The Treadmill, LJ Idol, and Life - Yadda, Yadda LOL

DH was insistent that I show him how to operate the treadmill yesterday, so I did. He refuses to clean more than the hand rails, which he complains he doesn't like. He wants a towel on each side and I nixed that immediately - he has the left side. but I get the right side. He "just wants to run" and doesn't care about any of the other stuff. He wants a treadmill bed that has more give to it (the only reason the old one had more give is because it was VERY old), etc, etc. Yadda, yadda. I'm resigned to cleaning the treadmill carefully after my uses and will hope I can keep things clean enough for my purposes. If not, I might be able to lock him out. (It's tempting - LOL). 

I'm not sure I could lock DH out of the treadmill, 
but if he abuses my equipment, I'm sure going to 
look into it. I can always text my rep, she's a lot 
of fun and knows her stuff. We hit it off really 
well and have chatted several times since I 
bought the equipment. 

Today I took a 30 minute fast-walk through New Zealand's South Island. So beautiful! I didn't super push things, my thigh is still twinging a bit after last week's pull/tear, but I did a decent distance, 30+ minutes on the tread, and I'm sure that Friday, after three days in the pool, I'll be totally ready to get back to a sturdy 45-60 minute schedule. I love the Virtual Reality hikes on the treadmill. I like scenery to look at, while I'm hooked into my favorite heavy metal rock station on my phone with my ear buds. It's just me ... one more example of how differently DH and I use the same equipment. 

Today I was hiking through the South Island of New 
Zealand. Such gorgeous and stunning scenery, with 
wonderful mountains, lots of greenery, and some 
challenging terrain. I'd love to do some of these 
hikes in person. Wouldn't that be fun? 

I'm turning around the latest writing challenge prompt in my head, not really sure of the direction I want to try. It's due Thursday night, so I don't have a lot of time to spend on it. But ... I might pull in from some older sources, put it squarely into the fantasy realm. and see what happens - whether the words flow or not. If the words don't flow, it won't be a successful write. If they do, they'll ring clearly like a bell. The fact that I've made it this far astonishes me and makes me very happy. I've never won a challenge, but I'm solidly in the pack. Of course, that pack is growing smaller and smaller - LOL. 

I'm rolling the latest prompt through my head. There are 
pathways I could take, but I don't have a lot of time to 
spare, and can't afford too many start-overs before I submit 
a final on Thursday. So far, every thought I've pursued has 
been a dead end. Hopefully I can came up with something 
worthwhile over the next 48 hours or so. 

So, I hope all of you have a wonderful Monday. If you wanted to vote early, today is your last chance. Otherwise, you can join DH and a lot of other people who want to vote in person on Voting Day. Me, I'm delighted that I've already done all of this and can stay nice and warm. I'm very disappointed that it's such a contentious election, but given the candidates - it's not really a surprise. I just hope we make it through the next four years without any catastrophes, depending on who actually wins the election this time (and whether or not the Capital and House of Representatives are assailed one more time). Have a good, quiet Monday before we enter "no man's land" over the next few days. Slava Ukraini.