the Way of the Turtle

OOMS AFTER DARK...
1.3 Mile Walk at Ooms Conservation Area
Saturday, December 1, 2012

Meant to go for a short run this week and see how the foot responded... didn't happen. Meant to go for a walk las night... didn't happen. Busy week, work-wise, plus it doesn't help that two nights I came home and ended up falling asleep for a while in the evening - not sleeping soundly at night is definitely taking a toll. Then last night I had what is becoming an annoyingly common experience - took the car in for a half hour procedure (swap on the winter tires) and walked out almost 2 1/2 hours later (4 wheel allignment, with the machine apparently acting cranky.)

Today, on the other hand, seemed pretty safe. Spend a big chunk of the morning doing laundry, then pack a couple bags and head for CT, with stops for walking along the way. Except sorting the dang laundry took longer than I anticipated (probably because I don't usually sort it, but today there was just too much and it needed to be sorted for me to get it all back home.) And then the computer started acting up in a new way (the card reader has vanished from the system. Worked fine last night when I transferred an album to the card in my player for the car, but today - nothing.) And a dozen other little things popped up, culminating in a request from the guys upstairs to check their water heater and my discovering that it had died much like my own did a little over a year ago, which meant conversations with the landlord, etc, etc.

Enough griping. I almost gave up on going for a walk today, but then decided that I could stop at Ooms on the way south, and that's what I did. Walked up to the gazebo and back. Would have been nice if the night sky had been clear, since it's just past the full moon, but instead it was cloudy - which led to a bit of an unfortunate surprise. I always remember cloudy nights being pitch black out in the fields - can't see your hand in front of your face. But in the areas around Ooms there's an incredible amount of light pollution, and not just over by Albany/Rensselaer like you'd expect. Even without the moon I had no trouble seeing the path (of course, the half inch of snow helped.) Geese were noisy out on the pond, and every once in a while I could see their dark shapes against the silvery reflection of the sky on the water.

Walking at Ooms tonight definitely improved my mood... with luck it will still be light enough for me to stop there on the way home tomorrow as well, and maybe actually see where I'm walking a little more clearly.

JMH