Tag Archives: weather

All Lights, Camera, Murder! All The Time?

Posted on October 26, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

Full disclosure:  I would not have made a blog post this morning, but my attempt to walk was foiled by rain.  Yes, I know, some people like to walk in the rain.  I personally do not mind it but did not want to either change my clothes or show up for work in a sodden state, although in a general sense I am not especially fastidious (I just wanted to use the word “fastidious” in a sentence. How often to you get to do that?).

Where was I?  Ah yes, making a blog post.  I think I will begin with a plug of our latest murder mystery, Lights, Camera, Murder! to be presented Saturday, Nov. 11 at the Herkimer Elks Lodge for the benefit for the Herkimer County Historical Society.

May be an image of text that says 'HERKIMER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND CYNTHIA QUACKENBUSH PRESENTS LIGHTS.... CAMERA... MURDER!! CAN YOU SOLVE THE MURDER BEFORE MURDERER IS REVEALED? SATURDAY NOVEMBER 11th Elks Club 112 Mary St. Herkimer, NY Doors Open at 5:30pm Dinner at 6pm Basket Raffles & 50/50 Raffle Dinner catered by PK Pubs Tickets $40.00 per person Tickets are available at The Herkimer County Historical Society 406 North Main St, Herkimer 315-866-6413'

Wow, that turned out big!

I am a little embarrassed they put my name up there in big letters.  I think I should give my little murder group a name like “Q Mysteries” or “Murder for Non-Profit” for such situations.  We have rehearsal tonight.  Perhaps I can get a few pictures for blogging purposes.  In the meantime, why don’t I finish out this post as a Throwback Thursday (or late Way-Back Wednesday) and share a few shots from previous mysteries.

She is always fabulous.

Here is my friend Kim in Fabulous and Fatal in 2019.  She is in the new one, and I expect she will be equally as fabulous.  It is always good to have a tall, gorgeous blonde in the cast.

He is fine, too.   I need to get the other one in a murder mystery sometime!

This is not from a murder mystery but from Love’s Labour’s Lost presented by LiFT, Little Falls Theatre Company in 2022.  That is local author C.T. Avis, who is cast as Jarod, the screenwriter of the movie in Lights, Camera, Murder!  He asked if he was being typecast as a writer.  I said that actually I gave him the role on the strength of his portrayal of the lovelorn Don Armado (he was in love with Jacquenetta, played by me, I add modestly.  It was so flattering!)

I will try to show a couple more cast members after tonight’s rehearsal.  I don’t promise any hints about the plot, though.  I want any local readers who decide to attend to be surprised.

 

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Yummy at Yetty’s!

Posted on August 27, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

About mid day today (Saturday) I was faced with a decision:  either go to the store ANF purchase groceries or go out to lunch.  I think you can guess which I chose.

I walked to Yetty’s Pizzeria and Pasta in Herkimer, because I needed the exercise.  I am taking a break from running but wish to continue walking.  It did not take me long to realize that it was much hotter than it was last Saturday.  Oh dear.  Never mind, I told myself.  Get to the air conditioning!

Soon I was sitting at the bar, sipping ice water and waiting for a Muffaleto sandwich.  Kim’s and my favorite bartender, Piel, was on duty.  I was only sorry Kim wasn’t there.

We love Piel!

When I wasn’t chatting with Piel, I worked on a letter to a friend.  Eventually I ordered a glass of Chardonnay to go with my sandwich.  After all, I wasn’t driving!

Such a flattering sign!

I was quite taken with the Specials board.  I quite agree with the sentiment:  it is all about the people!  I enjoyed hanging with Piel, and it will be even better when Kim and other friends can join me!

Another fun view at Yetty’s.

I took another picture as I sat there, enjoying my sandwich and the air conditioning.  It was a very enjoyable lunch, and I took leftovers home to enjoy tomorrow.

Yetty’s is located at 109 Mohawk St., Herkimer, NY, phone number 315-866-4201.  They are open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

 

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Post-Boilermaker Post

Posted on July 10, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

So I ran the Boilermaker 15K in Utica, NY this morning.  Very slowly.  In fact,  I got slower every mile, except for the last little bit, which I inadvisedly tried to sprint.  I had to do it, although it was kind of the nail in the coffin (I do enjoy macabre imagery).

Anybody who is hoping for a cheery overview of a premiere event, this is not it.  The Boilermaker is a great, a wonderful, a unique event (and I do not use the term unique lightly).  I had fun, chatted with some nice people, and was glad to be a part of it.  But I had a little trouble. Since this is my blog about me, and I am going to tell it as I experienced it.

Things went pretty well for the first four miles.  Breathing was a little difficult due to humidity.  However, the temperature was not too hot; the overcast skies helped.  We felt a few sprinkles of rain before the race started, but that went away, and no thunder rumbled.

