May 20, 2020 Sunday was birthday number 70. Bonnie baked me a giant dark chocolate cake. It took me two tries to blow out the candles. There were only two, a seven and a zero. This might be funny if I was making it up. My friends—mostly ones younger than me—say 70 is not old. I could train to do a marathon or thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. People my age even compete in the Ironman Triathlon. I chewed on my cake and considered those options for cardiovascular training. Glamorous, but they are probably not going …

May 14, 2020 For the sake of some exercise and free vitamin D, Bonnie and I have been getting out for some walks in our neighborhood, basically our first miles together since we finished the 1,440-mile Buckeye Trail last fall. Hiking the trail was a great adventure, but now it’s nice to take a lazy stroll and just reminisce about our journey. “Only 14 miles to the car,” I joked today. A couple miles later I said, “Only 12 to go!” The beauty of it was that I was kidding. I was merely bringing back …

April 30, 2020 A Lazarus lizard has taken up residence inside our house during the COVID-19 lockdown. It’s not that I don’t like lizards. I do. It’s just that Bonnie and I prefer to enjoy them in their natural habitat. Maybe our guest thinks it has to stay 14 days so it doesn’t infect its buddies. But we watch press briefings every day and we’ve heard nothing about any lizards catching the virus. Bonnie first spotted it in the bedroom, right before it scooted under the closet door. Next it appeared in the living room. …

April 23, 2020 Bonnie and I are trying to stay healthy while we are quarantined. We’re eating plenty of fruit and veggies, drinking a lot of water, and taking our vitamins. It looks like we need a little push, though, to cut down on our visits to the candy dish. Each of us wants to help the other be good. But not by a set of rules. We decided it would be a lot more fun to make a game of it. It’s very simple to play. When one of us hears the clinking of …