View from the Top of Another Mountain

We have gotten into a hiking spree lately.  I'm not sure if it is because we are in better physical condition than we have been for years or if it is simply the beautiful fall weather.  At any rate, we have been on a hike every Sunday afternoon for the last month.  The most recent one was yesterday when we planned to hike the Pulpit Rock/Pinnacle trail near Hamburg, PA. We had been planning for  a week.  We asked two friends that we thought would enjoy a more difficult hike to go with us. We packed snack packs; we bought good hiking shoes; we watched the weather forecast; we printed out a map of the trail and got directions to the trail head. All systems said go. 

After church yesterday, we ate our lunch at church and then picked up our two friends on the way home.  We stopped in at home for a few minutes to place the casserole for supper in the oven, change clothes, and get the dog who was excited to go with us.

 

--all eager to get started--

We followed the directions we had to the trail head and started hiking.  We were supposed to go around a yellow gate and in .52 miles be at the Appalachian Trail which we would follow for most of the 8 1/2 mile hike to Pulpit Rock and the Pinnacle and loop back to our starting point.   We didn't get to the yellow gate.  We walked a mile on a really nice bike trail and didn't find the Appalachian Trail. Finally, we turned around and walked back to our starting place.  We knew this was the wrong trail.  We looked at a map and decided to try another parking lot farther up the road.  However, that was not the right trail either.  We did meet two couples there who were familiar with the area and knew where we wanted to be.  They gave us directions to the correct trail head, but also told us that there was no way we would be able to hike all the way to the Pinnacle and back before dark.  We had lost too much time in finding the trail.  We decided to try just Pulpit Rock this time.

 

 

We drove to the right parking lot, found the yellow gate, and found the Appalachian Trail .52 miles from the parking lot.  We were on the way!  It was a beautiful day with warm sunshine--probably nearly 70 degrees.  We didn't need our sweatshirts on the way up the mountain. We stopped a few times to eat some of our snacks and rest a bit, but the farther we went the more we realized that we had to keep moving if we were going to get to the top and back before dark. 

--the view from about halfway up the mountain--

 

--we are going somewhere up that pile of rocks--

 

We reached a summit and were taking a few pictures when we realized we were not really at the top.  We had just a little piece to go to get to the real top. It was quite a workout to get over all the rocks to the top, but it was well worth the hike when we finally arrived. 

--Pulpit Rock juts out in the middle

of this picture taken from the false summit-- 

 

--group picture on the false summit--

 

 

 

We spent about twenty minutes taking in the view and then exploring the site of the Lehigh Valley Amateur Astronomical Society's telescopes. About 4:40 we headed down the mountain.

--finally at the top!--

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--well worth the hike!--

 

--Lehigh Valley Amateur Astronomical Society--

 

We moved faster than any of us was really comfortable with on the way down the rocky trail.  We were all envisioning ourselves spraining an ankle or otherwise falling down the mountain, but we made it safely.  It was rather dark when we finally got back to the car.

We came home and enjoyed the casserole that was in the oven, salad, and tiny cupcakes before going into the hot tub to relax our muscles and eat our dishes of fruit and yogurt.  It was a great day, but we all want to do the intended 8 1/2 mile loop on another day when we have more daylight hours to do it.

Sanity Sustained

One week ago I was feeling a bit stressed and hoping to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.  What a difference one week can make!

All the book reviews are graded (all 105 of them), lesson plans for all but one class are complete for the next week, the garden is cleaned out for the season, and this weekend should be refreshing although busy. We were home every evening but one.  Mary started work every morning at 5 except for Monday and Wednesday.  Those early mornings and being home in the evening have been a tremendous blessing.

Last Sunday afternoon we hiked Neversink Mountain with a group of friends. They were at our house for lunch (they each brought something to contribute), then we hiked the mountain; we came back and enjoyed a quickly thrown together supper of pizza and salad and whatever else we could find in the house and some relaxation time in the hot tub. The hot tub was intended to keep them from getting too stiff muscles from the rugged 4.5 mile hike we took them on first.

Monday morning I was all geared up to clean out the garden as soon as we got home, but it was raining. Tuesday it didn't happen either because we had plans right after work, but Wednesday we tore into it as soon as we were home and were finished in two hours. It is so nice to have that done.  After school starts my garden is routinely and severely neglected.

