…today I reached my goal of 1,051 miles walked in 2018, one mile more than I walked in 2017.
My year-end goal is always to surpass the prior year’s total by at least one mile. I thought I’d finish yesterday, but I didn’t push myself hard enough. I know if we would have had better weather this year, I’d have easily done another 100 or more miles, because I missed so many walks due to the weather. In the Spring, we had nine weekends in a row where it rained, and many of those weekend days it was a day-long torrential rain event. And then there was the snow … we had a total of 62 inches of snow, which began in earnest in mid-December and lingered through early April. I despised that Groundhog, believe me!
But I had a beautiful walk this morning. I took a lot of pictures and will make a separate post about today’s trek to Council Point Park. The sun was a real treat and it was shining brightly, making beautiful reflections on the surface of the Creek, and I got a few shadow pictures with Parker as well. The vapor was rising off the water with the mallards swimming in and out of the mist when I first arrived. It was frosty cold, a mere 28 degrees, so I returned home with not only a spring in my step, but roses in my cheeks.
The journey goes on – in fact, my new total as of now is 1,055 miles because it was a sunny morning, so I got five miles walked. The weather is SUPPOSED to be favorable for about another week and there are 26 more days left in this year after all, so onward and upward to the next goal!
I’ll leave you with this quote:
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”~ C.S. Lewis
[Image of Christmas stockings by Simplicity.com from Pinterest]
That’s marvelous that you’ve reached your goal. Congratulations!
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Thanks Anne – I had my doubts there for awhile due to the incessant rain and bad weather. But here I am and the more I walk before year end, it will be that more to “best” next year. Hmm.
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If I were you, I’d stop right now! I’m glad you have higher ambitions than I do.
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Ha ha – yes, that’s what I thought about whether I continue or not. That’s what happened last year … I only needed to get to 755 miles in 2017 (I walked 754 miles in 2016) and it was a beautiful Fall (like we always USED to have) and I kept walking and walking then I decided to try to get to 1,050 miles because it appeared by year-end that I could get to 1,050 blog posts … I decided I must do that after I reached the 1,000-mile mark. Then after I put that goal out there, we had a snowstorm around the 10th or 11th of December and it was all downhill from there. I walked in the park near my house in the snow on the grassy part of the park (no pathway) because it was safer and easier than going to Council Point Park. I was glad to take a few days off after I got to 1,050, believe me!
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Congratulations, Linda! I just did the calculation and it comes to 2.879 miles per day if you divide the 1051 by 365 days. But if you don´t walk everyday then you walk more than 3.5 miles a day!!! So awesome and fantastic. You are a walking hero and a true inspiration to me! 🏃♀️🏃♂️🚴♂️
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Thanks Martha – I don’t have a treadmill so just walk outside (and a few times in the extreme heat I walk at the grocery store). I count miles walked when doing a grocery shopping as I always have the pedometer on … I have tricks to get more miles in when I have to go grocery shopping. I leave the cart in a central location and run around and get the groceries and bring them back and I also bring in each bag separately from the car into the house. It takes longer but gets me more steps when I can’t walk on the pathway. I try to walk at least 5, if not 6 miles on weekends to compensate for during the week. The time change helped for a while in November, but we’ve had so many gray days I could only leave earlier when the sun was out. I really need to focus next year on walking in the rain – I have the outerwear as I took the bus for years when I worked on site – I just stood in the rain too many years when I took the bus, that the thought of purposely walking in the rain doesn’t entice me at all – I have to get out of that habit. I wish I could walk every day – we had snow and ice for many days this year and the black ice on the concrete or on the asphalt path t the Park is dangerous so I have to forego a walk sometimes.
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I love the C.S. Lewis quote. It’s one of my favourites and I needed to see it today! Thank you, happy walking. Wishing you more sunshine and less rain … in your heart, at least!
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Thank you Selina and I’m glad I made your day with that quote – it is a favorite of mine as well. I like the idea of more sunshine and less rain in my heart as well. We sure needed the sunshine here as it has not been around for months – it brightened my day immensely!
