Spider

 

We're having a pest control man over today to combat the ants, and while he sprays inside the house, I was asked to go outside. I thought this might be a good opportunity to take my camera into the wooded area nearby. I recently spotted a Philippine Coucal and I thought I might get lucky enough to get a photo this morning.

Although I heard the distinctive cuckoo sound, I was unable to get close enough to see the bird - much less close enough to photograph.

Not wanting my outing to be a total loss, I took a few photos. Unfortunately, the only photo that I found interesting was this photo of a spider - some sort of Argiope. At first, I thought the spider was the same type as one I photographed outside my in-laws' house when I first arrived. Comparing the webs and the differences in body shape, I now believe these two are of the same species but of different genus.

Walking versus Cycling

Anyone familiar with any of my blogs may recall that, prior to October of 2020, I wrote quite a few blog posts about walking in the area in and around Sibulan and Dumaguete. Toward October, I was averaging over two miles a day.

These daily walks ended when I had an attack of sciatica. This was written about in my post on my round of acupuncture treatments. Eventually, the sciatica went away - whether that was due to the acupuncture, the weekly massages or just time, remains a question.

Although no longer plagued with the sciatic pain, I'm afraid that my arches have fallen which makes walking difficult. I mentioned yesterday that I bought a new bicycle. Not having done any aerobic exercise since October, I experienced difficulty breathing after cycling a short distance. On the other hand, there were no pains in my legs or feet as a result of the bicycle riding.

This morning, my wife had an appointment to drop off our car at a nearby body repair shop located near the Smiles on Demand call center. This is fairly close to our house (slightly less than 1 km), so the plan was for her to leave the car and walk home. I decided to accompany her. I noticed a huge difference between walking this morning and bike riding. I had no difficulty breathing while walking (as I had with the bicycle) but unlike the bicycle ride, my feet where in pain from the relatively short walk. It seems that with walking, my entire body weight is on my feet, where as that isn't the case with riding a bicycle.

I'll continue to work of my cardiovascular conditioning by bicycle riding. I may have to consult an orthopedist or podiatrist before I can get back into a long distance walking routine.

New Bicycle for an Old Man

 

For several months, I've been wanting to buy a bicycle. I finally bought one this morning, just a few days after the Biden Bucks arrived in our bank account.

I'm less than a month away from my 69th birthday, and this is the first time I've ridden a bicycle in 40 years. I knew I'd have a rough time, but I'm not in as fine shape as I thought I was. It's about 1.5 miles from the bicycle shop where I purchased the bike to our place in Magatas. I honestly thought I'd be able to go the distance.....but no such luck. I didn't get far before I was completely winded and unable to go farther.

My wife and I put the bicycle in the car, and we drove home. I see now that it will take several days of riding before I'll be able to go any good distance to speak of.

Slowly but surely....a little more each morning.

 

17 Million Views

I just received an email from Google Maps letting me know that the photos I've posted on the website have received more than 17 million views.

Actually, when I go to the Google Maps site, I see that the number is currently 17,565,675 views.

This number is an increase of more than 1,000,000 views since I last wrote about this in December, 2020.

I'm especially proud that my photo of Bernie Sanders sitting outside a McDonald's in Dumaguete has received more that 450 views.