Tag Archives: walking

Beer over Exercise

Yum!

When I was running on Friday afternoon, I ran by the Endzone Pub & Grub on Main Street in Herkimer.  Two guys were sitting at a table on the sidewalk out front, sipping beer.

“That’s where I want to be!”  I said.   Yesterday, I was.

Steven and I had meant to walk to the post office, which we did, then take a long(ish) way home, so it would be good exercise.  Our steps took us by the Endzone and I suggested, not very seriously, that we go in and have a beer.  Much to my surprise, Steven agreed.  I guess when it comes to a choice between beer and exercise, beer wins.  We went in and sat at the bar.

When I asked what was on draft, the bartender told us they had just tapped the Sam Adams Seasonal Ale.  That sounded good to us.  It was!  Very light and flavorful, an excellent summer drink.  Yesterday was such a lovely sunny day, we enjoyed the brew quite a bit.  Towards the end of the beer, Steven said he was hungry.  Obviously the sensible thing to do would be to go home and cook supper, but I said I thought they served food at the Endzone.

“Yes, they have food here,” said a young lady who had just entered and was about to take her drink to one of the tables outside.

We got hot dogs and macaroni salad, with another draft.  Yum!  After we finished eating, we went and sat outside to finish our beers.  A young man went jogging by, and I shared my story of running by and envying the beer drinkers on Friday.  The lady who had told us they had food applauded my better decision to sit and drink beer.  It was a very enjoyable interlude.

The Endzone Pub & Grub is located at 129 N. Main St., Herkimer, NY, phone number 315-219-5796.  They are open Monday from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 2 a.m., and Sunday from noon to midnight.  You can Like them on Facebook.  I did.

 

It Is Monday After All

As I sat at the Endzone Pub & Grub in Herkimer, NY, this evening, I said to Steven, “I’m going to write my blog post about THIS today!”  Now that I’m home after a couple of beers and some food, and I don’t know that I can really do the place justice.  After all, it is Monday.  I’m tired!

I had a very busy weekend, including a very successful murder mystery on Saturday, auditions for a play on Sunday, and various celebrations and friendly times in between.  I worked a full day today (no overtime, but at my age, just time is enough!).  After work, I wrote some post cards, which I neglected to do on Saturday.  It is a beautiful day outside, so Steven agreed to walk to the post office with me.

Of course we did not walk straight back home.  Long story short(er), we ended up at the Endzone Pub and Grub.  We had some pub.  We had some grub. It was a lovely time.  I hope to write a nice blog post about it.  But that is just the problem.  I want to write a GOOD blog post about an excellent local business.  Right now I feel tired.  And, truth be known, more inclined to watch television.

So, once again, sue me.  I’ll see what I can come up with tomorrow.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

Walking on Sunshine

It was a drop-dead gorgeous day in the Mohawk Valley today.  Steven and I felt the right thing to do was to take a long walk, so we did.  First I wrote a few post cards.  I normally do that on Saturday, but, well, I guess it’s been kind of a lost weekend for me.  Don’t judge. Oh, OK, judge if you want, but don’t nag. I won’t listen.  Where was I?  Ah yes, about to write a Pedestrian Post instead of my usual Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

It was so bright and sunny I put on a hat with a brim and carried my purse, which contains my prescription sunglasses.  I put the sunglasses on before we reached the end of the driveway.  Before leaving, though, we walked into the backyard and shook our heads over the amount of yard work that needs to be done.  The delightful part was that we have some crocuses.  I was afraid with the early warm days and late snow we wouldn’t get any.  I noticed a few irises coming up as well.  Yay!

We walked down the sidewalk positively glorying in the warmth.  As we went through Meyers Park, I pointed out buds on some of the trees.  How wonderful it will be so see some green finally!  It was a comfortable temperature for walking, but I almost felt as if I won’t mind it too much when it does get super hot.  Oh well, I suppose I will be true to form and complain about it when it happens, but right now, I feel as if I won’t mind.  Does that make any sense to anybody?

After mailing the post cards, we headed toward Main Street then up Herkimer’s Historic Four Corners, one of my favorite spots.  We continued up Main then over to the path over what used to be a hydraulic canal.  We ended up walking down three stretches of the path, then up Washington and down Court Street to the Historic Four Corners again.  We met many people out taking a stroll or hanging out on their porches.  We exchanged greetings with all.

