Rainbow Dragon's Lair
- Thread starter Laura Rainbow Dragon
- Start date
Thank you @Maegaranthelas @MadamMeow @Sólveig @Syrius @NancyTree @neilarey @TopNotch and all for your support through all of this!
But I won't be able to move in until September 2/3.
Shelby and I might not be living there until September 4.
The first weekend of September is the busiest moving weekend of the year in Ontario. (It's the weekend all the college and university students move.)
I did not even try to set anything up for the 1st. On the first I will just drive to London, get the keys, do the move-in inspection, and move in some small things like toilet paper and food.
A friend--who is willing to drive a big truck--said he would help me on the 2nd and 3rd but did not think he could do the 1st. It would likely have been too late to get a truck for the first in any case. But I was able to secure one for the 2nd--which hopefully I can keep for long enough to move everything!
The place I usually rent from isn't open on Sundays. And it isn't open on the 2nd either since it's a holiday. This is no doubt putting even more pressure on the one place that is open every day. This is a place I have never rented from before. And their policy is different from other places in a potentially problematic way.
Places I have rented vehicles from before, the rental period is always 24 hours. You can rent for multiple days if you need, but you pay a set price per day, and the vehicle is always due back at the same time you checked it out. But this place is a dedicated moving company. And they assume that if you return a truck to the same location from which you picked it up, you are doing a local move. They think anyone moving house in the size of truck I have reserved can complete a move in six hours. So that is the default rental period.
I'm picking up and dropping off at the same location because I'm moving to London, and my friend who is driving the truck lives in London, and there isn't a rental agency in the town I'm currently in in any case. But once we get the truck we will need to drive 100 km east of London to pick up my stuff that is in the storage locker, then take all of that to London, and then drive 100 km west back to the Booming Metropolis to pick up everything that's still here. We're looking at 5 hours of driving, assuming there are zero slow downs on the highway. But there are almost always slowdowns. There's no way we can complete my move in six hours!
I've requested the truck for 24 hours. Which is the same price as 6 hours. (They make most of their money on these rentals on per km mileage charges, which will be substantial in my case!) My reservation guarantees my pick-up time. But says the return time I have requested is "subject to availability". After I made the reservation I called the location I'm renting from and said, "Look. I absolutely need the truck for 24 hours. If you cannot rent it to me for the full day, it's useless to me." The rep at that location looked at their schedule and said there are currently no conflicts and that my requested rental period "should be fine." But I'm nervous about this, given that it is their busiest weekend of the year, and reservations are mostly done online via a software system that hasn't promised me I can definitively have the truck for the full day.
I've booked the truck for a 2PM pick-up, with the plan to do the Cambridge run on the 2nd, and then the BM on the 3rd. (The BM trip will go much faster since I can have everything left here ready to go in the garage, and my friend can back the truck right up beside the garage door. Whereas my stuff in Cambridge is in a 2nd floor locker in a public facility. We're going to need to navigate shared loading bays and shared elevators and shared carts to move that stuff, on a public holiday of the busiest moving weekend of the year. I'm steeled for that part of the move to potentially be quite trying and slow.) This also gives me time to give Shelby a nice, long walk before driving to London to pick up my friend. (She will be home alone for a long time that day. I cannot take her to the storage locker, and it would be far too stressful for her to leave her in an empty apartment she's never been to before. So Shelby will be staying in the BM until all of our stuff is moved. Then I will come back for her.) Also: I've requested an in-person counter pick-up and drop off for the truck, and the office is only open 7AM - 7PM. So the six hour window they figure is necessary for a move would put me past their closing time on the 2nd. (This place does offer after-hours self check-in and even self check-out though.) Plus my reservation is for the afternoon of the last day of a 3-day weekend.
Hopefully I can have the truck for the time I need. But I am definitely worried at this point that I may show up there on the 2nd and be told I need to agree to a shorter rental period. In which case I would scrap the whole thing and then book the earliest day I can get a truck from the place I know will give me a 24 hour rental. (Which hopefully would only be a delay of one day.)
Really I won't have peace of mind until I have the keys and Shelby and I and all are stuff are moved in. Which, if all goes swimmingly well, will be late in the day on September 3, or more likely, after doing the BM run on the 3rd, then returning the truck, then driving my friend home (the truck rental place is unfortunately on the opposite corner of London from where my friend lives, and also pretty far from Shelby's and my new home), and then driving back to the BM, I will be wiped. In which case Shelby and I would sleep here, and then drive to London the morning of the 4th.
Yes. It's truly a much better situation for us than everything else I looked at.
When I have the keys to the unit, I will have peace of mind. At the moment, I still don't fully trust it. There have been too many obstacles, things falling apart at the last minute, needless and cruel threats, and new hurdles being set up just when I think I've vaulted the last one. But I do have a signed lease. And the landlord has taken my rather large deposit. So the odds are very high at the moment that this is actually happening.Glad you can finally have some peace of mind on this!
I get possession of the unit on September 1.yay! Congratulations! I'm so happy for you both! When can you move in?
But I won't be able to move in until September 2/3.
Shelby and I might not be living there until September 4.
The first weekend of September is the busiest moving weekend of the year in Ontario. (It's the weekend all the college and university students move.)
I did not even try to set anything up for the 1st. On the first I will just drive to London, get the keys, do the move-in inspection, and move in some small things like toilet paper and food.
