Kayla Quote: "It's not that you are bitter...you are scarred in every way possible." - Ashley Jerry
Short Synopsis: I have no idea how Kayla is today. It is Michael's turn to visit her at the hospital today and on the weekends, it is generally quiet there as most of the doctors take a rest.
Long Story: Finally the triathlon looms. I was about to give it up but am hopeful the stair climbing at the hospital has given me some fitness. I am determined to finish, feel good and enjoy the race.
The director of the race sends the competitors out into the water in small groups at the start of the race. The youngest, fastest athletes go out in the first out of 8 waves. All of the older women are in the last heat to enter the water. This is how it is set up because you cannot have 400 people enter the waters of Great Pond across about a 25 foot span all at once! We wear different colored race caps so the race planners know which age group you are in. We also have our age written onto our leg.
It is hard enough to enter the water with the smaller groupings. There is always some arm lashing and foot kicking into your body from the other triathletes as everyone attempts to claim their rightful path in the water for the 1/2 mile swim. I always line up at the far left side so I have plenty of room and I let the others go first. I am in no hurry.
Kathy, Rick and I are just about the only ones who never wear a wet suit. I dislike wet suits. They ruin my stroking by buoying me too high in the water. I do not feel free in one. I would rather be in colder water and swim smoothly. We are old school. These silly athletes who wear these black rubber suits do not realize that the water is quite warm today.
Kathy and I stand at the water's edge to compose ourselves. She tells me she is nervous. I am quite surprised. Kathy has a calm, gentle, sweet manner which belies her competitiveness. She wants to be the best. I tell her I am calm. I have nothing left to prove. She is out to win and I am out to be fit.
"I am going to enjoy myself," I tell her.
I notice next to us there are some women who look like national competitors...3-4 of them in a pack. They have traveled from some other far away place to use this sprint triathlon as a "practice run" for some other more difficult event later. This is not unusual but they are in my back yard and I am annoyed! They finish well over an hour and a half ahead of me for the entire race. This is no competition. I will never catch them in my life and they have taken my local medal away from me!
But!......I take 13 minutes of my last year's time and am pleased. Kathy places first in her division so the "ringers" did not beat her but she is in an older category (age 60-64). They are in my category (age 55-59) so Kathy did not feel their heat.
Well done! Will look forward to next year....
- - - - - - - - - -
Mike and Thomas are working industriously in the garage. They are building shelves for all of Thomas's car parts and tools which have been laying all over the floor. There was no room to even walk. It is beginning to look like a well-organized car mechanic's haven. Grand!
Steve Palmioto (he has 7 kids) showed up with his son, Patrick, yesterday. He is trying to get the old French moped to work. No one seems able to get that thing going. He is interested in buying it as a play toy for his kids to use in their yard. Thomas justs wants to sell it. Today Steve showed up with a daughter Julia. He still can't get it to run very well...it keeps sputtering out.
All is settling in at the Trolle household. Michael is ready to go see Kayla at the hospital. He will stop off in Yonkers at that Dunkin' Donuts off the Saw Mill Parkway and purchase one of her favorite foods - a icy coffee coolata made with skim milk.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
It is late morning and I convince Kathy to go to the Rec Center for the jacuzzi and steam room and I bring her some of my prescription anti inflamatory medicine - naxoprene sodium, 550 mg. She is in pain with her foot. It was injured before the race and she wasn't sure she could compete but then felt she could. The medicine is to be taken once a day with food to reduce the swelling.
"If it works for you, get some from your doctor," I tell her. "I use it rarely...only when absolutely necessary...that and ice."
- - - - - - - - - - -
In the early evening I go to see Thomas at Stop & Shop where he is working in the bakery. Sometimes the children pass by and he gives them a fresh cookie. They are so pleased. I buy a cooked chicken and potato salad for an easy meal over the next few days.
I called Nina Killie, my dear friend Nancy's daughter, who is very much an animal lover from an animal loving family. I tell her all about Pip and she is quite interested and looks on-line to see what is going on with the baby hawk on the live video camera.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Bobby, the father hawk, is a fierce protector. He has many perches that he settles upon to watch over Violet, the mother and Pip, the baby. All of his favorite spots are nearby and high. Hawks have about the best eyesight in the animal kingdom. He is scanning for any other flying creature that could harm his offspring. Nature says he must do his best for Pip to survive. He will look you dead in your eye as you are photographing his baby, right through the lens....his sharp eye to your surprised eye. Nothing seems to get by him....the vigilant sentry! He may look lazy and relaxed and fluffing his feathers but if something seems dangerous, he is snapped to attention.
The nest location is on the top of the Bobst building which absolutely resembles a fortress. To Bobby it is a safe place to raise his baby hawk. To the humans, it is simply a library at the college.
For his guarding duties, he likes to settle on the cross on top of the Judson Memorial Church. There is his favorite near by flag pole which is higher than Bobst by two stories. There are various other perches around the perimeter of the park all atop tall buildings. The tallest place he perches is about 2 blocks away and is at least 10 stories higher than the library. Clearly Bobby has this territory definitively marked as his own. Bobby actually had a nest on Fifth Avenue which failed in 2010. This was before he settled on top of Bobst, which as we all know, is the location of his first successful nest. He will come here for many years to come. This is home. He is at his peak to supply nature with as many baby hawks as he can and he must!!....since less than 20% of the first year fledglings survive the first year out of the nest.
Bobby wards off innocent hawks who are trying to fly past...
Sweet little Pip, a big fluff ball is asleep all curled over in the nest. His camouflage colors are still soft and blend into the colors of the nest. He is invisible to a predator's eye. Safe. You can see his restful breathing. That is the only movement in the nest. Violet is out. She must be hunting for food or taking a rest herself.
