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Just did some aerobic exercise and it tired me out but I feel like 3 times happier and more motivated now. I've been having trouble getting myself to exercise lately and it was making me want to bounce off the walls. But today was a good day for exercise. Hope I can do that more often.
I've learned a lot more about my local environment in the past year or so. I go for walks fairly often and observe all the different plants, animals, and fungi I see. I've been really into nature for more than a decade now, but I've been a lot more observant of the bits of it right next to me of late, and I feel like I've learned quite a bit. My mental map of my local area is certainly more detailed than it used to be, though, I think there's still plenty of places nearby I'm unfamiliar with. Sometime maybe I'll actually try to draw out a map of what's nearby. That could be interesting. I've also considered how I might take more of an active role in local ecology. I've certainly observed a lot more of what's going on locally of late, but there's much more I want to learn.
I'm making sure to go for walks often now. Usually I will go up to a park. It's nice to get outside and get some exercise, plus I just like being outside. While there are extremes of weather I will not go out in (sometimes due to personal experience with Why I Shouldn't Be Out In This), I'm so used to being outdoors that most outdoor weather variations don't discourage me. I just make sure to dress and prepare appropriately for the weather conditions and for the expected length of my trip.
Earlier I went for a walk to a park and catalogued all the plants I could identify there. This is one of my favorite things to do. I love being outdoors and taking pictures of plants. Also the outdoors is the only place I've been willing to visit recreationally during this time. I only go inside public buildings these days if I have to (and my regular method of obtaining food and other supplies doesn't require either me or anyone else to go into grocery stores or restaurants to do that, which elimates one major practical reason to enter public buildings).
Maybe this means it's time to expand more on this particular hobby of mine. Perhaps I should look into getting some more plant identification guides. I already have a few, but they're not nearly as extensive as I'd like and not all of them are even geared towards this area.
I love getting different photographs of the plants I'm catalogueing. I should try to get more wide angle shots next time, though. I'd like to have some photos that record the relative quantity of the different types of plants. I do recall that I saw quite a bit of clover and clover flowers there today.
Walking to the park also gives me a chance to exercise, so that's nice, too.
Maybe this means it's time to expand more on this particular hobby of mine. Perhaps I should look into getting some more plant identification guides. I already have a few, but they're not nearly as extensive as I'd like and not all of them are even geared towards this area.
I love getting different photographs of the plants I'm catalogueing. I should try to get more wide angle shots next time, though. I'd like to have some photos that record the relative quantity of the different types of plants. I do recall that I saw quite a bit of clover and clover flowers there today.
Walking to the park also gives me a chance to exercise, so that's nice, too.
Enjoying The Outdoors
Oct. 9th, 2020 08:54 pmJust came back from a walk, which I greatly enjoyed. I walked up to a nearby park and back.
It's kind of a pain to wear a face mask and face shield everywhere, but I do think it's a good idea so I always do it. While neither of those can guarantee that I won't catch covid-19, I think there is compelling evidence that they greatly reduce that probability, and that's good enough for me, especially since I try to do that in conjunction with physical distancing and frequent handwashing. I also understand that being outdoors, especially in warmer weather, reduces the chance of catching the virus. Since the main form of covid-19 transmission is airborne, being outdoors is probably usually going to tend to be better than being indoors since there's maximal ventilation.
I haven't really gotten sick with anything at all that I've noticed, so I think that my quarantine techniques have been pretty effective, since in recent years it's been fairly normal for me to get sick a few times a year. This quarantine period has so far actually been more like certain other periods of my life where I could go a year or more without getting sick at all. Probably because I've reduced my contact with other people even more than I did at those times. But now I think I actually understand *why* I got sick more in some periods of my life than others. When I was younger I used to think I didn't get sick much because I had a strong immune system, and while I do think my immune system is reasonably robust, I think it's much more likely to have been the intense social isolation. I was literally social distancing, lol.
It's kind of a pain to wear a face mask and face shield everywhere, but I do think it's a good idea so I always do it. While neither of those can guarantee that I won't catch covid-19, I think there is compelling evidence that they greatly reduce that probability, and that's good enough for me, especially since I try to do that in conjunction with physical distancing and frequent handwashing. I also understand that being outdoors, especially in warmer weather, reduces the chance of catching the virus. Since the main form of covid-19 transmission is airborne, being outdoors is probably usually going to tend to be better than being indoors since there's maximal ventilation.
I haven't really gotten sick with anything at all that I've noticed, so I think that my quarantine techniques have been pretty effective, since in recent years it's been fairly normal for me to get sick a few times a year. This quarantine period has so far actually been more like certain other periods of my life where I could go a year or more without getting sick at all. Probably because I've reduced my contact with other people even more than I did at those times. But now I think I actually understand *why* I got sick more in some periods of my life than others. When I was younger I used to think I didn't get sick much because I had a strong immune system, and while I do think my immune system is reasonably robust, I think it's much more likely to have been the intense social isolation. I was literally social distancing, lol.
I need to figure out a good exercise protocol that's not too mentally taxing (ie. boring). I do a lot more cleaning now and more Dance Dance Revolution, but I don't think that's really a sufficient replacement for my previous walking and cycling outdoors. I'm terrible at exercising just to exercise so standard workout equipment or exercise for the sake of exercise is pretty much useless to me; I have to be able to enjoy it or feel like I'm accomplishing something beyond the exercise itself. And yes, I know the exercise itself is valuable, but this is a matter of my psychology. I can't exercise just to exercise even if I'm terrified of my entire body atrophying lol.
Wild Radish Foraging
Aug. 4th, 2019 01:09 amWent for a walk earlier and picked some wild radish seed pods. All of the wild radish plant is edible, though the stem tends to be too fibrous to bother with. I also lost my phone and had to backtrack to find it. Fortunately I'd been taking pictures with it earlier so I knew that I'd had it before I stopped taking pictures and I also figured it probably fell out of my pocket while I was bending over to get the wild radish seed pods. I was right, though it did take me some time to locate it in the field I dropped it in, lol.
I've foraged wild radish for many years. Standard disclaimer applies here that you should never forage without being able to positively identify the plant, and that important identification information (like poisonous lookalikes) can vary by locality. Wild radish grows in a lot of places around the world. In the US, and in many other countries, it is considered an invasive weed species.
Additional info about wild radish:
https://joshfecteau.com/foraging-wild-greens-wild-radish/
I've foraged wild radish for many years. Standard disclaimer applies here that you should never forage without being able to positively identify the plant, and that important identification information (like poisonous lookalikes) can vary by locality. Wild radish grows in a lot of places around the world. In the US, and in many other countries, it is considered an invasive weed species.
Additional info about wild radish:
https://joshfecteau.com/foraging-wild-greens-wild-radish/
