Monthly Archives: July 2018

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

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 29TH, JULY 2018

2 Comments
“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

Leave a comment

“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!!

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review

MUSINGS FOR WEDNESDAY 11TH, JULY 2018

2 Comments

It has been a good start for the month of July.  I hope that everyone had a great 4th!!  May the rains come to Colorado and the West to help with this year’s fire season.  It has already started out with a bang.  Hopefully the monsoonal moisture will kick in and put the fires out before they do too much damage.  It is interesting to note that fires have always been a part of the forest landscape.  It is only when people have moved into these areas that were once uninhabited or at best temporarily inhabited that it has become more of an issue.  It has been estimated that there are about 100,000 wildfires or forest fires each year.  This includes areas that you might not consider “Forested” but more like grass lands with low bushes and tall grasses.  Think West Texas and Western Oklahoma.  These fires clear anywhere from 4 to 5 million acres of land in the U.S. every year.  (This information is from NGS).  What this tells me is that if you live in a forest or a wildland area, it is not a matter if a forest fire will happen, but when.

Well on a different note.  I finished up a couple of books in the last few weeks and I think they are worth mentioning.  The first one is called “The Stranger in the Woods” – The extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit.  By Michael Finkel.  This one was published in 2017.  It is the story of Christopher Knight, who lived as a hermit in the Maine woods for 27 years.  In this time frame he did not have a conversation with another person.  Finkel tells the story of this unique individual and in the process explores the possible reasons and history of people that became “Hermits.”  This is an easy read and well worth a look for a quick summer book while on vacation.  Humans are very social animals, so I find it fascinating when one of the tribe wants to go off the reservation and disappear.  You can find it at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Woods-Extraordinary-Story-Hermit/dp/1101911530/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530810054&sr=8-1&keywords=the+stranger+in+the+woods

The next book is called “The Hidden Life of TREES” – What They Feel, How They Communicate.  By Peter Wohlleben.  I have a minor in Botany but have not really kept up with any new research in the plant world other than bits and pieces here and there.  So, I was curious about this book when it came out in 2016.  I have to say that after reading it “AMAZING.”  I don’t think that I will ever walk through the forest the same way again.  It is almost like something out of the movie “Avatar” by James Cameron.  Wohlleben talks about the forest as a true social network.  That trees talk with each other, share nutrients with those that are struggling and warn each other of impending dangers.  He goes on to make the point that their behavior can be likened to human families.  And on an environmental note, he talks about the best practices in harvesting trees and how our current system could be made much better and more humane for the trees.  This was a real eye opener for me.  Just the fact that the trees could be considered more than just a thing?!  An actual living, breathing, thinking entity.  Think of “Treebeard” in Lord of the Rings!  Just crazy, it puts the forest in a whole different “light.”  You can find the book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Life-Trees-Communicate_Discoveries-Secret/dp/1771642483/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1531110619&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hidden+life+of+trees+by+peter+wohlleben

The last book is called “Reality is Not What It Seems” – The Journey to Quantum Gravity.  By Carlo Rovelli and Simon Carnell.  I am always on the lookout for books that help to make sense of the quantum world.  I had not read this author before but his name popped up in Amazon’s recommended books.  And I am glad that I took a chance on this one.  This book came out in 2017.  Rovelli is an Italian Theoretical Physicist and seems to have a way with words when it comes to helping the curious layperson with complex subjects.  Rovelli gives a brief history of the two Modern Physics redoubts, The Theory of General Relativity and Quantum Theory.  Both can be very hard to understand for the layperson.  The rest of the book is about Quantum Gravity and Information Theory.  I have read other books and watched videos on these subjects and still not quite understood what I have read or watched.  I did not feel this way with Rovelli.  And this is where the beauty of the book comes into play.  I highly recommend this book if you want to “START” to know more about these subjects.  They are very complex and can be confusing.  Even Einstein had trouble accepting some of these ideas.  You can find the book at Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Reality-Not-What-Seems-Journey/dp/0735213933/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1531115291&sr=8-1&keywords=reality+is+not+what+it+seems+carlo+rovelli&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&dpID=51T0lHa9wkL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

Well that is about it for me this week.  Had a great trail run up to Blue Lake yesterday.  Lots of water crossings, which I take as a good sign that not all of the forest in Colorado are in drought conditions.  Take care, have fun out there and see ya next week!!

 

Life and Meaning, Psychology, Vacation

MUSINGS FOR TUESDAY 3RD, JULY 2018

Leave a comment
“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.”  –  Socrates
“Hope is the expectation that something outside of ourselves, or someone external, is going to come to our rescue and we will live happily ever after.”  –  Dr. Robert Anthony

Well it has been a good week.  Nice to be back from vacation.  Very nice indeed.  Northern Colorado is a great place to live, to call home.  And that is a very good thing to say.  I realize that I am lucky to be able to live in a place like this.  And after this last vacation, I have a new appreciation for it.  Things are not always “greener” on the other side as the old saying goes.

Before going on vacation, I came across this quote by Seth Godin and it really hit home.  When Janet and I were planning our road trip there was part of me that did not want to leave or to take the time away from what I was already doing.  So, this quote got me to thinking.  Have I created a life that I don’t need to escape from?  Is my life situation so good that it is like being on vacation?  Good questions!

So I asked and what did I find??  I came to the conclusion that my life is closer to this ideal of Seth’s than I realized.  It is not perfect by no means but it is close.  And I really don’t have a firm idea of how I got here?  That is the crazy part.  I feel like I am in the song from the Talking Heads: “Once in a Lifetime” asking myself “How did I get here.”  LOL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IsSpAOD6K8

I can tell you that my life has not always felt this way.  There was a time that the feeling for the need to escape was very real.  Palpable  in fact.  It has only been in the last couple of years, in reflection, that this craving has subsided….  Maybe it was the keeping of a journal or the practice of meditation or a combination of both??  I don’t know.   But I have come to the realization that  we all should ask ourselves these questions.   What is the famous quote by Plato or Socrates:  “An unexamined life is not worth living.”

_______________________________________________________________________

Doing a “google” search of vacation images, it was not hard to come up with many that had to do with escaping your current life, even if it was only for a moment….  And until till I came across Seth’s quote I probably would not have thought anything about it.

Now don’t get me wrong, I believe that travel is great, even essential to personal growth and development.  To see and be with family.  To experience sounds and sensations that are new and foreign.   So, I encourage you to take that vacation.  To fully enjoy your time away.

But when you get back, ask yourself are you escaping from something?  What is it?  How could you change things so this might not be the case in the future?  It makes me wonder if we as employers and employees have created a work  environment, a culture, a way of life that is much more toxic than we realize.  That it became normal to “need” that escape?  And is it just part of the “Capitalistic – Consumeristic Society” that we live in.  Has it gotten totally out of control?  Always have to have something new?  Go someplace different?  Spend, spend, spend and more spending…To keep up with the proverbial “Jones” so to speak?

The above one by Budge Travel looks good on the surface but in a sneaky sort of way.  “Say, we are not escaping??  What are you talking about??  Just don’t let life escape you!!  You would not want to miss out!!!”  Wow…  Now that is some marketing!!

So, in this short blog I hope that I have spurred you to ask those questions and to look for the answers.  I am not really sure what they are for me.  But I am asking myself the questions.  And I think that will make all the difference.

Well that is about it for me this week.   Have a Happy and safe Forth of July and I will see you next week.