Mama Got A New Toy!

I am not a bicycle person in 2020. In the 80's? Heck yes! I was always on my bike. But there is not one bit of me that wants to pretend I'm anything like a car and ride a bicycle on the road. And I don't want to die. 

I'm a runner. I love running. I've been doing it steadily for almost 11 years. Then the shit show of 2020 happened. All of my races were cancelled. And it got sooooo damn hot. I was running all the time at home, and things were looking good. Then the sun turned on and I paused for a short bit. Before I could resume I found myself with some crazy medical mystery that sent me to the Emergency Room and scared to resume running for fear.... that I would die. 

The day before the ER visit I had an impulse purchase that would take a month to get to me. That was such a wait!! Too hot to run, too nervous to get far away from my home alone, too filled with a desire to exercise and feel healthy despite all that is going on in the world right now... and this led to me getting a bike?? Well, sort of!

Now I can safely exercise in my home. I won't be hit by cars. I don't have to worry about falling over if I get dizzy from Meniere's Disease hitting me at the wrong time. I won't melt by running on the surface of the sun! For a week now I have been a very dedicated cyclist... in the downstairs area of my house!

I am now the proud owner of the NordicTrack Commercial S22i Studio Cycle!! She's so beautiful. I love her.

It was 5pm last Sunday that she was finally here. This was quite the shipping processes. So freaking slow. But once she arrived at my driveway I was outside welcoming her, and the delivery boys, with open arms. My mom came over to help me with the whole unboxing/assembly process.  This was not a lightweight thing. Hundreds of pounds. It took 2 big boys to get it to my step, and my mom and I were creative enough to get it inside and downstairs, with the help of a curious 4 year old, of course.

Assembly was simple, but time consuming. Not much to do, but screwing everything in took a long time. With the assistance of the 4 year old near the end, I had it all together that night! The unplanned pedal to the inner knee while setting up my profile ended our evening with the bike. I have a pretty little cut and bruise to show for that.

 I've had many questions, so here's the scoop on what I am doing and what I can do with this fun toy!

• I have made my own courses to ride. It is basically like plotting a route on Google maps. Then I hop on for a ride and get to see street view photos along the way, as well as aerial shots.
• Something so cool.... it does the incline all by itself! If I have a hill on my route it automatically adjusts to simulate what I'm riding on.
• Ooh, there is a built in fan that I am so in love with.
• I'm doing a "Back to School" series where every day I ride through various university campuses in the US. This is a silent one with the photos showing where I am.
• There is a tray below the big screen perfect for holding my phone AND my iPad. So on these quiet campus rides I have been watching different things on my iPad for extra entertainment.
  
  
  
• I am working on my cardio while singing... meaning Yes, I have been watching AND performing Hamilton while on the bike. I sing when I run, too.
• I LOVE riding with a trainer. I'm doing a beginner series on Maui. The trainer talks to you the whole time, with riding tips, Hawaii info, just standard conversation. You hear nature and see it all "live". This one is full video the entire time, not still photos like the University series is. I LOVE it!! We are doing interval work, with the resistance and incline all adjusting on its own.
  
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• Yet to tackle - live rides done in real time with trainers. I have to make sure to look ahead to put it on my schedule so I can join in. That sounds so fun!
• There are studio sessions with trainers as well, some even incorporate exercise off of the bike.
• That reminds me! This came with 2 weights that have a set spot on the bike, so you can use them during some of the workouts.
• Below the weights are 2 holders for water bottles. 

It seems the possibilities with this and iFit are endless. I'm so excited to keep going and finding more things to do!

Why NordicTrack versus Peloton? Well, all of the above. I love making my own rides, and I can do it anywhere in the world. I've done the Bahamas, South Africa and Florida so far. The Las Vegas strip is on my schedule, too! Another big selling point for me, perhaps the biggest, is the shoes. The Peloton we looked at required buying those shoes that clip in. Um, no. Not for me. 

I am so dang happy with this purchase. I've ridden over 80 miles already. Every day I have done 2 rides, except one where I did 1 ride because of the next thing we will discuss. But then I did 3 rides in one day after the next thing we will discuss.

My butt. It was dying. I've never been so aware of bones in my butt area until I started riding this bike! I immediately ordered a gel seat cover AND 2 different styles of padded butt shorts. What a life saver! I've got 2 more coming of my favorite style. And Shawn surprised me by ordering a seat all the women in the facebook group say they really loved for a more comfortable ride. It isn't swapped out yet, but already all of the padding is helping out a ton.

Am I done running? Hell no!! Am I skipping running while it is 1,000 degrees outside? Yes. But now I can at least exercise at home before work without worrying about childcare, and I can easily pop down and do it anytime if I don't have someone here to watch the busy little girl in this house. If anything, maybe this will help my running! Those races on the calendar didn't disappear after all, they are just delayed until 2021 (knock on wood).

