Talk the Walk; Walking the Talk

Bootsie has been getting around lately.  

Yesterday he moved from his perch on my kayak seat in the shop to the deck.

He looks pretty happy sitting there next to the Christmas tree. 

I'm hoping he can stay there through whatever snow comes. 

The chair not only offers him a throne; it also sits there to keep the tree from toppling over should a brisk winter wind come whooping through.

Christmas decorations around the place continue to be a work in progress. 

A crazy idea turns into something fun and different during this Pandemic Christmas season.  

I could not believe that pansies were still blooming, albeit droopily so, out behind the barn where I walked the other day. 

Tough, persevering flowers, and, even with the droop, a lovely sight in December. 

The bird feeders have been buzzing with action lately. 

Fun to watch the dynamics as several swoop in to grab a bite.

Nobody has told the birds about the virus.  No social distancing, whatsoever. 

It's the "homeland." 

It's the place I think about often during this Pandemic. 

It's the place from which my mother's ancestors came. 

It's a place where Bill and I spent time last year.

 And, it's the place we, as a family, were supposed to visit this last April. 

It's County Donegal in Ireland, and seeing photos like this helps me look ahead to the day when we can return as a family. 

BTW: it's even more beautiful than this lovely photo on "Ireland from the Roadside" depicts.

Nice to dream when all looks so bleak. 

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My Fitbit told me this morning that I had already walked 2,696 steps.  It also said my heart rate, at rest, was 102.

I saw these numbers on the tiny screen before I had even put strapped the Fitbit to my wrist. 

Talk about a head start when I hadn't even gotten out of bed!

Seems on occasion, when I take it off at night and set it on the table next to me, the Fitbit sits too close to the round white noise device which helps me sleep. 

For some reason, the noise and the subtle vibration emanating from the device sends messages to the Fitbit. 

Hence, steps mount up and the heart goes flutter, flutter while I lie in bed enjoying my sweet and sometimes weird dreams.

As I type, after doing my morning rounds, which include distributing hay out in the pasture, cleaning stalls and walking out to get the paper, my Fitbit still tells me I've taken 2,696 steps more than I have. 

It reads 6,599 right now, and, thankfully, my heart rate wavers in the lower 60s. 

My hope, as reflected in the link below, is to reach 22,690 steps before I go to bed tonight. 

If that happens, I'll have earned my goal of 20,000 steps per day. 

I'm not fixated on my Fitbit, and I don't come close to a heart attack if I don't reach that goal every day.  

Still, it's a great reminder to get out there and to walk. Amazingly, we usually walk more steps when we're working and not paying attention than we do when we just plain walk or hike. 

All that to and fro stuff adds up fast, especially when you live on a farm.

I believe in Fitbits, and so when I saw this article, I thought it would be fun to share.  

Hope you enjoy, and that if you aren't really in to walking, it inspires you to give the Fitbit craze a try. 

 https://getpocket.com/explore/item/when-covid-hit-i-started-walking-20-000-steps-a-day-it-s-changed-my-life?utm_source=pocket-newtab 

Thank you, Inland Forest Management, for this lovely wreath.  

Mike, if yer listening, I used the pretty bag for the wreath as a decoration on the deck. 

Stuck a big rock in the big, white "Merry Christmas" bag and propped it up on the grill. 

It's impressive, albeit unusual. 

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I feature all these odds and ends today because I have reached the point of heart-break. 

It's been a common symptom during this year 2020 for all of us with so many losses on so many levels.

I've lost good and dear friends. I've watched as others have suffered the loss of loved ones.  

Many of us have freely readjusted our lives to help in the ongoing quest to slow the spread of Covid-19. In all those adjustments, of course, there have been losses. 

I'm sad that my daughter has had to endure the pain of loneliness as she works and lives in her tiny apartment for most of the year. 

I'm happy that she is able to work and that she could break that routine for a few weeks this summer to live in our travel trailer and that, as a family, we could take on our beloved outdoor adventures in new and different ways. 

My sadness this morning deals more with priorities among our leadership in the midst of this bleak and horrible time in history.

Why now after the election---I ask---is continuing the ugliness of politics and the need to "win" SO much more important than Americans' lives and saving individuals and families and entities from going under financially?

In some cases, the callous, self-centered behavior comes as no surprise. 

We've witnessed this behavior for some time now, and we have somehow endured while watching virtually every institution and principle upon which we have relied for most of our lives wantonly flipped upside down or completely dismissed.

Through this, we have endured and have held on to pockets of hope that this will get better with the stark realization that, along with the deaths of so many Americans every day, we could also be facing the death of this country as we have known and loved it.

I've often mentioned a possible book title with a sadly ironic twofold meaning:  

2020:  the Year America Died

 Certainly, we hoped that upon seeing this very distinct possibility, principled leaders would step up to halt this trend. 

This would also happen, we thought, thanks to the steady, rock-solid leadership of those we could always count on to exhibit common sense and caring in the midst of disarray or crisis. 

I am sad because that hope seems to be crumbled significantly with yesterday's decision by many of our once-trusted leadership to flock toward a questionable cause which will surely test democracy to the utmost degree. 

I've been told this is a political publicity stunt which will really not go anywhere. 

If that is so, these leaders have unveiled their true colors by contributing to ridiculous conspiracies. 

When and if the publicity stunt fails to net the results desired by the unscrupulous leader of the pack, constituents will not forget who joined in. 

I guess it's true this world is made up of givers and takers. 

The takers are taking their stand when they should be giving of themselves by doing their jobs,  showing compassion and putting all their efforts into the 24-7 unprecedented challenges in this country. 

It is not right that so many people continue to die and suffer while those whom we expected to know better  sign on to these self-serving antics.

And, to do so in what is supposed the most blessed time of the year seems blasphemous to me.

Just plain sad and maddening. 

That's all.