The Mind Is Interesting

It looks like I missed the bus early this morning and did not have a blog published in the early morning hours for those that are early risers. There are reasons for that which I am going to discuss in this post. Let's just say the mind can play some strange games at times. I am really glad it doesn't do it all the time, just occasionally where the brain cells are scrambled and if you didn't know better you would think you are being "defragged" like a computer hard drive.

As you see, Stella and I took off on the morning walk earlier than the normal departure. We both couldn't wait any longer and it was barely daylight, darker than that photo.

I've been getting a lot of computer time these past few days getting the blog just the way I like it. Some kind of OCD kicks in with design, fonts, photo placement etc. It was late last night, I was finished with all of that stuff finally and needed to find something to schedule to post early this morning. The thing was my brain went into overdrive and some sights were not pretty. It showed up in a flash, grabbed me and took off !!!!

I am always curious just how many people think like this late at night or in the darkness of early mornings. That's when my mind really opens up and takes me on a ride that is too long to detail here. Yet I will tell you last night it covered all range of emotions, from calmness, sadness, wonderment, anger, regret, positive, fears, and of course my analysis through the whole journey that lasted hours.

The first thoughts were deep and somewhat dark. Then, I thought how can you write any of those thoughts to be read publicly with Christmas only a week away. Of course that then led me down the path of analyzing my feelings for the holidays and how much they had changed over the years. I remembered in detail from great family Christmases growing up over 50 years ago. In detail.

Then I remembered how much they changed over the years with divorces, death, busy schedules and at times traveling. Once again the extremes showed remembering a few years fitting in 4 different Christmas meals within Christmas Eve and Christmas ... 3 of them in one day. The extreme .... having Chinese food and binge watching a stack of movies pulled from the shelf, or nothing at all ... alone.

With all the photos I have looked through the past few days rebuilding the pages at the top of Winston and Sadie, every one of those photos brought back all good memories until their last one. Should I have waited longer for Winston to see if a miracle could happen and he would recover before euthanizing him? Or did I read his signals right when he turned down food and groaned every so slightly each time he tried to move into the laying position.

Was I wrong not to leave Sadie in the field to pass naturally, not know how long it would take? Or was it best picking up a 90 pound bloodhound, then struggling to carry her to the car 80' away so we could get to a vet 12 miles away ... and hope for a miracle? Some times those two questions become unbearable to get through. I know, think positive, blah blah blah ... bullshit.

Maybe all of this analyzing the past, having all kinds of memories of hounds, family or old friends was activated by the photos of past hounds, old VW buses, and locations started this madness. I rebuilt the Favorite Photos page at the top early last night, due to bad formatting during the transfer. There are some photos you've never seen and good ones.

Or was it the movie I watched that was so good I actually forgot where I was and what day it was, let alone the time. It reminded me of divorce, other lost relationships for one reason or another. Why can't I get out of the past?

Isn't it interesting how the brain can throw out details in blinding speed, yet some mornings I forget to have my second cup of coffee? I can't seem to get out of the past no matter how hard I try, or how many books I read, or the number of friends I talk to. I mean at times it is so bad, in my opinion, I wonder if other people do it this much or do I need some medical relief?

The more I think the more I remember conversations with words that should not have been said along with those that should have been said. I remember names of co-workers from 30 years ago but can't remember the names of two out of three neighbors after they told me face to face. In fact I have no clue what their names might even be. Yet I can remember all three names of my Drill Instructors in Marines Boot Camp in February 1972. (there is a story I HAVE to blog about LOL)

During all of this mindless barnstorming, mentally I go through a whole range of emotions. From exuberant to darkness. My hounds are my best source of keeping sane. With just a nudge from Stella's nose wanting something or the wagging tail of Heidi jumping up to stand on my lap .... all returns to good. Just like that the mind disappears with all of those thoughts like they never happened. It vanishes.

With a combination of the brain road trip, and being tired, I was having a hard time not only deciding what to write but also finding anything to write about. I looked through my three posts on one subject each in my draft folder and deleted all three of them after reading them.

