Diet Update

It is week 6 of the diet.  I’ve lost 15 lbs but it is hard to see where.  I’ve got lots of extra weight hanging on my bones.

After using Tim’s dehydrator to make turkey jerky (a very useful and convenient source of protein)  I decided to get a dehydrator.  I got the same model Tim has.  Karen did the research and picked out a good one for Tim and I just piggybacked on her research.

We also found a jerky making kit on clearance at Wal-Mart.  Here’s what the equipment looks like.

                                the finished product.

On the garden front most of the plants seem to be growing fine.  It won’t be long until we get some lettuce from the garden.  Here are some pics.

                                           tomatoes

                    lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli

                                       lettuce

                                broccoli

The Tree is Gone

Along with the 2 other pine trees that were standing in the schoolyard. It was exactly a week  ago that the tree fell and although I wasn’t there to see it, I did go back and witness it on my video security system.  The tree fell almost exactly at 6 PM when a sustained strong gust of wind passed through.  It’s also nice to know that I can see what goes on in the yard when I’m not there.

before

after

We went to a mission at our church on Sun, Mon and Tue nights.  I found it interesting and thought provoking.  The priest, Father Pompeii, from Syracuse, NY reminded both Penny and me of my brother Lou.  Last night he talked about the uniqueness of Catholics in a humorous but still serious manner.  He explained where the burying of St Joseph upside-down to sell your house came from.   He talked about our beliefs about praying to saints or Mary in a smooth and easy manner stressing that we are family with God.  We are in unity with God without losing our individuality.  He went down the whole list of our beliefs, traditions and idiosyncrasies. 

Although much of what he said was not new to me this was the first time I can think of that the whole Catholic package was laid out and tied up with a nice 4-color bow.  It was a worthwhile mission.

A Good Attitude Helps

I got a call from the school district maintenance services guy this morning and he said that the way the law is and his insurance coverage is that I am responsible for the part of the tree on my property.

I told him that I have been through sufficient hurricanes to know that and I guess that I had a job to get started on.

I started cutting branches and tossing them over the fence into the school yard.  I figured it made no difference whether the county picked them up there or in the street and the schoolyard was sure a lot closer.

Shortly after I started the guy I talked with on the phone earlier showed up.  I told him what I was doing and he said that actually there was a difference with where the branches were.  On the schoolyard it is the school districts responsibility.  On the street it is the county commissioners responsibility (and budget).  He could have made me move the branches out front.  Instead he said that as he was walking over to me he was thinking that he was going to help me out any way he could because of my positive attitude.  He said I could put the branches in the schoolyard and if the trunk was too thick for my chainsaw he would let his guys cut it for me.

When he left he thanked me for my attitude.  I also thanked him for his.  He said that I wouldn’t believe some of the people he had to deal with.

Now I’ve got all of the tree out of the yard with the branches and trunk cut up and in the school yard.

The work of cutting up the tree was a good dry run for hurricane season.  It also showed me that my stamina is better than it has been.  (I need to start walking again before I lose that)  I also don’t have sore thumbs after that work.  I would have been in a lot of pain in the past… and I was rewarded, in a way, for having a good attitude.

The Danger of Cleaning Out

I’m rearranging our laundry/storage room.  It has taken on its organization in a haphazard manner over the years with only minor regard to functionality.  It was more like- ah, there’s a space where I can stick this- and there it resides.

I’ve emptied all the large shelves out there (put the stuff in place of my car in the garage) and now am setting them up so that everything on them will be visible and reachable without having to dig or move things out to get at them.  That’s the goal but it has been slow going so far.  I’m finally at the point where I am making sliding shelves and start putting things back on the shelves.

The biggest thing I’ve done is to put in 2 folding doors in front of the shelves for a neater look out there.

But danger lurks in this task.  I know it’s there and have tried my best to avoid it.  All cannot be avoided.  The danger is the temptation to look inside the boxes I’m moving  and get hung up remembering and reminiscing with the items inside.

I had to look in boxes to determine what was in them and where they should end up.  I tried to keep the review time to a minimum and I think I did OK.  My biggest issue was a plastic garbage bag that held some of my stuff from high school and college.  It had deteriorated to where it couldn’t contain the papers in them.  I had to transfer everything to a couple of new boxes.  That meant handling and seeing everything.

So the past couple of days I’ve travelled back in time and remembered some of what went on years ago.

In Karen’s boxes I found a folded poster labeled “TOP SECRET”  and “don’t even try”.  I opened it anyway and it is a kid’s bill of rights she filled out with all the rights she believed she should have.  (being able to sleep in science class, talk about boys, stay out late, etc..  )  Another item was a note to us as parents asking us to consider granting certain privileges to her (phone in room, stay out late).  It actually was a thoughtful approach to have the discussion.  I just don’t remember her ever giving it too us.  Finally there is a pencil box with these items in it.  A wad of Charlie’s hair.  Charlie was a horse at TLC.  The hair was deteriorating.  There was the last pooper scooper paper towel she used for Allie and a couple of pictures of Allie at 6 mos.  Finally there is the drummer raisin from the California raisin set.