Bobby is doing all the hard work at this moment....
Short Synopsis: I have no idea how Kayla is today. It is Michael's turn to visit her at the hospital today and on the weekends, it is generally quiet there as most of the doctors take a rest.
Long Story: Finally the triathlon looms. I was about to give it up but am hopeful the stair climbing at the hospital has given me some fitness. I am determined to finish, feel good and enjoy the race.
The director of the race sends the competitors out into the water in small groups at the start of the race. The youngest, fastest athletes go out in the first out of 8 waves. All of the older women are in the last heat to enter the water. This is how it is set up because you cannot have 400 people enter the waters of Great Pond across about a 25 foot span all at once! We wear different colored race caps so the race planners know which age group you are in. We also have our age written onto our leg.
It is hard enough to enter the water with the smaller groupings. There is always some arm lashing and foot kicking into your body from the other triathletes as everyone attempts to claim their rightful path in the water for the 1/2 mile swim. I always line up at the far left side so I have plenty of room and I let the others go first. I am in no hurry.
Kathy, Rick and I are just about the only ones who never wear a wet suit. I dislike wet suits. They ruin my stroking by buoying me too high in the water. I do not feel free in one. I would rather be in colder water and swim smoothly. We are old school. These silly athletes who wear these black rubber suits do not realize that the water is quite warm today.
Kathy and I stand at the water's edge to compose ourselves. She tells me she is nervous. I am quite surprised. Kathy has a calm, gentle, sweet manner which belies her competitiveness. She wants to be the best. I tell her I am calm. I have nothing left to prove. She is out to win and I am out to be fit.
"I am going to enjoy myself," I tell her.
I notice next to us there are some women who look like national competitors...3-4 of them in a pack. They have traveled from some other far away place to use this sprint triathlon as a "practice run" for some other more difficult event later. This is not unusual but they are in my back yard and I am annoyed! They finish well over an hour and a half ahead of me for the entire race. This is no competition. I will never catch them in my life and they have taken my local medal away from me!
But!......I take 13 minutes of my last year's time and am pleased. Kathy places first in her division so the "ringers" did not beat her but she is in an older category (age 60-64). They are in my category (age 55-59) so Kathy did not feel their heat.
Well done! Will look forward to next year....
- - - - - - - - - -
Mike and Thomas are working industriously in the garage. They are building shelves for all of Thomas's car parts and tools which have been laying all over the floor. There was no room to even walk. It is beginning to look like a well-organized car mechanic's haven. Grand!
Steve Palmioto (he has 7 kids) showed up with his son, Patrick, yesterday. He is trying to get the old French moped to work. No one seems able to get that thing going. He is interested in buying it as a play toy for his kids to use in their yard. Thomas justs wants to sell it. Today Steve showed up with a daughter Julia. He still can't get it to run very well...it keeps sputtering out.
All is settling in at the Trolle household. Michael is ready to go see Kayla at the hospital. He will stop off in Yonkers at that Dunkin' Donuts off the Saw Mill Parkway and purchase one of her favorite foods - a icy coffee coolata made with skim milk.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
It is late morning and I convince Kathy to go to the Rec Center for the jacuzzi and steam room and I bring her some of my prescription anti inflamatory medicine - naxoprene sodium, 550 mg. She is in pain with her foot. It was injured before the race and she wasn't sure she could compete but then felt she could. The medicine is to be taken once a day with food to reduce the swelling.
"If it works for you, get some from your doctor," I tell her. "I use it rarely...only when absolutely necessary...that and ice."
- - - - - - - - - - -
In the early evening I go to see Thomas at Stop & Shop where he is working in the bakery. Sometimes the children pass by and he gives them a fresh cookie. They are so pleased. I buy a cooked chicken and potato salad for an easy meal over the next few days.
I called Nina Killie, my dear friend Nancy's daughter, who is very much an animal lover from an animal loving family. I tell her all about Pip and she is quite interested and looks on-line to see what is going on with the baby hawk on the live video camera.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Bobby, the father hawk, is a fierce protector. He has many perches that he settles upon to watch over Violet, the mother and Pip, the baby. All of his favorite spots are nearby and high. Hawks have about the best eyesight in the animal kingdom. He is scanning for any other flying creature that could harm his offspring. Nature says he must do his best for Pip to survive. He will look you dead in your eye as you are photographing his baby, right through the lens....his sharp eye to your surprised eye. Nothing seems to get by him....the vigilant sentry! He may look lazy and relaxed and fluffing his feathers but if something seems dangerous, he is snapped to attention.
The nest location is on the top of the Bobst building which absolutely resembles a fortress. To Bobby it is a safe place to raise his baby hawk. To the humans, it is simply a library at the college.
For his guarding duties, he likes to settle on the cross on top of the Judson Memorial Church. There is his favorite near by flag pole which is higher than Bobst by two stories. There are various other perches around the perimeter of the park all atop tall buildings. The tallest place he perches is about 2 blocks away and is at least 10 stories higher than the library. Clearly Bobby has this territory definitively marked as his own. Bobby actually had a nest on Fifth Avenue which failed in 2010. This was before he settled on top of Bobst, which as we all know, is the location of his first successful nest. He will come here for many years to come. This is home. He is at his peak to supply nature with as many baby hawks as he can and he must!!....since less than 20% of the first year fledglings survive the first year out of the nest.
Bobby wards off innocent hawks who are trying to fly past...
Sweet little Pip, a big fluff ball is asleep all curled over in the nest. His camouflage colors are still soft and blend into the colors of the nest. He is invisible to a predator's eye. Safe. You can see his restful breathing. That is the only movement in the nest. Violet is out. She must be hunting for food or taking a rest herself.
Bobby is doing all the hard work at this moment....
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