So that's what's going on with me. I'm sure I left stuff out. It's pretty darn awesome, but now my laundry is getting full a lot faster with these multiple rides per day. I haven't worn socks since June and now they are filling my laundry basket!

My Corona

Tuesday, 4:58pm. That's when I got the call. The call telling me I had been in contact with people that have tested positive for Covid-19. Holy s, Batman?!?

I always wear my mask. I leave my house when I absolutely need a grocery item - typically for school lunches. I leave to drop off my daughter for school, and then head to work, then pick her up and go home. Any out of our home activities we do are alone. Can't catch anything when you're driving in your own vehicle through the Wildlife Safari. Can't catch anything when you're alone in a river away from people. 

Ready for the swab!

But the ONE time you get near people, and don't wear a mask because everyone APPEARS healthy and you try to stay socially distant... well that's when you can get the call.

What got me to leave my house? A birthday party for a little girl. I spent most of my time only near my mom and daughter, but as at any birthday party surely we are all going to accidentally get too close. Everyone else there was family to each other, and had been near each other all the time as we are with family, so they didn't really need to worry... right?!?

In the end there were 15 people. Yeah, we should have worn masks. Damn that one time we didn't. Would we pay for it? Am I going to end up in the hospital with things going in my body in who knows what places? Would I be the source of work gossip? With all the women in that building I'd surely be talked badly about. What was going to happen?? How many people would end up sick from this party?

15 people.  FOUR tested positive. Was I one of them? Let's proceed and find out.

Back to the phone call. . . my mom and I were both there, we both got the calls, we were both told to be on high alert. We spent the days after taking our temperature. We wore our masks like we always do. We replayed the whole party trying to see who were we by and how long. My mom decided to go get tested the next day. She was told that at this point it could be too soon to get a positive result if she did contract the 'Rona, and to come back Saturday since that would be a week since the exposure. We decided to go do this together, and drag my step-dad along for testing since he clearly lives with my mom. 

At 11am this morning we were on a FaceTime doctor visit with a woman in Eugene. She agreed we should get the rapid test here in town. By 11:05am we were in the car and on our way to the clinic. We never even had to get out of the car! 

First up for the swab was my step-dad. He was dreading it and wanted to get it over with. Next was my mom. Finally, my turn, the one least afraid of it. I had so much shoved up my nose during my CSF leak, this little q-tip was nothing at all to fear.

Truth.... it wasn't pleasant. I can't say how it would feel for you since, like I said, I've had a lot of up my nose. Cameras, swabs, SIX pledgets for over 24 hours... this was a piece of cake! It did make my eyes water. A dabbing of the eyes and blowing of my nose did the trick. My mom's experience of the swab up the nose: Thank God it was quick. 20 seconds of discomfort administered by a young man with a wonderful sense of humor, but did that sucker reach my tear ducts? She always said it almost felt like she felt it in her ears!

Once done we asked if they just call us with the result and we were stunned when he said if we just wait 20 minutes he can give us our results in writing! WHAT?!?! Um, YES!! 

Last Saturday we felt awesome. Fine. Healthy. Having a lot of fun. We had been doing this Covid stuff like a boss. I have an insane collection of masks. I can wear one a day for a month without repeating, and I have more on the way and in my home production queue. But then that phone call changed it all. We all worried about it non-stop. Did we have it? Most important, would we get someone sick? We all know that for some, getting Covid-19 can be a death sentence. All of this worry would come to an end OR we would have to quarantine even more and prepare for who knows what. 

It didn't take long and our swab guy was coming back. When he came to do the tests he had on a mask AND face shield AND gloves AND full body hospital protective gear. This time it was just a mask. Did that mean he wasn't terrified of us and we were free of the virus?? If we had it would he be head to do in protective gear and ready to throw us in a bubble??

I really liked him. He delivered our results with dramatic flair. A sense of antici.....

.... pation.

First up he did MY results. Such a pause. Oh my gosh. I have it, I have to have it. He doesn't want to tell me the bad news. Oh my gosh, seriously!?!? And then he said it... I AM NEGATIVE!!

Next, my step-dad, who was no longer with us... more dramatics, also Negative.

And then the REAL pause. He hemmed and hawed. He gave my mom a look. He definitely presented her result in a good, story-telling fashion. We were nervous, but I appreciated his desire to leave us on pins and needles.

NEGATIVE!!

We all passed the test! Hot diggity dog!

So what have we learned from this?

