Volunteering at the our Community Library

I have been volunteering at the Community Library for a year now.  The person who was volunteering before me, Bob, has been doing if for 15 years.  I worked with him for about 6 months, but unfortunely he passed away from cancer.  It was really quick.  He talked to me about pain in his stomach, and I told him to see a doctor, because of his age (85 years old).  Finally he went, and found out that he had Stage 4 stomach cancer, and he was gone in 1 month.  So then I had to take over for him.  Good thing is, I did get someone else to help me, Judy, which has helped quite a bit.   

The Library is not that big, but we have a lot donations from people that live in our community.  There are over 1350 homes, so yes, that is a lot of people living here.  We don't check out the books, people just bring them back.  We date the books when the come back, month and year, and then put them back.  If books are not checked out in 6 months, we have get rid of them.   Now that there are too many books, so I want get the bottom shelfs empty.

Now, for the books we don't need, I have to load them into my car, and drive them down to the Corona Main Library, and donate them to the library.  Bob has been doing that for many years, so the people down there, so they know us.  I only have to drive down there every 2 or 3 months.  The books fill up my SUV, with the seats down in the back. With getting rid of more books, I will have to drive a bit more.

This is what our Library looked like when Bob was taking care of it.  You can see that the bottom shelfs are all empty.  Judy and I have work to do!

 Wow, it has been 11 months since I last posted.  The last post I did was about swimming.  It was on 6-20-24, and it was at 1250 yards.  Have come along way since then.  Monday I did 1750 yards, and yesterday (Tuesday) I did 1500 yards.  I was really tired after yesterdays swim, but still had to go to the Library to put the books away.

Much faster on the 1750 yards, did it in 51 minutes on Monday.

Yes, I have a new app on my watch/phone.  It measures much more from the swims.  This is the splits of the 1500 yards I did yesterday.  My fastest 50 yards split was 44 seconds.  I average about 1 minute per 50 yards.

This week, I did much better on amount of yards I did in the pool.  On Monday, I did 1250, yards (even though my watch says 1100), I did the extra 150.  I ended the workout too soon.  My bad, lol.  Only problem I had, I did 50 yards of breaststroke, and at the end I was getting a cramp in my right hamstring.  I only get cramps because I don't drink enough of water.  I did not bring my water bottle by the pool.  I have to do that now, because I am swimming for longer times.  

On Tuesday I had to rest my hamstring a bit, so I walked up to the library to put books away.  Swimming is much harder than walking.  Swimming is like running, but with out the stress your leg bones.  At my age, running in not a good thing for me right now.  

So today, I did hit the 1 mile mark.  I mile is 1760 yards, but I 1750 yards is good enough for me. 👍 After 900 yards, I wanted to see what best time for 50 yards for me is now.  Without using a starting block, just from the wall, I did 52 seconds.  I did good for the first 25 yards, but I have to get my endurance much better.   

On the second 25 yards, I lost my stroke a bit, and did not use my forearms correctly.  I wish I had learned that in High School.  I would just use my hands.  Your forearms add at lot to your speed.  You have to use the stoke correctly.  There another thing that I do is, extending the shoulders for every stoke.  As you extend you shoulders forward the stoke is longer.  Watch the below video see what it looks like.

They way I found out my forearms and shoulders, is because I watch a You Tube video that Fares Ksabti makes.  He does a lot of teaching of the right way to swim. He is master swimmer and holds some records for 30+ year old people, mainly breaststroke.   Here is the freestyle video:

Hope everyone is doing good!  Have a good day.

Glenn

Swimming in our community pool

I said I would do 1000 yards, 2 days after I hit the 1000 yards, I did 1250 yards.  After 500 yards, it is a  little bit easier.  Your body gets a little warmed up, which makes easier to swim.  I will stay at 1250 yards a couple more days, and will go for 1600 yards (1 mile).

Here is the indoor pool.  It has 4 lanes and 25 yards.  I use the far left lane, it is the greatest depth - 5 1/2 feet.  The 2 right lane are mainly for people that come, just to walk in the pool, it is 3 1/2 feet.      

 

Well I did two more swims.  Last Saturday was 750 yards, and Tuesday I did hit the 1000 yards.  It is much better after I hit the 500 yards, body gets a little warmed up and it makes it easier to swim. Did it in 26 minutes but it should improve as I continue to swim.  

Imported post: Facebook Post: 2024-06-05T16:13:29

Well after 7 months since my heart transplant, decided to give the pool a try. Not too bad, yes it is 525 yards. Former swim teammates don’t laugh at me. lol. After the transplant at 63 years old, 500 yards is not bad at all! Will do better next time.

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Imported post: Facebook Post: 2024-06-01T13:41:50

Today I was the 2024 Discover Trilogy at Glen Ivy Community. Lots of things to do at Trilogy. I singed up for Technology Help Session. They meet once a month, and I told them I will work just on Computers. They said that was ok. :) I got a free wireless keyboard that will work up to my Ipad.

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