I was quite hungry when we got home so started cooking dinner. We opened front and back doors, because I ran the oven.  How lovely to air out the house!  I only wish I had brought our tablet on the walk so I could have taken some pictures to share.  Maybe I’ll look into getting one of them there smart phones; that ought to help pep things up.  Then I’ll have a Pepped Up Pedestrian Post.  You know how I love alliteration.  Happy Sunday, everyone.

 

Not Useful But Not a Bad Saturday

Once again, I post in haste on a Saturday so I can get back to enjoying my evening.  Hey, bloggers like to relax on their days off, too, you know!  I am at the coveted bra off, sweats on, wine drinking, TV watching, with husband hanging portion of the evening.  Why did I not post earlier in anticipation of this time?  No good reason.  I could not think of anything good to post about, but, really, when has that stopped me?

It has not been a usefully-spent Saturday.  I don’t know if I even did enough to warrant a Scattered Saturday post, but let’s try anyways.  We slept in till 6:30 this morning and could have slept even later but Steven had to go to work.  Rats!  After we hung out and had coffee, and I made my usual Saturday morning phone call to my parents (I call them other times, too, of course, but the Saturday morning call is kind of a thing), I started writing post cards (another Saturday morning thing).

I waited till after Steven had left and I took Spunky for a business meeting to walk to the post office.  Spunky did not walk with me.  He doesn’t seem to care for long walks.  I started making it an even longer walk than last week, but I got kind of cold and depressed, so I walked back home sooner than planned.  At least I got some exercise.

Back home I worked a little more on the murder mystery LiFT Theatre Company is doing at the Overlook Mansion in Little Falls, NY.  I read a few of the newspapers that collected all week (I don’t get the chance to read them every day).  I looked at Facebook.  I took a short nap on the couch.  I did a load of laundry and folded the last two or three that have been waiting to be folded (don’t judge me).  I talked to my sister on the telephone.

Finally I judged it OK to pour myself a glass of wine and sit down in front of the television with my knitting.  Ah, my favorite time of day.  After a while I changed into my sweats and started fixing a fairly interesting dinner.  At last Steven came home!  Now he is looking at the television and waiting for me to finish my blog post so we can go on to the movie watching portion of the evening.  And I think I’m there.  Happy Saturday, everyone.

 

Scattered, then Snapped on Saturday

No, I didn’t suddenly snap and murder somebody, although that would have made quite the blog post, I suppose. How much internet access do they grant you in jail? I’m figuring if I murdered anybody I would get caught.  It’s all very well to trash talk that I know how to commit a murder, but in fact, any murderer I’ve written about has gotten caught.  But I digress.

This was hands-down a better Saturday than last one, because I didn’t have a headache.  I didn’t even have to take any medication to make it happen; I just got lucky.  Or blessed, I suppose.  However, I can’t say it was any better of a Saturday in the category of getting stuff done.  No, that, not so much.  But I shall attempt to make a blog post about what I did do, so I can get back to watching Snapped (you know, from the headline?).

Steven and I got up at the delightful time of 6:30 a.m.  That is SO much better than getting up at three! No, I’m not whining about getting up at 3 a.m.; I do it for a reason and I do not repine.  However, I LOVE getting to sleep in a little!  Even when I can’t exactly sleep (I am a long-time insomniac, but don’t worry about me).  I had no plan for the day, but I knew there were several things it would behoove me to get done.  Go to Melfe’s for work shoes, study my lines for Steel Magnolias, finish writing the various murder mysteries I have committed to, clean the house, do laundry, go running… the list went on and on.

I crossed out the first item mentioned by strategically postponing it till Wednesday, Steven’s next day off.  He wants to go to Melfe’s to see if they have any shoes that might be good for his work.  Having good shoes makes your work day SO much easier to get through!  After chatting on the phone with my Dad and Mom (that was not on the list, but it is something I almost always do on Saturday), I wrote a few postcards to the folks I usually write postcards to (that was not on my list, either, but it is something I usually do).

