Just Another Outdoorsy Post

This summer, I have been spending a lot of time outdoors . . . for obvious reasons. While scrolling through my blog feed, I noticed most of my posts have centered around some sort of experience on the Greenbelt or the Foothills, sprinkled here and there with a few anecdotes about masks. You can tell where my head has been this summer (besides under a mask).

You're in luck! Here is yet another installment of Becky's Life Outside.

This week, on the Greenbelt, I saw the following things.

A Fox

Several times now, I've crossed the same bridge on the same stretch of Greenbelt, and I've seen this animal bounding down the path. I couldn't tell if it was a feral cat (or possibly a cougar—that's where my mind automatically goes) or a fox.

This week, I got a better look at its size and the way it was moving, and I'm pretty sure it's a fox.

Thank goodness!

I still ran the other direction, however. I may be spending a lot of time outdoors, but I'm not "outdoorsy."

Lots of Osprey

It has been like Birds of Prey on the Greenbelt recently. My husband, Dan, and I have been checking in on an eagle's nest all spring long, and the osprey have been flying around town this summer.

This week alone, I saw an osprey dive for a fish, an osprey chase another one away from its territory, and an osprey sitting on a branch, bopping its head back and forth as though it was listening to music.

I kid you not.

Dan and Becky's recent visit to the real Birds of Prey Natural Area

A Dead Beaver

This one is sad. The first day, I came across him, I thought he might be sleeping. He looked wet, like he had just been in the water. The next day, there was no doubt he was dead.

Let's just say another animal found him . . .

A Woman Smoking On the Greenbelt

First, I have to deal with people breathing gross droplets in my face. Now, they are blowing smoke at me too? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of being outside and exercising? Also, obviously, she wasn't wearing a mask.

Good thing I had mine.

Several Masks

On the bright side, I did see a lot of outdoors enthusiasts wearing masks this week, not to mention EVERYONE at my neighborhood grocery store was masked up.

I am certainly thankful for the county I live in and for the leadership of our mayor and Central District Health. (We won't discuss the competency of the leaders in the neighboring counties.)

I've run into this older couple more than once on the Greenbelt. They, like Dan and I, have been wearing masks since before the mandate.

Dan and I joke, "That will be us in about fifteen years," because the guy has long hair.

The guy always gives me a thumbs up when he passes. We're mask buddies.

Go Boise!

 

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.

The Day I Turned Into a Crotchety Old Woman

I have officially turned into a crotchety old woman.

The other day, I reprimanded a large group of mask-less teenagers running on the Greenbelt. These kids were not attempting to social distance from other runners (or, more importantly, from the elderly folks who walk that stretch).

These young runners took up the entire path. They did not move over when passing people.

Fun fact: Running single file is considered good trail etiquette even when not in the midst of a global pandemic.

They were talking and giggling, spraying their gross droplets all over the place.

I probably wouldn't have said anything, but the blonde, giggly one jogged up next to me (definitely closer than six feet) and said, "Oh, hey lady, again!"

That was annoying . . .

"You should be wearing a mask," was my response to her greeting.

I was met with silence.

". . . with the number of people in your group."

"Oh," one of the teens replied timidly.

I kept jogging beside them.

"Are you with a school?" I asked.

"Yeah," another girl answered.

"What school is that?"

It turns out they attend Meridian Medical Arts Charter School.

Out of all the schools in the Valley, I would think a so-called "medical school" should be the one promoting safe practices. And was this really a school-sanctioned activity? The school district I work for isn't holding summer sports practices, indoor or outdoor.

"I feel kind of bad though," I told my husband, Dan, when I got home.

"They deserved it," he said.

"But I went off on a bunch of minors. They're just kids."

"I'm sure you used your teacher voice. That's not mean," he assured me.

I did use my teacher voice! I still got it, even though I've been out of practice for a few months . . .

To their credit, after I scolded them, they didn't talk back or argue. I think the crazy woman in the music mask threw them off.

On a positive note, I ran seven miles because I zoned out, thinking about what I could say if I decided to contact the school, which I didn't.

I put them in my blog instead.

"But, Becky, you were outside, in the sunshine. Why were you wearing a mask?" I can hear a certain segment of my friends saying.

The Boise mask mandate asks people to wear masks outside when we can't social distance. A lot of the path is not six feet wide, especially when ten teenage girls are running side-by-side down the Greenbelt.

(One of our local columnists recently wrote about his experience following the outdoor mask mandate, and I was like, "Wait! I was going to write that blog!")

The mask mandate has since been extended to all of Ada County, and Meridian Medical Arts Charter happened to be handing out free masks the other day. Maybe all of those teenagers have masks now.