I opened my photo file and glanced through different folders, each named for a specific event, dog name, or 'other'. I know that Apple will do that automatically in similar ways but never as good as I have them filed and sorted. :)

Those photos also brought back a short high-speed trip through the memory highway. Sometimes I wondered "what happened to you?" By the time I glanced at a lot of folders of photos, I still did not know what to write for the early morning post I spoke of only yesterday.

I was tired. I went to bed.

No worries ... really. All is good here. I've done enough self-analysis over the years to know for sure it's not any kind of depression, weather related, or feelings about the holidays, death of parents, death of my favorite hounds, living solo, retirement, nothing financial, friends or lack of .... No, it's just how the brain operates and sometimes it gets a little weird.

I was going to lighten this photo but decided to leave it dark. It was the closest I could come to the real sky.

During those millions of thoughts I did think of blogging, along with social media, past and present. RVsue had a pretty good explanation "Excuses For Being An Inconsistent Blogger" yesterday. The word 'obligation' showed up again in my head. As a blogger I find that no matter how many times I am just "writing for me" (I'm not) I still feel the obligation not to let the readers down.

I compare it to the early days of school where you are taught at a young age that it is not good to let down your parents, teachers, or friends of your parents by not living up to THEIR expectations. The desire to 'please' is inside all of us. Some of us are ruined by those expectations. Not blogging ... in life

I knew I was heading to bed lying about having a post ready to read for you before you poured your first cup coffee. Lying?? Hard to say that because at the same time I had said in the past week that I would blog when I felt like it. So which is it?

If you don't think the mind plays games with a blogger, sign up for an account on WordPress or Blogger and build your own blog ... then watch that mind of yours start playing head games with you on that inner dashboard of yours. That tiny voice of making you feel guilty because photos are slightly blurred, or not enough of them or maybe none at all.

Otherwise why would ZippyPinHead lead off his latest blog post with "Too tired to post pics tonight" ???? Now don't go ape shit on me for pointing to his blog, it's nothing personal just an example. Besides I know that 'Zippy' is not as mentally screwed up as I am ... he's normal.

If we all blog to 'write for ourselves', then why do we not only analyze our blogs, their traffic numbers, wonder where the readers go and never come back, or even explain ourselves in a public blog for the world to see? Over time of reading a lot of other blogs those thoughts bounce out of blogger's minds and end up on their post, intentional or not.

My friend Ara is moving in a different direction on his blog since he had to put his beloved Spirit down. Just like when Winston was gone, this blog changed. My mind changed with it. It took a while to get back into the swing of things, yet the blog took a different direction with Winston gone. Just as it has with Sadie, no longer here.

Ara writes so much better than I do. He is hitting some interesting questions in his last post "So Where Do You Live. NM "and I can see by the comments made that some readers missed his point entirely .... zipped right over their heads without a clue. Maybe I am the one without a clue because just by that title I can see his state abbreviation. That content heads down a different highway of mind games. I loved that post and have read it multiple times.

I was asked the other day how a blog could be downloaded and printed out or saved to a CD for future readings. She had a great question. Something along the lines of where will her blog be 20-25 years from now when she is older, not on a computer, but wants to go back and read of her journeys and see photos of her dogs. I replied I did not know about the 20-25 years and didn't know of a way to do what she wanted with her blog.

Still I told her a pretty strange story on the future of blogs 25 years from now, IF not sooner. Virtual reality is an amazing thing ... so are those wombots.

I tried a few years ago of downloading my blog and saving it to a CD and then to a Word Document. Formatting is the problem, html code is a problem. I don't know of any way to transfer a blog just the way it looks now to a DVD to enjoy later.

Blogs are great for recording history about our lives. I can go back and see on this exact day, or close to it, one or seven years ago to confirm I had those same thoughts I started this post with. I know that one year it will snow a ton where another in the middle of December it was in the mid-50s.

