We just returned from Taking Harvey on his morning walk. It’s not a big walk, only about 10 minutes, and I’m guesstimating about a quarter mile, but it’s a good routine and start to the morning. Yesterday, after our morning walk, we all loaded into the car and went for a long drive exploring various back and side roads we’ve never been down. In our travels, we found a very small but pleasant waterfront park, not too terribly far from our home, that looked quite inviting, so we parked and took Harvey for a stroll along the waterfront park. It was quite the pleasant random excursion
I started walking Harvey in the morning four days ago for several reasons:
Harvey rarely gets out of the house and his primary stomping ground is our home and a large backyard, which is plenty large for him to run around in. But he is a dog and of course loves getting to walk around the neighborhood with so many more exciting smells and sites.
I need to up my exercise as I continue to recover and was eager to walk somewhere other than around my house and yard.
I want to develop the routine of getting exercise every day again, even if I’m starting out very small.
I have spent the better part of the last year and a half being somewhat immobile for a variety of reasons, and I promised myself once I could get up and around and out of the house freely again I would take full advantage of it.
We actually have a very beautiful neighborhood and it is a pleasant, peaceful walk.
With the recent atmosphere in the country, I thought it might be more prudent to be more visible rather than less visible in our neighborhood. I am optimistically hoping people seeing two guys walking their cute little dog around the neighborhood will make us look and seem harmless and safe to anyone in our neighborhood who might harbor some irrational fear that a couple of scary Homos are living next-door or across the street. (Because nothing is less threatening than a couple of old gray portly bears dressed in superhero T-shirts slowly walking an adorable tiny black dog.) While we have been fortunate enough to never have any known issues with any of our neighbors, if we can acclimate more neighbors to the sight of us, it my preemptively dilute any negative feelings developing toward or about us. And hey, if we just happen to interact with and or meet neighbors we’ve never met before, that’s a bonus.
It’s a good way to start the morning instead of plopping on the couch and watching TV which we have been doing for far too long. While I can use my poor health as an excuse for the greater part of that, I can no longer hide behind any inability to be and get more active. What was the point of going through all this and getting better if I wasn’t going to do better?
Summer is the season of shirtless fellas, so if they’re just happens to be burly men working on a roof or in the yard sans top, we wouldn’t be upset or offended at the sight of them in anyway. For the record, we have never seen such a sight in our neighborhood for the last 10 years we have lived here, save for one single day when we we’re driving through our neighborhood as we occasionally do, just for the heck of it, and drove by a yard with a backyard in ground pool, populated by at least four very attractive fit men in bathing suits. We have driven by the house a million times since then and have never seen such a thing again. I think it may have been a Mirage from the heat. Also, we had to stop driving by the house, as we think people might’ve thought we were casing it ha ha ha. On an unrelated note, I have asked Santa for a drone for Christmas. *smirk*
We are all now back at the house for the day. Jeffrey will be off to his monthly massage in a few minutes, and Harvey and I will remain home snuggled together in the cool embrace of central air while I read comics or peruse the various social medias for funny pet videos and various Memes. At least until my “have to do something productive” gene kicks in and I start rearranging the silverware, one of the few items in the weight range I’m currently allowed to lift.
Stay safe all, and thanks for stopping by.
Idle Eyes and a Dormy 
Glad to see you’re up and around. In case I’m not online tomorrow, Happy 4th!
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Thanks. I’m not feeling particularly patriotic these days, so tomorrow will not be a celebrational as it might have been in the past. I hope if you’re off-line tomorrow it’s for good or relaxing reasons.
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I’m amused by the image of you sorting silverware every day or so, simply because you must DO something and it is light enough for you to lift.
The neighborhood walk sounds lovely! I’m sure Harvey enjoys it, too. I agree, two graying portly bears walking the cute dog in the neighborhood seems like a good way to acclimate the neighbors to how normal same sex relationships are.
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How DARE you?!?!? I never said anything about us being NORMAL! (He he he.)
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You’re the sassiest (and funniest) bear I’ve ever met. So glad you’re doing the exercise thing. May I ask how Harvey got his name? Ha about the swimming pool scene! Go borrow a cup of sugar or something. And I love to rearrange our silverware too. It’s therapeutic.
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He is named after one of our gay heroes, Harvey Milk.
Unfortunately the house is down several streets and roads from us so it would be very suspicious for us to have walked half a mile past several other houses to borrow sugar just from them. (but would totally be worth the trek.)
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But then you might could become their sugar daddy.
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Bwahahaha. I don’t think I have enough money to fill that role. Of course they don’t need to know that.
