Susan's Walking Blog

Susan's Walking Blog is moving

2009-01-04T22:26:00.003-09:00

Since I retired on December 1, 2008 I have been lax in writing in my blog. I didn't want to continue under this one since I no longer participate in any walking program and no longer work for the University.

Therefore, I am moving to a new blog - Susan's Exercise Blog so I can continue to write about my activities and hopefully this will keep me exercising daily.

My new blog is at http://susansexercise.blogspot.com/

Vacation

2008-12-16T11:19:00.006-09:00

I have had a wonderful two weeks visiting with friends and family. We visited with our friends Julie, Sue, Mary and Ellen in Ft. Myers for 5-6 days, part of which we spent on Sanibel Island. We went to the Ding Darling NWR each day to bird and animal watch. Saw lots of birds and we also saw some racoons and I saw a black snake. Ate well, had fun laughing, shelling, swimming.

Then flew to Tallhassee via Atlanta to visit my brother and his family. My older niece, Christy, graduated summa cum laude from Flagler College and also got a departmental award (can't tell how proud I am) on Dec. 14th. She and her sister, Amanda, took us on various local sightseeing trips. Today my brother, Pete, took us on a tour of some of the houses his company is working on. He is an interior finish carpenter and has a crew of 3 waiting on houses to be completed enough to do their work. I always like to go see the houses they work on. One that will not be ready for him until February is 17,000 square feet of heated space. That does not include the two courtyards, pool, patio etc. One two car garage with space above and one three car garage! Another house is for Ricky Carmichael the motocross rider. We like that one, but it too was large and the landscaping was all with palms. They also have a pool, hot tub, slides etc. The other two were not as large but all were more than 3500 square feet.

My brother's house is probably less than 2,000 square feet.

Finally got warm in Tallahassee so today I am in a tank top. Last night we exchanged Christmas gifts and today packed ours up and sent them home in the box we mailed them here in.

Tomorrow we head back to 13 degrees, but I am ready for my own bed. We have been staying at a Travel Place extended stay hotel. It is mostly used for transient workers and people waiting to move into permanent housing so we kind of stood out. But it was clean and comfortable for what we needed and a lot less than a motel.

A great day

2008-11-26T21:15:00.002-09:00

Retired today and then went to watch the women's basketball championship game at the Great Alaska Shootout. And what a squeeker it was. We won by one point. A nail bitter for sure, but an exciting game.

Not much to add to this.

Upcoming changes

2008-11-23T22:00:00.005-09:00

I haven't been writing lately although I have thought about it. After I retire I will move on to another blog that is completely unaffiliated with any organization. Only three more days of work. I have been slowly taking stuff home each day - books, photos, humidifier etc. And have been taken out to lunch by different people who cannot be around for the "official" lunch on Tuesday. There is also a retirement party planned in January when the rest of the office crew is back in town. So this party thing is stretching out quite a bit.

I've also been mixing up the Pilates classes I've been taking and that has been fun. I hope to do more of that after retirement. That and practicing my music more. And of course cleaning out my home office and organizing and pitching stuff.

December brings travel to Florida to visit friends in Ft. Myers and then family in Tallahassee. My older niece graduates from college on Dec. 14th so we will go for that and decided to also visit new friends in Ft. Myers. We have a trip to Sanibel Island planned also.

Snowy here today and yesterday - although very fluffy and light so easy to shovel. I'll wait for the AM to see if we get more before shoveling again. It is really pretty. Last week we put up colored LED lights instead of white ones. They are really cheery.

One more project to finish for work and some web updates. Hope I get the edits for the project tomorrow. I can work on getting all the data sheets and supporting photos and GIS onto a CD for transfer. It is hard to believe that I will not be working after Wednesday.

We have also been going to the UAA women's basketball games. We didn't really deserve to win the Thursday night game and only squeaked by at the end with one point lead. They played hard and we played as if we were not talking to each other. If not for Dasha Basova's 25 points (all but one basket were point 3 point shots) we would have lost. But Friday they redeemed themselves and played really well. Tuesday night the Shootout starts and we ordered and printed tickets from home. We even upgraded to more expensive seats.

Feeling good

2008-11-07T22:08:00.003-09:00

I've had a good week. Got back some energy that I seem to have lost and making myself stop playing games on the computer and go do something - a walk, play with the dogs, practice my music, neated up, clean something. So I get something done now instead of being in a slump. Also writing and analyzing data for a report at work so busy there too. Next week I start working on a bunch of web projects for people at work. I retire on Dec. 1 so I have a line of requests for the web pages! All of a sudden I'm very popular.

And it has been a good week in the election realm, although I'll be much happier when we know who our senator is.

Bussed to work today and got off early to walk some extra blocks. The bus beat me to the bus stop closer to work today. Some days it is even, but the earlier bus usually doesn't have as many people so doesn't take as long.

Went to lunch at the museum with a co-worker and then toured the Wanda Seamster solo show of small objects. Wanda used to work as a graphic artist at the institute I work at. I had a photo of my dog that I showed her once and she wanted a copy for this project making small trading card type art. So I looked for Deshka and she was in the show and named Deshka Dog relaxing. This has been a long project since Deshka died about 5 years ago. (Is it really that long ago?)

Also went to the Bad Girls of the North bazaar/show and bought a new beaked fleece hat in black and red to match my black coat and red neck gaiter. I'll have to take a photo and insert it. I lost my blue and red one late last spring so I have been waiting for this show to get a new hat. Also got some cranberry sauce from the birch syrup folk to try for Thanksgiving. Then dinner at Ray's Place - great Vietnamese food. And home to relax.

Phone bank calling

2008-11-02T22:37:00.003-09:00

Not many steps today since I spent 3 hours calling people to see whether they had voted or needed help getting to the polls on Tuesday. Then picked up a friend from the airport, followed by going home and making quiche for Tuesday evenings election results get-together at our house. The same friend has been joining us for all the debates and it has been quite enjoyable. Hopefully Tuesday night will be the same, although I'm sure it will be interesting no matter who wins.

Tonight we went over to another friend's for dinner. Six of us had a scrumptious dinner of walleye from Minnesota, salad and stuffed squash. And great conversation. A great way to end the weekend.

Good thing I had my step count up yesterday since today's is so low.

A good exercise day

2008-11-01T23:07:00.002-08:00

I went to a Pilates class and then took both dogs for walks in the neighborhood - separately. I'm now using a ski-joring harness on me and a dog harness on the dog and then attaching them to me with a ski-joirng bungy rope. I have a lot more control since I have the whole weight of my body to stop the dog. Much better on my arms and shoulders too. Then I read tonight.

Another sunny day

2008-10-31T23:40:00.003-08:00

I took the bus today and walked to the eye doctor to pick up glasses mid-day. Great day for a walk. I think it is a little over two miles there and back. Then I got a ride to campus near the end of day and walked home from there. So I have 11K plus steps today. I've been working on a mapping project and can't wait till we are all done. I've been creating a table for area and percent area of the total vegetated land and it is pretty tedious even using formulas. I'll be glad when it is done and I can work on something else.

I'm also retiring on Dec. 1. My goal is to finish a draft report for the Elmendorf project this week and give to someone to edit. I'm staving off other requests for help from people until both the Kenai Fjords and Elmendorf work is completed. Then if I can help out before Dec. 1 great.

Cold office and another cold sunny day in Anchorage

2008-10-28T13:59:00.002-08:00

My office is 69 deg. F and it is 26 deg F outside. Yes, I bought an indoor outdoor thermometer to keep in my office to track how cold it gets. This summer it was 64 degrees in the office. Ironically it is a few degrees warmer in the winter. My hands still get cold though.

Pilates again today and a little bit of walking. Tonight I'm going to a Highway2Highway presentation. H2H is the acronym for plans to create a freeway through Anchorage in some format. We'll see what this latest presentation is about.

Sunny day

2008-10-26T22:18:00.001-08:00

Sunny and cold today. I raked again yesterday and we ran errands today. Got quite a bit done, but not step-wise. Read a good mystery yesterday too. Not much to report from this end.

October 20

2008-10-20T08:50:00.002-08:00

With a walk in the afternoon and the raking I made it over 10K yesterday. Today I hope to walk down to city hall to vote early. Depends on my schedule though. Glad to be back posting. I was trying out Facebook, but prefer this method of actually writing than quick "What am I doing" items.

I made it to over 8K today. Walked to the bus after dropping my car off for the tire change and check on a squeal under the hood. Walk to the Park Service to pick up a CD of GIS data I need, then to City Hall to vote and back to work. Then walk to the bus - and paced until it came. Then walk to the mechanic's place. Not much walking after I returned home though. Made a yummy dinner of eggs and biscuits with spinach on the side. Had to transcribe minutes I took at our last community council meeting. Took way too many notes. But it is now done and I just updated the website to show the correct date for the next meeting.

Mid-October

2008-10-19T15:26:00.003-08:00

I'm still keeping track of my steps on my own spread sheet and am actually seeing that when I don't make an effort to do some extra exercise or walking my step count is just under 5000 a day. So I do need that extra push to walk and/or exercise to get to 10K. It is not a normal day for me to do 10K steps. Last week I averaged just over 10K a day, but had one day of 5300 steps. The previous week I only average 7300 steps a day. Thus I must add steps somehow without the Start Walking incentive. Between programs last time I signed up for the Australian 10,000 steps, but I like to challenge myself against someone I know. Guess I'll have to figure out how to do that myself.

Meanwhile, the weather has turned colder and we still have leaves in the yard due to early snowfall last week (or was it the previous week). Political signs are abundant in the neighborhood and it is interesting to walk around here.

I went out to play ball with Kate and do dog poop duty and ended up raking part of the front yard where the snow has melted. I raked quite a bit onto the garden beds and then put one big bag in our new garbage cans - part of the recycle program. Only 2 1/2 bags fit, so we spread the rest of the leaves on the garden beds after putting into a bag. Not sure what we will do next spring, but we'll figure it out by then. So I have 45 minutes of raking to add to my steps today.

Start walking is over, but I walked over 14K today

2008-10-06T22:17:00.001-08:00

Since it snowed a little overnight I decided to bus it today. At lunch I took a nice long walk for an errand and to pick up some lunch. That gave me over 8K steps before leaving work. Then I took a different bus home and instead of waiting for the transfer to the bus that drops me across from my house I decided to continue on and get off further down and walk home. I had close to 14K when I got home! And was I hungry and tired. Tomorrow is Pilates again - so I'll need the car.

Back home in Anchorage

2008-09-24T21:33:00.007-08:00

Good to be home. The camp was a mixed blessing. I got bored with some of the exercies, but I learned a LOT. Met some really nice people too. And it was sunny most of the week, although it started turning cooler on Thursday and Friday. By Friday it was too cool to practice outside for long since my hands got too cold. Great food too. Here is a photo of me.

And below a photo of all of the camp participants including cooks and helpers (in blue aprons), Joe Smiell, Joseph Smiell (his older son) and Sally Ann Joe Jr.'s wife all of whom taught or helped out in some capacity. The child on the left is Franz Joseph Smiell, the older son of Sally Ann (to his left) and Joseph. I'm in the middle seated.

