A Warm Christmas

It was ten years ago when we had a Christmas like this weather. Winston had become paralyzed about a week before this photo on Christmas Day. He couldn't figure out the warm weather either but found it much easier to drag his rear legs as he continued to 'walk' in the back yard and into the field. I just saw this morning where I live now, tied their highest temperature of 68° on Christmas Day. It was a record all the way back to 1938 when global warning was all over the news.

This not my photo but one of downtown just a few days ago. The bike path I have ridden in the past is to the right and up behind that railing. Last spring during the floods, water was up over those steps. The Ohio River is to the left.

Sometimes when I am lazy I will go on the website realtor dot com and look at houses for sale in towns I have lived in, including where I grew up. I found this the other day because there is a small 550sqft condo for sale on the 2nd floor, in the middle, for almost a million dollars. What does this have to do with me?

In January 1977 I rented the 3 bedroom on the first level. The owners had built the second story for a better view of the ocean.  At that time the building was only two garage doors long.

That three story condo next to it was built in 1984, making me to move from the beach to an island NW of Seattle. At the time I was renting the small beach house that was on the other side of it. I came home from work one day and saw a sign out by the sidewalk in front of my neighbor's 1950's small beach house ..."San Francisco Comes To Carlsbad" ... they tore down his house and built it. Then painted it a light purple, white trim with pink overhangs. The first level was their parking garage. 

Oh, with a roommate we paid a total of $330 per month in 1977 for the three bedroom house on the corner. LOL.

I have not done a lot even with the good weather. With the heavy fog everything has been so damp you would have thought it had rained overnight. There has been light to heavy fog almost every day for the last week, and light fog outside as I write this. 

That is Walter's blanket now. He claimed it his and loves it. If he doesn't sleep there all night, I will bring that blanket back to the bedroom when he decides to sleep on his crate pad across from my bed. A good price, $19 at Costco. I had bought the blanket to use on the couch to keep warm while I watched ball games or movies. Guess I will have to buy another one on my next trip to Costco.

You might remember a few weeks ago I had tried Home Chef and didn't have that good of results due to old broccoli that was packaged. You can read about what I found with that program here. So here I have baked 5oz of wild caught Coho Salmon, steam asparagus (too long) and some cherry tomatoes. A meal like I use to fix all the time before I became too lazy to cook.

I wanted to show myself that I could still make the same meals without Home Chef. I found out it was also cheaper.

I bring up food and will show some other meals I have had below, all because of my visit with my VA cardiologist a week or so ago and because since that day I received the blood lab work with great news. The only data points that increased, needed to be increased ... like my HDL. I now have a ratio with Triglycerides that is 1.9 and below Dr Philip Ovadia's metabolic health of 2.0. It was much higher than that in May. He believes a ratio above 2.0 is a sign of insulin intolerance. 

Even the nurse for the cardiologist called me to let me know the doctor was very happy with my results and that I should continue to do what I have been doing .... so I have gone back to what I call "My Diet" ...  that leans towards Keto with low carbs, hight fat and protein with some Mediterranean blended in with certain fruits and veggies. 

It also includes occasional times of falling off the wagon of healthy food for good food, like pizza, ice cream, pies, etc. Moderation does not work for me so I plan to keep a close eye on that when I have fallen. It mostly happens on Saturdays when college football is on tv for 12 hours.

I did not take a video of Walter here, but there are some loud snores coming out of that picture.

This is not magazine quality picture but it tastes really good. A small skillet with either real butter or olive oil, covered with Bella mushrooms and tomatoes. After that cooks for a while I cover everything with fresh spinach and as that cooks I break three eggs over the top of it. Sometimes I will add salsa or cheese.

Salads are a summer thing it seems but I have been having one for lunch every day for the past week. I break up the salmon I have cooked a night before. I know that Western dressing is not listed on the good food list but there isn't much of it and I like it. I alternate that with Ken's Steak House Sweet Onion dressing.

Like all good plans ... there are bumps in the road. How could I refuse a gift from my neighbor across the street? A small box of the best fudge I have had in a long time plus a round tin full of homemade cookies. Needless to say it didn't take long to eat most of each.

I saw this the other morning and couldn't believe it. Had the hounds and dogs done this during one of their play sessions? I looked around and did not see any signs that had happened, otherwise I am sure there would have been some dirt splattered on the table. Too much water most likely was the cause. I am not sure I will replace it with another cactus since that is the 3rd or 4th one I have lost since moving here.

It looks dreary but at least it was warm. The prior week before this same photo ... snow covered the ground and it was 7°. 

Walter is starting to get some gray hair in his muzzle. He will be 6 years old February 1st. 

Walter needs his rest. He has a pretty active lifestyle where his only aerobics is trotting back to the patio door from the yard when he finishes his business. Indoors it is a slow walk from the computer room to the water bowl in the mud room. As for strength training ... a vertical jump onto the couch or my bed. I knew before I bought him that bulldogs want to be left alone when it comes to exercise. For almost 6 years he has flat out refused to go on a walk of any kind, leash or no leach. He will go out with me to pick up mail but will stop in the driveway and watch me cross the street. 

I received my utility bill the other day electronically. After some number analysis I found out it is pretty close to the same cost running my gas furnace at a low temperature setting compared to using that electric space heater I bought last month. My natural gas cost per unit, including overhead had decreased the past 28 days to $1.559 per therm. I have gone back to setting my thermostat one temperature and using the furnace again. 

I have watched some of the college football bowl games. It sure does seem like the stadiums have fewer fans each year compared to the last year. I know that all depends on who is playing but overall .. a lot less fans at the games. 

I am going to have two more days of warm weather, some rain then it drops into the 30s again for a day or two before getting back to our winter averages. Seems to be a warm winter so far compared to last year.

Well I have to head out to the store to buy what I call "ballgame food". I know, there is not much I'll buy that is on the "healthy food" list but with consistent blood lab numbers over the past 6 years it must be okay for me to fall off the wagon on ballgame weekends ... just not too hard. 

That's about all from "the tropics" of Southern Indian ... have a Happy New Year !!