Yes, I'm back in the saddle again. The weather is close to perfect today... about 69 degrees outside and my walk along the tracks on the nature trail was wonderful. As some of you may or may not know, this blog is mostly about the 30 minute walks I try to take on a regular basis. Unfortunately, I wimped out when the weather got less-than springlike. And it is technically still winter until the 21st, but I thought it was high time to start up again. And wouldn't you know it? At precisely 3:28 into my walk, I had to wait for a VERY SLOW train... But I stood there and waited while cars sat and waited and even a bicyclist sat and waited for the thing to rumble through. In some of the "cattle cars" one could see several SUV's through the holes in the metal. I hope they enjoyed the ride. I enjoyed the sunshine and the little chipmunk who came out to greet me today.

It's been 6 days since I walked the figure-8 at Conner Park, and I cannot even remember what the weather was really like that day. I simply need to blog more often. I just don't have much to say... or when I do I just don't feel like typing it up... I guess I've gotten very lazy since coming to Blogstream. My old blogging account is still faithfully spammed almost every day however. I can always count on that... I am so disappointed by that. But blogstream seems like a nice place, though I haven't taken the time to get to know anybody.

Once again, the weather prevented me from taking the Birchard Park path... the puddles were tremendous yesterday. And for those who are wondering, I live in Fremont, Ohio, 5 miles south of Lake Erie... So, I took the nature trail from Rodger Young and up and over the Sandusky River... It's been a week since I last did it, because I've had this deep, rib-rattling cough I just can't shake and I've been trying to behave. I had a good walk, with not many birds but plenty of wind and it felt good to be out in the air and taking in nature.

The birds know what to do. They are not concerned at all about the fact that we have had no ground-covering snow since before Thanksgiving. These unusual circumstances give them no worry at all. Me? I'm not worried. I'm just disappointed. I expect to take walk #49 on the same trail that was frozen over not long ago...

I got back on the trail at Conner Park on Tuesday. The weather is still holding, though it is clear that my ankles won't hold up if I keep packing on the pounds I did in 2006. Here's hoping for a lighter, svelter E-man in 2007.