Off to Button box accordion camp

2008-09-13T20:49:00.006-08:00

Tonight I leave for button box camp in Northern California. I'm really excited about going and learning a new method of learning the instrument by reading music and playing. I currently learn from written stamps that look like the buttons (similar to guitar stamps) and the ones we play are blacked out. We also learn "keyboard to keyboard" by watching others. So this will be another method for me. Here are links to the camp and to the place we will be staying. I'm going alone too. Heidelmann Lodge: http://www.touristclubsf.org/?page_id=12 and Joe Smiell's Button Box Camp: http://www.buttonboxmusic.com/

I'm almost as excited to go to the sun as I am to go to the camp! Yesterday it rained most of the day here in Anchorage and all I could think of were words from an email of a former camp attendee: "it is unheard of to rain in September. I don't even bring a rain jacket." Words to warm my heart. I do have my nice Start Walking windbreaker with me and it does in a pinch for rain too. Couldn't take the Alaska out of me.

Check out my new blog that has nothing to do with walking - see the link to the right.

A good week for exercise

2008-09-06T14:42:00.002-08:00

The Pilates studio I go to was open for some classes on Monday so I went to 4 classes this week instead of my usual Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. I also walked more than 10K each of the other days of the week. Feel really good about that. Yesterday I took the bus and got off early so instead of walking 2 blocks to work I walked 7 blocks, and on the return trip I took a faster bus, but with a longer walk hom. By the time I got home I was close to 10 K. After dinner we took our usual neighbor evening walk which put me way over 10 K.

I did it - I finished the Everest Challenge

2008-08-31T22:35:00.002-08:00

I had very lazy day today. Up early to give Daisy her meds, then wait half an hour to feed her. Then I went back to bed and didn't get up till 10:30 AM. After showering and dressing I took the paper and headed off to Kaladi on Tudor and had a nice time just drinking coffee, having a cinnamon twist and reading the paper. Came home to laundry. Called a friend to see how she was and got invited to dinner. Wonderful chili and corn bread. I brought salad and blueberries and another couple brought pie. So after all that food and short about 6000 steps to the end, I got on the new (to me) exercise bike and biked for 40 minutes while listening to a podcast of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. So that gave me 8000 steps at the moderate conversion rate. So got my 10K and finished the trek. Finishing by the end of the month was my motivator to get on the bike. This was my first time using it and I still need to figure everything out.

Also had a bad fall earlier this week while walking the dogs and the revamped Cuddy Park. They pulled me over while running to meet some other dogs. I have a really bad bruise on my left knee and my left hand is sore too where I fell on the plastic part of an extender leash. I don't know whether I wrote about my previous fall in late June (my fault) - but my knees were still not completely healed so this was not a pleasant week after that. I have no wish to take them for a walk right now.

Kneeling is not pleasant and I move carefully. I did finish transplanting all the plants in one garden and weeded that and another bed on Saturday. And I go to Pilates, but am really careful about any kneeling exercises. This reminds me there is a class tomorrow AM that I want to go to.

Looking forward to my partner's return from Texas tomorrow night.

A lazy weekend

2008-08-26T22:26:00.003-08:00

I was pretty lazy this weekend - no energy so didn't get my 10K steps per day. But, today I took the dogs to work and got almost 10K just from walking plus have 5K for Pilates! I have the dogs this week since my partner is out of town. It also guarantees two walks a day so I get my steps in. I only have 52,189 steps to go. I'm up listening to the election returns and earlier watched the DNC convention. Earlier I was playing with the dogs in the yard and noticed that quite a few leaves have fallen since yesterday. Our starter strawberry bed has yellow leaves covering the ground - but not the strawberry plants. And the Chugach Mountains have turned to their fall foliage color. Summer (what we had of one) is waning fast.

Reached base camp on the return

2008-08-20T21:17:00.003-08:00

If I do 11,539 steps a day for 10 days I will finish by the end of the month. That is doable.

Today after getting up I weeded chickweed and bird cherry (may day) seedlings out of the yard. And after my accordion lesson this afternoon I transplanted some flowers in our front bed that are being overgrown by a young white spruce. Also re-arranged a couple of plants that were too close to some others. I got about half of the plants that need moving done. Was going out to finish weeding the garden bed when we had a downpour. So I listened to Running on KSKA instead. A great summer day - finally. I listen to podcasts when I do these tasks - usually Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and will laugh and chuckle along with the show. I find it quite entertaining.

Reached the end of the Campbell Creek Trail today.

2008-08-18T21:45:00.003-08:00

Today we walked from the Seward Highway to Elmore Road and back. On the way out we created plots every 0.5 kilometers and on the return trip we created GPS points where we found invasive species. The whole route had Vicia cracca (bird vetch) every few feet. We also found sweet clover, either Canada thistle or bull thistle, butter and eggs, bird cherry and of course the common dandelion, plantain, and all three clovers you see in yards and along highways. Now to input all the data and make sense of what we saw. There is a difference between Chester and Campbell Creeks. Chester Creek had more and larger infestations (larger trees, more seedlings and saplings)of bird cherry. Campbell Creek had an almost continuous infestation of bird vetch.

On the way back to the office I took the scenic route through the upgraded La Touche Street between Northern Lights and the New Seward Hwy. What do you think was the landscape tree? Bird cherry - the one we are concerned about along the creeks. Does one hand talk to the other? Who puts out the bids for landscaping? I've seen some of the staff at weed conferences so at least some people are cognizant of the issue.

I did get over 12K steps today - about 8600 walking the trail.

Watching the Olympics leads to couch potato syndrome

2008-08-15T22:32:00.002-08:00

I've been watching the Olympics each night since the opening ceremony last Friday - and thus not getting quite as many steps as I should. Luckily I'm still doing the weed surveys and walking a lot for that. I jokingly said I was going to walk across Anchorage. We are now about half-way done with the Campbell Creek Trail and have walked from Northwood and Dimond to the Seward Highway and back. We've taken about three work days - but not all day since we go back to the office to download photos, points and enter date. Next week we will start east of the Seward Highway and work our way to Bragaw (now Elmore) and Tudor. Would be nice if we could have some nice weather. Today we were out in the drizzle. Lots of bird vetch on the trail - basically continuous from about Austin Street area to the Seward Highway.

Lots of walking for weed surveys this week

2008-08-09T11:39:00.003-08:00

Yesterday we started the weed survey along the Campbell Creek Trail beginning at Northwood Drive and Dimond Blvd. We stopped every 0.5 kilometers and did a survey and ended at Taku Lake. On the return walk we stopped at other locations where I spotted weed infestations of forbs: bird vetch, butter and eggs, white and yellow sweet clover; grasses smooth brome and common timothy; and the tree bird cherry (aka mayday). We walked over 14K steps and my legs are pretty sore today. The trails are pretty unforgiving on feet - or I need different shoes. I'm going to try different ones on Monday. I'll have off Tuesday since my assistant is being drafted for another weed survey at Campbell Creek Science Center.

Thursday we finished the Chester Creek trail. I figure another 4-5 days on Campbell Creek trail.

Final Get the Point (WIN for Alaska) session

2008-08-06T10:00:00.004-08:00

I had my final Get the Point session this AM and my total cholesterol went down as did my body mass index although I actually weigh two pounds more than when I started. Guess I gained muscle! All the field work and Pilates must be paying off. We just bought a recumbent exercise bike at a friend's yard sale, so when it gets delivered I'll have an alternative to the treadmill for indoor activity. Now to go outside and transplant some shrubs and flowers that I have been putting off all summer. I transplanted the forsythia to a new spot and put three peonies that need more sun in the area where I removed the forsythia. This evening I walked from my house to Kaladi on Tudor for a University Area Community Council executive committee meeting and took my dog Kate with me. One of the board members gave us a ride back home. I also weeded a bunch of chickweed from a portion of the garden. The weeds sure are thriving this year.

August 4

2008-08-04T22:58:00.005-08:00

Now we are on to plots along Chester Creek Trail. Thursday we walked from Westchester Lagoon to the Seward Hwy and back (took a lunch break and parked the car in between - but still walked the whole way and back). Looking for invasive species ranked higher than 60 on a ranking scale developed by a number of scientists in Alaska. Found quite a few too. Did a little work today and tomorrow back on the walk from the Seward Hwy east toward Goose Lake - our end point for this trail. So I've been getting my 10K steps in and some. Almost back to Camp 3.

Last of the plots on Elmendorf

2008-07-29T21:24:00.004-08:00

Today was gorgeous and a great day to be doing work outside. We had one more plot and it turned out to be the prettiest of the ones we are doing this year. There were lots of downed trees (mostly spruce from the beetle kill) to climb over. Some were hidden and and others in the open but with branches still sticking out. Walking was quite a challenge. And of course the rest of the terrain was up and down. Only one plot with devil's club - but it was quite diverse underneath. I also went for a walk with my partner after dinner. And our greenhouse is done and she moved our peppers and tomatoes into it. It is already warming up. YEAH!

I made it to the Summit

2008-07-28T22:15:00.004-08:00

More field work today, but no rain till the last five minutes. Got my steps in and a few mosquito bites to boot. Lots of downed trees to climb over, bear scat, and grass over my head. Tomorrow (if no rain) is our last plot. I'll be glad when these are done. It is very tiring. We have to re-find the original plot centers and then measure from there to trees and to re-create a micro-plot for a vegetation survey. Finding the first plot is the hardest. Most of the ones today were in the middle of a sea of grass so there were no good reference points to help find them. We resorted to measuring from the one or two trees in the plot back to where the center should have been and then hunting around on the ground for the stake.

When this is done I still have an Orange Hawkweed survey to complete and start a survey of weeds and bird cherry along two of Anchorage's trails. The other two trails have already been done by others.

No wonder I spent the weekend reading.

Just over 10 K to go to the summit

2008-07-25T21:39:00.003-08:00

More field work today - in an alder, elderberry and devil's club location. Two of the four plots had all three shrubs, one plot had devil's club and the fourth had elderberry and devil's club. At least this one is done and it was a great day to be outside. I'll try to post a photo of one of the plots!

Meanwhile, my pedometer died this morning so no steps were counted. I have been figuring about 3 hours of light gardening (73 steps a minute) as my step count when I'm assessing the vegetation in each plot so I did that for today plus we timed our walk back to the car and judging from that, the walk in and out was about 2 miles total. So I counted 21,140 steps in the field.

Field work in the rain

2008-07-23T20:23:00.003-08:00

My pedometer doesn't show many steps, but boy am I sore. I've been out in the field returning to vegetation plots I and others worked on in 1999 on Elmendorf AFB. We are again compiling data on what is there now and then will write up a report comparing plots. Lots of bending, stooping, sighting through a compass, slowly circling the vegetation plot writing down species and cover. If it rains again tomorrow we will call a weather day. I'm ready for a day in the office to catch up and dry out. I've washed my clothes each night as they get wet and dirty each day. So I'm counting the time (or a part of it actually) as gardening steps. It is the closest I can come to what we do.

I can barely stay awake!

Made it to Camp 3 and painted the shed/greenhouse

2008-07-13T21:29:00.003-08:00

Yesterday (Saturday) I went to the 8 AM Pilates class and got quite the workout. My glutes, hamstrings and calf muscles are screaming at me if I sit too long and then get up. We also primed the greenhouse/shed we had built earlier this summer. That was about a 6 hour job total. I counted 3.5 hours towards steps. I did all the high parts and was up and down the ladder and also worked on the hard to get places. My partner did most of the rolling. So I am really sore today and have been reading and on my computer. Also bonding with our new cat, Bella. She is still confined to the downstairs unless the dogs are in their kennels. She is quite sweet.