A friend--who is willing to drive a big truck--said he would help me on the 2nd and 3rd but did not think he could do the 1st. It would likely have been too late to get a truck for the first in any case. But I was able to secure one for the 2nd--which hopefully I can keep for long enough to move everything!
The place I usually rent from isn't open on Sundays. And it isn't open on the 2nd either since it's a holiday. This is no doubt putting even more pressure on the one place that is open every day. This is a place I have never rented from before. And their policy is different from other places in a potentially problematic way.
Places I have rented vehicles from before, the rental period is always 24 hours. You can rent for multiple days if you need, but you pay a set price per day, and the vehicle is always due back at the same time you checked it out. But this place is a dedicated moving company. And they assume that if you return a truck to the same location from which you picked it up, you are doing a local move. They think anyone moving house in the size of truck I have reserved can complete a move in six hours. So that is the default rental period.
I'm picking up and dropping off at the same location because I'm moving to London, and my friend who is driving the truck lives in London, and there isn't a rental agency in the town I'm currently in in any case. But once we get the truck we will need to drive 100 km east of London to pick up my stuff that is in the storage locker, then take all of that to London, and then drive 100 km west back to the Booming Metropolis to pick up everything that's still here. We're looking at 5 hours of driving, assuming there are zero slow downs on the highway. But there are almost always slowdowns. There's no way we can complete my move in six hours!
I've requested the truck for 24 hours. Which is the same price as 6 hours. (They make most of their money on these rentals on per km mileage charges, which will be substantial in my case!) My reservation guarantees my pick-up time. But says the return time I have requested is "subject to availability". After I made the reservation I called the location I'm renting from and said, "Look. I absolutely need the truck for 24 hours. If you cannot rent it to me for the full day, it's useless to me." The rep at that location looked at their schedule and said there are currently no conflicts and that my requested rental period "should be fine." But I'm nervous about this, given that it is their busiest weekend of the year, and reservations are mostly done online via a software system that hasn't promised me I can definitively have the truck for the full day.
I've booked the truck for a 2PM pick-up, with the plan to do the Cambridge run on the 2nd, and then the BM on the 3rd. (The BM trip will go much faster since I can have everything left here ready to go in the garage, and my friend can back the truck right up beside the garage door. Whereas my stuff in Cambridge is in a 2nd floor locker in a public facility. We're going to need to navigate shared loading bays and shared elevators and shared carts to move that stuff, on a public holiday of the busiest moving weekend of the year. I'm steeled for that part of the move to potentially be quite trying and slow.) This also gives me time to give Shelby a nice, long walk before driving to London to pick up my friend. (She will be home alone for a long time that day. I cannot take her to the storage locker, and it would be far too stressful for her to leave her in an empty apartment she's never been to before. So Shelby will be staying in the BM until all of our stuff is moved. Then I will come back for her.) Also: I've requested an in-person counter pick-up and drop off for the truck, and the office is only open 7AM - 7PM. So the six hour window they figure is necessary for a move would put me past their closing time on the 2nd. (This place does offer after-hours self check-in and even self check-out though.) Plus my reservation is for the afternoon of the last day of a 3-day weekend.
Hopefully I can have the truck for the time I need. But I am definitely worried at this point that I may show up there on the 2nd and be told I need to agree to a shorter rental period. In which case I would scrap the whole thing and then book the earliest day I can get a truck from the place I know will give me a 24 hour rental. (Which hopefully would only be a delay of one day.)
Really I won't have peace of mind until I have the keys and Shelby and I and all are stuff are moved in. Which, if all goes swimmingly well, will be late in the day on September 3, or more likely, after doing the BM run on the 3rd, then returning the truck, then driving my friend home (the truck rental place is unfortunately on the opposite corner of London from where my friend lives, and also pretty far from Shelby's and my new home), and then driving back to the BM, I will be wiped. In which case Shelby and I would sleep here, and then drive to London the morning of the 4th.
Sorry. That was quite rambling.
I am still very stressed. There are definitely still stressors ahead.
But in three weeks' time Shelby and I will be through them. And then we will be in a much better place!
I am still very stressed. There are definitely still stressors ahead.
But in three weeks' time Shelby and I will be through them. And then we will be in a much better place!
TopNotch
Well-known member
Yep, three weeks. Not so long really. That's what I told myself when I had three weeks to go. Suddenly now it's down to 11 days. Before you know it, you'll be down to 11 days, and then 10... Have a bit of fun in the interim imagining how you're going to set things up. Think of the new walks and hikes you'll discover. Three weeks isn't really so very long.
from
aku-chan
Well-known member
Glad things are working out for you! 
PetiteSheWolf
Well-known member
Keeping my fingers crossed until early September but it looks good! Yay!
Anek
Well-known member
Sorceress
from
Bavaria, Germany
Pronouns: She/her
Posts: 2,904
from
Bavaria, Germany
Pronouns: She/her
Posts: 2,904
"If the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember Cedric Diggory."
Yay!!! 
Thank you @Fremen @aku-chan @PetiteSheWolf @Anek @Lallafa @CODawn .
If all goes well, Shelby and I will be all moved into our new home two weeks from today!
(Still keeping my fingers crossed because there are still two potentially very big problems that could get in the way. But there is nothing I can do about either at the moment. So I'm just continuing to hope for the best.)
I've been starting to see fall migrants on my walks with Shelby lately, so decided to take the camera on our hike this morning. Was glad I did as we saw some nice warblers in the woodlot, plus a vireo, lots of butterflies out in the fields, and had a lovely visit with a green heron.
