I know I dropped off the radar. There wasn’t all that much I felt like writing about so I thought I would spare you. That reprieve is over, sorry folks!

I always go into a bit of an early winter funk – many of us do I suspect – but I’m on the other side of that now. I think I’ve almost dug myself out of my overtraining pit. My patience (well patience might be stretching it) is paying off. I’m gradually testing the waters with added exercise stress and backing off the second I feel I might be building too fast. My body is starting to forgive me; I am slowly building my base fitness again. It is so unfair how quickly you lose it but how long it takes to get back. Some of the extra weight I packed on is dropping off. I’m looking forward to wearing something other than sweat pants. I’m using various gadgets to help keep me honest, including Whoop, but I’ll tell you about that in another post.

Today I’m just checking in with an update on the circus. And reminding you that we are almost to the Winter Solstice, one of my favorite days of the year: The beginning of the end of the dark.

The update:

Maya: She is still among the living. I took her in two days ago and she now weighs under 6 pounds (down from 11). Over the past month she: Had an emergency ultrasound when she took a rapid turn for the worse – the ultrasound showed a burst mass (possibly cancerous) in one kidney; spent 5 days at the vet having IV fluids and; has put up with daily subcutaneous fluids from Mom. Weight loss aside, she is now seemingly stable. She is eating and I keep hoping she will put some of that weight back on. Otherwise I don’t know how long she will make it. For now, she is happy and does not appear to be suffering. That’s the most important thing. The only time she suffers is during her daily dose of subcutaneous fluids. But I suffer then too, so we’ll call it fair.

Makoya: Is Makoya. It is clear she was dropped on her head as a kitten, but I still love her. She looks enormous next to her sister. She is, in fact, at least double Maya’s size. It is hard to believe Maya was that size once!

DAMN I LOVE SNOW!

Puck: Is doing great! He is ecstatic that we have good snow this year. As am I. Every time we are out skiing, he puts a smile on my face because he is like a pig in… mud. We have had a lot of moose in the area but so far Puck and I have not had any close encounters. We will try to keep it that way. There is a mom and baby moose spending lots of time on our property. They are fun to watch from the house.

Speaking of moose, the other day Mark and I were discussing what we should do if a moose actually charged us. Other than hiding behind a tree, we came up with nothing helpful. I figure I’d curl up in a ball and try not to get too trampled. It’s funny how everyone is always scared of the predators like mountain lions. I’m here to tell you it is the cute herbivores you really need to watch out for!

That’s all for now. I hope everyone is having a wonderful winter so far.

In a coming post I’ll tell you about my experience so far with the Whoop wrist-based recovery monitor. Me and my gadgets.