Weed surveying along the trails will add steps

2008-07-10T22:22:00.003-08:00

Today I went out with a co-worker on the Coastal and Chester Creek trails to do a practice transect and plots for a weed survey we are working on for the Anchorage Parks Foundation. My section will be the Chester Creek Trail and I will be surveying a 2 x 5 meter area every 0.5 kilometers starting downtown at Westchester Lagoon! Today's plot was full of Bird cherry seedlings, saplings and trees and little else. I could be living along the trail since I have to estimate stem count as part of the protocol and from looking at the plot I did today the forest floor is covered in bird cherry seedlings. No photos from today, but I'll post as I progress on the project. And in a couple of weeks I'll be back out at Elmendorf re-visiting five vegetation plots we put in in 1999. So I think I'll get my steps faster now. I got over 13K steps plus 45 minutes of Pilates today. It is a good thing because last week I didn't do that well on steps.

I made it to Camp 2 and just need 10,980 steps to get to Camp 3. Probably low on oxygen now and wanting to sleep a lot! I know that is what happens when I go places that are high in the mountains.

Some photos of the past week

2008-07-05T11:15:00.050-08:00

I've been slowing down on my step count the last couple of visiting with friendsb instead being active. Thursday we did go canoeing for a couple of hours on the Black River and Friday some of us went downtown to see the fireworks. Today we went to an art fair in Bryce Prairie, then to Linda's Bakery (a must go to place in West Salem) and then to see the Mindoro Cut. It is the deepest hand-hewn cut in the United States - created to make an easier way to get cream to market. Tonight we go to a potluck. We got goodies to take at the bakery - plus some for the plane trip back!

Here we are playing at the Ironworld Polkafest on Sunday June 29.

This is a photo of a mine in Chisholm, Minnesota that hit a spring. This is what it looks like now - about 60 years later. The photo is taken from the tram at Ironworld that makes a small loop and introduces the Iron Range to tourists.

Susan and Mary Lu playing at a nursing home in Westby Wisconsin on Friday July 4th.

This is the Mindoro Cut.

In Wisconsin

2008-07-03T13:15:00.002-08:00

The polka festival at Ironworld went well. We were very well received and had lots of fun. Stopped at a casino on the way back to Minneapolis and lost money, although one person in our group did very well. Now in La Crosse and having fun re-connecting with friends. Tonight we will sample Riverfest and maybe tomorrow go to the fireworks. Today we went for a short canoe but were deterred by snags and dead-end sloughs so ended up paddling back to where we put in. But it was beautiful and nice and sunny.

Off to Minnesota and Wisconsin

2008-06-25T09:01:00.003-08:00

We leave in about an hour for the airport for our flight to Minneapolis at 12:30 PM. Tomorrow we drive to Chisholm and then on Saturday and Sunday play at the Ironworld Polkafest. Most of the crew is on Sun Country Airlines. Carrying accordions on the airplane is always a questionable activity - whether they will pass the size test. The other option is huge boxes to ship them, but since we now have rolling carry-ons most prefer to take them on. I'm actually using a backpack case because my roll-on case is too big. My accordion is slightly larger than all the others!

On Monday we drive back to Minneapolis and then my partner and I are taking a shuttle bus to La Crosse to visit with friends there for a week. I lived there for 3 1/2 years in the early to mid-80's and have kept up with those friends and like to visit whenever I get the chance. Should be a good trip all around. Traveling at a decent hour, no late night playing job, seeing friends after the "work" part of the trip.

I probably won't be able to post again until I'm in Wisconsin as the hotel in Chisholm does not have a computer for guests. I printed off my step log and will write in the steps each day.

A hard landing on concrete dashed my painting plans

2008-06-23T22:14:00.003-08:00

Friday afternoon on my dog walk break I tripped and fell on a concrete walkway and banged up my knees. Both swelled up immediately so I ended up going home and icing both knees and missed one of our casual gigs at Daybreak. Saturday I alternated doing stuff and laying on the couch with ice and just took it easy. Sunday we did play at the Alaska Botanical Garden Fair in the rain (we were under a cover), but it was pretty cold. Today I worked but am pretty sore. I'll have nice black and blue knees for my trip to the midwest on Wednesday!

Made it to Camp 1

2008-06-18T21:54:00.002-08:00

Seems quite the slug just to get to camp 1. More yard work today but only weeding type . Something that comes with having a garden. The greenhouse is partially framed and should be fully framed tomorrow with some of the siding on. We are doing T 111 to match the house and the other shed. Won't be quite as nice as the plan we are using, but should fit with the house better. Looking forward to moving the peppers and tomatoes in there.

Still will need to paint it - maybe this weekend.

Washed Kate today and she promptly went outside and rolled in dirt. So she got a cold shower outside to get the dirt off! Then I put her on the deck and locked the gate shut so she couldn't go downstairs to the yard. Also washed all the dog beds - and we have a lot!

Tired and ready for bed at nearly 10 PM.

My greenhouse slowly rises

2008-06-17T22:45:00.005-08:00

I've been wanting a greenhouse since we moved into this house 8 or is it nine years ago. Two years ago we asked a friend who is a carpenter if he could do it and he started building a frame. Then we had 1/2 inch to 1 inch rocks from around the edges of our yard put inside the frame. Then he was going to build the greenhouse/shed on top of that, but his back won't allow him to do this kind of work any more. This year we worked with another carpenter who misunderstood what we wanted and started to build the base about 2 1/2 feet off the ground. So we said no, we want the floor to be rocks. So he wanted the rocks removed so he could build the base. So.....I spent two hours on Saturday shoveling rocks into a wheel barrow and then moving them to another area in the yard. Also spent about another two hours on Sunday shoveling and landscaping the rocks in the new location. My partner also shoveled on Sunday, but I did all the shoveling on Saturday. The rocks were moved adjacent to where the greenhouse is going in a low spot that floods every year so maybe this will help. Now the frame is done and he had a different kind of rocks (gravel) delivered and another strong young guy will fill up the frame tomorrow. Why we didn't just move our original rocks around a little so he could build around them I don't know. I think we were all not thinking straight last week.

Amazingly I did not really hurt - just muscle aches. I was REALLY careful to shovel using my legs and not my back so my glutes, quads, hamstrings and calf muscles were tired to the point of twitching, but a little Advil cured that. I guess all that Pilates has helped. But we were both exhausted by 4 PM on Sunday and were ready to hit the sack about 7 PM. It was a good thing we didn't go to bed early because our neighbors to the south came over about 8:30 PM with some halibut he had caught that morning. So we have halibut in the freezer. And about half an hour later our neighbor to the west came over with a couple of pieces of rhubarb cake. Great to have good neighbors. We had halibut for dinner tonight and ate the rhubarb cake Sunday and Monday.

Friday - bike to work

2008-06-13T22:06:00.004-08:00

I may have had a slow start to the week, but it ending with nice high step counts. Wednesday I worked in the yard, Thursday I went to Pilates and then moved rocks around in my yard and today I rode my bike to work and back. That is an hour round trip. I could definitely tell I worked hard in Pilates yesterday since my legs were really tired on my trip home. Of course, the homeward bound trip is mostly uphill - going away from Cook Inlet and I count the big hills - 5 total and one smallish at the end before entering my subdivision. Today I only made it up the last two big hills not the first three. Lots of birds chirping away along the Chester Creek trail this afternoon and lots of people out - biking, walking, walking their dogs, jogging. Great to see the trails used so much. But they sure need repair work. Lots of bumps and cracked pavement.

Slow start to the week

2008-06-11T21:59:00.002-08:00

Monday and Tuesday were pretty lazy days - especially in terms of steps. Today though I walked quite a bit plus I did yard work - in preparation to moving some cobble rocks to the corner of the yard from where they are now. I raked and weeded and then put down the stuff that covers everything - I can't think of the correct name and hammerd little u-shaped thingys into them into the soil to hold them in place. Then when I was tired and ready for dinner I put up some barriers so the dogs can't trample them up. They did that last year after I moved a bunch of rasperries into that area. So far two of the 6-8 raspberries are thriving and one two others have little shoots and I hope they survive.

Whittier Tunnel Walk

2008-06-08T23:04:00.002-08:00

Today the Alaska Button Box Gang played for the Whittier Tunnel Walk in downtown Whittier. The sun was out but so was a very strong wind and we were quite cold. For a glimpse of our attire go to our Picasa album at http://picasaweb.google.com/SusanK12/Whittier. It actually was fun although my hands were freezing at the end of our one and a half to two hours of playing. Nice drive down and back with some members of the group. Yesterday I was lazy and read in the morning, then did outside chores in the afternoon and this AM I got up to give Daisy her meds at 6 AM, food at 6:30 and then read some of the paper before heading to Kaladi Bros. on Tudor for a nice relaxing coffee and Irish soda bread. I was there early enough to get one of the comfortble chairs so was able to curl up and read for a while. Quite peaceful at 8 AM on Sunday.

Dog walking again

2008-06-05T23:45:00.002-08:00

My partner left for a family reunion last night so I took both dogs to work with me today. We stopped a park on Arctic Blvd before heading to work because I forgot to let them out after I ate breakfast and before Pilates this AM. Then we went for a short walk in about 11 AM and a loner walk at a ball field where I cleaned up trash while they ran around. Daisy on her leash and Kate off leash since she comes when I call. When I got home I started the water on the lawn and flower beds and moved that every 45 minutes to an hour. So I have well over 10K steps today.

Made it to Base Camp

2008-05-29T22:26:00.003-08:00

After a slow start to this version of the walking program I'm back in the walking/stepping flow with an average for the last three weeks of over 11K a day. I'm not really into the additional challenges or the bingo game or puzzle though. I have never been good at the picture for words type of puzzle so I don't even try. I started downloading the bingo chips but never did anything with them. I think I just like to see how I do against everyone else and I look for names of people I know.

My car is back in the shop for more work related to my crash in October so I got a ride part-way home with a co-worker and walked the rest of the way. We also took our medium route walk today and I did Pilates in the AM so I'm over 10 K today. Tomorrow I'll ride my bike.

And I've move up the list again. Now at 22. Last time I checked I was 25. A couple of weeks ago I was at 31 so I'm steadily inching my way up the list. I'll never be as good as Richard (see his blog link to the right) though.

Great weekend for yard work and other chores

2008-05-26T22:41:00.002-08:00

Rain on Saturday meant I finally hemmed some new costume shirts for my partner and me. Plus a couple of pairs of pants for her. Now just have minor sewing stuff. Sunday and today were outdoors days. Yesterday I planted a bunch of flowers in various garden beds and clipped limbs and put them in garbage bags. Today we spread mulch around our biggest garden bed - almost 10 bags worth. The last little bit went into my native plant garden bed where there is some bare soil. And I weeded out a bunch of grass and dandelions in various parts of the yard. Lots of bending over and kneeling.

Played ball with Kate both days - although more today.

I was so achy last night that the pain even entered a dream I had about being on a cruise (with weird places to climb) and my legs were so sore in the dream I had a hard time moving them to get up stairs and into different places. I hope being active today will ease that out. I did back exercises first thing in the AM.

I'm doing more than 10K a day again

2008-05-22T22:32:00.002-08:00

Hiking around looking for plots adds sore muscles and steps - but not 10K. I walked from work to meet friends for dinner and that put me over the 10,000. Today I did Pilates and had a nice long walk after dinner so have over 10K again today. Last week and this week I've averaged over 12K steps a day although some were less than 10K others were a lot more. YEAH.

