Category Archives: Thankfulness

Colorado, Exercise, Meditations, Psychology, Thankfulness, Truth and Perception

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 30TH, SEPTEMBER 2018

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“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.  So, throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

“Each moment in time we have it all, even when we think we don’t.” – Melody Beattie

Well it has been a good week.  Getting back into running a little bit this week and still doing some bike riding.  The weather has been beautiful.  We do need rain but at the same time and I have to say it again, the weather has just been fantastic for getting out doors.  Truly beautiful.  Warm afternoons, with cool mornings.  The sunsets have been stunning the past two weeks.  And I really cannot complain.   All the pictures below were taken in Fort Collins in the late afternoon/ early evening Monday though Thursday.   I am fortunate to live where I do.

Lake Sherwood in Fort Collins looking West on Monday evening.

Spring Creek Trail in Fort Collins looking West on Tuesday evening.

Powerline Trail in Fort Collins looking South on Wednesday evening.

Poudre River Trail in Fort Collins looking West on Thursday evening.

It is that time of year again and I am starting the process of putting up firewood.  Had two cords of pallet wood delivered this week.  I have to say this stuff burns great.  The trick to making it a lot less of a hassle to stack is to build your wood racks so that you don’t have to stack it.  You can just throw the various pieces in the rack not caring how they land.  Took me a few years to figure this out.  Lol.  This process makes it a lot easier to put it up.

Well on a different note, even though I have everything that I need and really want, there are days that I wake up thinking that I need something more, something different, something new, more money, a different car, a different bike, different running shoes, more this, more that, more, more and more.  If you let it, the “More Virus” as I call it,  will continue without end.  A vicious cycle.  Always promising happiness, but never delivering.  Never delivering a lasting happiness anyways.  This was one of those weeks were I was infected so to speak.  First it was thinking that I needed new running shoes, then it was a different bike, next the “monkey mind” wandered on to a different RV (yes, I own an RV), and of course with all these new things, the next logical step was I needed more money, so then you need to work more, etc.…  And I won’t bore you with the rest, needless to say this cycle went around and around in my mind for most of the week until about midway through I started to look at the above pictures.  As I said before, I collected these over the last week during a run or bike ride and realized that the “More Virus” could jeopardize future moments like this.  And that is all it took to comprehend, I was really, really happy this week.  It was a very good week and nothing in the “material world” could have added to it.  And that inoculated me from the “More Virus” for the week.  For next week…Lol….

Well that is about it for me.  Have a great week and I hope to see you out there on the trails!!  Adios amigos!!

 

Exercise, Family, Life and Meaning, Meditations, Prius Hybrid, Psychology, Thankfulness

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 29TH, JULY 2018

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“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” – Marcus Aurelius

Well…. has this been another good week??  I guess they can’t all be good weeks…. Or can they??  That is a good question.  Everyday that I am able to get up and do the things that are important to me and others is a great day.  So, if that has occurred on a majority of the weekdays then I believe it has been a very good week.  Life is good and I cannot complain too much is something that I write in a journal each day and it never gets old.  I think that it is a good reminder in a way that things could be so much worse.  I believe that most of the limits, problems, boundaries that we find in our lives are self-created.  And it is in how we use our minds that helps us to navigate these self-created issues.  One of the first things that I do each day is to try and remind myself how great it is to just be alive.

Afternoon bike ride this week along the Poudre Trail.

I think that we all have the tendency to look beyond ourselves to try and find “something or someone” to help us to be happier or to blame, but reality is that you and only you have the power to make yourself free.  It is not “out there” it is within you and only you.  For me I am still learning this lesson, but the first step was the “realization” that it is only you.  And that starts with the mind….

“Only a Buddha can realize a Buddha” – From Mountain Record of Zen Talks by John Daido Loori.

 

 

On a different note, by the end of this week we are close to the 4-month mark of using the new car.  A Toyota Prius Prime, a gas / electric hybrid.  I think that we are at 5000 miles already.  And all I can say is WOW!!  The efficiency of the vehicle cannot be over stated.  In the last month Janet has been driving it to work, around town errands, AND we have put ZERO gas in it.  The last time we filled it up with gas was coming back from vacation June 26th.  I believe that was just West of Laramie, Wyoming on I-80.

Work for Janet is here in town as are the errands.  So, she charges the battery every second day or so and voilà – no gas needed!!  Cleaner air, decreased dependence on foreign oil, fewer issues with resource extraction, and a much cleaner environment.  In my humble opinion there is no reason to ROLL BACK any gas mileage requirements.  Every car coming out in the next few years should all be Hybrids or a the very least “Gas – Hybrids.”  Yes, the power grid would need to be upgraded, but that is all achievable with current technology and would provide thousands and thousands job.  Every new home should be required to have solar power installed to help in this endeavor.  And rebates on Solar for homeowners with existing homes.  If you can give millions to the oil and gas industry in subsidies then you can gradually shift that money to the homeowner to help install solar power.

