Walkfit, HSN , my Mother, and Writing...

Yesterday I received a phone call from Walkfit about an upcoming promotion on the Home Shopping Network, Sunday evening, June 14th, possibly to be of the people who phones in with a testimonial. As far as I know this is the first time Sylmark corporation has tried HSN, so hopefully it all pays off for them. As I have said before, my endorsement is 100% sincere and I was using their inserts-which literally cured my plantar fasciitis-long before I became a spokesman.
Talking with them after the long silence had me re-examining the progress I have made on the book, which is in a re-write of the first draft, and everything else that has transpired since I finished the walk in early June of '07...on that day I sauntered alone onto the beach in Oceanside, CA at about three in the afternoon after completing the final 24 or 25 miles, and asked some tourists to take a picture to document the occasion. Emotionally I was surprisingly muted, for the highs and lows had been expressed all along the way, and by that point I was weary and relieved that I had finished in one piece. I savored the ocean for a couple hours, then caught a bus to Los Angeles, where a niece and her boyfriend let me sleep on the couch for a week. I had written a letter to Walkfit in January of '06, right after I had purchased their product, and told them of my planned walk, and they called me to see if I was legitimate. I suggested that I re-contact them if and when I reached California, which I did, and that led to the endorsement.
Living here in Warren I have been busy working on the book, helping my elderly mother-who is now 85 and has been in the hospital or housebound for the past month-and working for the medical group to which my MD brother-in-law belongs, doing odds and ends part time. Combined with walking several hours a day and other activities, I am amazed at how quickly the months have passed. Sometimes I wonder how I ever accomplished anything when I was working full time, although I know that there are more than enough hours in a day if I discipline myself properly-which doesn't always happen. The book is called Anti-Clock specifically to dismiss our culture's obsession with time and obligations, so I try to go with the flow as they say, and do what needs doing in the moment, and trust that everything gets done eventually with nothing neglected. My essential promise to God-or whatever you want to call it-remains to finish the book, although writing can be slow going when I labor over individual words like I do. Being a conscientious person I sometimes put everything aside when my mother needs assistance, for she does not want to be in a nursing home and I promised her that I would help her die...As of today she has rebounded and may even return to work for awhile, but she is not getting any younger and eventually one of these setbacks will be her last. So overall life is good, and I have met the woman of my dreams, and now I'm just trying to stay focused so that old promises stay honored in their proper place among the new ones...
POSTSCRIPT: I did not make the Sunday night show, but the saleswomen they had on did a fantastic job I thought, and a female caller gave a testimonial as powerful as anything I could have done...They seemed to be selling well, so I think the Walkfit people will be pleased, although I don't know what the break even point is for that kind of advertising...

Eagles & Rocks

This Bald eagle nest is about a mile from town in a tree near the Allegheny river, and is one of two nests that I know of nearby. The two fledglings may have left the since this picture was taken in early May, but it shows that they are making a comeback locally.
The rock formation is one of several in the mountains and was formed from sandstone conglomerates laid down 350 million years ago when there used to be an inland sea around here. I stumbled upon this one and another while hiking, although there are others, including an "official" formation called Rimrock on which climbers rapel, and at which the conservation corps built steps and railings during the 1930's.

Porcupines, Bees, Frost

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-Our dog (Chelsea, a dachshund/terrier mix) had her first encounter with a porcupine while we were hiking the six mile Morrison trail near Kinzua resevoir a few weeks back. She approached it with curiosity and probably a little aggression, to which the porcupine responded with seven or eight quills in the snout before climbing up a nearby tree. There were two or three near her nose which no doubt stung when I yanked on them one by one, and she responded like a little kid getting splinters removed, but all in all appreciated that I was helping and within a few minutes was running happily down the trail. I assume that she learned something from the experience, because porcupines are common around here and we often see them killed along the roadsides. They are slow moving animals, as big as a large groundhog and bloated looking from all the quills, yet seem to be as vulnerable to automobiles as opossums are in the eastern part of the state.
The wild honeybee hive is in a tree near the town of Russell, a few miles from here, and is one of two that I am aware of in the area. I am attentive to such things because of the apparent virus that has been killing off honeybees in the last few years, and which could be extremely serious to agriculture and our food supply if it continues. Fortunately, proper hygiene seems to help lower the risk for commercial hives and scientists think they have isolated the culprit which will help find a cure. For awhile everything from pesticides to electromagnetic radiation to stress was being suggested as the cause.
The frost was on the railing outside my door on May 18th, which just goes to illustrate the mountain weather here. There were isolated incidences of frost in the mountains until the end of the month and even a little snow in upstate New York. So far Warren has had mixed weather with some highs near sixty, some near seventy, and one or two eighty degrees days since spring. Warren is definitely the place to be if you don't like oppressive heat, because you rarely see ninety degrees, although fortunately the sun shines much more than in winter.