Snippets

I've heard for years that a program of daily stretching would likely pay very large dividends. Increasing flexibility is said to reduce a lot of joint and muscle pain in the olden folk. Non-loaded stretching is supposed to even improve muscle fiber performance and efficiency.

But who has time for stretching?

Obviously, if I have time to sit and read or sit and write or sit and color I can find the time by reorganizing my schedule a bit.

So I was thinking about trying yoga.

However...

I can't abide the thought of wearing yoga pants.

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Therefore the whole stretching thing keeps getting kicked to the back burner. The one with the nonfunctional heating element.

The other day I got an email from the local chamber of commerce, with this flyer attached.

Hmmm. I've been intrigued by Tai Chi for several years, prompted entirely by reading Nathan Lowell's Solar Clipper series.

So I'm registered. All that remains is to get me some Tai Chi pants.

s

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Yesterday I was lifting in my workout suite garage. It was a very nice day and I had all the doors and windows open and the tunes blaring.

A neighbor stopped by to ask if he could borrow a trailer. He walked in while I was doing bench presses. I was just starting the second set of 10 reps.

"Hey," he said, then stopped and watched.

"Dude! How can you do that?"

I was a little bit confused.

He was astonished that I was pressing 150 pounds. That really surprised me because he's kind of a gym rat and is in really good shape. He said he could bench as much as 275 pounds, but only once or twice, and there was no way he could "effortlessly" knock out 10 quick reps at 150.

I'm guessing -- and this is just a SWAG -- that the geometry of my skeleton and musculature is simply such that I have more power in the press. I'm short and stout, he's tall and slim. He can run like a deer for hours and I can't. I can easily bench 150 pounds many times, he can't.

Interesting to think about.

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I had to start taking the blood pressure pills while I was having the bone infection thing. It was kind of scary to see my b/p running 180/100.

A couple of days ago the bottom dropped out and my pressure was 70/40. I felt fine, if a little bit weary. I stopped the pills and today we're back to about 110/70. We'll see how it goes but I think it's a good sign.

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Today it's rainy and cool. The temperature is 40 degrees and is expected to fall below freezing tonight.

We've had about 0.39 inches of rain since it began at 5 a.m. I'd like to see a higher quantity, but that's "if one pill is good then 10 are 10 times as good" thinking. Quantity is important, particularly in a land where 16 inches is the annual average for water from the sky. But if the rain comes too fast it runs off into puddles rather than soaking into the ground. So a 10-inch rain makes you feel good for the big number but may add less to soil moisture profiles than a half-inch that comes slowly and gently.



That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. Even though I do still love the gully-washers.