The Uniqueness of Nothing

It would have been unique to find nothing on a run. I think only once have I come home empty-handed and that was in part by design. I thought that would be the case Saturday. That’s right, Saturday. Friday, a scheduled running day, didn’t work out. And time was consumed Saturday by work and church commitments, leaving me to compose my thoughts at this late hour, more than half a day after I ran.

My feet compacted fresh wet snow Saturday morning. Another inch put us over the previous record for snowfall in February in Galesburg. Beyond the acclaimed uniqueness of snowflakes, which I did not witness falling, I was struck by the patterns in the melting snow along the gutters. No shape exactly repeated, no stretch of squiggles the same. 

Some details on a couple of Friday’s and Saturday’s finds. Riding home from work Friday, I stopped by Family Video. From there I headed east on Losey Street and was excited to see some noteworthy soft goods near Broad Street. The dirty hot pad and mostly clean Peace On Earth banner (divine protection? Cleanliness is next to Godliness after all.) were found along the terrace very near the street outside the Church of Christ Scientists, Broad and Losey. The hot pad is the coolest. No ironic pun intended. It reads: On the move. The Chevrolet ‘70s. BOB SHOTTENKIRK CHEVROLET “Putting You First Keeps Us First.” Abingdon, Ill. Phone 462-2396. It’s still pretty ratty after washing, but it’s still a neat memento. Oh, Shottenkirk is no longer in Abingdon, but there are dealerships elsewhere.

Saturday was looking to be a bust when I came upon a little stretchy blue circle (neoprene?) with a plastic clip attached to it. Looks like one of those dealy-bobs that you use to hang your water bottle from a D-ring, but it isn’t strong enough. Maybe it’s for clipping your keys to your water bottle or something like that. It’s from the North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness. The link will explain it. Weirdly, it stinks even after washing. C’mon, Tide!

 A block later, maybe less, a wad of dark something drew me over to the curb again. Reaching to pick it up I could see it was a knit item, most likely a stocking cap, but it appeared to possibly be mangled. I was quite excited to discover that not only was it in good shape, but it was a full ski mask, camouflage, with a fleece face. Very nice!

Saturday's Stats

Temp: 25 degrees F

Distance: 3.5 miles

Weekly Total: 15.3 miles

Treasure: 1 camo ski mask; 1 water bottle clip loop (NCCPHP); 1 generic cola can.

Bonus (From Friday): 1 Peace On Earth banner; 1 hot pad from Bob Shottenkirk Chevrolet, Abingdon, Illinois (c. 1970s); 1 pink knit glove; 1 black Thinsulate glove. 

iPod Playlist (shuffle)

Why Georgia (live) - John Mayer

Englishman in New York - Sting

Hear You Me - Jimmy Eat World

I Need You - The Beatles

You May Be Right - The Beatles

Your Body is a Wonderland (live) - John Mayer

Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) - Pink Floyd

Numb - Pink

You Like Me Too Much - The Beatles

I Hate You (My Friend) - John Oszajca

Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Just for the run of it

Broken Heartbeat of America?
Heartbeat of a Broken America?
Beat of a Broken-hearted America?

No bag, no backpack, just an iPod in the pouch of my hoodie. I hit the streets after dark today not intending to look for anything but the high. The pain. The labored, steady breathing. The rhythm of the run. Nothing more, nothing less.

As it turns out I did pick up a couple of irrestibles. On Broad Street the glint of light on shiny metal caught my eye and I stopped for a key ring. No fancy fob, just a split ring. A half mile later, at Cherry and Selden streets I noticed a busted mud flap in the gutter. Bypassed it at first, but I backtracked 20 steps to retrieve it. Just seemed it could be an artistic expression somehow if I cut out the "Heartbeat of America" slogan. Maybe that's a crazy notion, but so's the whole endeavor.

Well, there you have it. Not a lot, but all I got.

Today's Stats
Temp: 37 degrees F
Distance: 6.3 miles
Weekly Total: 11.8
Treasure: 1 Chevy mud flap (hole through it); 1 split ring (for keys, minus a fob).

