… has walked 754 miles in 2016!

I know in my heart I COULD have done better, and SHOULD have stacked up more miles than this final tally. In fact, in late November, knowing I would meet and exceed my goal, I secretly planned to reach 800 miles.  But, boom … the first snow event arrived, then freezing rain and more snow the following weekend, thus dashing my ambitious goal.

Plus, there was an endless stream of calamities and mishaps that happened this year, further hampering my morning walking regimen.

Since I work from home, I schedule appointments for the morning to be less intrusive in my work day.

First, it was the furnace.

I endured multiple issues with my furnace in February, so there were several tech visits to troubleshoot the problem. It eventually quit shutting itself down, that is, until after a very warm Fall, it finally got chilly enough to put the furnace on again.  Then it was round two of the same issues.  After a pair of service calls, finally (knock on wood), on Election Day, the techs were able to detect and resolve the problem.

Next it was the car – grrrrrrrr.

On my 60^th birthday, I went out to run the car, only to find it dead as a doornail.  This, despite getting a brand-new battery only six few months before and using a trickle charger as a helper for that battery.  The mechanics revived the car, but I was told to drive it more, or I would be facing more electrical issues.  So, drive it I did … instead of my usual 250 or so miles, I put 655 miles on my car this year!  For me, that is astronomical.  The owner at the gas station where I go to, said he has never seen me filling up every month, instead of just topping it off three or four times a year.  (Yes, he’s a funny guy.)  But, driving around in the buggy also pared precious minutes off my walking regimen as well.

And, then there was Microsoft …

Still other machines behaved badly – computer issues, both at work and at home, were a pain, and, for someone who works out of the home, it is paramount that everything works 100%. I thought I’d lost my mind with Windows 10 and Microsoft’s insistence that I come aboard the Win10 train.  I finally accepted the download, just so I could roll back my computer to Windows 7 and put on “Never 10” to block the intrusion, so they would leave me alone forever.  My computer has never bounced back to its former self and continues to plague me with occasional persnickety problems that I never had before.

And, there was more …

I replaced the battery in the kitchen clock, and out popped the chiming mechanism and the clock is now silent, no longer sounding at the top and bottom of the hour and I miss that ritual and noise.

Unfortunately, 2016 is not done with me yet – this morning I was eating breakfast, and heard the unmistakable sound of water dripping. Sighing, I walked over to the kitchen sink cupboard and threw open the doors.  There were wet spots inside the dishpan that goes under the double-sink pipes.  I wiped it up and shut the door – I’m afraid to look back in.

As I approached my 60^th birthday, I figured “no big deal” … another year, another decade, and a few more gray hairs … I even noticed a couple of white eyebrow hairs.

But, along with marking that milestone back in April, came a series of annoyances … not all petty, like …

The parade of little black ants that merrily marched across my countertop one day when the Spring thaw arrived – where did they come from? I’ve never had little ants in the kitchen before, and suddenly there were scores of them, dashing to and fro on the counter, on the ceiling, even on my arm once!  This went on for about a month’s time, then suddenly they were all gone.

Then, other bugs were behaving badly in their stead … in August some carpet beetles chomped on both my ankles, causing an allergic reaction and two monstrous-sized blisters. Worried, I went to the, dermatologist for a look-see, antibiotic cream, and then spent several days staying off the walking path as I was afraid of contaminating the wound once each blister broke.

Bugs continued to plague me, right up to a few weeks ago, when I found a huge winged creature drowned in my creamed corn, after I already took a bite straight out of the can.

Of course, the biggest thing to rock my world was the loss of my beloved bird Buddy earlier this month. I will not deny that his passing has left a gaping hole in my heart, as well as a huge empty space in the kitchen where his cage sat atop the butcher block, a mere seven feet from where I work.  The loss is still unbearable, and, when I picked up his cremains earlier this week, intense grief was renewed once again.  Four weeks after his death, often, out of force of habit, I still find myself commenting to him and waiting for a peep  … but there is no response.  Buddy had my heart and my heart has a fissure that will not heal.  Perhaps it will be easier as time goes by.

Speaking of time, there are only a few hours left in 2016 … I am hoping for a happier and more stress-free 2017.

I know it was cold and windy this morning, and, while the wind pummeled me as I walked down Emmons Boulevard to the marina, I was able to count the blessings of good health that enabled me to make that trip effortlessly, and, the ability to crow about my meanderings to all of you who follow this blog.

On a whimsical note, for this blog post photo today, I chose a teddy bear named B.W. from my bear collection. My mom and I were shopping at Hudson’s back in 1986, when she spied a display of cute bears and bought him for me.  His abbreviated name of B.W. is short for “Boundary Waters”, which was a line of Dayton-Hudson women’s outdoor apparel that was popular back in the mid-80s.  His camping outfit and lug-soled hiking boots complete the outfit, but his “bear wear” also included a yellow vinyl slicker as well. I remember sitting him in the back of my AMC Pacer to drive home from Southland Mall, and, people were honking, waving or smiling at us since you couldn’t miss him looking out the back window of that Pacer, which car many referred to as a “fishbowl”.

So, now that we’ve celebrated my miles walked and commemorated B.W.’s thirtieth “birthday”, it is time to sign off for the last time this year. While we are gathering statistics, today’s post is the 857^th since I began this blog in February 2013.

Happy New Year everyone!