Month: July 2014 (Page 1 of 2)

I’m downsizing my Christmas collection. I’ve already saved each of your stockings and ornaments that I knew were yours. Other than that, I’ve taken a picture of everything I’m getting rid of. There are little numbers in each picture, which are on a slip of about 1″ paper (for size comparison.) If there is anything you would like, let me know and I’ll bring it on Labor Day weekend!

There you go. The pix all turned out pretty good. You can ask for an entire grouping or just one item from any grouping.

The garden is producing plenty of beans, pea pods, and chard for us to eat frequently and freeze some. The zucchini are just starting and we’ll have plenty in a week or so. The potatoes are just about ready, too. Here are some pictures.

And look what we discovered when we were checking the apple trees for deer damage!

I’m going to try to keep up with writing something on this topic (which is the dearest to my heart, though perhaps not yours) every Friday.

If you are over 30 (as I think most of you reading this are) your fitness focus needs to be on what you can habitually do for the next several decades. Other than the wrinkling of skin and graying of hair, most of what you probably perceive as old age is actually decreased conditioning. Stooped posture, shuffling gait, general feebleness, balance problems, even increasing weight are all a result of muscle strength not keeping up with body mass. In other words, you simply are no longer strong enough to handle the demands placed on your body. The good news is that muscle strength can be preserved with exercise. Some muscle loss will inevitably occur in time, but we are talking a lot of time, not a few decades.

So now, rather than later, is the time to decide what you are willing to do every week to preserve your muscle strength  –  both cardiovascular muscle strength and skeletal muscle strength, which will impact posture, ability to do everyday tasks, and balance.  Find something you enjoy that you can find time to do at least twice a week that will challenge your cardiovascular endurance. Ideally it should be something that isn’t hampered by weather conditions or ability to get somewhere else to do it. And also find a strength routine, whether it is with body weight, hand weights, machines, exercise bands, or other things such as kettleballs, that you are willing to make a part of your regular routine a couple times a week. Again, it should be something that you can easily do when you plan to do it.

Then get started. The years pass so quickly. The strength routine I’m currently doing dates back to right after I injured my back in my late 30”s, so I’ve been doing it for over 20 years. And I plan to do it forever. I’m not bored with it. It does what I need it to do. I change my cardiovascular exercises, but not the fact that I get up every morning but Sunday and do something. It is routine, so I don’t even consider not doing it. That dates back to before I even got married.

The fact is that if you can make these things a habit, you WILL do them and reap the benefits. If you put off making them a habit, you WILL NOT do them enough to make a difference in how old age plays out for you.

If you want help in designing a program that you can do until you are as ancient as me and longer, I’m here to help. Don’t put it off!

We put a window in the bath/laundry/closet room. It looks out on a wall of the building next to it, but it still lets a lot of light in. We put it really high, so someone outside can’t even look in without a ladder.

And we got the mirrors for the exercise room and installed them. Pretty cool!

This is what I got from our garden today!

I fried up the zucchini with onion and it was awesome. The pea pods I’ve been eating raw. And I cooked some of the beans, although I’ll need to freeze most of them, once Dad has his share when he gets home. He is going to be late because today is the day he picks up the tub and the hot water heater and orders the countertop.

I am glad to be done with Footloose, although it was an enjoyable and well-performed show to play for and it was one of the best pit bands I’ve ever played with. But I am so enjoying not having to go anywhere tonight and being able to get to bed at my normal time. And I’m glad to be able to put the money in my account tomorrow!

I will be able to pick beans from my garden later this week, as well as the first zucchini and pea pods.  We had Swiss chard for the third time tonight. Yum!!

It looks like the people who bought the lot to the west of our lot in the country are going to be building soon. They have what looks like their house marked out and equipment is starting to move in to do the excavating. Exciting!! We also have new neighbors in the house to the east, but we have not met either neighbor yet because we are not down there all that much – just to mow and pick vegetables or pull weeds.

I have a very detailed work plan worked up in multiple colors to get us out of 123 Stout and into 210 Knapp by the time we see you all the end of August. We will be busy, but it shouldn’t be too bad, so long as we stay on task! (And the countertop comes in two weeks and the plumbers can work the week we want them….)

I colored my hair a different color, after 40 years of the same blonde. It is lightly red. I think I like it.

I took it because the squirrel was eating one of my strawberries, but by the time I got the picture taken, the berry was almost eaten, so you can’t see it very well. You can in the color print, because the red shows up. But I really like the black and white version. This was a tricky picture because the automatic focus kept zeroing in on the sharp lines, like the feeder box and the stairs in the background, so I had to quick switch it to manual focus, which gives me both a black and white and a colored version. Meanwhile the berry got smaller and smaller and smaller!

Dad went to the show last night and took some pictures of the pit band.

From left to right: Eric Grover, the real phenomenal pianist from Chetek – he’s playing the bass part on the keyboard; Jim Hurst, the amazing percussionist from Rice Lake; Derrik Westholm, a percussionist that used to be annoying, but has grown out of it and also learned to play amazing guitar; Clay Steiner, a high school student that plays flute, clarinet, tenor sax and bari sax in the show – another amazing kid; me on keyboard 2; and John Dutmer on keyboard 1.

We are home from our quick trip to Waukesha. We left at about 11:00 Sunday and got home at about 5:45 p.m. today (Monday.) During the time we were there, we ate a nice dinner with Grandma Fritz and showed her pictures of our projects and so forth, stopped at Dembee Ranch twice to find the things we said we’d take and sort music a bit, since I’ve been assigned that job, and visited Grandma Mick in her new place in Mukwonago. She seems very happy there. She has all her horse pictures on the wall (and, Kylene, that picture of her by the tennis net that I mentioned in my book!) and a nice recliner and her t.v. set and dvd player and a little kitchenette. She gets helped down to meals and helped with dressing and so on by staff, but she has her own space, too, so it is a nice arrangement. It is a beautiful building and she is making lots of friends!