Here is one of the butterflies:
This is a Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis). So-named because the pale mark on the underside of the butterfly's hind wing is thought to resemble a question mark.
We have a similar species of butterfly, called the Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma) with similar markings, but its underside mark lacks the dot, hence the association with a comma.
Here is an Eastern Comma I observed a few years back:
Both of these species of butterfly occur in two forms: a summer form, and an overwintering form. The two specimens shown above are both overwintering forms.
Here is a summer form Eastern Comma I observed just two and a half weeks ago:
And a summer form Question Mark from July 2021:
The dark hind wing is indicative of the summer form in both species.
The pale violet fringe occurs in both forms in both species but tends to get worn off with age.
Seeing the winter form Question Mark today took me a bit by surprise. Doesn't feel like the end of the summer. But I guess we're getting there.
More photos from today's hike here: https://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/rainbowdragon/2024/8/21
If all goes well, Shelby and I will be all moved into our new home two weeks from today!
(Still keeping my fingers crossed because there are still two potentially very big problems that could get in the way. But there is nothing I can do about either at the moment. So I'm just continuing to hope for the best.)
I've been starting to see fall migrants on my walks with Shelby lately, so decided to take the camera on our hike this morning. Was glad I did as we saw some nice warblers in the woodlot, plus a vireo, lots of butterflies out in the fields, and had a lovely visit with a green heron.
Here is one of the butterflies:
This is a Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis). So-named because the pale mark on the underside of the butterfly's hind wing is thought to resemble a question mark.
We have a similar species of butterfly, called the Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma) with similar markings, but its underside mark lacks the dot, hence the association with a comma.
Here is an Eastern Comma I observed a few years back:
Both of these species of butterfly occur in two forms: a summer form, and an overwintering form. The two specimens shown above are both overwintering forms.
Here is a summer form Eastern Comma I observed just two and a half weeks ago:
And a summer form Question Mark from July 2021:
The dark hind wing is indicative of the summer form in both species.
The pale violet fringe occurs in both forms in both species but tends to get worn off with age.
Seeing the winter form Question Mark today took me a bit by surprise. Doesn't feel like the end of the summer. But I guess we're getting there.
More photos from today's hike here: https://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/rainbowdragon/2024/8/21
PetiteSheWolf
Well-known member
Splendid, love the details on the butterflies!
NancyTree
Well-known member
rooting for you
Hey all!
I'm still here and still plugging away at things.
I haven't been doing anything on the fitness front other than hiking with Shelby. We've been averaging ~ 95-100 km a week on that front though. So not bad.
I have plans to get back to doing more after our move--including running as I've found a local running group in the neighbourhood we're moving in to! In the meantime though, I'm just too stressed and have too many other things on my plate dealing with all the minutiae of clearing out of one place and moving in to another.
On the writing front I am still plugging away at my goal to write one short story a week this year. Last week I completed week #32 and story #32. This week and next will be the biggest challenges for staying on top of this, due to the move--hopefully getting the keys to the new place on Sunday (which is when this week's story will be due), followed by two days of actually moving, then cleaning up the place we're moving out of and ending up mid-week in the new place with all that unpacking to do and uncertainly re: when I'll be able to get Internet installed at our new home. I hope to get all of that sorted quickly and then get down to work. There are some important submission deadlines coming up in September, and I hope to hit at least three of them.
Re: the move itself: Everything is arranged as best I can arrange it at this point. (Save for the new Internet hook up, which I still need to deal with.) There remain the two very big potential problems which are outside of my control. I'm trying not to stress about those and just concentrate on the things I can do something about.
There are public access wi-fi spots in the neighbourhood we're moving into. So I will try to at least check-in briefly soon after our move is completed to let you all know we made it. They're not spots I can take Shelby to though, unfortunately. (The battery on my computer doesn't hold juice anymore. So trying to pick up a signal outside, unfortunately isn't an option.) I don't want to leave Shelby alone for any extended periods of time until we're well settled into our new home, and she understands it's a place where she is safe which I will always return to. So any check-ins will necessarily be very brief until we have home Internet set up. But I will try to at least pop in briefly to say hello.
Thank you all for sticking by us and supporting us through this very stressful transition. We're almost through it!
I'm still here and still plugging away at things.
I haven't been doing anything on the fitness front other than hiking with Shelby. We've been averaging ~ 95-100 km a week on that front though. So not bad.
I have plans to get back to doing more after our move--including running as I've found a local running group in the neighbourhood we're moving in to! In the meantime though, I'm just too stressed and have too many other things on my plate dealing with all the minutiae of clearing out of one place and moving in to another.
On the writing front I am still plugging away at my goal to write one short story a week this year. Last week I completed week #32 and story #32. This week and next will be the biggest challenges for staying on top of this, due to the move--hopefully getting the keys to the new place on Sunday (which is when this week's story will be due), followed by two days of actually moving, then cleaning up the place we're moving out of and ending up mid-week in the new place with all that unpacking to do and uncertainly re: when I'll be able to get Internet installed at our new home. I hope to get all of that sorted quickly and then get down to work. There are some important submission deadlines coming up in September, and I hope to hit at least three of them.
Re: the move itself: Everything is arranged as best I can arrange it at this point. (Save for the new Internet hook up, which I still need to deal with.) There remain the two very big potential problems which are outside of my control. I'm trying not to stress about those and just concentrate on the things I can do something about.
