900th Post

Since this is my 900th blog post, I felt something special was in order. But I couldn't think of anything special so I am just going to ramble a bit.

The pool at Twin Rivers is renovated but they didn't put the lane lines back. Probably I have mentioned this already. Sorry for the repeat. I am rambling not with lips but with fingers on a keyboard. The lack of lanes lines makes flip turning difficult and swimming a straight line impossible. I have found, however, that when I swim early in the morning, the sun casts a shadow a few feet off the east wall. I can follow that shadow and then when I get to the south end of the pool, another shadow alerts me pretty well when to flip. On the north wall, the walk-in ramp makes a good marker for timing a flip on that end of the pool. In the afternoon, like it was when I first swam the renovated pool, all of those natural markers, the ramp excepted, are absent.

To help me at those times when it is not early morning and the shadows don't mark my path, I purchased some cones from Walmart. These are those little orange things that some athletes use for running drills and such as that. These help some. Unless you stick close to the wall, you need something. But the sad part is, I have not been swimming very much. Last week I swam twice for 500 and 700 meters. This week, I tried it once and made it 125 meters before tapping out. It feels like my glory days of swimming were in a different world already.

Besides the big pool, a smaller pool is in the works. Allegedly. This will be an indoor job and should allow me to train more during the winter. It will only be 60 feet long, but that's better than a poke in the eye. I said "allegedly" because even though the construction company as dug a hole, nothing has been done to it in about ten weeks. I am incredulous that I or anyone else will swim it this upcoming winter. Call me a skeptic, but construction and deadlines are an oxymoron.

CC has turned into my number one hang-out buddy. She is the sweetest thing and she always wants inside when the door to the back porch is opened. Luvie and Baby Kitty, on the other hand, often are napping and just give me a blank stare when I try to call them into the house. We can't leave the door open anymore to let them drift in when they feel like it because if we do, Jeff sneaks back there and gorges himself on cat doo doo and kitty litter. This has already cost us enough in vet bills that Penny and I could have retired already if we had that money. Consequently, she is the one who is napping with me while I blog, dream, and study.

I haven't written a Poot story in a really long time, maybe a year. I left the narrative where we shot water tower. The boys now have to get out of town undetected. My writing moods come and go, and Poot has been gone for a while. I can't explain it, and since I try to keep writing as something fun I don't force the issue. I could make my scribbling a job, but nobody is paying me and nobody doesn't pay very well nohow. See what I did there?

Last fall-- or was it two years ago?-- I did a number of adventure runs which provided rich fodder for fun writing. With my injured knee, I wonder if that sub-genre is a thing of the past. I sure hope not and I am praying for God to restore both my swimming and running. If running is gone, maybe I can dust off the mountain bike and do some exploration that way. Why a mountain bike instead of my road bike? With the former, I can hit gravel roads, the pace is slower so the cold is not as much of an issue, and I have a rack on the back that allows me to haul things like clothes and food. If I can just overcome my laziness, I can have a lot of fun this fall. I have never been much lazy when it comes to exercise, but lately everything is different. Forcing myself to get up and do something, anything has been a surprising struggle, one I have little experience with.

What will happen? Will I win the battle against mental, emotional, and physical inertia? Will I become fit enough to take day trips on the big tire bike? Will my swimming come back? Is Chicot on for 2018? When will Poot return to EndangeredSwimmer? Will CC stay my best cat friend? How will Centerville Baptist Church do? 

Stay tuned, stay thankful, and praise God.