After Steven left for work, I felt kind of like a lump pondering what to do.  When Tabby was our dog, she loved to walk with me to the post office.  However, Spunky does not like to take long walks.  I took him for a short business meeting, after which he contentedly snoozed on the couch.  I went upstairs to take a shower.  After I was naked but before I was actually in the shower, I noticed what I had been noticing all week, that the bathroom really needed cleaning.  I have heard about women cleaning naked, to keep from messing up their clothes.  I tried it.  It was no problem, except when Spunky started barking and I wondered if someone was at the door.  I put on a bathrobe and ventured down.  False alarm.  I finished cleaning and showered.  Now what to do?

Finally I sat down and started working on my lines for Steel Magnolias.  I do the trick that was taught to me by my fourth grade church school teacher, Sister Mary Christina.  It was how she taught us the Act of Contrition (fourth grade is when you make your First Confession, or Reconciliation as I guess it is called now).  I include the trick for any possible benefit others may derive from it:  Take it one or two sentences at a time.  Say it out loud ten times, looking at it, say if five times not looking at it.  I still have to study the lines after that, but the trick really helps.

You know, it is kind of boring to say a line out loud over and over, not to mention hard on your throat when you have a little post-nasal drip, which I often do.  I persevered as best I could.  Finally I decided to take a break and walk to the post office.  I even thought of doing a Pedestrian Post and just writing about the walk, because I took a rather long way back and stretched it to almost a half hour.  I need the exercise and I really wasn’t up to running.  If only it were not face-hurting cold out, my life would have been perfect.

Back home, I studied my lines some more, spent some time looking at Facebook, read the newspapers I had been neglecting all week (this could be construed as a cleaning chore, since I put them in the recycling box when I had finished with them), waited for Steve to come home for lunch.  The only other remotely useful thing I did was go to the liquid store (as it is sometimes known) and purchase some white wine, a glass of which I am currently enjoying.  Oh, and I took Spunky for two more business meetings.  Good dog.

Ooh, look at me, over 800 words.  I wonder if anybody will read to the end?  If you did, thanks!  I hope I wasn’t boring.  And I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.  Peace out.

 

Short Walk Off a Lame Post

Did I use that title before?  If so, sorry to repeat myself.

I am so tired, I think I may cry.  No, that would be too much trouble.  I’ll just whine.  After all, go with your strengths.  Luckily, it is Lame Post Friday.  I’ll come up with a couple of random observations, perhaps spin a bit of half-baked philosophy, and hit publish.  It’s all good.

I actually thought I might do a Pedestrian Post today.  I don’t feel as inclined to do Pedestrian Posts after a walk with Spunky as I did after a walk with Tabby, because Spunky does not want to walk as far.  He often goes down the street and back or at most around the block, and not even around the whole block, but cutting through the parking lot of the apartment building at the end of the street.  I’ve felt a little bad about abandoning a whole category like that, though, especially since I always say Herkimer is such a good village to take a walk in.

So when I walked out the door with my dog this evening, I thought, “Perfect!  Lame Post Friday is solved!”  I thought it would be OK if the walk and the post were both short, being, you know, LPF (that’s the first time I’ve ever called it by its initials; what do you think?).  It was never going to be much of a walk.  I had already put on my comfy clothes for the evening.  You know, the bra off, sweats on portion of the day which I so love.  It was pajama bottoms instead of sweats, but still.

Most days I take Spunky for his walk as soon as I get home from work.  Sometimes he doesn’t seem to want to go, so I put it off.  Today I had put it off long enough to forget about it.  I remembered it as I put the pajama bottoms on.  Well, maybe Steven would take Spunky out when he got home and not be too annoyed at me.  I would throw myself on his mercy.  It had been a long day.  As I came downstairs, Spunky jumped off the couch and ran up to me.  I think he thought I was putting on go for a walk clothes.  I traded my slippers for sneakers and looked for his harness.

One reason I had been just as glad to put off the walk is that it was raining.  It was still raining but not too hard.  I put on my crazy old lady had but did not bother with an umbrella. For one reason, it is awkward to handle leash, umbrella and poop bag at the same time.  I could write a post about a walk in the rain, I thought.  I was immediately fascinated by the grey light.  Of course the sky was completely covered with dark clouds, but it was not gloomy.  I couldn’t tell where the light was coming from, but it looked eerie.  I wondered if the sun was peeking out somewhere and there was a rainbow somewhere, but I did not see one.