Something to crow about from Monday's chilly run.

iPod Playlist (shuffle)
Slight Figure of Speech - The Avett Brothers
An Innocent Man - Billy Joel
Shame - Matchbox Twenty
Dazed and Confused - Led Zeppelin
From Me To You - The Beatles
Detox Mansion - Warren Zevon
Three is a Magic Number - Blind Melon
Breaking Us In Two - Joe Jackson
How Many More Times - Led Zeppelin
No Better Place - Fountains of Wayne
Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
Only The Good Die Young - Billy Joel
They Dance Alone - Sting
Catch My Disease - Ben Lee

Y William Penn?

Unmentionables! A bra stuffed under the windshield wipers
of a car on Bateman Street, just south of Fremont Street.

As a newsman by occupation I can tell you it is frustrating to have a story angle shot down by the facts. We've all seen the results of ignoring pesky realities: the story that is blatantly false or at the least so spun that the words swirl on the page before you.

Such was my luck today (yesterday by the time you read this). You see, I drove out to Farm King today in my search for the elusive axle nut. To my surprise I found the size I was looking for -- 10mm with 1.00 thread pitch. So I was going to lead with the catchy ol' Farm King jingle: "Farm King has everything for everyone." Lovely.

It would have been so freaking perfect. And a nice plug for Farm King, which really does have a lot of cool stuff, if their prices are a little high. So imagine my pissed-offedness when I got home and tried it on the axle. No fit. And I had to pop $5 for a whole box of 'em because they weren't in the single-piece bins.

But who care about that stuff? That was a car trip. Wait'll you hear about the run. I know, you're waiting -- impatiently no doubt. OK, so here it is. The moment you've all been waiting for ... the big reveal.

Today's route was inspired by another car find (sorry). Nearing my driveway, I spotted a YMCA membership key-card attached to a lanyard at the foot of a neighboring drive (auxiliary drive, not leading to the garage). Two keys were attached to the smashed key ring, a Chevy car key and a room/house key. Now, I could have asked the neighbors if they recognized the William Penn University lanyard, but I thought the surest ID would come from the YMCA, where staff could scan the bar code on the key card. So that's where I headed on my run at 4 p.m.

Bitch of it was, weather on my iPod said it was 37 degrees. which I figured was temperate enough to go with a short-sleeve base and a long-sleeve run shirt with nothing heavier on top. I did add gloves. But I was running into a headwind all the way out in a cold mist. After sticking my hands into a few puddles to extract cans, my fingers were frozen! Those red extremities were on that borderline between numbness and pain. 

Click on image for a larger version of the haul. We have a
Toyota hubcap, 5 socks, a Polaroid, a used Applebee's gift
card, a Mercury hubcap, a pair of gloves, a leather glove, ice
scraper and more.

So, I rested and warmed for a few minutes at the Y before heading back. I wrung out my gloves and kept my hands in tight fists most of the return trip to keep my fingers warmer. Picked up only a few more cans on the way back -- trying to protect my precious fingers -- plus the Toyota hubcap I noticed on the way out.

Oh, the Y card and Chevy key? ID'd as Andrew Fields. Good luck, Andrew.

Today's Stats
Temp: 37 degrees F
Distance: 5.5 miles
Treasure: 1 plastic Toyota hubcap; 4 white ankle socks; 1 knee-high black Air Jordan sock; 1 9 playing card from Hands Down; Applebee's gift card $25 (just checked, $0 balance -- damn!); 1 blue click pen, "In the mall 344-0124, On the square 734-2149 (that's a Galesburg number for Sandburg Mall and a Monmouth number -- I'll have to check the City Directory at work because the stupid pen bore no business name); 1 pair black cotton gloves (found separately, one on the way out, one on the way back); 1 Polaroid photo (woman and child on couch with an enormous black dog in the foreground); 65 cans.

Bonus Round (From Sunday biking to work and home)
Plush blue fish squeak toy; 1 ice scraper (blue handle); 1 Mercury hubcap; 1 leather glove; several cans (as yet uncounted).

