And his attempts to find variety in his walks, avoid Terreeeblay the treadmill, keep his doctor happy and himself alive and vibrant!
"The Blog Almost Too Boring To Be The Most Boring Blog in America ... for Over 5 Years!"
until it got too many red cards from Wounded Duck and the Boredom Enforcement Committee ... now the tortoise's goal is to get to 10 red cards so he can get Big Dog to drive down and take a good long walk with the tortoise
P. S. This blog listens to its readers. We have the Benjamin Category Override for 5+ mile walks and now, it humbles Tortoise to say he has been named "Lou", by Doug Jr, in memory of Mr. Consistency himself, Lou Gehrig. Tortoise can hardly type the words to think he is in any way comparable to the noble Iron Horse. Thank you!
Mile 671. The sign has been unveiled at the State Road 9 trailhead into Confluence Park. A good reason for Tortoise to return! He saw three deer hanging on to the cliff high above the muddy, debris filled Virgin River following this afternoon's thunderstorm. The deer were doing fine. Tortoise watched them in amazement at their climbing ability. After that he listened to a fine thought by Richard Scott and took more pictures ... Cheerio!
Mile 546. Lou went off to pick up eggs, buttermilk, and lemons at the store this morning. Sounds like something good's cooking in the kitchen! To add a hill to the mix, Tortoise dropped into Confluence Park on the Cactus Cliff trail at the west end of Center Street. As soon as he got to the trail junction at the bottom, he turned around and went right back up. That 14% grade will get you every time! There are two walking thoughts today. Another high quality one by Henry Eyring, followed by one from Tortoise, telling you another thread of his history. This time it is about a math teacher from the eighth grade, Mr. George Wendt, who was energetic and loved helping students find "aha!" moments. We lost Mr. Wendt at age 75 to lymphoma a few days ago, so Lou is in reminiscing mode ... Cheerio!
Mile 428. Tortoise enjoyed movie night at home with his family. His sweet lady had been telling him for months how much he would enjoy this movie, and she was right, of course. Many memories came back of growing up in the height of the Cold War (that didn't feel all that cold, actually). Yes, we really had those discussions, watched those films of nuclear destruction, and did those drills in school. Perhaps you have heard Lou not so jokingly imitate the once frequently heard broadcast: "This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test. If this were a real nuclear emergency, you would be vaporized instantly." Those days weren't all bad, of course, and tonight was most enjoyable! Following the show, Tortoise walked round trip to the Red Box at Maverik to return the movie. Walking thought was provided by Dieter Uchtdorf, appropriately tonight, he told of a nurse who asked a simple question of the terminally ill patients she cared for ... Cheerio!
Mile 361. Tortoise wanted to do something special for this walk, for a couple reasons. Today completes a full year of walking six days a week, Monday to Saturday, without taking one of those days off. Also, he is finally getting near to catching up with his walking goal at this point of the year. Yesterday's walk put Lou within 2.14 miles, and he thought the year mark would be a good day to pass the goal too. It was the first day of a three day business trip. This one started on Los Angeles's Westside, a place of many memories for Tortoise of days long passed in life's rear view mirror. Before embarking on a career at a desk, Lou used to do a lot of walking. More even than he has resumed doing in these past five years of walking and blogging. He wanted to go to seminary, held before school at his church, sufficiently to enroll in a high school near the church pictured above. This meant providing his own transportation ... on foot. Tortoise actually had a college degree before a driver's license, but then, that is a story for another day. This day's story is recreating that daily walk that occurred from February 1968 through June 1970. Lou hopes you enjoy it. The walking thought is by Kent Richards ... Cheerio!
Mile 316. It was an unusual third day with welcome rain in southern Utah. Tortoise had tired bones and muscles and actually didn't much feel like walking, but seeing how that is unacceptable, he walked anyway, slowed the pace a touch and enjoyed the air freshened by the rain. This family shown above playing ball were enjoying it too. Today's walking thought is different than our usual pattern here. It is a poem written by Bruce McConkie, set to music by John Longhurst, and sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Wounded Duck sent Tortoise a link to a 1976 BYU devotional address by Elder McConkie, which brought back many memories, because Lou was there just beginning studies towards a masters degree and heard it live. It also brought back memories because Elder McConkie three years before that, in 1973, had toured his mission in London where Lou heard him speak several times in the course of a week. Lou also had a very brief personal interview with him in the Medway LDS Chapel in Gillingham, England. .
A picture of a picture is not the greatest technology, but through the trees
is the Medway chapel, kind of gives you a feel for the location.
