A February exit

and a predicted harsh entry to March...

I know it is still winter - really! - but don't you think this is enough. I'm ready to seriously start biking again, but there is yet again another winter storm predicted for tonight. Let's see, does that mean that the old "in like a lion, out like a lamb" prediction about the month of March will be true this year? I can always hope...

...and again - that bright pink color is an indication of yet another winter storm warning!

If anything, the weather forecast continued to degrade throughout the day. At 6pm, the weather map is even more heavily colored in the bright pink of the winter storm warning. I'd be really happy if I wake up Tuesday morning to find it was all a big joke, but I don't think that's going to happen!

Cold outside, and a cold...

Wow - I just realized that I haven't written any blog entries in the last two weeks. The reason? I feel like I've actually lost the time while I've been fighting with a really nasty winter cold. And if you don't want to hear about my battle, you'd better stop reading right now!

It started 2 1/2 weeks ago as a head cold. I loaded up on zinc and echinecea, and it disappeared within a day. That is - it tricked me into thinking that it disappeared. I headed to New York for the weekend to see my folks, and over the weekend the damn thing came back as a minor sore throat. Still not too bad. Unfortunately it just never went away, and by the middle of the week I was fighting a full-blown cold. After spending 5 days at home - 2 work days where I slept half the day and worked the other half, 2 weekend days, and 1 holiday (Presidents' Day, the one weird holiday my company is closed) - I headed back to work. But I also headed to the doctor because I just wasn't getting better. My own doctor was out, so I saw someone else in her office. And this woman turned out to be a real gem. She gave me cough syrup with coedeine, which definitely helped me get closer to a normal night's sleep, but on Tuesday it still seemed like just a cold. She made sure I knew the symptoms of a sinus infection, and told me to call if one developed. Back to work...

Wednesday I was still feeling the same, no improvement. It wasn't really worse, so I figured I'd just wait it out. In the middle of the afternoon, I got what for me was a surprise phone call - it was the doc I saw on Tuesday, calling to see if I could feel any improvement. After our conversation, she decided that my little cold had taken the next step and morphed into a sinus infection, time for antibiotics. It's Sunday now, and while I'm not totally back to what I consider normal, I feel much, much better.

What is it with winter and colds anyway? Last year I managed to get through the winter without one, but for some reason I wasn't able to avoid it this time. Do you think there is some kind of magic spell I can use to prevent the next one?

A sea of orange

... on another New York visit weekend

Dad's second surgery to remove the spot of cancer from his second lung was last Monday (the 7th). Suze was there for the surgery and again for a bit on Thursday, Neal visited on Thursday, the weekend was my planned visit - and of course Mom was with him the entire time. This second surgery was rougher than the first, at least partly because it was scheduled a short 3 weeks after the first. There's nothing like having a second major surgery before full recovery from the first... It was hard seeing him in pain, although there was visible improvement before I left on Sunday. I'm still sending lots of good wishes his way, and I'm sure your wishes will help too.

New York isn't a place that I voluntarily visit - if you haven't figured this out yet, I'm really not much of a city gal! As cities go, Boston is about my size - and New York is the home of too many people and too many cars. But this was a good weekend for a vist to New York, and I owe my dad thanks for that. Saturday was the opening day of Christo & Jeanne-Claude's exhibit "The Gates" in Central Park. I carved out the time for a couple of hour-long walks, and of course my target destination was Central Park. I arrived there Saturday morning in time to see the unfurling of some of the orange gates, and I absolutely enjoyed the spectacle.

A sea of orange marching forward.

A nice contrast - blue sky, trees in their winter state of undress, and a bright orange banner.

Interested in more photos? You can find them in my New York, February 2005 --- Christo's The Gates, plus..." photo gallery.

Thunder snow - and I missed it!

How can that be? How could I miss a weather phenomenon that comes once in a blue moon? There was snow forecast for last night and today, but the weather apparently didn't believe the forecast since our weather was steady rain. That is, it was rain until late in the afternoon when that white stuff started falling. I just checked the National Weather Service site, and saw the statement "Thunder snow occurring across Bostons western suburbs". Hmmm... I've never experienced thunder snow - and it doesn't seem to want to visit my house tonight. Hey - if it has to snow anyhow, it might as well surprise us by throwing in some thunder too!