Beth sends a multimedia message via phone on her walk to
work Monday morning: "It pays to walk." I love this pic.

iPod Playlist (shuffle)
Ghost Train - Counting Crows
For a Dancer - Jackson Browne
College Days - The Great Divide
Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX) - Pink Floyd
Be Still My Beating Heart - Sting
The Night Before - The Beatles
Oh Girl - Paul Young
How Far We've Come - Matchbox Twenty
3x5 - John Mayer
Fisherman's Blues - The Waterboys
It's Still Rock 'n Roll To Me - Billy Joel
Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles
Bitch - Meredith Brooks
83 - John Mayer
City Love (Live) - John Mayer

Obsession and Compulsion

It never ends. Strange and interesting stuff just throws itself in my path. And then there are the tips from friends and family. My wife sends me an email from her phone: "Lost items for you to 'find'?" Attached is a photo of an odd collection she spotted behind a shed in back of Whiting Hall, just south of the library parking lot.

I couldn't make out the large item in the center, but there was an audio cord with two male RCA jacks and a socket wrench. The central object appeared to be a book or journal. Turns out it was a Bible (English Standard Version, Classic Reference Bible by Crossway). Only slightly water damaged it is rather a nice Bible and I wonder if someone might be missing it. I told my wife to let me know if anyone comes into the library looking for the stuff.

The crazy thing is that on my way to the library via bike I found myself stopping at an annoying frequency to pick up cans. Really, it does get bothersome to have to keep stopping, bending over, stomping cans, opening the rucksack. ... On the one hand I am grateful for the litterbugs who throw away money (in the form of cans), but the compulsion to stop and pick them up can become grating on one's psyche -- or something. It's like knowing you have OCD and wanting to not give in to it, then feeling almost guilty if you don't. Weird. 

The curious cat is mine; she was not found on a bike ride
nor on a run. We got her from friends on a farm.

Treasure: 1 Bible; 1 audio cable with RCA jacks; 1 Snap-On socket wrench with 13mm socket; 1 girl's stocking cap with ear flaps and tassel; 1 fleece scarf (Old Navy); 1 Galesburg Honda Toyota key chain tab (no ring); 46 cans.

iPod Playlist (on shuffle)
Heartland - U2
Sister Moon - Sting
I'm Going Home - Hootie & The Blowfish
The Main Thing - Roxy Music
You Can't Always Get What You Want - Rolling Stones
For Absent Friends - Genesis
Treat Her Right - The Commitments
Bad Company - Bad Company
Pride (In the Name of Love) - U2
On the Turning Away - Pink Floyd
Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley - Robert Palmer
Dammit Janet - Barry Bostwick & Susan Sarandon
New York - U2
Country Honk - Rolling Stones
Hidden Bonus Track (State of the Union) - Drywall
I Hate You (My Friend) - John Oszajca
Let Her Cry - Hootie & The Blowfish

I said hip hop, a hibbi to da hibbi da hip hip hoppin'

Here we have black velour pants, 3 gloves, 3 washcloths,
1 cool lanyard and a fleece stole/scarf. See previous post
for details on these beautiful items.

Well, all I got at this late hour is the previously promised photo of the soft goods collected today. Turns out the three white hand towels are actually large washcloths. They're kinda like the ones they have in hotels, which means somebody else probably stole 'em, felt guilty about it, used 'em as garage rags and dumped 'em in their trash. They subsequently fell out and I found 'em on the terrace after trash day. At least that's my theory.

So, to give y'all a little bonus, below are the songs from the home mix CD I found earlier this week. Remember, it was called "Throwback," which makes no sense since this is all current music. Big shout-out of thanks to daughter No. 3 for doing the bulk of the work on identifying the tracks. Way to go, Molly!

Throwback - The Mix
Replay - Iyaz
Love in This Club - Usher
Say Yeah - Wiz Khalifa
Eenie Meenie Miney Moe Lover - Sean Kingston (with Justin Bieber)
Tell Everyone That You Know - Kanye West (ft. Lil Wayne)
Shake It - Metro Station
Let Your Shoulder Lean - Young Dro (ft. T.I.)
Show Stopper - Danity Kane
Smack That - Akon
Somebody to Love - Justin Bieber
Soundtrack 2 My Life - Kid Cudi
Spendin' All My - Aaron Fresh
Stronger - Kanye West
I'm Sprung - Tpain
Teenage Dream - Some crappy karaoke version
There It Go - Juelz Santana
This Is Why I'm Hot - Mims
Thong Song - Sisqo
Boom, Shake, Drop - FloRida (ft. Pitbull)

My Dad Made Me a Nut

Shower curtain with rings
still attached. But we had
sun and no showers today.