Making progress - moving up the list. Now at 26 (from 31)

2008-05-20T22:16:00.002-08:00

I took Kate to work with me and we took two walks and then my partner and I took our short route around the neighborhood so I have over 10K steps, plus I went to Pilates this AM.

Tuesday step count: Pilates (50 minutes since I was late and was unable to do one exercise) plus 10884 steps.

Tomorrow is another hike at Elmendorf locating plots.

Field work starts

2008-05-19T22:22:00.007-08:00

Today was my first day of field work for the season. I'm working on a project to re-visit vegetation plots that we put in in 1999, so I was out at Elmendorf looking for plots for about four hours. First we had to go through about a 30 minute orientation to all the rules and regs on base, then went out in the field. Nice day to do it. A couple of us are going back on Wednesday to find the rest of the plots we will be working in this summer. Lots of tromping around in old growth that had died and fallen down. We'll go back in July after the vegetation has greened up and is visible, but we are going now to more easily find the markers (which wasn't all that easy thus the return trip on Wednesday). I'm pretty beat though.

Lets see I think I last recorded steps on Thursday.

Friday: Played on stage for 35-45 minutes plus 7674 steps. I count accordion playing since the instrument is 15 pounds and it is a lot of work.

Saturday: Pilates, raking and 5570 steps.

Sunday: A short walk with the two dogs. Ran into a loose dog so turned around. 7852 steps.

Monday: Field work for 10659 steps.

Bike to Work Day

2008-05-15T23:19:00.002-08:00

I biked to work today so have over 20K total steps. I have to look at my pedometer when I start and again when I end because of all the bumps on the way it adds steps. So I had 5500 "extra" steps to subtract from my total today. Also went to a Pilates class yesterday instead of today. So my hamstrings are pretty sore today. I didn't make it up two of the five hills - but this is my first ride of the season.

Wednesday: Pilates plus 7187 steps
Thursday: two 1/2 hour bike rides plus 6675 steps

Back in the swing of things

2008-05-13T23:15:00.003-08:00

I took Kate to work yesterday and today. Yesterday I took two walks with her with two different co-workers. One to get lunch and one to a ball field where Kate can run loose and we played with her. Today I did my relatively short morning walk past Denali Elementary School and back to work and went to the ball field in the afternoon. After she ran (raced) around we did some sit/stay and down/stay training and I was very pleased with her. And today I went to Pilates again so am back over 10K steps. Even with the two walks yesterday I didn't get there.

I am going to start recording steps again to keep me honest.

Monday: 7096 steps
Tuesday: Pilates plus 7462 steps

I've also been recording what I eat each day in a little notebook for the Health Activity Tracker/WIN for Alaska program. Then I count how many servings of grains, dairy, fruit, veggies and nuts I eat at the top of each page. And I record my exercise activity. Makes me realize how many nuts I sometimes eat - that is my snack of choice when I get home - but how many handfull's should I eat? Somehow I haven't gotten any prizes but I have the points so I'll have to talk with my coach tomorrow when I meet with her. I've only been to one activity since I work off campus.

Only #31 on the standings list

2008-05-11T21:35:00.003-08:00

I am going to have to get back in gear and get some more steps to move up the list on the UAA step program. The cold I picked up on my trip to Florida held on for a week and I'm still a little under the weather. I took off early on Thursday and took off all of Friday and slept a lot each day which I think helped. Yesterday I felt well enough to hose the driveway but that was the extent of my activity. Today I finished up hosing where my car was parked and we took a short walk around the neighborhood but the wind picked up all the winter sand and gravel which wasn't what either of us need. Thus the short route. Haven't done any Pilates in nearly two weeks and that usually helps with my step count and my energy level. I'm planning on going on Tuesday and get back to my regular routine of three days a week. I must take a walking break tomorrow too.

I didn't get as many steps as I thought I would walking around the airport on my trip down. I guess having breakfast didn't help. And it was pretty boring although I did listen to podcast on my iPod.

A trip to Florida and I got a cold

2008-05-08T20:52:00.003-08:00

I have not been keeping up with the step program. Last week I left for Tampa early Thursday for one of my niece's college graduation. Somewhere along the way I picked up a cold and woke up Sunday with a sore throat. But the trip was well worth it. I had fun visiting with family and met some more of her extended family. Also walked around Lake Morton in Lakeland where she went to school three of the four mornings. Each morning with my sister-in-law and one of my nieces. One day my older niece and I did an extra lap just the two of us so I got some quality time with her. On Sunday my niece who graduated and her boyfriend and I went to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa for an hour or two before they dropped me at the airport. That was nice too. And it was good be in a warm moist place.

Here is a photo of a leafy sea dragon (seahorse relative) from the aquarium.

Washing the dogs

2008-04-27T22:29:00.005-08:00

How many steps for washing the dogs? I figured it was about the same as vacuuming and multiplied by the number of minutes - about 45 total. Kate is a little harder since she is bigger and harder to move around and has slightly thicker hair. Lots of bending and moving and scrubbing their bodies. Then wiping them down afterwards. Used LOTS of towels. But sort of quality time with each of them.

And how about REI's new sizing. We have some dividend money and I looked at light weight jackets. The L were too small and the XL too big. My Marmot jacket I bought earlier in the winter is an XL which amazes me still. Most of the clothes in my closet are M or L (or 12) so how come now a jacket is XL? My size hasn't changed and when I tell people my jacket is an XL they are amazed. In fact I'm probably a little smaller after all the Pilates I've been doing. We ended up buying a couple of bear sprays since ours are expired and I got a new bi-phenol free water bottle.

Worked on websites today so not much walking. Did play ball with Kate and tried out the video capacity on my camera. Got it to work, but nothing good enough to keep. I had to break out a new ball since her other one is buried somewhere in the 20+ inches of snow. Lots of melting going on so it is about half as high as yesterday.

Snow postpones the Heart Run

2008-04-26T13:56:00.003-08:00

The Heart Run and a number of other activities were cancelled due to the snow. Here are some photos of our front deck and side deck taken this AM (after they had been shoveled once on Friday night). My endosocopy went well, but I slept most of the evening so only got in about 3300 steps yesterday. Today I shoveled the back deck and plowed the driveway, part of the street in front and part of our neighbor's drive and shoveled a path for Daisy in the back yard. Our neighbor did our driveway yesterday. We have a nice reciprocal relationship in regards to plowing our drives. He and I both seem to enjoy doing it too.

Another pre-Heart Run run

2008-04-23T17:19:00.004-08:00

Not quite a run a day, but I ran around the neighborhood with my dog Kate this afternoon. I'm also having an endoscopy on Friday afternoon so hope all is OK for the Saturday run. I thought the bib pick-up was on Wednesday (today) but re-read the instructions and it was this past Saturday and again before the race. So I have to get there early to get my bib! Pilates yesterday and on Monday I dropped my car off at a gas station downtown to have the tires changed and then walked the 8 blocks to work. Took a mid-afternoon break to walk back and pick it up. Felt good to get out. Also started raking some of the flower beds late this afternoon - so I get a few steps for that. Felt good to be outside and talking with our new neighbors who were also raking.

Preparing for the Heart Run

2008-04-20T20:11:00.004-08:00

This morning after picking up my partner from where she dropped off her car to have the tires changed, I took her home and then headed over to UAA and APU to run the Heart Run route. I did the whole run somewhere between 33 and 35 minutes. When I was practicing for it a few years ago it took me 45 minutes and then when I ran it I did it in 31 minutes! Maybe the adrenalin will let me do it in less than 30 minutes this year. I had on my new running shoes that I got when I won a drawing for $100 from Her Tern/Skinny Raven at the Pilates Studio. They were great - new socks too. Then we went for a walk in the neighborhood after picking up the car later in the day. As of now (8:15 PM I have over 12K steps). Since yesterday was a really bad day (<5000) this is good. I hope to get out a run each day this week.

Moseying up Everest

2008-04-16T08:36:00.005-08:00

My excuses:

1. Being away from reporting steps daily has slowed down my step count. Last week I only had 55,989 steps which translates to only 7,998 per day - way below the 10K.

2. I haven't been on the treadmill since it seems to hurt my back although running on pavement doesn't. I have not been as motivated to get on the treadmill in the evening if I still have a couple of thousand steps to go.

3. I also haven't been doing the bicycle at the Pilates studio since I was ending up with really bad cramps in the classes.

What I am doing to rectify my excuses:

1. I HAVE been taking more walks at work, but obviously not as much as I should.

2. I'm writing this in hopes I'll guilt myself into increasing my activity level.

3. I signed up to do the Heart Run in less than two weeks!

More snow and more shoveling

2008-04-09T17:19:00.002-08:00

Just when we thought spring was here we have had two snow dumps that probably almost total all we got all winter! After Pilates today I came home, shoveled the lower deck and did our driveway and our neighbors. They did ours when we were on vacation. Nice neighbors.

I'm also doing the WIN for Alaska health tracker activities and had an appointment with my "coach" which went well. I figured out that keeping track of what I eat and my exercise in a little note books works better than the form they handed out. It also helps in filling out the online form. I should be getting some kind of incentive reward since I've passed the number of points for a prize.

Yesterday, before the snow I went for a run in the neighborhood to prepare for the Heart Run on April 26th. Glad I did it yesterday. I had hoped to go again today, but I'm not big on running in the snow. Yesterday I ran about 26-28 minutes. A little of the time was cooling down for a block. I went our usual long walk and extended it and took a side trip up a steep road to mimic the hill at Alaska Pacific University.

The first week of the Start Walking Program #4

2008-04-06T14:38:00.003-08:00

Our new walking program is to virtually climb Mt. Everest. I already made it to the first two camps, but still have a couple of low days. Friday I walked to UAA from home for a meeting and then got a ride downtown with a co-worker. Also walked about 5 blocks to pick up some lunch and later took the bus home. Still doing the Pilates three days a week and trying to add in more walking and strength training. Today, Sunday, I shoveled our lower back deck and made trails for Daisy in the back yard, then used the snow plow to do the driveway. Later we took a walk in the neighborhood and then I played with Kate in the back yard. I got her a couple of rubber balls that I throw with the chucker. She seems to like these balls a lot and I think they probably help keep her teeth clean since she chews on them - BUT they do not disintegrate like the tennis ball type. I walk a lot when I play with her so I get more steps.

Total steps this week: 65,245 - I've made it to Phakding on my trek up Everest.

A little bit of walking

2008-03-30T21:56:00.002-08:00

We went to an open house for some unusual (for Anchorage) town homes. They are being built green with recycled materials and rain gardens on top. Since it was close by I walked over and back which gave me almost 2 miles of steps. I also played quite a bit with Kate in the yard. Still not 10K, but better than my sluggish Sunday last week. Tomorrow I will rev up since the Start Walking program starts again.

Looking forward to the new Start Walking program at UAA and Daisy gets a t-shirt!

2008-03-29T21:02:00.008-08:00

I am looking forward to the extra push I get from the UAA-sponsored walking program. I am more conscious of my steps now, but not as motivated when I don't have the local group to follow.

Today I took the dogs for a quick run (our short walk) before I headed to Pilates. Then my partner and I took a walk (the long way) this afternoon. We ran into a moose part way, so back tracked and went another longish way instead.

Daisy was just poofed so we have a girl's t-shirt for her to wear when she goes out so her belly doesn't get too dirty. A friend gave us two t-shirts that are too small for her dog. Here are some photos of her with the t-shirt on. These are the best photos I have of her - she usually slinks away!