Spunky peed a couple times right away but was walking slowly, looking up at me every so often.  We were only a house away from our own driveway when he looked at me and I said, “Do you want to go back home?”  He did.

So you see, I cannot write a whole blog post about that little bitty walk.  Only it seems I did.  Happy Friday, everyone.

 

Spunky Start to Scattered Saturday

How about a Scattered Saturday instead of a Slacker Saturday.  I think I could manage a brief re-cap of today’s activities.  I have quite a headache currently, sorry to complain, and I really just feel like sitting here and chilling.  However, I like to make a blog post every day, and I do not want to put off making today’s any longer.  I know, I know, enough with the excuses, get on with the post.  OK, I will.

Our dog Spunky barked at 5:01 this morning.  I looked at the clock.  For once I let Steven keep sleeping a little longer and got up to take Spunky for his first business meeting of the day.  I got dressed in running clothes, so I could go for my run right after.  I have run eight days in a row.  That may be a record for me.  A little later I wrote some postcards and walked to the post office with Spunky.  Spunky doesn’t seem to like long walks, but he can make it to the post office and back.

By noon I was headed to my sister Cheryl’s house for more adventures.  My sister Vicki was in town, along with her husband and offspring, and Vicki had not yet been to the So Sweet Candy Cafe, which is owned by her great childhood friend, Margaret.  I, of course, am always up for another visit to a candy shop.  I purchased a few treats while I was there.  Vicki and Margaret had a nice if brief visit.

After leaving the So Sweet, we walked down Varick Street to the Mohawk Valley Winery.  We tasted some wine and, yes, I purchased a bottle.  We were disappointed to find out we needed to make an appointment to tour the Adirondack Distilling Company.  I said we must make an appointment for next time.

Next we drove to Clinton and went into a number of wonderful little shops.  My only purchase was at the Adirondack Cheese Company, but I will certainly return to the other stores when I have a little more cash to spend.

Perhaps as the week goes on, I can write longer blog posts about some of my Scattered Saturday activities.  For now, I’m going to nurse my stupid head and hang out with my nice dog.  I hope you’re all having a lovely Saturday.

 

No Skulls for Spunky

Ever since we brought our new little friend Spunky home we’ve been meaning to get him a harness.  It is so much more comfortable for a little dog to have a harness than a leash on a collar, or so it seems to me.

As a side note, I’m making this post on our tablet, using the stylus and typing one letter at a time. It’s kind of fascinating, because the computer tries to guess what my next word will be.  It gives me three choices at a time, and I can click on the right one as soon as I see it.  Like some foolish bloggers game.  I think I’m losing. Perhaps  Steven will let me use the laptop soon.

Ah, on the laptop now and back to composing the post.  It isn’t really such a much as posts go, so I thought the paragraph about the tablet might add a little interest.  I SO prefer typing with all ten fingers.

Tractor Supply in Herkimer has a sign on the door that well-behaved dogs on a leash are welcome, so we grabbed the leash and our pooch and headed on over.  We quickly found the pet section and began looking at harnesses and collars.  I found a size small harness and tried it on Spunky.  I don’t think he was impressed.  We saw a similar dog with his people while we were there.  They called him Oliver. He was quite interested in sniffing Spunky, although Spunky was more interested in sniffing a display of treats.

As we looked to see if there were any other harnesses to try, I saw a collar with skulls on it.  I was certain Spunky would like a collar with skulls on it.  In any case, I would like to walk a dog with skulls on his collar.  Would you believe they did not have that collar in size small?  I was indignant.

“Don’t they think small dogs would like to be bad-ass?”  I asked.  “No skulls for Spunky!  Hey, that”ll be the title of my blog post today.”  I always say, waste not, want not.

I paused in writing this midway through the fourth paragraph so we could take a short walk with Spunky and test the new harness.  It certainly does seem more comfortable for him, although it is such a warm day I can’t say it was the most comfortable walk for any of us.  Lots of people were out enjoying the day, which is bright and sunny, just the sort of June day lots of people love.  At one point, we crossed the street to avoid a larger dog who looked very interested in us.

