I was up bright and early this morning. It was too bad the sun did not follow the same schedule. In fact, Ol’ Sol did not bother to shine until about 4:00 p.m. today.
At least the oppressive heat is gone for a while and chilly air is in its place. What a contrast to this past week, when I was in sleeveless tops and shorts. Before I left, I heard the weather report and looked online at the Weather Channel. I layered up because the weatherman said “maybe wear a light jacket this morning” but, just before I left I decided I’d rather be chilly than too warm, so I removed the tee-shirt and just wore a heavy, long-sleeved shirt and pants.
By the time I walked the boardwalk once, I knew that leaving that tee-shirt behind was a big mistake, because a northeast wind was humming along at 12 mph and the sky was dark and cloudy and sunless. I shivered and wished I had that extra layer back on my body.
I was not the only one who was feeling that chilly air. The fishermen were lined up along the pier that juts out into the Detroit River and they were bundled up in jackets or hoodies pulled up snug over their head. Weren’t we just sweating a mere 24 hours ago?
You could see how choppy the water was as it lapped against the shoreline. I guess the gulls had goosebumps and stayed away from the pier and boardwalk because I saw no seagulls, just a bunch of starlings who kept landing on the water and buzzing around the fishermen. On my many trips to Bishop Park, I’ve never seen so many starlings hanging around the pier.
I saw a three-dimensional decorated rock on the base of one of the post lamps but left it there for someone else to find or keep.
I walked the boardwalk twice and decided it was time to head to Dingell Park, not that it was any warmer there. I got into the car and put the heat on to warm up.
Enroute to Dingell Park I pulled off Biddle Avenue to pay a visit to Oakwood Cemetery, a fixture in Wyandotte since 1869. I spent about a half-hour there taking in all the sights, from old trees to tombstones, in this historic landmark. I’ve decided to do a separate post tomorrow on this portion of my journey.
At Dingell Park, the sky had lightened up a tad, but it was still windy and rather dismal out. A few fisherman were lined up along the boardwalk, and, as I strolled along I peered into their buckets to see how many fish they had and wished them “good morning” through chilly lips.
I went to the pavilion, always a haven for ducks and geese, plus those pesky seagulls once they see you with food. I threw out some stale bread for any takers, and soon I had some ducks and geese in the alcove circling around and waiting for more yeasty tidbits. The seagulls must have been sleeping in at this venue also.
I always wish I have more treats to offer them as they gobble it up quickly, then look at me expectantly for more handouts. A shrug of the shoulders and a shake of my head “no” is incomprehensible to them, so they usually continue swimming in circles in the alcove near the pavilion.
My final pit stop in my morning meanderings was at my favorite nature nook, Council Point Park. I was later than my usual time. I saw only one walker I knew and there were just a few walkers.
I saw this guy looking for treasures.
I didn’t ask him if he had any luck since he was wearing earbuds and moving to the music, so likely he didn’t even know I was there.
The grass is very long at Council Point Park, and the squirrels can’t just run through it. Instead they have to jump through the tall blades of grass or clover.
I fed a couple of squirrels and both of them took one of their peanuts and dug a hole to hide it right away. Hmm – did this chilly morning make them think Fall was on the way and it was nut-gathering time?
Goose family #3 was grazing on grass, just one parent and three goslings. As I neared them, they gravitated over to the perimeter path and would have been in my way, so I got off the path and traipsed through the wet grass (while gritting my teeth at them for being so obstinate). As I walked past the geese, the big one started hissing at me for no apparent reason. I kept walking and a squirrel came out on the path, so I stopped to feed it. The geese were still far away, but I noticed the middle gosling had a little attitude going with his head down and staring at me.
It looked like the goslings were perfecting that goose strut.
Then, all of a sudden I heard a “smacking” sound and turned around, and the big goose (likely a gander) was running after me, his wide-webbed feet smacking the asphalt path with every step he took. I’ve seen ducks waddle or walk fast, but not a goose, and he was gaining speed so I dipped behind a bush and he lost track of me. Whew! I don’t know what caused this crazed action, but I finished my trek without returning to the first loop where all the critters are, and walked my remaining three miles at Council Point Park on the boring side instead.
It was not a picture-perfect day, but I still got nearly five miles on the pedometer and my car odometer shows I am at nearly 5,000 miles on my car!
Oh … did I mention my car will be nine years old this September?
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Miss Linda……………………………OH MY GOSH……………………………4999 miles on your car!!!……………………………..You’ll live much longer than your …………………..walking like you do everyday…………………………..yes there was a big difference between yesterday and today’s temps and warmth
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Ann Marie – I had to crow about my car being almost 5,000 miles as it may be a long time until I get to 6,000 miles. This is someone who a big trip is 20 miles round trip to Elizabeth Park. 🙂 It was quite chilly today.
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Haha! Your car sounds like mine. Now that I am retired, I rarely drive it for more than simple errands. I feel kind of bad for even having one, but I don’t live in a truly walkable neighborhood. I’m glad that you were able to avoid the goose!
