Another Walk To Kandahar

March 1st!  A good day for new starts.

February 1st was a good day for new starts too and that's when I started walking to Kandahar - again.  But this time it wasn't to meet Dan's battalion on its way home.  Dan is already home and so is his battalion. This time I resolved to walk at least a mile every day in the hopes of covering enough miles to get to Kandahar and back - to support the troops who are still there.

Of course I'm well aware of the health benefits of daily walking.  And I'm walking for my health too.  But the thing that will keep me from missing even one day of walking is the thought of the men and women 'over there' making the sacrifices and facing dangers to support a country fighting for it's democracy, for women's rights, and for freedom from terror.  And coupled with my walks will be my prayers that they all come home safely.   I intend to walk and pray until they do.

This cartoon that was in the Sunday paper week before last, really said it all for me.

I'm hoping to enlist as much help as possible - or as many people as possible - to walk and remember those troops and maybe say a prayer for them.  And while we do, let's don't forget the mothers, fathers, spouses, children, siblings, and friends who have no choice but to remember every moment of every day that there's danger over there and sacrifices being made for the freedom of an entire population and freedom from terrorism worldwide.

I'll keep the records if you'll send me your miles for the week every Sunday.  And I'll do my best to keep everyone updated on our progress.

Please...for your own good...and so we don't forget...let's get moving to support our troops.

P.S.  I highly recommend streaking.  I wrote about the pros and cons here.  Don't get me wrong, we love the marchers (walking the most you can whenever you can) but we adore the streakers (overcoming every obstacle to walk every day)!!!

Monday Musings

This was one of those uneventful weekends that I have to remember to appreciate. We didn't have to be anywhere or do anything at any time. That's cool. The downside is that like a couple of irresponsible teenagers, we stay up too late then sleep too late in the mornings.

The results of that are a night like we had last night where Mr. Right is restless and jittery all night and I can't sleep - not because of him but because I haven't been up long enough AND I have a lot on my mind. More about that another time.

We did do something interesting and different yesterday. We moved three of the biggest baby koi into the big pond with the big guys.

The first one I caught will probably be named Bubba because that's how I think of him. Almost since he was an egg (only about 18 mos. ago), he's grown bigger and faster than his siblings. Here he is panicked and pouting in the bucket.

I can hardly believe how big he is. This is either a 4 gallon or 5 gallon buckets. I'd go look except that I'm not home right now.

Here he is about to enter the big world of grown-up koi.

Next to go was this rather unusual (to me anyway) multicolored koi. I would be so excited to have him as part of our collection except that he's missing a whisker and his head color is a little dark.
He's not quite as big as Bubba but he's still one of the biggest of the babies.

Next is this redheaded specimen. He's interesting because he has all that black coloration just below his skin and I think that may come out nice and black some day but that dark, rather ugly head is not a good trait. What is a good trait is that he's another fast grower and I think in the world of koi breeding, that might be a really good quality.

It was fun adding them to the big pond, because the large koi (parents of these babies actually) were so fascinated. They all gathered round and I'm pretty sure they were trying to figure out which of the three were their own offspring. It was so very cute.

This morning, when I fed the big fish, those three young ones were right at the top feeding like the big guys. Normally the younger fish in the small pond hide until they think I can't see them. I guess being with the grown-ups changed all that.

After the koi moving project, I took a walk at Striebel Pond. I couldn't walk as far as I wanted because there was so much going on and I had a camera in my hand.

The swans had a huge drama because there was a large, new swan in the South pond and their antics were just too interesting to ignore. I might address all that another time. For now, I'll share the amazing sunset.

And here's the last picture I took which is proof positive that I'd dallied way too long at Striebel Pond. Again.
And once again, Mr. Right drove out to Striebel and lingered around the parking lot in the dark, just to make sure I was okay.

And there's (he's) another thing I appreciate in my life.

Shrinking Days of Summer - Week 3

Today's weigh in reminded me of a line in one of my favorite poems, Renascence by Edna St. Vincent Malay, "I know not how such things can be". Because this week my weight dropped a dramatic and completely undeserved 2.8 pounds. Wow.

I've eaten irresponsibly but conscientiously. How's that, you say? Well, I ate way too much and failed to count my points; but, the food I ate was almost without fail, healthy, low-point, nourishing, Weight-Watcher friendly food.

That definitely didn't help the loss because when I say I ate too much, I'm talking volumes here - big honkin' volumes. I don't feel great about that but maybe the food choices kept me from gaining.

What did help was trying to drink more water from the Mini Challenge the first week and stepping up my exercise from the Mini Challenge of the second week.

And, if truth be told, I give almost all the credit to exercise. I walked 28 miles during the week which equates to between 58 minutes and 90 minutes of exercise a day. Solid.

Then of course there are the normal fluctuations and maybe now I'll gain a little and go up and down some but nothing changes the fact that I was down over 2 1/2 pounds and nothing feels better than that.

So, I'm off to exercise. For the first time in a couple of weeks I only got in a mile and a half last night because of poor planning and a thunderstorm so it's time to re-double my efforts.

I Have To Admit I'm Getting Better

I get emails pretty regularly from Firstborn Army Son in Iraq. That helps so much.

I finished my clear liquid diet and the craziest thing is that it worked. I feel a lot better even though my doctor wouldn't prescribe even one single pill no matter how much I thought he should. So that's all good.

And, after being inspired by some of the cast of Shrinking Jeans like Bacardi Mama and by Sharon from Mom Generations (and her 5k runs), I actually got out and walked tonight.

It was cold, and so was I, but I'm so glad I went. There were a couple of really neat things going on. One was a little, busy group of ducks. They swam quickly, bobbing on the waves and zigzagging all over the place. Then I noticed that the size of the group varied constantly and it was because they spent so much time diving underwater. Here is a series of pictures taken within about a ten second span:

They were such a busy, important little group that I decided not to disturb them further.

Next I found the swans' nesting spot.

And I saw this muskrat:

And this sunset:

And then I went home, frozen, but exhilarated that I'd finally felt good enough to get out and start walking.