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I do my walks/runs on a treadmill. I really should get out and walk through my neighborhood and parks more.
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When I’m back up to walking 30 minutes at a brisk pace every day, it will be on my treadmill in the basement. These short morning walks are more for Harvey’s exercise than mine.
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A morning walk in the park with Harvey sounds like an ideal way to start the day!
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It’s quite wonderful
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I am glad Harvey is getting to explore the neighborhood, and that you are taking advantage of your improved health. As you well know, it is all too easy to take good health for granted until it is gone.
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We do not take good health for granted in this house for sure.
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I enjoyed reading the entry and the comments. You are correct when you mention about the atmosphere we are experiencing now which if we are not careful can lead to civil unrest. Soon to be 70 I remember all too well eras of civil unrest and fear and what it feels like. Ours was an Irish Roman Catholic family. My father was in partnership with a prominent Jewish family and the business was patronized by people from all walks of life. I remember when the racial unrest in the city came to visit our home at 3 am on a Sunday morning. The telephone started ringing and there was pounding at the door and an orange glow bouncing off the living room and dining room ceiling. There was a cross burning on our front lawn. Neighbors were running around trying to put out the fire. My mother hide my brother and I in a closet and told us not to come out unless she told us to. I remember how confused and worried my father’s voice was. The police had arrived and verified that three of the business locations he owned with his Jewish partners were on fire and that crosses were burning at those locations, too. His partners had called and were very concerned about our safety. It was terrifying and I have never gotten over the experience. The FBI investigated and they could never prove who did the arson and terrorism but indications pointed directly at friends and other professional people we knew who apparently belonged to the hooded, bed sheeted knights. I have had trust issues since then that have never gone away. That is the reason the homophobic nurse incident in my home a few days ago upset me so. The atmosphere is ripe for unrest and we must try not to fear but do whatever it takes to calm others and lessen the fear. That is all I got to say for now but the world we live in is not going to let it go so gently and reasonably as we would like it to. I want to live my life OUTLOUD as my friends on a popular Tube of You channel say but I am just not sure. Actions do speak louder than most other examples. I told myself I wasn’t going to soap box it in blogs anymore but damnit, I speak from first hand experience how things happened to me during my life. Be careful, Be Safe, Beware, and Be Kind To One Another. Is it so hard to do? Enjoy your 4th of July!
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Woody, your experience is horrific and your story needs to be told and heard and if this is where you feel comfortable telling it don’t ever feel bad about doing so. Your comments are always welcome. They are stark reminder that things were worse and could be again if we’re not careful. I feel really lucky that you’ve chosen to open up so much on my blog and I hope you will continue to do so as you feel inspired to. You’ve been through and are going through so much. You are a true survivor.
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A 1/4-mile walk in the neighborhood on Harvey’s little legs must seem like a major trek. A daily walk in the park with Harvey sounds blissful and healthy. Good for you. With summer officially here, I see shirtless visions of all shapes and sizes when I’m out and about. Always some that look like superheroes and take your (well, my) breath away. It IS an added incentive to walk often.
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It is funny to watch his little legs move at the speed of light but, for the record, HE sets the pace and rarely wants to head back to our house when we get back to our driveway.
There has been a glaring lack of exposed male flesh in these parts in the last few years. When did men stop doing everything outside topless? It is my right as a gay American to see such things!
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I like how you say “shirtless visions of all shapes and sizes” ad that they take your breath away. I live in a small 2 mile square college town. The school puts a heavy emphasis on health and recreation. You will see on almost any given day the most spectacular male physics out for their daily run and you are so right they take your breath away. However, there are those you try there best and work hard at their daily jogging but bless their souls they take your breath away for an entirely different reason. Haha! Summertime and the living is easy.
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I welcome the site of shirtless men of all shapes and sizes and I am absolutely willing to accept it’s all or nothing. (I choose all.) And I envy any man who doesn’t have the traditional chiseled physique but has the courage to prance about without a shirt. I wish I had the guts to do so. And they’re out their running whatever their shape so go them!
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We really are very normal people, the neighbors need to see us as such. We are good neighbors, reliable coworkers, friends. Keep walking, stay visible. It is runner season here, the joys of nature abound.
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Of course we’re completely normal. But I might stop walking in heels – it’s killing my back.
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It used to be a common recommendation to patients to get a dog and get it walking. This got the patient out of the house, on walks, communing with nature and others. And if you were shy you ‘talked through the dog’ a as transitional object.
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I recommend getting a pet to everyone. Their is no higher station in life than to be subservient to an animal.
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