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Congratulations, Linda! You reached your goal almost 4 weeks early. You must have a celebration! I love the CS Lewis quote (as you can imagine). Here’s to us Baby Boomers having audacious goals and dreaming big dreams!
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Thank you Laurie – I pushed myself because all I could see was sleety and snowy weather down the pike just like what happened last year, yet I had made my goal of 755 miles for 2017 several months before and I kept chugging along and making more goals … I asked myself today if 1,1100 miles was too much to set as a new goal for year end and it may be if the weather gets bad, but I’ll give it the old Baby Boomer try anyway! Here’s to us!
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Way to be bold, Linda!
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Next year to tackle getting out in the rain for walks like you run in the rain Laurie … I will work on that for 2019!
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Maybe your Christmas present to yourself should be a raincoat and rain pants!
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That is a good idea Laurie. I got snow pants years ago when I took the bus. Too many times I’d be waiting on the bus and snow would be flying ever which way and my pants or boots would be covered in snow. I do have short and long raincoats but the rain pants are a very good idea. Do you use the covers over your shoes as well? I have seen them advertised in the past. They are reusable but fit well to your shoes.
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I don’t have covers for my shoes, but I have seen them advertised as well. In my case, if it’s raining, my feet are going to get wet even with shoe covers.
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That’s true, and I was wondering if you could slide in them somehow. How long does it take your shoes to dry out Laurie?
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I usually put them on a hot air register, so they dry out overnight.
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Well that would work – I thought maybe they would take a few days to air dry and never thought of the register … I have deflectors over each register and that’s probably why.
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Good on you! Buy yourself some new shoes for Christmas.
Fred
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Thanks Fred – I did buy a new pair earlier this year and am still breaking them in – if the weather stays clear, I’ll try to get some more miles in before we close out 2018.
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Dear Ms “Onward and upward”…………………………….Congratulations………………………………the sun was shining brightly today and you must have been the reason why……………………………I enjoyed a flock of “7” geese standing on the icy pond this morning…………………………..
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Thank you Ann Marie – wasn’t that sun beautiful to see? It seems like we have sunshine about once every two or three weeks, if that much. Sunday’s sun happened while it was pouring raining after that dark cloud moved out.. That must have been beautiful to see the geese standing on the icy pond … I hope to see that sight one day too. I have seen the ducks doing that and have a few pictures of them at Heritage Park walking on icy Coan Lake, and they walk precariously as they know they’ll lose traction and go sliding, Last March I took those pictures of the ducks on the ice and a few geese came in for a landing and crashed through the ice … the seagulls looked at them like they had disturbed the peace and tranquility of the morning.
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Congratulations Linda! I wanted to ask you so bad yesterday because you hadn’t posted. I was thinking about it all day! I even thought I should set a goal like that. You are an inspiration Linda!
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Hi Diane – Oh, you could have asked me! I was going to have the blog post written and just have it ready for when I got the actual mileage done, but then I kept piddling along – Monday it was sleeting out and I hesitated to go to the Park … it is a two-mile round trip to get there and the pathway ices up quickly so stayed in the neighborhood. Had I gotten out earlier on Tuesday I could have made it – the lack of sun in the morning makes it harder to leave earlier … for me anyway, I don’t like walking until it is full daylight. I am excited to have reached my goal – it was touch and go with all the bad weather in November as I thought to myself “it’s just going to get worse so better push, push, push!” Whatever else I walk now is “just gravy” as that expression goes, and next year I will make a goal to walk one more mile than 2018’s total. Thanks for your support!