I can find what my mind has forgotten, at least until IT DECIDES to send me on a high-speed road trip on the highway to craziness. A blog is like life .... a wide range of emotions. It lives and breathes or dies just like life. The only hard part is not finding just the right subject to blog about or the right photo to post .... the hardest part is how much of those thoughts do you make public. How much do readers really need to know?

It's hard to do.

Stella will get her big chance today to show me the separation anxiety almost two weeks ago was just a passing thought in her mind or a stranger at the door, maybe it was a deer looking in the window at her. I am out of a lot of food that I need, so a trip to the grocery story is planned. Big chance for her but I will revert to my Plans B&C for backup. (baby gate and tight cord between door knobs to keep her from opening the door)

They say dogs are not as smart as people but they are pretty damn smart and in some ways more than us. They have their routines and know down to the minute when they get their grain free bacon flavored (keto???) dog bones. Heidi knows exactly when I should be giving her the dental chew.

The hounds keep me in reality, keep me sane, make me laugh daily, and make me have out loud conversations. They remind me that I am okay and really normal like everyone else.

Well I have to go. I am feeling a couple of posts today though. The sunshine is too nice not to take photos and blog about it later tonight.

Maybe all of my 'mental volleyball' last night was caused by trading yesterdays' coffee with sugar to black coffee ... and liking it. I had two more cups of BLACK coffee this morning ... OR it might be that my car has not moved nor started in 12 days. It was my choice or lack thereof, it runs perfectly.

More thinking here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana ... I just felt a tap on my shoulder with that tiny voice in my head laughing its ass off !!!!  Ha Ha (I think???)

Stella Tests My Sanity

She looks so innocent doesn't she. Just a big, happy-go-lucky, loose skin ball of fun. Don't get me wrong with what I am about to write this afternoon. I love all my hounds, even Stella. I knew when I 'rescued' her in August 2015 what her issues were. I was going to be her 4th owner in her first 6 years of life. She is the most funniest hound I have had in 31 years of having a hound every year. Like some dogs and some dog readers, we all have our hidden issues don't we?

She was more than I had bargined for in the 'damage' department. Oh yes ... unbelievable damage. Some so destructive I would be embarrassed to post photos of it. (I never will) Her severe separation anxiety was a mystery until I found her original owner and breeder on Facebook. Basically to cut a long explanation short, you can read what happened to her here to cause her anxiety.

Some people say, like her previous owner, it takes a different type of dog owner to have bloodhounds ... they are so different in many ways from other breeds.

One of her habits didn't show up until her first freezing winter in 2015 since moving here. When I say obsessed I do mean obsessed. Even a gentle tug on her collar wouldn't work and sometimes a harder tug on her shoulder wouldn't work ... but she would never growl at me. She was like a 80 pound anchor that wasn't moving. This morning was the same thing. Here is her addiction ... deer scat.

Since I am not a deer hunter I had to do some searching on the internet years ago to find out what this stuff was. This morning was the first time I saw it this color. Most of the time they are deep black nuggets. This type could be from elk, llamas or deer. Here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana, deer is the only possibility.

Where I could always let Sadie lag way behind us on the walk, knowing eventually she would be seen sprinting as fast as possible to catch up to Stella and I, I cannot let Stella lag behind like that. I tried one time only to find out she never came back home. A little more than an hour later I had to retrace my steps.

That day a few years ago I found her in back field over by the 'deer highway' in the far right corner. She was in the same position you see her today ... head down, inhaling as many of those nutritious tiny morsels as she could.

Needless to say, in today's morning walk the eating of deer scat was the objective in her point of view. No, not enjoying the quietness, the crisp temperature, or the sunshine just barely shows on the horizon ... her main objective was to EAT ... and that makes this short 12 minute walk seem like a lifetime.

Still with her separation anxiety only showing up a few weeks ago for the first time in 17 months, she is a fantastic house dog. She always goes to the door to go out, nudging the knob with her nose. If the handle was the lever she would open the door herself.