Tonight is the BBQ Bash at school.  I plan to be here most of the evening. Tomorrow we are both going to a seminar and then have to clean a section of the school.  Sunday we should be able to relax again unless, of course, we make plans between now and then.

 Anyway, my sanity has been sustained (thanks to help from several important study hall supervisors and newspaper staff) and the world looks brighter.

Going Crazy

The last few weeks have been crazy, and, I fear, they have had an adverse affect on me. We have been to the cabin the last two weekends to loaf; however, that did little to alleviate the work load that I have had.  I am nearing the end of the first round of book reviews--a major cause of stress.  In the last few weeks, I have had 105 book reviews to grade ranging in length from 2-10 pages.  We are slightly more than one week away from the end of first quarter--another major cause of stress. I am a half lesson ahead of the students in two of my classes--a third stress factor. I must have the quarter final exams ready for next week--why am I spending any of my time writing a blog. . .

This week Mary has been starting at 5 AM each morning which gets me to school by 4:45 each day.  I have made significant progress most days with that early start, but it has not allowed me to have the amount of sleep I would like.  In addition to starting early, I have been trying to increase the length of time on the treadmill to walk off the excess calories I consumed over two cabin weekends.  That has done little to avoid the sleep deprivation.

This weekend will not be a catch-up weekend at all.  We are going to the Warmth and Light benefit supper this evening to enjoy a Russian meal and program, but only after we load the trailer for tomorrow. We plan to be at school Saturday morning by 5 AM to set up for the annual yard sale.  We really hope to sell lots of the things that have been taking up space in the garage, shed, and enclosed trailer. When we get home from that we must do our cleaning and mow the lawn. I hope to finish grading book reviews some time on Saturday.  Sunday morning we are going to another church for communion since we were not able to be at our own church for it.  Then we are having company for lunch, followed by a hike up Neversink Mountain.  I think we will crash Sunday evening.

Not all of life has been stress.  Last Sunday was my birthday.  This week I got a card that made me laugh.  It is a parody of the "Red Hat" poem:

When I am an old cat I shall wear

a diamond collar and shall leave my footprints

on white couches; I shall drink my cream

with a touch of brandy and spit out my vitamins;

I shall sit on the laps of dog people

just to irritate them; I shall nap on top of the

neighbor's petunias and perch on top of

birdbaths and grow charmingly chubby.

 

But for now I must tolerate the dog

and use my litter box and not sharpen

my claws on the sofa, so no one can doubt

the truth that cats are superior to dogs.

 

But every once in a while I wonder

if I should be naughty now and then

and nip a few toes, so my humans

won't be too shocked when suddenly

I become an old cat and

start to wear a diamond collar.

 

 

I think I will postpone going crazy for now, but don't be surprised if I do a few crazy things along the way. . .Like last night when we were ready to go grocery shopping.  I could not find my purse.  That was a problem since my paycheck and all of our cash was in there. We decided I must have left it at school; we made a trip to school to look for it.  It wasn't there. . . We searched at home again.  Finally, I told Mary to call my cell phone so that we could find it.  I knew my phone was in there and turned on.  We heard it ringing but she had to call the second time before I could locate it in--of all places--a closet!  What was it doing in the closet?  Then I remembered that I was ready to go shopping before Mary was, had my purse on my shoulded, decided to get something out of the hall closet, my purse fell off my shoulder and I set it down.  I never picked it up again. . . until an hour later.

Diet Pays Off

Just a little over a year ago, my insurance company said they would insure me, but they were charging me 80% more for my premiums because of my weight; I could appeal the rate increase in one year. That was the motivation and the deadline I needed to really work on losing weight.  I had lost about 20 pounds before that, but had hit a plateau. It has been a battle between calories consumed and calories burned ever since.

In August I started checking into what I needed to do to have my rates reduced. When I was at the doctor for my regular appointment, I had him sign a statement of my height and weight as of that date.  I completed all the necessary application papers, but then waited to mail them until it was more than a year since my passing out episode. I mailed them the beginning of this month.  A few days later I received an e-mail asking for an explanation for the claims I had due to the fainting.  I thought maybe it sounded good to them that I fainted because I was trying to lose weight--evidence that I really was trying to do what they wanted me to do, wasn't it?  I didn't hear any more from them until today.