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Way to go Linda!!! I am so happy for you. Yesterday morning I was walking at the farm, enjoying the beauty of the sunrise while the frost covered everything and thought about you. 🙂
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Thank you Ruth – I am happy to have made it and earlier than expected. I began to have doubts when we had all the bad November weather – if it was not raining, it was snowing, or sleeting or doing something that was not good for walking. I’ll bet it is beautiful at your place at sunrise – no buildings in the way to obstruct watching the sun rise and frost looking like icing sugar sprinkled all around. I imagine it was very beautiful – glad you thought of me too. Nature connects people … just like those “Discover the Forest” radio commercials. It makes you more alive to discover what is around you.
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YAY!!! Congratulations – way to exceed your goal. That’s a lot of miles! Did you catch a photo of Parker cheering for you?
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No, I should have as I did it right after I arrived at the Park and he is always hanging around the beginning of the trail. Next time …. Now to see how far I can get in the rest of the year.
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I like that quote. It’s true. I’m almost 40 and it took me until my early 30’s to make the choice to go back to school. I appreciate it more now that I am older. I don’t think I would have done as well if I had kept on going when I was a young ‘un. Congrats on reaching your walking goal 🙂
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Thank you Sarah … I agree with you on the schooling. My parents paid for my college education, and I believe that I might have worked a little harder had I paid for it myself, and maybe even tried a little harder to get a job in my field. I could not find a job when I got out of school, and the university (Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan) was no help at all. In fact, they were no help for an internship my senior year either, as they said all kinds of kids had gone into the journalism field after Woodward and Bernstein and they had stars in their eyes for investigative reporting. So I did a PR internship and got nothing out of it. I got into advertising, a somewhat related field, but that didn’t pan out for climbing up the corporate ladder. I like the quote and I see you are applying for grad school. With respect to the age, well my friend is in her second year of grad school and just turned 62. She will be almost 63 by the time she graduates with her gerontology administration degree in late Summer of 2019. She went to undergraduate school and graduated the same year as me (1978), then got a masters in social work, but never used that degree and has worked as a legal secretary (like me) for decades. Congratulations to you making that decision. I think we appreciate life and education more when we are older.
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Yay! Glad you made it in plenty of time!
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Me too and now to see how much more mischief I can get into by walking til year end (then moaning about making the goal by year end in 2019).
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Wear superb walking shoes. Walking a lot, especially on cement, can damage joint function over time.
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Thank you for the tip Tom. I have been wearing Easy Spirit walking shoes, a brand which was recommended to me by a woman who owns a small shoe store and she is an avid walker. Store has been in business about 50 years. Right now, I am more worried about sitting because I’m having some pain in my left arm which I believe is incorrect posture at the table where I sit. I’ve been experimenting with different ways to sit and place my arms, based on some ergonomic articles I’ve read or seen on YouTube. Right now I am having trouble reaching behind my back with my left arm and when putting my coat sleeve one especially. I’m retraining myself to put in the left arm first as the coat is very heavy and I use it for walking all Winter. And icing and using a heating pad as well … I can’t imagine that anything else has caused this but not sitting correctly at the table or too many hours at the computer (another likely issue). I am going to start standing up to type in the evening … got a set-up for an old laptop I keep in my room just for photos and see if that helps.
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How did I miss this post ! It is two days too late for me. Congratulations, my bold and battling warrior friend- you are an inspiration. I love the way you take care of yourself and love yourself and do not beat yourself up when you might have been so desperate those 9 rainy days in a row. I hope your indoor work is keeping you happy too. I loved the beautiful socks hanging up. Yesterday we went looking for some sports things at a sports sale we saw a few days back at a hotel. When we got there yesterday, there was a wedding going on at the hotel and no sale. I was disappointed. I like that you extended your mile goal to a loftier target. I can’t say how much I admire you. There were times like you when I despaired you wouldn’t reach your goal but you did and I am so proud of you. Walking for you is like the morning pages I write each day- a catharsis and a talk with nature and the elements and even the Creator.