There are public access wi-fi spots in the neighbourhood we're moving into. So I will try to at least check-in briefly soon after our move is completed to let you all know we made it. They're not spots I can take Shelby to though, unfortunately. (The battery on my computer doesn't hold juice anymore. So trying to pick up a signal outside, unfortunately isn't an option.) I don't want to leave Shelby alone for any extended periods of time until we're well settled into our new home, and she understands it's a place where she is safe which I will always return to. So any check-ins will necessarily be very brief until we have home Internet set up. But I will try to at least pop in briefly to say hello.
Thank you all for sticking by us and supporting us through this very stressful transition. We're almost through it!
Maegaranthelas
Well-known member
from
I'm so excited for your life to settle down a bit again. Thank you for the update!
Update: my friend who is helping with the heavy lifting next week just offered me a solution to one of the out-of-my-control potential problems.
I am breathing much easier now!
I am well-blessed to have amazing friends!
I am breathing much easier now!
I am well-blessed to have amazing friends!
NancyTree
Well-known member
good luck with everything!
PetiteSheWolf
Well-known member
Wishing this move happens as smoothly as possible, and that Shelby will quickly feel "home" and safe there! A little longer holding strong and you'll be there!
DorothyMH
Well-known member
Hi Laura. I apologize for being so delinquent in keeping up with your life in posts in the last year. So much has happened in your immediate family about which you have all my sympathies and empathies. I totally understand and relate to the grief, anxiety and frustration you are experiencing. It is difficult enough to watch your parents decline and pass without the added hand wringing of incompetence, inadequate facilities and staffing that seems to accompany the times we are living through. Even before the pandemic these issues were awful. Covid just revealed them to more folks and magnified it by at least thousand times. Hang in there. You are not alone. A new place will be a good start for you in a different place.
Hi @DorothyMH . It is good to hear from you. And thank you.
Yes, my stress level has been extremely high for many months now. The last couple of years of my father's life were brutal. Then we got a three month reprieve. And then my mother's health was destroyed. Thank goodness she was able to get a long term care bed quickly as she is doing much better there. (Her health will never be the same again, physically or cognitively. But at least she has consistency of care now that is appropriate to her needs, and her care team at the LTC seems to be focused on helping her maintain the best quality of life possible.)
It will be such a huge relief once Shelby and I have completed our move. The neighbourhood we are moving into will be a good place for both of us. And while Shelby will be stressed by the change at first, I think she will adapt quickly. (A significant percentage of her stress now is no doubt feeding off of my stress. Once I am calm and happy again, she will be able to be too.)
Still lots to do over the next few days. But we are getting close!
Yes, my stress level has been extremely high for many months now. The last couple of years of my father's life were brutal. Then we got a three month reprieve. And then my mother's health was destroyed. Thank goodness she was able to get a long term care bed quickly as she is doing much better there. (Her health will never be the same again, physically or cognitively. But at least she has consistency of care now that is appropriate to her needs, and her care team at the LTC seems to be focused on helping her maintain the best quality of life possible.)
It will be such a huge relief once Shelby and I have completed our move. The neighbourhood we are moving into will be a good place for both of us. And while Shelby will be stressed by the change at first, I think she will adapt quickly. (A significant percentage of her stress now is no doubt feeding off of my stress. Once I am calm and happy again, she will be able to be too.)
Still lots to do over the next few days. But we are getting close!
Anek
Well-known member
Sorceress
from
Bavaria, Germany
Pronouns: She/her
Posts: 2,904
from
Bavaria, Germany
Pronouns: She/her
Posts: 2,904
"If the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember Cedric Diggory."
Yesss!
PetiteSheWolf
Well-known member
Yessss!
Maegaranthelas
Well-known member
YAAAAAASSSSS 
MadamMeow
Well-known member
Fae
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,586
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,586
"I see my vision burn, I feel my memories fade with time, but Im too young to worry..."
So happy for you, can't wait until you get settled in! 
Thank you all!
Short update tonight as it is late and I need to get some sleep.
Picked up the rental truck this afternoon, and there was no issue with me having it for 24 hours.
We got the first half of the job done today. Actually more than half. Tomorrow's haul will be smaller. And loading the truck should go much faster. (Today we cleared out the storage locker, which meant navigating long corridors with tight turns and an elevator. Tomorrow it's just out the door of the house here and straight onto the truck.) Also: today I had to drive ~ 450 km. Tomorrow should be less than 250 km.
My friend who drove the truck for me recruited another friend to help (who came with us to Cambridge and so helped at both ends). My Cambridge friend helped us in Cambridge. And the friend who my first friend recruited recruited a friend of his own to help us in London. Having four people at both ends definitely was a huge help!
Anyhow... sleep now. Will post more when I can.
Short update tonight as it is late and I need to get some sleep.
Picked up the rental truck this afternoon, and there was no issue with me having it for 24 hours.
We got the first half of the job done today. Actually more than half. Tomorrow's haul will be smaller. And loading the truck should go much faster. (Today we cleared out the storage locker, which meant navigating long corridors with tight turns and an elevator. Tomorrow it's just out the door of the house here and straight onto the truck.) Also: today I had to drive ~ 450 km. Tomorrow should be less than 250 km.
My friend who drove the truck for me recruited another friend to help (who came with us to Cambridge and so helped at both ends). My Cambridge friend helped us in Cambridge. And the friend who my first friend recruited recruited a friend of his own to help us in London. Having four people at both ends definitely was a huge help!
