4:33 am. I wake up and my body says, "let's do something!" so I get out of bed and start the coffee. As it's percolating, I get Frankie (the dog) out of her crate and feed her, then I brush my teeth and put my contacts in. Once the coffee is ready, I get a big cup and sit down to do some computer work. Lately this has consisted of going through photos and videos of my trip and trying to create some semblance of order to them. I also read a few blogs, comment on them, update my address list with a new address I just got, and address a holiday card to this person, put a stamp on it and put it in the outgoing mail stack. Mornings are my more productive time and I always feel better when I get some things done early.
7:04 am. It is not quite light, but it will be light enough in about 10 or 15 minutes that we will not trip over anything, so I get myself and Frankie ready for a run. This consists of a beanie, gloves, long sleeve shirt and windbreaker for me, and a leash for Frankie. Oh, and poop bags of course. We have been alternating days between running or long walks, and today is a running day.
7:25 am. We finally get out the door, and lo and behold, the sunrise is fabulous! It has been foggy and cloudy a lot lately, but today it is so clear and we can see Mt. Rainier! Also, great news, Frankie does her business early, so I only have to run with it for a minute before I get to the park where I can dispose of it. Silver lining!?
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| Mt. Rainier |
8:00 am. Our run takes us out to Puget Sound, and today it is clear enough that we can also see the Olympic range, which is a first! We spend way too much time taking photos and playing in the surf, but soon we are on our way.
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| The Olympic Range |
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| Frankie and the Sea |
9:00 am. We go further than planned because the views are just so good. Frankie is a good dog, and she loves to run, but she also gets very excited about any other dog and kids and wants to bark at them and jump on them or lunge at them. Because of this, I try to stay on the other side of the street. We also normally don't go out at prime school bus time when we can help it. Also, the dog is very food motivated, and will chase any small animal, and she finds a hidden container of chow mein on the ground and actually pulls me down to the ground. It is not really her strength as much as it is that the sidewalks are very slippery here, but I am okay! I love running in quirky places, and Seattle is that! We find lots of little treasures along the way.
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| Mermaid Trading Post |
10:00 am. We get home, shower, and eat. Frankie drinks about a gallon of water, and I fear that she is going to toss her cookies, but she doesn't thank goodness. She then goes for a nap. I think I finally tired her out!
11:00 am. I walk to the grocery store, get groceries and walk back. It is a beautiful day and is cold but a lot more clear than it has been.
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| The Cascades |
12:00 pm - 3:00 pm. I do more computer work, organizing etc. I am trying to have all of my travel plans figured out approximately three months beforehand, if not more. Currently I have all the accommodation and transport booked through July, but am still getting lists together of things to do in each location.
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm. Happy hour! I go down to the local pub and get a beer and a bacon cheeseburger with ghost pepper cheese. Seattle is known for its happy hours and will often have them on weekends and late nights too. However, for me, a 3:00 pm dinner is perfect! This way I only need two meals today. Total cost for two beers, bacon cheeseburger and tater tots with 10% tax and tip = $30.
5:00 pm. Frankie and I go for our evening walk. Usually we do at least two miles per walk, but today since we ran a lot further than normal, we only do about a mile. The Christmas lights are so fun though, and it is kind of nice to walk in the dark with all of the lights shining.
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| This is Hans' house; it is my favorite |
5:30 pm - 8:00 pm. Back home, in jammies, ready to take on the world. We watch an episode of The Great British Bake Off, which is fun, but kind of silly. Everyone is so nice. I don't really like the hosts; I think their value add is minimal. However, I enjoy watching the challenges. After that, I play a couple of games of Rummikub on my phone and then read before going to bed.
What is your typical day like? What time do you get up and go to bed? Do you play any games on your phone (if so, which ones)?
What a great place for a run/ walk! And those lights are so fun too. I love these posts, it's so interesting to see what you're up to. I don't do any games on my phone, but Duolingo is kind of a game? So I'll count that. Right now we have a puzzle going. I typically only do puzzles in the winter since there's nothing to do in the garden/ yard.
