Week 340 Update

At 06:45 I stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, "199.0 Pounds!"

You might think that after 2381 times of stepping on the scale for my daily weigh-in, or even after 340 weekly weigh-ins, this action would be old hat and devoid of emotion. But this is not the case. Each day is a new challenge, and each week and test to be passed.

This week I passed my test; I managed to hold my weight down within my target range for my weekly weigh-in. I held my average weight to 198.93, and my average points-per-day down below 40. I even walked 19.7 miles!

Even so, it was not a perfect score, because I let my weight climb up to 201.0 on Sunday, and on Thursday I let my points get away from me all the way to 50.0 points. Still, I will not quibble over details. I feel this was a good week.

After my weigh-in on Saturday last, I decided that I was going to do some walking and hopefully start off a better trend for my exercise. Dotti needed to do some shopping at Costco and so I told her what I would like to do is to walk to Costco and meet her there. It is a 10 mile walk and I figured I could do it in about 3 hours. Well, she surprised me and said that she would do the walk with me! I was thrilled. While walking by myself is fun, walking with Dotti is wonderful.

To hold it to a 10-mile walk and not increase it to a 20-mile round trip, we needed to put a car at the other end. So, we each hopped into a car and set off for Costco. It was a pleasant drive and with the sun and clouds playing around in the sky with each other, throwing shadows and light this way and that across our field of vision. Once we reached Costco, we both climbed into the van and drove back home, leaving our car in the lot to wait for us.

When we reached home we parked the van and got set to go. I checked the sky one more time and found that while there were some clouds, there was a lot of blue as well. It looked like great walking weather!

I had my backpack to carry a few items that we might need on the hike, and my coat because it was a bit cool in the autumn morning, but sunglasses were in order too. We couldn't have asked for better conditions for our walk.

The trees were in color, but the grass was still green, and the sun was dancing off of everything. The first half of the walk was along this busy road, where we were either on a sidewalk, or in some short stretches, we were forced to walk in a bicycle lane when the sidewalk disappeared. It wasn't bad though, even in the sidewalk free zones. (It wasn't like the walk in Lincoln City when we felt like we were talking our lives in our hands a couple of times walking around corners where visibility was short and the walking space was right up against traffic.)

Along one stretch of this part of the walk we passed through a grassy plain and off to the left we saw this crane making himself right at home. He wasn't in any hurry to move along and he didn't appear to move very far at all for the several minutes we had him in view as we walked along. We saw some other birds out there on that plain as well. The city hasn't quite taken over this section of ground just yet.

This is at the same location from where the last picture was taken. Dotti was looking back at me, after I had stopped to shoot a picture. I had warmed up enough to remove the coat and put it in my pack.

Here is my lovely Dotti, my favorite walking partner, and we have just hit the halfway point in our walk, with 5 miles behind us and 5 more awaiting us. We were feeling pretty good still, and both of us were looking forward to the second half, because it is a much nicer path to walk. As you can see here there is a wall with some ivy clinging to it a little farther along the path. There were leaves on the ground and trees in various stages of undress as their leaves were dropping. Our path was going to cross over the street heading straight ahead, and we were going to be following the street on the right. But we would be a distance away from the road most of the time, separated from it by trees and grass. This is called the Padden Parkway, and it is a popular route for walkers and joggers.

Looking back along a section of the path we had already walked we could see that both trees and ivy were showing the colors of autumn. You could tell where the trees were without even looking at them by the splotches of leaves they left on the sidewalk.

Ahead of us, green is mixed with autumn gold and red all along the wall. The sidewalk was wet from an earlier rain, but one which never sent a single drop our way during our walk. In the distance, a father was walking with his daughter. As it turned out we shared several miles of this path with them. They stopped at several points along the way to let Dad explain this or that, or to point something out, and to explore a bit at some of the side trips that were available. Then they would hop back on the trail and pass us up again. We could tell that they were having a very good time of it.

Did I say that fall was in the air? Leaves were on the ground, and autumn colors painted the leaves of both tree and ivy, and while the sky was bright the ground was still wet from the earlier shower. Perfect!