Remember those shirts with the slogan "Insanity is hereditary ... I got it from my kids"? Or words to that effect. Well, this was kind of the reverse. Not really. Dad used his tap set to re-thread a nut for my bike axle. We were hopeful it would do the trick. No luck. I am convinced it is a size not readily available and I think this test proves me right. Might have to order a box of 'em.

Anyway, so the bike repair saga continues. Time to get to work on my Trek so I am at least making progress on something.

Today was another errand run. I waited until afternoon, then I had to wait a little longer to let my pizza digest. First stop: Dad's. But I could see he wasn't home so I didn't actually stop there and continued on to the video store to return "Middle Men." Interesting movie about the guys who pioneered online credit card payment (for their porn sites, of course). Then it was on to downtown where I was supposed to make a bank deposit, but like silly uncle Billy in "It's a Wonderful Life," I forgot (at least I didn't lose the money). 

Fork in the grass, lower right.

The library marked the halfway point, roughly. There I was faced with a fork in the road. Almost literally. Actually it was a fork in the ground, sticking out of the west lawn in front of the library. That's my second fork (not that they'll see use for dining purposes; perhaps as garden tools or something).

On the return trip I went by the folks' house again and Dad was home. We talked nuts and bikes and he got a preview of today's treasures, which he found rather amusing -- an who wouldn't be humored by random gloves, golf tees, scissors, fork and travel tissues?

Back home I tried out my new nut. You know how that turned out. As I disrobed to do my second round of sit-ups and shower, I discovered I had neglected to make the bank deposit. D'Oh! So I knew a second outing was looming. Borrowing my wife's bike (glad I bought it for her), I pedaled out to the branch bank on Henderson Street. Along the way I spotted several cans and a couple of promising piles of cloth. Hmmm, better stop at Big Lots and make a small purchase (Mountain Dew Code Red and a Kit Kat) so I have a bag for hauling goodies.

Hardware from today. Soft goods will be pictured later after
laundry is dry. Watch for an update.

This trip netted a Spider-Man ball in the bushes outside the bank, a pair of velour pants (like a woman's warm-up outfit) and some white hand towels. Now, I'm sure people think I'm a nut when they see me stop and stoop to pick up cans and "garbage" along the streets and sidewalks. And even I wonder what I'll do with most of this stuff -- like the broken power line separator I picked up Thursday. But I guess it's just something to do and something to write about for what minor entertainment value it brings. It can be cause for speculation about how these items became lost or why they were discarded, or, as has been the case with a few things, I can make someone's day by returning a lost ID or glove.

Today's Stats
Temp: 48 degrees F
Distance: 3.91 miles
Weekly total: 13.05 miles
Treasure: 1 Mad Catz lanyard; 2 poker chips (one red, one blue); 7 neon golf tees (in "American Graffiti" Harrison Ford described this color as a "cross between puke green and piss yellow"); 1 pair craft scissors; 3 gloves; 1 fork; 1 white T-shirt (oil stained and holey); 1 pack travel tissues; 1 plastic flower; 1 fleece scarf/stole (lavender); 37 cans.

Bonus Round: 3 white hand towels (quite dirty); 1 pair black velour pants with red nylon accent stripes at seams, size 18-20; Spider-Man rubber ball; Acura hubcap cover? (rather thin for a luxury brand auto)[ two 6's from Hands Down card game.

Thursday (while biking): 1 gas cap; 1 arrow (no nock); 1 power line separator (broken)

iPod Playlist (shuffle)
Stop - Pink Floyd
Love Me Do - The Beatles
Someday - Rob Thomas
Save Me - Remy Zero
Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner - Warren Zevon
Bent - Matchbox Twenty
Maggie Mae - The Beatles
Is There Anybody Out There? - Pink Floyd
The Long and Winding Road - The Beatles
Running to Stand Still - U2
Hello, Goodbye - The Beatles
I Feel Fine - The Beatles
Covered In Rain (live) - John Mayer

Nut-Hunt Blues

I'm going nuts. Or, more precisely, I am going nut. My search for the proper right nut — for my bicycle, gutter mind — is turning into a genuine quest. Lowe's didn't have a 10mm 1.0 metric nut. Menards came close. They at least had a pullout bin marked for exactly that size nut, but it was empty. Another bin contained a 10mm nut with the thread gauge identified only as "fine," so I gave that a try. Nope. 

