Back in the saddle

Today was a solid day of accomplishments. One of the first things I did was turn on the pot of beans I started soaking last night; beans are proving to be very satisfying fare lately. The recipe varies, but I always includes beans, salt, fat, and one or more ingredients just for flavor (onion flakes are a regular addition). Today, it occurred to me to try chicken fat. It also occurred to me that the long, slow cooking method I have been using wasn't really going to work if I wanted to go swimming. So I got the pot to a rolling boil, wrapped it in some towels, and put it in my cooler to cook in its own residual heat. I ended up cooking it a bit more in the evening, but it was a worthwhile practice nonetheless (and it saved a fair bit of electricity).

Part of the reason it worked was that I was using one of my backpacking pots, so the handles could fold down and the pot could fit into the cooler. The same fact is why both pots are soaking neatly in my sink right now. The other, smaller one is soaking after having some reduction sauce cooking in it; raspberry chambord, but sweetened with a small jar of my failed crabapple jelly attempt.

Today was my first time swimming in my heavier wetsuit, and my first time using my hood. I was unbelievably buoyant; I swam about a kilometer, and most of it without using my legs, because they were so buoyant that kicking kept driving my feet out of the water. I wasn't even remotely cold (despite the water being below 10C), but part of that may be that I biked to the beach in the wetsuit, so I arrived rather warm. I biked home stripped to the waist. But it was a good swim. Other accomplishments include making laundry soap, doing a load of laundry (which I am doing by hand these days), fetching two large jugs of water, washing my swimming gear, and grocery shopping, on top of my usual daily tasks.

One more accomplishment; really, it started yesterday. I achieved 100 reps on pushups, situps, and squats. That exceeds the "outstanding high" category for my age group in the navy PRT standards. It feels great to have achieved this goal. I wonder about adding in pullups.