Tag: north carolina

Up ENDing Parkinsons

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The number of exercise programs / options targeting Parkinson’s continues to grow. Recently, “Up ENDing Parkinsons” made its Charlotte debut. This is rock climbing for people with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). You read that right! Well, I assume you read it right. I really have no way of actually knowing what you thought you read.

But, yes! Rock climbing for Parkies! This seemed like the perfect fit for me. I spent a lot of time during my twenties and very late teen years wandering northern Colorado, looking for rock formations to scale. So, about three months ago, I decided to try Up ENDing Parkinson’s.

Charlotte is not exactly known for cliffs, so this is actually an indoor, human-made climbing wall. Several such walls, even. And this is REAL climbing. With ropes and harnesses. I never bothered with such equipment when scrambling up remote rock formations in my foolhardy days of yore. On some of the climbing ‘routes’ they connect your rope to a machine that prevents you from plummeting if/when you lose your grip. On the rest, they connect your rope to a human “belayer” who stays on the ground while you climb. I imagine that if you fall, the belayer would be catapulted into the ceiling, though I haven’t seen that happen (yet).

I was amazed at my lack of energy and my overall weakness. However, I was assured by several people that it’s normal for folks to feel that way in the first session, and that most folks get past that quite quickly. I went back a week later, but actually felt weaker during that second session. I had planned to go again the following week, but decided I needed to use that time to finish plotting my Maryland trip. Then I was in Maryland for about two weeks ago. Then I started having, ummm, issues with the Vyalev pump. I’ll address that in my next post. For now, I continue to believe in Up ENDing Parkinsons, and intend to go back soon.

I’ve Heard of Invasive Plant Species, But This is Ridiculous!

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Do you have a room in your house that you never go into? And/or one where you haven’t opened the curtains / blinds in quite some time. I have the latter type. It’s the dog’s room. I keep the curtains closed in there in hopes that he’ll see fewer people / things outside to bark about. Well, I went into this room the other morning, opened the curtain, and was faced with this:

Yup. A vine that is trying to completely cover a bush just outside the window has actually found its way INTO THE HOUSE. It managed to squeeze in through a tiny gap where the two window frames come together (when the window is closed). What are the odds? Seriously, what are they? Now that I know the outcome, I might use the Way-the-Hell-Back Machine to go to Vegas and place a bet on it. Come to think of it, why am I not already using my Way-the-Hell-Back Machine for sports betting? I need to get my priorities straight.

I Have Made First Contact

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I have a pond in my backyard. I also have several trees in my backyard. Not surprisingly (since I live in North Carolina), this means my property is home to both tree frogs and pond frogs. But during my first spring at this house, when the frogs started their nightly hollering, I noticed some of the sounds coming from the pond didn’t seem…natural. In addition to the low-pitched croaks of the pond frogs and the high-pitched peeps of the tree frogs there came a most unusual sound. A sound unlike anything I’ve heard anywhere, except maybe in 1950’s science fiction movies. I concluded that my pond had been invaded by alien frogs. I have waited over three years for the opportunity to make First Contact with these beings from another world. In that time, I have seen a few tree frogs, and many pond frogs – but no aliens. Finally, last week, one of the alien frogs made an appearance on my patio furniture. Behold…the first known photos of a frog from another planet…

Since I already had my camera out, and he was just a few feet away, I also grabbed a gratuitous shot of Bear lazin’ in the shade…

The frog and I are still working on finding a translator, so we can begin a knowledge transfer between our two great cultures.

Change in Travel Plans

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Some day, I may learn to schedule trips in advance and actually stick with my travel plans. Some day. 

Maybe.

I was planning to head out to the North Carolina coast some time in March, but now, for a number of reasons (that number being 2) I have decided to push that trip back to least next year. This opens up a spot on my travel schedule to go somewhere else this spring (could be in March, maybe April, possibly even May). I’m thinking I’ll either fly to Nevada or take a road trip to Georgia. Right now, I’m leaning toward Nevada. Literally: as I type this, I am leaning to my left, which is towards the west.

If I do go to Nevada, I’ll likely spend three, MAYbe four days in Vegas, then drive to various attractions around the state (which would likely be a LOT of driving, ‘cuz it’s such a large state). This would include (hopefully) caves, ghost towns, historic/scenic railroads, and a state park or two. Eventually, I would make my way to Reno and fly home from there. But as usual, this is all theoretical until I actually step aboard an airplane. And now that I think about it…Tennessee is a good possibility, too. Maybe even Louisiana…