Grey November Days

The warm, almost spring-like weather continued for the start of the week. Monday, Sam and I got out for a late afternoon walk to check out the old high school demolition. The sound of scraping metal is definitely not high on my list of good sounds! But they are making serious progress over there. (1.6 miles walked)

Tuesday morning was another failed morning run. Eh. I'm fine with it. I've got 5 other days to get in my running 😂😁😜 But, it was too nice not to get out and enjoy the day, so the three of us got out right around 4:00 for a quick walk around the block. We beat the sunset, just barely, and the sky was looking quite lovely en route. (1.9 miles walked)

We found out later in the evening that the entire 6th grade was going fully remote due to a staff member having Covid-19 😰 The person was in the other cohort so Sam, while she won't go into school until next Thursday, does not have to quarantine. However, combine this with the fact that cases are going up exponentially throughout the state, and I will definitely say that my anxiety has started to skyrocket again... 😱 

Honestly I didn't sleep much on Tuesday night, but Wednesday was a holiday for Sam and I, so I didn't have to rush out in the morning and waited until the sky was light to head out for my run. A very balmy, foggy morning. Two deer seen. Would have loved to have gone further into the woods but hunting season puts a bit of a damper on forays on the trails at this time of year except on Sundays, so enjoyed a loop on the cart paths and around the Heath instead. (7.0 miles)

Later in the afternoon, the three of us got out for a walk on the powerlines, clad in orange. Overcast but still warm, and nice to get out! Even though November often seems so drab compared to the brilliance of October, there is still beauty out there. The winterberry are a lovely splash of color against all the browns and the asters gone to seed truly is beautiful as little puffs of white along the side of the trail. (2.5 miles walked)

With all of us working at home on Thursday, I was able to start my run a bit later than I normally would. Headed out with the headlamp at 5:50 am but only needed it for the first two miles. Cloud cover was very dense so there was no sunrise and not a lot of early morning light, but it was nice enough out on the powerlines. I stuck to the main trails out in the open, and with my reflective vest and orange hat I felt pretty safe and it was nice to get a bit of trail time mid-week. And in shorts and a t-shirt no less! (7.0 miles)

Friday I did a few errands around town and then headed over to the Commons for a run. It was overcast and rather dreary out, and temps had dropped about 20 degrees from Thursday morning's run! Back to more typical mid-November temps. Enjoyed a quiet meander on the trails. Did push it a little bit on the Westside section to get the CR so at least I worked a little bit out there 😉 (8.1 miles)

Saturday was yet another road run during hunting season. Waited until temps warmed a bit to get out the door so that I wouldn't have to deal with slick pavement after Friday night's rain and temps hovering right around 30 when I woke up. Finally headed out around 8:00 am. It was a bright, crisp morning and I kept the running nice and easy. (8.0 miles)

Temps warmed up nicely later in the morning on Saturday, so we got out around 11:30 for a nice walk, looping on the powerlines and the lower stretch of the dirt back road. Lovely out there, and always good to get outside together! (3.3 miles walked)

💗

Sunday I hit the trails for the morning's run. Thin layers of ice on the Heath, bright sunshine, orange witch's butter on a few logs trailside, and crunchy needle ice (I always called it hoar frost) underfoot. Feeling a bit tired and stressed so didn't run quite as many miles as I had planned, but did enjoy a nice, quiet few hours in the woods. (12.2 miles)

The rest of the day was pretty quiet. I made some blueberry muffins and did a few things around the house, Ryan was watching the Masters and Sam was relaxing, but I just did not want to sit around all day, so Ryan and Sam nicely humored me with a late afternoon walk. It was that typical November type of day, grey, chilly and overcast, but it was nice to get out and loop around through the Mt Ararat woods and get outside for a bit! (2.5 miles walked)

And just for fun... For months now, Gigi has been sitting in a cardboard beer box in the kitchen. We finally got rid of it a few weeks ago because she threw up in it - eww! 😩 - and she has definitely been missing that box, as Wednesday night after getting Otto's pizza for dinner - yum! 😋🍕 - we put the boxes on the floor so I could take them to the recycling the next day. She immediately jumped right on the boxes and was so happy! We took this as a sign that we should get her a more suitable place to rest than in a box or atop pizza boxes, but she is not having it. Here she is, moments after we put the nice, fluffy, soft cat bed on the floor in front of her 😹😹 Should have just gotten another cardboard box! 😉😂

Lady, I don't need no stinkin' cat bed! I've squished these pizza boxes down just right 😹

Update: We did find her actually using the bed a few times over the weekend, but only after Ryan cut a circle of cardboard and put it in the bottom of the bed 😂 Silly Gigi kitty!