Susie
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Thank you for your ongoing support Susie. I was happy to make it and told myself I would get more walking in as long as weather permits. We are supposed to have an entire week with no precipitation of any kind until a week from today. That is great. We had sleet today shortly after I got home, but it was expected. I do have to learn to like the rain more – I have a difficult time with going out in the pouring rain – too many years of taking the bus and standing outside waiting on the bus in the morning or evening in bad weather – always having a change of clothes at work in case I got to work dripping wet, despite the raincoat, hat and umbrella. Those were the days I am glad to leave behind and not sure I want to revisit them, yet there are a few runners that follow me and I follow them and they just go out, even in a torrential rain. I have to change my mindset and try to like rain more – I might have reached my goal a whole lot earlier than this. I will aim higher for 2019. You are right … it is a catharsis to write in a journal, or to walk in nature – it is all designed to bring us closer to Mother Earth and the elements and to our Creator. Thank you again Susie for your wonderful words. – Linda
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Congratulations Sister on achieving your goal! You are truly an inspiration…..I must dig out my Easy Spirit walking shoes and get going…..
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Yes, before the snow flies — I love those Easy Spirits, they are comfortable. Are yours the style called “Punter” by chance? That is what the woman at the shoe store, who also walks, recommended as her best seller. I took out the new ones a month or so ago, and keep returning to the old ones. A few years ago I got a pair of hiking boots, but having a difficult time breaking them in as they come to the ankles. I wear them with bubble wrap around my ankle bones – they do have heavy lug soles though and are fairly warm, but I prefer the shoes if I can.
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My Easy Spririts are so old I don’t know what type they are – all I know is they are super comfortable and I don’t walk that much so I still have them!
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I bought some Easy Spirit walking shoes maybe 20 years ago when Crowley’s, a big department store closed. Stuff was flying off the shelf at such low prices and I kept saying to my mom “one day I’m going to start a walking regimen” … when I finally did start walking, I wore them every day and they got run down on the heels – went to the store to get new ones – no longer make that style so went with “Punter” but they are very comfortable and no issues with them.
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I am sure mine must be 20 years old, but I have not worn them out! No walking for me this week…..just walking around doing errands, etc. trying to get everything done this week so I don’t have to cope with the pre-Christmas rush next week…..I plan on staying home and working on some blogs….I miss doing the creative stuff.
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I had intended to do that tonight – I am very behind because of the two days I was gone the entire day walking and taking pictures. But I knew the snow would be flyin’ and I’m still trying to upload pictures to Shutterfly from my computer. I don’t have them here. Yesterday I did errands til early afternoon. My boss was out of the office all day in various meetings so I went and did all the errands too so I don’t have to go out now til next year. I hate the crowds. But today, my boss told me he lost his cellphone. He thought he left it at the client’s office – this client has two companies and goes to one in the morning – the other one in the afternoon, so he was going to check for him this afternoon. It was not there so I have spent most of the last five hours tracking it down electronically – he stopped to grab a bite to eat, then to a convenience store and he thinks he left it on a counter there – I pinged it and turned it on to ring for five minutes all evening – it appears it is at a home in a residential neighborhood. I am going to write a post about it when/if he gets it back. Told him not to go to this house without taking the police. I miss doing the creative stuff too and wanted to catch up here tonight and write something and have not made it to Reader yet and was already a day behind, now two days behind. I have alot of little Christmas ideas in mind and it’s only two weeks today til Christmas and I want to use the nature pictures I took over the weekend – maybe after Christmas.
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🎉 Yippee, well done Linda. How amazing for you reaching your goal early too. I love the quote too. So inspiring
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Thanks Zena – I got worried about the weather being so bad there through November, so I stepped it up and tried to get an extra mile in every morning. Now we’ve had pretty wood weather this week, except for the cold but I can deal with that – it’s the snow and ice I don’t like. They say good weather through Wednesday, so I am going to try to reach 1,100 – hopefully I can make it as we still have three weeks left in the year. I think it could be doable.
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I love your dedication so much Linda. You are amazing.
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Thanks Zena – I think I will make it to 1,100 miles, then can rest on my laurels for a while. As long as the weather cooperates I will try to be out every day.
