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Weight History
showing entries 16 to 20 of 86
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23 March 2016
The nesting season has started, at least for the robins.
I ran this morning, along the road parallel and above where I live and, gardens and fields are lined with bushes used by a variety of passerine birds to nest in. I saw a few robins busy carrying twigs and other materials involved in nest building and one in particular, sitting on a garden wall, was possibly pregnant with eggs, as its body looked fuller and rounder than usual. But I cannot be sure as male and female robins look virtually identical.
House sparrows and blue tits were also out and about, a lone male sparrow sitting prominently on top of a budding but still naked shrub and, singing at the top of his voice. The blue tits were keeping to the higher trees and indulging in their usual acrobatics, hanging almost upside down from branches and suddenly diving through space, only beating their wings at intervals to keep themselves in the air. I even saw two wrens at a few minutes of interval, tiny little birds with a round body and a cocked up tail, hopping about on branches and looking busy.
The sparrows were the most vocal and conspicuous of all the birds, fluttering and chasing each other, all the while churping loudly but never going far from the sanctuary of the dense bushes. Immobile, they're almost invisible against the brownish grey of the trunk and branches and more often than not, I can hear them but won't be able to see them as I run past their hiding place ... but today, their lightning quick movements, in addition to their racket, would make them very noticeable to the eye. It was as if this tiny part of the world was suddenly full of sparrows... Their agitation didn't seem to disturb the wood pidgeons and the magpies going about their business in the nearby trees.
I saw a pidgeon flying low and crossing the road in front of me. It landed on top of a wall and, as I ran closer, it suddenly and
powerfully
defecated a long and light-coloured stream of excrements, before flying off and alighting on a roof. I couldn't help laughing at the stunt and at how strangely relieved the bird looked.
Aloof and unconcerned by the carry-ons below, seagulls were gliding high above in the grey sky, cawing and hardly beating their wings.
(2 comments)
14 March 2016
My thighs and the oblique muscles on the sides of my abdomen, are sore today so I am having a rest... I assume this is due to my resuming of running yesterday, after having a break from it over the winter period.
I know some people exercise every day but I am more than ever going to stick to exercise every two days, with a day of rest inbetween. It works for me and, after a few runs, I expect the body will get back into it and the aches will go. It's a real pity I had to stop running outdoors for about two months but the weather was just atrocious and would have made such endeavour dangerous.
There is a tiny little river that runs parallel to the street where we live: as far as I'm aware it hasn't got a name. It is located deep below and can hardly be seen through the branches of the trees that grow on both banks, even in winter when they are deprived of their foliage. Insignificant, forgotten and invisible, the stream with no name can sometimes be heard if you focus your attention and the urban noises aren't as dominant as usual. You can also occasionally smell the almost intangible coolness of its waters as the solitary and elusive rivulet sings to itself. The steep banks covered in vegetation are fenced and inaccessible, adding to the remoteness of the runnel. Its presence can only be guessed and it often turns out that many people living nearby aren't even aware of it! I don't know where it takes its source and its subterranean destination is unknown.
I went to the supermarket with my partner this morning and, as we drove out of the street where we live and turned into the road going across and above the little river, we noticed a dead badger in the middle of it, lying on its side on the tarmac.
Badgers normally come out at night to forage and, that particular one had more than likely been hit by a car. For some unexplained reason, someone had pushed what seemed to be a piece of white cloth against the rear legs of the dead animal.
This is the third time in two weeks that we encounter a dead badger in the area: last week, one was found dead on the patch of grass adorning the pavement in front of a block of houses lining one side of the river. The cause of death was unclear but it may have been hit by a car and, maybe still had enough strength to crawl to the grass and give up its last breath there.
A few days before, as I walked to the shop, I saw another badger lying lifeless on the pavement, near the naked brambles, not far from the same block of houses. Again, I couldn't determine the cause of its demise but assumed it may have been hit by a car, even though such event happening when the animal was presumably walking on the pavement seems unlikely. Maybe it was the victim of a heart attack?