Sunny and Spring-like

2008-03-19T13:25:00.002-08:00

My new method of keeping track of stuff for the WIN for Alaska site is a little notebook in which I write what I eat and my exercise and/or steps for the day. This seems to work better than the Activity tracker that they hand out or that you can download from their website. I need to have more room to write WHAT I am eating, not just how many dairy, nuts, grains, vegies, etc. Hopefully this will keep me on track for losing the weight I've gained back in the last year or so. Today I went to Pilates early and used the recumbent bike for 20 minutes (didn't get there quite as early as I would have liked) and then took a mat class. Now home with a few minutes to spare before heading off to another appointment.

Monday a bunch of us played at Horizon House (an assisted living facility) for St. Patrick's Day event. Photo of the rest of the crew - Eddie, Mary Lu, Flo, Ida and Ziggy.

Back to an average of 10K per day

2008-03-16T21:40:00.002-08:00

Well I did it - not quite 10,000 steps a day, but over the whole week I averaged 10,000 steps per day. Better than I've done since the week of January 28. And I've lost 2 lbs. More Pilates and more walking or biking plus eating healthier. Trying to get points with the Health Activity Tracker. I also went for a walk with both dogs in the afternoon. We ran for part of the walk too. Then I came back and washed them. Diasy - the Dandy Dinmont Terrier was filthy since she is so low to the ground. Lots of grit and leaf pieces in her hair under her belly and legs, but I didn't have to wash her upper part. Kate, being long-legged and short-haired wasn't so bad, but was due for a wash, so she got a whole body wash and smells and feels sooooo much better. So, how many steps do you get for washing dogs in a tub?

Looking up

2008-03-09T21:43:00.003-08:00

I've been remiss in both writing and walking 10,000 steps over the last 5 weeks. In the last 8 weeks I've averaged over 10K steps a day once. But this week I've been getting better. The health coach (is that their title?) at UAA's WIN for Alaska suggested I use a bicycle when I go to my Pilates class to get my aerobics since my foot has been bothering me on the treadmill. So this past week I actually got in three bicycle sessions in addition to my 3 Pilates classes. But because I'm combing the two in one day I have a pretty uneven step count during the week.

Today we took a neighborhood walk since it was so nice out. I actually wore a long-sleeved t-shirt and a vest and was comfortable.

Sad

2008-02-24T22:50:00.006-09:00

I've been sad at work and it has been hard to add in the exercise I'm supposed to do. One of my co-worker's husband died last week and although I didn't know him well, I work with and like her a lot. I feel for her and her situation. In addition, the budget situation at work is really tight so the whole atmosphere is really down.

I did go testify before the House Finance Committee on the UAA budget on Friday after work (took off early) and then went to a local dance company's winter program and met some nice people I sat next to. Great performances too. I thought it was one of the best dance programs the Alaska Dance Theater has done.

And yesterday I was determined to have a good day - went to Pilates and then met a couple of women I met through my community council work for coffee and had a great time. Then last night we went to the women's basketball game and the team beat the Nanooks! Yeah. Good game too and saw and got to talk with a friend there also. So yesterday was a great day. Today I played ball with my dog Kate but it was slow going with the icy back yard so I started thinking about work and got down again. Also went to an open house at my old house (being sold by the person I sold it to and know). She did quite a few upgrades and painted the rooms which I liked a lot. Hope she sells it fast.

I hurt the second toe on my left foot about a month ago (before I went on the cruise) and it still hurts. I had it checked out last week and it is not broken, but is just taking a long time to heal. Therefore, walking on the treadmill is not a good option right now. Whenever I do it sets back the healing. Is this an excuse for not walking? Anyhow, today after walking back and forth playing ball with Kate I decided I need to let the foot rest instead of walking on the treadmill and until it heals that is what I'm going to do.

I'm also finally back to practicing my button box accordion music and now have a song I'm working on in my head. This usually means the memorization is soon to follow.

I'm not looking forward to work tomorrow as people will come into my office to find out what is happening. I may just put a "do not disturb" sign on the door and work away on projects. Then I don't have to talk to anyone.

Too busy

2008-02-18T21:25:00.002-09:00

I've been busy all week so haven't really started working on my health plan. I did get on the treadmill tonight to make 10K plus steps. Last week I was out at an event every night from Sunday throught Saturday (with Tuesday the only evening at home). This week is less frantic so hopefully I can settle into some kind of routine to add in the weight training that I should be doing. I did walk with 1 lb weights tonight - but they are kind of light. Not sure we have 2 lb weights but I saw 3 lb ones in the cabinet. Tomorrow is Pilates. Also started the last Patricia Cornwell book and want to just sit and read it! I can read it on the treadmill if I just walk which is what I did tonight.

Individualized Health Planning

2008-02-13T14:21:00.003-09:00

Today I met a "health coach" for an IHP session to go over my diet, exercise activities and other health risk factors. This is a continuation of WIN for Alaska through the University. So now I need to eat more to lose weight! But fewer nuts (fats) which are my snack food when I get home and I've known I shouldn't eat as much as I do. I have another session in two weeks to do a BP and body composition analysis. I declined the cholesterol/glucose screening since I have it done yearly anyhow. I'll just take my latest records to the meeting. And of course I need to add in strength training to my exercise schedule and up my cardio (walking on the treadmill) to 4-5 days a week. At least I'll have someone to egg me on now. Maybe I should post a before photo (actually you can see them on my last blog). Nice incentives though. Now to write down how many veggies/fruits, protein, grains etc that I have eaten so far today! Great for us OC types.

Back in Anchorage

2008-02-10T22:09:00.001-09:00

I'm having a hard time adjusting back to the cold weather (although not as cold as interior Alaska) after the cruise. Don't want to venture outside for very long at all. Richard asked for some cruise photos - so here they are.

This first one is me posing on Grand Turk near the lighthouse. In the background are reefs that was the case of many many ship wrecks before the lighthouse was built.

The flowers to the left were taken on a hike on a private estate on the French side of St. Maartens. I was quite taken with them, but have no idea what they are. We took off with a few other renegades when we realized there was going to be one guide for nearly 60 people - and we had to wait for the second bus.

The view below is on our way back to the Dutch side of St. Maartens - I think a bay on the French side looking over towards Marigot.

This last is of me on the boat taxi from the town back to the dock.

On the cruise

2008-01-30T12:07:00.000-09:00

My steps have definetly improved on this cruise. Just walking around the ship gives me many steps. One day I added in the walk on the promenade deck (3 laps = 1 mile) and I've also gone to a Pilates class twice so far and signed up for one more tomorrow. Today in St. Maartens, we took a hiking tour and then at the end with 40 minutes to spare I got off the bus, found the Belgian Chocolate store and bought some home-made chocolate then took the water taxi back to the dock.

Yesterday we went to Virgin Gorda and the Baths on Tortola. Too rough to snorkle but I did go in the water with my mask and had a good time. Got thrown about a few times trying to get into the water. The first stop (Grand Turk) we took a bus that dropped us off at three different stops and then we just got on when we were ready. The three stops were the prison, the light house and the salt lagoons.

Tomorrow is another at-sea day then to a private island for the last stop. Back early on Saturday and back in the cold weather that evening!

My hands and feet are all soft again from being re-hydrated. It is great. And we are having a great time visiting with our friends from Wisconsin and their friends who now live in Florida. Quite the fun time we have been having and the entertainment has been great (except for Margaret Cho who we didn't find very funny).

Rebellion from walking

2008-01-25T07:12:00.000-09:00

I hit the wall on my walking program about two weeks ago. I ended up with my back spasming about two Saturdays ago and just stopped doing more than my normal activities and it is slowly getting better. I do my PT prescribed breathing and stretching into my back which REALLY helps, but stopped the treadmill and Pilates activities. I also slid and fell hard on our downstairs entry about 5 days ago and hit my second toe on my left foot so now it is very painful when I walk! Argh.

Now in Flordia prior to our cruise. We flew in a day early so as to have some time to recover from the 14 hour flight (plus layover). I tried out a device designed by a pilot called the First Class Sleeper which was ok. Mainly I am short so my head does not reach the head rest properly so my head is pushed forward. Once I found a decent way to sleep I actually did which is unusual for me. Didn't do a lot of extra walking in the airport due to painful toe from the above fall. I'm going to try different shoes when we go out later today. It is very windy and cloudy right now (11 AM).

I'm anxious to see how the UAA walking program works with the WIN for Alaska program. I've been getting all the literature from HR on this and signed up for a Health Activity consult. I miss the UAA program and watching everyone's progress. It is much more interesting when you know people. I am signed on to the Australian 10,000 steps and can watch MY progress, but don't know who anyone else is. Plus, my progress is pretty dismal right now. I'm back to my base line of around 5ooo steps a day.

A cold and sunny Sunday

2008-01-13T14:27:00.001-09:00

I have had a relatively good week in terms of steps or conversion steps. Over 10K four days and two days over 9K. Took the bus on Thursday and Friday and walked to one that takes less time, but I have to walk further to get to it. On the way home a co-worker joined me (both days). She has an apartment nearby while she and her boyfriend are building home in Stuckagain Heights. We had some great conversations on the way home - books, history, work projects. I haven't spent much time with her so it was nice.

Today may be the exception to my steps since I woke up Friday with a really sore back where I hurt it in the car accident. Did some miracle ball exercises on Friday and Saturday that helped, but still sore today, although not as bad as yesterday. Pilates helps ease out the knot so I guess I should do some Pilates work on my own. I do have PT appointment on Tuesday. Walked three miles on the treadmill and it took an hour. Now have over 9 K steps so just regular evening activities will get me over the 10K mark. So I will have a week of 5 10K days. My average per day for the week is over 10K so that is good. I've now got over 10K for the day. Yeah.

Meanwhile a friend has been commenting in her blog on her name and who she was named after (Dinah Shore). I was named after my parents after they thought they would have a boy and picked out boys names. I have letters from my mother to her sisters calling me Johnathan, but I was not a boy. I ended up being named Susan after my mother and Christina after my father (Christiaan - spelled the Dutch way). My brother who is 18 months younger became Johnathan Pieter (again Dutch spelling) but because my father pronounced Johnathan with a Dutch accent "yonason" he ended up being called Pete. As a child and teenager I wanted to be Anna or Annie after my two grandmothers, but I am very happy with Susan now - although there are an awful lot of us in my age group.

Getting into the steps again

2008-01-08T19:22:00.001-09:00

After blogging yesterday I realized that what I need is to keep blogging about my steps even if all I do is report my daily activity. That is what helps keep me honest about doing steps. So, I went to Pilates today and then at lunch time took a circuitous route to pick up soup to a restaurant to pick up lunch so I already have my 10K steps today at 7:30 PM. Yup made it to 11K today.

A New Year

2008-01-07T21:30:00.000-09:00

New Year's Day I got up and went to my 7 AM Pilates class, but the rest of the week hasn't quite been so good in terms of number of steps. I've made it to my usual three Pilates classes, but am being too sedentary at work so don't quite make it to 10K every day. I have used the treadmill twice too. Intentions are good, just haven't followed through on keeping the number of steps up. I wish the UAA step program would start up again. That really kept me motivated. The snow today helped a little with additional steps since I came home and shoveled. Well, mostly push from one side to the other and then shovel the fluff up.

It has also been a hard week for us with the death of a button box accordion friend and my partner's aunt all since I last wrote.