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I’m glad someone else is like me Janis. And, when I first started a walking regimen in 2011, I was having such a wonderful time, I walked everywhere, even on errands, and tried to walk more miles than I drove and remarked on it in the blog posts. Then I had some electrical issues with the car and the mechanic said I had to drive it more or I’d have many issues down the road. Now I take it out twice a week and at least drive around the neighborhood. I work from home, and have done so as long as I’ve had this car.
That goose just went a little mad for no reason – it was a little scary as I had just passed him and he was fine. I’m glad I could hide as well.
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I laughed as I imagined your ducking behind a tree to escape that demented goose.
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Good thing it could accommodate me Anne. I am 5′ 9″ tall. That goose went a little mad and I don’t know why. I didn’t go near it, I wish you could have seen him with those big feet high tailing it after me.
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I laughed at the description of the sound of his big flappy feet
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They kind of reminded of me when you see someone who is in a scuba suit and walking around in “flippers” … I thought of saying that as it was the same sound but changed my mind – I wanted to convey that sound as it was otherwise quiet in the Park as it was rather an ugly day. Boy, he could move fast too. I have to learn how to use the video part of the camera, but at that moment, I just hightailed it to safety.
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Linda
Kudos to you for keeping up with the walks even on a frosty morning. Even the seagulls kept away.
The geese seemed to be training for future incidents and they used you as practice I suppose. What do the geese eat ? Who feeds them that they are so aggressive ?
How much you walk-rain or shine.
Susie
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They eat mostly grass Susie, but sometimes weeds like dandelions. But that gander just went a little crazy on me because I didn’t provoke it at all. That makes me smile – target practice, but you may be right if you saw how that gosling was looking at me with a menacing look – a chip off the old block. I’m still shooting to beat last year’s mileage record, but with all this soggy weather it will be difficult.
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Are you very muscular ? Forgive me for the personal question but I wanted to know if the walking was giving you stronger muscles ?
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No problem answering Susie – yes my legs have gotten muscular, more in the thighs than the calves it seems, but not horribly so … I can notice it but I don’t know if others could, like you would notice the sinewy muscles of a runner for example. Are you thinking of starting a walking regimen? I started walking in 2011 because I had started working from home and not getting enough exercise during the day. Our office was small but I did rack up some steps walking back and forth to the office machines, around the building for various things … I found myself hardly walking and sedentary many hours in a day. Also heart disease runs in my family. My mom just had a heart arrhythmia, but my maternal grandmother and all her siblings (nine) all died of heart disease of some form. She had a heart attack and died enroute to the hospital, but had suffered with heart problems for a few decades before.
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Thanks for sharing, Linda. I hope when I get to a place where the weather is conducive, I can start walking outside. For now, it is only in the corridors of my university.
Susie
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Susie – when I worked on site, I was not into a walking regimen at the time, but there were several people that I saw that would lace up their walking shoes and go walking on their lunch hour. The building was about a half-block large and had only six levels, but was made in a way that you could walk in a continuous manner around each floor, so I kick myself sometimes that I never did it before. Where our office is located now is right down on the Detroit River in the City of Detroit. When I last worked on site (April 2009), they were building a river walk boardwalk which would go from the downtown business district all the way to Belle Isle Park (it is an island and my boss goes there every day, weather permitting, to ride his bike around the island … today there is a Grand Prix event there). I think that is a three-mile walk altogether. It was not connected at that time, but is now and looks beautiful from what I see in the pictures, so that would have been an option for me as well.
I hope you have an opportunity to start a walking regimen after you get all settled in – it is a great stress reliever. If you wore a pedometer, you would be surprised how many steps you take during your work day … 2,000 steps is one mile. I can go grocery shopping, when I do a large shopping, and have the pedometer on, and in the store, walking through the parking lot, taking all the pantry items up and down the stairs to the basement, putting them away – I have gotten 3 to 3 1/2 miles right there. The steps all add up!
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And you can sleep well after too. Spending time watching TV or the computer makes sleep go away.
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I am on the computer too many hours in a day but not TV – actually cancelled my cable in 2010 and not watched TV since then. I am kind of an oddball, but I get my news from the radio and online news sites and I used to love to watch TV, so many good shows and movies, but now all we seem to have here in the States is reality shows and the better shows are on cable. We cannot pull in TV stations clearly without cable. I bought my mom a digital TV for her nightstand when she was confined to bed, and even with a flat antenna, it would freeze in place, audio worked, video images frozen in time. If I sit down with a book or magazine I can fall asleep in a matter of minutes, even sitting at the kitchen table. I never could read in bed, I’d be out like a light, even when I was young.
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The ability to sleep sitting or lying down is a blessing. And I think your long walks are helping you. It also helps you think constructive thoughts.
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I agree – about to go in a few minutes on one … was up too late working on my blog and I post at “Patch” an online newspaper and it is a different format and almost forgot to do it and it takes a little bit of time. Got to bed late – lack of sleep is not good! Either health wise or next morning getting up.
