Let's Do Something!

I have never been one to sit around for long. I do not enjoy just sitting, mindlessly watching every show that comes on the television for hours at a time. Even as a little girl, I was always anxious to get outside and do something. (Although I really did love me some "Lassie" and "Roy Rogers".) I had a pretend horse named "Candy" who somewhere around the time I was 8 years old morphed into bicycle shape. My Dad raised beagles, so there was always a dog or puppy to play with. There was a big barn at the farm house where we rented with a sleepy old donkey. In fact, that was his name, "Sleepy". We had lots of adventures with Sleepy. He was somewhat of an escape artist, and we would have to go catch him somewhere. It was never easy because, once he was free, he didn't want to be caught again. You would get near him and he would kick like a mule and be off. There were woods to ramble in, usually with a dog or two. In winter it seems that there was always snow. It was before "global warming" after all, and it was Indiana. I do not remember any "brown" winters. Winter was white.

Now that I am 53, I confess that I do sit a lot more than I used to back then. But I still am anxious to get out and do something most days. If we can't get out and walk somewhere, at least we can drive somewhere and do something. Jay is a little less inclined. To be fair, since he has started his Security Guard job where he walks a lot, he has lost all the tummy that he gained while he was unemployed. Also, since he works swing shift he never knows when he should eat and what.  He looks quite emaciated when he takes off his clothes. I always want to fatten him up when we are here together on the weekends. I make sure he eats three times a day when I am home. I cook extra on the weekends so that he has stuff to eat when I am not here before he leaves for work on Mondays and Tuesdays. Still, most days he only eats about twice a day. And when he is home and not working, he is much more inclined to sit and watch television or read than to go out to ski or walk or any fun thing that I might suggest.

The hard part of going out to do things in the winter time is that it is cold, and it might be snowing. It has snowed a lot this winter. It has been colder, too, than winters in most recent memory. I love to ski, but you have to go out in the cold to do it! I don't mind this. I would rather bundle up and spend a day skiing than stay here in the nice warm house. If I am home, I am likely to cook or bake, or both. That doesn't help my weight problem at all! I would rather spend four hours on the ski slopes.

I also like to walk. We have a park within about a mile of the house, Krider Gardens. We can walk there on the trail that is just down the hill from our house. We also have a nice, woodsy park about four miles from our house, Bonneyville Mill. I love walking in the woods when it is freshly covered with snow. There are trails there, though they aren't always groomed. We just had a blizzard on Wednesday, as you may have already heard. There was officially 12 1/2 inches of snow, and some drifts with that are 4 feet. I doubt if they have that groomed at Bonneyville Mill yet. Otherwise, I would not be sitting here writing this blog. I would be over there walking the trails. One of these days, we will have to get cross country skis and go over there to do that. It's beautiful! There are other county parks in Elkhart County, but Bonneyville Mill is my favorite because it is so woodsy. I have seen deer, turkey, even a fox once. There are always geese and ducks on the river that flows through. It is so quiet and serene.

Anyway, all this about getting out and doing something has made me antsy. I think we are going to go ski this afternoon. I am going to have to get out to the garage and get our ski equipment brought in so that it isn't freezing when we go to put it on. I also need to make sure our snow pants and mittens and other snow paraphernalia are all clean and packed and ready to go. And I need to have a nice hot meal ready for when Jay gets home from his first-shift day today. He is a lot happier to go skiing if he has a warm meal in his tiny little belly!