Dotti had worked her way ahead of me when I stopped to take a picture. Here she is heading down under the pedestrian bridge across the Padden Parkway road. This is closely related to the O'Connell Bridge in Sitka Alaksa (see the bottom side bar) but it is a much smaller model.

The ten miles finally were completed and we reached Costco. I really enjoyed being able to drop off my backpack in the car that we had left in the lot earlier in the day.

Sunday, we walked to Red Robin for dinner and to Borders for a bit of studying before heading back home. The fall colors on the tree in our front yard were unmistakable.

Dotti was decked out in her red coat and had umbrella in hand for our outing. As always I was proud to be walking with my beautiful lady, who is also my best friend!

In keeping with our new found motivation to walk during this week, on Monday we set off to visit Falls Creek Falls for the second time. Actually, this time, it was Dotti's brother Rip who suggested the hike and we were happy to oblige. The day was wet and supposed to be cold and so we dressed for the weather. We also, left the cameras put away for most the hike, in order to keep them dry.

When we got to the falls they were running strong and looking as beautiful as ever!

Rip took this one of Dotti and I with the falls in the background. Even though it was raining, I had my rain coat open and was not looking quite up to par. I had originally checked the weather and was expecting temperatures in the 30, along with the rain. I had put on a heavy flannel shirt, a heavy coat and a rain coat over the top of that. Part way up I took off the coat and put it in my backpack. I later opened up the rain coat to allow air and water and anything else cool in that might want to come in.

While Dotti, who is going to the gym and working out regularly now, was looking as fresh as a daisy, I was seriously overheated and did not feel well at all at this time. (I think it was nearly all because of the overheating, but I am sure that changing the amount of walking for the week so drastically played a part in it.) I even had to hand off my backpack to Rip and he let Dotti carry his lighter one. I was well on the way down the trail before I started to feel myself again.

Fortunately, I did recover completely on the way down the trail and felt pretty good by the time we reached the car. We drove home from the hike and right after we arrived there, while we were still in the shower, LeRoy showed up, after driving down from Spokane for a visit! When Dotti and I came out to the living room, scrubbed and in fresh dry clothes (doesn't Dotti look good?!), LeRoy and Rip were already sitting there visiting.

We all went to Red Robin for an enjoyable dinner.

Tuesday we had some more fun ahead of us, and I got in yet another walk. One of the things that LeRoy had come down for was to help us put up our Christmas decorations. So, we were going to get started on that. Also, Dotti had a dental appointment in the after noon, and we had scheduled a lunch at Sweet Tomatoes with LeRoy.

So, what I decided to do was to walk over to Sweet Tomatoes and meet Dotti and LeRoy there. Then after lunch I would walk home while LeRoy drove Dotti to the dentist. Then, when they got back the decorations could be finished up.

There was no doubt that autumn had arrived when I looked at the trees along the way. A few autumn clouds were in the air but the sky was clear blue beside them. The red leaves set against the sky were absolutely gorgeous!



At last I arrived at Sweet Tomatoes, after walking a couple of miles. The sign was a welcome site, and I was wondering when Dotti and LeRoy would arrive, since I had not seen them go by as I was walking.

The path led beside this sign, and then past it to the rear of the restaurant, before turning back around to run down the south wall beside the parking lot.

As I arrived in the parking lot, there were Dotti and LeRoy waiting for me! They had pulled in ahead of me, and while they had seen me beside the road walking, I had missed them driving by. (About the same time as they went by, a fire engine was passing me headed the other direction with its lights and siren going strong, and that may have been why my attention was not on them as they went by.) They were a happy sight for my eyes and we proceeded inside to have a great meal.

Later, after Dotti had her lovely visit with the dentist , both wife and son set back to work on the project of getting the house ready for Christmas. Before the project began, we had our car parked in the garage with plenty of room to spare on both side of it. So, what you see in the garage is the work table they set up and the boxes, etc., that had held the decorations, which we had retrieved from our storage shed.

