Staying the Course -- 04-24-2017

[Superbob]

Top of the morning to all, and welcome to another week of staying the course that we stay, steady as she goes!

In the area, we have some freakishly heavy storms but being delivered in slender fire-hose configurations, some areas getting 5-6 inches of rain in short time, others getting half-inch to none. We've had a few downpours but not yet the hosing. Have delayed dawgwalk because don't particularly want to get drenched. If we were into 90-degree-plus summer weather, sure I'd be happy to walk in heavy rain.

Over the weekend, my fitness instructor sent out emails to all class members announcing tomorrow as a dress-down, wear your funkiest t-shirt day. Got to be my influence. I've been wearing silly t-shirts and getting laughs. As I suspected, I am the class clown. Maybe laughing eases the pain of exercising joints and muscles that haven't been exercised enough. I will unveil my bright red "BEAST MODE ... loading" tee. My line will be that a class full of beauties needs a beast -- ha! (I am one of only two guys.) As for our teacher, she laughs at me -- which is much better than yelling at me! In all my many physical therapy sessions over the years, I have found that humor helps. My cardiac rehab 12 years ago was hugely great fun -- a really congenial group of nurses and patients.

So that's going on, and our son has moved to his own place nearby. His kids still live next door with their mom but son came out well -- with lots of time to share with them, so we will be seeing them and doing things with them a lot. Tomorrow we celebrate 11th birthday of grandson, and one thing we're getting him is a "fitbit" (actually a Garmin) -- because he wanted one like his Pop-Pop constantly wears.

Looking forward to hearing how life is along your respective courses.

Cheerio,

Superbob

 

[Duffey]

We got hosed! Four and a half inches of rain fell over the weekend. We have sunshine today, but the precipitation returns on Wednesday. I try to hold a good thought concerning spring showers. A few years back we experienced the worst drought I can remember. I swore then that I would never again fuss about rain and I'm trying to hold on to my promise.

I bet the fitness class enjoys enjoys your presence, Superbob. I hope we get a report on what the other class members wear tomorrow. It's great that your grandchildren are still next door and your son will be with them a lot. We've dealt with a very similar arrangement for almost twelve years. It's been so long, it almost feels normal. People do have an amazing capacity to adapt.

 

[jwinter]

Good Morning Superbob and Duffey. A cool 30 degrees in the great state of Montana this morning. Brrr,, it just won't warm up. No complaints from me though as I am working on being more positive as part of my course.

Superbob you wear that t-shirt and have some fun with it. Everyone enjoys people that bring a little humor to the table. At least I do.

Duffey, keep that rain coat handy and I hear ya about your family arrangements. I tell the kids we have enough dysfunction in our family to make it function! My Mom probably turns in her grave occasionally.

Still reading The Hungry Brain book but not really getting into it. New grass is up and will be out there soon picking those weeds. I am also getting ready to grab that lawnmower handle for a few turns. Sounds good and everything but unfortunately I also like a bbq and cold beer to offset that good .exercise. Still staying the course.............

 

[epstns]

Good morning, everyone! I often check in here on Tuesdays, because Mondays simply aren't fun (still working. . . ). Of course, if it wasn't for Mondays, Tuesdays would really suck.

SB - Every class needs a clown. My hat is off to you. When I did cardiac rehab (6 years ago - wow!), I was the class clown. As long as the jokes, goofing off and humor are in reasonably good taste and don't get in the way of the class' objectives, it adds to everyone's fun. In my case, by being a bit of a clown, I was able to help some classmates to find that they could really do more than they thought they could do. We had mock races on treadmills and stationary bicycles, did "carnival" weight lifting with the little handbells they had (like 3 or 4 lbs) and generally made light of anything we could. I even brought CD's of some "party" music to make the workouts more enjoyable. Life is far too short not to enjoy what you do.

Duffey - I hope that rain is not serious enough to cause any damage. A couple of years ago we got tired of flooding basements and spent some pretty big dollars to install a major flood prevention system at home. It keeps any overflow from the city sewer system from ever backing up into our basement floor drains. Of course, Murphy's law applies, and we haven't had any super rains since the system went in, but at least we sleep better knowing that when (not "if") it next happens, we should be fine.

