The sights we're seeing

With the Stay-At-Home, social distancing, and protective mask wear rules in place, there is a new look to our usual haunts.

Empty streets - this is Broadway, one of Boulder's main north/south streets, at 8 a.m. rush hour. (Taz and I stood right in the middle of the street to take the picture!):

And on hill repeat Wednesday, we creatures of habit showed up on our hill, all starting at different times, and all masked up (except Taz who was delighted to see his 2-legged running buddies again but so confused because he couldn't go over to say Hi).

Today's run was through son, Paul's, neighborhood - and his Barley-walking route happened to cross paths with me and Taz. We accompanied him back to his house (he on the sidewalk, me in the middle of the road). This time Taz did get to say hi, but I followed the rules and stayed too far away for hugs. Sigh.

Meanwhile, Kendall and I are getting a whole lot of quality time together. Who can resist this masked man?!

Every moment

 

 Sunshine. Warmth. Taz. Trail.

Every moment of every day of this horrific pandemic 

I am grateful that I am still healthy enough to go outside in this astounding world of ours. 

Today's surprise: with the extreme quiet we are currently experiencing, I could hear a chorus of frogs - a chorus that I've never before heard along the stretch of this creek that I've run beside so many times in the past.

Paw-cooling break

A pretty darned good day

Norlin Library, University of Colorado

 This day of living within COVID-19 rules turned out to be pretty A-OK.  I started the day at a leisurely pace, finishing yesterday's paper over a hot cup of coffee. Next up - I actually got to talk to my brother on the phone (a rarity since he is hard of hearing).  Switching from leisurely to energized, I "Zoomed" in to an exercise class hosted by our favorite exercise teacher. That got me good and warmed up so I then leashed up Taz and headed off (in shorts!) for an exploratory run of the CU campus - an extraordinarily quiet campus on this April 6th which should have been the exciting brim-full-of-people first day of the Conference on World Affairs. Instead of running into a mass of humanity, Taz and I crossed paths with maybe 20 people during our half-hour or so of touring campus. I've always considered Christmas week to be the quiet time on campus - that's not even close to what it's like these days. 

Norlin Quad. Population: 1 cattle dog

The walkway to Macky Auditorium which should have been lined with flags and filled with folks
on this first day of the Conference on World Affairs

A statue, blooming spring flowers, and no people at the UMC fountain

Then! Bonus time! This afternoon, Kendall casually mentioned he had pumped up the basketball. WEEEEHAWWWWW!!!!! Sure cure for any creeping doldrums. Out to the driveway I ran, soon joined by Mister Kendall. Shootin' hoops. No better way to spend a sunny afternoon during a "stay at home" order!

 

Trail pick ups

Having the urge to do a bit of "speed" work today, I decided to venture out to the South Boulder Creek trail, the scene of many of our speed sessions in the past. During my run from home to the gate and along the first bit of the trail, creative juices started flowing and I decided my first order of business was not going to be the 1/2/3/4/4/3/2/1 ladder of pick-ups. Instead, my first few pick ups were found along the trail - materials for creating a friendly greeting to any of my running buddies who happen to venture out on the South Boulder Creek trail in the near future.  Hi y'all!

Brrrrrr diddy diddy

I absolutely love running in snowstorms - perhaps a reflection of my youthful days in northern lower Michigan. And I rather enjoy running in rain - perhaps because we don't get rain all that often here in Colorado and a good rain is quite a treat in this high desert prairie land. But today's 30-degree frozen mist certainly does not make it onto my hit parade of weather favorites. No thank you. Bone-chilling cold and wet, with just enough of a breeze to make it even bone-chillinger/colder/wetter, and ice forming over everything: grass, branches, jackets, leashes and puppy dogs.

Mister Taz was at the ready when he saw me getting my running gear on, and he trotted purposefully alongside me through the run. But he most definitely did not protest when I turned toward home just a few miles into the run. Nope, not my most favorite running weather. No siree.