ReplyDeleteMy Mom is a big fan of puzzles and my parents actually have a puzzle table set up where you can just throw in a few pieces whenever you walk by. It is so fun! I think Duolingo is definitely a kind of game! Just a language game instead of a board game.
DeleteWhat a gorgeous place for walking and running. And Frankie seems like the perfect and willing companion. The last time I was in Seattle, I was able to see Mt. Ranier only a bit.
ReplyDeleteI've had a long-running streak of Words With Friends with my buddy in Maryland since 2011. Even when I've gone down to stay with her, we still keep a game going. I also play the NYT Wordle and Spelling Bee on my phone daily, and another word game called Wordscapes. It's great for when I'm stuck in a waiting room while taking my mom to one of her many doctor appointments (or even my own).
I used to play WWF all of the time with my brother. I don't know what happened but we kind of petered off at some point and never picked it back up. Now I make him play Rummikub with me, but I often play on my own too! I was playing a spelling bee type game, but ever since I went out of internet land, I stopped playing it and have not gotten back into it. I also like Octowordle which is like Worldle on steroids and is very fun!
DeleteI LOVE OCTORDLE! I play every day.
DeleteHaving a dog along for walks really makes you notice different things. I love a dog walk.
ReplyDeleteI have Matchington Mansion on my phone and it is SHAMEFUL how much time I spend on it. *shrug* I have so few vices. I'll take this one.
I have never heard of Matchington Mansion! I usually only spend about 20-30 minutes on Rummikub, but I have been known to get sucked into a game and before I know it it's past my bedtime!
DeleteI love DITL walks and this was extra fun since we got to see so many different fun sights + a cute dog!
ReplyDeleteI don't play any games on my phone (and we haven't played Wordscapes since you were here), but I do read a lot of blogs on my phone + the news and take pictures, so my screen time is higher than I'd like it to be...*Sigh*
I was talking about this with Rachel, how she feels phone screen time is worse than computer time, and was reading too much news on her phone, but I think certain things are not really too bad when it comes to screen time. Endless doom scrolling = bad. Reading the news, doing Duolingo, catching up with friends (blog reading) = good. And photos definitely do not count in my book (as screen time)!
DeleteWow, good job Hans! Who is that?? His decorations are epic. The boys would love that!
ReplyDeleteI get up around 5:45-6 and go up to read around 8:30-9 and turn my kindle off by 10pm ideally. I play a number of NYT games - spelling bee, wordle, connections, letter boxes, the mini crossword and sudoku! That is a lot but most do not take very long. Spelling bee is something I do early in the day; sudoku is done at the end of the day, usually when the boys are watching their pre-bedtime Bluey episodes.
Your day sounds really great aside from the super early wake up!!! I could not do that but I know it’s how you are wired!!
Ha! I love Hans. The only reason I know his name is that he was putting up the decorations on one of the first days I got here, which was before Thanksgiving. When I told him they looked great, and that I was excited to see them lit up, he said that he was going to hold off until Dec 1. He sure did, but on the 1st, it was fun to go and see them! I love the early wake up. I feel like I could take a nap later, but I like being up in the quiet of the morning (night?)
DeleteAw yiss when the dog poops when you're close to a trash can! Also yiss when the dog gets tired out! So far the only way that happens for Doggo is if she plays with another dog (hence the 3x week doggy daycare that we're currently doing) or if we go for a hike.
ReplyDeleteI'm all about the 3:00 dinner! Bonus points for happy hour!
All in all this sounds like a perfect day.
I was going to put a note about how my new name should be "runs with poop" as I have had to do that a couple of times. I hate it when we are not near a can and we are on a run, because I don't really want to break my stride. However, it really depends on the day; sometimes we just have to walk it out until we can dispose of the baggie.
