You Capture - Fun

I knew right away this You Capture wasn't for me. I mean I'm happy and everything and I have fun ranting about how much I don't like the fact that baseball is ruled by human beings (umpires) but it's not something you can take a picture of. So I thought about my grandchildren and that's fun but guess what, I haven't seen any of them during this assignment period.

So today, I walked at Striebel Pond which is my wont. As I got out of the car with my camera on my shoulder, I thought I ought to just leave it in the car because I can't see a single thing worth taking pictures of.

And then I started to have fun because it's really fun when you think there won't be anything to photograph and you capture this:

And then it's fun when you're trying to take a picture of a subject and you get two subjects - like this:

I was trying to get a picture of a pied billed grebe. They're a blast because they're shy and when you stop and look at them, they duck under water for the longest time. So I was waiting for him to surface when this guy flew by and I captured him.

Finally the grebe had to surface and I got him too.

And I'm always trying to get photos of the terns that frequent Striebel Pond but they're always flying so it's a little harder. But today, one of them was resting with the rest of the preeners. He's the short white guy with the black hat and orange lips.

It was fun watching one of the adult swans telling the kids to line up:

And then watching them obey:

It was fun photographing the great blue heron with the great white heron (egret) in the background. (I thought herons were so territorial.)

And it was fun spotting and capturing these beautiful purple flowers - with one type being quite a bit more beautiful -

Than the other -

Oh and there was one more fun thing going on. I noticed from a distance that every once in awhile there'd be a great deal of splashing going on around the gang of ducks, egret, and tern. When I got closer it appeared that the ducks were taking turns cooling everybody else down. They'd all be quiet for a bit then all of a sudden one or two ducks would run around splashing everybody and then they'd be quiet again. They even did it for me when I was close enough to get a picture.

So I got my four mile walk in but most importantly I had fun doing it. Sometimes the unexpected fun is the most fun of all.

To see other fun versions, visit Beth at Ishouldbefoldinglaundry. And for some real fun, join in yourself. Go take a picture and post it!

Shrinking Days Of Summer - Week 2

Well, it's not much of a shrink. I lost .8 of a pound since last week at this time. The only positive thing I can say about that is that it's better than gaining.

The second Mini Challenge which started Sunday was in recognition of the Sisterhood's participation in the half marathon on Saturday. These girls ran 13.1 miles and I applaud them! Wow! What an amazing accomplishment. But I digress. The Mini Challenge this week was for each of us to walk, run, bike, skip, jump, or at least move 13.1 miles this week. And we didn't even have to do it all at once.

Since one of the habits I am trying to form is exercising at least one half hour a day and I was up to 3 1/2 miles a day, the challenge wasn't really challenging for me. So I decided to move up to 4 miles a day and I've done that for TWO days.

Walking 4 miles a day is hard. I used to walk about 9 miles a day before I retired and that was hard but now 4 miles seems just as exhausting. I'm okay doing it but when I get home, I'm drained. And hungry? Or bored? Or just feel like I've got to keep doing something so I eat? I don't know. I do know that I have two time periods a day when my compulsive eating kicks in big time and, although my mind knows what to eat and when to stop, my body doesn't listen.

The first time period is late afternoon. We don't eat dinner until at least 8:30 or 9:00 in the evening. (Could that be part of the problem right there? If so, better talk to Mr. Right. That's the way he likes it.) So once he gets home from work, there's a time period where I'm tired and he's usually napping and I'm eating. I tell myself it's not so bad though because I eat good stuff - just too much of it. I know I could solve this down time dilemma by keeping busy, but you see, I'm too tired.

Which takes me to the other habit that I'm struggling with. Not enough sleep. It's a vicious circle. I get too tired, take a nap, stay up too late, and I'm too tired the next day so it all starts over again. I just need to power through a couple of days, go to bed early (which seems almost impossible in this house), and get on a good schedule. Oh and one of the things that helps me stay up so late is eating. I've said it before and I'll say it again, as long as I'm eating, I can stay awake. Double whammy right there! No sleep no will power. And then I do something like eat so that I can continue my no sleep cycle. WHAT is wrong with me?!!!

I think I can do this. I just need to want to do it bad enough to make myself do it. I'll try today. I don't want to spend my whole life fat and tired.

I think I'll make that my mantra.