She will howl like you think a bloodhound sounds minutes before she is fed twice per day. Although, unlike Sadie, she is not a protector of the house. Any stranger at the door is her friend not foe.

There is no doubt you have noticed too many changes with how the blog looked the past few days. You will be happy to know this is the final design and I love it. I feel this will be it for many years to come like my other blog on Blogger, where I stopped blogging to come here.

It took some work to get everything the way I wanted it. Then when I thought I was finished, it had a hiccup this morning only pointed out by an observant reader. The Old Fat Man was trying to make a comment and couldn't see a way to get there.

While drinking my 1st cup of BLACK coffee to escape my sugar addiction, some smart Wordpress techie pointed out to me what I had forgotten to do. It was something at the start of every post, just like I was doing on my older blog. That was the simple click of the icon for inserting the 'read more' tag. That little modification will 'the OFM' and other readers an easier way to see where to make a comment and it gave me the front page that I was looking for.

I took this picture this morning looking directly into the sun. I decided to keep it, and post it because to me it looked cool ... it's hard to tell if it is sunrise or sunset.

After one week I see a system developing here. A little change from the prior blogging routine I had which was writing about what had taken place from 9am to 9am the next day, one post per day. Then sometimes weeks of nothing.

Here I planned on writing more than just about the hounds or the daily morning walk. I was going to move some personal thoughts to these pages and that would possibly mean multiple posts per day. I do have to resist sometimes not to post that 3rd post of the day.

Based on the traffic stats that Wordpress provides all of it's bloggers, I need to have that first post of the day to show up 5am-6am eastern time. People are clicking in early to read a new post but leave within seconds if they only see the post they read the previous day or even night. 'Schedule' is a great blog invention.

I also know that my blogging tendencies change based on seasons, the weather and my state of mind. So my plan is to write when I want, to keep those inner thoughts coming to blog pages. To prevent me from flooding you with my drivel I'll save them as draft copies to be posted at a later date. Like a squirrel storing nuts for the winter, I will be storing blog posts for the spring and summer.

Some will have photos, some may not. Some will be over the edge of logic and some may seem boring, even mundane. Some might make you mumble and shake your head and others might make you think. You choose.

For new readers, if you are into wild flowers growing in a field, or sharp pictures of butterflies, stay tuned-in here because that is a common theme in the spring and summers as we change from the frozen tundra here in the Midwest.

I will admit, with Sadie gone the blog's tone has changed a little. Heidi and Stella are the definition of the word 'laidback'. Heidi rarely takes walks in the field even in good weather. You've seen what Stella does, not much. Oh, when it's hot she will move to the backyard to take her siestas under the hot sunshine.

There are times I have to lay a hand on them to see if there is a pulse ... where Sadie was always looking for action and if there wasn't any she was just a thought away from creating some. Plus like I have said, I have not seen deer in this field behind our house in 13 months. I have seen them in the field across the highway a couple of months ago, but not here. So those high speed bloodhound deer chases are probably a thing of the past and nothing more than a funny memory.

That photo is about the best I can do to prove just how slow she walks right in front of me, to the point at times I stagger my steps not to walk into her. If I pass her, she will pass me back and resume her slow walking.

This morning was a little different. We had just entered the backyard upon our return when she stopped. She didn't sniff the ground nor did she look anywhere else. She just stopped like she was standing in concrete.

That small cord you see laying on the ground has turned into a 'marker', so I can find the anchor in the field that use to be used for Stella, Sadie, Winston and Heidi before I could trust them to roam tether free. I'll come up with a different solution by next spring for marking that anchor. you cannot pull out of the ground. It is made for horses and believe me, a shovel doesn't help getting it out.

As I got to the corner of the house I turned to see her not moving. What is this about ????  Ah, funny dog.

While I took a couple more photos around the house and sky, she needed one more scratch, making me wonder if there is something in the Glucosamine supplements that she is allergic to.

She finally decided it was time to come inside. While she slept I did my workout program, a few games of Mahjong on the MacBook Air with the best view in the house. You cannot give up working out just because you are not losing weight as fast as you want.

