Good Stuff

Busy Saturday.

Dropped Lisa off at weaving class and went to the Agway for chicken and rabbit supplies -- feeders, infrared lamp, timothy hay, bedding, and a few other odds and ends. Went directly to the gym, where miracle of miracles, the pool was empty. I swam about half a mile, and then six kids jumped in. Still, did another quarter mile to push it up to .75 of a mile. Hoping to make a full mile in the next month or so. My form is fair for the first quarter mile, but deteriorates pretty quickly after that. I need a coach. Bad.

Got out of the pool and onto the exercise bike. Finished reading Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning, about New York in the 1970s. Eh. Did 17.5 miles, a pretty decent amount. Wore my heart monitor. Rate stayed around 105 nearly the entire ride while going about 12 mph. When I jacked it up to 15, 16 mph, the rate got up to 150, which is still just barely 75 percent of maximum heart rate. So maybe I'm not working out hard enough ... I need to go back through and read my heart monitor training book very closely.

Drove out to pick Lisa up, and went past Matt's sugarhouse. It was warming up, around the 40s, so his chimney was smoking and his jugs were out. Picked up a half-gallon for $26. His wife poured it fresh from the holding tank. Been a rough winter for the maple folks, with the warm weather prevailing until mid-January or so. Matt said he made about 100 gallons this year. In an average year, he'll make about 500 gallons.

Cooked a bunch when I got home -- homemade mac and cheese with sausage, and twice-baked potatoes with salmon and cheese stuffing. Really good stuff. Not such a great day on the veggie front, but I think another few days of 1,000+ calorie exercise, and I may drop a pound. Yikes.

Started to snow later in the night. Forecast called for two to four inches. It'll be nice if it happens -- the wet kind that sticks to the spruces for a little bit.

Smart web story of the week (which means I was going to do it, but just hadn't had time to get there). Review of Bill McKibben's new book:

http://www.salon.com/books/int/2007/03/23/mckibben/