Not to get “pumped”.  Just to get some movement in my lethargic body.  I needed some exercise.  I usually hike; Winter, Fall, Spring, Summer.  I haven’t hiked in 18+ months.  My flight training took front seat for all free time available.  But now that I’ve reached that goal, I should get back to taking (somewhat) care of my body.

I’ve never been a gym guy.  Never cared to lift weights.  And I hate static/stationary machines.  But I feel so much better after I’ve been hiking or biking.  I needed to do something.  The gym, only a mile away from the house, has a therapeutic, salt water pool; with a temperature of about 90F.  And it has a dry sauna.  Enough said.  I’m in.  So I’ve been swimming laps about 3 nights a week. About a quarter a mile each night and then sitting in the sauna for 30 minutes at 130F – that’s Arizona in a box.. I’m loving it.  With it being a dry sauna, I’m able to take my gadgets in there.. so I can watch a video on the iPad – somewhat defeats the purpose of completely relaxing, but hey.. baby steps.

Twenty square feet of AZ in Corinth

OK.. so I don’t do this very often.. but I managed this year.   Here’s the proof.

A dozen of the red ones

I’m not sure if I’m talking about dropping Nathan off to Mum & Dad’s for his first overnight at their place… or, the double date Jess and I went on with friends.  Either way, there was no trouble and we all had a good time. Win, win.

I’ve been trying to get Matt to come up to Bangor to watch the Banff Mountain Film Festival, but its always on a “work night” so it’s a rough next day.  This year was no different, but the festival travels around, and it would be in his neck of the woods on a Friday.  That could work.  So I offered for Jess and I to make the trek and watch it in Rockport this year.

Like the past 10 years (I think I missed 1-2 years of it in there), it was an enjoyable time.

Trouble if I ever saw it.

It’s hard to believe my wife never ate eggs until she met me.  That is, until I encouraged her to try them.  Sure they smell a bit when they’re cooked a certain way… but they can taste good.  She’s been eating them for some time now and recently she wanted to add some hard boiled eggs to her salads. I think we can handle that; I used to eat soft boiled eggs as a kid, I could stand some that way myself.  Queue the internet.  Find the time it takes to make soft and hard boiled eggs… and have at it.

That worked fine, but I remembered seeing an egg timer of a different sort in a cooking store at some point and wanted to try and find it.  Bed Bath and Beyond had just the thing, and for only five bucks.  Now she enjoys her hard boiled eggs, and I my soft boiled eggs.  It was also nice that a friend at work was selling fresh eggs from his chickens he raised.

This egg timer changes color as the temperature penetrates the eggs.

One of these is not like the other

I think.

Enough to sit in a chair and get a trim.  Tony needed a hair cut so I offered and he accepted.  We fared OK.

We're both smiling...

What a day.  We started out at -7F at the house, it was a frost -17F down at the bottom of the hill. (Remind me not to live in a hollow in Maine).  By 2PM it was a balmy 30F.  But before it warmed up, I took some photos of the hoar frost.

[PHOTO GALLERY]

Doesn't look inviting does it?