Assume everyone has it. Of the 4 who do have it, only 1.5 showed symptoms at that party. Yeah, I gave someone a half of a point instead of a whole. It's my blog, I can do that. Being asymptomatic is real. Covid-19 is real. Ditch your political bias or belief that it is a hoax. That is annoying as F, and so ... stupid! Wear your mask. Stop bitching about it. Wear a damn mask. Wear it over your NOSE AND MOUTH. If you have a problem with this, stay away from me and family. I don't want to lose any loved ones because someone thinks they are smarter than SCIENCE. 26.66% of the birthday party attendees were positive. Think about that next time you are with a large group of people - especially if you are all feeling safe without your mask on. 

Right now we are experiencing a huge sense of relief, all of us ready to pass out now after not really sleeping well since we got that phone call. I can guarantee you we will all continue to wear our masks. And we might even be more vocal about it after having this close call. We all feel like we have a fresh start and are going to double up our efforts to protect ourselves and others. And by the way, our friends that tested positive are doing well!

We are celebrating by ... watching Cats?!? Yes, I've been dying for a Cats drinking game with my mom. This movie is so bad you guys!

We Interrupt This Performance of Hamilton to Bring You....

You'll be back, soon you'll see

You'll remember you belong to me

You'll be back, time will tell

You'll remember that I served you well

Oceans rise, empires fall

We have seen each other through it all

And when push comes to shove

I will send a fully armed battalion to remind you of my love!

It was in the middle of this passionate performance of You'll Be Back that this happened. We had performed all of Hamilton in and out of the pool prior to this. Katura took the lead on The Schuyler Sisters, complete with the perfectly timed armed movements... you Hamilton fans know what I'm talking about. The pool was our stage and we were owning it!

And then it happened.

Swimming together in the deep end while I was doing my best King George III when I was interrupted. 

"Mommy, I think I see something?!?" She was confident, but also confused. What she THOUGHT she saw couldn't really be what she thought it was, right? I floated myself around to face the same way she was, and looked up the hill. I was expecting to see one of our many deer, or the one the two turkeys that have moved in. The hillside was bare. She pointed down at the pool. 

Oh, she must have found our pineapple thermometer! It has a tendency to float into the side area where the pump stuff is. Typically I swim over and pull it out and we continue with our pool business. Not this time.

What the heck is that? Its NOT a pineapple. It has stripes. It is round. Is it a rope? I've never seen a rope like that around here. Why would there be a rope in our pool? I clean that thing almost every day and I know there wasn't anything like that around. It was like a slow-motion triple take. One where you feel like you have to rub your eyes to really see clear. There was definitely something coiled in a circle. And in the middle of that coil.... a head. A SNAKE head!

EVERYBODY OUT OF THE POOL!!!

We girls forgot Hamilton was even happening and we were out of the water so fast! 

Okay, deep breathes. Surely we were both wrong. She did think it was a snake, but let's just double check before waking up daddy!

She stood on the edge and watched as I hopped back in and delicately swam over. What, was I think I would sneak up on it in the water?? Like a snake wouldn't know?! Sheesh. I got pretty close, saw the exact same thing, but this time its head seemed even higher up and IT WAS LOOKING AT ME!!

Back to the shallow end and up those steps I went! 

Katura knew what she had to do! "Mommy, you wait here, I'll go get daddy!!"

It didn't take long at all and we were all at the pool staring. Shawn found a long rod to use to open the lid. Sure our hands can easily lift that lid - which is what Katura wanted me to do originally (Hell no!!) - but would YOU want to bend down and lift up a lid with an anaconda floating right below you? What would it do?? Was it going to hiss and jump up and eat us??

Shawn delicately raised the lid and stood there confused. He looked at us standing on the opposite side of the pool. "There's no snake here." "What?? There has to be! I know what I saw! It's a snake! I saw it's head!" I rushed over to his side and looked down. NO snake. Katura and I both saw it. We didn't make it up. WHERE DID THIS THING GO???

And then we heard the shrieks of our little girl. "IT'S SWIMMING! IT'S SWIMMING!"

Sure enough that snake was swimming in the middle of our pool. Damn, it was FAST! And HUGE!! Over 2 feet long for sure. I couldn't even get the entire thing in one shot except for when it was all coiled up getting scooped on the pool net. Shawn worked on the scooping, Katura stood back watching and I was there with the camera. This HAD to be documented!

The snake was set over the side wall in the grass. It flopped around quite a bit and then slithered off into the sunset. Shawn was up there pretty fast to try to relocate it to the other side of our road, but it was already gone.

Will it be back?

I don't know.

But we have our rod handy and you can guarantee we will be checking that area FIRST every day as part of my standard pool cleaning!!

Meet our new pet, Hamilton!

*No humans or California Kingsnakes were harmed in the making of this blog.