A better view of the Medway chapel
Elder McConkie was a large man, 6 feet 5 inches tall, and his voice matched his size. It was full of passion and energy for his subject matter, which always seemed to focus on the life and ministry of Christ. The full devotional address is a true classic, and Lou thoroughly enjoyed hearing it again on his walk. However it is long for this blog post at about 44 minutes, so Tortoise hopes you will enjoy its distillation into 5 minutes of glorious song. Cheerio!
Mile 258. Is this a pretty place for a playground or what? This was about a mile and a quarter into Tortoise's walk up the 870 West hill, and beyond, this evening. Walking thought was provided by Henry Eyring ...
Mile 106. Today's variation on the hill up from the office was to cross 600 North and climb the hill to just above Stout Park to get the best look at a particularly nice view of West Temple in Zion Park that appeared this evening. Tortoise was accompanied by Becca on the phone, we were having a lovely conversation about Macs, Windows, external hard drives, school districts, and the like. So perhaps she will be surprised that the picture above is instead of a sunset that presented itself later in the walk. You'll just have to click the link below to continue reading, in order to see the picture of West Temple and read the day's walking thought by Thomas Monson ...
Mile 151. A high quality Tortoise walk to pass 150 miles for the year. Another five mile walk where the terrain was hilly enough for a 4.6 Tortoise rating without the need for a Benjamin category override. We get some fifty year old Tortoise history while we are at it, in a location that when the Pacific Crest Trail was later established, passes through. It's known for being a good filming location, and Lou had to wait for a film crew to clear the road when the walk was complete and he headed to his next appointment. There are over seventy pictures waiting for you and other details of today's walk, along with a classic walking thought by Gordon Hinckley, when you click below to continue reading ... Cheerio!
Mile 979. Started at Grand Ave at the north end of El Segundo beach and headed south on the Marvin Braude Bike Trail to the end of the Strand at the Manhattan Beach line. Then turned around and walked to lifeguard station 57 (most of the way to Imperial Highway) before returning to my starting point. There's a map of all this, a very generous portion of pictures including a 37 second video clip, a snippet of Tortoise history, and today's walking thought by Malcolm Jeppsen waiting for you when you click below to continue reading ... Cheerio!
Where do you go to walk in Las Vegas that is well lit and reasonably secure at night, and isn't the Strip? Tortoise's answer this evening was to walk 2.02 miles of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus. Path was virtually flat with a few stairs climbed, totalling 18 feet, making the tortoise rating 6.2. He burned 314 calories along the way. For a map, more pictures, and today's walking thought from F. Burton Howard, please click below to continue reading ...
Another very busy day, another late night minimum distance walk of a mile and a little extra from the house and back again. Tortoise really wants to stay vibrantly alive, so he remains committed. Total today was 2.13 miles with 55 feet climbed in 35:58 minutes. Tortoise rating was 5.6; calories burned were 333. For a map, a thought from Marion Hanks that I heard while walking, and some more of my history that made me think of, please click below to continue reading ... Cheerio!
Rain is coming, so Tortoise was determined to start early today! He walked 3.51 miles with 117 feet climbed in 58:53 minutes. The uphill half of the path averaged a 5.5 tortoise rating, and Tortoise burned 559 calories on today's effort. If you click to continue reading, you will be rewarded not only with a map, but also with a thought from Carlos E. Asay which Josh will enjoy because he was the Salt Lake Temple president who gave him instruction when he took out his endowments, and Darin will find interesting because he uses Neil Armstrong's famous phrase to describe Joseph Smith's first Vision ...
Here's Tortoise's view halfway through today's 3.58 mile walk at 6:36 am. He went up and back down 76 feet along the way in 58:36 minutes. Tortoise rating was 5.7; calories burned were 587. For a map, a parting thought from Victor L. Brown at the conclusion of 28 years of service as a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and more, please click below to continue reading ...
Doug Jr., the biggest Alta Loma fan I know, will be pleased to recall an Alta Loma connection for Bishop Brown. As for me, this good Bishop was one of the people I looked up to all while I was growing up. More on that below as well.
I got my kicks on Route 66 last night after finishing my appointments for the day and doing initiatories at the temple. You didn't know the Los Angeles Temple was originally on Route 66 before it was renumbered as the famous (in our family) California highway 2? Amazing what you useless but fun trivia you will learn on the terreeeblay blog. I did a loop. (starting past the junior high that I walked to, as an 8th grader to attend summer school, because I wanted to. OK tell me I'm crazy, I can handle it ...) Then followed the path I used to walk to get there for roughly half way, then returned back past my high school and along Santa Monica Blvd ("Route 66")., that road Sheryl Crow made famous. 5.02 miles with 234 feet climbed in 1:42:14 hours. Tortoise rating would be 6.0 because of the low elevation, but it earned its Benjamin category override to 5 based on the five mile distance and the fact I pulled a muscle halfway through and had no choice but to finish. (I'm going to be fine).
