Trying to keep with it.

The 2011 Ephrata Canal Caper..............Yes, I did it this year!
I felt better about it then I have in years past. My time was better, too.  Maybe all those years of trying to pretend I'm a runner is paying off!
I don't know, tho.
It has been a week and a half since the Canal Caper and I've only walked/jogged twice.
I did go to Idaho Falls to see the grandkids last week and was driving a lot (so that's a good excuse, isn't it??)
And today I went to Wenatchee to walk, but it was raining a little.  I just couldn't get in to it.  So I just walked for an hour and then went shopping in my sweats.  I know, I know......lame.

I just picked the wrong day.  Yesterday was sunny and beautiful, but today...........overcast, wet, and cold.

This is a pic from Miami in January that I forgot I had. I'm sure having the hardest time getting the pics off of my I-phone to my computer.  I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I've tried just about everything.  Oh, well........life goes on.......gotta go make dinner.

150

This is my 150th post!
That is really something for me - since I know I'm not that great of a writer. I just enjoy being able to document this little life I'm living.  And of course, I love reading my family and friends' blogs!

I know I've put these pics on this blog in the past, but I just really, really like them - so I'm putting them up again. Yes, it's of the walk around the river that I love so much.
I went again today. It was cold and really rather ugly looking out, but I know it's going to change soon.  Spring is coming!! I hope. On the drive home, the sun did start to come out and made me think of Spring.

Last night there was a horrific earthquake near Japan and it caused a horrible Tsunami to take hold of part of that big Island. There are a lot of people missing and a lot of deaths. 
 I don't know the count right now, but the Tsunami went West and also hit Hawaii and the west coast today. I guess it didn't cause as much damage, but it was quite a scare.
This earth quake was said to be the 5th largest one in recorded history. That's what I heard on the TV this morning anyway.  Unbelievable.
It seems as if we are hearing of more natural disasters in our world.  Didn't we just have the earthquake in Christ Church, New Zealand happen??   And that horrible earthquake in Haiti doesn't seem like that long ago.   What a crazy world.
I guess I don't want to dwell on that stuff too much today.  Watching the news right now is really hard to take. You feel so badly for all these people whose lives are turned upside down over night.
I feel so blessed that I could have a nice day - even if it was a little cold outside.

Don't look back.......too long.

Yea, Yesterday is gone and we shouldn't dwell on it too much.
Ever since I've been on Facebook (it's been a good long time now), I've had a strong case of Nostalgia.
I have really enjoyed re-connecting with old friends. But maybe a bit too much. (I'll try to explain):
  A few weeks ago I dug into a bunch of old letters that I have saved from 30+ years ago.  I really got into them. It made me remember alot of things I have forgotten. 
(But a lot of it is stuff that doesn't matter or apply to now.)
 I've talked to my mom and a couple friends about all these old letters and had a good laugh. But then I realized that it is all in the past and I should just throw them(the letters) all away.
The problem is:  "I CAN'T!'  Am I a hoarder?  I thought I was pretty good about cleaning out my closets and getting rid of things, but not sentimental things, I guess.
I have a lot of old Christmas cards, Thank you's, and just nice letters from family and friends.  I've decided that I need to thin out some more and maybe put the others in a binder w/plastic sheets.  I don't know - it might have to wait just one more year.......:) 
Major procrastination, I know.
Anyways, to go back to the Facebook thing.
I enjoy talking to old buddies on there.
I've just noticed that we really remember things differently about 'the good ole days'. That's okay, but it makes me realize that I shouldn't look back ....too much and for too long......:)
I'm sure that's what happened to Lot's wife in the Bible.  It was probably ok for her to look back for a minute, but she must have really, really looked back. (for a long time). In fact, I'll bet she turned and walked back towards Sodom and Gomorrah (quite a ways). 

That's my 2 cents for today.  Just want to say that I was able to do the 11 mile walk today. It was colder than normal, but it was still a wonderful day.
It always is when I can walk that walk and listen to my tunes...

My Trip Around the Sun: Evil and Good

My Trip Around the Sun: Evil and Good

Evil and Good

Quote of the Day: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

This is a quote that a friend  posted on his blog recently.

It really hit me hard, because my thinking has been closely related to this quote.(lately)
This is something of the human condition that we struggle with daily. (I believe)

Who am I to ever point at others and say that they are bad or wrong ?- when I myself am far from perfect and might commit the same infraction if I were in their situation.
I think about this every time I drive. I am quick to condem someone on the cell phone or someone that has cut me off, etc.   But when I'm in a hurry or stressed, I have found myself doing the same thing that I hate to see other people doing.    I have to constantly tell myself to quiet the inner being and not get upset.
Aren't we all so complicated!?
I believe that usually when a person is angry or upset - it is because  old pain or emotion  triggers it.
And when a person gets angry, the ability to think rationally is greatly diminished.
I have heard before that an angry person has no more ability to think rationally than a drunken person.
And you should never try to reason with a drunken person!!

Well, on another note. There was a crazy situation in Moses Lake this week. The Columbia Basin Herald had put a comment on their FB page that a mentally ill man died (that everyone knows, because he has walked the streets there everyday for the past few years). 

I was quite alarmed at first, because I had seen this man many times( because I go to Moses Lake quite a bit.) One time I even stopped and talked to him and tried to help him out.
 He would walk the streets in torn clothes and an old pair of shoes - no matter what kind of weather.
I sat one day at Dairy Queen watching him in the pouring rain taking his shoes on and off and sitting on the sidewalk just drenched -with no thought of the cold around him.
I kept thinking of how easily I could end up like this. Life is so crazy, aren't we all just a few steps away from insanity?? (like this situation)
Well, when I tried to help him out....he said he didn't want any help, just a little money to get him a meal at McDonald's. So okay I can do that.
( And come to find out - a lot of people have done the same thing for him.)  

So,  I later found that the rumor on ' The Heralds'  facebook page wasn't true.(and they have since deleted it and apologized)
 He was taken to the Tri Cities area and is in some kind of rehab place there.  I hope he is doing better.