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Congrats on reaching your goal! 🏆 Way to go Linda!
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Thanks Sabine and I’m pleased to reach it and will keep on walking and see how many miles I can get before year end!
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Sounds like a plan!
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I am trying to maximize my miles now – ugly weather on the horizon, this Wednesday into Thursday … make hay while the sun shines!
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Yikes! I guess I won’t complain about rain! 😉
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oh excellent work Linda! Your a real inspiration!
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Thank you Wayne – now my next goal is 1,100 miles by year end which I think is doable … no bad weather in the forecast til Thursday afternoon and that is just rain and one weather forecaster says no snow til the 20th – if that is the case I can get to 1,100 easily … and then what do I shoot for? Whatever I get to mileage wis, will have to be topped by one mile more in 2019 … my annual personal goal.
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the whole point to you walking is to keep active & as a result…..healthy!
Walk one mile more each year to keep beating your old record but “do not” increase your total by a huge amount.You may have a year of very bad weather that limits you making your quota.
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You are right Wayne because that is what happened to me this year because of all the crummy weekends we had – first, all the snow, then the torrential rain. But last year I made my goal (755 miles) fairly early, so I kept on walking and walking until my new goal was 1,000 miles. I only changed it to 1,050 miles as I would reach 1,050 blog posts by year end … that was a dumb move because once we had the bad snow storm around December 9th or 10th, the weather went downhill fast and I was scrambling. I’ll make 1,100 now because as of today I am at 1,078 miles since I walked so much this weekend.
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just wait…..as you get older the goal will get more & more!
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It will indeed – as it is, I have it easy since I don’t have a early morning “start time” for work, and with no “start time”, I am not at the mercy of ugly morning weather –
or going later in the day. I will set loftier goals and be like the guy who wore out 40 pair of boots- I intend to write about him on the last day of the year … no comparison, he leaves me in the dust! I am thinking on what you said about for now not going overboard and capping it at 1100 miles for next years goal … rest of this year is gravy aft 1100.
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yes,try not to bite off more than you can chew. One never knows how the weather is going to be a year from now.
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I agree -On Twitter, I follow the local weathercaster Paul Gross, who is an expert in global warming and climate change and attends conferences/presents papers, etc. on that subject and he was telling us, long before the story came out a few weeks ago, that our weather patterns will become more erratic and seasons as we knew them are now a thing of the past. Look at this year alone … Winter lingered into the first week of April and then mid-April we began a siege of torrential rainy weekends which lasted til 4th of July weekend when it was steamy hot and we never got any rain then for six weeks. I don’t like “the new normal” at all.
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the basic problem is….”the more of us….the less of everything else” Animals,trees,clean water,clean air.Once a population of any animal exceeds its geography a tipping point occurs.I believe we are at that point & I am not optimistic about our species……but I am optimistic about the Earth.
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We’ll likely end up like the poor polar bears, who were malnourished and could barely walk to find food as they have no ice floes to get out to get food. Last week at our local zoo, we lost a two-day-old polar bear cub and I was amazed to find out that this was the only polar bear born in captivity in the year 2018 and it died. Furthermore, there are only 43 polar bears in zoos across the U.S. I know you are not a fan of zoos, but I thought polar bears were a staple at all zoos. & Aquariums-accredited zoos in the U.S.
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Maybe at one time they were but because of us the species is declining in both the wild & Zoo’s?
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That’s very sad isn’t it? I was surprised there were so few polar bears. This little cub – the Zoo vets raced to save it when it stopped nursing and had a blood plasma transfusion, but still did not make it.
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the natural mortality of a Polar bear cub is high in the wild.When we introduce more variables into that equation the outcome becomes less positive.
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I didn’t realize that – global warming will harm the polar bears and likely make them extinct one day then. How sad.
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wherever there is a beginning,there will always be a ending.
Meaning everything is here temporarily,the amount of time is the only variability .
