About Maggie Downie

Thank you for giving your time to stop and read my blog. I hope it encourages you to keep moving. Move and the body will be happier. And when you're moving you can hike, run, swim in Jell-O, race over non-Newtonian fluids, travel the world or build igloos--if that's your thing. If not, you can watch me do it. This is just a spot to try and feel good about life.

Plank Story: Raising Honeybees or the Yellow Rain Incident of 2017

Each year I learn something new about how not to raise honeybees.  This year we have two, new, incredibly healthy hives.  They are going strong.  It was time to add what’s called a honey super (basically a box to collect honey that gets added to the top of the hive).  It’s like the bees getting an addition to their home to fill with honey that we will eventually steal.  But the day I had time to do it was over 90-degrees.

I didn’t want to put my bee suit on in 90-degrees.  Plus, the little buzzers are always more agitated on hot, sunny days.  So I thought I had this brilliant idea to wait until after dark to do the job.  It’s should be an easy and quick job.  This should be a lesson that I now know for certain.  Any time I think a job with the bees will be quick and easy, I should check myself.  It never is.

So I waited till dark, got my things together, stepped into my suit and zipped up (or so I thought).  The first hive was fine, but the second hive was irked.  It […]

Plank Story: Raising Honeybees or the Yellow Rain Incident of 20172018-02-14T16:34:27-05:00

Morning Person

I pretty much still look exactly this good when I wake up in the morning.

I miss being a morning person.  Until turning thirty, I’d bound out of bed singing, “Oh, what a beautiful morning. Oh, what a beautiful day!”  It would be animated—arms reaching up and everything.  That’s no exaggeration.  I’ve done that.  When I wasn’t singing, I’d wake up talking.  Matt, my boyfriend, used to call me Chatty Cathy.  When a crack of light creeped through the curtain, I’d just start: “I like the color purple.  Do you like the color purple?  What do you want to do today?  Did you see…?”  I’d open the curtains with a spunk and vivacity only exhibited in musical theater.  As I write that down, I realize Matt really should have left me by now.  He likes to sleep in and he moans every time actors break into song.

Sadly, I’m not the morning person I used to be, and it’s made me realize that the non-morning people in my life—Matt, my mom, and my best friend since childhood, Julie—must all really love me.  They are not naturally morning people.  And now, if I […]

Morning Person2018-02-14T16:35:44-05:00

22 Push-up Challenge

The 22 push-up challenge has been encouraging people to do 22 push-ups a day for a month to raise awareness about veteran suicides.  My brother-in-law sent me the challenge months ago.  I didn’t do it because I wasn’t feeling well.  Turns out I had Lyme disease.  But I did finally get around to creating a list of over 22 ways you can do a push up so that anyone doing the challenge can add some variety. Remember, never pick a version if it hurts in a bad way or seems to aggravate your body.  Here goes:

The Basics

  1. On your toes:
  2. On your knees:
  3. In tabletop

Gentler Versions for Individuals who need to go lighter on the wrists and shoulders

  1. Wall
  2. Wall Toss
  3. Flex Band Lying on Back

Playing with Speed

  1. You can slow down on the way […]
22 Push-up Challenge2018-02-14T16:34:37-05:00

To My Dad on Father’s Day

The cradle my dad built us.

To My Dad:

My parents separated when I was two years old.  My dad got me every other weekend and for Tuesday night dinners.  We still get together for Tuesday night dinner.  And, according to my mom, he never missed a weekend.  My dad always seemed to want time with me and want me to be a part of his life and his interests.

He took me to baseball games and taught me to drop a ball down into the dugout with a soda bottle so that I could collect signatures.  He took me sailing.  He thinks I hated it because as a child I was scared of everything—the dark, gremlins, the alligator under my bed, leaving my mother, and sailing—but my memories from the boat involve loving being with my dad.  Note: I loved it except for the toilet or when the boat was heeling over.  That part I really didn’t like.  Okay, I actually hated the sailing part.  He’s right there.  I just liked the time with him.  But I think now I’d really enjoy it.  My dad thinks I didn’t like sailing because I […]

To My Dad on Father’s Day2018-02-14T16:36:08-05:00

Pee Like A Guy

I also got a fancy case to conceal it when it’s not being used.

In prep for hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro, it was suggested to me that I get a device that enables women to pee while standing without taking their pants off.  It enables women to pee like a guy.  In truth, I’ve always been sort of interested in one of these contraptions, so it didn’t take much convincing.

A friend suggested the p-style.  And she said, “Practice.”  It arrived earlier this week.  The p-style looks sort of like a pink taco with one side sealed.  You place it where it needs to go, and viola, you can urinate like a guy.  Except I couldn’t figure out how not to pee all over my feet.  I couldn’t create enough force to get away from my feet.

I mentioned the problem to my dad at dinner.  He tells me, “Maggie.  Wide stance.  Pelvis forward.”  So I tried and it worked.  I’m not sure if guys know this little trick intuitively.  It also amuses me that my dad just taught his 36-year-old daughter how to pee like a guy.  A conversation I suspect he […]

Pee Like A Guy2018-02-14T16:37:22-05:00
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