Sunday June???

Paula, You and the boys were on my mind most of the day. Hope you are not too exhausted.

Food yesterday was scrambled eggs. Hope that is not the new nuts and yogurt. Speaking of nuts and yogurt. I have tried to eat it a time or two out of convenience. It was awful. I put the nut mix in the freezer. It was such a weird craving.

CBD oil seems to be hanging in there on the mood and sleep. I also think it helps with pain. It may be placebo but I will take it. DW has read up on it bunches and got off into essential oils. It is amazing the information at the touch of a keyboard on almost any subject. My guess we will be into essential oils soon too.

My welding helmet was a cheap one and it ran out of battery. I ordered a new one this morning so I can watch when my son is welding. I wanted a space age looking helmet but it was $300 . Maybe DS will see it. We are looking around for scrap pieces of metal to practice on. Wonder what his electric bill will be next month.

New Zealand and Australia have always been on my bucket list. I will enjoy via photos for now. It sounds wonderful.

We are hoping for rain today. Ground is so dry. DS#1 does not like to use poison so he has a big burner that he uses before planting that burns the weeds off. More like major wilting the weeds. It was catching stuff on fire so were are waiting on rain. May be a long wait. The seeds need to be in the ground by now.

More Later, David

David,

It's been raining GREAT up here for the last hour and a half. I hope you're getting some of this, too.

Ann

We have been getting some great rain. Need lots more for the gra$$ to sprout. The first field we planted is coming up good. This rain will sure help the rest of it.

I have essential oils, too. Again, one (at least) of everything.

I presume she also has a diffuser? We have two of those.

Walking-climbing-jumping-just moving easily and effortlessly over and around...one of the greatest takeaways from WLS and healed joints. When I discovered that I was moving around and doing because I wanted to-because I Could-What JOY! Carbon, you are about to (re)discover a great treat!

153.6.

Quiet house-Noodle taking her morning nap- she was up, outside, and sitting patiently at the bottom of the stairs waiting for me - that's it- oh, a drink of water and sniffed at her food--on the sofa and out for the next 3-4 hours. Kurt claims she is turning cat on us.

Report from DH & Son--spent the afternoon in a German pub with a bunch of German expatriates, extractions of same, descendants of, and general wannabes watching the German National team pull out a last minute in OT win in what would have been an otherwise elimination match in World Cup play. Drinking suds and eating brats while waiting to go to the KC Sporting match. They will be back later today and Noodle and I will lend ears to the adventures had.

Meanwhile, the whole pot of coffee awaits my pleasure- that is if I can navigate the claw foot tub and other miscellaneous that stands between us...wish I had some of those walking sticks to help me clamber over.

Enjoy the peace of the day.

Weight: 133.2
Macros: Cals 1,561, Carbs 157, Fats 44, Protein 86, Fiber 33
Sleep hours: 8
Vegetable/Fruit Servings: 8
Exercise: None

Paula, your Facebook photographs of Ben's Celebration of Life ceremony are wonderful. Those themed tables you set up - family, career, sports, favorite books, Hawaii and others - are brilliant! It's easy to see how having a strong, creative visual sensibility (like you have) made aspects of Ben's life so vivid for others. Honey, you did good. :)

Carbon, I'm glad your mobility is improving so much. It sounds like your knee surgery is going to change considerably your fitness and quality of life. I second DianeO's recommendation for walking sticks. I've used them for years while walking around the uneven terrain on my property. I took them with me on my recent Newfoundland and Ireland trip to support me on my hiking excursions. Please do yourself a great favor and get some! By the way, they're not designed so much to lean on, but to help in pushing yourself forward and in cushioning your descents.

My weight this morning was the same as yesterday, something I've been waiting to see for some time. There's been day-to-day wobbling these last few weeks, which has felt odd. Maybe I've finally built as much muscle through physical therapy as I'm going to get, and things will now stabilize. BTW, I was told last Friday that I'll be released from PT at the end of next week. Perfect timing, since I fly away on Saturday.

I've already done my Sunday morning deck yoga under a beautiful sunrise and then gathering clouds that have turned into a very dark, rumbly sky. I'm now sitting inside waiting for the bottom to drop out. Enough with these little sprinkles - like David, I need to see some REAL RAIN!

Cecily, I looked up your Backroads hiking folks. It inspired me to skip over to the website for my old hiking company, Mountain Travel Sobek, which I've used twice before. Am trying to figure out which of the Bhutan trips would be right for me. I'd love to do the toughest trek, but wonder if my 72-year-old knees would handle it. Actually, I think they would, since I weigh 50+ pounds less than when starting out on my last serious trek nearly 27 years ago.

Glad y'all liked my Lutheran Red accent color. Am really looking forward to all the changes I'll come home to in mid-July.

Today's theme (both literal and metaphorical): It's only paint!

Ooooh, a new tour company I hadn't come across! Looks like they go to really cool places! Bhutan sounds fabulous!

Mountain Travel and Sobek were both old-time adventure travel companies. Mountain Travel focused on, uh, mountain travel. And Sobek focused on a lot of white water trips.

In 1989 I did the Trans-Himmalayan trek (India - Kashmir and Ladakh) and in late 1990 I did the Annapurna Circuit (Nepal) with Mountain Travel. Both times I went "by myself," meaning I enjoyed traveling with the other 15 or so folks on both trips.

About 20 years ago they merged into mtsobek and are, as far as I know, are the premier US-based adventure travel company. Although they're not as pricey as Abercrombie and Fitch, they offer tremendous value in terms of the quality of their guides and the relationships they have with indigenous peoples in the far-flung places they visit.

For those who would like to explore more companies like this, here's a good link that offers hours of armchair travel fantasies and reliable information. :)

https://www.tripsavvy.com/top-adventure-travel-companies-340 54

Great list with lots I didn't come across in my search (thank goodness our chosen one was on there - whew). I sense armchair traveling in my near future...

Weight: 165.

I did enjoy not caring about calories yesterday (so much) and I didn't go overboard. But I also didn't like the fleeting thought that entered my mind: better make it worth it. I don't want to eat just to eat! But I also need structure and discipline on most days to lose weight, which means saying no. And I need a break from that too.

I still haven't figured out weight loss.

B: little Debbie blueberry muffins, coffee

L: 1/2 cheeseburger, handful of fries

S: couple handfuls peanut M&M's (maybe 1/2 serving?), skinny girl margarita

D: 2 barbecue spareribs, 2/3 c. macaroni and cheese, cucumber and tomato salad, 2 glasses wine

D: mini ice cream drumstick

I came up with right around 1800 calories, which is right where I'd hoped to be.

DH and I spent the day trying to put the office back in order. Since he's working out of the home office, we decided to put wood floors in there and clean it up. (we should've done the wood floors in there when we did the dining and living rooms last November!) I have a massive record and book collection so moving those out and back in was quite a workout! Hoping to fini**** up today and then going to see Jurassic World! I'm feeling somewhat sad about needing low calories today. Trying to get my head in the game.