Happy Snowy Valentine's Day

Proof of snow depth: this picket fence is 3 ft. high!

Woodshed path, cleared.

Our town’s official blizzard snow depth was 3rd in the state @ 32 inches. Fortunately, this snow was a light, fluffy variety, which made plowing & shoveling a lot easier than a heavy, wet variety. My husband digs out the cars, then plows the lane & driveway circle with the tractor (& in this case, bucketloader), while I clear pathways to outbuildings & doorways by hand shoveling. The snowfall ended before dark, which was convenient as it gave us time to clear everything before any chance of an icy crust forming.

Unwilling to drive to the gym, I did an outdoor winter run on Sunday, which required a lot of determination, since a.) it was cold & snowy on the road, & b.) I was in the throes of obsessively watching 8 non-stop episodes of Downton Abbey Season 2. I did get out there by late afternoon, barely squeezing in a 2-miler at dusk. Monday I ran 2 mi. at the gym & rode 5.5 mi. on the bike. Tuesday, I took an hour class of strength training w/weights & drills, then rode another 5.5 mi. on the bike.

Chicken coop path, cleared.

Wednesday, I planned to run 4 miles. I could have gone outdoors, as the temp was mild (well above freezing), but our dirt road was soft & slushy. I didn’t want to have wet feet the entire run & risk overturning my ankle in the muck. It’s already slightly tweaked from a few missteps in the dark on Sunday. I played it safe & ran all 4 mi. on a treadmill at the gym. This was insanely boring, even with good music. Now that I’m starting to stretch my distances, I’ve got to stop being so prissy about weather & run outdoors.

Here’s an unexpected development this week: I’ve spontaneously joined Mark & Jo in giving up coffee & black tea (caffeine reduction) for Lent. I’ve been wanting to try knocking out caffeine, to see if I notice a lower level of anxiety/stress in my general personality &/or see if I sleep better. No caffeinated beverages until Easter should give it a fair trial. I know chocolate has caffeine, but I am not giving that up. Gotta draw the line somewhere :-)

Office/barn entrance, cleared.

Back door, cleared.

Cozy place to be snowed in!

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Tags: blizzard, fitness over 40, giving up caffeine, Lent, running