Running with Truman summer 2010

I'm blessed to be able to not teach this summer. That hasn't happened in years. In fact it's a bit scary to have a couple months where I don't teach. Fortunately, I did just that this summer and it has been a wonderful respite. I think I was more exhausted from teaching than I realized. I am spending the summer working on lectures for a new textbook we are adopting in the fall, but my days are my own to schedule, and that is bliss.

One of the activities I have tried to do every day is to get in a run or hike with Truman, my golden retriever. For an older dog (I don't know how old, but his muzzle is white), he LOVES a good run or hike. We run in the national forest where there are gravel roads that don't get much traffic. It's been terribly hot and humid with the heat index hitting over 100 each day for a couple weeks now. Fortunately there is a beaver pond about halfway through our 3 mile run that Truman can jump into and cool down. The challenge lately hasn't been the heat, however. There are biting deer flies that swarm us, especially once I begin to sweat. I've been spraying myself with bug spray with a Deet factor of 40. It does help, but one of these days I am sure my skin will just melt off from the heat and chemicals. Still though, I am very fortunate to have time, energy, a forest, and a dog to run with. These times remind me of a Jane Kenyon poem I love.

'Otherwise'

I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.

At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.

-- Jane Kenyon

Sociology Wordle

Operant Conditioning with Truman

Here's a video that I made showing operant conditioning with my dog, Truman.