From about the age of 75 up to a couple of years ago when she was 98, my mother walked on a treadmill twice a day, every day, for 15 minutes each time. After breakfast and after lunch. Not fast, not trying to break any records, just walked at a good pace. She listened to Anne Murray and John Denver cassette tapes and hummed along.

She’s 101 and in remarkable health, so I try to follow her example and keep moving. I enjoy walking, especially in our woods, but the conditions around our house the past couple of weeks have been treacherous. Ice has completely covered our driveway and we wear grippers on the bottoms of our boots to go out.

So I’ve been forced onto the treadmill in our garage. It’s an old one, but still in good shape. I know if I can watch movies or videos I will be distracted from how boring the whole enterprise is and stay longer, but there isn’t a device holder on the treadmill console. I tried putting my iPad on an old music stand, but it was a bit tippy and awkward to reach. I considered buying a holder that would attach to the machine, or trying to build something myself, but just never bothered and listened to podcasts instead.

Then today I was putting a piece of paper in a plastic sheet protector and bingo, problem solved! Five minutes later I had hung a sheet protector from a piece of dowel and attached this to the treadmill console with two pieces of duct tape. It’s not pretty, but it works (which would also be the title of my DIY book, if I ever wrote one). The iPad covers most of the display, but I kind of prefer that as I’m not constantly watching the time tick by, and the iPad can be easily lifted if need be.

Added bonus I hadn’t anticipated: the touch features of the screen are usable through the sheet, which might also come in handy if keeping an iPad clean in the kitchen.

I might replace the tape with something like conduit clamps, attaching them by drilling carefully through the plastic console, but the tape seems good enough for now.

I now hope to walk and walk and walk to 100 while watching cat and DIY videos.