Did I really hear that?

Listening to the radio on my way in to work... subject: the weather!

After going through the winter storm warning that is posted for tonight and tomorrow, the announcer went on to describe the forecast for the weekend. He said "the weekend will be sunny, except at night".

Did we really need that clarification? I have to admit, it did make me smile, so I'm glad his statement was a little over the edge!

A peek at spring on a midwinter's weekend

What a nice surprise - sunny days with temperatures approaching warmth! It was a good 10 degrees warmer on Saturday, 52 degrees as opposed to this afternoon's 42 degrees. But hey - it's early February and I'll happily accept either.

The weekend was forecast to be beautiful, but Friday night I decided that since the roads would likely be very messy that I wouldn't bike this weekend. At noon on Saturday with the temperature reaching for the 50's that decision just disappeared, and I headed out on my bike. Route 125 was clear, but the other roads were not. After a very short distance my bike was covered in salt and sand kicked up from the puddles I was riding through. It felt great to be riding, but by the end of the ride I felt like my bike was screaming at me! Needless to say, my first activity after returning home was to clean and re-lube the bike. My own shower waited until the bikes was done.

I was a happy cyclist, but I went to bed again thinking that I wouldn't ride on Sunday, too messy... You know what happened this morning though, don't you? Right! It was once more too nice of a day to not get on a bicycle. This time I was a bit smarter though, and I stayed on route 125. I did a couple of sections more that once - nothing like doing out and back loops on one road - so when I returned home it was with a (mostly) clean bike. This time I could just wipe the bike down before putting it away. I managed a decent early-season ride, and I didn't trash the bike once again.

I had to take a picture of my very dirty bike. This bike is purple, really! And would you want to drink from this water bottle? What a mess - but luckily I make sure that I always have a good supply of Finish Line Bike Wash, so the cleanup doesn't take too long.

It’s time to say goodbye…

...thoughts of Brandy...

Brandy has finally decided it’s time to say goodbye to all of us and to join his brother Caesar in that other world where pain and sickness is gone, and where he can have whatever treats he wants whenever he wants them. Caesar left us in early March 2004, but Brandy decided to stay with our mom and dad for a while longer. He knew that they were sad, and that they needed him to stay. For those of you not familiar with the dachshund part of the Goldberg family, Brandy and Caesar joined the family just over 14 years ago, and they’ve managed to bring smiles to all of our faces since then.

While people often thought Brandy was the quieter of the two, he actually thought that he was in charge. He would let Caesar do all of the “I want a snack, where’s the food” begging, but of course he joined in enjoying the prize. And once Caesar left us, Brandy took over that role. Brandy has been ill for a while, and he needed to eat small meals more often. He probably thought that he was really in charge because every time he asked for food he was given another small meal. In fact, the total quantity of food was very similar to what he was getting before. Because of his problems, the vet requested that he be limited to dog food, and that he not get any of his favorite people food. But permission was given for a little bit of banana every so often. Brandy did love his bananas! Toward the end he really rejected his dog food, and his vet gave Mom permission to feed Brandy some of his cherished people food – and he loved that she was cooking for him. It’s funny though – even when he was offered his mom-prepared people food during his stay at the vet’s, he really preferred his dog food there. Do you think he had his people wrapped around his tail? (No really, he doesn’t have a little finger, so he used his tail instead!)

When it came time to eat, Brandy had his own way of expressing his “hurry up and feed me” thoughts. While his human was fixing his food – and that human was usually our mom – he jumped at her legs. Jump, jump, jump… It’s a good thing he was a little dog so that he didn’t knock her over. After all, having a dog knock into the back of your legs could cause a fall, but luckily that never happened.

Bringing toys for the guys? Since there were two of them, people usually brought two toys. Of course they were shared, but somehow (after a while) Brandy would grab both – one to guard, one to chew. And he loved licking toys. His favorite was a teddy bear that by the end of Brandy’s stay with us had much of the “fur” licked off. He would lick it and lick it until he fell asleep...

