Off The Duff.
I got off my duff, and by getting off my duff I mean The Renter kids, a.k.a. The Neighborhood Terrors, were taking a break indoors for once so I manually hedge trimmed those big, thorny barberries out front that I was whining about the other day. I manually clipped them because using the electric hedge trimmer draws unwanted attention. You see, whenever I try to work out in our own front yard, rocks and the like magically fly over into our yard from that direction, The Renters’ direction, because the kids are constantly outside and apparently have nothing better to do. Basically, to keep from getting hit, I choose not to work out there unless it’s a school day and then, only during morning hours due to the high number of half days our school system allows around here. School out for another month or so, hence, little yard work is being done out front. read more…
The Beginning of the End of Summer.
Click image above to see entire photo in separate window.
We’re in the middle of a hot, yet not really hot weekend here in the Pacific Northwest. I don’t really consider 90 degree Fahrenheit hot, although had you asked me ten years ago when we lived in a metal-roofed rental home with zero insulation in the walls or ceiling, I would have replied by melting into a pool of sweat at your feet. After nearly 54 years, air conditioning has spoiled me at last.
And with this ‘heat’ comes the first signs of the end of summer. read more…
Sick of It.
This is for all those people, and you know who you are, who make it a point to be looking down at your phone, texting, whenever in public, particularly those being filmed for a news broadcast (as seen this morning on a “The Today Show” travel segment):
You don’t look:
Smart, intelligent, tech-savvy, young, or hip doing so.
You do look:
Self-absorbed, uncaring, lacking empathy, and socially inept (regardless of what your social networking friends/website(s) tell you).
Just thought you’d like to know, not that any of you would pay attention long enough to anything I’d have to say about it. Pull your head out long enough…Oh look! LiLo just gave her first in-jail interview! Quick! Be the first (millionth user) to crash Twitter over it!
Calmly Shedding.
Throughout the day, I’m listening to a website called Forest Mood.com and I really like it. Fun, calming and relaxing at the same time without the mosquitos or deer ticks. Close your eyes and give it a listen. On the most perfect day, it sounds similar to our backyard, without the neighbors arguing.
Changing subjects, I’ve read the stories of women who, during the course of losing weight, become alarmed at finding an unidentifiable bump that convinces them something is horribly wrong only to discover later the bump is their once fat-ensconced hip bone.
That didn’t happen to me, but something close did. I couldn’t make out what the lump was on my left side of my lower back. Turns out it’s my lower rib. Hello rib. Sorry about all those years encased in fat.
Sometime, somehow, over the course of the past five days, I shot past my hoped-for ‘race weight’of 147 pounds and landed at 144 pounds. WS has never seen me at this weight. I haven’t seen myself at this weight since 1981. That’s almost thirty years ago, people!
All I can say is, “wow,” and “where’s the ice cream?”
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Yesterday’s exercise: 2.10-mile walk/run at 20:00/12:00-mile pace, level 4 incline. Day 22 of Jillian Michael’s “Making the Cut” 30-day workout program, Round 2. Plus, 20-Minute Level 2 Jillian Michael’s “Shred” workout with WS.
Today’s weigh-in: 144.8.
All Complications Going Well.
This week, things are going well. I say that because every week, every single week, something goes awry and disrupts everything. The daily drama, the weekly crisis routine continues, though oddly enough, not this week *knock on wood.
I’ve mentioned that seemingly, a lot of deformed, injured, sick, or dying birds find their way to our little urban wildlife sanctuary. Sometimes that happens with animals too. Years ago, we had a tail-less young raccoon visit. We often see squirrels with severely shortened ears and tails. We’re occasionally visited by a non-standard colored opossum (not albino but somewhere in between).
Last weekend, I spotted a one-armed opossum munching on the grapes we set out nightly (to keep the raccoons from raiding the squirrel nut box which keeps the squirrels from raiding the bird feeder). It didn’t have any trouble at all eating the grapes, politely I might add in that it didn’t eat the entire bunch, leaving some for whomever wandered by next.
A polite, one-armed opossum. Surely, there’s a story there. Or maybe a good wine/beer label name. read more…
Dreams in Cars.
Click above image to see entire photo in separate window.
I’ve noticed I don’t dream of being thinner as much as I used to now that I’m working toward doing something about that. Apparently, if I’m working on something I regularly dream about, my brain moves on to other things. I should have guessed as much since that’s how I know it’s time to work on and/or write about car stuff.
Working on car stuff will be much easier in the foreseeable future. Drill Sergeant Dave dropped off an early birthday gift to me the other day. Funny, he’s never been about birthdays or gifts and in that, we share the same feeling. His gift was the biggest of surprises, a low-rise floor jack so I could work on my own car in my own garage, the very thing I’ve been looking forward to doing for the past eight years. I couldn’t thank him enough which I’m sure made him as uncomfortable as I felt doing so but c’mon, what does one say to a grumpy old guy who usually makes most people’s lives a complicated, living hell? read more…
The Off-Track Routine.
I woke up late this morning, after 10 a.m. and wrote it off as I must have needed the sleep. Usually early in the morning, right around dawn, I wake up with a million thoughts racing around in my head. Things I need to get done, things I should have gotten done, things I want to do, things I have to do, and all things related in between. Add to that WS’ obsessive worries about our budget and finding a no-cost startup business idea to bring in additional income, something he’s voiced wanting to do for the past twenty years. Worrisome thoughts, they all are. But I’m still tired (falling asleep well after midnight night after night will do that) so I don’t get up. I basically talk myself back to sleep and most of the time, it works. A basic meditation technical that focuses on breathing and nothing else. Harder than it sounds but very effective, unless too many thoughts fill my head and then I toss and turn for hours. read more…
