunteering commitments, and didn’t make it much past this point; I hardly slept overnight because I had caffeine; however, I did go out for a short walk after I got back, even though I was really tired.

Distances:
4:19pm - 2359 steps, 1.88km
5:27pm - 4113 steps, 3.29km
end of day - 5288 steps, 4.23km

Saturday, 17th November

No points for guessing the substance here. It’s snow; our first small snowfall of the year, though it didn’t stick to much other than the car in the driveway. I did manage to get a decent length walk in though.

Total distance - 4536 steps, 3.62km

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In other news, I had my first full appointment with the therapist on Monday; there wasn’t too much new information learnt about myself, however this week we’re going to look at one of the things that I have a tendency to do.

With a scant 2+ weeks until my driving test, I’m becoming more comfortable with my driving skills. Once again, I had the opportunity to drive home from my volunteering and took it (actually, I got to the car first, so the choice was pretty easy). I also had the chance to drive the car on my own (granted, it was over a total distance of about 100 feet; baby steps, hehe ), and got some practice handling parking stalls. Also, I had the opportunity to drive in the rain yesterday. I did not know this, but if you put the rear defroster on, it will clear the back windscreen of water that has accumulated (though my idea of cleaning the back at the gas station worked decently for about a minute).

This week is Thanksgiving week, so I know that I won’t be volunteering on Friday (the office is closed); I’m need to get in some of the “fine” skills practice - i.e. parallel parking and y turns - this week; I need to speak up about that because there’s a chance we could have a snowstorm on Thanksgiving day, which is fine because the Packers are playing anyway