The “CAT DOOR” charger!!  LOL

Running this week has been a little bit limited due to work on replacing a roof/deck over the garage.  But it still has been good.  I am lucky to live in an area in Fort Collins that has great trail access.  One of my most convenient and favorite running trails is the Powerline trail.  The trail is composted of a hard path surface but also a side by side soft path dirt surface.  Very nice for those of us that prefer to run on dirt trails.  The other great thing that I have come to enjoy about it are what I call trail apples.  Someone years ago, planted about 20 apple trees along a section of this trail.  They are small but very flavorful.  Everything from tart to sweet and this time of year they are really starting to ripen.  So, it is a kind of treat to run this trail,  pause and pick a handful to eat and continue running.

Deck and Roof replacement!  It will be nice when finally done.

Trail Apples!!  Lol

I did not get to run the Never Summer 100k this weekend due to unavoidable work issues.  (Could not get the time off) So I will concentrate all my effort on doing the Run Rabbit Run 100 in September.  I have never run 100 miles before and I am anxious and curious to see how that feels.

I hope that everyone had a great week and in saying this I want to send you all a little loving kindness for the week to come:   May you be free from danger.  May you be happy.  May you be healthy.  May you live with ease.

Until next weekend – Adios amigos!!

Friends, Life and Meaning, Thankfulness

MUSING FOR FRIDAY, JULY 20TH, 2018

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“Each moment in time we have it all, even when we think we don’t.”  Melody Beattie

 

Well it has been a good week again…  Dang what can I say this has not been just a good week but a good month so far.  I would like to say that the weather and air quality has been perfect but that would not  be the truth.  It has been a little too hot and the Ozone and Particulate matter from the fires and automobile exhaust has  made quite a mess of things if you like to be outdoors.  I think that would be the only fly in the ointment so to speak.  And I guess if that is all that it is then things really have not been too bad.   I have been putting in some running miles and it has been a little difficult because of the heat.  A little too hot for my taste.  But good “hot weather” training.  You never know what you will find in an Ultra, especially a mountain Ultra.  Could be cold, just right or sometimes blazing hot.  So, this “hot weather training” is a good idea.  But not a favorite one!!  LOL

In order to get away from the heat on the Front Range, I have been doing some running up in the Rawah Wilderness Area.  It is an area about 65 miles West of Fort Collins.  The total acreage is about 76,000 acres.  All siting at 8500 feet to well over 13,000 feet.  Lots of mountain lakes and about 80 to 90 miles of hiking or running trails.  This was the first Wilderness that I ever camped in when we moved to Colorado in 1987.  Almost 31 year ago.  When I look at the picture below of me and my friend Greg it just does not seem that long ago, but dang it will be 31 years this November?!  I was 25 years old in that picture.  Where did the time go?  Crazy!!

1987 and I had hair!!  We went on to do 4 more camping trips in the same area over the years.  With the last one being in 1992.  This was a trip that I looked forward to each year usually around October.  Fortunately, I kept a picture from each one.  Always in the Rawah’s with good friends.

1989 Pictured left to right – Herb, Chip, Myself and Greg

1990 Pictured left to right – Standing Chip, Greg and Herb. Kneeling – Myself.

1991 Pictured left to right – Standing Chip, Herb, Greg, Dan and Mitch.  Kneeling – Myself.

1992 Pictured left to right – standing Bill, Mel, Dan, Greg. Kneeling Herb, Myself, and Chip

Funny how things change, I do not remember the reasons why we quit doing them.  But we did.  I am not upset that we stopped doing them, I am just glad that they occurred, very thankful!!

A wise person once told me, situations like this are what you call “moments in time” and need to be viewed as such.   Fleeting, transitory, ephemeral, brief moments.  And that in and of themselves makes them special.   When I look back at these pictures, I realize that is what they were.  Just special moments in time. They happened so quick…..

Well that is about it for me this week.  Take care and have fun out there.  Go do a hike or run in the Rawah’s!!   Maybe I will see you on the trails!!

 

 

 

 

 

Thankfulness

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

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November 23rd, Wednesday, 2016

“Life is good, bad, beautiful and ugly – but it is all experience, so drink it up and guzzle it down my friends, for it is all that we are given!” EB

“Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.” Joseph Campbell

Well – I would like to wish everyone in the world Happy Thanksgiving. This has been a really interesting year to say the least. Crazy at the worst. Whoever coined the term “reality is stranger than fiction” really hit it on the head. Britain leaves the EU and we elect DT as our next president. Who would have thought? Well that is life. And I am thankful for all of it – if things always went our way…well it would get pretty boring. Take social media for instance, i.e. Facebook. In the last couple of months there have been some pretty strong opinions expressed. At one point, I felt that it might be better to get off Facebook all together. But as I looked at all these different opinions I realized that this is important. We are creatures of comfort and habit. It takes a concerted effort to get ourselves in a state of discomfort and to break old habits. Growth only occurs when things fail or don’t go our way. So in this vein of thought, I try to remind myself each day that I need to surround myself with people, both physically and virtually who don’t have the same view that I do. And this is where Facebook becomes an incredible tool – you now have the ability to access the opinions and knowledge of thousands of other individuals, sometimes millions. And what do you find? That not everyone has your same view!! This is a good thing. This puts us in a state of discomfort. And from this discomfort growth will occur and old habits might get broken. So enjoy the banter on Facebook and if it makes you a little uncomfortable – well so much the better!

The picture below is from my daughter in Steamboat Springs this week. Beautiful.