46 Miles

I didn't have a goal set for walking but I kept track of the distances that I walked. The total for the month of January was 46.8 miles. A lot of that was walking in snow storms on very slick icy roads because the sidewalks where full of snow! I didn't start walking until the 5th of january and I missed several days when I went fishing in Montana and fishing in Idaho. So on those days I did get some exercise but not of the walking variety. I had set myself a New Year's Goal of reaching 280 pounds this year. I had weighed 333 pounds last summer when I first started watching what I eat and doing some exercises. I never expected to reach my goal this soon. I found a web site on the Blue Cross Blue Shield site that provide a place to list my daily calorie intake and also a place to record my daily walking. I have been putting the walking into my schedule which I think helps keep me from eating! When I am walking I can't be eating! I mentione my fishing trip in Idaho. I went steelhead fishing on the Clearwater near my apartment. I am attaching a picture showing 4 steelhead that Duane and I put in the boat on the 29th of January. What a day of fishing. The biggest was a big 18 1/2 pound male.

The second photo is from my fishing trip today. I caught another nice steelhead that is going to the smoker!

Weight Management Plan

WOW! Trying to keep up with your weight management plan can be a real chore. It is great to have all these resources available to you on the internet but they all take "TIME" to use them. I am afraid that a lot of people start them but fail to follow through because of the time factor. I now have the feeling that it is really important to follow through on these plans. Maybe it is because of my senior age or maybe it is because I actually have some time to manage a program effectively. What ever the reason I have started (3 days worth) a program on the Blue Cross Blue Shield web site. After starting I found out that i need a calorie counting program in addtion to it so that I can enter the correct information. Who would have thought that counting (recording) calories would be such a hard job. I got hungry inputting data this morning. I was actually consumming more calories as I was entering them onto my plate. My plate is a term used on the web site that I am using. It is a pretty neat and useful site. I also have another site to enter my physical exercise. Most of my exercise has been brisk walking. I have been able to walk 2 miles the past two days since the snow melted out of the streets. Once the snow is gone I might vary my walking direction and get a few more wiles in. I also need to start getting some cardiovascular exercise (strength training) 2-3 times a week. I have to do more reading on that so that i don't do the wrong type. Wish me success with the program. The BCBS site says that my target weight is 204! I weighed that much in the Army when I was in GREAT Shape! I am currently at 287.0 pounds. I will try to acheive a "Balance" weight loss program and shoot for 1-2 pounds a week. As they say this is not a diet but rather a life style change. I need to find a job on a cattle ranch which should give me the exercise program that I need. When I was in Iowa we started at 0500am and quit at 0900pm. During that time there was no sitiing in from of the computer or watching tv! Snacking was not possible even if you wanted too. You were out in the farm working or cutting a load of wood for the stove! You will probably see a few more entries as I get in the swing of this program. Bear with me...humor the old dog as he chews on this old bone..

Deer Hunt Iowa mid 1970's

I have another video that I know my newphew John would love to see. I will try to download it here before I tell him about it. The location is on the Skunk River Ranch on the Beasley Bottom north of Hedrick. It is deer season and I am helping Stanley with his buck.

Lowell and Mickey in Iowa

Okay here is my second attempt to down load a video. The first attempt proved very successful. I only wish that I had more videos like these to share. Who would have thought that these videos taken over 30 years ago could make so many smiles today.

Video Editing

Well I have created some video clips of some "OLD" family videos. Lets see if I can get them on to this site to share with my friends. It appears to have worked! I will bet that my friends have never seen these videos before!

Water Every Where!

The weather has warmed up and the snow is slowly melting. The past three days have been filled with rain and warmer temperatures. When I take my walk it has been an adventure to say the least. All the sidewalks are under several feet of snow so a person has to walk out in the roadway. Today the roadway was finally clear down to bare pavement on the main roads. All the side streets has snow, water and slush on them. In one spot I had to wade through 6 inches of water. The river has risen and it is full of floating ice. Hopefully it will not create an ice jam and flood the area behind it. I have been only walking a little over a mile each day. I need to get more exercise or I am going to start gaining back some of the weight that I lost when in Iowa. I am down to 285 and would like to lose a few more pounds instead of gaining more.

Winter 2009

The weather here in Orofino is always pretty nice.....that use to be a true statement! This winter is definitely an exception. Take a look at this photo of my truck taken outside my apartment. I haven't gone any where for the past 5 days! I was going to schedule my flight to Detroit but with this weather I am not sure that I can get to the airport. It is suppose to start rain/snow mix tonight. By the end of the week it is forecasted to be in the 40's. It should be a real mess.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2008 WAS A GOOD YEAR!

In review the year went by very quickly. I achieve a lot of short term goals and I am basically a very happy old man! I could be happier if I won the lottery but I would only give it to my kids to make their lives just a little bit easier. I spent the last two weeks of the year visiting with all of them! My son Travis and his wife, Amy, hosted the reunion and Christmas celebration! It was wonderful. The visit went by way too fast but we manage to create a bunch of new memories as we caught up with past memories.

The highlight of the visit was getting to know my 5 grand children a lot better then I had before the visit. The oldest boy Joel is a wonderful game player that took way too much pleasure in "beating" his Grand Popsie! The youngest, Meghan, is a beautiful little girl that her Dad will have to watch closely as she grows up! The other three boys, Nathan, Logan and Troy, all have wonderful individual personalities. All the kids love music and many hours was spent on the electric piano or on the X-Box 360 playing "Rock Band"! All four of my kids "play"instruments so it was a pleasure listening to them form a band! I still enjoy listening to my XM radio station playing the 60's music.

We built a 12 foot tall snowman as Portland area was shut down by a major snowfall. I will simply say that it "never" snows in Portland! When it does the city and schools are shut down. When a 12 inch snowfall hits, the city becomes paralyzed. A number of days the traffic on the streets was limited to vehicles with chains. We went sledding in a nearby park. We built a snow jump (made me think of those days as a kid) on which to test our tail bones. We practiced emergency stops to keep from falling into a deep ditch. Everyone had a blast. The hot chocolate after the sledding tasted pretty darn good!

Every night the family played games until it was time to put the 5 grand kids to sleep. Board games, puzzles, video games and shopping on the computer made the time fly by. After the kids went to bed and was dreaming about sugar plums and reindeer, the big kids went right back to playing games and telling stories about adventures from the past and made plans for new ones in the future.

I treated myself to a Christmas present . I sent in a batch of my old super 8 film and had them transferred to a DVD. It was an hour of pure laughter as we watched the kids grow up, friends visit and other major events of our lives. It was a blast and I have sent the remaining film reels in to be transferred. I now need to figure out my Adobe Premiere program and get several "clips" extracted from the DVD and sent to old friends. I am sure that they will be amazed to see themselves so long ago.