Today - feeling righteous

Well, today I gave blood. It worked this time. Sometimes I guess I am not hydrated enough when I go and the blood stops flowing just before I have the bag filled. So disappointing. But the Red Cross called last night, saying that they really needed my blood type (O positive), so I said I would go in. Last night I startd drinking water and then this morning when Dave and I went to breakfast, I drank coffee and water, plus I had about two bottles of water over and above what I had at breakfast. Needless to say, I had to use the restroom four times while I was at the Red Cross. But, success! I was able to give up my precious pint of blood and pushing me closer to the 8 gallon mark. This is the only charity work that I do.

Then Dave and I decided to start our spring and summer routine - hiking on the weekends. For some reason, hiking is easier on me than "walking". Not sure why. I have less pain in my joints. I dressed warm, put a knee brace on my left knee, put an arch brace on my right foot, packed our backpack with water, combos, binoculars, and camera. I checked the backpack to see what else I had in there: first aid kit, sewing kit, ibuprofen, kleenex, sunblock, disinfectant hand gel and a insect bite relief stick. Yep, we were prepared for anything.

We took off for Kensington Metro Park and headed straight for the nature trails. We took the 2.5 mile hike around the pond. This is some of the scenery along the way.


Mama swan was sitting on her nest.










Dave and I stopped to rest and look out over the lake/pond.


A whooping crane posed for a picture. He blends in pretty good. He is in the center towards the bottom of the picture in the water and weeds.


The highlight of the hike is at the end. There is a large group of trees in the pond/lake and there are millions of nests at the top of the trees. The great herons nest there. They are awesome.

So we were able to hike the 2.5 miles with minimal problems. To me that seems pretty good considering we have been quite sedentary during the winter. Hopefully we will be doing this every weekend we can.