I like covering my face. I no longer feel obligated to acknowledge people on the Greenbelt. Most of the time, I pretend like I don't see them.

If they aren't wearing a mask, I very pointedly look the opposite direction and ignore them, not wanting any of their potential COVID to wash over me.

"That is very passive aggressive of you," Dan has told me.

Well, I can either be passive aggressive or a crotchety old woman. I wonder which one will show up next time.

Please excuse the punctuation in the above image, but I liked the sentiment. Ugh. Memes.

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.

Social Distancing Holiday

This was a 4th of July without fireworks, at least officially. Several displays were canceled this year, and my husband, Dan, and I have been avoiding crowds.

I wasn't too upset by the lack of festivities. I never liked them (fireworks) anyway, and I'm not really a fan of most Americans at this time either. Take that finger off the send button. Don't do it! I can't wait to see those comments . . .

Nevertheless, Dan and I had a long weekend on our hands, the holiday being observed on Friday by his employers.

When I asked Dan what he wanted to do on his day off, he said, "I wouldn’t mind playing some Zelda . . . or catching up on work."

"You are NOT working!" I exclaimed. "It’s our nation’s f#$%ing birthday! ‘Merica!"

He played video games instead.

"Did you subscribe to Disney+ yet?" I asked Dan Friday evening.

(We subscribed to Disney+ for one reason last weekend, to watch a certain little musical, recorded live with the Original Broadway Cast. You may have heard of it.)

"You still wanted to watch that tonight?" Dan asked.

My response:

We did end up seeing Hamilton that night, while wearing our Hamilton shirts, because Dan secretly wanted to watch it as much as I did.

Dan and I also completed a Hiking Trifecta.

This isn't really a thing. We just made it up.

It is nothing like the Boise Grand Slam, so don't get us confused with the super advanced hikers in this state.

The Duggan Family's Very Easy Hiking Trifecta included:

Mores Mountain (July 3),

Landslide Loop and Currant Creek (July 4),

 

and Crestline and Lower Hulls Gulch (July 5).

On one of the Boise Foothills trails, we heard this guy greet us with a, "Howdy!"

We put on our masks to pass per our city's new face covering mandate, which has been protested by a few squeaky wheels of the . . . should I say "far right?" persuasion.

This guy was rocking a Dad Bod and wearing a MAGA hat but no shirt.

When he was out of ear shot, I turned to Dan and said, "They must not wear shirts either."

"Or sunscreen," Dan added.

Our holiday weekend didn't turn out that much different from any other year. I didn't realize how antisocial Dan and I were until a pandemic hit and our quarantined lives ended up looking fairly similar to our regular lives.

Later that night, however, we found out that the people around us took no-official-fireworks-displays to mean let's-make-our-own, and our neighborhood sounded like a battlefield ALL. NIGHT. LONG.

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.

One Morning While Jogging . . .

The other morning, I was running with my husband, Dan, and we came upon two things on the path.

The first was a snake skin.

"It must be getting warmer. The snakes are losing their skin," I remarked.

We never actually saw the snake unlike the story I told a couple of weeks ago.

The second were drag marks in the dirt path leading from the river.

"I wonder what that was," Dan said.

"Maybe someone dragged a kayak or something across the dirt," I guessed.

"Yeah, it's probably that and not a dead body."

"Ugh . . ." I muttered. Maybe I shouldn't have invited him to join me that morning.

After that morbid turn of conversation, I escaped into my own thoughts. It turned out I had a lot on my mind as well.

My first thought was, "White people with the safety off and finger on trigger are more frightening than anything."

Then I started to hand out some free advice . . . still all in my mind.

It's an emotionally heightened time. Just stay away from guns for a while.

Also, stay away from people if you can, and wash your hands. We're in a pandemic whether or not you believe it.

Wear a flipping mask. You wear pants (or something that covers your nether regions), don't you? It is part of the social contract we make as citizens. A mask is like pants for your face.

It seems as though the same people rambling on about wearing masks and the constitution and whatever unscientific nonsense that pops into their heads are also CONSTANTLY proclaiming their Christian faith.

You should probably stop posting Bible verses alongside posts about YOUR rights and YOUR freedom regarding not wearing masks. That's selfish, not Biblical. This is though:

Don't spray disinfectant up your ass because some delusional dirty old man told you to. Or, on second thought, do. That is definitely your right.

By the way, masks are okay now according to our Commander in Idiocy. You should go with that.

#maskupidaho

Pleasant surprise later that afternoon: The Boise mayor made masks mandatory.

Now if only some of these surrounding Idaho towns would follow suit.

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.