Homeless

It's a bitterly cold, snowy morning in Colorado Springs. I'm staying at a friend's house until I close on my house.  We got a couple inches of snow last night and we are supposed to have additional flurries throughout the day.  Normally I'd get up for an early-morning run, but since I don't work today, I'm waiting for it to warm up a bit.  I don't mind the extra sleep, it's winter, and I love to sleep in the winter.

Somehow I managed over 50 running miles last week.  It's been difficult with everything I have going on, as well as the poor trail conditions, to get much mileage.  I'm hoping this situation improves for most of December, although I have drill 15/16 and I usually don't get any exercise over those two days.  I don't say this to complain, but it's true that it's way more difficult to accumulate mileage when the trails are icy and it's almost always freezing when you run (no melting while you're running).  And before you suggest I try a treadmill, I'm going to shut that line of questioning down.  I don't run on treadmills.  Maybe once.  On deployment I ran on a treadmill once and afterward chose to run on rock piles (not like a trail but like something nearly impossible to run on) and outdoors where the air quality was extremely poor due to dust storms and burn pits.  Treadmills are to running like dirt is to a cake recipe.

I am still hoping to close this week on my house.  Instead of listening to the seller (via the agent) regarding what is left to be done on the house, I just stalk the El Paso County Permits website.  Currently I'm still awaiting the electrical permit to be finalized.  I went by the house a few days ago and noted a ton of changes to the outlets, etc. of the house.  Such excessive changes make me wonder what was done to the house originally during the renovations.  Both the electrical and plumbing have had major changes since I refused to buy the home without permits...to the tune of re-routing pipes and electrical lines even.  My dad always told us kids, "do it right the first time or you'll be doing it again."  I'm guessing the seller's dad never told him that.  It's too bad because it's costing him a shit-ton of money.

In less happy news, my step-father had a stroke the day after Thanksgiving.  For a little over a day I wasn't sure how bad it was.  He is okay now and after 3 days in the hospital in Houston my mom and stepdad finally made it home last Tuesday.  He certainly has some deficits in his movement, memory, and vision that hopefully time, therapy, and the ophthalmologist can work out and make better.  I know my mom has a lot on her shoulders taking care of him, she has for nearly two decades.  Naturally she struggles to take care of herself in any capacity...doing things outside of the home that interest her, developing a social support network, getting regular exercise, understanding how to run the household (things such as finances and understanding taxes/insurance, etc so she can take care of herself if my stepdad isn't there), etc.  Meanwhile I'm living in Colorado, the mountains being where I have always wanted to live, and I'm trying to help from afar.  It feels selfish to be here and yet I don't really believe that taking care of myself and living my life is selfish.  It's just hard to be away from family.

And it's so freaking cold here...