A couple of times I got a little stitch in my right side.  I lifted that arm over my head in a stretch and tried to breathe more deeply.  So far so good.  Then my left knee and my left hip started in on me.  The hip was more of a problem.  It hurt!  I kept saying, “Oh crap!”  Nobody paid me any mind to which I took no offense.  We all have our problems.

The last three miles were bad.  I had been saying to myself, “Just run your own pace, run your own race”  almost since we started.  Eventually I started saying to myself, “Just keep going.”  The spectators cheering us on helped.  My fellow runners, too encouraged me.

For a while I ran next to an older gentleman.  His walk was the pace of my run.  He told me how he had broken his foot one year but did not go to the doctor till after the Boilermaker, because the doctor would have told him not to run.  Wow!  At least all my bones were intact!

The last 1.3 miles took forever!  “You’re almost there!” they kept telling me, to which I replied, “Promises, promises!”  Then I figured if I had enough breath to be a wise-ass, I must be doing better than I thought.

In these races, be they 5K or 15, I try to keep myself from starting my final sprint too soon.  I have done that at the Reindeer Run 5K in Little Falls more than once, and it is not pretty (not that I am especially pretty by that point in a race anyways).  Today I questioned my ability to sprint or even speed up at all, but I firmly told myself not to worry about it.  Just finish!  That was my goal.

As I said in the first paragraph, I somehow found it in myself to sprint at the end.  Go faster, go faster, I urged myself, and my poor old body responded as best it could.  For one reason, I was so close to end I wanted to get there as soon as possible!

And it was not pretty.  However, I see I am over 500 words.  That is a long post for me.  I will stop blogging now.  I may tell the rest of my tale tomorrow.  But no promises.

 

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Pre-Boilermaker Slacking

Posted on July 9, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

I had my last pre-Boilermaker run this morning.  A little over a mile and a half, 22 minutes (incidentally, my favorite number).  Then I pretty much slacked for the rest of the day.  Eventually I wrote a few post cards and walked them to the post office, taking the long way back for a 22 minute walk, a little over one mile.  I did a load of laundry, surprisingly not during either the run or the walk (as regular readers know, my favorite multi-task).  I did the dishes.

Now I sit, lounged on my couch, drinking more water (hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, they say) and wondering if it really is essential to eat pasta the night before a big race.  I know it is traditional to “carb up” at such times, but is it science?  Or is it merely psychological?  You see, it is very warm for me to think about cooking something to eat.  Additionally, I do not want to dirty more dishes.

Me, pondering the worth of effort in the heat.

I thought a picture would pep things up. This is me in Love’s Labour’s Lost last summer with LiFT, Little Falls Theatre Company.  It was pretty hot then, too.  My costume was supposed to have another layer, but there was no way I could stand it.  It was impractical anyways, since I played two roles and had to change.  But I digress.

Getting back to the Boilermaker 15K in Utica tomorrow, I am looking forward to it, despite my usual trepidations of parking, timing, and should I really be eating spaghetti tonight.  I hope to have fun and write a blog post about it.  In the meantime I am going to bill this as a Slacker Saturday (although my digression into theatre may make a Non-Sequitur Saturday eligible) and drive on.  Happy Saturday,  everyone!

 

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Another Pre-Boilermaker Run

Posted on July 7, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

I melted again today, although with no discernible difference in my waistline.  However, I did manage to go for a short run and will now attempt a Running Commentary Post.

I had been taking myself all day that it would be a good idea to run, but I was naturally reluctant to do so once I got home.  In my defense, heat and humidity!  I spent the greater portion of the day feeling sweat pour down my body.  Ugh.  But the Boilermaker 15K is a mere three days away.  I must maintain.

First I called my Mom and Dad.  Mom said perhaps I should not run in this weather.  Dad thought I might try it and switch to walking if it was too much.  Since I only contemplated a short run, I decided to try.

And now I will pause to bring up something that always bothers me:  when you say you can’t do something and somebody smugly replies, “Well, not with that attitude.”  I have probably alluded to this before, but I will repeat it.  Almost every failure I have had, and there have been many, some epic, I have gone into with great confidence.  On the other hand, many times I have thought, I probably can’t do this but let me just try.  And I do it, surprising myself as well as my detractors.

It should come as no surprise that I succeeded in my attempt to run today.  I thought, one mile, fifteen minutes, slow pace.  My pace was faster than a 15-minute mile although I made no effort at speed.  As I went, I thought 20 minutes might be good.  Oh well, maybe 17.

I made it for 20 minutes 31 seconds, 1.49 miles.  I suppose I could have made it a full two and a half miles, but I felt pretty pleased with what I did.

