Category: Animals

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The Major’s Walk-A-Thon: Season 1 Recap

There was no walk around my neighbourhood on this Saturday morning. It was about 73°F and the relative humidity was very near 100% with lower visibility due to light fog. The South Florida summertime weather pattern has taken hold, and it will have a firm grip on us for the next 5+ months.

Last Saturday morning was the season finale of ‘The Major’s Walk-A-Thon’, and so I present to you a recap of the season that started on Christmas Eve with my TOP 10 thoughts (in chronological order):

1.  Monday December 24TH 2007 – If this were May, June, July, August, September, or October then I would have probably been eaten alive by every bug known to mankind, but this is December and it is just so refreshingly delightful outside !

2.  Tuesday January 01ST 2008 – You can tell where the party-animals live here in my neighbourhood. Their dumpsters are overflowing with leftover holiday week garbage. The dumpsters that were still able to be closed from the top are where the retired folks live … Dogs can be party-animals as well. I came within inches of stepping in some of their ‘holiday leftovers’ during my walk this morning. It was a close call !

3.  Saturday January 05TH 2008 – Walking is a great time for praying. I prayed for the residents of Homestead, Florida City, Redland, Leisure City, Naranja Lakes, and Princeton to be blessed by the Glory of God. I prayed that the believers stay strong and unwavering with their personal relationship with Jesus. I prayed that the non-believers be guided onto the on-ramp of the fantastic journey by the believers. There’s plenty of room for everyone who truly believes in Him !

4.  Saturday February 16TH 2008 –  A friend from afar recently asked me why I started this weekly walk. Besides the obvious health and fitness reasons this walk – inspired and encouraged by this fellow WordPress blogger – is symbolic of my walk with Jesus Christ. I’ve been walking with Him on His fantastic journey for about 18 months now. I was once a mannequin – plastic and rotting. Now I am alive. Since I am alive I am living Life (always capitalized) the way that I should have lived it during my previous 39 years on His great Earth. That includes throwing everything up in the air like ‘Tossed Salad’ (catch the symbolism there) and only catching the good stuff – the right stuff. A physical walk is now on my agenda to complement my spiritual walk with my Creator. No longer am I sitting still in neutral. I am now moving forward and going places with my Life. The Lord Almighty is driving me. I am merely His passenger.

5.  Saturday February 23RD 2008 – I received some disappointing news at my Doctor’s office yesterday afternoon. After numerous analyses of my blood work over the past several years he has finally made the determination that diet and exercise alone is not bringing down my bad cholesterol (LDL). It’s still in the ‘elevated’ range, and it doesn’t appear to be coming down on its own. He has prescribed Lipitor for me – 10 milligrams per day to start off with. He gave me a free 14-day sample of it to ensure that it doesn’t cause any bad side effects with me. If I feel fine after the first 14 days then it’s on to Walgreens to get my prescription filled. I take my first dosage this afternoon. This will probably be the start of daily medication for the rest of my Life. I am no longer a young buck. Apparently I am now a middle-aged dude with high cholesterol. I am facing the music.

6.  Saturday March 08TH 2008 – My semi-basic 1.4-mile walk on a rare full stomach was done so during treacherous weather conditions – with thick dark clouds hanging low overhead, strong gusty northwesterly winds of up to 25 MPH, cold air pouring in, and even a little bit of leftover drizzle on this fresh side of the powerful cold front. I will dream of mornings like this from April through October when it’s hot and sticky outside with no wind … The ducks were out and about this morning, and they appeared to be lost, dazed, confused, and perhaps even drunk. They were stumbling about, wandering around with no sense of direction, and I saw one of them nearly tumble over in a state of mass chaos. They were wondering why the weather had suddenly changed on them. Some of them probably drank too much (rain).

7.  Saturday March 29TH 2008 – Whenever I walk the walk I feel like I’ve taken back my neighbourhood. I’ve lived here for nearly 13 years, but I’ve only really lived here for the past 3 months. Before Christmas Eve 2007 the only walking I did was to and from the mailboxes and the dumpsters. From 1995 to 2007 I merely existed in this neighbourhood. Now I am fully alive. Taking back my neighbourhood from obscurity has been just like taking back my Life from the darkness. I’ve wrapped my arms around my entire neighbourhood just like I’ve embraced this new Life that God has given me.

8.  Saturday April 19TH 2008 – I may not have big muscles to show for it, but I am the most physically fit today than I have ever been in my entire life and Life. I am in far better shape today than I was during my late-teens and early-to-middle-20s when I had to run a mile-and-a-half every year in the Air Force.

9.  Saturday April 26TH 2008 – ‘The cat by the dumpster’ was there again. He looked at me with his sad yellow eyes with no fear. I think if I dropped a few morsels of tasty food by his side then he would have gobbled it all up in a split second and then followed me for the remaining mile-plus of my walk. 10 years later … 

10.  Saturday May 03RD 2008 – 2 little dogs were out for some early-morning shenanigans without their owner. I think they escaped from their patio. They were having a good ole time running all around in the street and on the grass – until they saw me !  That’s when they ran behind me and straight outta sight – probably back to where they belong. I wonder which one of those little dogs was the trouble-maker ?  Which one said to the other one, ‘Hey, follow me. We’re gonna go out and paint this town. We’re gonna go and get us into some monkey business this morning. Let’s go dog !’

