Monday, April 11, 2022

#BestSongIHeardToday • Volume 11

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The #BestSongIHeardToday series is often centered around hearing great songs while exercising. These posts will tend to drift into health related topics but will always come back to the music that brought you here. This particular series is probably more about a self journal to help me stay on the path of healthy living that includes, listening to old and new tunes. If you're looking for a great mix playlist of 25-30 songs, just click on one of my Volumes above.


 I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in
And stops my mind from wandering
Where it will go
–Lennon/McCartney

The whole idea of volunteering one's time for the greater good has always been a difficult concept for me. Not in the idea, but in the doing. The 'do good' activities always seem to involve having to do that organized thing with other people, and they're probably... strangers. If you're kind of a loner or on the reclusive side like me, mixing with a bunch of social go-getters is just going to make me turn and run in the other direction.

Speaking of running. I'm on my trail run (really he's going to write about that again)... and I get to the worst section on the trail (pictured above). Over the past several years, the little creek that flows next to the trail when it rains, has over time found its own path to this lower part. It always floods this section after a storm. This makes for  a muddy and slippery mess for anyone passing through this hole. It has  gotten worse as mountain bikers have kind of exacerbated the situation by steadily deepening it as they ram on.

Several months ago, I saw a women pushing her baby in a stroller. She had a dog and toddler in tow and struggled through the hole section that was totally dry and a bit rocky from the ongoing drought. Anyway, she made it through as I approached and passed her. Her struggle kind of got me thinking that there weren't as many kids on the trail as there used to be. I've been doing this trail run since 2001 and seen a lot of regulars come and go. In fact, I might very well be the current patriarch of the trail! Maybe I should do something about fixing that hole...

In early March I was watching the news one day and the forecast was for rain, actually over several days. After thinking about fixing that hole for several years, I finally got off my ass and did something about it before the rains came this time. Jefferson Airplane's Volunteers came into my head and I laughed at myself that I finally found my calling, all by myself with my shovel and rake.

Here's the trail a month later in early April after several rain storms. I'm happy to report the terrace effect upper trail that I created with my shovel and rake have given walkers, runners, and even mountain bikers higher ground to pass through without getting all muddy. 

I've got a few more tweaks to fix just up around the bend and will have to get to that soon. I would like to think that the woman has come back with her kids and dog and enjoyed the fun of being in this little peaceful greenbelt canyon trail between the 1970's housing development boxes... And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.

Take care my friends and enjoy the songs heard right here from this trail to this playlist.


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