Walking

 So this photo is apropos of nothing really, just something to stick in here.  The only thing it really has to do with anything is that I see the sun setting behind this tree most every evening while I am walking.  

During the six years I cared for my mom I really neglected my health and, as a result, gained a deal of weight.  The only exercise I really got was dairy chores, and they were not significant enough to do much practical good.  Unless you count tossing random buckets of grain into feed bunks and wrestling the occasional new calf to get a bottle into it.  But there wasn't much consistent effective exercise going on.  

I have blogged on here about exercise before, and maybe that humorous entry is one of the ones I listed to the side.  But here is my practical entry on the subject.  I have found it difficult to get consistent exercise, even with gardening, due to random reasons...mostly excuses.  But the majority of the property here is dedicated to livestock and is, in season, the abode of little terrors like ticks and chiggers, or larger terrors like copperhead snakes.  These make simple walking fraught with all sorts of dangers from fresh cow pies to potential tick-born diseases, or venomous snake bites.  The better part of my walking is done during late fall to early spring when the above varmints are dormant and the cows are confined to certain fields to be fed hay.  This winter my usual cold weather haunt, the creek bottom, has been invaded by random dogs.  Almost every time I take Bella down there now, there are dogs down there.  Not just coyotes, but pet dogs that have come from somewhere.  We have no idea whose dogs they are.  They make me nervous.  I am not a dog person at all, and the large packs or dogs, or even dogs running in pairs make me nervous, especially when I don't know them.

Just a couple of days ago I ventured down there with Bella and sure enough there were 2 dogs down there.  I was intensely annoyed.  So far they have always run off when they see me, but Bella was wagging her tail and seemed of a mind to make friends.  This alarmed me to no end because I remembered that just a day or so before that she'd showed signs of coming into heat.  THAT would be great!  She is ten now and probably shouldn't be having pups.  I was glad all they did was bark and run away.  

So let me wander back to my main point here.  I have downloaded a step counting app onto my phone.  It is highly inaccurate, but gives me a rough guesstimate at my steps.  At least 5-6 days per week I have been attempting to hit 6000 steps per day.  I fail pretty consistently, but at the very least I am doing 30-40 minutes walking per day.  Sometimes it's just 15 minutes at a time.  This week I stepped it up and have done a few days of 3 20-30 minute sessions of walking.  That way if I can do 2000 steps per session, I can hit my goal. 

As far as where I walk to achieve this...well, pretty much up and down the driveways, around the garden area and down around the sawmill circle.  If I am going to continue to walk down around the sawmill circle I am going to have to invest in tick and chigger proof hiking boots.  I wonder if they make such.  

 Keeping this up during gardening and canning season, and when I actually start substituting, will be a challenge, especially when the temps get super high.  But mostly that will be in summer, so I won't have to worry about subbing then.

 

A couple of great benefits to this walking is that I sleep much better at night.  And I can go longer without having to get up and pee.  

Not to mention my blood pressure is really good.  My mom always had high blood pressure, and I was resigned to have it as well.  But they say that walking helps keep your BP in check and is good for your heart anyway.  So I have GOT to make this work during the hot spring and summer days.  

I will keep you posted as to my success and progress.