Week of July 7, 2025

I am settling back into our regular work & school, dinner, and bedtime weekday routine, so these updates are less interesting than the last couple months.

We got our car back on Wednesday. The problem was the coolant valve, which needed to be replaced. Thankfully it was covered under warranty.

It was a hot, humid, sticky week here. My least favorite time of year. Thankfully once the sun is behind the trees after dinner, we can usually get Charlie outside to play again and move around (burn some energy, get the sillies out, etc) before bedtime.

Today we got up and did some yard work in the morning (mowing, pulling weeds), but by around 1pm it was just too much. The sun was intense and the air was soupy. I finished mowing and pushed Charlie on the swing for a while, which is about all you can do.

I finally have my heart monitor off! I’m glad to be rid of it after a month of annoyance. I won’t know the results for a couple more weeks. I’m hoping to have an all-clear and get off of blood thinners.

I mostly feel back to normal after the clot issue, with one notable, frustrating exception: My energy levels are lower, and I’m tired by 7-8pm now. During my sabbatical that wasn’t much of a problem because I did my hobbies during the day, but now that I’m back to work it is a drag. I used to tie flies or being in the workshop for a couple hours after Charlie goes to bed, but now at best I read for a little while and then fall asleep. I don’t know if it is the blood thinners, the result of part of my kidney atrophying, or what, but it is frustrating. I’m trying to be patient with my recovery, but my patience is wearing thing.

I hit the tipping point some time last week to start an active fitness routine again, after not having one for the last seven years. I was chatting with a coworker who does Crossfit, and I mentioned how I hate exercising, even though I know I should. He said he hates it too, but doing a class like Crossfit works because all he has to do is show up and someone tells you what to do and when to do it. An hour later, you are back home.

That resonated a lot with me, because I’ve tried bodyweight workouts in the backyard, but inevitably fall off after a couple sessions because the mental overhead of deciding the routine is too much. A class also has the added benefit of social accountability because you don’t want to be the one person who stops halfway though.

So, I started Crossfit this week. I went on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and those days are going to be my weekly routine to start. I’m sore, but not as sore as I thought I’d be, and I finished both workouts. On Thursday, I wasn’t last in the row or the mile run. I’m proud of myself for going, and proud of myself for being in slightly better shape than I thought.

I did Crossfit for a little while 13 years ago, but what is different now is that I have a family I need to be around for and I recently had a health scare which brought that into stark relief.

I also started a stretching routine before bed, which I did 6 out of the last 7 days. I took a similar approach to Crossfit: Signing up for a service (Pliability) so I don’t have to think about what to do, I just follow the video for 20 minutes. So far, so good. My main driver here is that I want to keep up with Charlie. I don’t want to be stiff and have trouble with mobility. I’m still young, so I’m not there yet, but I’m far from flexible, so the time to work on that is now. It is also helping combat the Crossfit soreness.

Some family highlights from the week:

We went to live music after work at the Yorktown Library with friends on Wednesday. We brought a picnic. It was fun! We’ll probably go again before summer is over.

Charlie and I picked wineberries in the woods. They are invasive, but fun to pick and eat. We picked about the amount of a regular raspberry clamshell container, and Charlie ate them all for a pre-bedtime snack. It is very rewarding to be able to taste the fruits of your own labor.

On Saturday, I needed to get Charlie out of the house for a little while, so we went over to the Sylvan Glen preserve for the first time. It was hot, so we didn’t hike very far, but we did get an idea of the place and will definitely go back when it is cooler. We mostly climbed on some nice rocks. There is an old granite quarry there we can explore in the future.

Charlie got out his scooter two nights in a row and rode it to the end of the street and back. This was big because he hasn’t touched the scooter for months, and until now didn’t really have the hang of riding it. Now he looks like a natural.

We met up with some friends at the TaSH farmers market, which is the best in the area. It is about 25 minutes away from us, but worth the drive. Great vendors, sometimes live music, set in a nice park with a loop path and a great playground on one side. Charlie wanted to take his bike, so he rode that while we walked.