Anyhow... sleep now. Will post more when I can.
Syrius
Well-known member
Valkyrie
from
The Sonoran Desert
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 1,153
from
The Sonoran Desert
Pronouns: she/her
Posts: 1,153
"Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities... because it is the quality which guarantees all others."
NancyTree
Well-known member
Sleep tight, good luck with the last stuff tomorrow!
PetiteSheWolf
Well-known member
Sleep well, good luck with the remains to be packed.
Lady Celerity
Well-known member
from
The Woods. NorCal
Posts: 859
"..one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on.."
yaaaaayyyyyy!!!!
We made it!
Another short update, because we didn't arrive here last night until 4AM. I have not even unpacked the car yet. (And there is food in there, including food that was refrigerated/frozen when it went into the car. So I really should get on to that!)
I had ordered Internet hook up for this afternoon. But then the guy called and asked if he could come early, and I was here and awake so said sure!
So yeah. We are here. And online. But the house is a total mess. I need to unpack the car. More later.
Another short update, because we didn't arrive here last night until 4AM. I have not even unpacked the car yet. (And there is food in there, including food that was refrigerated/frozen when it went into the car. So I really should get on to that!)
I had ordered Internet hook up for this afternoon. But then the guy called and asked if he could come early, and I was here and awake so said sure!
So yeah. We are here. And online. But the house is a total mess. I need to unpack the car. More later.
When we were doing the load in, I made certain our bedroom was kept uncluttered, and that the futon for which I had the hardware in my knapsack went in that room, so I could set up the bed right away and have it ready for Shelby when she arrived. All of the other rooms got loaded in in the way that was most efficient for getting things off the truck (as we only had it for a limited time). Which means all of the other rooms are a mess and the furniture in them is generally not accessible at the moment. But when I started working at my computer (standing up, because all of my chairs are either buried or upside down) Shelby decided she was not going to let a little thing like "her" futon being folded in half on the floor and buried under metal rods stop her from being comfortable while she supervises my work.
PetiteSheWolf
Well-known member
Way to go, Shelby!
Progress: Shelby did not follow me from room to room while I was unpacking things yesterday. Clearly setting up the futon in the study properly was important to her.
Today I went out by myself for 20 minutes to run an errand. Shelby did an excellent job calmly protecting her day bed while I was out.
In the old house she would always wait on our bed when I was out of the house. Hence why I thought that was her comfort place and the first thing I set up when we moved here. But in the old house my desk was in the same room as our bed. Here I have separate rooms for bedroom and study. Shelby will follow me into the bedroom and sleep with me there when I go to bed. But when I am up and about, she clearly prefers to be on the futon in the study. (This could also be a location thing. In the old house, our room was next to the door by which we normally left and returned to the house. Here the study is.)
Today I went out by myself for 20 minutes to run an errand. Shelby did an excellent job calmly protecting her day bed while I was out.
In the old house she would always wait on our bed when I was out of the house. Hence why I thought that was her comfort place and the first thing I set up when we moved here. But in the old house my desk was in the same room as our bed. Here I have separate rooms for bedroom and study. Shelby will follow me into the bedroom and sleep with me there when I go to bed. But when I am up and about, she clearly prefers to be on the futon in the study. (This could also be a location thing. In the old house, our room was next to the door by which we normally left and returned to the house. Here the study is.)
Lady Celerity
Well-known member
from
The Woods. NorCal
Posts: 859
"..one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on.."
Shelby looks zonked out and clearly comfortable. 
Yes. It is exhausting being as stressed out as she has been.Shelby looks zonked out and clearly comfortable.
And now that we are finally home, she is tired for a different reason: there are many dogs in the Village. We cannot walk a block here, at almost any time of day, without running into another dog. So Shelby has been very busy making new friends!
I have been making new friends too! Tonight I went for my first run with the Old South Running Buddies. They are a group of people who meet up together on the village green a couple of nights a week to run together. It is very casual and not very fast. (Group run nights will end up being my easy runs, for sure.) But everyone is friendly and supportive of one another. It was so nice to have people to run with again! Bonus: after the run I was chatting with the guy who organizes the group, and we saw an American Kestrel hunting right on the green!
September 10 I went for another run with my OSRB. Normally the group meets on Mondays and Fridays. But sometimes the guy organizing the group invites people to join him for additional special workouts he plans for himself. This was one of the "bonus" workouts. We did intervals. The original plan was to do 4 x 4 minutes. But I wanted to go for a consistent distance on each interval. So I did 4 x 800 metres, which resulted in my intervals being a bit longer than 4 minutes by the end.
This was my first interval training run in a long time. It felt amazing! At the end of the day I went to bed the good kind of tired.
Also: I now officially have a workout streak once again. (Two days! W00t!)
I am uncertain how I want to define my workout streaks going forward. In the past I have allowed days in which I did no physical activity other than hiking to count as continuing my streak because those days typically included a substantial amount of hiking, and my understanding of current exercise science is that taking active recovery days in one's workout schedule is a good and even optimal thing. But then this year, when I was overwhelmed with stress, and did nothing but hiking for days and weeks on end, I decided to zero my streak. But here's the thing: I did a substantial amount of hiking every day during that time.