Today I have reaped one of the rewards of that effort: denying myself food I would have enjoyed, walking miles and miles (wearing out a pair of shoes in the process), and filling out all the forms they requested.  When I got the mail today, there was a check from my insurance company.  It was a refund for 30% of my premium increase.  That gives me about $77 a month for something else.  I have already reworked my budget and applied it to a different category that was weak and needy.  We shall strengthen the feeble.

This does not end the calorie counting.  I am still paying 50% more than I should be for insurance.  Once again, I can appeal the rate increase in one year.  So I have another goal and another deadline. I hope that a year from now I am at my goal and not paying anything extra. But, right now I want to eat something and not walk an extra three miles to burn it.  Anybody for celery sticks? Just wondering . . . Are there celery sticks that taste like chocolate peanut butter ice cream?

Lessons Learned

Monday I gave one of my classes their first test.  They didn't do very well on two of the sections: composition and Dewey decimal.  I know they will be faced with questions from the same sections in at least three more tests this year: end of quarter, end of semester, and end of year.  If they don't know the information now, they will struggle with those sections every time the rest of the year.  So, I devised a plan. They will have a quiz on those two sections every day until they learn them.  As soon as they know them, I will stop the daily quizzes and give them one maybe weekly for a while just to be sure it goes into their long term memories. I hope they learn that lesson soon or I will get very tired of making multiple versions of the same quiz.

Last evening we walked from school to Shady Maple Smorgasbord for supper.  It was seafood night and Mary was due a free meal for her birthday. We decided to walk from school to Shady and then back to school so that we would burn off some of the calories we ate. I enjoyed the meal tremendously and wished I had room to taste a few more types of seafood.  I wanted some grilled salmon but simply didn't have the room for it.  You have to understand that since I have been losing weight, I simply do not eat as much as I used to.  By the time I stopped last evening, I had not eaten as much as I did other times that I was at Shady, but I realized that I had eaten too much.  The walk back to school was kind of miserable but was probably the best thing I could have done.

Why do I write about these two seemingly different topics? I think there is a connection. Just as my class didn't do too well on the test of Dewey decimal and composition, I didn't do too well with the test on my control of my eating.  I will have to have to learn my lesson well before I am faced with another birthday celebration in three weeks. I will be quizzing myself with every meal between now and then.

Third Annual Apple Butter Boil

We gathered with our apple sauce and sugar in hand. The fire was already going and the copper kettle hot when we arrived. It was set up inside the shed again this year because of the constant threat of rain all day.

We all sit around the fire watching it cook and taking turns stirring the kettle. It is a relaxing way to spend the holiday. This year we added making s'mores to the festivities.

By lunch time we had finished cooking the apple butter and took it off the fire to cool while we ate our lunch.  After lunch we divided our portions and went home again. Our portion was twelve half pints and nine pints of apple butter from the two gallons of apple sauce we contributed to the cause.

It was a success once again. The time spent together is worth as much or more than the apple butter.

 

New Shoes

This week I replaced the shoes I bought in February. Those were worn out--completely.  It doesn't seem like I had them all that long, but I put many miles on them in the months I had them AND never liked them.  They were on the clearance shelf at Weaver's Store, and I thought they were a good deal. Reebok brand.  It took me weeks to get used to them.  I never wore them to hike Old Rag which was the trip I bought them for in the first place.  Now, they were shot. The soles were paper thin. The insides were in shreds. Like I said, they were worn out.

I replaced them with a brand new pair of Sketchers sport. I liked these better on their maiden voyage from home to Allegheny Meetinghouse on Thursday evening than I ever liked the Reeboks. One day this week my students were asking me about my walking excursions.  I raised the question about how many miles shoes are rated for lasting.  You know tires are rated for 60000 miles or whatever.  How about shoes? I told them that I may walk 25 miles in a week.  They figured out that if I walk 25 miles every week, I will walk over 1000 miles in a year.  Are these 1000 miles shoes?  We will see.

I lived.

So what are you going to do this summer? (tone of voice implies that the speaker is envious of three months of VACATION!) Do you get a summer job? (tone of voice implies that the speaker assumes either that I do or that I should)  Do you have any trips planned? (again tone of voice implies the speaker expects to hear of some exotic trip around the world: a cruise to the Carribbean, followed by a safari in Africa, followed by perusing bookstores in London or exploring castles in Europe, and maybe just throw in a visit to the penguins in Antarctica).

