Sunday June 25

Weight 118. All our company is gone! We met a friendly family and friends from Columbia last night who just arrived for 3 weeks. One of them took the picture of DH and I below. They were telling us that the July 4th celebration on Aruba is a huge party with tons of fireworks!

Just hanging today and eating grouper leftovers for dinner tonight.

Macros: Cals - 1,653, Carbs - 112, Fat - 64, Protein - 98, Fiber - 8

Veggies/fruits: 3

Sleep: 8.5 hours

Exercise: Mowing

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Liz, your and DH's kissy-face photo -- sigh!

I got lots of sleep last night. Feel great.

Yesterday for lunch I cooked something VERY un-WLS-y -- risotto (the real arborio white, starchy rice) in heavy cream with mushrooms, asparagus, and truffle oil with a little EEVO and baked chicken breasts. Hubby ate it and loved it. I had it again for dinner. So delicious!

Hubby's science experiment (no digoxin yesterday) producing an astonishing difference -- he felt so much better. His blood pressure was normal, as was his heartrate. He is going to skip it today, too.

Another beautiful day here. We're planning more outdoor and indoor chores, including hauling my big John Deere zero turn mower out of a huge animal burrow that I ran into yesterday in very tall grass. Hubby will pull it out with his tractor. Gotta love real farm machinery.

Breathing here. :)

You are a hard worker! I know those chores leave you sweaty and gritty yet all I feel in your descriptions is a sense of enjoyment.

So glad DH felt better yesterday and I hope it continues. I feel a sense of grief when it is realized that an unrecognized drug side effect is the root cause of illness. Usually the patient has felt terrible for a very long time. Ain't no drug worth what your DH has been going thru.

Thank you, Shel! Both of us really appreciate your comments and your support. It truly means a lot to us. xoxoxo

Is it Sunday, already?

The weather is glorious, full of sparkling sun and Mt Rainier in the background. We have other mountain views available much of the time but you KNOW it is a great day when Mt Rainier is looming large. You can feel our collective spirits lift.

To kick the day off, I am going to home yoga on the back deck. The environment is beautiful, thanks to DH and Mother Nature.

No big hikes today. Sadly, I must do some adulting. House, weeds, and finish up professional requirements to preparation for license renewal and annual job eval.

Yesterday's hike was about 9 miles, up Mount Si. This was a repeat but it is a great conditioning trail plus this time I was rewarded with a view of Mt Rainier at the top.

Hug your skinny today! Shel

GAWD! That view! Hubby and I are both blown away by it. Would so love those hikes up there. I've done a couple of 30-day Himmalayan treks and have hiked much of the John Muir Trail many times. Up high is where my soul lives. :) You're SO fortunate to have those beauties in your own back yard.

After I posted I realized I neglected to mention the scent of the mountain up top.....positively perfumed with wild flowers. Sort of lilac-ish x honeysuckle. Wild flowers were everywhere, maybe there were just so many that they filled the air.

I have been around wild flowers before but never experienced that scent before. At first I thought it was a perfumed hiker or Costco had a coupon for a perfumed bug repellant/suncreen that the masses were wearing. But it was everywhere up top no matter if I was around other people or alone.

Yes, I am grateful. My two favorite mantras when I hike are "I live in abundance" and "I welcome challenge"

Himmalayan treks! Bucket list! (I normally am opposed to bucket lists but I make an exception for that) I have been looking into John Muir.

Shel, when I was in my mid-40s I did the Trans-Himmalayan trek (Kashimir to Ladakh - both in India, but not sure that trek is currently politically possible) and the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal. Each one was 30 days, and both were fabulous.

On the Nepal trek I lost 20 pounds in 30 days. :) I used to define a Perfect Trip as: "I didn't die, and I lost weight!" Now I'd have to eat my butt off all day long not to lose weight.

I do have a long bucket list (it's getting longer, not shorter), and still on it are a trek in Bhutan and the (old-lady trek) Milford Track in New Zealand (only 5 days).

Go for it! As my favorite aunt said 30 years ago when I asked for her best life advice, "Do it now!" "Do what?" I asked. "Everything!" she said.

Greetings Peaceful People

135 today. Yay. down a pesky pound. Can't say what I did to earn it but I will graciously accept any loss. I was feeling very fat yesterday as I got out a t shirt that fit last summer and it felt tight. Can't stand tight clothing.

Gosh what fabulous picture Liz and Shel. These are fine art quality! So beautiful. Mother nature is the best artist of all.

Ann, what kind of animal could make a hole big enough to eat your tractor? I remember coyote dens from my midwestern days. Be careful.

And who knew Ann that you were such a mega hiker? So fun to hear interesting details about the lives of my buddies here. And so glad your DH is solving the medicine issues. I took statin drugs for years and had that achey side effect and didn't realize it. I think it made me gain weight because it was just painful to move and I thought it was just because I was fat. Only figured it out when the dosage was upped.

Shel what an impressive hiker you are too! I doubt I could make half a mile on that trail. Good on you for doing it. Makes me feel like a serious wimp but I will go to Silver Sneakers.

In a week my older brother and his wife arrive for a visit. They have never been out here. Brother has a brain tumor and his wife is MO and can barely walk a few blocks so not sure how I am going to keep them entertained. Probably driving around looking at views of which we have many. Younger brother is going to Spain in a few days for some big gay pride event. I worry about terror attacks. I also worry that while he is in Spain and other brother is here that our mother will die. She is near the end. Sorry to be maudlin. I need to go out and get a dose of Mother Nature today. That and clean out the old SUV as my little Prius won't hold all of us. Its filled with junk too.

Well take care fine people and continue to enjoy summer! Diane S