Whirlwind Missions

Saturday, August 19, 2023

Español! Walk! Bike! 8.19.23

Tim A. Cummins @ 9:07 pm  

I had a good chat with my buddy Anthony today. Always fun!

OYB!

Walked 1.33 miles. Seven times up the hill. Just a good warm up before my bike ride.

Beautiful weather.

Listened to music and Don Cheto while I was riding. My ear constantly seems to be getting better. I’m picking out bigger and bigger chunks of what’s being said.

Biked 15.60 miles.

Another strong end to the week.

Friday, August 18, 2023

Walk! Bike! Español! Podcast! 8.18.23

Tim A. Cummins @ 9:30 pm  

Interesting!

OYB!

Español!

Kathy has taken over the couch on the front porch, so I’ve relocated to the back porch, which is also beautiful.

Walked up and down my hill (which is steep!) twenty times this morning. Total of 3.68 miles.

Delightful outside.

Had a good lunch at El Torerros. Later slept for over an hour.

Prepped my bike. That includes checking the air pressure in the tires and giving the frame a wipe down with WD40.


Listened to music and Don Cheto while I rode. I almost started too late. It was nice and cool, but got too close to dark for my liking.

Total of 14.62 miles. Not sure why sometimes the same route comes up as slightly over 15. Bizarre.

Released Verbal Surgery “Billion Dollar Baby.” this evening. Excellence.

I figured she’d fade. Happens a lot on the weekend. It’s all about consistent effort.

Thursday, August 17, 2023

Walk! Front Yard! Español! Azalea! 8.17.23

Tim A. Cummins @ 8:35 pm  

Always learning and reviewing.

OYB!

Español!

Walked 2.09 miles. Would have gone farther but my neighbor started mowing, so I decided to do yard work as well.

Worked on trimming the front yard. It wasn’t nearly as hard as the back yard, but still needed cleaning up a bit.

Walked another .94 miles.

After I finished trimming, I blew the driveway and garage.

Looks better.

Not too hot today.

Had a nice chat with my Mom. Glad her knees are doing better. Amen.

I got my Primerica life insurance cancelled. They were going to increase my premium by about $300 a month. I already have my new policies in place.

Cleaned off my window. It has some residue on it from a sticker that one of the workers at Azalea had put on it.

I took the last of Ashley’s lime cake home for J and K to enjoy. It was really good.

Ashley’s vacuum wasn’t working. I took it all apart and cleared out a couple of hoses to fix it. It was really jammed up with stuff. These little styrofoam pellets were driving me crazy. Everly was a good helper with that job.

Had a table full of kids. They are pretty much all camera shy. Helped with reviewing for a science test and with some papers some of the kids were writing.

I’m also teaching English with one of the moms.

One of the kids I talked with using Newton’s second law and how that relates to soccer.

Listened to Don Cheto.

Picked up some food for J.

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

Walk! Yard! Azalea! Bank! UPS! 8.16.23

Tim A. Cummins @ 8:49 pm  

Started the procedure to return the wifi extender back to Amazon.

OYB!

Español!

Beautiful clouds!

Walked 2.79 miles while I studied.


Once I finished walking up and down my hill fifteen times, I finished trimming my back yard. I had fun listening to music while I worked.

Like the last couple of days, I split the time between picking up limbs and hauling them to my recycle area and cutting the plants.

The back yard was very overgrown.

I kept stomping my feet really hard on the ground to scare away any snakes. That’s my main motivation for keeping my yard trimmed up: anti-snake. Another reason I feed opossums and raccoons. Both of them kill snakes.

I ended up working over two hours and walked another 1.31 miles.

The last little bit of the job. Amen. It was surprisingly cool today. What a relief!

Finished product. Every year the monkey grass continues to spread out. Keeping it trimmed helps the grass by getting rid of the weeds that starve them for light.

In this picture, you can see where I take all the sticks and limbs. Eventually, the mycelium will make them all disappear. It’s amazing. Same thing for all the leaves. Over time, they produce rich soil.

I set a fifteen minute timer to take water breaks. That made a big difference in feeling better. That and being so much cooler today.

The lower humidity made a big difference.

I worked on canceling my previous life insurance today. I left two messages for the agent to cancel it. Never could get through to him. Hopefully, tomorrow he’ll leave a message and say it’s been done. I’ll keep trying.

Deposited a check. Amen.

Dropped off the wifi extender at the UPS store.

Helped the kids at the mission. There were a lot but most of them are camera shy.

I took the training wheels off a bike of one of the kids. He just took off riding! Impressive!

Keep pushing. I doubt Cathy will be able to keep up. At least not by comparing it with her work last week.

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Walk! Yard! Azalea! Shoelaces! 8.15.23

Tim A. Cummins @ 8:18 pm  

OYB!