It was just a tad over 40° by lunch. I could see as soon as we were outside neither hound was too motivated to go too far. That was a good thing for me since I had just found out I had a lot of work to do on the pages of Winston and Sadie that are linked at the top of the blog.

The two different Wordpress editors don't play well together. Besides that I had copied and pasted both pages from my blog on Blogger in HTML format and pasted that here on the new editor so I could import photos and words at the same time.

That did not work this time. While checking the pages this morning for any errors many of the photos were not spaced and ran together where there was no content. I knew due to the formatting of the new editor my only choice was to start a brand new page for both on the classic editor and then reload all the images. (~100 each)

I was finished with both pages sooner than I expected and while looking at the hounds I announced to them this would be a "nail cutting, ear cleaning afternoon". No problems with Heidi, she likes getting them cut ... but her nails were too long when I got her in 2011 and I have never been able to get them shorter. The vets tried in September to cut them back while she was in surgery and didn't have much more luck than I have.

Stella was good with me cutting her nails when she showed up in 2015. No resistance until last summer (2018). At the last mini-second she jerked her paw, possibly tickled, at the same time I was pressing the nail cutters ... she yelp, I cussed, she bleed, and I had cut her nail toooo short. It all happened in a split second after getting three out of four paws completed. Today ... didn't happen ... she pulled a Sadie and took off running for cover.

You see that Heid's skin allergies have come back a little. That is normal for the winter months for some reason. That tells me it's environmental rather than food. Back in August 2015 I wrote in detail with photos about her skin issues she was going through. They just flared up the past few days.

Besides that not much went on. Stella stayed with Heidi behind closed doors in the bedroom without any breakout attempts. I made a fast trip to the library to look for some new reading material. No luck. I'll pull something off of my bookshelf to read.

Questions of the day --- Do you think it is safe to write the name of your town in a blog post? Some bloggers do, some don't. Is my paranoia showing itself?

What percentage of you stay home for the holidays? Who goes on skiing trips with the family? How many travel out-of-state? How many have Xmas dinners or go out to eat?

Just curious. I promise there are not any spreadsheets planned for those answers.  :)

Another bright sunny day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Dieting Is A Pain In The Ass

I can't call it a diet really. I have changed what I eat over the past 5 years, watch what I eat and log in to MyFitnessPal app EVERYTHING I eat. I don't cheat on that logging procedure no matter how hard I fall off the wagon into great junk food, pastries, chips,  ....  you know, all the good stuff.

I've tried Paleo, Mediterranean, Keto, Vegan, Lacto-Vegetarian, Blood-Type Diets along with my own by adding some 'personal modifications' to those just mentioned.

I was in utter shock when I found out that any blend of Ben&Jerry's ice cream wasn't included. That is almost UN-American !!!!!! I LOVE ice cream and especially Ben&Jerry's. Cost of it be damned!!!  Can't I even have two scoops a week?? I can't do a scoop for any length of time because the word "scoop" is not in my vocabulary ... "whole container" is right at the top, under The 10 Best Ways To Eat Ice Cream.

After years of staying away from the beef, except for a Nick's Stromboli once or twice per year, I was happy to see that the Paleo Diet was letting me have one of these. Now any smart dieter knows it would be best to cut this in half or into 4oz portions, or whichever is smaller ... but I don't recall anyone calling me a smart dieter. I have heard "where do you put all of that food you eat" but not 4oz portions.

The Paleo Diet and the Keto Diet told me I need to eat lots of FAT and PROTEIN .... buy bacon again, ham, pork, all that good tasting stuff and have it for breakfast too. I did and the amazing thing was, within days of eating the Paleo Diet way ALL of my heartburn disappeared ... within days!!!

I tried the Keto Diet last spring only for short period of time. When I couldn't have my normal portion of pasta, or even a tiny weeny bit of pasta I knew that my chances of being a "Ketonite" were slim and none. I would be up to 16 carbs in a 15-20 carb limit by two cups of coffee first thing in the morning because my brain requires two teaspoons of pure granulated sugar per 12oz cup of coffee. (Black coffee this morning) See what I mean .... the Keto Diet and I weren't friends for very long.