DeleteI have wordscapes on my phone, and I do my wordle there as well. But I have several games on my iPad where I waste time when I say I haven't had time to read blogs or books or vacuum the house, etc. What are they. Hmmm. Two dots is one, there is a coloring one called Zen color or something like that, and a really dumb but addictive one where fruit drops down and merges with other fruit. Why do I spend so much time with that dumb game? No idea.
ReplyDeleteYour jog looks perfect, I'm glad you tired out your ward. But pulling you down to get to leftover food is not good! Regarding the excessive water...one day we were walking and stopped in a hipster little bike shop that opened to the street in a garage, and my husband had to talk for ages with the people there (extrovert) and I asked if we could have some water for Mulder because it was almost hot that day and he was very hairy. All they had was ice water, and he drank too much to fast, and then hurled all over their floor, which was embarrassing, but at least it was a concrete floor and not carpet. They were very hipster and chill about it.
Oh no, the story of the water and the puke is bad. I have a similar one with a human. My friend's daughter, who was maybe 7 or 8 at the time, and I used to go to the grocery store after I would pick her up from school. On this particular day, strawberries were on sale, so I got a big container. She loves strawberries, so I gave her the entire container (rookie move!) to have in the back of the car to herself. Of course, I could not see her, and of course, she ate way too many of them, and when we got home she immediately hurled. Luckily it was in the toilet, but I only realized then that she had eaten nearly the entire container. She is kind of like a dog in that she has no self control when it comes to that kind of thing, and eats them really fast!
DeleteAt least you didn't have strawberry vomit in your car!
DeleteWhat a beautiful place to visit/ dog sit. And they pay you? Ha. Frankie looks like a great companion. Sounds like a good gig. Is there a backstory to Hans' house? Those lights are amazing.
ReplyDeleteI do not play any games on my phone. I started staying up late when the kids were home for Thanksgiving, and I'm trying to get back into an earlier bed routine, but here I am. It's 10:30 and I think I'll go to bed in a few minutes. I usually like to go to bed around 10ish and wake up around 6:30ish. I used to not be able to sleep much past 6, but lately I can sleep late and I've been staying up later to get things done, like my Christmas poem and then sleeping until right before the tots arrive at 7:30 am. Today I got up and went for a run before tot drop off. The weather was mild, and it was a great way to start the day. I don't run when it's freezing here and esp if it might be icy. I miss getting up and getting a good run in.
The first day I was here, Hans was putting up the decorations on one of the first days I got here, which was before Thanksgiving. When I told him they looked great, and that I was excited to see them lit up, he said that he was going to hold off until Dec 1. He sure did, but on the 1st, it was fun to go and see them! So, no story, but he is the only one in the neighborhood whose name I know, and mostly because of those lights! He is 86 years old and still gets up on the roof every year to put them up.
Deletethis makes me want to have a dog to have excuse to go out for walk twice a day! love it! maybe when I retire :)
ReplyDeleteCoco, she is a sweetie, but there are definitely pros and cons. Obviously for me, traveling will keep me from having a dog, and getting out for a walk is good, unless you have other things to do, then it is sometimes a chore. Growing up, we lived in the woods, where the dog could wander at will, but living in a city makes it more hard to have an animal, for sure.
DeleteThis sounds like a perfect day! (Well, except for the chow mein incident.)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great place to house/dog sit! No games on phone here. I just don't understand them, and don't feel any attraction/curiosity...At night, I usually read on my Kindle, and that puts me to sleep. Also, I use my acupressure mat with spikes and that "torture device" is so great, it relaxes me.
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous place to walk, and the Christmas lights are so nice! I enjoyed reading about your day, and I think you have to be the best dog sitter ever! I play Word Chums with my mom, which is lots of fun. You get to pick a character as your avatar and earn points to “buy” clothes & hats for it. Mine is a little blue penguin that says “Weee Woooo” when I open the game. I mean…come on. This game was meant for me!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely day! I'm glad you decided to document it. I love a Day in the Life post. It's fun to get glimpses into the minutiae of people's lives. I play WAY TOO MANY games on my phone. It's a problem. My favorite is Happy Color!
ReplyDelete