This past spring I purchased a new Garmin watch which tracks a lot more data than my old Forerunner used to do. One of the things the new watch tracks for me (when I remember to wear it) is "Intensity Minutes". The Intensity Minutes metric is based on the widespread guideline that adult humans should be engaging in a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity (which includes activities such as hiking) weekly or a minimum of 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity or some combination of the two each week. Most sources suggest 150-300 minutes moderate, 75-150 minutes vigorous, or a combination of the two is a good range to aim for. My watch judges the intensity level of my workouts based on my heart rate, and adjusts the total number of minutes accordingly. (i.e.: 1 minute of vigorous intensity exercise is counted as 2 intensity minutes. So regardless of the type of workout one does, if the watch logs 150 "intensity minutes" or more in a week, you've met the minimum guideline for physical activity for healthy living.)
While looking into this concept of "intensity minutes" I came across this article, which references a massive long-term study which showed that there is significant benefit (in terms of lowering all-cause mortality) to humans in engaging in four times the recommended minimum level of weekly physical activity. That is: study participants who engaged in 600 minutes a week of moderate physical activity, 300 minutes a week of vigorous physical activity, or any equivalent combination of the two, saw the greatest benefits in terms of getting to live longer and keep doing all the cool things that we get to do as humans living on this planet. Engaging in > 600 intensity minutes of exercise a week showed neither increased benefit nor harm w.r.t. longevity. So I set my "intensity minutes" goal on my watch to be 600 minutes per week.
Here is what the watch logged for me in the time I have been wearing it:
The watch counts a week as running from Monday - Sunday. So the final bar in this chart (the one that's still blue) is showing my "intensity minutes" for the first two days of the current week only.
From the above graph you can clearly see the two weeks I spent this summer physically hauling my worldly possessions from one location to another. But note all the weeks in between, the weeks when I kept my workout streak zeroed because I did nothing those weeks except walk Shelby and search for a new place to live. I still hit over 600 intensity minutes a week for each of those weeks. Just from walking.
What to do about this and the concept of an exercise streak?
If I allow periods during which I engaged in over 600 "intensity minutes" a week of exercise, purely from walking, to continue my streak, my exercise streak would be about a quarter century long at this point. (I suffered a bout of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo in my late twenties that made it impossible for me to move without throwing up for four days. But I've remained healthy and physically active every day since then.) It would not be meaningful for me to log such a streak. I've always been a physically active person. That's just who I am. Also: there are benefits to exercise other than longevity. I choose to workout vigorously because doing so makes me happy. I like the things my body can do as a result of working out hard. I like the way my body feels and looks better when I'm training hard versus when I'm simply being active without vigorous intensity training. I feel more me as an athlete than as simply an active person.
On the other hand, I don't want to zero my streak every time I take a single day of active recovery. Because active recovery days are good things. Sometimes more than one active recovery day in a row is a good thing too. It's difficult to pick a hard and fast rule on this.
Anyhow... starting back running, with a new running group, in a new neighbourhood, where Shelby and I are safe and happy, is definitely the start of something new and good. It's definitely the start of getting back to who I want to be in my life and in my body. So for now I am going with: my daily exercise streak is 2 days. We'll just take it from there, and figure out the rest, as I go, I guess.
This was my first interval training run in a long time. It felt amazing! At the end of the day I went to bed the good kind of tired.
Also: I now officially have a workout streak once again. (Two days! W00t!)
I am uncertain how I want to define my workout streaks going forward. In the past I have allowed days in which I did no physical activity other than hiking to count as continuing my streak because those days typically included a substantial amount of hiking, and my understanding of current exercise science is that taking active recovery days in one's workout schedule is a good and even optimal thing. But then this year, when I was overwhelmed with stress, and did nothing but hiking for days and weeks on end, I decided to zero my streak. But here's the thing: I did a substantial amount of hiking every day during that time.
This past spring I purchased a new Garmin watch which tracks a lot more data than my old Forerunner used to do. One of the things the new watch tracks for me (when I remember to wear it) is "Intensity Minutes". The Intensity Minutes metric is based on the widespread guideline that adult humans should be engaging in a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity (which includes activities such as hiking) weekly or a minimum of 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity or some combination of the two each week. Most sources suggest 150-300 minutes moderate, 75-150 minutes vigorous, or a combination of the two is a good range to aim for. My watch judges the intensity level of my workouts based on my heart rate, and adjusts the total number of minutes accordingly. (i.e.: 1 minute of vigorous intensity exercise is counted as 2 intensity minutes. So regardless of the type of workout one does, if the watch logs 150 "intensity minutes" or more in a week, you've met the minimum guideline for physical activity for healthy living.)
While looking into this concept of "intensity minutes" I came across this article, which references a massive long-term study which showed that there is significant benefit (in terms of lowering all-cause mortality) to humans in engaging in four times the recommended minimum level of weekly physical activity. That is: study participants who engaged in 600 minutes a week of moderate physical activity, 300 minutes a week of vigorous physical activity, or any equivalent combination of the two, saw the greatest benefits in terms of getting to live longer and keep doing all the cool things that we get to do as humans living on this planet. Engaging in > 600 intensity minutes of exercise a week showed neither increased benefit nor harm w.r.t. longevity. So I set my "intensity minutes" goal on my watch to be 600 minutes per week.
Here is what the watch logged for me in the time I have been wearing it:
The watch counts a week as running from Monday - Sunday. So the final bar in this chart (the one that's still blue) is showing my "intensity minutes" for the first two days of the current week only.
From the above graph you can clearly see the two weeks I spent this summer physically hauling my worldly possessions from one location to another. But note all the weeks in between, the weeks when I kept my workout streak zeroed because I did nothing those weeks except walk Shelby and search for a new place to live. I still hit over 600 intensity minutes a week for each of those weeks. Just from walking.