Why I am seeing more dead badgers than foxes for example? There are a lot of foxes in the area and they are visible at any hour of the day and night, yet I haven't seen a single one lying dead on the road or anywhere else. I have seen badgers strolling about in little groups on the streets but only very late at night and they were quick to go in hiding if they noticed someone was nearby and looking at them.
It makes me wonder if wild animals that live in a urban environment are streetwise enough to avoid getting run over by cars or if they merely avoid road accident by being nocturnal, when the road traffic is greatly reduced. Maybe the dead badgers were young, inexperienced animals unused to traffic?
(15 comments)
13 March 2016
I ran this morning, for the first time in two months, as the weather has considerably improved. I was a bit concerned that I would be out of condition but it would have been sinful not to take advantage of the sun and I ran all the way to the sea, for half an hour. The first ten minutes were hard as they always seem to be, regardless of my fitness level, but it felt great afterwards. I expect my doing the cardiovascular exercises at the gym over the period of time when I didn't run, kept me fit.
There were a few runners out and about. The fishermen's huts were all open and stocked with fish but I hadn't taken my purse with me so I couldn't get any...
I fancied going to the swimming pool afterwards but thinking that it would be busy, as it is sunday after all, made me decide to go tomorrow morning.
As I ran past fields, I noticed a few areas had been completely cleared of brambles and bushes and, the remains of said plants left in a pile to rot, as they had grossly and exponentially overgrown over the winter period.
I saw two magpies pecking and fighting over some food in the middle of the road. The birds took off as I ran closer and, as I looked at it, it turned out the bit of food was a little mouse or a rodent of some variety or other. Its yellowish fur was wet, as the magpies had pushed and rolled the little body about on the damp tarmac. It didn't move and just laid there, lifeless. As I ran off and had my back turned on them, I heard the magpies cawing and resume their squabbling over it. I have no idea if they killed it themselves or if they had found it already dead.
Trees are budding in earnest and some are already in bloom. I would like to go to Alexandra Park this week to see if the cherry trees are already in flower: it is probably too early still but it wouldn't surprise me if they are or, if not, the flowers are out but haven't opened as yet.
(22 comments)
11 March 2016
First reason to celebrate: I had the swimming pool to myself this morning and swam alone for 45 minutes.
Second reason to celebrate: my partner has resurrected the toaster.
:D
(2 comments)
10 March 2016
I went to the gym yesterday, at around 11 in the morning. I normally do a minimum of one hour of exercise once every two days, allowing a day's rest inbetween, for the muscles to repair themselves. I tend to do 30 minutes on the bicycle, then the same amount of time on the elliptical machine and the rowing machine, depending on availability, as other people may be using them as well. I don't do 5 minutes on a machine and then leave as I've seen many people do.
A lady in her late forties or early fifties got in as I was pedalling and reading the newspapers at the same time and said 'hi'. As she stepped onto the elliptical machine, she asked me if the machine was working as it didn't switch on as normally expected. I told her to ask the guy at reception as I didn't know. She didn't bother and just used the machine for 5 minutes. We talked a little bit: she owns a lodge in the camp and is planning to use the gym every day but as she only got into exercise very recently, she takes it very easy for now and will raise the intensity step by step. When she said she intended to use the gym every day, I wondered if it is a safe thing to do. I didn't say anything but when I did the C25K program for example, even on the first week, which mixed short bursts of running with walking, it was recommended to allow a minimum of one day's rest between sessions, even though looking back, the runs weren't particularly intense. Unless she uses the machines for 5 minutes each? Then it is probably safe to do so every day without ill effect but would it be worth it? I am finding the all endeavour rather puzzling.
I had always read and heard that the body needs at least a day to recover after exercising as the muscles get damaged. So I wondered how you can exercise every day without risk to your health. What do you all think?
(12 comments)
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