At my last doctor appointment check-up, it became apparent that with the past year of experiences added to my chronological age, I needed to get off the couch and start an exercise program.
It was January and cold outside, making my desire to go for a quick-paced walk, five days a week, challenging. Given my newly found fear of germs and angst for anything that involves squeezing myself into something form-fitting, I resisted joining a gym. However, with my cholesterol climbing and an extra 10 COVID-first-and-second-wave pounds turning into an extra 15 (or maybe 17) COVID-third-wave pounds, I could no longer justify putting off an exercise routine.
In my not so distant past, I used to be a runner, but injuries lead me into becoming a walker. Since in my distant past I was an active athlete, I always enjoyed exercising and felt good about how much I was taking care of my health. If I put on 5 pounds, I could simply cut back on what I ate for a few days and the extra weight would simply disappear.
Unfortunately, this is not the case anymore so, with my ever supportive (and somewhat insistent) husband, we joined a gym and the exercise routine began. I thought that by working out five days a week for 30 minutes at a time, I would soon be back to my 40 something-year-old self … Silly me!
The first thing that happened after I had been working out for a few weeks was that my hip started to hurt. It had been bothering me a little bit in the past year or so, but the exercise exacerbated the situation. This resulted in me not necessarily cutting back on my frequency and duration in exercising, but rather in my intensity. This then resulted in me barely breaking a sweat at the gym and looking more forward to the program I could watch on the big gym TV, rather than the positive endorphins I would experience.
This also resulted in me going to see my orthopedic doctor just to make sure that I was not their new hip replacement candidate. Good news. I just have very tight IT bands, most likely due to my years of being a runner. Bad news is that at my age, it is not an easy fix, so I went to physical therapy to learn the exercises necessary to loosen these very tight muscles. I can report that the pain has gone away, but I am not sure if it is because I have loosened the muscles or because I have not yet increased my exercise intensity. Maybe it’s just because I am taking comfort in the fact that I do not (yet) need a hip replacement.
I have been regularly exercising now for nearly 4 months. I have noticed that my appetite seems to have increased and despite my (mostly) healthier eating choices, my weight has stayed the same!? I might have even put on a pound or two but since my cholesterol is down, I am telling myself it is all muscle…
Sweat! Sweat!
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!
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HOOSICK, N.Y. — Sam DeMello left his position as boys’ soccer coach at Putnam Science Academy last year after one season to take the same job at Hoosac School in upstate New York. He took four Mustangs with him.
But there were two big players who chose to stay at PSA, and the duo proved to be the difference in PSA’s game at Hoosac April 18, as Aidan Muller assisted on Kaone Kolagano’s goal in the 75th minute to propel the Mustangs to a 1-0 win.
“Absolutely, 100 percent this win means something more,” Muller said. “Big ego game for me personally. I have so much respect for Sam and my former teammates. It means so much to win this.”
Said Kolagano, who has a team-leading six goals in three games: “It’s a great win for us. With everything going on around it, it was a game we talked about. Hoosac is a very good team so to beat them on top of that was very good for us.”
Mateo Gularte made seven saves, including three or four at point-blank range, for the Mustangs (3-0).
Coach Ryan Dunnigan said, “He took control of his box, was very composed. Without him in goal we do not keep a clean sheet.”
Added Muller: “I’m so proud of this team. We played the last 10 minutes down a man. So many guys were cramping up. It’s just a big win for us. The guys fought hard, real hard. We deserved it. I’m really so proud of these guys.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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caption, page 5:
Teeing Off
Davis Simpson tees off on the fifth hole at the Foster Country Club. Rich Garceau photo.
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Junior Kyle Brennan remembers the 2019 boys’ golf season at The Woodstock Academy.
He is one of the few. “It’s a very new, very young team. It does not look like my freshman year at all. There are a lot of new guys,” Brennan said.
Two years ago, Brennan got to play in about half of the varsity matches for the Centaurs as he had to wait his turn behind the likes of Mason Stewart, Owen Borski, Robert Maheu, Jake Starr and Liam McDermott.
None of them were on the course last week when the Centaurs opened the season against Plainfield at the Foster Country Club in Rhode Island.
“It’s probably the newest feeling I’ve had since I took the team over 17 years ago,” said Woodstock Academy coach Rich Garceau. “That can be a little scary, a little daunting, but, at the same time; I have a fresh slate, a clean canvas to work with. It’s a lot of young guys and what’s really nice, they seem to want to learn.”
They certainly have had the opportunity to play. Golf was one of the few recreational activities allowed, even during lockdown due to the pandemic.
“I actually played a lot since there was nothing else to do,” Brennan said. “I was just trying to work on my game and get better for this season.” His focus has been on his short game, his putting and chipping.