Three options remain in town: People's Do-It Center, Tractor Supply Co. and Farm King. Blame the Brits for my trouble. The 1969 Robin Hood was made by Raleigh in Nottingham, England. Then again, maybe it is Americans' stubborn reluctance to convert to the metric system. Whatever happened to that movement? I distinctly remember having to learn about metrics in fifth grade because the world would soon be in concert regarding units of weight and measure. Huh. You see, had we pursued that conversion, every hardware store would be well-stocked with nuts of multiple millimeter measurements. Alas.

Oh, but enough of that sad tale. The game was afoot this morning. I was on another hunt. A co-worker shared a tip yesterday afternoon about a noteworthy find resting at the edge of a storm drain on a corner near The R-M. Initially I declined his offer of directions to its location, wishing to find it on my own. I made a cursory loop around nearby intersections as I biked home but spotted nothing. So I decided to alter my run route this morning and diverged from my neighborhood route at the 2-mile mark and headed downtown. 

I hit every corner I thought a probable location based on the phrase "just down the street," which Nick uttered as he motioned to the south with a wave of a hand when I asked him yesterday where he saw this bizarre object. No luck. My text asking for specific location received only half of the answer: It takes two streets to form an intersection and Nick revealed only one. 

Deflowering

 At last, I received explicit directions and the caveat that the object in question could be under some snow by now, with all the melt and collapse of drifts, especially right at a storm drain. Well, it wasn’t covered by snow but it had migrated further into the little snow cave over the drain and was wedged between two bars of the grate. Here it is at right. I couldn’t quite figure out the origins of a hollow penis head with a notch out of one side, but a friend more worldly than I explained it was one of those table-top hoppers, minus the hopping feet mechanism. Wow.

So, that one might not technically count in the street scavenger catalog, but it certainly is something you don’t find every day. Thanks again, Nick, for the tip.

Today's Stats

Temp: 34 degrees F

Distance: 5.14 miles

Weekly Total: 9.14 miles

Treasure: 1 Comfort Inn electronic room key; 1 small green bungee cord (attached to remnant of newspaper rain bags); 1 frozen Kit Kat bar (snack size);1 locking gas cap (apparently somebody forgot to lock it); 1 small nut (no, it doesn't fit my bike); 1 5/8” bolt 1¾ inches long; 1 bulb syringe (in the Cottage Medical Plaza lot); 1 Let It Snow yard flag; 1 plastic and cloth flower; 25 cans.

 iPod Playlist (shuffle)

Mr. Blue - Garth Brooks

Blue Eyes - Cary Brothers

Pressure - Billy Joel

Perfect Blue Buildings - Counting Crows

Lightning Crashes - Live

The Show Must Go On - Pink Floyd

Love Song for No One (live) - John Mayer

Yellow Submarine - The Beatles

It's Only Love - The Beatles

Get the Party Started - Pink

Sweet Thing - The Waterboys

Act Naturally - The Beatles

Let the Day Begin (live) - The Call

Goodnight Saigon - Billy Joel

In The River - The Call

Back on the chain gang

The Robin Hood in repair dock. I had to move him
to the back of the garage while I track down a new nut.

I'm all out of transportation but personal locomotion. I own three bikes and none is rideable today. After months of procrastination I finally tore into my Trek 830 mountain bike to do some long-overdue maintenance. Besides replacing the original shift and brake cables on the 16-year-old veteran, I was intent on replacing the crankset (the front sprockets and pedal cranks. 

So the Trek is in pieces in the basement, one part broken and another stuck beyond my muscle. No worries, though, I thought. Robin Hood is still rolling along as he has all winter. But Sunday evening as I rode to church for a special jazz vespers service to benefit the Jack Larson Shoe Project, the chain slipped off the sprockets. Now, I saw this coming, or should have. I noticed how slack it was a couple weeks ago. But, like the dolt who figures as long as the car is running, all you need to worry about is the gas tank, I decided it was doing just fine in that state and let it be.

D'Oh!