And speaking of licking, he loved to lick people’s skin too. I remember when I visited during my cross-country bike trip – he greeted me with a gleam in his eyes wanted to clean the salty sweat off of my legs! Lick, lick lick...

Walking on a leash was sometimes OK with Brandy – but only if you went at the pace he was interested in at the time. There were many occasions when he walked on the outbound leg, but he convinced his walker that he needed a ride home. Being carried in someone’s arms somehow came out ahead of walking himself. He had his people well-trained, didn’t he?

Brandy spent a month at the vet’s while his Mom was in Boston with me after I had a bit of a mishap with my bike last spring. Leaving him home alone in his crate while his dad (our dad!) was at work was just too long a day for him, and the folks at the animal hospital love him too. So he didn’t spend that month alone in a cage. He came out to play with the folks that worked there, and they made sure that he had an opportunity to meet and play with some of the other (animal) residents. I sent my apologies to him for borrowing his favorite person for that length of time – and I’ve been told that he forgave me. I certainly hope so!

For the last few years he was afraid of the steps. But on one morning he forgot and managed to make it downstairs on his own. Apparently he would go down 1 or 2 stairs, then realize what he was doing and stop for a bit. One or two more...

Toward the end he spent a lot of time sleeping. He woke up often and would go looking for Mom. Once he found her, he would happily go back to sleep. And in the evenings he would happily crawl into the space next to Dad on his favorite chair in the living room. He was definitely attached to the family he lived with! In fact I remember one time when I was the only human home with Brandy and Caesar (we were all staying with Suze in King of Prussia). They were beside themselves – where were their “normal” humans? They managed to calm down as long as I stayed in the room with them. Do you think they were spoiled?

It's a sad day today; it's hard to say goodbye to someone (somedog?) who brought so much love into our lives. I'm sure that Brandy sends thanks to our mom & dad for loving him for all of these years. He loved living with them, and I'd like to believe he is still watching over both of them. (And he asked me to tell them that he is hanging out with Caesar again...)

Brandy, enjoying the sun on a shiny morning in May 2004

Memories of Caesar can be found in my March 9, 2004 River of tears… blog entry.

More pictures of Brandy & Caesar can be seen in my photo gallery titled The ‘guys’ - hey, are we really dogs? We think we're people...

No walking for me on this icy morning!

The past couple of weeks haven't been great for reaching my walking and exercising goals. Somehow the weather hasn't been cooperating, and there have also been days when I never managed to get away from my desk (or my computer). That's got to stop...

My goal for these winter months is to get in at least an hour's worth of aerobic exercise each day. Somehow I haven't been able to get myself to ride my bike on a trainer this year - I just can't stay on it long enough to get much benefit from it. I started this week by promising myself to get back to walking either before work or as an afternoon break, plus getting to the gym right after work. I'm really not a runner, but I walk at a pretty good clip so I believe I really am getting some benefit from it. It's not the same as biking outside, but there just isn't enough daylight (or warmth) for me to pull that off right now. A combination of walking and using an elliptical trainer seems to be working. But I'm still fighting to manage an hour's worth of exercise every day during the week. I'm not having any problems with adding another 1 and a half to 2 hours on each weekend day, but the weekdays are more of a battle than I'd like. This week was better than the last couple - and I'm determined that next week will be even better...

There were many beautiful snow-covered and icy branches this morning - but it was a bit too icy to support my walking habit.

A sunny February 2nd...

...the halfway point of winter

I thought today was only Groundhog's Day - which probably wasn't good since the crazy animal definitely saw shadows today, more winter to come... But then Rich pointed out that this day also marks the halfway point of winter. While I'd really like it to be spring, I guess I will have to be happy with the thought that what's left of winter will be shorter each day. The difference in the daylight is starting to be noticeable...

Today I shared my walking in the sun with the neighborhood Canada Goose. (Or is that Canada Geese?) It almost looked as if these birds were swimming through the snow. When I first saw the prints in the snow (sans birds, of course), I wondered how they were made. Wonder no more - it was many geese plodding through the snow!