We did have a great New Year's Eve at the Sons of Norway dinner dance. Our table was quite lively and we all danced a lot.

And our remodel is finished except for the soap dish and grab bar for the tub. I'll be taking some "after" photos and post them soon.

Pilates and website work

2007-12-27T19:23:00.000-09:00

I got up and went to two Pilates classes this AM, a mat class and a reformer class, and was home by 9:30 AM. I spent a good part of the rest of the day working on updating the Alaska Button Box Gang website and being on hand for any remodel questions. The counters were installed today and the cabinets will be put back tomorrow and we can then put everything back in them over the weekend. Such fun! We have no water in the kitchen so we went out to Taco King for dinner. Good food and great prices. The bathroom was finished today with the installation of the mirror over the vanity/sink. Now I need to take the "after" photos. I am looking forward to having the cabinets on the walls and out of the living room. Each time something gets done we have had to empty drawers so we have open boxes everywhere so we can get into them if need be.

I'm doing the middle level monthly challenge on the 10,000 steps website and only need a little over 8K steps each day for the next three days. Today helped a lot with the two Pilates class. Tomorrow I plan to do the jogging program on the treadmill again. I tried the jogging program on Christmas for the first time. I usually pick an interval walking program, but decided to see what the jogging one was like. It starts out the pace at 4 (I usually start at 2.8 and work up to 3.4 or 3.6) so this was a challenge for me, but it felt good to jog. I did have to slow it down toward the end of my 1/2 hour of workout though.

Now to start the next book in the Morland series - 1670 - King Charles II reign.

A white Christmas

2007-12-26T08:40:00.000-09:00

I guess all our playing White Christmas at every gig has paid off since we finally have a decent snowfall. I've had a pretty busy month with playing with the band for Christmas gigs and the house in an uproar. I spent this past Saturday doing last minute shopping errands. I actually enjoyed the time driving around by myself. Then Sunday I painted the door frames to our two new doors - one to the utility room and one to the garage. One coat of primer, two coats of paint. Thus the day went: paint, wait, paint, wait, paint. I also read a couple of books over the weekend in between the painting and errands.

I'm reading an interesting series called the Morland Dynasty. The series starts in about 1450 - British War of the Roses and looks like a romance series but it is more like a history series. I like them because there are lots of details on how people actually lived. I was a history major with English history being my focus so I sort of remember much of the war and kings and queens information, but this also includes how the houses looked, what they ate, how they harvested the food etc. Of course, the main characters are still upper class, but you get a better feel for how everyone interacted and how that changes over time. It also shows how restricted women's lives were and how many children died long before adulthood - and how young women were when they were married off for dynastic purposes. And the young boys going off to war or to live with another family or at court when they are 7-14 years old. And the horrors of wars at close quarters. So far I've read about 8 of the series (there are 24 or so in total). I started in the middle (Napoleonic times) and read three from that time period and then went back to the beginning and am now reading them in sequence. I'm now up to the return of King Charles the Second.

Since the house is still not back together our inside Christmas decorations consisted of the gingerbread house we made earlier in December. It is on a table downstairs and we just put the presents on the floor and table around it. We had Christmas dinner with the same friends who had the gingerbread house party. Just the four of us and it was great. Since I grew up with roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for our Christmas dinner my friend recreates that and last night the Yorkshire pudding was the best she's made. We put more dripping in than her recipe called for and we think that was the trick. My aunt (who brought me up after my mother died) used to roast the meat in an huge iron skillet and just poured the pudding batter into the pan and drippings so I think more drippings was the trick.

I shoveled the drive way yesterday - just to the sides and was going to finish up with the snow blower when we returned from our dinner. I got back and was shoveling the front deck after which I was going to snow blow, when I realized our neighbor had come and snowblowed (is that a word) the piles on either side of the driveway and also all the way down the street in front of our mail box. What great neighbors and Christmas present. Their kids also made a bunch of treats and dropped them off Christmas Eve.

One advantage to this kitchen upgrade is that we have had to empty out our cabinets (although they are not changing) and in doing so we have been selectively lightening our cupboards of stuff we don't use and old old food. Although we just donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters we will probably have another load by the time the garage is cleared out of the contractor's tools.

Just walking talking

2007-12-18T22:05:00.000-09:00

I'm increasing my steps slowly and have been pretty diligent about the treadmill. Not as good as Richard, but getting up in the AM 2-3 times a week to walk 1/2 our or so (usually a little over). Since our TV downstairs is not working I usually read the paper. Today I did two back-to-back Pilates classes, walked from my office to the Alaska Center for the Environment and back at lunch and then played with the band at Mary Conrad Center for about an hour after work. So quite the work out. Yesterday I got all my steps by walking. Last week I got 72,755 steps - more than 20 K more than the week before. My highest week since then end of the UAA start walking program was the week of Nov 12th - 77,664 steps. Maybe I can beat that this week. I've moved up in the 10,000 steps Annual Achievement board from being on the 35th page to the 28th page. Actually if I put in all my steps from the beginning of the year I would be way ahead. I have too busy a life to do that right now. I do wish we would get snow. It has gotten into the single digits which is not a lot of fun - although the walk across town was nice and brisk. I stuck to the north side of the streets to catch as much sun as I could.

A walking day - nice cold clear weather

2007-12-14T21:58:00.000-09:00

Today I walked over 10K with no Pilates and no treadmill. Yeah. I had to run errands during the day and walked to all of them and had close to 9K when I got home. After dinner and a short ride to check out Bragaw/Elmore/Abbott Loop extension that opened today, I painted the inside door frames of the bathroom and put the first coat of clear varathane on door frames that I stained earlier in the week and will go on the outside of the bathroom. Practiced my accordion for nearly an hour too. I was only going to practice 1/2 hour, but my back was to the clock and I just kept playing and working on different songs that I am learning. We play at Horizon House (assisted living facility) tomorrow for their holiday party so I practiced the Christmas songs I have trouble with.

Responsibilities

2007-12-07T19:38:00.000-09:00

A friend of mine is in the hospital with some kind of infection in her hand so I am staying at her house with her 15-year old daughter. I'm home now catching up on stuff and then will head over there for the night. Tomorrow we'll drive the daughter to her job on our way to a playing job. Her mother should be out of the hospital sometime tomorrow and is making plans for someone else to pick her up after work. The daughter says it is OK for her to be there alone, but I don't feel comfortable leaving a 15-year old - even a very responsible one - alone overnight. On other subjects, our kitchen and guest bathroom remodel is still in progress. The bathroom is waiting on the vanity and tub-surround. The kitchen is all taped and mudded and will be sanded on Monday. Painting starts Wednesday and then I suppose the cabinets are re-mounted and the under-cabinet lights installed. Meanwhile we are waiting on the other light fixtures to come in. The new counter top is ready for whenever it gets installed. Hopefully it will be done before the holidays. And my walking continues. Since I wasn't home this AM I didn't use the treadmill so only have about 6800 steps and doubt I will get to 10K tonight unless I walk around the house a lot! Tomorrow we have an hour playing job which I count as steps since the accordions are heavy and it is quite a bit of work to play. And we are going shopping again afterwards - for my birthday present. Now on to other tasks before heading out.

Gingerbread house making party

2007-12-02T21:39:00.000-09:00

I also miss the UAA walking program (see Richard's blog to the right). I signed up with the 10,000 steps group in Australia and they have monthly challenges, but it is not the same as doing it through the university where I know other walkers. They are also a day ahead of us so when I add steps it is to "yesterday" since they've already moved on to the next day! I miss the other UA bloggers too - although not many kept it up. Meanwhile, today I went to what seems to be becoming an annual gingerbread house-decorating party. One couple makes the houses and the icing for "glue" and the rest of us bring the candy for decorating. Each couple creates a house - and the variety is great to see. I took photos and this one is of our village. Our house is the one in the middle with the white snow man on the wall and the colorful roof.

Rain, rain and more rain....is this the future of winter in Anchorage?

2007-11-23T14:52:00.000-09:00

It is a good thing the Wooden Ski Classic was last Sunday since the weather turned warm and rainy on Tuesday. At least I got one good ski in this year! The Pilates studio was open for three classes yesterday and I went to the 9:45 AM one and it was full withing 5 minutes of my getting there. Today I got up and walked on the treadmill (in two sessions since I got really hungry after 10 minutes). I did a total of 40 minutes and had over 5000 steps before 10 AM, now close to 10K at 3 PM. I just checked a friends blog and her partner who has been on a kidney transplant list for nearly a year got the call about 3 hours ago. I check their blogs daily to see whether she has been called yet, so I was really excited to see she is on her way to the hospital. The surgery is at midnight California time. And, on not such an important note, I got my car back from the auto body shop yesterday so no longer have to drive the gas guzzling Ford Explorer. Lots to be thankful for.

A great day for the Wooden Ski Classic

2007-11-18T21:34:00.000-09:00

I skiied the annual Wooden Ski Classic for the first time today. This event is a fundraiser for the local Sons of Norway Scholarship fund and the UAA nordic ski team. And it was fun. Afterwards I changed clothes and joined the rest of the Alaska Button Box Gang to entertain the skiiers as they/we ate traditional Norwegian porridge (rice with butter and cinnamon). That's me in the foreground as we line up for a mass start. The aim is to wear traditional clothing (no lycra) and wooden skis, bamboo poles etc. I had on a toque that my ex-husband bought me in the 1970's and my skiis are also from that time period. My woolen gloves were knit by my grandmother probably in the late 1800's or early 1900's! The sweater was the newest item - I bought it at the state fair in Haines about three years ago. And since I don't have any wool pants I just wore corduroy pants and tucked them into my Smartwool socks. There were many Scandinavian sweaters amongs the skiiers.

I'm a morning exerciser!

2007-11-14T20:47:00.000-09:00

I've turned over a new leaf and started using the treadmill when I get up in the morning. I realized that I am a morning exerciser and always have been. If I don't exercise first thing I am not likely to fit it in later. Since I DO get up to go to Pilates two days a week I decided to do the same for the treadmill. Why is it harder to do when it is in your own home? Today was my first day doing it and I'm almost to my 10K steps and should get there before the day is done. Next week I hope to add in upper body weights. The impetus for all this is a cruise at the end of January. Vanity is a great motivator. But, you know what, today I had a lot of energy and felt great all day. I played frisbee with Kate twice and did some snow shoveling. Last night I shoveled both decks and the driveway before going to bed. It was nice to get up and not have to do it.

Finally some snow

2007-11-11T21:55:00.000-09:00

It snowed today so I got out the snow blower in the afternoon and did the driveway. Also did it again by hand about 8 PM in hopes it doesn't snow again. Also we traded cars in the garage since I will take the bus tomorrow. We only have room for one car right now since the remodel supplies and old cabinets etc. are taking up space in the garage. Mine is now in the driveway full of books we are getting rid of and some hotel soap and shampoo our neighbor gave me to take to AWAIC (Abused Women's Aid IN Crisis). She and her husband leave for DC tomorrow and we went out to breakfast as a goodbye and she asked if I could take them by AWAIC for her. Maybe I can find stuff to add to the bags too.