The tree in front is nearly standing naked, getting ready for the cold winter to come, while behind our house you can see evergreens sticking their tops up in the air and peeking at us.

LeRoy did all of the ladder work and he put up the lights along the roofline, and the lighted display right in front of his in this picture. Dotti is busy putting candy canes and penguins all in a line along the driveway. (The snowman in front later lost his hat in an overnight storm that we had, but LeRoy tracked it down further along our street where the wind had blown it. Other than that, all of the decorations held steady through the storm and we were happy to see that!

Our garage light was about to be changed out for a Christmas color (red) but was still shining white at this time. LeRoy had come down from the ladder and you can see the lights a little more clearly from this view.

Later after the early autumn sunset, Dotti was putting the final touches on the snowman, who was all lit up by this time. The spiral Christmas tree was looking bright and happey and the penguins were standing neatly in a row beside the candy canes. The visible garage light had been changed out from white to green.



LeRoy had arrived at the snowman to give Dotti and assist, and things were just about done.



It was finally time for the final pictures! LeRoy and Dotti were proudly posed beside the snowman.

Moving over to the other side of the yard, the lovely Dotti is posing with Santa and Frosty, while the American flag hangs from our pine tree behind them.



Next it was LeRoy's turn to pose and display his dazzling smile with Santa and Frosty.



Finally the old man took his turn in front of the camera.

Moving closer to the house, the white tree looks a little more like a tree than the one on the other side of the yard, and it has some nice lights shining blue. (The bright light to the left is actually a street light from the next street over.)



The garage in all its glory. Looking down our walkway, where bats and skeletons hung only a couple of weeks ago, there are lights, and bobbles, and other Christmassy things. (The read light on the garage is the one that was white in the earlier picture.)

Looking down our walkway, where bats and skeletons hung only a couple of weeks ago, there are lights, and bobbles, and other Christmassy things. (The read light on the garage is the one that was white in the earlier picture.)

Ever since we got it, I have loved this Christmas sign about the "Warming House." The ice skate rentals and the skating lessons remind me of the stories Dotti tells of her days in Rutland Vermont and how she used to go skating at the Rotary Club when they flooded the baseball field and made a skating pond on it. When I first met Dotti she really impressed me on the ice as she did figure 8's and skated circles around me, while I busied myself with just holding my balance as I worked my way around the rink edge slowly. The Christmas candle declaring "Noel" and the sparkling Christmas lights gave off a very warm and wonderful feeling to me.



With the job done, Dotti and LeRoy are celebrating their success and well they should!

Wednesday, Dotti went to her early morning Weight Watchers meeting and then we all headed off for Spokane. LeRoy had to go to work that evening, so we had just about enough time to get up to Spokane before he had to go to work.

Once we were settled in at LeRoy's place, we drove over to Jim and Tammy's house to begin our visiting. And there was our little grandson Hunter ready to greet us with a smile! It was great.

On Thursday, Dotti got up early and went to Gold's Gym for her morning workout. She has really been doing well on getting her exercise in, and she didn't want this trip to mess up her streak.



Later, I took Misty, Jim and Tammy's middle daughter, to lunch. We had great time! She is a lot of fun to be around and always seems to be up and ready to smile.



In the meantime, Dotti when to lunch with Eileen and Tammy, and they had seemed to be having a very good time together, judging from this photo.

Finally, I caught LeRoy in conversation with his creamer bottle, and it seemed to be going quite well.

The week had a few challenges, with meals at restaurants and spending the day on the road on Wednesday, and I didn't always do great in holding my points down, but overall it all balanced out well I think and I am quite happy with the week overall.

Next week we will be visiting with our friends and we have Thanksgiving dinner provided by one of the best cooks that I know, and so keeping my points in line will be a challenge. I hope that I am up to it. Let's go see…

6 years, 190 days on my journey; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-
6 '3" 239.5/199.0/197.5±2.5/BMI:24.87/WK- 340

Starting weight: 239.5       Target Weight Range: 195 lbs to 200 lbs