Now one thing it did do, it helped me measure out my portions with a measuring cup and this 1cup of dried pasta is now my new portion size when I have pasta, which is few and far between. That chip on the edge of the plate took place when I left the house one night for a short 10 minute junk food trip.

Stella had the run of the house and was sound to sleep on the couch with Heidi when I left. While I was gone she must have smelled food on the plate sitting on the counter waiting to be washed. By the time I got home that plate and it's co-plate were on the floor ... the 2nd plate was smashed into 4 large broken pieces. I guess that was Stella's way of telling me JUNK FOOD IS NOT ALLOWED!!!!

I tried cooking in advance. What better way than to slow cook some homemade 15-bean soup with Cajun spices when colder weather hits. There again I have some issues. I admit it. I stand tall saying my first name and telling the world "I am a mess" when it comes to food portion control.

Just because you pat yourself on the back for a job well done after eating only 2 measured cups of this, that doesn't mean the game is over and you will be awarded. Hell no!!! NOT EVEN CLOSE !!!!

Those regular size soup bowls that come with any cheap set of dishes just doesn't hold a lot of bean soup, if you know what I mean. So I had a BIG choice .... a LOT of those 2 cup bowls or serve it in a bigger bowl and make fewer trips from the football games on tv to the kitchen. Guess who won? Not the game ... which size of bowl.

Within 48 hours of the first bean coming out of that crocpot .... that stuff was GONE !!!!

So I decided I need to start doing some aerobic exercise. What better way to get your pulse rate up than with games of Mahjong Deluxe while trying to get rid of those tiles as fast as possible. 160 games total and I even set a goal. Exercise and goals ... what could be better??? You can see I was already more than 7 seconds behind by the time I set my iPhone down, taking the picture.

My goal was to complete all the 160 games in under 3 minutes each. I admit I was out of shape when I started but like any kind of exercise you have to start out slow and build up your speed and endurance. It wasn't long before I cut my time in half, sometimes more. Currently I have only a few games left over 3 minutes completion time and I HAVEN'T LOST A DAMN POUND OF WEIGHT !!!!!

At the same time I read that for 'old' people hand and eye coordination is something that needs to be practiced. No better way than with your index finger on your laptop touchpad, moving fast to match two tiles and make them disappear. You would think if I sat at the table playing this game literally for hours ... the fat would just burn off of my body !!

I do from time to time get series about this dieting shit. I mean really serious. If you remember I am a man of extremes, all or nothing, $5 bets on the crap table or $,1000's at a time, drive the speed limit or fly way above it, feel good after an hour sleep and like crap after 10 hours of sleep .... on and on and on ... you get the idea. There is nothing in between in my life.

So this chart had me focusing on how I need to shop for groceries. The fat in Pale scared me with my family history of cardiac arrest, sometimes not having the best results. So I went Vegan for a while until I got tired of feeling lethargic all the time.

This gave me me too much heartburn, gone were the days of cold orange juice at 2am or 3am after waking up from a deep sleep, drinking it right out of the container ... just like milk. I LOVE orange juice but not quite as much as Ben&Jerry's ice cream.

I had flashbacks when I saw this on the shelf the other day at the local Super Walmart. Holy shit that stuff would change my personality drinking it some 30 some years ago. You talk about "WILD" ... damn. They labeled that whiskey right. I'll only say this, YES me and my three friends DID go to court that year when Whidbey Island WA has an unexpected 27" of snow in 24 hours. But .... we were young and dumb.

Whidbey Island might get a dusting of snow sometimes but no more than MAYBE an 1" at the most. I found this out in my research in 1984, when trying to decide if I wanted to move from the beach in Carlsbad CA, to the rock beaches of Oak Harbor, WA.

