Eurythmics, 1999:
Stop the world
Call it a day
Leave it all behind
Leave it that way
I tried to pick the least depressing verse from the song (“Peace is Just a Word”). Yeah.
I don’t have anything to add. Yet.
August 22 2026 birding gallery is up (finally)
A wee bit late with this one. It’s a kooky mix of snoozing ducks, weird shots of random objects and pigeons.
Great Blue Heron near the fish ladder, for obvious reasons.
A seagull flying over a gray sky.
A rare shot of a dragonfly in flight.
A ruffled Ring-billed Gull looking back.
A cricket. Or grasshopper?
A Long-billed Dowitcher foraging in the shallows.
Size comparison between Mallard and Long-billed Dowitcher.
Yellow flower.
No Fishing.
Close-up of lily pads, converted to black and white.
I'm pretty sure this is a muskrat. Definitely not Nessie.
Still Creek, looking somewhat less still.
Mallard snoozing on a stump.
Female Wood Duck snoozing.
Female Wood Duck Xtreme snoozing.
Male Wood Duck still looking dapper.
Male Wood Duck balancing.
This orange mallard is likely a hybrid, as mallards will get into shenanigans with many other ducks.
Pigeons opposed.
Rock Pigeons on a railing.
A young Rock Pigeon up close.
A Canada Goose going through Xtreme molting.
White-crowned Sparrow.
Original post here: Birding, August 22, 2026: When life gives you mallards…
Run 1,060: Beat the rain, beat the clock
Today’s goal was pretty simple: Beat the rain. Not that I’m afraid of melting or anything, I just prefer to run when it’s not raining, mostly because I wear glasses and they do not have little windshield wipers on them.
The forecast on the phone and the PC both agreed on showers, but disagreed on when. I decided the safest plan was to go to the lake (my preference) and do a short loop, which would get me back around 11:30 a.m., which was within the window of the more pessimistic forecast–and it worked! It was cloudy, but did not rain. The sun even threatened to poke out a few times, but never quite managed it.
I ran 2.8 km, turned around and planned on running on the main trail, but just as I neared the intersection between the main trail and the Conifer Loop, one of those giant mowers appeared around the corner of the main trail, appearing to take up almost the entire space. So it was off to the Conifer Loop, which I ran in its entirely, coming back out on the main trail and finishing ahead of where I’d planned, but with plenty of time to get back before The Rains (as I type this, it remains dry).
In terms of the run, it went well. My pace was 6:04/km, slightly edging Monday’s effort, though the overall time remained identical at 30:33. I felt fine and broke the six-minute mark on the final km again. The trail was fairly light in terms of traffic (other than giant mowers), no doubt due to the clouds, but the conditions were pretty good for running.
In all, a fine midweek effort.
Stats:
Run 1,060
Average pace: 6:04/km
Training status: Productive
Performance Condition: -1
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop)
Start: 10:13 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 30:33
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 19°C
Humidity: 65–63%
Wind: light
BPM: 149
Weight: 171.3 pounds
Total distance to date: 7,105 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (85/184/269)
Music: Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (so groovy)
Post #38 and a wrap on Blaugust 2026
I wrote 38 posts this month (counting this one) and yet I feel like I’ve somehow failed Blaugust because most of my posts were:
- Running
- Birding
- Random photos
These are all “easy” posts for me and unless you’re really into (me) running, the running posts aren’t even that interesting (though one running post did get me an email–which delighted me!)
Still, I’m glad to have participated. A year from now, I don’t know if I’ll be blogging here in WordPress or somewhere else, but I’ll still be blogging and I’ll do Blaugust again. And I might remember to use the tag more often, too.
Now I need to read through some more of the Blaugust posts from others.
August weight loss report: Up 1.7 pounds
In some crazy alternate universe I bet I was down!
And to be fair, it was the last few days of the month when my weight spiked that makes it look so bad.
But enough with excuses, on to the stats!
It’s a mix of good and bad. The month ended with cookies, so there’s that. Food is my comfort, but I am doing a bit better. Baby steps. Baby steps that don’t lead to a box of Pop-Tarts.
I’m going to boldly predict I will still be down for the year, though!