Garceau said that’s probably a good area for the junior to concentrate on. “He can hit the ball as far as anyone I’ve ever had out here hit the ball. As we all know, that’s great, but you score when you get on and around the green. He’s been great. Even after we’re done, he stays and practices his chipping and putting. He’s willing to put in the work and I think he will be a great team leader for us,” Garceau said.
Brennan was just that against the Panthers when he shot a career-best 38 to lead the Centaurs to a 7-0 season-opening win.
Two other juniors, Chris Thibault and John Armstrong, will join Brennan on the varsity roster.
Sophomores Curtis Lefebvre, Anthony Listro, Davis Simpson and Adam Thompson and freshman Don Sousa comprise the remainder of the team.
“I think I have some raw talent, I might put a capital letter on the word ‘raw’,” Garceau said. “Since they are so young, I want to make sure that they have fun and are relaxed.”
Relaxed is also a key word. Playing golf is difficult. Playing golf with your coach, teammates, opponents and maybe a parent or two watching, it’s even tougher.
“Some of these guys have never played in a match before. They are definitely going to be nervous on that first tee. I was,” Brennan said.
It didn’t seem to bother Thibault and Simpson too much in the first match.
Thibault shot a 48, Simpson was a stroke behind him.
The two have experience in other sports. Thibault plays hockey and looks like a “diamond in the rough” on the course according to Garceau who likes his competitive spirit.
“Davis (an alpine skier for the Centaurs) has a nice swing and he is young. I think he will work out and probably round out the top three. After that, there is a big question mark sitting on top of my head right now,” Garceau said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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caption, page 1:
Message to the Future
Putnam Mayor Barney Seney shows the message he wrote on the last brick at the Municipal Complex. Seney installed the brick afterwards. Bruce Dexter III, owner/president of Dexter Masonry, is on the scaffold behind him. More photos on page 4. Linda Lemmon photo.
captions, page 4:
top: Mayor Seney put the last brick in place and then joked to Bruce Dexter III, owner/president of Dexter Masonry, that he needed to straighten the brick.
From left: Dexter Masonry owner/president, Bruce Dexter III; Elliott Hayden from Ellis Tech; Putnam Mayor Barney Seney holding the trowel he used. It will be engraved and given to the Aspinock Historical Society; Ryan Blackmar, foreman (created the brick designs); and Todd Dexter, executive vice president at Dexter Masonry/Local 1 Connecticut Bricklayers Union.
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By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — For the Municipal Complex it had been like the “spring of perseverance.”
When the first ceremonial brick was to be placed Mayor Barney Seney was fighting COVID-19 and Building Committee Chair Karen Osbrey did the honors. It was at the beginning of January; cold and challenging. The entire complex was wrapped in thick plastic so the 12 to 15 bricklayers from local firm Dexter Masonry could use heaters to allow them to lay bricks. They started with the brickwork around the larger Town Hall portion of the complex and then, recently, moved on the one-story library.
Three and a half months later, April 19, the mayor placed the project’s last brick at the corner of the library.
Seney wrote a message to future generations on the inside surface of the last brick: “Thank you to the citizens of Putnam for making this possible. 2021” and he signed “Barney Mayor” in the bottom corner.
Bruce Dexter III, owner/president of Dexter Masonry, showed the mayor how to “butter” the brick with mortar and the mayor snugged the brick into place. Then he joked that Dexter could step in and straighten it.
Perseverance handled the challenge of a difficult brickwork design. Ryan Blackmar, Dexter foreman and the man behind the brickwork design, said the difficulty factor of the design was a “10 out of 10.” The library design is a running soldier bond, but it’s vertical, making it especially difficult. The mortar joints have to be extraordinarily straight. They were taking an ordinary horizontal design and turning it 90 degrees. Blackmar said a 64-year-old mason working on the project and in that worker’s 50 years of brick laying, he had never done that type of design before.
Black bricks cover the bottom of the library section and the red bricks cover the top section, with black vertical three-dimensional “dashes.” The Town Hall portion of the building sports a horizontal red brick field and a different “dots and dashes” design of black bricks on the gables. Black bricks surround the main entrance section of the building.
Dexter folks and the mayor cleaned off the trowel and it will be engraved and given to the Aspinock Historical Society as a keepsake of the event.
In keeping with the intense effort to keep every part of the $19-plus million project local, the trowel will be engraved by a local firm. “From Dexter Masonry to the citizens of Putnam THANK YOU” “Putnam Municipal” And April 19, 2021 engraved on the back.
Dexter said that his crew, 90 percent of them who graduated from Harvard Ellis Tech, did the spray-on air vapor barrier and caulking, all the brickwork, the precast sills (under) and precast lintels (above) the windows, the cement block elevator shaft already. They will finish by washing down the brickwork, doing punch list items and removing the scaffolding.
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