The All-American Game

Gave me a break. If baseball is the all American game, then all American's are delusional. Because baseball is stupid. Why? Because it defies all logic.

There are some guys dressed in black who stand around on the field and they get to determine the outcome of every pitch, every play, and every game. And even if there is indisputable proof that they're wrong, they're right. Their decision stands. And what's even more extraordinary is that if they admit that they're wrong, they can't change their mind. Their decision stands even though, they too, know it's wrong.

I addressed this briefly here when I said "I always convince myself that one bad ball/strike call can and does take the pitcher (or the batter for that matter) right out of his game. And if the hurler's money pitch is the outside corner and the umpire calls it a ball, he's screwed. Good-bye ball game. And if the first pitch that the batter sees is a terrible pitch that is called a strike, he has to protect the plate against the unknown calls and he's out of his game". And because of these wrong calls, the outcome of the ball game is pretty much determined.

During World Series playoffs, I've seen an electronic box in front of the batter that shows whether or not the ball passes through the strike zone. Easy breezy - no questions about it and no influence by a very human umpire. Why don't they use it to call balls and strikes in every ball game?

And even the most uninterested baseball unobserver has probably heard about the terrible call that took an elusive perfect game away from a Detroit Tigers pitcher, Armando Gallaraga. It was the bottom of the ninth with two outs. The batter hit the ball to the first baseman, the pitcher covered, the batter was out...but wait, the almightly umpire said he was safe. So he was. No perfect game. The umpire was sorry, really sorry, he's a good umpire, but no perfect game. Too bad so sad. They've shown the play inumerable times on all the news networks and sports channels. The guy was out....but he was safe. This is an insult to my sense of fairness, to my logic.

Back in 1972 when I was a real Cubs fan, I watched with bated breath as Milt Pappas pitched a perfect game. Oh wait. No it wasn't. The last batter got on base with a walk. The umpire, as I remember it, later said he didn't want the perfect game to be tainted by a questionable strike call so he called what should have been a strike, a ball, and the batter walked. Good-bye perfect game. Pappas' shot at perfection was ruined by a walk to a pinch-hitter. Pappas, who went on to get the no-hitter, blames umpire Bruce Froemming to this day.

Just last night the Cubs played Houston. The ball was thrown to the third baseman but he missed it. The catcher was covering third and fell down on the runner, Starlin Castro, which happens. But as that catcher laid on Starlin and watched the ball dribble to the outfield, he kept Castro from scoring. He just laid on him watching the ball. What was done about that? Nothing. And it was so blatant. Now was a good time for the human influence to pay off. And I guess it did - for Pittsburgh.

I used to love baseball but then I realized that it's not about the skills of the players, it's about the good or bad decisions of the umpires who are influenced by very human emotions, or how they're feeling that day, or whether they want the game to get over with in a hurry.

Here they are now, meeting with Lou Piniella and Pittsburgh Manager, John Russell, prior to the game we went to in May. I sure hope Lou was careful not to offend any of these guys. After all, they're large and in charge and they control the game.

Over and over again baseball defies all logic and that's why I can't be a real baseball fan.

It's just too stupid.

Striebel Pond Yesterday

I know I know. You're tired of seeing more Striebel Pond activity. But, in my defense, it is my journal and I'm powerless to quit. I just can't go out there with a camera and not take pictures. It seems like there's always something interesting to photograph. Certainly the aerobic integrity of my walk is compromised every time I stop to take a picture but I do it anyway. Ultimately, I'm still walking 3 1/2 miles, and except, for those moments when I stop to snap a pic, I walk pretty fast.

In Friday's post I said I would post pictures of other things I saw, today. Here they are.

Don't you just love that they have drinking fountains for dogs?

I thought there were some really beautiful growing things:

And some really interesting flying things:

Including this one. I know it sounds crazy but I've been trying for days to capture a flying dragonfly. It's very challenging because they zigzag all over the place. Finally I had some success. It's not the best picture ever but it's a double. I wonder how and why they were flying together like that. (You really might HAVE to click on this one to see it better. Then just hit the back arrow on your browser to return.)

And then there was this growing thing with a flying thing on it.

Okay, that's it. Didn't I capture a lot of fascinating things? They were to me anyway. And I know when Rhonda, Nancy and I walk out there, we won't see a thing worth photographing.

Isn't that just the way it goes?