Now I have to start worrying about the myriad practical details involved in running the Boilermaker:  getting my packet from the Runner’s Expo, which involves finding said Expo; putting on the right clothes the morning of, eating the proper breakfast, getting to the starting line after deciding the best time to get to the starting line, finding a parking space; and through it all hydrating, hydrating, hydrating.  I haven’t even mentioned getting to bed at a good time, getting to sleep, and waking up on time.  I think there are probably a few things I have forgotten I need to do.  I am not even sure I remember how many days there are between Thursday and Sunday.

 

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Boiling or Boilermaker?

Posted on July 6, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

Wuss-out Wednesday follows Tired Tuesday, we all know that.  If you didn’t know, you do now.  I’m going to blame the weather.

I think I am!

I took a walk this morning but did not run after work.  I ran yesterday for three miles, thinking it would be my last long run before the Boilermaker 15K.  I hope to walk every day and have one or two short runs in the next three days.  Only three day?  Yikes!

Now is about the time I ask myself why I signed up for this silly race anyways. I should perhaps mention that this has happened to me every time I have run the Boilermaker (can’t remember how many times that is;  I would have to count my Boilermaker glasses).  This year, of course, everything is different.

It seems I had some good reasons when I signed up.  I do not currently remember them.   I registered pretty much the minute registration opened.  A short time later the palliative care nurse called me and said we had to talk.  I know what palliative care is (my sisters had to look it up).  Thus started a very bad time in my life.

So this year my running the 15K feels all tied up in my grief and depression over my husband’s death.  I don’t know that I think something magical is going to happen as I cross the finish line.  I think mostly I feel grateful that the race gave me motivation to keep running.  Exercise has helped me a lot.

I guess I have not entirely wussed out today, as I see I am over 250 words.  Perhaps tomorrow I will take one of those shorter runs I mentioned and attempt a Running Commentary Post.  It is All Boilermaker All The Time Week after all.

 

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What Kind of Tuesday?

Posted on June 28, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was thinking it would not be a bad time for this blog to go All Boilermaker All The Time.  The race is less than two weeks away (too lazy and brain dead to count the days).  I ran nine days in a row, ending Sunday, did not run yesterday, then ran today.  I thought I might try for a Running Commentary Post.

For the past two weeks I have had Two Mile Tuesday.  It seemed reasonable to do that again today.  However, for some reason I was TIRED.  I know, Tired Tuesday is not unusual for me.  But I did not sleep badly last night.  I worked a reasonable amount of hard at work today.  I guess I’ll blame the humidity, although that felt worse yesterday than today.

The struggle is real.

In any case, I left work questioning my ability to make it a Two Mile Tuesday.  How about Twenty Minute Tuesday, I thought, while a little voice in my head voted for Two Minute Tuesday.  After I got home, I thought, I don’t have to get right ready and run.  I can sit down for a few minutes.  Big mistake.

However, I did get myself off the couch and into running clothes. It doesn’t have to be long, I told myself.  It doesn’t have to be fast (as if it ever is!).  It just has to be.  After putting some laundry in the washer, I set out.

I thought after a day off, my body might feel a little better about things, but the first part of the run sure was thunky.  Luckily I know how to persevere.  I changed my mind about where and how far to run several times.  Just make it a mile, I thought.  We’ll turn at the library (I was headed down Main Street).  Then I ran past the library to Park.  A mile isn’t really very far.  Maybe a 20 minute run.

As I ran through Meyers Park, I thought I probably could make it two miles.  Of course, I knew from previous runs that each block is not nearly the percentage of a mile you might expect it to be.  I continued to persevere.

I hit two miles around 26 minutes.  By this time I was wondering if two miles was nearly enough with the Boilermaker 15K looming so closely.  So I went a little further.  By running past my house three times (the neighbors, if they pay me any attention at all, must think I’m a crazy old lady) (my blog readers have known that for a while), I ran for a full 30 minutes.

Of course now I am even more tired than I thought I was, but I have a good reason to be.  And a longer blog post than my usual.  If you have read the whole thing, I thank you for staying tuned.

 

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In the Midst of a Monday Malaise

Posted on June 27, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

So I ran for nine days in a row and did not run today.  I feel a little bad about that, especially since the rain that threatened never materialized.  I could have at least mowed the lawn.

Don’t mind me, I am in the midst of a Monday Malaise.  Isn’t that a nicely alliterative phrase?  Hey, that rhymed.  Perhaps I am not as brain dead as I had feared.

Who, me? Get dramatic over Monday?

Here is another image stolen from Dracula’s House of Halloween.  I wanted a change from Frankenstein’s monster saying, “No like Monday!”

Most of my day has not been particularly monstrous, but as the evening progresses I am slipping down a depressive slope.  I suppose it is nothing to worry about; we all have our ups and downs.  However, this particular down is making me SO disinclined to do any of the things I ought to be doing.

Such as making a non-whiny blog post.