There's plenty of pictures with the map if you click below to continue reading ...
1:00 Woke, then tried to be quiet for an hour in and out of the little room we called the water closet in England. I think I was most successful, although at the end I was also trying to stifle a cough. C'est la vie! Finally settled down after taking 2 1/2 tablespoons of Western Family's version of the famous pink medicine you take when you have these issues. Knott's Berry Farm's Ghost Town used to have signs for "Lydia Pinkham's Pink Pills For All Practical Purposes", guess it reminds me of that ...
I also slowly swallowed a zinc throat lozenge with a small attempt to mask the zinc flavor with "cherry". They are effective, that's why I use them. But the flavor stays with you a looooooooooooooooong time.
6:42 Woke for the day. It's Saturday, decided to rest an extra hour this morning. Brushed my teeth. Zinc flavor is still there.
7:18 Started vacuuming the family room. My visit to Terreeeblay will wait for the evening today ...
8:06 Went to Farmers' Market to get a few items for my sweet. They even had red grapes! Those are hard to find this time of year, none at Wal-Mart or Lins, but Farmers' came through ...
8:48 Went through the drive-up mail box, got a phone call from Willyne that Sue needs her charger. Turns out it's in the bag for her Mac that she left with me while I am creating a spreadsheet for her to track consignment sales at the Ugly Trailor.
9:36 Drove to the office ... to work on a personal project today!
10:42 Located Sue at her store. Drove over to take her the computer bag. She'll bring it back Monday night so I can continue on her project Tuesday, and she can use it in the meantime. (I had been told on Thursday when she brought me Microsoft Excel for Mac and her computer that next week was fine, but she was missing her computer while I was thinking of ideas for the spreadsheet)
11:06 Drove back to the office. Needed to get some "cheerful" music on. After a little channel surfing (how much can you do in a ten block drive) I settled on "107.3 The Fox", they were playing an old favorite from 1967 ...
[Original Video] Los Bravos Black Is Black 1967 - Canal Nostalgia (sorry no picture, can't get an embed code on this one, but it plays fine in a separate You Tube window if you click on the underlined link. Reminds me of "travelling music" heading north on the Golden State Freeway (I-5) just before Gabriel Herman checked in at the top of the Grapevine on the way to the cabin on Breckenridge Mountain east of Bakersfield. Ask my brother John if you'd like his version of what I'm talking about.
Hey, Becca, maybe you need another surprise in your life (since you thought it was so amazing I had been to a Carpenters concert at BYU in a previous lifetime) ... the Association sings this much better than I do, but yes, your father sang this song live in concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in 1971 (the same arena that he and his sons got into a hand motion scuffle with a large black traffic lady when leaving a Clippers game 20 years later. The lady won and they went down a street (read: back alley in Watts) that still scares him thinking about it, but his sons still laugh about that incident now) ...
there is even proof on an old 33 album floating around our house somewhere ...
The bass line on that song is a lot of fun!
11:18 Cooked some old fashioned oats, ate it with the last of my strawberry yogurt, and started on a large glass of water and vitamins while typing this post from 1:00 until now. And yes, the zinc flavor is still in my mouth. But I haven't coughed again either.
13:11 Took a quick break from my project and heated a piece of pepperoni pizza. My computer is now playing "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum, followed by "Henry the Eighth I Am" by Hermans Hermits. I'm smiling ... OK, back to work now ...
14:04 Ate the other leftover piece of pizza I have here with me.
16:45 Snack - remaining 1/3 of a small Croshaw's coconut pie Willyne gave me to take to the office a couple days ago, along some peanuts I shelled and ate (peanuts came from that surprise treat bag at City Council last Wednesday night). I just started a third 16 ounce glass of water for the day.
20:15 Arrived home from work. Ate a plate of dinner: two croissants with a red grape, apple, chicken salad filling, small scoop each of berry jello pretzel salad and lemon pudding with mandarin oranges and little pieces of cookie. Had a 8 ounce cup of homemade lemonade.
21:20 Day 16 - walked 0.52 miles on a flat surface in 14 minutes. Series 2 total: 7.13 miles in 3 hours 16 minutes.