Those are the questions people ask at the beginning of the summer--the beginning of every summer.  It was a busy summer, but I didn't do any of the things most people expect school teachers to do with ALL that EXTRA time in the summer.

 I didn't do anything spectacular. I mowed lawn; I weeded flower beds; I did some housecleaning; I had a garden that I tried to get a few vegetables from before the wildlife ate it all off (that was my version of a safari).  I removed the daily dirt and grime from my house a few times(castle explorations). I made a few dresses for myself and for Mary (after having done the yearly mending). I went to about a dozen weddings. I read through the Bible (perusing of books). I went to prison a few times (nearest I got to visiting the penguins--they all wear the same thing in cold, hard surroundings). Simply stated: I lived a fairly normal life this summer.  That was a blessing.

I guess you can say I had a summer job.  I scrubbed and waxed the floors at school again (that was the nearest I got to a cruise--walking around on wet floors all day).  I put in between 90-100 hours doing it. The board seemed happy enough with the job to pay me what we had agreed upon two years ago.  Maybe I should have more of a summer job, but when would I ever get the things done that wait for summer? The flexibility of this job is a blessing.

I didn't go on any trips, in fact, I was not so much as out of the state this summer. It has been a homebody kind of summer.  I have enough debt on my house to keep me from spending for big trips or cruises like some people do. And it isn't getting paid off very fast since I don't earn what I could with an Ed.D.; but I am content with where God has called me, and I'll keep plugging away at the debt. Having a home and contentedly being there is a blessing.

So, I didn't do anything spectacular, I wasn't committed to a regular work schedule, I didn't go on any trips.  What DID I do with the summer?

I lived;  I worked; and I hope I blessed others with some of my time. Now, on Thursday, school starts again and people will know what I do from 8AM-3PM Monday-Friday. A few people will know that it IS what I do most of the time from 5AM-9 or 10PM Monday-Saturday. But, I will still be asked, "What did you do this summer?" I think my answer will be, "I lived. What did you do?"

FYI - I was not incarcerated. I went to prison for Bible studies on Friday evenings and those ladies wish they were home living a normal kind of life.  I'm beginning to think the normal kind of life I live isn't really all that normal.  I've been blessed.

Mid-summer Post

With my summer vacation half over, it is a good time to evaluate how far I have gotten with my summer projects: housecleaning, sewing, school prep, and summer job.

Housecleaning -- I have completed the housecleaning on the main floor of the house with the exception of the library. I have my reasons for not completing that at this point.

Sewing -- I have finished five dresses and have another one cut.  There are two more pieces of fabric waiting to be done. I have also made the new curtain for my classroom.

School prep -- I am mostly on schedule with that although there is more to be done in the next month or so.

Summer job -- This morning I finished scrubbing and waxing the floors after pulling an all-nighter to do that last section.  This evening I am going back in to put things back in place in that section, clean up the floor machine, buckets, and mops, and to write my annual report of supplies used, supplies remaining, and time spent.  That will complete the summer job again for this year.

I think I am on schedule for this point in the summer, but I know I will not get everything done that I had hoped to do this summer.  That never happens.

Summer Job Revisited

Once again I am scrubbing and waxing floors for my summer job.  I like my summer job in spite of the fact that it is extremely hard work. I don't need the sympathy of people who say five or six or maybe nine or ten times, "I'm sorry" when they hear I am scrubbing and waxing floors again. 

My job has its advantages.
1) I can start whenever I wish.  Three days so far I have started about 4 AM to beat the heat. 
2) I can quit whenever I wish.  If I want to go home at 10:30, so what.  If I stay until 2, who cares.
3) I don't have to tell anyone when I am going to be there and when I am not going to be there.  Now, there may be a few exceptions since they depend on me to have the door unlocked if the plumber is coming to do some repairs or the UPS truck is bringing scads of boxes filled with textbooks for next year.
 4) I can take a break (even a nap) whenever I wish and don't have to keep track of the time.

I like my summer job because it allows me a freedom in my schedule that few jobs allow.  My only requirement is that I get the job done before school cleaning begins in August.  That takes about 100 hours sometime in July.  So far this year we have about 65 hours on the job. (Mary took two vacation days to help me get a jump start on the job.) I should be able to finish next week.

