Not as kneedful

I stayed home this weekend. Since then, I spent the winter studying what happened to my knee, and how to avoid it. Different exercises that are supposed to help the joint, which muscles needed to be worked on, foods and supplements that can help. Though 90% of the help came with a knee brace. 

Looks like I failed to mention this on my birthday hike. Nor did I mention the following hike that happened in July.

(For as often as I try to stretch the topics here, you think I would yak about what I'm actually doing) 

I was a teenager when my right knee first gave me issues, and my doctor at the time (still my doctor, btw) pointed out that my kneecap moved a lot more than it should. He suggested I build up the muscle around it to keep it from doing that. I don't skip leg day, so maybe it's not that. I got the kind of brace that keeps my kneecap in place. Doing nothing else differently, my knee had absolutely zero problems. In fact, my left knee started to ache a little right at the end of the hike.

First thing I did when I got home was get another brace for my left knee. I only went on two hikes this summer (three if you count the one I had to stop - wait, I didn't blog about that, either?), but I have one planned in two weeks. It gets cold up there in this time of year, but I sweat every time on the way up, Maybe this will even it out. I'll let you know.

Big walk

I skipped work and did a ten mile hike through Highland Forest. Only took five hours, it had rained earlier so it was all wet, but the rain mostly tapered off to a fine mist. I left home at the same time I always do, and I got home right when I normally do. Nobody would have known if I hadn't said anything. 

I share my location with my wife, so if I hadn't said anything she could have found out anyway. I don't keep anything from her, so she knew (only the day before), but sometimes I wonder if she's even looking.

Or reading my blog. She knows it's here, so... I don't know. 

Words with Fiends

I have been playing 'Words With Friends' for a very long time, but mostly with only one person. I normally win those games.

My wife started to play. She beats me as easily as I once won against my Tiny opponent, and I think they both take joy in this.

No seriously, I won fairly easily against my Tiny One. My wife, however, is a monster in this game. 

Wild swing

Two weeks ago today I was at the NYS Fair. It was warm, sunny, and always fun. In those two weeks, I'm now wearing my jackets in the morning (but I might not need it by noon). It's not a gentle decline, no slow drop in average temperature. No, it's more like swinging open the freezer door and getting a cold blast in the face.

I'm not complaining. I actually like autumn. It's the dry shoulder season. Sure I like spring, but it's also wet and muddy, and who likes that?

Reuniversarryy

Today would have been my grandparents 70th wedding anniversary. I guess it still is, but it's also the first one they've spent together in 24 years.

I'm sad but I'm also not sad, does that make any sense?

Late Labor

Since Labor Day is the first Monday in September, and school in New York always starts after Labor Day, everything is late this year. Last year the first of school was the 4th. The schools out here have this silly rule where they have a mandatory minimum number of days they're supposed to be in (you can thank the teachers union - they get paid in full for every day, even half days), so I'm wondering how they rigged it up this year.

I'll find out once I actually look at the academic calendar. 

The big ride

 So I did something crazy today.

When I first learned about the Adirondack Rail Trail, I thought it was another hiking trail, but one that crossed roads and towns. I dismissed it until I learned you could bike it. So I biked it.

 

The only thing that surprised me was seeing people I knew.