Civic Duty, 4 Acre Wood, Shopping Score

It felt cozy to stay in bed this morning (I did wake up at 3:00 A.M., but blissfully rolled over and went back to sleep). I slept in until 8:30 A.M., and while that may not seem like much, that is five more hours than I got the last two nights.

After getting caught up with our Spotters, we determined to head out to do our civic duty. We voted today, so I will start to tune out the political ads. Alas, methinks that my other half may still have a thing or two to say about the pending election. We only had to wait about 15 minutes, and then it was off to fill in the little ovals.

With the demise of our local second hand exercise equipment sales store, we figured we had three stops to make. We were lucky to miss the rain (this morning), the blustery wind (late morning and early afternoon), and the hail and sleet (while we were at the mall). Yesterday, the wind was blowing so hard off the lake that we needed to have walk downs at the plant to secure equipment and material (flying material and power lines do not mix well). I was kidding some of my coworkers about it being like 100 Acre Wood. Beth and I were discussing this last night, and with our grass area (about 3 acres) and our marsh (about 4 acres), we figure we have a 4 Acre Wood :o)

Our Journey: First was a discount sporting goods store, Dunhams Sports. They carry a lot of one-off merchandise, that is, a new model comes out to replace the old model, and discount sporting goods stores such as Dunhams carry the older models. We perused their selection, then headed to the local Mall, with a twofold mission, get our wedding bands inspected and cleaned (a free service when you purchase at Rogers and Holland jewelers) and to check out the exercise equipment store. The first part of our mission was uneventful (and Beth's little rock sparkled), but the second half was thwarted by yet another exercise equipment store closure. I feel there may be a conspiracy (or is it more an symbol of what we no longer value). Our last planned stop was at Dick's (keep it out of the gutter here folks :o), another sporting goods store. We found their selection to be very limited for such a large store (that has a huge Internet selection by the way) and overpriced. I did have a $50 gift card from a work sponsored wellness program drawing that I was selected for, and picked up a multi-position all-purpose bench (sitting for shoulder workouts, angled and flat for chest workouts, and reverse inclined for abs).


After our planned stops, it was back to Dunhams to purchase the best selections we came across. We got a multi-purpose weight machine, that uses weight stacks that are easy to adjust simply by moving the pin. We learned last week that when there is a 12" difference in heights, it is important to actually try the machines, because the Pro-Weider machines as Sears do not accommodate those of a smaller stature :o) It has enough variety to get good workout in. We already have a recumbent bike and a treadmill, so we wanted to round out our aerobic equipment with an elliptical machine (it is easy to get bored doing aerobic workouts, so having a variety is important). All told, we only spent $800 today, because everything was either on sale or on clearance. A health club membership would eat that up in less than a year, so I feel we were very frugal today.

The trickiest part of the day was getting it all in the back of Blue. The elliptical machine was on clearance, meaning that we had had to take the floor model, and that does not stand up in a truck with a cap on the back. I worked up quite a sweat getting the elliptical machine and boxes for the weight machine in. I had to leave the tailgate down and tie the box upright. We drove home with the flashers on. Rant Alert: What kind of &#%@#$ idiot, instances of both male and female drivers mind you, tailgates you when you have a box hanging out the back, the flashers are blaring, and you are going no faster than 30 mph? End of Rant.

Hope the start of your week was smooth as silk :o)