What to do about this and the concept of an exercise streak?
If I allow periods during which I engaged in over 600 "intensity minutes" a week of exercise, purely from walking, to continue my streak, my exercise streak would be about a quarter century long at this point. (I suffered a bout of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo in my late twenties that made it impossible for me to move without throwing up for four days. But I've remained healthy and physically active every day since then.) It would not be meaningful for me to log such a streak. I've always been a physically active person. That's just who I am. Also: there are benefits to exercise other than longevity. I choose to workout vigorously because doing so makes me happy. I like the things my body can do as a result of working out hard. I like the way my body feels and looks better when I'm training hard versus when I'm simply being active without vigorous intensity training. I feel more me as an athlete than as simply an active person.
On the other hand, I don't want to zero my streak every time I take a single day of active recovery. Because active recovery days are good things. Sometimes more than one active recovery day in a row is a good thing too. It's difficult to pick a hard and fast rule on this.
Anyhow... starting back running, with a new running group, in a new neighbourhood, where Shelby and I are safe and happy, is definitely the start of something new and good. It's definitely the start of getting back to who I want to be in my life and in my body. So for now I am going with: my daily exercise streak is 2 days. We'll just take it from there, and figure out the rest, as I go, I guess.
NancyTree
Well-known member
for 2 days!I love the statistics Garmin provides. Even though technically I'm not using them in any way, except to plan the intensity of my next run.
I have mixed feelings about them. Sure, if you're training at an elite level, the stats can be useful to tweak one's workouts for optimal results. But I see a lot of casual exercisers and even total beginners worrying about heart rate zones and how long Garmin told them they needed to take for recovery time and whatnot, and I think that is unnecessarily complicating things. In 2024 we all have more than enough data we need to hold in our heads just to get by on a day-to-day basis. Why add to the noise? Your body will tell you how much recovery time you need. Your body will tell you what's easy/moderate/hard/flat out in terms of intensity.
I track my workout minutes to ensure I'm remaining active enough. (I don't smoke, rarely drink alcohol, and don't take any other drugs. But I do have a desk job. Being too sedentary is the greatest mitigable risk to my health I face. So I make a conscious effort to optimize opportunities to get up and move my body.) With running, I also track my distance. (I was an elite runner for many years. I have metrics there to compare myself to and goals for improving my performance now.) But for intensity, I go by feel.
Same deal for other disciplines. Like when I'm planning a yoga workout. The first question, honestly, is "how much time do I have for this?" But beyond that: How am I feeling? Is my body ready to sweat for an hour right now? Or do I need to do a shorter workout? Can my upper body handle a heavily arms-focused workout? Or do I need to do upper body light today? How low should I push myself to go in those warrior lunges? Am I exhausted and need to just do Yin? I don't need watch data to answer any of those questions for me. I live in this body 24/7. I can feel what it needs and I can feel what I am delivering.
The above being said: If one likes all the data and feels motivated by following it, then by all means. But I think being too much of a slave to the data can be a barrier to exercising when all we really need to do is get up and move our bodies.
September 11: Solo recovery run. 3K. Plus 14K hiking with Shelby.
Consecutive days of exercise: 3
One day soon I will get back into making more structured reports. And also get back into doing more things. (Yoga. Some DAREBEE programs I have been eyeing.) At the moment I am still busy with unpacking. Trying to organize my ridiculous amount of kitchen things into what is a quite small kitchen:
(Fortunately the kitchen has a decent amount of cupboard space. Although much of it is so high up I need a ladder to access it. Deciding what gets to live in the cupboards I can reach without climbing is key!)
Organizing and de-cluttering as much as possible my feast hall:
(A lot of kitchen stuff is going to need to be stored in this room, because the kitchen is not big enough for everything. Plus my board games and books are going in the feast hall too. But the totes and empty boxes and all of the clutter on the table--which is going to need to be my food prep space, the kitchen has almost no counter space at all--need to go.)
Clearing the rest of the junk out of my dance hall:
(There is enough floor space in there now I can dance and practice yoga in the space. But I want it fully cleared out for parties.)
And transforming my guest room from "dumping ground into which everything got stashed in the interest of emptying the moving truck quickly" into an actual guest room:
Once all of this is done, I can have a house-warming party!
Consecutive days of exercise: 3
One day soon I will get back into making more structured reports. And also get back into doing more things. (Yoga. Some DAREBEE programs I have been eyeing.) At the moment I am still busy with unpacking. Trying to organize my ridiculous amount of kitchen things into what is a quite small kitchen:
(Fortunately the kitchen has a decent amount of cupboard space. Although much of it is so high up I need a ladder to access it. Deciding what gets to live in the cupboards I can reach without climbing is key!)
Organizing and de-cluttering as much as possible my feast hall:
(A lot of kitchen stuff is going to need to be stored in this room, because the kitchen is not big enough for everything. Plus my board games and books are going in the feast hall too. But the totes and empty boxes and all of the clutter on the table--which is going to need to be my food prep space, the kitchen has almost no counter space at all--need to go.)
Clearing the rest of the junk out of my dance hall:
(There is enough floor space in there now I can dance and practice yoga in the space. But I want it fully cleared out for parties.)
And transforming my guest room from "dumping ground into which everything got stashed in the interest of emptying the moving truck quickly" into an actual guest room:
Once all of this is done, I can have a house-warming party!
