The sunrise this morning was so lovely I actually stepped outdoors to take a photo, rather than just shooting it through the window.
Tag: winfield village
2022-12-12 18:00
Dusk in Winfield Village.
The many walks of the dog
Ashley and I have been figuring out how the dog should be walked, in order to get her enough exercise that she isn’t a pest, and to make sure that she doesn’t have “accidents” in the house. Here’s how things seem to be shaping up:
- First walk: As soon as we get up we go out for a peeing and pooping walk. This walk is usually very short, as the dog is happy to come right back in again when it’s cold and dark outside.
- Second walk: After I’ve had a cup or two of coffee, Ashley is ready to go out again to Check All the Things. At first she just needed to check the patio. Then she needed to check the courtyard outside the patio. Now she wants to check the nearby courtyards and sidewalks as well.
- Third walk: After breakfast (for her and us), and after it’s light outside, we go for our Long Walk of the Morning. This walk is often three miles or more, and often involves leaving Winfield Village and walking in nearby neighborhoods. Its goal is to give the dog enough exercise that she’s happy to doze for an hour or two after we get in.
- Fourth walk: If our main meal of the day is late, I want to take the dog out for another short walk before we sit down to eat, so she can pee again.
- Fifth walk: After our main meal of the day, we go out for another walk. Again, this walk is for peeing and pooping if necessary.
- Sixth walk: Ashley’s main meal of the comes at 3:00 PM, so I can take her for another walk ahead of cocktail hour. The intention is for this to be her Long Walk of the Afternoon, although there’s not really enough time for as long a walk as would be necessary to get her to be calm during cocktail hour. So this is still a work in progress.
- Seventh walk: Just before bedtime, I take Ashley out for another walk so she can pee, so she doesn’t need to pee during the night. This walk tends to be quite short, as Ashley is as ready to go to bed as we are.
The Fourth Walk doesn’t always happen, if she doesn’t seem to need to go out before our main meal of the day, so some days we’re already down to six walks per day. (We were doing about eight walks per day for the first several weeks, as anything less led to peeing or pooping in the house.)
Longer term, I’m hoping to get down to about four walks: First walk, Long walk of the morning, Long walk of the afternoon, and Just before bedtime.
Wish me luck.
Although we’re doing slightly fewer walks, we’re probably walking longer distances—I’m averaging a full 8 miles per day last week and this week.
2022-12-03 6:52
The sky is enlightening.
2022-11-09 08:38
One of the many advantages of living here at Winfield Village is that we have a dog park!
2022-10-15 05:57
My brain wants me to get up when it starts getting light outside. Works great most of year—I wake up between 5:30 and 6:30. When sunrise doesn’t happen until after 7:00, my brain decides something has gone wrong, and wakes me up at 4:30. Not convenient.
2022-08-26 10:46
This handsome fellow was hanging out right outside our front window, vibrating the tip of his tail as if he had a rattle. East-Central Illinois.
@alongsidewild A fox snake?
2022-05-08 13:22
I call shenanigans. That is a curb, not a ramp.
2022-02-05 14:42
I’m not sure who ought to clear the sidewalk on Curtis Road next to the U of I Solar Farm, but somebody should. I’m fit enough to trudge through the 12-inch snow, but hundreds of my neighbors are not. @UofIllinois
2021-06-25 15:40
Winfield Village isn’t nearly as big or as dense as what Steve Randy Waldman means by microcities. But it and adjacent complexes house a few thousand people near a handful of bus stops (along with a grocery store, two drug stores, a shoe store, several restaurants, and a movie theater).
“high density exurban developments, subject to constraints including a minimum population size and, importantly, a requirement that the entire city be built within walking distance of a central transit station.”
Source: interfluidity » Microcities