August 15, 2020

Saturday Night Tidbits

I've gotten to the point during this 75 Hard challenge where I completely lose track of, well, everything. I've been doing great staying on the challenge--it definitely feels like habit now--but I feel like I'm so absorbed in all of my tasks that it's taking over all my time (not in a bad way).

I can't remember a lot of what I was going to write about, so I decided to go through the camera roll on my phone and see if I can find pictures of things I'd planned to share and just didn't get around to doing so.

During one of my walks, I was going past the bar/restaurant that is a few blocks from my house, and I noticed a turtle in the middle of the parking lot. The lot is gravel and there are streets on three sides of it, so it was a very odd place to see a turtle. (This picture is from later on; the grass wasn't even near the parking lot he was in.)

I see a ton of turtles on my street because I live right across from the marsh; but this parking lot was three blocks away with no water or anything nearby. I had no idea how it got there--there is no way it could have walked all the way from the marsh to the bar without getting run over by a car. I'm betting some kids probably picked it up and then left it.

Anyway, I decided that if it was still there on my way back home, I'd pick it up and bring it to the marsh. The parking lot was empty because it was morning, so I wasn't worried it would get run over unless it tried to cross the street.

On my way back, it was still there, although it had walked toward the back of the bar. It was a snapping turtle, and even though it was on the small side, I had to be careful when picking it up--I've picked them up before and they don't hesitate to try and snap your fingers off!

When I picked him up, though, he just pulled his head into his shell and barely moved at all. I could see he was alive, but I wondered if he was super dehydrated from being in the sun with no water in sight. He just didn't look very good.

So, I walked him back to my house and I found him a spot on the other side of the dike. I set him down so that he was halfway in the water and I hoped that he'd be okay. He didn't come out of his shell when I set him down, though. (The next day, when I went for my walk, I looked to see if he was still there and he wasn't--so I'm assuming he was fine.)


Noah turned 16 on July 13th, but wasn't able to get his driver's license because of COVID and the Secretary of State working only by appointments. The soonest appointment was in October! However, when we went up north to visit my sister, the SoS up there had an appointment the next day (that's how rural it is). So, Jerry took Noah to get his license.

I'd been telling Noah for years that he should start saving money for a car, because I said we would not be buying him one when he turned 16. He never listened to my advice until a few months before his 16th birthday, when he started asking family members if he could do some work for them. 

Well, he got really lucky. He'd saved up about $600, which was definitely not enough for a car. But my friend Adam, who just moved into a renovated van, didn't need his car anymore. So, he offered to sell it to Noah for $500. 

Now, this car is old. It's actually the same year of MY first car, which I got 22 years ago! Hahaha. It's a 1989 LeBaron--and it only had 49,000 miles on it! Noah was thrilled--he's like me in the sense that he prefers retro-style things and he loved the idea of having such an old car. He even learned what it means to "roll" down the window ;)

We put about $600 into it for new brakes and rotors and a couple of other things. My dad is an auto mechanic and he and Noah checked out the whole car and they are going to be working on replacing those parts together. It's a great skill for Noah to learn, so I'm happy about that. 

But Noah's lucky to have gotten his license and now he'll have a safe car to drive that will last as long as the motor and transition hold out--hopefully he'll get a few years out of it. I love this photo of him with his new wheels! Hahaha.





I went for a bike ride with Renee a couple of days ago, and it was great to see her! I haven't seen her since before the COVID quarantine. We met up at the Metropark and rode about six miles to the neighborhood where I grew up, so I showed her my old house and all that, then we rode back--it was about 12 miles total. (Naturally, I forgot to start my Garmin until a quarter mile in.)

I still find it so interesting that my heart rate is much higher when riding my bike versus walking! I was at or above my MAF zone for over 50 minutes during the ride with Renee. I have to work really hard when I walk to even get to the lower end of my MAF zone--so I usually don't hit it. I'm not doing MAF training, but I still get curious about my heart rate)

(Zone 2 below is my MAF zone--it actually should be 132-142, so I'll have to fix that, but it's close enough).





I happened to get a photo of this rare-as-a-unicorn moment... Phoebe taking a nap within a 20-meter radius of the kittens! 





Usually, Duck wakes me up in the morning by sitting on my head or draping himself across my neck, so I was surprised a couple of days ago when I noticed it was actually Chick that came to cuddle with me while I was reading my book. Kitten cuddles in the morning are the best!





Yesterday, my dad took me in his truck to Lowe's so that I could buy the materials to build a wall of shelves in the garage. There was no way I'd be able to get that stuff home without a truck--I had to get eight 2'x4'x12' boards, six 2'x4'x8' boards, and three 1/2"x4'x8' sheets of plywood, ripped in half. 


Today, I cleared the wall and started building. I should be able to finish them tomorrow or Monday. Once those are finished, I'll have so much more space to store things in the garage and everything will have a place. The four shelves will be 12 feet long and 2 feet deep. 



I'm still going strong on 75 Hard! Tomorrow will be Day 28--four full weeks. It's also Jerry's and my 17th wedding anniversary! :)

4 comments:

  1. That car looks in great shape, what a steal! My first car was a 1984 LeBaron. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy Anniversary! I'm excited to see your finished garage.

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  3. Early Happy Anniversary!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. first car: 1983 LeBaron

    ReplyDelete

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