Hello, 2019!

It's my goal this year to get outdoors and take more photos.  I've been lacking in the "getting out" part of my life this past year, and that needs to change.

It's not easy, because I always feel guilty leaving Sadie at home.  But taking her with me in the car causes me a lot of anxiety because she doesn't travel well.  The minute we're in the car, she's bouncing off the walls like a 2 year old who's just had a bottle of sugar water!  On the days when I take off for some photo ops, I make sure to take her on two extra long walks so she doesn't feel so left out.  Ugh.  That's a lot of effort because I have dog! 

The other reason for not getting out as much is due to health issues.  When the need for a bathroom arises, there isn't much time to dash -- and you can't always take a dog into a restroom with you, so where does that leave me?  Dashing to the car to lock her away, then dashing back toward a bathroom!!  The fear of not making it on time has kept me home the past year, and with the help of meds, I'm overcoming most of it, sans dog.  

Today was a quick jaunt over to Riparian Preserve.  Because the weather was 20 degrees warmer than it had been all week, the park was full of people and dogs.  I'm happy they were all outdoors, but it chases away the birds and animals ..... so photos were few.  I'm never sure if people care when their photo gets accidentally taken.  There were some little girls playing follow the leader, and that could have been a wonderful photo, but these days you can never be too careful when photographing kids.  So I didn't.  I just watched as they all followed the bravest girl, who led them up, over, down all the cement climbing opportunities she could!  Oh to be so carefree again!!

Hello, 2019, I hope it's a terrific year!

Rainy Day Photos

After the recent warming trend, we have a surprising dreary day on our hands.  Dreary I can take, but I got everything ready to head out the door with Sadie for a walk in the park and discovered it started raining!   Ahh well..... we waited 30 minutes until it let up and then headed over to the park. 

I've become fascinated with trying to capture photos of people around Arizona, along with a black and white format.   As I look at them, I wonder "What's their story?"  and try to discover details captured in the photo for clues. 

In an odd way, it reminds me of my childhood.  We ate dinner at the table together as a family each day at 5pm.  Our dining room has a window that looks out, and our view is an entire neighborhood street with about 20 houses on it.  Which gave us lots to talk about .... we'd see someone loading something in a car and begin a little story about what's going on.  Another neighbor would get a visitor -- is that a relative?  Oh look, same color hair, maybe that's so-and-so....  lol  Yes, we were quite odd in that way.  And so the fascination with stories continues.....

Here, a couple strolls in the rain, heading home perhaps.

He's wearing shorts, and she is barefoot.  

Did the rain catch them unexpected?

These four intrigued me.  Part of a wedding party?

The two boys in front are wearing matching outfits right down to the shoes!

One of "Those People"

Yes, I am officially one of "those people".  
and I resisted for so long!
but ....  living in the desert means sometimes
you do things that quite frankly aren't logical ......

I bought a dog stroller.
Yep.
Always thought it was weird, but here's the deal:

I am a single dog mom.
I live in the desert where it gets too hot to walk a dog.


When my dog stays home 10 hours a day alone, she needs to see more than these four walls.  Do dogs get cabin fever?  My instinct - and experience - says yes!  Because there are some days when bedtime hits and that's when she wants to play again!

I always laughed at people who pushed their dogs in strollers.  Until I realized that at 100 degrees, the asphalt can feel like 150 on her paws - Can't exactly walk her over to the park to play in the grass like that!  Driving two blocks seems ridiculous, and staying home hasn't been a good option either.  I need to walk, I love to walk, it's my thing.  Truth be told, I feel guilty walking alone when my dog's been home alone all day.   Yep, I'm funny that way.  So this was my $100 compromise:  A stroller to get her too and from the park while I can get my own walking in as well.

I think she likes it!
I think this is gonna work well for us!
Even if you do say I'm one of "those people"!
hahahaha

Veterans Oasis Park

Sadie and I set out to explore Veterans Oasis Park in Chandler AZ to day .. nice place for a stroll, good place for photos.  We wandered for about an hour, was a cool, overcast early morning, perfect time to be out and doing things!

30 Day Challenge

OK. so I started a 30 day challenge today.  The challenge is to walk 30+ minutes a day.  Now I've been wearing a step tracker for several months now, and regularly get 10k+ steps a day.  The problem is they're not strung together, because the best "bang for your buck" when it comes to walking is to do it non-stop for at least 10 minutes.  My goal is 30 minutes a day.  Every day.

After I had lunch, I thought "why not give it a try by walking my BigBox store?"  Well.  Two problems arose.  Shoppers thought I was an employee, and on the clock.  Since I wasn't, I didn't want to interrupt  my exercise time for work time.  I can see how this isn't going to work out as a normal plan.  Too many customers want some assistance ......   So I suppose if I want to get in some lunch time walks, I'll have to head over to the gym's treadmill.  So much for best laid plans.

After work, it was off to the gym where I got 22 minutes on the elliptical, then did some stretching.  I was going to do some weight resistance, but after my fall last week, I didn't want to push my already sore spots to the limit on the first day.

Today's total:
  12 minute walk
  22 minute walk
  22 minutes elliptical
for a grand total of 11,184 steps.

An OK start to this 30 day challenge!