And his attempts to find variety in his walks, avoid Terreeeblay the treadmill, keep his doctor happy and himself alive and vibrant!
"The Blog Almost Too Boring To Be The Most Boring Blog in America ... for Over 5 Years!"
until it got too many red cards from Wounded Duck and the Boredom Enforcement Committee ... now the tortoise's goal is to get to 10 red cards so he can get Big Dog to drive down and take a good long walk with the tortoise
P. S. This blog listens to its readers. We have the Benjamin Category Override for 5+ mile walks and now, it humbles Tortoise to say he has been named "Lou", by Doug Jr, in memory of Mr. Consistency himself, Lou Gehrig. Tortoise can hardly type the words to think he is in any way comparable to the noble Iron Horse. Thank you!
6:40 Weekly weigh-in at 268.0 down 2.3 on Day17-walked 0.61miles on a flat surface in 16minutes. Series2 total: 7.74 miles in 3 hours 32 minutes.
8:00 Breakfast: Kefir shake, cup of water, vitamins
11:30 Lunch: 1 croissant with chicken, red grape, apple salad and lettuce.
14:35 Snack: a cup of homemade italian tomato and barley soup - yum!
18:15 Dinner: fried chicken breast, one scoop mashed potato with gravy, one scoop corn, cup of milk, bowl of ice cream with a couple peach halves, one small white powdered donut.
23:45 Snack: grabbed a handful of almonds on the way out the door back to the hospital to greet Maude!
1:00 Woke, then tried to be quiet for an hour in and out of the little room we called the water closet in England. I think I was most successful, although at the end I was also trying to stifle a cough. C'est la vie! Finally settled down after taking 2 1/2 tablespoons of Western Family's version of the famous pink medicine you take when you have these issues. Knott's Berry Farm's Ghost Town used to have signs for "Lydia Pinkham's Pink Pills For All Practical Purposes", guess it reminds me of that ...
I also slowly swallowed a zinc throat lozenge with a small attempt to mask the zinc flavor with "cherry". They are effective, that's why I use them. But the flavor stays with you a looooooooooooooooong time.
6:42 Woke for the day. It's Saturday, decided to rest an extra hour this morning. Brushed my teeth. Zinc flavor is still there.
7:18 Started vacuuming the family room. My visit to Terreeeblay will wait for the evening today ...
8:06 Went to Farmers' Market to get a few items for my sweet. They even had red grapes! Those are hard to find this time of year, none at Wal-Mart or Lins, but Farmers' came through ...
8:48 Went through the drive-up mail box, got a phone call from Willyne that Sue needs her charger. Turns out it's in the bag for her Mac that she left with me while I am creating a spreadsheet for her to track consignment sales at the Ugly Trailor.
9:36 Drove to the office ... to work on a personal project today!
10:42 Located Sue at her store. Drove over to take her the computer bag. She'll bring it back Monday night so I can continue on her project Tuesday, and she can use it in the meantime. (I had been told on Thursday when she brought me Microsoft Excel for Mac and her computer that next week was fine, but she was missing her computer while I was thinking of ideas for the spreadsheet)
11:06 Drove back to the office. Needed to get some "cheerful" music on. After a little channel surfing (how much can you do in a ten block drive) I settled on "107.3 The Fox", they were playing an old favorite from 1967 ...
[Original Video] Los Bravos Black Is Black 1967 - Canal Nostalgia (sorry no picture, can't get an embed code on this one, but it plays fine in a separate You Tube window if you click on the underlined link. Reminds me of "travelling music" heading north on the Golden State Freeway (I-5) just before Gabriel Herman checked in at the top of the Grapevine on the way to the cabin on Breckenridge Mountain east of Bakersfield. Ask my brother John if you'd like his version of what I'm talking about.
Hey, Becca, maybe you need another surprise in your life (since you thought it was so amazing I had been to a Carpenters concert at BYU in a previous lifetime) ... the Association sings this much better than I do, but yes, your father sang this song live in concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in 1971 (the same arena that he and his sons got into a hand motion scuffle with a large black traffic lady when leaving a Clippers game 20 years later. The lady won and they went down a street (read: back alley in Watts) that still scares him thinking about it, but his sons still laugh about that incident now) ...
there is even proof on an old 33 album floating around our house somewhere ...
The bass line on that song is a lot of fun!
11:18 Cooked some old fashioned oats, ate it with the last of my strawberry yogurt, and started on a large glass of water and vitamins while typing this post from 1:00 until now. And yes, the zinc flavor is still in my mouth. But I haven't coughed again either.
13:11 Took a quick break from my project and heated a piece of pepperoni pizza. My computer is now playing "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum, followed by "Henry the Eighth I Am" by Hermans Hermits. I'm smiling ... OK, back to work now ...
14:04 Ate the other leftover piece of pizza I have here with me.
16:45 Snack - remaining 1/3 of a small Croshaw's coconut pie Willyne gave me to take to the office a couple days ago, along some peanuts I shelled and ate (peanuts came from that surprise treat bag at City Council last Wednesday night). I just started a third 16 ounce glass of water for the day.
20:15 Arrived home from work. Ate a plate of dinner: two croissants with a red grape, apple, chicken salad filling, small scoop each of berry jello pretzel salad and lemon pudding with mandarin oranges and little pieces of cookie. Had a 8 ounce cup of homemade lemonade.
21:20 Day 16 - walked 0.52 miles on a flat surface in 14 minutes. Series 2 total: 7.13 miles in 3 hours 16 minutes.
6:30 Terreeeblay is a good walking companion. On day 15 we went 0.53 miles on a flat surface in 14 minutes. Series2 tot 6.61 miles in 3 hr.
10:00 Started drinking a chocolate Equate ultra weight loss shake, taking my vitamins, and drinking my first 16 ounce cup of water of the day.