Weather here has finally dried up and gotten sunny and mild - around the low 70's yesterday and today. I'll take that as a win, although it is not expected to last. More rain later in the week. The only time it really gets to me is when the skies turn gray and stay that way for weeks at a time. Oh, and I also hate it when there's no point in washing the cars, like when it rains every other day for two weeks or more. Yuk!

We had a "play" weekend last weekend. Saturday we drive up to Milwaukee, just shopping and goofing around. Went to a couple of great bakeries, a coffee roaster, a top-grade real Italian deli/grocery store, and had dinner at a really cool supper club/steakhouse. It is only about 90 minutes from home, but feels like you've been away for the weekend. On Sunday I met with a group of fountain pen hobbyists I know, in preparation for meeting at the annual pen show in a couple of weeks. Nice to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones, too. Next weekend is more of a working weekend, starting to get ready for the kids and grandkids' visit this summer. We figure that we need to start now to be ready for August. That way we get to have a life in between all the running around and tasks to do.

Hope everyone has a smooth transition to a joyous spring.

Just stayin' the course here. . .

 

[Superbob]

Well, shoot. I was going to upload a picture or two from our Tacky Teeshirt Tuesday at exercise class, but I get a message about it being "invalid" every time I try. Probably my technical ineptitude. Anyway, we had lots of fun, with slightly raunchy twist because of one tee worn by one of fun-loving ladies -- topless simulation. Lots of laughs though. Seniors just wanna have fun. So today we have next class -- it's great, and our instructor promised me she'd give me some suggested exercises, maybe on DVD, to do over weekend. From Thursday to Tuesday is a long time to go between exercise sessions (of course Ellie and I dawgwalk just about every day except when we have dangerous storms.)

Steve, that sounds like a fun excursion to Milwaukee. Those close-by getaways are refreshing. We have one to Southport, N.C., a very pleasant little port city (a town really) that offers lots of places just to sit and relax, or to walk, or to eat great seafood. Of course, we can do that here, too, but a charming little town for a getaway is a nice change. Jwinter, nothing wrong with a little BBQ and beer occasionally, certainly that's our credo here in the Southland. Duffey, I see the Cardinals game yesterday was rained out early -- must have been a lot of rain. Hope it's not affecting your household harshly. April showers bring May flowers, but deluges can bring problems as we all know.

Kinda quiet here this week -- happens. Folks get busy. We're here, keeping the light on. Drop on in and chat a spell anytime the mood strikes you.

Cheers all,
Superbob

 

[MartinF]

This week we added a dog to our family. She's a 1 year old rescue, Golden Retriever/maybe Springer Spaniel mix. We will get her into shape for walking and running as she gets older. Right now she needs to put on a few pounds.

Ran/walked a 5K yesterday, Run through the Vineyards at a winery in Temecula CA. It was hilly and I'm out of shape so walked about half of it. Last year I did the race and ran most of it. The race director is a long time running friend of mine and the race was put on by the Temecula Sunrise Rotary. They were able to raise funds for their projects.

Not walking as much the last week and need to get back to regular exercise.

Hope everyone had a good week. Martin

 

[Superbob]

Hey, congrats, Martin on the new addition to the family --- I am very partial to golden retrievers or golden mixes. Sweet dog. Great walking companion I know for sure. Long ago, I had a German Shepherd/collie mix who was my running companion. Three miles every morning. And congrats also on the 5K -- bet the winery run was a delight (esp if you got to sample the goods)....We all need to step up the exercise....At my request, my instructor gave me home exercises to do (online and DVDS) and I have barely looked at them much less done them. Got to do it in the morning, so I can honestly tell her Tuesday that I did my homework. : )

 

[epstns]

Martin - Congrats on the new furry pal! We love dogs, but we have decided that for the next few years we will remain dogless. We just want to travel, and we have no family nearby who would board a dog. Also, it wouldn't be fair to a new dog to be away too much. Maybe some day, though. . .

Temecula? We were out there some years ago. Beautiful area, great wines. I think we may have a bottle or two from one of the vineyards out there, too. We have many fond memories of a great trip. Hope you can enjoy being there.