My How They've Grown

Sure, I know you're probably tired of hearing about the swans but if I don't keep you updated, all of a sudden they'll be grown and gone or something will happen to them and you'll be so mad that you never saw it coming. So, just to refresh your memory, here's how they looked the first time I saw them on May 13th.

And here's how they look today, busily trying to emulate their parents by trying to pull grass up from the bottom of the pond.

Seriously, can you believe they're this big in three short weeks?!

Aren't their little faces incredibly cute?

Here's a shot with mom and the kids so you can get a perspective on the sizes.

And here's the whole family hurriedly trying to escape the crazy lady with the camera.

That's it. Just keeping you informed. Tomorrow I'll show you what else I saw at Striebel Pond today. That is, if I don't go to the Dunes which I'm dying to do, and take pictures even more interesting than I think today's are.

You Capture - Give Me Your Best Shot

Oh the humanity. How could anyone be such a tough taskmaster. How can she expect me to post just one photo. It's almost impossible. I take about a thousand pictures a week and I like almost all of them. Some of them I love - almost always more than one.

I take pictures of the swan family, the goose family, the duck families and lots of other creatures that make Striebel Pond their home. I take pictures of the water, the sky, and the reflections in the water and I like almost all of them. Then there are the sunsets and my backyard and the pond. And of course the grandchildren and great grandson. Making it even more complicated is the fact that a lot of them were in town this weekend and we had get-togethers. We had house guests which practically guarantees fun, touching, and spontaneous photos.

So what is the one picture that I'm posting this week? DUCKS! Not a duck family with adorable little babies trailing along behind their mom. Nope, just four drakes and a hen and somehow their picture became the one. (You might have to double-click on it to appreciate it.)

Five Mallards - just hanging out.

What a great You Capture this has been. I love that we could choose whatever subject we wanted although it was challenging to choose just one. That, however, was an eye-opener too. It's not always the subject that you love that makes a good picture. Sometimes it just happens. For more You Capture Best Shot photos visit Beth at Ishouldbefoldinglaundry. It might be interesting to see if anyone else had as much trouble choosing just one picture as I did.

Shrinking Days Of Summer - Week 1

Whew! Thanks Shrinking Days of Summer:

That was a close one.

I had the best weekend. Good times, good family, and yes good food - lots of it. Going into the weekend, I intended to stick to the good habits I was trying to form, but it didn't take long for all my good intentions to unravel.

I didn't have time to walk. Not on Friday or Saturday or Sunday. Monday night after everyone had left and Mr. Right was home from work, he said rather incredulously, "Aren't you going to walk?" Normally I don't take kindly to his helping me in my weight loss effort but this time it made me stop and think. I'd spent the day eating what I wanted even though everyone had left by noon. I guess I just thought the ENTIRE weekend should be a wash so I happily, no guiltily, ate my awesome mayonnaise potato salad and macaroni salad and Oreo cookies and whatever else was left over - all day long. I used all my Weight Watchers flex points on the first day of my Weight Watchers week.

For the weekend, I'd rationalized that when I reach my goal weight and my life returns to maintaining that weight, there will be holiday weekends and I will make my mayonnaise potato salad that I love so much and I will eat it. I'll have brats and desserts with my family and I won't take precious time away from being with them to go walk alone at Striebel Pond. This is how real life will be and I'll just have to learn to adjust to it. It sounded so good to me that I allowed myself free reign to eat anything and everything and to forgo exercising.

And, you know what. I still believe all that. It's just that I didn't transition very well from company behavior to dieting behavior.

So, Monday night, thanks to Mr. Right, I walked 3.75 miles while vowing to start all over on the walking-every-day-for-21-days habit. And Tuesday I stepped on the scale. Whoa! Ouch! And my overriding thought was that tomorrow I have to do my Shrinking Jeans weigh in and admit that I gained this weight.

So I checked out the mini challenge and started drinking water. I stuck to my points like glue. And after I did my quick 3.5 mile walk, I worked hard on my water garden re-do. All of this while hoping against hope that I wouldn't have to post a shrinking jeans gain. Yep. Being accountable to the Sisterhood most definitely got me back on track.

And somehow, miraculously, today I can say that I weigh .4 of a pound less than I did a week ago at this time. And I'm so grateful that I'm vowing not to look this gift horse in the mouth. I can't imagine how great I'd do if I kept up this effort all week.

Maybe I'll find out.