Blogger-Slacker

I skipped the morning walk - no reason. Lost in self-pity, no energy, no motivation - just a slacker. I can't follow the routine I devised for myself and who does it impact? Me.

I'm sitting here staring at this computer screen thinking to myself - you could have done the walk, you can do the walk, you absolutely have to do the walk. But I don't move.

Perhaps writing about 'not walking' will inspire me to get moving. I did go as far as putting on my walking shoes so I could walk. It's hot and sticky and if or when I go for the walk I can take a cool soothing shower. Still not moving.

The light bulb goes on!!! I will take my camera on the walk.

Every morning I do my power walk through the neighborhood. It's cheaper than the gym - much cheaper. Actually it's FREE - lucky me. I do have to force myself every morning - rain, heat or shine. At times my motivation level is equal with the road drains.

So off I go this morning in my $125.00 dollar sneakers. They are so comfy - it's like walking on the beach at Siesta Key. I get a few blocks from the house and I feel a tiny tiny pebble in my left foot. Does this mean I'm a Princess because I can feel such a tiny obstacle placed in my shoe most likely by the wicked stepmother of the charming Prince? Oh wait, she placed a pea under a zillion mattresses.

The minuscule object is annoying and uncomfortable. What to do? Go back home? That sounds like a plan. No - be strong I say to no one as I walk alone. I hop on one foot to dislodge the particle. It's probably a grain of sand. That would definitely make me a real live Princess. The hop don't work!

I give my foot a severe kick out to the left. Not a good move. I do a fancy footwork dance down the sidewalk. I'm hoping no one is watching this spectacle. I do the toe walk - then the heel walk. If only there were a bench. I look at the sidewalk. If I sit down to dislodge the perpetrator - will I be able to get back up? HHHMMM!!!! I proceed in discomfort.

Now it feels like the particle is growing. I start to hop and kick at the same time. These are dangerous moves for someone as uncoordinated as me. I see a large palm tree and lean in against the massive trunk. I reach down to remove the shoe and slip slowly face first into the sidewalk. Ouch. The shoe goes flying though the air and deposits itself at the edge of the road drain. I think I can crawl and reach in and grab it. I hear the crunch of tires and see a blur of black pass by. It's Wednesday and it's trash day and the haulers are late and in a hurry to finish the route and they don't see my shoe laying precariously close to the edge of the drain by the side of the road. SMACK. Right over my $125.00 dollar shoe sending it into the bowels of the earth.


I limp back home - one shoe on one shoe lost to the underworld. I look for the gilded carriage to come by to save me a Princess in distress. Or at least one of the seven dwarfs to assist me. At this point I would be glad to see the troll who lives under the bridge around the corner. There is no rescue for me.

Dry Camping

I love to travel and explore my world and engage in new experiences. There are a few problems with this scenario - such as - never enough money to splurge with and that thing called going to work everyday. Working for a living really puts a crimp on my lifestyle. So I depend on friends and relatives helping me make my dreams come true: seeing the world.

This past December - for example - we visited fantastic/decadent Key West. My brother is spending the winter there. Dry camping in a motor home. Let me define - dry camping - for those that have no clue. The bathhouse is a 1/2 mile walk down a bumpy and dark (no lights at night) road. Approximately 300 or more people dry camp here. There are 4 toilets and three showers. Do the MATH.

We are surrounded by water - salt water. Potable water - there is also something called non-potable water and it is beyond the bathroom facilities down that bumpy dark (no lights at night) road. The non-potable water sign scares me. It makes me feel like the water has the plague and it is used for your holding tank in the RV. You know WHAT goes in the holding tank. So the water and bath facilities were a minor issue.

Dry camping also means - no electric. Translated that means the fans or the air conditioner does not work. Do you have any idea how small some windows are in campers? Picture this - two small windows in an RV in Key West topping 90+ degrees. The wind - gone South for the winter. Stifling is not a strong enough word. The slop pot - pungent.

My brother was kind enough to let us sleep on the pull out couch. That metal bar that is used to support the bed and mattress has been forever imprinted on my backside. Oh and those very small windows - screen less. The combination of tropics, heat and screen less windows means ONE thing. Mosquito's! FYI - there is a huge mound of sand right by the men's bathroom door. Don't stand there. Florida is a proud producer of fire ants.

In the end the price was right for me and I have many memorable memories and scars to remind me of paradise.