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While it is not great to get older, I hear people in my City rallying to get recycling up and running again – their primary reason is “we’ll save the Earth for our children, and their children” … then they go and pollute the hell out of the water. Again last week I saw a picture of a sea turtle and also a shore bird whose necropsies revealed just how many pieces of plastic were found in their stomachs. It will soon be as bad as that bad oil slick from the Exxon Valdez and all the birds died.
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that statement means things like stars as well.They last billions of years but they also end sooner or later,time is the only variable.
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A starless night from too many dead stars that have burnt out and left in their wake a black hole for a sky… the world will not be the same.
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don’t worry,there will be nobody in the Universe to see that
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Yes, silly me … what was I thinking? We’ll all be a collective lost cause.
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trying to understand the big picture is impossible.How can you understand something you’ve never experienced?
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And hopefully not in my remaining years either!
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I’m not sure how long you intend on living but our sun has about another 5 billion years before the expiry date hits.
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I didn’t know that Wayne – whew! I thought it was more imminent than that. Guess I can fill out the remainder of my life somewhat in peace then.
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you bet!
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_After_People
http://discovermagazine.com/2000/oct/featworld
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Thank you for sending these articles Wayne – you know I was thinking of the black hole theory when I was talking about the end of the world, and then they mention all the burnt-out stars as well. There is a feature on my regular radio station called “Star Date” and they have some interesting factoids about the dead stars and astronomy. When we had the big meteorite strike at the beginning of this year, all kinds of stories came out about just how many meteorite strikes happen each year and we were lucky that this strike did not cause a fire or any damage – it landed/crashed into a rural area into the water and some pieces ended up on a frozen lake or pond. The next morning many people went out looking for meteorite pieces, some to keep and some to put out on eBay. There were a lot of small pieces discovered. And not too long afterward there was that space debris floating around and many were concerned (me too) as they pinpointed that it could possibly drop down in SE Michigan. More things to worry about! I never saw that movie – I’ll bet it might be available on YouTube now.
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I watched the program.Much more interesting than reading & the CGI helps to explain.
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I was going to see if I could find it on YouTube or somewhere else on the internet. I’d rather see something rather than read it when it is technical sometimes – makes it easier to follow and understand.
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agreed! Why make a dinner yourself when you would be served served!
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Exactly!
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I finished responding to your comment and went over to Reader, where I am two days behind and read this from a fellow blogger who lives in the UK. You might enjoy this book Wayne, unless you have already read it – look how prophetic he was. Here is Clare’s post: https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/72305461/posts/2094282209
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looks like a interesting book.Thanks Linda!
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I thought so too Wayne – there was another review beneath this one by Clare, by another blogger, did you see it? Here it is and I have heard that name before, but never heard of this scientist: https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/69014969/posts/1011
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Yay!!! I had no doubts you would make your goal. Woohoo! And by the end of the year you will have far surpassed this. I had never heard that C.S. Lewis quote, but I absolutely love it!
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I did make it Mackenzie and am now working on 1,100 … I think it is doable … I am behind in Reader and finally am only one day behind instead of two days behind. We have a sunny and dry weekend – two days in a row. Woo hoo! So I walked and took pictures. I have looked for the coffee and chocolate pudding and cannot any, however, I did find a mixture for a “do-it-yourself” cappuccino you can make yourself that was in the recipes. I can type it up if you’d like. Me, I’m lazy and go with the Hills Brothers!
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only if you have the time! No worries if not, but that recipe does sound so delicious!! I actually have a milk steamer, so I think I could give it a go 🙂
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No problems – I was a little harried the last couple of days and finally caught up last night here at WordPress. I can retype the recipe, I took a picture of it so I could type off the screen. You have a milk steamer which will make it more genuine. I have found a comparable mocha frosting, but it is with real coffee, not coffee crystals so going to send that to you too. I will look over the one most like what I remember – I thought maybe my mom just did it out of her head. (Me – I have to write everything down, but I’m no cook either.) 🙂
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