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Congratulations to Elder Michael Ragozzine on his mission accomplished in Des Moines, Iowa, and his fine Sacrament Meeting talk reporting on it today.  Willyne and I were invited to their family dinner afterwards, where we enjoyed visiting with Michael, and Darin, who flew in, basically for the day, for the occasion.  It was nice to visit for a moment and sneak in some hugs!

For more pictures, please click below to continue ...

Cheerio!

15-131

Mile 364.  Tortoise is about to the end of his 10 day supply of antibiotics and the coughing is mostly gone now, for which he is very thankful!  He was preparing to try to break back in to walking by doing a simple mile then returning home.  But the weather turned windy and damp, unusual for the desert, although

15-105

Beware the Ides of April!  Happy Tax Day, one and all!  It was the craziest April 15 I can ever remember in the 29 tax seasons I have done this full time.  My staff was with me until 2 am, and I did not lock the door until 3:30 am.  That was after starting at 5:30 am.  The good part is I got to see many of my friends.

I had visions throughout the day of "pulling a Glen", referring to the night he died (July 30, 2014) and I began my walk at 26:30 on the "extended military clock" after finishing the last of my conversations with family.  Willyne was out of town helping our family, so walk I did and it was a welcome relief.

No such luck today.  It would have been a new record, 27:30 on the "extended military clock", but as I walked out the door, I suddenly hit the wall big time and realized I would be blessed to simply be able to make the 7 minute drive home.

So it's a no walk day, and my record 97 consecutive non-Sunday walking string from December 24 through April 14 comes to an end.  Of course, there is always tomorrow to start anew ...

The Tortoise is smiling!

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Late last night we got the happy news that Doug Jr and Stefanie picked today to become a wedded couple, so all plans for the day were changed with big smiles and we headed to Las Vegas to be with them.

I did get in a short walk in the afternoon going to and from two different wedding chapels, but at 0.5 miles round trip it was well below Tortoise's self imposed daily two mile minimum, so this is officially a no walk day (please click below for more)

Cheerio!

14-263

Tortoise had business appointments in Utah County this morning and drove home this afternoon.  Somewhere near Beaver the rain started pounding down in sheets and the traffic flow dropped to around 45 mph from the usual 80.  I made it home just fine and in time to surprise Jacob and go see his brilliant performance in "Much Ado About Nothing" at Dixie State University.  Jacob was terrific, he is clearly loving what he is doing in life!

I did get in a short walk in the morning checking out a trail in Provo, but at 0.2 miles it was well below Tortoise's self imposed daily two mile minimum, so this is officially a no walk day (please click below for more)

Cheerio!

14-223

No walk today, the 12th non-Sunday Tortoise has missed in 2014, and ends a 60 consecutive day walk run since his last missed day on May 31.  He takes full responsibility for missing the day, waiting to do a late night walk.  Then we were blessed with a wonderful soft steady rain that Tortoise opted not to walk in. This leaves him at 179 days walked out of 191 total non-Sundays, for a 93.72% consistency rating, and the plan to start a new streak tomorrow.  The tortoise is smiling!

Cheerio!

14-151

No walk today, the 11th non-Sunday I have missed in 2014, and the second time I have missed two days in a row.  This leaves me at 119 days walked out of 130 total non-Sundays, for a 91.54% consistency rating.  The tortoise is smiling!

Cheerio!

14-150

10th Non-Sunday no walk day in 2014.  This leaves me at 119 days walked out of 129 total non-Sundays, for a 92.25% consistency rating.  The tortoise is smiling!

Cheerio! 

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No walk today, the 9th non-Sunday I have missed in 2014, and the first time I have missed two days in a row.  This leaves me at 111 days walked out of 120 total non-Sundays, for a 92.50% consistency rating.  The tortoise is smiling!

Cheerio!

14-139

No walk today, the 8th non-Sunday I have missed in 2014.  This leaves me at 111 days walked out of 119 total non-Sundays, for a 93.28% consistency rating.  The tortoise is smiling!

Cheerio!

14-130

No walk today, the 7th non-Sunday I have missed in 2014.  This leaves me at 105 days walked out of 112 total non-Sundays, for a 93.75% consistency rating.  The tortoise is smiling!

Cheerio!

14-104

The day before the 15th is usually the peak day, and it definitely was this year.  I got home from work at about 2:30 am and opted for 4.5 hours of sleep instead of even less.  No walk today.

2014 Stats:

295.63 miles walked, which is 29.56% of my 2014 goal.
92:33:55 hours walked, which is 29.57% of my 2014 goal
13,877 total feet climbed
47,554 calories burned
 28.43% of the year has passed
I've walked on 83 of the 89 non-Sundays thus far in 2014, a 93.26% consistency rating.

The purpose of the percentages is to have a higher percentage of distance and time walked than of the year. This tells me I am on track. I'm sure this is more numbers than you are interested in, all I can say is I'm really good at setting high goals and having them slip away because I don't do them every, every day.

14-45

Decided to have a nice day with my Valentine.  Lunch, temple, and more.  No walk.  :-)

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Loving the big full moon this evening!

Worked late, came home and did 30 minutes pool walking with Willyne in the moonlight to end the day.  :-)

I have two talks coming up in the next week and did some work on them today with a lot of help from Willyne.  Among other things, I will be sharing a classic tortoise story that he originally wrote in the 90s and updated a couple times since.  If you'd like a sneak preview, you can get it here:  http://dougbeecherstaxandmoneyblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-thought-for-young-people.html

In other news of the day, the tortoise had his semiannual checkup with his cancer doctor this morning.  I am pleased to report that he had a new record low PSA reading ... 0.01 ... truly amazing they can measure that low.  This appointment was actually supposed to be in early August but was purposely scheduled later because the doctor wanted a full report on Mt. Whitney.   So the doctor was shown pictures from our Timp hike.  He was pleased with everything, and put the tortoise on an annual checkup schedule.  Wow.  It has been a long road to get here, thanks to you, dear reader, for your support along the way!

Info on calories consumed and burned is available by clicking below if you like ...

Cheerio!

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A nice change of pace today, an hour in the pool walking and actively treading water with Willyne.

Please click below for more info on calories consumed and burned ...

Cheerio!

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No walk today, pool play instead and a little swimming.  Fun change of pace.

Please click here if you'd like info on calories consumed and burned today ...

Cheerio!