“Does he want to play or is he saying, ‘Oh boy, lunch!'” I asked the dog’s person.  We were not close enough to find out for sure.

We were glad we went for a walk, and even more happy to be back in our house in front of fans with cold drinks.  And while my post may not be such a much, I comfort myself with the reflection that I avoided Wrist to Forehead Sunday, and I think my headline is kind of catchy.

 

Nice Stroll on Non-Sequitur Thursday

How about a nice Pedestrian Post?  One thing I really looked forward to when we decided to adopt Spunky was walking a dog.  I LOVE to walk a dog.

Unfortunately, so far our walks have not been that exciting.  One reason is that they are short walks.  Spunky is just a little guy.  I guess those short legs get tired in a hurry.  Oh, I should perhaps mention, I have been calling him a Shih Tzu, but when Steven looked over the paperwork from the veterinarian, it said Spunky is a Pekapoo.  I think I have said that I don’t really know from breeds.

Be that as it may, I got home from work and Spunky was clearly ready to go out.  I have to understand that; I can’t hold my pee nearly as long as dogs do.  I grabbed my crazy old lady hat (sunny day), Spunky’s leash, a poop bag and my house key (must be secure), and we set out.

At the beginning of a walk, Spunky trots along eagerly.  We would make good time if he didn’t want to stop and sniff so often.  Then again, that is what dogs do  (heehee, I said “dog do”).   We made it to the corner, turned right, and started down Church Street.  Two dachshunds were in the yard at the next corner.  The bigger one ran over as we approached.  The man watching them said he just wanted to play.  He and Spunky sniffed each other (um, the dog, not that man).  After a while, his person ordered him into the house.  He went reluctantly.

The other dachshund, a smaller, long-haired dog, kept his distance.  We had to approach him as we continued our walk.  First he seemed inclined to give us a wide berth, then he started barking vigorously. The man told him to stop and go in the house.  The first dog came running over to join the fun.  I pulled Spunky along and we were soon beyond inciting the other pooches.

This was about the time Spunky slowed down.  I wonder if I should get one of those doggy strollers, so that when he gets tired he can ride for a while.  For now I’m just walking a little slower and encouraging my dog to keep going till we get home.  Today I was just as happy to have a short walk.  It was getting quite warm for me out in the bright sun.  Additionally, even though I had my wide-brimmed hat, I had neglected to wear my prescription sunglasses.  But our walk wasn’t about me.  It was about our nice poocher.

Incidentally, the reason my blog post today is a mere Pedestrian Post written on the fly is that today on breaks at work, I wrote more on my banana play.  I can’t feel too proud of myself about that, because it isn’t going very well.  I’ll have a few good lines, a dramatic situation, some believable character interaction… but is it going anywhere?  It is not the sort of play that can go nowhere (Bananas for Godot?).

But, as I often say, no matter.  It is Non-Sequitur Thursday, and this is my post. If I can only think of a punchy headline, all is not lost.  If my headline is, well, more paunchy, yet it will have to do.  You can let me know what you think of it, if you are so inclined.  In the meantime, I hope to see you on Lame Post Friday.

 

Murky Monday Meanderings

I am having the damnedest time making my blog post today.  I’m sitting here with my laptop on my lap, being partially distracted by an extremely cheesy true crime show on cable television, and beginning one post after another, none of them very good.

So what, I think to myself.  I can just do a Monday Mental Meanderings, also known as Yet Another Post About Why I Can’t Write a Post Today.  I was going to blame it on menopausal brain freeze (or is that brain fog?  You see what bad shape I’m in!).  I can’t remember why I decided against that course (see what I did just now?).

We went for a nice little walk with our new (to us) little dog.  We met a couple of neighborhood dogs with their person and said hello.  Spunky is much more interested in meeting other dogs than Tabby ever was.  Tabby preferred people or cats.  We only went around the block, but it was pleasant.   Alas, not eventful enough to warrant a Pedestrian Post.

I don’t even have great plans for the coming week, so I can’t do a Preview of Coming Attractions, either.  On the other hand, I do plan to run tomorrow.  I could do a Running Commentary.  How’s that for a plan?  Or perhaps I could try to write about some of the cheese I’m watching tonight.  Right now, I’m turning my foggy brain back to that.  Happy Monday, everyone.