Another remodel and slacking off on the walking

2007-11-09T19:43:00.000-09:00

The guest bathroom is undergoing a complete remodel except for the toilet which is new. They started taking it apart yesterday and today the new jacuzzi tub was set in place. Monday the plumber comes to adjust pipes to fit the tub and then comes sheet rock etc. Meanwhile we went to a plumbing store today and picked out fixtures for the bathroom and the kitchen sink since the kitchen is the next place to undergo an upgrade - but not as drastic. Meanwhile, I have been really slacking off on the walking/exercise. I did do the treadmill yesterday for 1/2 hour, but not yet today and skipped Pilates yesterday. I thought more sleep was more important since I haven't been sleeping well or a lot. I signed up for the 10,000 steps group and am doing a challenge with that and am 26% through it, but have to finish by the end of November! It is a monthly challenge. We shall see.... I got on the treadmill for 35 minutes but still not to 10 K steps. I think my pedometer may be off so I counted steps for 1/4 mile of the time and am going to recalculate my stride.

A paint job creates a new look to my study

2007-11-05T21:34:00.000-09:00

Last Monday we called the painter who will be doing our bathroom and kitchen when that project gets started. Turns out his assistants had some time on their hands and he suggested we do our offices now instead of waiting for the rest of the remodel project. Tuesday I went home and started packing stuff up and continued all day Wednesday. Thursday the painters came and finished painting both rooms in one day. They they thought it would take two. Friday we started putting everything back in our rooms. I have everything back, but am slowly reorganizing. Got rid of a lot of stuff in the process too! Feels great and the two offices look sooooo much better. And all that moving stuff gave me a number of additional steps too - plus use of muscles I hadn't used in a while. We were both exhausted on Friday night.

Aftereffects from last week's crash

2007-10-27T16:50:00.000-08:00

I signed up with 10000steps.org.au and their middle November challenge so I have something besides my spreadsheet to write my steps in. I find I have slacked off quite a bit without the constant reminder to log my steps for the UAA StartWalking program. In fact I failed to keep track for more than a week which is what made me realize I needed to join another online group. Since it is an Australian website everything is a day ahead of me which is a little disorienting so I may check out the Nike+ site that Richard mentions in his blog.

Thursday my left side of my neck and upper shoulder started really hurting - constant jabbing pain that isn't alleviated by much of anything. Advil doesn't help and today I tried Alleve. Yesterday we had a work retreat and it just got worse and worse as the day wore on. Today it is hurting again. I'm going to try and move my chiropractor appointment from Tuesday to Monday. I did go to Pilates this morning and that seems to at least keep the pain at bay for a while. Maybe it is that I am more aware of my posture as I do the exercises?

My car was hit on Friday

2007-10-22T21:25:00.000-08:00

My car was hit on Friday on the way to work. A woman in an F150 crew cab pick-up exited East High School on Bragaw Street into my front right wheel. I spent most of the day dealing with that - police, getting the car towed, talking with her insurance company, calling my insurance company, talking with her adjuster, etc.. But the dogs got to ride in the car on the flat-bed tow truck and were sacked out most of the afternoon after that adventure. Luckily her insurance company took full responsibility. Today I found out the damages and estimate on how long it will be (3-5 weeks depending on who I talk to). The good news is that no one was hurt and the insurance company will pay for a rental car. I layed low over the weekend and read a mystery and started another book and took a walk with the dogs.

Deborah Kerr died today

2007-10-18T20:37:00.000-08:00

On my drive home tonight I heard that Deborah Kerr died today. One of my favorite movies in my early teens or late pre-teens was the King and I in which Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr starred. I have fond memories of her movies although that one sticks out for me. Maybe because I was brought up overseas.

My partner is out of town so I have a pretty regimented life what with giving her dog meds every four hours plus feeding half an hour after a couple of the medicines. So both dogs go to work with me and I have my cell phone alarm on to remind me when to go out and dose Daisy. Then we take short walks. At least it gets me outside and it is not too cold for them in the car. It makes me take breaks from the computer which is a good thing. I tend to get caught up in what I am doing sometimes and lose track of time! Daisy in the car actually helps Kate stay calmer. Both go to sleep for a two to three hours after I get to work or until I go out to give Daisy her meds. Without Daisy in the car, Kate is constantly on the alert, but now she is sleeping too.

Rainy Sunday

2007-10-14T10:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a great day in terms of steps and activities . Started the day taking my car in for a tire change and walked to Kaladi's and Pilates. Then walked back and in the afternoon we played a gig. In total close to 18K steps! And I'm back to my 3-day a week Pilates routine. Feels good. All the outside chores are done and we are ready for the white stuff.

Sunday and snow

2007-10-07T22:51:00.000-08:00

What a surprise to wake up to a dusting of snow on the ground. I was definitely not ready. The snow is still on the front yard as I write this at 11 PM. We did many of our outside chores that we had put off for a while and that I had not really been able to do for the last few weeks. I clipped spruce limbs over the shed, pulled the few remaining vegies from my garden, put the bikes away and moose-proofed one of our rhododendrons. I ran out of energy after that so will have to do the other one another day. I got all the outside chores I had set for myself done plus the rhodie protection so I feel great. It also felt great to be ABLE to do these chores. Also after we saw Riders in the Sky last night we went to Oktoberfest at the Egan Center and Joey Miskulin the Cowboy Polka King from Riders came over and played with the Alaska Polka Chips and another button box player - Chalon Rein. Joey Miskulin knows Marge and Patti from way back when... To top it off, were invited to play a few tunes with them at the end of the set. Quite an ending to the evening.

A busy day

2007-10-06T16:20:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to say that I have achieved over 9,000 steps each of the last three days and I am getting back up to my usual activity level. Monday will be a month since surgery. Today I've already played accordion twice with a possibility of another half hour or so tonight. I am tired and sore from playing and walking around the Sullivan at a snails pace - that is much harder on my back than walking fast or doing exercises. I did find some gifts for my nieces and sister-in-law which is a good thing - I usually end up finding stuff for myself instead!

Continuing the walking saga on my own for a few months

2007-10-05T21:22:00.000-08:00

October 5 - I started a new spreadsheet to keep track of my steps even though Start Walking IV doesn't start till January. I also went to the Pilates Studio twice this week to use the eliptical trainer since I can't yet do Pilates, and I've used our treadmill at home a little. Today I took Kate to work and took three walks with her - of varying lengths. Still not 10K today, but close. Next week I get to start Pilates again. Tomorrow we play at the Make It Alaskan Fair at the Sullivan Arena and then again at the German Club Oktoberfest to the Egan Center with the Alaska Polka Chips. A busy day.

Week 26 - the last week of the Orient Express

2007-09-25T18:38:00.000-08:00

September 29 - although the Start Walking program is technically over I can still enter steps through tomorrow so I will. I'm a little less than 50K steps short of 2 million steps due to taking it easy the last two-three weeks. Ah well healing is more important than that milestone. I will try to continue blogging and keeping track of steps on my own so as to keep the momentum going.

September 25 - still taking it somewhat easy. I overdid it last Thursday so I'm trying to not try too many activities in one day now. I had a very low key weekend and picked up a couple of books from the library and read one the same day! I did go to our band practice last night and played for most of the time but toward the end had to stop. I could tell I was beginning to hurt. Today I feel great and can hardly tell I had surgery two weeks ago! I also zeroed out my pedometer part way through the day but luckily I had checked it around noon so can add that number of steps to what I have at the end of today. My step count is down quite a bit right now too. I'm sorry to hear we have to wait until January for the next phase, but I'll try to keep on blogging and counting steps. Maybe writing about it will keep me on track so to speak.

Week 25 - Two more weeks to go....

2007-09-18T19:52:00.000-08:00

Total steps for week 25: 39,188 or 5,598 per day

September 21 - I overdid it yesterday. I worked all day and then had a meeting at 6:30 that ended at 8:00. Much too long for me at this time so I and ended up staying home today. Slept and finished a book. Went outside for about half and hour to do dog poop duty but that tired me out. No ready to crash again! And my walking this week has been back what it was when I first started this program.

September 18 - Today I had my check up with the doctor an am good to go except no lifting more than 20 pounds and no Pilates for a month. Still not back to 10K a day of course, but yesterday I walked 6694 steps and so far today 5351 which probably isn't going to get much higher since I am ready to take a couch break! Actually ended with 6022 - more walking around the house than I thought. It is amazing to me that I had my gall bladder out on the 10th and was back at work on the 17th! The wonders of modern medicine. Looking back at my progress, my highest week was week 11 with 108,291 steps and my lowest week (not counting last week) was week 9 with 63,342 steps. A great improvement over the first two Start Walking programs.

What week is this?

2007-09-13T14:56:00.000-08:00

September 16 - I took two walks today. One our "middle" distance route and just got back from a walk down to the opposite end of the street and back - and that was enough. I plan to take the bus to work tomorrow and see how I do working. I feel a lot better today than previous days so hopefully I'll be doing some normal activities soon. My step count for the whole week is just over 10K! And I guessed on my step count for three days since I wasn't wearing a pedometer. I took 1/2 of my Friday count (1036) for Wednesday and Thursday (counted 500 for each day) and then 1/2 of that (250) for Tuesday. Then today I forgot to wear my pedometer on our first walk so had to use my partner's count!

September 13 - Few steps logged since I had surgery on Monday and haven't kept track since Sunday - well about 1500 steps on Monday prior to the surgery. But a lot of laying around, sleeping, walking down the hall and back. I did take a short walk down the street and back yesterday with a friend. I have had visitors who come to watch me while my partner has out-of-the house appointments. That has been a nice visiting time. Today is the first day I sort of feel OK, but still get tired. I have read two very light (content) books!

I also put my cat, Popcorn, down on Sept. 1 so haven't wanted to blog at all until today. She was about 19 years 10 months old and I got her when she was about 3 months old so she has been a part of my life a long time.

In addition, I had to take my Mac to the shop on Sept. 3rd so am using our Dell laptop which doesn't quite measure up in my opinion. At least I have a .mac account and can get to all me emails and email addresses. Just not the same....

Week 22 - Still going strong..

2007-08-27T22:13:00.000-08:00

Total steps for week 22: 28,936 or 14,468 per day

August 28 - On the way to work I stopped at NLB and Wesleyan Drive for the red light and watched as a bicyclist rode up and crossed NLB. It was none other than fellow walker and blogger, Wendy, on her way to work! Kudos to her for biking. I forgot to. After dinner I took Kate to Baxter Bog to look for Orange Hawkweed. For work I am helping out with a project where we are returning to sites where people have reported the plant in the past and we are looking to see whether they are bug infested. I was doing reconnaisance since we have not found the plant at most of the sites we have gone to. Kate and I parked by the school and walked to the bog along the bike trail where the infestation was reported. We then walked around the bog and found no Orange Hawkweed anywhere, but we did find an invasive plant called Canada Thistle in one of the "garden beds" by Baxter Elementary School. All in all this gave me over 11K steps.

August 27 - Kept up with exercise on Saturday - a 45 minute leisurely bike ride and later a 20-25 minute walk around the neighborhood with my partner. Also read a book. A great way to spend the day. Sunday I wasn't quite so industrious with the aerobic activities, but did clean the driveway of all weeds and moss and then washed it. That was a 2 1/2 to 3 hour chore.

Today I had my class again and ran for some of the laps - my legs were really sore so I kept slowing down and then sprinting (mini-intervals maybe). At work we went out again to look for Orange Hawkweed sites in Anchorage. I got in a lot of walking (steps) hunting for where the plant had been reported last year. We finally found three sites and did our surveys - looking for bugs infesting the plants, but didn't find any. With all this activity I have over 10K regular steps plus my hour of Pilates this AM.