Well this is the way it is.  Whatever we may have accomplished (in my case not much, but never mind that), we continue to fret over what we have left undone.  Oh, I know:  you probably checked off every item on your to-do list and even got a jump on tomorrow’s (you know who you are).

I forgot where I was going with this.  However, I see I am over 200 words.  Enough of this nonsense!  Perhaps I could find a good monster to close with.

“I still don’t know why she wanted me to be in this blog post.”

 

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What a Run!

Posted on June 23, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

Spoiler alert:  I did it!

Last Thursday I opted for Thirty-Minute Thursday instead of Three Mile Thursday, following Two-Mile Tuesday.  Well, this week I have challenged myself to see how many days in a row I could run.  I am up to six!  I did two miles on Tuesday, less on Wednesday, and was undecided how far or long to run today.  When you are on a streak, it is permissible to have some short run days.

So I set out thinking Thirty-Minute Thursday, giving myself permission to run less.  However, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I had taken a half hour walk in the morning before work.  Today I overslept (still made it to work on time, if you were worried) so thought a longer run would be better.  Three-Mile Thursday?  Could I do it?

I started out running in the opposite direction from which I usually go, that is, I ran toward Church Street, not German.  I turned onto Church and went towards Valley Health, which regular readers may remember has a pretty decent hill. I was not convinced I would run up it.  Then as I got closer, I saw the sidewalk was shady for the whole hill.  Yes!  It was a very warm, sunny day.

No spoiler alert needed: I entered.

I just spent an inordinate amount of time searching my Media Library for a picture of the hill.  I feel sure I had one.  Perhaps this weekend I will make an index of that library.  Anyways, I wanted to add a picture so opted for this Do Not Enter sign, which of course I defied.  Regular readers know I love to do that.

So I ran a mile.  Then I ran two.  I spent most of those miles calculating how many minutes or what fraction I was from 30 minutes, a favorite distraction technique of mine.  When I got to two miles, I decided to go for three.  I could do it! I would do it!

My body wanted to stop pretty much every step of the way.  I kept looking at my Garmin for how far I had gone and quickly realized how short a block is.  Never mind, keep going.  I treasured the shady spots.  I did not think I could make it.  I flatly refused to go a block beyond my street in case it made my run over three miles.  I ran by my house twice.  I made it to three miles!

And oh did I feel crappy!  Yet proud of myself.  I walked around a block for a full ten-minute cool down.  I gratefully drank my chocolate milk recovery beverage.  I realized sweat was pouring down my face.  Yuck!  Into the shower!

I still feel tired.  And this is a long blog post for me.  No promises about tomorrow’s run or blog post, but as always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

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Thirty Minute Thursday

Posted on June 16, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

I had originally thought to follow Two-Mile Tuesday with Three-Mile Thursday, but I was skeptical of my ability to pull it off.  True, I ran four miles last weekend, but that was first thing in the morning not last thing after an eight hour day at work.  Then I thought, Thirty-Minute Thursday.  It sounds even better, it is still longer than what I ran Tuesday, and I could totally do it.  At least, I could probably do it.

I usually let myself off the hook on these week-day runs.  I feel they are really just to keep my hand in (feet, really).  Weekends are the time for improvement.  However, I feel I will improve moreso on the weekends if I do a little better during the week.  That Boilermaker 15K is getting closer!

After a little puttering around the house, I got into running clothes and set out.  It was warm and sunny.  Maybe I should run some hills.  But I also had to worry about traffic.  German Street in Herkimer, NY is pretty busy in the late afternoon.  I ran down the sidewalk looking for a place to cross the street.  I thought maybe the hill by Valley Health Services would be a good goal.

The three-way stop at Caroline Street provided my opportunity to cross the street.  I soon decided to run into Brookwood Park.  For one reason, there would be plenty of shade.  I could run along the path through the woods that comes out on the back way to Herkimer College.  I assured myself that I was in no way obligated to run the rest of the way uphill to the college.

As I ran, I tried to keep myself from looking at my Garmin too often.  When I did, I would do the math and figure out what fraction of 30 minutes I had done.  Six minutes was one fifth.  How much was a quarter? A third?  Thus I keep my mind occupied so I don’t think too much about how I would really rather stop running.

The path through the woods was nice.  I like looking at the trees, and the ground is somewhat soft under my feet.  I just have to be careful of uneven surfaces and things I could trip over.  I am pretty clumsy.

The uphill portions almost defeated me, but I persevered.  Eventually I was running on pavement again, and running down hill.  Phew!  It was an effort to get to 30 minutes, but I made the effort and was glad I did.

I don’t know if my effort at a blog post is equally successful, but I can hope at least some readers found it reasonably entertaining.  In another couple of weeks, this blog may become All Boilermaker All The Time.  I fear I am already making myself a little tiresome at work by talking about it.  Oh well, at my age, I need all the encouragement I can get.

 

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