Well, not to worry. A 42-year-old chain loaded with grime just needs a good cleaning and a little readjustment of the rear wheel to set it back in motion. Alas, as with any mechanical project I undertake, this simple task was frought with obstacles. In removing the belligerent chain, I managed to break my new chain-breaker. Well, it might still work, but a piece broke off it. Fortunately I have another. The chain was wretched. Even after a 20-minute soak in degreaser and a furious scrubbing, at least a couple links seemed to bind.

Time for a new chain! Off I ran to Wal-Mart. Yeah, I kinda hate Walmart (I still want to spell it the old way, hyphen, uppercase M, but the company has adopted the one-word style). My year and a half boycott of Wally World, which has been broken but thrice, was based on their insistance that I check my backpack at customer service while I perused the store. Prejudice against bicyclists, I declared! Women carry bigger purses and smuggle stolen goodies under their babies, so why offend the poor cyclist over a backpack? But I digress. Sorry. Point is, I ran to Walmart for a chain (only place in town that carries them) and home again -- 4 miles! -- so I killed two birds with one stone.

Then it turns out the chain is too short. WTF!? Just my luck. The package specifies it is for 1- or 3-speed bikes. Mine is a 3-speed. Well, I figure the best course of action now is to attack the original chain again with more gusto and try to loosen those sticky links. That accomplished -- sort of -- I reassemble the chain (thankfully I have a spare master link, because the original was lost somewhere, sometime during the cleaning process. Is this for real?).

The offending nut.

I am home free. The drivetrain is pretty darned clean and, in some spots, shining. I pull the chain taut, wrench the chain-side axle nut tight and move to the opposite side to straighten the wheel and finish. The nut snugs down, but then spins over and over with each successive turn of the wrench. Something's stripped. God, grant me patience.

I determine it's the nut and head off to Dad's to look for a replacement, having found nothing in my supply of odds and ends. Dad has a few possible fits (later I realize they're not) and also a tap and die set. In addition to snagging a few possible replacements, I attempt to re-thread the nut with the tap. No luck. So, the tools are stored and a return trip to Dad's is planned to get the thread gauge to identify the right size nut for my next trip to Menards or Lowe's.

And friends wonder why I fear and fret over bicycle maintenance. I really do enjoy it, or at least I would like to enjoy it and do when it goes as planned. But such travails are frustrating beyond words.

Oh well, at least I got in my run.

Today's Stats
Temp: 37 degrees F
Distance: 4 miles
Treasure: 1 1/2-inch combination wrench; 1 rubber gas cap; 1 homemade CD titled "Throwback"; 1 black knit glove with skeletal print; 1 gas- and oil-soaked shop rag; 1 ballpoint pen; 30 cans.

iPod Playlist (shuffle)
Tell Her About It - Billy Joel
Nobody Home - Pink Floyd
I Can't Let You Go - Matchbox Twenty
Breathe (2AM) - Anna Nalick
Faith - Ryan McCullough
Splendid Isolation - Warren Zevon
Mr. Roboto - Styx
Expecting - The Call
Caring is Creepy - The Shins
Drink (Acoustic) - Fiction Plane
New Way to Fly - Garth Brooks
No Such Thing (Live) - John Mayer

I once was lost...

Three articles of clothing frozen in a drift.

"...But now am found."

I imagine that might be the sentiment of some of the items I've found over the past four months, if inanimate objects could speak or think. Or maybe they'd say, "Put me down! Give me back! Leave me alone!" After all, isn't that how some of us react in the face of "Amazing Grace"?

I leave that for you to ponder. This isn't a theological blog. I guess I went down that road because today's finds were picked up while riding to and from church. Though I have a confession to make, while we're talking about religion, however briefly or disconnectedly. The best items today were spotted yesterday (from the driver's seat of my car -- sorry) and I couldn't help but return for them. No, I do not purposely scout out treasures nor do I plant items for myself to "find" later. Heck (like how I didn't say "hell" since I'm taking a religious tone), I would have written about this stuff had I picked it up while driving, too; but honestly, I was too sheepish to grab the frozen goods from the snow drift yesterday in the light of day with eyes watching. Nobody was looking at 7:50 Sunday morning.