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Animals Health Home Travel Weather

The Major’s Walk-A-Thon

Sky: Mostly Cloudy
Temperature: 73°F
Relative Humidity: 77%
Winds: E 5 MPH
Barometric Pressure: 30.02 Rising

My thoughts:

1.  It’s the first Saturday morning of May, and the walk continues. We’re enjoying an unusually cool Spring here in South Florida. Later this month the rainy season should be kicking-off, and that will pretty much bring an end to these weekly walks for the season.

2.  It was another 2.2-mile walk for me this morning, and I did it in 40 minutes flat. That’s an average of 3.3 MPH. I always feel refreshed and alive during and after the walk. I think that’s the whole point of exercising.

3.  U.S. 1 is known as the ’18-Mile Stretch’ from Florida City to Key Largo. I’ve got the ’18-Minute Stretch’. That’s the middle portion of my walk that takes me from the main gate of my neighbourhood, completely around its southern hemisphere, down the spine, and back to the main gate again.

4.  2 little dogs were out for some early-morning shenanigans without their owner. I think they escaped from their patio. They were having a good ole time running all around in the street and on the grass – until they saw me !  That’s when they ran behind me and straight outta sight – probably back to where they belong. I wonder which one of those little dogs was the trouble-maker ?  Which one said to the other one, ‘Hey, follow me. We’re gonna go out and paint this town. We’re gonna go and get us into some monkey business this morning. Let’s go dog !’

5.  Most neighbourhoods have a lack of parking. My neighbourhood has an over-abundance of parking. I think we may even have one parking space for every man, woman, and child that lives here. At least it seems that way.

Categories
Animals Food God Health Weather

The Major’s Walk-A-Thon

Sky: Partly Cloudy
Temperature: 72°F
Relative Humidity: 68%
Winds: E 6 MPH
Barometric Pressure: 30.06 Rising

My thoughts:

1.  God woke me up at around 6:40 this morning, tapped me on the shoulder, told me to get up and take a shower, and then insisted that I get a-steppin’ with my physical walk around my neighbourhood. He wouldn’t let me sleep in this morning and waste away the daylight. I obey Him.

2.  I walked 2.2 miles again this morning – the same as the past two Saturday mornings. I also shaved another minute off of the time that it took me to walk it – just a tad bit more than 40 minutes.

3.  It was quite comfortable outside this morning. It wasn’t really cool (72°F), but it was rather dry (68% relative humidity), so it felt cooler than it really was. In the middle of the Summer South Floridians typically wake up to temperatures right around 80°F with relative humidity readings above 80%. I won’t be walking in that hot and steamy mess !

4.  ‘The cat by the dumpster’ was there again. He looked at me with his sad yellow eyes with no fear. I think if I dropped a few morsels of tasty food by his side then he would have gobbled it all up in a split second and then followed me for the remaining mile-plus of my walk. 10 years later …

5.  Following the walk I eventually ended up at the Dunkin’ Donuts at the northern edge of Florida City for blueberry coffee, a sausage, egg, and cheese croissant breakfast sandwich, and crispier, juicier, tastier oven-toasted hash browns. You just can’t go wrong with that combo. I think that the blueberry coffee (with cream and sugar) is one of the best hot beverages that you can possibly buy for less than two bucks.

Categories
Animals Food God Health Life Music People

The Major’s Walk-A-Thon

Sky: Partly Cloudy
Temperature: 67°F
Relative Humidity: 80%
Winds: E 3 MPH
Barometric Pressure: 30.05 Rising

My thoughts:

1.  I ate a MASSIVE breakfast at the Cracker Barrel in Florida City this morning during the six-o-clock hour. A stack of warm and buttery French Toast was totally drenched in authentic maple syrup and accompanied with scrambled eggs with melted American cheese and hot smoked sausage. P.S. I weigh 165 pounds.  😉

2.  After the feast I came home to do the walk during the seven-o-clock hour. It was another record-tying 2.2-mile walk, and I did it in less than 41 minutes (compared with 42 minutes last Saturday morning). I guess I walked just a tad bit brisker this week than last week.

3.  During the first quarter of the walk I totally frightened a woman who was carelessly walking her dog. As I walked my continuous straight line along the left-edge of the street a lady walking her dog was approaching from the right-side of the street. She was crossing the street, but she wasn’t looking where she was going. She was looking in the completely opposite direction. Her dog was going nuts, but she was totally oblivious to it. I swerved around her so that she wouldn’t walk right into me, and as I walked behind her that’s when she noticed me. Pedestrians get killed by oncoming vehicular traffic when they pull stunts like that. Ironically, “Wake Up” from KJ52 and Toby Morrell was rockin’ my iPod Shuffle at the time.

4.  I may not have big muscles to show for it, but I am the most physically fit today than I have ever been in my entire life and Life. I am in far better shape today than I was during my late-teens and early-to-middle-20s when I had to run a mile-and-a-half every year in the Air Force.

5.  Tomorrow morning at Life Pointe Church I get my weekly workout from 7:30 AM to 8:30 AM lifting, carrying, moving, and setting up objects in the main lobby of the movie theatre as we transform it into a setting that is suitable for our church family. I’ll be sweating again. It’s all good. It’s all for God.