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I have an old Volvo XC70 and it have gone over 22000 miles. But have replaced the engine last year. It’s perfect to drive in nature with. The squirrels is so cute and I have not seen one yet!
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Because I work from home and have done so since I got this car, I really don’t pack on many miles. I run it every morning in the garage and try to take it for a little drive at least twice a week and longer trips on the weekend. I used to write in my blog posts that I was way ahead of my car mileage with my “feet mileage” and thought that was kind of fun to do, then two years ago I had an electrical issue and the mechanic said to drive it more or there would be more problems … “more” for me is 20 miles. 🙂 The car before this one was 21 years old when I got rid of it. It was a Buick Regal and had only 64,000 miles on it at the time, but was not reliable because it got electrical issues and kept shutting itself off while driving, or turned the brake lights on by itself and depleting the battery … it was a great car, but was not safe any longer.
Those squirrels are cute … the goose had some attitude yesterday though!
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More miles on your feet than your car. That’s amazing!!! I wonder if the decorated rock was supposed to be one of the love rocks I recently read about on another blog.
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Thanks Ruth and I have been driving more than before as the mechanic says “drive that car or it will have electrical issues down the road!” On my blog, up until the last year, I would tell how many more miles were on my feet than the car throughout the year and I made it a point to walk more than I drove.
As to the rocks, they were really big Downriver last year. The craze started last Spring and on Facebook there were so many followers. I did blog posts a few times about the rock painting craze and posted it on the actual site. I stopped following the site as there are 100s of messages and pictures each day, but I peek in every so often. Some of the people are actual artists and their paintings on the rocks are just amazing. I did a post this year before you started following me, so that is why I referenced the rock at Bishop Park. https://lindaschaubblog.net/2018/04/24/tuesday-musings-47/
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my bike was thousands of miles on it as do my feet…….no car for 20 years
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That’s a good thing Wayne … the bike and the feet as both are good exercise. I wouldn’t drive as much as I do except the mechanic says I’ll get electrical issues if I don’t drive it enough.
I could really do without a car as well Wayne. Anywhere I have to go is within walking distance unless I choose to drive to a different park, then must drive – but that is not a necessity to go there, just a pleasure trip. Even my grocery store (3 mile roundtrip) is now delivering any groceries you want to your door … you pay a yearly fee. Just order and same-day delivery. So no, I don’t really need a car at all. Would save on car insurance. Michigan’s car insurance is the highest in the entire U.S. It is because of our no-fault auto insurance law that provides unlimited lifetime medical care for someone catastrophically injured in a car accident. I paid $2,268.00 in 2017 for auto insurance – driving since 1973, never had an accident, one claim when a guy rear-ended me and he had no insurance … $250.00 for new bumper. Renewed my license recently and $151.00. Ridiculous.
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AHhhhhhhh…..I forgot how much fun it is to drive 🙂
Your mechanic is correct about keeping your car active.The reason why is moisture.Electronics & moisture not good bed fellows! If you put your car into a “heated” garage,you could leave it there with no worries I bet!
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It is an attached garage but I can’t access it from the house, only from outside. But it is cold in there. I have it on a trickle charger 24/7/365 and only unplug it if I take it out. I took the remote key fob off over the Winter a few years ago as I was afraid my heavy gloves would “trip” the trunk and it would open and I wouldn’t notice … it only goes up about an inch and that happened to a neighbor of mine and it killed the battery. I never locked the car in the garage as the garage is locked all the time. By not using the remote, it messed up the car’s electrical system and one morning it was dead, even with a fairly new battery and even on the trickle charger. The mechanic where I go sent his guy out for a battery boost – he is a skinny guy as it’s difficult to get to the front of the car as the garage is small. And I’d already had three new batteries for this car despite running it every morning – that is why they put the trickle charger on … Leo was forever having to come with the portable charger and boost the battery.
Before he went in, Leo asked me for the remote. Went into the house for it and he clicked it – voila … car sprang to life! From now on, I “juice” the car every morning from inside the house … off/on about six times to ensure it keeps the electrical system in good order and drive it more. I prefer my feet … they are 100% reliable. 🙂
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I love the painted rocks! I knew nothing about them until I found one at our local lighthouse. It had a website on the bottom and I had to go there to read up on them.
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Our “rock craze” really took off last Summer Diane and I wrote several posts about it last year. I often saw rocks at Council Point Park – I usually just left them there for others, mostly kids, to find. There is a Facebook site and “painting parties” so it is a really big thing. I am in the group on Facebook, but just look in from time to time as there are 100s of posts a day. I wrote a recent post about it in April, before you started following me, and that’s why I referred to that decorated rock. Some of the people who paint them are artists – they do just beautiful work on such a small “canvas”:
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I found it fascinating where the rock had traveled from!
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Yes, that always amazes me as well Diane. Some people take them abroad with them to take a picture and show the group where their rocks travelled to.
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