So how do you end up talking to a judge in a court of law?? With a lawyer, hired by you? Well what started off as a good Samaritan act in the neighborhood ... by blowing snow off sidewalks with high speed snowmobiles, turned into large quantities of Wild Turkey being consumed because it was cold out there in that freezing weather ... we needed something to warm up.

Of course you always come up with the best ideas when you are drinking ... especially that stuff in the picture. Oh yes .... we were about to become famous ... really famous.

Not only did we have smaller bottles of this under our North Face down parkas but we were also riding these snowmobiles all over Island County back roads, and AT TIMES crossing the major north south highway ... Hwy 20. I admit there were times that we might have been airborne with the snowmobile. It did feel like we were flying a few times.

Things were going pretty good. We were safe, drunk, cold and happy. Things turned exciting really quick. I mean really really quick ... just about the time all four of us on four different snowmobiles FLEW by this white car ... If I wasn't going so fast I might have recognized him as a Oak Harbor Police car .... he put on those bright flashing red and blue lights you hear other people talking about sometimes ... sometimes.

When you are doing over 70mph on those snow machines you tend to get way ahead of the chasing police car. WAY AHEAD .... but we were considerate and knew we were busted. All four of us stopped, turned our machines off, put the Turkey away and waited .... and waited ... while watching these red and blue lights along with headlights slide all over the highway from side to side ... to catch up to us.

He did thank us for waiting for him, asked us what brand name of machine we were riding. (We did not know that was for ticket purposes) That was as far as his amusement went. In the end it was an even trade off ... we keep the machines to ride back home (escorted) in trade for a ticket for speeding .... and numerous other violations.

All of us paid for that decision .... I am not sure with around 30 years of inflation, what our fines, court costs and lawyer fees would be in today's money. I do remember clearly eating a LOT of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches after that for a LONG TIME. Not just for lunch either.

There are times I fall off the wagon hard.  It's 11:30pm and the west coast baseball games are just starting on tv. What better time than to run down to the local mini-mart for a 20oz coke, a small bag of chips and all that other junk food not seen in the range of the camera? Believe me, there is A LOT not in that picture. :) This is never good for diet discipline.

No more stuff like this for dinner ... all of that ... not allowed.

No more pizza at DeAngelo's Pizza in Bloomington.

No more pizza at Mother Bear's in Bloomington. Even the smaller size of pizza, and fewer slices still puts on the pounds fast as well as sending your carbs goal for the day out of this world.

No more opening this, just pouring it over ice in my blender and dreaming of the times on the beaches at Rosarito Beach south of Tijuna at the Rosarito Beach Hotel in the late 1970's. Great times, great memories, great people.

Due to allergic reactions I rarely have a beer anymore. I think I have one or two beers a year when friends fly in to break bread at a local eating establishment.

While I was using this last year to change the oil in my Z4 I had a splendid idea ... but I'm not an engineer. What if .... I could slide that rubber tube down my throat into the internal fat surrounding my stomach ....  then pumping that pump with the black handle to build up the pressure needed for extraction .... hmmmm, I'll have to put more thought into that. That would be much faster than any stupid diet. Don't you think?

It does say on the label it is "Multi-Purpose" .... Vacuum Pump ... oil from an engine or fat surrounding my stomach, what's the difference?

I stare at the bottom of my feet sometimes, with this chart in hand but I have no idea where my answer is for losing weight. I am stuck at 202 unless I eat too much pasta .... then 206 ... but that is better than the 214 in May 2018 ... or the 230 in November 2010. I've set my calorie intake at 1,500 per day. Most of the time I am within that range. My resting pulse is 48-52 bpm, top number of my blood pressure reading is never over 110.

I'm not that stupid though. I know the answer. I know the correct portion size I should have, the discipline it takes, and I know that I can't lose weight playing hours of Mahjong.

I need to ride this.

Or walk, jog or ride my mountain bike around the outside edge of this field.

If I rode the bikes, jogged or walked on a daily basis around that field, stayed away from pizza and pasta ...

COULD I HAVE JUST ONE OF THESE !!!!!