The Christy box I got a peek at had a paper hamburger box in it that has a dried seahorse, broken sand dollar and a small piece of coral in it. Of course there are a couple of large plastic horses.  She too had a toy- a Muppet baby toy from a fast-food place still in its wrapper. (miss Piggy).

The plastic bag of my stuff had old newspapers with headlines of the moon landing and the Kennedy Assassination.  There are special edition Life magazine about the assassination and a special section from TV-Guide showing “what we watched that weekend” – Nov 22-25 1963.  There are some pins and pamphlets from the ‘64 New York Worlds Fair including a newspaper (New York Journal American) magazine World’s Fair Tour.

I also have a book cover from my high school American History class tallying the teachers use of the word “basically”.  He used the word 798 times during that semester.

There is a note from my Dad saying “Get the scooter, but get a new one”.  I obviously discussed my buying the Yamaha with him.  I spent almost all of my summer work money buying the “scooter”.

Finally here are 2 pictures I found taken on Melbourne Beach in 1967. I don’t remember the name of the guy that had the camera.

 

one of my better expressions.

chatting with  girls on the beach.  The blonde was Mary, a high school girl who had a crush on me.  I took a lot of razzing because of that. (and a lot of warnings about jail bait!) 

I sure was skinny back then.

 

Back to Nature?

I finally got to the beach for a sunset on Monday.  It wasn’t spectacular but it was interesting.  The location of the setting sun is slowly drifting North.  Right now it is at such an angle to the shoreline that when there is decent surf it can be used as an interesting foreground.  I played around and got some shots of the sun sparkling through the breaking waves.

eerie sunset

see the neat splash I got? (it looks like a fish)

The high point was not the sun.  As I was walking up the beach to return to the car I came up to this Asian couple – they looked 50ish in age.  She was jumping into the air .  He was trying to take her picture in mid-air.  As I passed she asked me to take their picture.  He handed me his camera and it was a beauty.  I took about 4 pictures of them and then chatted with them a while.  They were Korean and here on vacation.  They were surprised by the sand on our beaches.  It made me appreciate this area even more.

I’ve been doing yard work and cleaning up the laundry room this week.  Nothing exciting.

Tonight Nature poked me in the eye.  A big pine tree fell into our yard from the Kenwood schoolyard.  I didn’t see it happen and fortunately I wasn’t out there mowing, which I had planned to do (but didn’t get the mower to start).  A neighbor who saw the tree down came to our door to see if we were aware of it.  It was too dark for pictures once we knew about it so maybe I’ll post some tomorrow.

The big event tomorrow – haircut day.

Sounds Fishy

Thursday evening we went to see Sophie’s school’s production of “Sounds Fishy”.  Of course, Sophie was the best kid in the whole show.  Considering the age of the kids the school put on a good show.  The costumes and stage decorations were very nicely done.  Here are some pictures.

Sophie on the microphone

The whole stage.

Sophie in the middle

Sophie at the finish.

Happy ST Patrick’s Day!

We spent the day packing our stuff back into the CRV and driving home.  We got back in time to go to church so our Sunday is wide open for us to “recover “from our week out of town.

We found it much easier to work our revised diet into our travelling.  We are able to order from most menus and closely approximate what the diet calls for.  We ate at Wendy’s, Panera Bread and a Mexican restaurant during the week and didn’t have to violate any of the rules for the diet.  Now we have to see if we continue to lose weight.

I haven’t walked in a week now so one thing I need to do tomorrow is take a hike. I've already sorted the laundry we brought home so tomorrow will also be a laundry day. Both outside cats were there tonight waiting on me tonight. Meredith seemed happy to see me.

I didn’t go out to the garden but I peeked at it from the patio.  It looks like it is growing nicely.  The sod I put in the front yard is still green also so it appears the house and yard had no issues while we were gone.  It was nice to see all that green on ST Patty’s Day.

The 18-Minute Mile

That’s once again the blistering pace set by me, Christy and Christian in the Gate River Run (Walk).  That’s the same as we did last year.

I am pleased that I am not sore after the walk.  I was stiff for the rest of the day Saturday but after sleeping there were no ill effects from the walk at all.

The walk wasn’t as exciting as it has been in past years.  It was windy and coolish and we were at the very end of the walking group.  There was less enthusiasm in the spectators by the time we got to them.  It was still fun and there were some high points.  I think the best was the person holding the sign that stated this was the “WORST PARADE EVER”.

This year I drove myself there.  I got off early at 6:06 AM and it only took about 15 minutes for me to get there and be parked.  I used the 2nd exit for the stadium and parked in the grass and gravel lot right across from the stadium and the race finish line.  I read my kindle and waited until about 7:30 to head over and meet C&C. A reminder for next time – there are no waiting times to use the port-a-potties on the ramp to the Hart Bridge if one needs a potty break late in the walk.

This year the race was well organized.  Runners were released in waves and you had to turn in a tab from your bib to get your finish medal.

This year both Karen and Tim weren’t able to walk.  They were completing the process of selling their house.  Maybe next year Karen will join us.  She says she may run (not walk) it next year.

