No snow here. I love snow. It's been ice and freezing rain that weighed down the power lines in the mountains and caused a couple of electrical blackouts today. Not as fun as snow. But I still got a good walk in and plan to get another before bed time.

I DID get the second walk in, Rizen! Whew! How about you?

Really tired getting up this morning. Hope to push on and get two walks in today still, though.

Rizen and Muji, sending you both encouragement and cheering you on to get those walks in.

I wrote this 2 days ago:
I'm a caregiver to my mom who has stage 4 cancer and fibromyalgia. We don't live together. I got a call from her today saying that she had a fever so she tried to drive herself to get a covid test but, even though she had been there before, she got lost going to the clinic. The thing is when she has an infection she gets confused like that. She parked and now her car wouldn't start. I asked her if she could call AAA by asking siri on her cell to do it but siri wasn't working for some reason. So I looked up AAA and tried to give her the number but she didn't have a way to write it down. So I ended up talking to her on the land line and called AAA on my cell phone. Her membership had expired so I had to relay information from one phone to another and get it set up again. The AAA guy came and fixed her car battery somehow. I told her to just drive home because she can't see well at night and it was getting late. She made it home okay but she's had symptoms like a cough, fever and fatigue so she probably has covid. So far she hasn't had any severe symptoms like respiratory problems but with her compromised immune system from cancer treatments covid could potentially kill her. She had called the doctor earlier and he said she didn't need to go to the hospital but I'm still worried.
Also I have a minor cough but no other symptoms; I hope I don't have it too.

Since then my mom went to the hospital and got a covid test. It was negative. It turns out she had a different sickness with similar symptoms. But I didn't walk the last few days in case I might have gotten covid from her.
Since she was negative I went back to walking today and walked 3 miles.

I walked 2 miles today.

So glad it wasn't COVID-19, Rizen. Yikes. It's good you were able to get back to walking, too. I did my first of two walks this morning, and got a little scare along the way. For the past 4 years my teaching Spanish at my community college in Appalachia has become unpopular. My car's been vandalized 5 times since 2016, one time with a bullet shot through my driver's side mirror while my car was sitting in my driveway.

On my walk today a stranger confronted me on the sidewalk about what I taught at the college. It was obvious confirming I taught Spanish wasn't the happy answer for him. I might walk a different route this afternoon.

Only 5 and 1/2 months left until I've complete the 10 years required to be vested in my retirement pension and can leave town.

I got my second walk in today without being confronted by a stranger for being a college instructor of Spanish. That was nice. As I walked, I listened to a podcast by Dr. Sanjay Gupta about his new book on caring for the brain that suggested walking. That was really encouraging!

Stay safe mujica. I walked 2 miles today. After about 2 months I finally got a reply on a dating website so I'm happy about that.

Congratulations on the reply on the dating site, Rizen! I know how much that means to you. Some day I may follow your lead and date again, now that I see from your example that it can be done. It's been 10 years now since I went on a date. Now that I've lost 110 pounds, I'm more confident on getting out there to date again some day. So keeping these walks up is part of my plan to follow your lead and date again some day.

I'm glad you got 2 miles in. I got two walks in, windy and cold as it was, and I'm keeping that weight off as a result. I'm walking at night so I can socially distance from people on the street to stay safe.

Rizen, I’m happy to hear your mom tested negative. It’s a scary thing. My brother called today saying he was just tested again because two of his co-workers were ill with COVID. I.m glad you were able to resume your much loved walks.

Muji, sorry you were confronted by a stranger. That must have been scary for you? I’m glad nothing became of it and you were able to get your walks in. It must be exciting to have retirement so close now.

Yeah, Secouya, after 2016 and having my tires slashed and a bullet fired through my car's driver's side mirror while parked in my driveway for teaching Spanish in Appalachia, having that stranger demand to know what I taught at my community college full time was unnerving in context.

As a missionary kid turned adult I moved 5,000 miles from Latin America to claim my US citizenship from my missionary parents to be safe from unrest there that got me hurt. In Uruguay we had a rash of kidnappings and killings of neighbors of mine who were US citizens. As a result, we North American families had to stop Halloween parties and 4th of July picnics there and put our t-shirts with US flags on them away.

It's kind of ironic that in 128 days I'm moving out of a USA that's unsafe to me back to Latin America to stay safe. I've traveled there yearly since 2016 to see if it was safe for me back there now, and it is. No one there seems ready to slash my tires or fire a bullet through my car mirror over my English language. I didn't become bilingual by choice, I learned Spanish at church. It happened when I was a missionary kid raised by US citizen Appalachian missionaries abroad in Spanish speaking countries, so now that it's done I'm just trying to find how just to be myself safely and where.

For the next 128 days I will walk uphill on a different street than that stranger in my neighborhood who demanded to know what I taught at my community college job. Just in case. I drove the neighborhood this morning to map out my new walking route I can take to avoid him now.

I got two walks in yesterday, but it was really raw, raw cold. I have my parka and boots on, but my legs got cold from the biting wind. I'm going to shopping for long johns for my legs today.

Muji, yes long Johns help, I use under armor when I have worked night events. They are thin, but very warm. It is ironic that Latin America is safer then the US. I have not seen anything like what we are experiencing right now. It’s very triggering for me seeing all these riots after having been attacked in a gang fight that I drove into. Having to defend my life and severely injuring another.
Stay warm and keep up those walks. Your doing great!

Rizen, I hope you and your mom are ok. I am happy to hear you heard back on the dating site. Be well an d I hope you get some walking in.

I have just under two months of splinting left. I am slowly improving. I can’t wait til it’s over and I can get back to walking and other things I love to do.

I couldn't find any long johns, but I did get a new pair of sneakers that I broke in today with two good walks. It was nice out, so I really enjoyed them. Come Spring it sounds like you'll be out and walking, too, Secouya.

I got my first walk in today Sunday before church so when I went to work (church is my part time paid job) I would have put my self care first before getting wrapped up in the care of others, too. I'm glad I did. It was cold, though. The chill continues.

Hoping to get walk #2 for today in during daylight so at least then it'll be a tad warmer. Fingers crossed. Hope you get to walk, Rizen. I know it's cold where you are, too.