View from the Treadmill

Every day that I can't think of an excuse reasonable enough to get out of it, I lace on these Teva shoes and put in my forty minutes on the treadmill. It's in my living room, right up against the big picture windows that look out on the mountains to the north.


Water bottle at hand,


remote for the satellite dish,


control board fan turned on, and I start walking. I used to spend an hour on it, but since hurting my ankle in Mexico, I've been taking it easy. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.





I can watch TV as I walk, and usually I choose the time when Bill O'Reilly is on, or the 5 o'clock local and NBC news that comes on right after Bill. See that media library cabinet to the left of the window? The big lump on top of it is a mastodon tooth and the two rocks are Alaskan jade.


I can look out the window on the right and see the mountains,


or watch the chickadees on the feeder on the front deck.




Pablo sits over on his cage, supervising. Above him is a 230 lb. Pacific Blue Marlin that my husband caught in Hawaii. It had a lot of sentimental value to him because the captain/owner of the boat they were on was a long-time friend from his early adult days.




Or sleeping.


Behind me hangs a wolf hide that's almost eight feet long. It doesn't belong to me as I am taking care of it for my step-son. A pair of babische-laced snowshoes and a spotting scope are beside it.


In the opposite corner of the living room is my napping nest. Yesterday it was calling to me, but I stayed on the treadmill. The bear hide is real, the poor critter shot by a neighbor's visitor. It was lying on its back on a snowslide area, throwing a marmot up in the air when it was shot.

I didn't really want it when asked, but figured since it was a neighborhood bear, I'd keep it in the neighborhood. The tall black things in the corner are whale baleen, the things that strain krill from the water in the whale's mouth.

In the photo below, the long white teeth hanging on the wall are walrus tusks. These things were once part of animals that died through no fault of mine. I keep them only to show them the respect they deserve.



And over my left shoulder, the loft, where my computer sits. I spend a lot of time up there, which makes the forty minutes on the treadmill very, very necessary.