Español!

I saw this beautiful Luna Moth on my walk this morning.

I was checking my progress a lot this morning. Each lap up and down the hill is .18 miles. I do a lap in about four minutes. I accidentally turned off my progress twice. My actual distance was 3.24 miles in 1:24 hours and climbed 18 hills.

I then turned my attention to yard work. I used my weed whacker and got limbs out of the yard. Seems like I split my time pretty evenly between those two tasks.

It was pretty dense work.

Walked another .90 miles.

Looking better! Probably about another 1.5 hours to finish it up.

I decided to store my cords and whacker under a protected area to get all the stuff out faster tomorrow.

It wasn’t as hot today, but I was still absolutely soaked with sweat. I set a timer to stop every fifteen minutes and drink more water.

Some showers blew through around lunch time. I really enjoyed Mexican food today.

Had a nice chat with my Mom today. Always good!

Deposited checks. Thank you, Lord!

The condos across the street continue to make progress.

Helped the kids at the mission. I figured out how to do the eighth grade math. I was able to explain it to Crystal.

I worked on teaching Penelope how to tie her shoes yesterday. Today, she was able to tie the bow knot! Very proud of her. It’s not easy.

Don Cheto on the way home.

Went by my office to check the mail. Got money in from Christ Church. PTL.

Monday, August 14, 2023

Duolingo! Walk! Yard! Azalea! 8.14.23

Tim A. Cummins @ 9:28 pm  

Now that’s intense.

Just keep going. Came in #1 this week.

OYB!

Español!

Walked 1.88 miles. Up and down the hill 10 times.

Slightly over 1″ of rain over the last couple of days.

Cleaned and refilled my hummingbird feeders.

Trimmed some trees and shrubs.

Got the weed eater after the yard. I’m so glad I’ve quit mowing. So loud. So dirty. So much pollution. And not really that much faster, if at all.

After all the storms we’ve had there are always a ton of sticks to pick up. I think I did four full wagon loads.

Blew the deck and driveway.

Yard looks better after a trim.

Lots of leaves on the driveway.

Walked another 1.26 miles with the weeder. Over three hours of strenuous exercise. My pants and socks were completely soaked. I try to drink a lot of water while I’m doing it.

I agree with the excessive heat. It’s a new world we’re living in.

Downstairs where I live, my bedroom doesn’t get much lower than 80 degrees even at night. Fans make a huge difference.

Ate curry for lunch at Masala, then got the girls around 2:30 PM.

Helped the kids with their homework. Man, the 8th grade stuff was really hard to figure out. I finally discovered this which helped me.

Everly was very proud of her new earring collection. They are the clamp style.

Listened to Don Cheto on the way home.

Went by my office to check the mail.

Processed the checks to get them ready to deposit.

Filled up the car on the way home. Went into Walmart to pick up some meds for K. She’s on antibiotics now.

Beautiful clouds.

Went by the ATM to deposit the checks and it was GONE! That’s not zesty. Looks like they may be bricking it over. I hope they replace it. That location was super convenient for me.

Usually by the end of the first day I can tell how much competition I’ll have. I expect to come in #1 pretty easily by the looks at what the other folks have been doing recently.

Sunday, August 13, 2023

Walk! Español! Bike! 8.13.23

Tim A. Cummins @ 5:32 pm  

I tried to get going as early as possible today.

OYB!

Español!

Walked up and down my hill 2.21 miles today. I was a sweaty mess. No shirt again. Just too hot.

Walked up the hill 12 times. I didn’t do as much today because I knew I was going biking soon after.

Prepped my bike for a ride. Checked the tire pressure on both. New tube seems to be doing fine.

Listened to music and Don Cheto.

It just kept getting hotter. This is what it was like when I biked.

Went a long way in spite of the heat.

Working on getting reimbursed for an order I made in error.

This is what it was like around 4 PM.

Ate pizza with K this afternoon.

Saturday, August 12, 2023

Walk! Español! Bike Repair! 8.12.23

Tim A. Cummins @ 7:40 pm  

Just keep pushing.

OYB!

Español!

Pushed myself hard walking today. I decided, “Why am I walking miles on relatively flat road? I need just to focus on this hill.” And my hill is steep.

I went up my hill 24 times without stopping.

The thick sticks represent 10. I did one more after I took this picture.

I went shirtless because my body couldn’t cool down with my completely saturated shirt on. Almost my total track is shady. Amen.

I studied Spanish the whole time. It makes the work go by fast.

Always learning new words. I was hearing this word used like a girl.

Ate lunch with K then went to Aztec cycles to get my flat tire fixed. They couldn’t find a hole, but I wasn’t going out with a tube I couldn’t count on. It’s been working just fine and then suddenly went flat? Gimme a new tube.