The hardwood is gorgeous, and, other than the kitchen being small (by my admittedly high standards for kitchen space), it's a decently-sized space overall. The main thing though is the location. This apartment is WHERE I want to be. The where is everything.
I will post some photos soon.
September 12:
18 min. yoga
5 min. meditation
16.4km hiking
Consecutive days of exercise: 4
Got takeout for dinner. (My kitchen is not exactly organized for cooking yet.) On the way I passed a guy sitting out on his front porch, playing guitar.
It is so good to be back home in Wortley!
September 13:
6K-ish run
13.8 km hiking
Consecutive days of exercise: 5
Group run this day with my OSRB. My watch battery died. Then the watch battery of the other person in our group who was logging the distance died. So distance is approximate. Slow, easy run for me, in any case.
On the way home from the OSRB meetup, I could hear live singing at one of the local pubs (there are several cafés and pubs on Wortley road with patios). Later, when I was out with Shelby, the musician was still performing. He was singing "Piano Man" as we approached. Shelby obligingly waited so we could stop on the sidewalk to listen and sing along.
It is so, so good to be back home in Wortley!
18 min. yoga
5 min. meditation
16.4km hiking
Consecutive days of exercise: 4
Got takeout for dinner. (My kitchen is not exactly organized for cooking yet.) On the way I passed a guy sitting out on his front porch, playing guitar.
It is so good to be back home in Wortley!
September 13:
6K-ish run
13.8 km hiking
Consecutive days of exercise: 5
Group run this day with my OSRB. My watch battery died. Then the watch battery of the other person in our group who was logging the distance died. So distance is approximate. Slow, easy run for me, in any case.
On the way home from the OSRB meetup, I could hear live singing at one of the local pubs (there are several cafés and pubs on Wortley road with patios). Later, when I was out with Shelby, the musician was still performing. He was singing "Piano Man" as we approached. Shelby obligingly waited so we could stop on the sidewalk to listen and sing along.
It is so, so good to be back home in Wortley!
Wortley Village Sign Tour:
Our next door neighbour's bumper sticker:
A Little Free Library:
Little Free Library shaped like a TARDIS:
Little Free House (similar to the LFL concept, but for other items):
Lots of love for our canine companions in Wortley too!:
Flags at local public school:
Lots of private homes in the Village have pride flags too:
And business establishments:
Sign on the lawn of another local public school:
No idea if this home actually sells apple pie slices in season or not:
Love this idea! How many times have you forgone having fresh herbs with your dinner because you could not justify buying a whole bunch when you just needed a sprig? (Or worse: bought the bunch and then ended up throwing most of it out?) There are quite a few of these "community herb boxes" in my neighbourhood, where private home-owners tend a mini herb planter near the sidewalk, and anyone can come along and take a cutting of what they need:
You all know I'm not into organized religion. But I'm happy to co-exist with this church just around the corner from me that is more into actually working towards social justice than proselytizing:
Wortley Village is a designated Heritage Conservation District under the Ontario Heritage Act. Many houses in the neighbourhood have these heritage plaques denoting the building's age and original owners:
Some signs on neighbours' lawns:
Our next door neighbour's bumper sticker:
A Little Free Library:
Little Free Library shaped like a TARDIS:
Little Free House (similar to the LFL concept, but for other items):
Lots of love for our canine companions in Wortley too!
:Flags at local public school:
Lots of private homes in the Village have pride flags too:
And business establishments:
Sign on the lawn of another local public school:
No idea if this home actually sells apple pie slices in season or not:
Love this idea! How many times have you forgone having fresh herbs with your dinner because you could not justify buying a whole bunch when you just needed a sprig? (Or worse: bought the bunch and then ended up throwing most of it out?) There are quite a few of these "community herb boxes" in my neighbourhood, where private home-owners tend a mini herb planter near the sidewalk, and anyone can come along and take a cutting of what they need:
You all know I'm not into organized religion. But I'm happy to co-exist with this church just around the corner from me that is more into actually working towards social justice than proselytizing:
Wortley Village is a designated Heritage Conservation District under the Ontario Heritage Act. Many houses in the neighbourhood have these heritage plaques denoting the building's age and original owners:
Some signs on neighbours' lawns:
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Wortley Village Sign Tour - part II:
More lawn signs:
A bit out of season now, but so much nicer than seeing our national flag associated with the hatred and ignorance some have used it as a symbol of of late:
Road signage: (lots more love for the bicycle in London now than when I lived here previously, including a designated bike lane on my own street!)
Rainbow crosswalk!
It is really good to be home!
More lawn signs:
A bit out of season now, but so much nicer than seeing our national flag associated with the hatred and ignorance some have used it as a symbol of of late:
Road signage: (lots more love for the bicycle in London now than when I lived here previously, including a designated bike lane on my own street!)
Rainbow crosswalk!
It is really good to be home!
Very rainbowy
NancyTree
Well-known member
I agree, you shouldn't follow it blindly. It only uses cardiovascular measurements, but doesn't take your bodily load into account, like tendon adjustments. I think their training plans and recommendations are way off what fits, at least for my body.
I just like the details about heart rate, compared with elevation and tempo, the balance between left and right foot. Apparently my heart rate only goes up for real when I run hills. So I make sure my runs are different in the amount of meters elevation, tempo and distance.
And I like to see that when I was recovering, my balance had a big difference between left and right (because I was 'sparing' one side), and now it's around 50/50.