11:45 Heated and ate a 15 ounce can of Nalley's turkey chili with beans, along with a piece of cornbread and a serving of lettuce. I'm now about halfway through that cup of water I started at 10 am.
13:00 Finished the water.
16:30 Got a snack at Popeye's in Mesquite after an appointment to get me energy to get home. Chicken wrap and a side of rice and red beans. Drank a second large cup of water.
20:00 Back at office. Ate last 1/3 of a chicken pot pie, last of mashed potatoes and pot roast (1 scoop of potato and about three bites of beef). Dessert was a vanilla cupcake from Willyne's birthday. Drank a small cup of water, so I'm now at 40 ounces of water for the day.
7:30 Day 14 My friend and I walked 0.52 miles on flat surface in 14 minutes. Series 2 total 6.08 miles in 2 hours 48 minutes.
11:00 Breakfast late today. Had an Equate chocolate ultra weight loss shake (11 oz) and vitamins.
12:30 Ate a plate of left over pot roast and mashed potatoes. No seconds. Started on a 16 oz cup of water.
14:40 Start on second 16 oz cup of water.
16:10 Had 1/2 ounce Blue Diamond smokehouse almonds for a snack. Also drank a packet of Emergen-C, acai berry flavor, 1000 mg vitamin C, electrolytes, etc. with 1/2 cup warm water. Tastes good, by the way.
18:00 Dinner at Dairy Queen with Willyne and Michael Ragozzine. Had a grilled chicken salad with blue cheese dressing and a cup of water. Also had maybe half (probably not that) of a strawberry mini blizzard, about equivalent to a small scoop of ice cream. The scrubbers in the lettuce are doing their job a half hour later, feels so good inside!
21:35 I'm going to make it with no more food since dinner. Yea. I had a total of 40 ounces of water today.
7:00 Walked 0.52 miles with my friend on a flat surface on Day 13! Series 2 total 5.56 miles in 2 hours 34 minutes. :)
8:30 Eat one black bean taco for breakfast. Here's the ingredients. Gently warm a small wheat tortilla with grated two cheese mixture, add a scoop of heated black beans, dice two avocado slices and a tomato slice, put on a generous amount of lettuce, roll up so the ingredients don't fall out ... and enjoy!
10:00 Start drinking a 16 oz cup of water and take vitamins while working.
12:00 Halfway through the water and vitamins. Eat a second black bean taco.
12:30 Finished the water and vitamins.
14:00 Started a second 16 oz cup of water. Ate a bowl of old fashioned oatmeal with a cup of Mountain High strawberry 1% milkfat yogurt.
16:55 Finished a client appointment. Grabbed 1/2 ounce of Blue Diamond smokehouse almonds on my way to city meetings. Finished the second cup of water. Hopefully dinner won't be too late, but probably will be.
18:30 We were provided a surprise bag of treats at city council tonight. I had a half dozen peanuts and 3 white chocolate peppermint kisses
20:15 Got home, after taking the trash to the street and starting the dishwasher (first things first!) I had a bowl of homemade vegetable soup and a piece of cornbread. No butter, no honey, no condiments period. And I enjoyed the cornbread and the soup very much!
I think I'm doing reasonable, which is my goal. Tortoise like progress on walking. Tortoise like progress on eating. It all adds up. Even if I only lose 20 pounds in an entire year, picture what a 20 pound bag of potatoes looks like, and figure I won't have to carry it anymore. And I hope to have better stamina and cardiovascular health too. Nothing spectacular, just solid, sustainable improvement. One day at a time!
Doug the smiling tortoise walked 0.52 miles in 14 minutes on flat surface treadmill on Day 12. Series 2 total 5.04 miles in 2 hr 20 minutes.
Breakfast was kefir shake and vitamins. Slowly drank it, didn't finish until 10:30. Had client meetings until close to 3. Halfway through I had a 5 minute break, had a snack of Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds 1 oz. Lunch at 3-- a plate of 5 oz pot roast, one scoop mashed potatoes, one scoop corn. 3 cups of water today, all at work.
Dinner at 6:30, a quick bowl of Willyne's homemade vegetable beef soup and one crescent roll. Had a snack at church, some members in 6th ward brought in an apple pie for all of us clerks. Home made from fresh apples. No ice cream or other topping, just the pie. Had a second snack at 10, Willyne surprised me with a scoop of peppermint ice cream.
I walked 0.52 miles in 14 minutes on a flat surface on Day 11. Series 2 total 4.52 miles in 2 hr 6 min. Then I did a weigh-in -- 270.3 pounds, down 1.7 over holidays. Still way high for me -It's a start :)
Here's a picture of my breakfast ...
a kefir shake (complete with spoon, it's thick and tasty!) with my array of vitamins. The quote in the frame behind the glass is good too, for more on that check my I Believe blog for today ...
No morning snack today. Lunch was a reasonable size bowl of old fashioned oats cooked for 4 minutes at 20% power in the office microwave, with three scoops of Mountain High strawberry 1% milkfat yogurt. Probably sounds strange, but I like it!
Afternoon snack was the remaining 23 bites of last week's lean sirloin steak, about 6 ounces worth, and a 3 teaspoons of peanut butter. I'm finishing my third 8-ounce glass of water to go with it. I'm wishing dinner would get here ...
We had dinner with Fred and Sue this evening. Pot roast, mashed potatoes, corn, sparkling grape juice, with warm peach cobbler for dessert. Not exactly "be good" food, but certainly delicious. I thought I was reasonable on the portions, and I did not eat anything more the rest of the evening (so nothing after 6 pm) and that is actually my biggest challenge. Overall, I would say it was a pretty reasonable day. We'll build on that tomorrow.