Grey Lane Dress Shop Reopened

We started the summer with no dress fabric on hand.  I was saying that I wasn't going to do as much sewing as I did last year.  Well, maybe not quite.

Several weeks ago I went shopping for wedding gifts to keep me supplied for the wedding invitations that are currently hanging on the bulletin board for this summer. While I was shopping anyway, I decided to look at the fabric. After all, I did have time to do a little sewing this summer.  Let it suffice to say that I came home with five wedding gifts and three pieces of fabric.

Last week Mary discovered that I was in the mood for sewing and thought I had time to do some for her too.  She went fabric shopping and came home with four pieces for some new work dresses. She has been throwing some of her old rags away finally. 

Last week I also decided this summer would be a good time to make new curtains for my classroom. I made a stop at Goodville Fabric Outlet yesterday and spent $7 for new curtain fabric.

Dresses  #1 and #2 are now in progress.  I hope to have at least one of them finished by this evening.  I will need to get some current measurements from Mary before I can finish hers.  Since she has been losing weight, the measurements I had are no longer valid.  I have the curtains cut, but I want to double check on some of the measurements there too.

As I work on the dresses, I am grateful again for the customized patterns Ann made for us several years ago.  They make sewing so much more enjoyable.

Diet & Exercise

More years ago than I wish to remember, I crossed the last frontier in weight gain.  Then I stayed at that point for a long, long time.  I was not really gaining any more weight, but neither was I losing any.  Sometimes I would attempt a diet and lose a few pounds, but they always came back on within weeks.

About two years ago I got a bit more serious about it and lost twenty pounds.  Those twenty stayed off, but it was a constant battle to keep it that way. I had reached a plateau. But I had backed away from the last frontier and was going to stay away.

Last summer when I had to find my own health insurance, my weight caused a problem.  I was turned down by two insurance companies.  And that was after I had lost twenty pounds!  The third company accepted me but told me they were charging me 80% more for my premium because of my weight.  That put my health insurance premium skyhigh. Speak of providing motivation.

Last August I was determined to get off that plateau.  I decided that when school starts I will cut back on what I eat. Isn't that how a person loses weight?  Well, that landed me in the hospital for two days because I passed out in the morning when I was getting ready for school.   I told them right away that I hadn't eaten enough the day before. They determined there was nothing wrong with me. I thought my blood sugar had probably dropped, but they didn't think that was happening either.

Still determined to get off the plateau, I decided that there are two ways to lose weight.  The other is to increase the exercise.  I doubled what I was doing on the treadmill.  I started getting the same light-headed feeling that I had when I hadn't eaten enough.  I was stuck on the plateau. 

It seemed hopeless to lose weight until one lady at church suggested that I may be low in iron. Now, that made sense.  There have been times in my life before when I was low in iron.  I clearly remember  playing softball in phys. ed. class in tenth grade.  I hated to play because by the time I swung the bat to hit the ball, I was too dizzy to see first base let alone RUN to it.  The teacher thought I was making up excuses for not playing until the day I swung the bat, hit the ball, and promptly passed out at home plate.  There were days when I was a teen that I would sleep for 12-14 hours a night and still be tired all the time.  So a bit of anemia made sense.

 I took a few iron tablets for a few weeks and went back to the full exercise program. That got me off the plateau. The middle of March I started counting calories and tracking my exercise using Livestrong.com. Since then, my weight kept bobbing up and down because there are always events coming up that make it hard to count the calories (writers conference, senior girls weekend, Grenada, the end of school treats on the faculty table, etc); but I have managed to have more losses than gains. I lost another 20 pounds.  I have lost weight that I have been carrying around for probably twenty years.

I am not at my goal.  In fact, I have a long way to reach my goal. Walking works.  I hiked Old Rag Mountain. I have walked the seven miles home from school.  I have walked an 8-mile circle from here to Adamstown and back. I frequently walk 3-4 miles a day. I learned to enjoy walking outside in the beautiful weather we have had this spring. If the weather isn't ideal for walking outside, I have the treadmill and can do 3-4 miles on there.  The other day I was planning to use the treadmill because there was a threatening thunderstorm overhead.  I was hunting for my ipod because I said that when I walk outside God provides the entertainment, but when I use the treadmill I have to provide my own. 

From my observation, I will just have to continue eating my thousand calories and burning my thousand calories to continue the downward trend I started.  I am not ready for another plateau.