What, you are asking, could be so alluring as to command a return for pickup that meant riding several blocks out of my way while headed for church on a Sunday morning? Well, nothing less that two fine T-shirts and a pair of plaid boxer shorts. Of course, I didn't know how fine these items were yesterday, or even this morning when I pried the frozen cloth from the snow. But it turns out they're pretty nice: a Hollister T-shirt, an Aeropostale T-shirt (apparently brand new because it was still bearing its sale tag of $18.99 -- perhaps it was stolen) and a pair of Hanes boxers. All are size small. 

 Also notable, though less exciting, is the camouflage finger mitten found in the Cottage Medical Plaza parking lot. Oh, and I have to trumpet a find from Friday and Saturday. Biking home from work Friday I came across a blue glove, sort of a fleece material. I scanned the area for a mate but didn't spy it. Driving home from errands Saturday, I spot something in the roadway in the vicinity of the previous glove discover. Pulling into the lot at Kellogg and Losey, I put the car in neutral, engage the parking brake and dash into the street (after looking both ways!) and snatch up ... you guessed it ... the mate to the blue glove!

Everything is in the wash now; well, actually the wash is done and they're in the dryer. Already washed up the butter knife, toy keys (one that says "Parents" on it) and the tiny, fully articulated girl doll. I think she might like the McDonald's superhero guy I found long ago. I'll see if they hit it off. 
 
The wash is done and the clothes are clean. I even persuaded someone to model the shirts. Sorry, nobody's gonna don the boxers and I wouldn't ask that of anyone.The gloves look nice, too,

Today's Stats
Temp: 32 degrees F
Distance: 2.9 miles (by bike)
Treasure: 19 cans; 1 aluminum baking pan; 1 butter knife; 1 camouflage mitten/glove; 2 toy keys; 2 T-shirts, size small; 1 pr. plaid boxers, size small; 1 tiny girl doll, fully articulated.

 iPod Playlist (shuffle)
Prove Your Love - Taylor Dayne
A New Machine - Part 2 - Pink Floyd
Across the Universe - The Beatles
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2
Heart of Mine - Oak Ridge Boys
Try (Live) - John Mayer Trio
Yellow Submarine - The Beatles
Take Me for a Little While - Coverdale-Page
We Work the Black Seam - Sting

Get up, get back on your feet...

"You're the one they can't beat and you know it."

Triumphant return!

The worst thing about an injury is the disruption in routine. I don't consider myself a real creature of habit, but I guess we all are to a lesser or greater degree. And habits die hard, even the good ones. So once you've developed a good habit, like running, it's hard to break that routine just because of a little ol' muscle pull. Eventually, hopefully, wisdom holds sway and you take a break from the good habit.

Ah, healing. Feels a little better after a week. Hmmm. Maybe I should do just a short run. NO! Ya gotta be firm with yourself. Be smart about this. So you skip a few more days. Ah, healing. And relaxing. Oooh. Apart from the growing gut this feels pretty nice (I know, a pack and a half of Lorna Doones in a sitting doesn't help). Sleeping in, lounging around, No slave to routine is this guy. But you're foolin' yourself. You've become a slave to a new routine, an unhealthy one. Now you (that is to say I) have to break this bad routine of sloth.

Now, I could bow out another day (sore back began yesterday for some reason -- seriously, honest) and wait 'til Monday. But then that's just three more days of bad routine. The back really isn't that sore (seriously, honest). So today it is. Back on the streets.

Right left behind.

 I'm back from my run, refreshed, cleansed and clean. "Yeaow! I feel good," to quote the Godfather of Soul. I did three miles in 34 minutes, not far off my usual pace, which I'd say isn't bad for an inaugural trot on icy streets. And I even managed to pick up a handful of cans, a glove and some other knit remnant I have yet to identify (probably trash). I did bypass a kid's mitten that was atop the snow just off the street along the route to Silas Willard School (he or she just might return for it, however unlikely).

Today's Stats
Temp: 16 degrees F
Distance: 3 miles
Treasure: 1 leather glove, Thinsulate lined; 1 misc. knit remnant, unidentified; 15 cans.

iPod Playlist (shuffle)
Everywhere I Go - The Call

Two of  a Kind, Workin' On a Full House - Garth Brooks

Bed of Lies - Matchbox Twenty

Foolish Games - Jewel

Captain Jack - Billy Joel

I and Love and You - The Avett Brothers

Brothers in Arms - Dire Straits