January 1, 2026: 169.4 pounds
Current: 170.7 pounds
Year to date: Up 1.3 pounds
August 1: 168.5 pounds
August 31: 169.4 pounds (up 0.9 pounds)
Body fat:
August 1: 26.2%
August 31: 26.5% (up 0.3%)
Skeletal muscle mass:
August 1: 29.8 kg
August 31: 30.0 kg (up 0.2 kg)
BMI:
August 1: 24.2
August 31: 24.4 (up 0.2)
Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds
Run 1,059: Breakthrough 2: Electric Boogaloo
For a change of pace (and to avoid it getting hotter) I opted to run the river trail today after getting off to a late start in the morning.
And it went well! I had two laps that came in under the six-minute mark, my overall pace was 6:05/km, which beats my previous run and is also the best since the surgery. My BPM was 149, as befits the less-demanding river trail.
I was even able to do math in my head–while running!–and figure out where I needed to turn back in the final km to end close to where I started, for maximum efficiency. And my calculation was pretty close!
I had no issues on the run and didn’t encounter many people. Because this trail is essentially a gated service road, it’s rare to experience actual crowding, but there weren’t even enough people to form a crowd. It was warmer than Saturday at 21°C, and humidity was lower at 55%, but neither had a real impact.
In all, a good start to the week.
Stats:
Run 1,059
Average pace: 6:05/km
Training status: Productive
Performance Condition: +3
Location: Brunette River Trail
Start: 11:09 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 30:33
Weather: Mostly sunny
Temp: 21°C
Humidity: 55%
Wind: light
BPM: 149
Weight: 170.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 7,100 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (80/176/256)
Music: Into the Great Wide Open, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Blahgust
The more I try to think what to write, the more the thoughts run away, nimble and free.
But I remain hopeful that I’ll find my way back to waxing poetic/inanely on whatever wanders into my mind.
In the meantime, here’s a photo I took of a pile of gravel, with all kinds of filters applied to punch it up, a reflection of the artificial times we live in.
And for fun, the original as it looked straight from my phone (what a weird thing this would have been to write in 1980):
Run 1,058: Post-surgery breakthrough
Today’s run was different for a few reasons. First, I didn’t run on Wednesday, because air quality was bad, then I didn’t run on Friday because I wanted to let the mail carrier in (long, weird story) and so today, a Saturday, I headed out, somewhat wary because of the four days off and the potential for Saturday crowds, especially with perfectly fine late summer weather.
But it turned out the four days off may have been a benefit and not a hindrance and the crowds were not really much different than most days and everyone was pleasant and all dogs were good boys or girls.
In the end, my BPM was up a bit at 151, which is still fine, but my overall pace was 6:09/km, a full 11 seconds better than the previous run and my best 5K performance (or even 2.5K) since I resumed running post-surgery on June 29. It was also the first time since surgery that I had a km come in under the six-minute mark. The last km, to be exact, where I posted a pace of 5:53/km, proving I can still boogie a bit.
I also saw the Spitfire near the start of my run on the Spruce Loop (I think she runs every day because she is hardcore. I am mediumcore, at best.) She then looped back and passed me post-run when I was doing an unusual bit of wool-gathering on the trail and not really paying attention. I almost got in her way and felt bad. I paid full attention after that.
There were also three topless runners in varying states of glistening. The last was rather hirsute, which is not my thing, but the first had a perfectly flat stomach. No killer abs or anything, just nicely flat. That will be my goal, to match Flat Stomach Guy. Someday.
But for today, I am glad to get a run in and see signs of progress (and better running temperatures, too).
Stats:
Run 1,058
Average pace: 6:09/km
Training status: Productive
Performance Condition: +0
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:34 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 30:57
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 17–19°C
Humidity: 70–63%
Wind: light
BPM: 151
Weight: 169.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 7,095 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (75/173/248)
Music: Out of the Blue, ELO
I seem to be having trouble writing
I have some thoughts on why, but nothing particularly cogent or organized yet. I feel like my brain is processing stuff and is keeping me in something of a holding pattern while it churns things through. Or maybe that’s just an excuse.
In any case, a haiku:
Ideas absent
My brain is off on its own
Patiently I wait
A little rain, a little fun guy
Actually, a fungi.
After some showers a bunch of mushrooms suddenly appeared in a planter that is currently just soil. How do they even appear so quickly? Sorcery!
A train under a bridge
A shot I took yesterday, converted to black and white because I was feeling artsy.
The world without Dolly Parton
It’s a diminished place.
Here are two things I saw and wanted to share here about the death of Dolly Parton today, at age 80:
And an editorial cartoon:
Celebrity deaths don’t usually affect me, but Dolly Parton radiated such tremendous goodness, intelligence, compassion, and generosity. She was also funny as all get-out.
She will be missed.