Week 21 - Waist management!

2007-08-22T16:08:00.000-08:00

Total steps for week 21: 53,965 or 10,793 per day

August 24 - Today we started our class by walking or running on the long sides of the building and side-stepping along the short sides. That was hard, especially leading with my left leg. I can feel it on where my upper leg joins the hip (what muscle is THAT?). Went to see a fun and informative lecture by Donald C. Johansen on Lucy and the evolution of hominids. Enjoyed it immensly and ran into former worker friends beforehand where we went for dinner and ended up eating with them. Great evening.

August 22 - I'm taking a newish Pilates boot camp class called Waist Management and it includes walking, Pilates and nutrition information. Monday (the first day) we were tested on balance on the bosu (an inflated half ball that you do different exercises on including just standing with eyes closed), pushups and plank (how many and how long you can hold). I was excited to find out that I could do 11 pushups! At the end of the class we will be tested again and hopefully will improve. We start the class by walking around the building and increasing speed. I actually ran for about half of my laps today which felt great. I haven't been doing much running for about 3 years and one goal is to run the Heart Run next year. I was hoping to do it this year, but it didn't happen. Needless to say I am enjoying the class AND the boost to my exercise program since I was getting lacksadaysical about going to my usual Pilates classes.

Week 20 - slow start to this week

2007-08-15T08:40:00.000-08:00

Total steps for week 20: 47,905 or 9,581 per day

August 18 - The end of the week is a little better. I took Kate with me yesterday for part of the day and took two short walks and ended up the day with over 10K real steps plus I went to a Pilates conditioning class after work so was able to add that in for a total of 17,928 for the day. Helps make up for the lackluster Monday and Tuesday.

August 15 - Not a good week for steps. Monday began with a test where I had to lay on my back for 1 1/2 hours. Yesterday I skipped Pilates and today it is raining and I'll be working on website stuff and my constant office cleanup. Time to put the treadmill into the walking position instead of the storage position. Photo to the left is of me with my new walking hat and water bottle. This was taken just before we started pulling butter & eggs for a weed study our program is doing. You can also see the white sweet clover (tall plants in front of and to the right of the birch tree). This was our control plot for white sweet clover and our "pull" plot for the butter & eggs. We had a "pull" plot for white sweet clover and control plot for butter and eggs around the corner from this plot (BLM headquarters at Campbell Tract).

Week 19 - starting strong with dog walks during the day

2007-08-06T21:44:00.000-08:00

Total steps for week 19: 92,117 or 13,160 per day and all days over 9K

August 12 - Up late again tonight. Had a great lazy day today reading a book and doing laundry. Did go for an evening stroll which brought my step count for the day above 8K but not 10 K. Yesterday did a weed survey and pull so it was like weeding a garden - but only targeted species. I got a photo of me and my new hat and water bottle but it looks funny when I loaded it so I'll work on it another time.

August 9 - Stayed up too late last night and didn't get up early enough to make it to Pilates so I took Kate with me again. We took a nice jaunt down the park strip further than I usually go since I ran between 1/2 to 2/3 of the way. Then I realized I lost the key to the filing cabinet where I keep my briefcase/money so we took another jaunt in the afternoon and found it - but only because I have surveyor's tape on it and it stood out. Kate sure improves my step count because I have to walk her a couple of times during the day. When I got home I moved irises from the lower bed to the upper bed and weeded out the rest of the trolius and some errant wild geraniums and then watered everything. And rescued a couple of trolius root wads for a co-worker.

August 8 - Well yesterday I went to Pilates AND walked 12K steps so a great day. And today I weeded out some trollius in one of the garden beds for an hour and a half - a lot of bending and pulling and cutting huge roots. No wonder they have been taking over. And I could feel the exercise in my legs. Then I had a meeting at 1:30 and another at 6:00 so there went the rest of the day. I hope to transplant some irises into the area where the trollius was and then move some jacobs ladder and shooting star around in the bed tomorrow.

August 6 - Kate came to work with me today and we took two nice long walks around the Park Strip and adjacent neighborhoods. Then home and finished reading the latest Janet Evanovich book. Light mystery and makes me laugh outloud.

Week 18 - going for another round

2007-07-30T21:21:00.000-08:00

Total steps for week 18: 65,595 or 10,993 per day

August 4 - We played in the rain at the Saturday Market. Wendy plays next week - hopefully she will have better weather. There were still quite a few people there. Also went to the early Pilates class so I've had a good day what with walking around the market a little, playing and exercise. Came home and read another book and started a Janet Evanovich mystery (light mystery). The main character is from Hamilton NJ near where I grew so I enjoy her antics. Then later worked on the Button Box Gang web pages - adding more photos from our summer activities. Still haven't gotten our outside engagements up yet. First I have to choose photos and export them so they are the correct size (file size and pixel size). Then I have to create the pages and insert photos and text and then upload all to the website. So it takes a while.

August 3 - Pilates again yesterday but slug days on Wednesday and today so my average step count is down. Read a whole book tonight - admitidly a "light" escape romance - my drug of choice! Tomorrow we play at the Saturday Market at 1 PM. Hope to go to an early Pilates.

July 31 - Started the day with Pilates and ended with weeding chickweed. In between I took two walks to the mall - one at lunch for stamps and a baby shower card and one after work for a hair trim. I had planned to do all at once but the stylist I wanted to see wasn't in when I went at 11:30. It was a nice day for a walk though so I didn't mind and a good way to accumulate steps.

July 30 - I took Kate to work so got some steps in taking her for her jaunts around the neighborhood three times today. I'm looking back at my step count for the Orient Express and see that I've had only two weeks where my average steps per day is under 10K (9,049 and 9,655). When I look at each day's average step count, Mondays are the only day under 10K (7,067 over the last 18 weeks) and Saturdays are my best day with an average of 14,205 steps. A great improvement over the Denali climb.

Week 17 and back to the Pilates routine and I FINISHED!

2007-07-24T20:54:00.000-08:00

Total steps for week 17: 75,422 or 10,775 per day

July 30 - I completed the Orient Express today. I went to two of the Anchorage Garden tour areas which netted me a little over 5K steps, then a trip to Lowes for lumber and then our walk around the neighborhood got me over 10K for the day and completed my requisite number of steps to complete this round of the start walking. Now to start over and see how far I get before the end of the program.

July 29 - Another Pilates class this AM and new exercises which was great. Some different upper body work that felt really good on my upper back and shoulders. And I weeded out most of the the chickweed and volunteer Mayday trees under our spruce trees this afternoon. Then I vegged out in the evening watching re-runs of Law and Order: SVU. I get to do that once in a while! Nothing exciting to report!

July 24 - Finally went back to Pilates today and felt great afterwards. In addition, the "gang" played for the Live at the Library series at noon today - and did songs for the kids so I only played the accordion for about 1/2 hour, but did do "head and shoulders, knees and toes", the chicken and the hokie pokie with the audience. I'm now at the top of the list - but 14 people at UAA have already finished and Wendy is less than 2000 steps behind me. So I need to keep up my pace and not slack off as I did last week. Then to keep the motivation to continue at the same rate until the September end date. I wonder what the next program will be.

Back to work and using the bus and biking...

2007-07-18T22:26:00.000-08:00

Total steps for week 16: 67,583 or 9,655 per day

July 22 - We drove down to Seward with our friend Susan and walked from the B&B we stayed in down to the Boat Harbor for dinner so I ended the day with over 12K steps. Today Susan and I took the NW Fjord trip with Kenai Fjords Tours - little walking there, but a great trip even though the clouds were low and it rained much of the time. Saw Orcas, a humpback, sea lions, seals, sea otters, tufted and horned puffins, common murres, cormorants, one oystercatcher and I think some Kitzletz murrelets as well as many black legged kittiwakes and glaucus gulls. NW Glacier has receded quite a bit since I last was on this tour about 10 years ago. Much of the land (bedrock) is now visible and I don't think it will be tidewater glacier too much longer.

July 20 - I got a ride to work today since I overslept, but walked around downtown at lunch to pick up the voucher for a Kenai Fjords tour I'm taking on Sunday with a friend. I was entering my steps in my spreadsheet and realized that I have averaged over 10K steps each week except one since the start of the Orient Express step walking program. A great improvement over the earlier Start Walking programs. Still not 10K each day, but the low days are higher than previously. And I feel better. Yesterday I walked ten minutes uphill to get a different bus that doesn't take as long. That felt great. Unfortunately I saw lots of weeds next to the bus stop on Tudor Road (an occupational hazard), but since I was dressed nicely I refrained from pulling them out. There were way too many anyhow and I didn't have bag to dispose of them.

July 18 - I lent my car to a friend who has a temporary week-long job south of Fairbanks so I rode my bike to work today and yesterday I took the bus. Tomorrow I'll probably bus it and bike again on Friday. I really am enjoying this different mode of travel - much more peaceful than driving myself. Glad to be home and am looking forward to some more relax time ahead - as well as my work!

Week 15 of the Orient Express

2007-07-09T17:00:00.000-08:00

Total steps for week 15 = 80,603 or 11,514 per day.

July 15 - At the end of the trip and one more night in a motel. We had a great time playing and listening to many bands at the Slovenefest in Enon Valley Pennsylvania for the last three days. What a spread - I don't know how many acres, in addition to the places where the bands played, there were cottages, RV parking and tenting sites. A huge outdoor pool, a lake to fish in and tennis courts. For the bands, there was a ballroom, a bar and two outdoor venues to play at and all were scheduled from 10-midnight on Saturday, and 4-midnight on Friday and noon to 10 on Sunday. And all had great dance floors. Food booths everywhere too (of course mostly meat that doesn't agree with me, but I found quite a few things to eat).

July 13 and in Poland, OH (near Youngstown) - We've had a busy week. We spent most of Wednesday and all of Thursday in Gettysburg. We had a great tour with a licensed Gettysburg tour guide touring the town and the battlefield. A great way to start your stay in Gettysburg. We also did the self-guided tour of the town and a guide-led tour of four churches, three of which were hospitals during the battle. The total steps on Wednesday with all the walking was just over 15K. One night we slept in a motel that is on what was part of the battlefield and where General Lee's headquarters were. We drove from Gettysburg here yesterday and took the back roads which were very pretty. Now practicing some songs with a band member. Then off to meet some more band members for breakfast. It has cooled down here but still shorts weather.

Monday and we are in Pennsylvania Dutch country and it is HOT - somewhere around 97 or 100 degrees today! Tonight we are just east of York, PA taking the evening easy. We arrived in Intercourse, PA yesterday afternoon (Sunday) and drove around the area to get a feel for where we were. Since it was Sunday most places were closed. There was a lot of activity on the part of the local Amish community - families and couples and singles driving up and down the roads in their buggies. We started to recognize the different groups. It was like watching a small town where everyone drives around the square and socializes. But in this case, most were driving around in their buggies - all different types. In additon, when we first got to the Pennsylvania Dutch area we saw three girls getting around on inline skates. Of course - wearing their traditional clothing. Today we went on a buggy ride and visited an Amish farm where we toured the farmhouse. Both of those activities were guided and we learned a lot. We also visited a quilting museum and store and some other shops. Tomorrow we mosey to Gettysburg and will be there all day on Wednesday. Thursday we head back to the Youngstown area and will be there for the rest of the trip. I did about 15 minutes of Pilates to start the day this AM, but although it felt as if we walked quite a bit I haven't gotten to 10K and I'm ready to call it a day.