It was hot today. Humidity was tough.

I was planning on riding my bike but the radar stopped me. I’m not going out with this bearing down on me.

May come in #1 this week. I wasn’t really expecting that.

Friday, August 11, 2023

Rain! Anthony! Audiologist! Walk! 8.11.23

Tim A. Cummins @ 7:58 pm  

Sad news. I remember watching her many times at the zoo.

OYB!

Español!

Big thunderstorm pushed through the ATL this morning. We’ve been getting that a lot.

Had a good time talking with my buddy Anthony this morning.

Went to Roswell to take Jessi to her audiologist for a check up on her hearing aid. Also had a brief chat with the surgeon about the wound. Everything looks great!

While we were at the doctor’s office I noticed this gentleman who looked almost exactly like Kathy’s dad.

Listened to Don Cheto.

Nice weather once the storms blew through.

I got ready for a bike ride then realized I had a flat in my front tire. Bahd luck. I’ll have to get my bike rack on my car and take her to my bike guys tomorrow morning.

I decided to exercise by hiking up and down my hill. That was a lot of work! Walked 3.79 miles and just sweated like crazy. It’s a lot sweatier than riding a bike. I literally squeezed sweat out of my shirt. It was kind of gross.

I walked up and down my hill twenty times. Worked out for about an hour and twenty five minutes.

I used the little sticks to count from 1 to 9, then a big stick to represent 10.

That was a really good work out. The Pitty Pat Hill is slightly shorter than my other hill, but the top is quite a bit steeper. I’m always looking for something that makes me breathe hard. Biking does that a lot. Walking not so much. That’s why I’m focusing just on hill work. And the bike.

I set up an account with Nationwide to get my refund from the Home Insurance company. I’ve changed to Cincinnati. I’ll be sending PNC who holds my mortgage that reimbursement to put into escrow.

I also set up my online account with Cincinnati.

Always something to do!

Thursday, August 10, 2023

Walk! Implant! Repairs! Calculators! Podcast! 8.10.23

Tim A. Cummins @ 9:27 pm  

One of the things I do regularly is contact the author of stories that I’ve really enjoyed. Scott Gilbertson is one of those people. He wrote about an old bus that he took around the country that he had to fix himself. It was super interesting. I wrote him months ago. Finally heard from him today.

OYB!

Rain in our area. We didn’t get much. I walked with my parasol.

Español!

Because of the drizzle, I walked up and down the hill in front of my house, which is steep!

My hill is steeper at the very top than the hill I regularly walk.

About six months ago I had one of my molars extracted. That was quite an event! The wound healed up but we waited till I hit 65 and now have medicare which covers way more of the process.

Dr. Jeon is the best dentist I’ve ever had.

Today I came in for the implant. It’s a fairly complex procedure. He sawed away part of the artificial bone he put in after the extraction, and drilled in a new mount for the crown which will be put in in January. If all goes well, because of the spacing of the procedures (one in 2023, the other in 2024) insurance will hopefully cover it all. Amen to that!

The procedure took about an hour and a half. Afterwards, I came home and kept an ice pack on it for about an hour to keep the swelling down. I did three minutes on and three minutes off to not damage the skin on my face.

I’m taking ibuprofen every six hours to keep the pain to a minimum. So far everything feels fine. I did have a nice nap this afternoon. It was pretty stressful, even though I knew I was in good hands.

Listened to Don Cheto as I drove around.

All the exercise that I’m doing means I wash a lot of clothes. I’ve been helping do that more. It becomes kind of overwhelming for K at times, although she likes to help me with it.

I hot glued a piece of the stove that got cracked off.

As well as a piece of the trim on Mercury.

Released a new episode of Verbal Surgery called “The Unplanned Life.” Excellent.

I got this notice from my previous home insurance company. The refund is supposed to be over $2,500! I sent my home insurance agent this shot. Hopefully, she can get all the money sent to me so I can send it back to the bank for my escrow. She assured me she could do that. So I’m optimistic it will all work out ok.

Chatted with a friend of mine from high school this evening. I never click on anything unless I know for sure it’s not some hacker trying to mess with me.

Recorded a new episode of Verbal Surgery at Stone Mountain called, “Billion Dollar Baby.” Another winner, chicken dinner.

Went to the Dollar Tree to get more calculators for the kids at the mission. I only had two left in my bag when I worked with the kids this week. I didn’t go today because of the implant procedure. I don’t know why I thought I’d be able to do that after the surgery. Overly optimistic on my part.

Not bad for $1.25.

Folded my clothes.

Downloaded the episode I recorded this afternoon onto my Mac Air.

I’ll still do some Spanish study this evening.

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