Diet Update

Penny and I are off the previous diet and are now on a similar but much more flexible one.  We can design our meals and snacks from a larger variety of foods that are more accessible.  We can even eat out.  The old diet got us thinking in the right direction and gave us a better understanding of what we should be eating.  Now we see if we can carry on on our own with guidance from several sources.

It’s surprising to me how much we thought was healthy eating actually isn’t.

The result of my 3-weeks on the old diet ?  I lost 9 lbs, which is not bad, and I am feeling better (more energy, less tired) each day.

7 Miles

I had a beautiful day for my final walk in preparation for the Gate Run.  For those of you who know the neighborhood (K&C) my route was out to Mooney rd.; down Mooney to Racetrack; Racetrack to Beal; Beal (Lewis Turner) back to Mooney; around Mooney to Merioneth; down past Kenwood to Powell and Powell to our street and home.  It works out to exactly 7 miles on Google Earth.  I had no problems so I guess I’m ready.

I also finished setting up my garden today.  As I mentioned previously I am growing a selection of vegetables this year, many for the first time.  It will be interesting to see how my garden grows.  Today I fine-tuned the drip irrigation part of the watering system.  Now all the plants get watered daily by my sprinkler system.  It sees the garden as a separate watering zone.  Having the watering accomplished automatically make the garden much easier to maintain.

Here are pictures:

Tomatoes are up front in the white containers.

Vegetables everywhere else.

Multi-Tasking

We celebrated Penny’s Birthday yesterday by shopping at the outlets and Fresh Market.  We suspended our diet and I made banana pecan pancakes for her for Breakfast and for lunch we went to Café Laredo and ate Mexican.  Dinner was popcorn and a 3-D movie (HUGO) at home.

The movie was great and the 3-D fabulous. 

The diet lives on for a few more days as Penny puts together a similar but more manageable way to eat better for us.  Penny has been studying different diets out there and modeling one for us to follow.

Today I spent my time getting some supplies at Lowes and working on the front lawn.  I still have the garden watering system to do – I might get to that tomorrow. 

In between working on the lawn today I had to go to Publix to get some fresh produce.  It’s also getting down to the wire on preparation for the River Run.  So, instead of driving to Publix I walked.  Before I left I measured the distance of the walk on Google Earth and the round trip was almost precisely 5 miles.  That’s the distance I wanted to walk today anyway so it worked out fine.  We finally had a nice sunny day today and it was a pleasant day to walk.  I’m planning a 7 mile walk for Wednesday and then a rest period before the 9.3 mile walk.

The Rains Came

I mentioned yesterday that we’ve had cloudy weather but little rain.  Mother Nature made up for that in 1 day.  It has rained almost constantly all day and much of it was heavy rain.  The weather is aggravating Penny’s medical issues.  The good news is it is supposed to be sunny tomorrow for the first time in days and it is Penny’s birthday.

I’ve pretty much decided that I can’t stay on this diet.  It is too rigid and depends on fresh food that is not readily available  unless one stays home and does only the diet.  It just isn’t practical.  On the positive side I have been introduced to some new sources of protein and starch that are tasty and good for me and I can continue eating many of the veggies in this diet. 

This diet is tailored to target belly fat.  That’s a great goal but it is impractical to fit into almost anyone’s schedule.  You have to pack food with you if you are away from home.  You can’t buy anything but raw ingredients in the grocery store and it is impossible to find what you are supposed to eat at any restaurant.  So after week 3 we will be starting on a normal diet again.  The old formula of fewer calories and exercise will apply.  Penny is putting together our new dietary guidelines and they will allow for a more flexible routine.

I tweeted our plan for Penny’s birthday.  Instead of going to see the movie Hugo (it isn’t playing anywhere around here anyway) we bought it at Target.  We will watch it tomorrow at home in 3D.  We are also going out for lunch (no diet).  Penny just has to decide what type of food she wants.

Diet, Mailbox, Garden

That about sums up this week.  The  diet I’m on is eating up the time that I used to use for blogging. This is now only week 3 of the diet.  My weight dropped 1 pound n week 2 . That really is within the noise level.

I removed our old mailbox and put up a new one.  Of course, the job didn’t go smoothly.  The old one was leaning.  I thought I could just remove the old post and stick a new one in the hole it left.  No such luck.  Over the years an inch-and-a-half root had pressed up against the post and there was no way to put in a level post without  completely digging up and cutting out that root.  So I did what I had to do and it ended up taking 3 times as long as I thought it would to do.  But the new mailbox is in and it works.  We found mail in it today.

I also put my garden in.  This year I am experimenting with many different plants.  Since our diet requires lots of fresh vegetables I’m trying to grow many myself.  Of course there are tomatoes.  In addition I’m trying a couple of lettuces and cabbages, squash, peppers, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower and a couple types of peas.  I’ve got everything planted now – I have to redo my watering system this weekend and then tend the plants as they grow.

This week and a good part of last week we’ve had cloudy weather.  We haven’t had a lot of rain, just fog and drizzle and no sun.  That’s supposed to continue through this weekend at least.  It’s been warm also.  All the springtime flowers are already blooming.  We have had he air conditioning running all week.  The lawn is almost all green already.