Living Well Wednesdays

I am posting late tonight, not because I wanted to put it off (which I admit sometimes I do) but because it's been a busy day. I started out by going to the gym, then after I had my hair done (which I haven't done since Feb. just before going to a wedding, and I am going to a wedding this Sat.) then my daughter and I went to Costco and after putting away our purchases we went 'cloths' shopping. Didn't find much but she did get a new pair of shoes. I will attempt again in the morning at a different mall.

I made a good attempt this week by going to the gym 4 days out of 7, not bad, doing some menu planning for the next 7 days, minus the wedding Sat. And finally doing some reading (which I slacked on ! Weigh Down). I am down a pound, but more then that I feel it in the exercise I am doing at the gym. I am not pushing for speed but more for endurance and just doing it! While my hubby is going for speed on the tread mill, I put it on a high incline and take it nice and slow to get my heart rate up, like climbing a mountain trail. God has blessed me with an incredible job of working with 24 little ones in prekindergarten. I need that endurance, if you have every done the "Chicken Dance, Tooty-ta, Hokey Poky", ran outside with children chasing you (on a cold day so they can get some exercise) etc. and try to have the children keep up with you then you understand the endurance I talk about. School starts Aug. 25 and I need to be ready. But what really is motivating me this time is that I want to be a healthy grandma when my grandchildren graduate from high school, and the oldest one is just starting kindergarten in August. I look to God and his glorious blessings and grace for the guidance I need to keep my focus. Right now the weather is OK in the mornings so we are walking to they gym, after school starts we'll be going after I get home at noon. I also am trying to keep "those" foods out of the house most of the time. It is hard when your husband has an incredible sweet tooth, but he is trying also. So I limit dessert to one night a week and that works most of the time.

We have seen the sun the last couple days, but still smell the smoke and hear the planes flying overhead as they head to the airport to refuel.

Have a good week and God Bless

California's just burning up.

The sun at 7:30 tonight, red because of smoke. Yuck, the air taste like smoke.

Yosemite Valley

Half dome

Another fire in one of God's beautiful areas. This time it is much closer to home. The Telegraph fire is near Mariposa, the area of Midpines to be exact on both sides of the Merced River heading towards Yosemite National Park, the main gate. It's several miles from the park but it is burning in terrain that hasn't been touched by wildfire in over 100 years (according to the news reports), therefore there's tons of underbrush just ready to be burned. Having a few years of drought hasn't helped with the greenery either. It is in areas that are not easily accessible, When we go to Yosemite it take us 1 1/2 hours to get to the main gate. We are in no way in danger here but Yosemite is threatened and may need to be evacuated.

We also hear that there is a fire near the L.A. Zoo, and it had to be evacuated.

We have visited Yellowstone before the devastation fire in 1988 and after after in 2004 and you can see the regrowth and it's beauty again. We have been to Mt. St. Helen's a few years after the volcanic eruption and again in 2002, and you see much regrowth there, also. One thing I have noticed is that if it is God's creation it almost always repairs itself.

It would just be nice to not have these wildfires.

Sad to say

Eric called last night, he had gone to Big Sur to do some stuff. The fire burned down the hill near where we used to live, rather just above the house above ours. It burned down to the shop area. The fired burned much of the area where these photos are. At Julie Pfeifer you can only park and walk down to the ocean overlook, the waterfall trail is burned. Maybe the house also and the old barn? Not really sure about those yet, haven't heard. Haven't heard about the Tin House yet, but probably that also, it was on a ridge. Such a beautiful place for the view. It burned down to Captain Cooper, but it didn't get the school, where Rochelle and Eric went to elementary school. Some homes of families we knew when we lived there were burned this time. Within the community of Big Sur, Hwy 1, that is still intact. Also, Ventana, Nepenthe, Deetjin Inn, The Gallers and some others ~ glad to say. They are holding 'healing' events. There are efforts going on to educate the locals about what they need to do for restoration, reforesting. They need to get their act together to do what they can to prevent as much damage from the winter rains and the flash flooding that will happen because most of the watershed area was damaged. There are emergency meetings, fema meeting, locals meeting, services being offered. etc. informing the people of what needs to be done and what is available. Many of the locals are getting this information out to others via their blogs, and that is a good thing, a good group of tight knit folk. Then again there are those pointing fingers, and they need to be adult about this and stop pointing and blaming and do what they need to do for self preservation and preservation of their land/area and surrounding area. The fire happened, now do what needs to be done! Went through this in 1977 during the Marble Cone fire and even though it burned 205,000 acres it didn't burn as close to the community as this fire did, we still prepared. I remember we canceled our vacation that year (so did most everyone) to clear areas in the gorge and rivers of the dead vegetation and trees, etc. so that when the rains came the bridge on Hwy1 (a main artery) would not be wiped out. We went to the bridge during the 1st good rain and the water was licking the edges, so close. We weren't there for the Molera Fire in 1972, but when we moved there in 1976 there was still damage from the river (when it flooded) showing, the old post office building was still there (utterly ruined) a a few other ruined buildings, there was even an 'ark' that had been built after that fire, it was pretty impressive the effort that went into that.

The people need to become one to do what needs to be done.

Just a tid bit here, if you have seen "Return to Witch Mountain" made in the middle 1970's, you have seen some of the Big Sur area, as it was filmed in that area. The rich house was in Carmel, along HWY 1, the ocean scene, where he discoveres the children ~ Little Sur ~ the building where the children take the 'phone call' ~ River Inn. Some of the chase scenes in the hills above Big Sur and along the Old Coast Road.

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Also, today it has been 10 years since my dad and his van had a very inopportune and fatal meeting with the roadside tree. I miss you dad, there is so much that has happened since you left this earth, so much that I'd like to share because I know you'd enjoy it. Your oldest grandchild is now married and has 2 little ones of her own, as is your 3rd (K) with a son, and your 5th (L) married and a son. You have a total of 4 great- grandchildren ~ 3 boys and 1 girl ages 3 mo. to 7 years. Your grandchildren have all grown up with the youngest now 12 1/2. God bless, we will see you again someday, in the meantime enjoy your time with Jesus.

Have you heard of this?

I heard, and saw, on the news about a new pedicure treatment using 'flesh eating fish' to nibble away the dead skin on your feet. Actually it isn't new ~ just here~ apparently it is a Japanese treatment. NOT!. Many years ago when my oldest children were in elementary school my in-laws lived in Humboldt. When we'd go up we'd play in the Eel River in the wild. If you would stand still the little trout/salmon would come up and nibble on your feet. Actually it tickled. I am sure anyone who lives near a wild/cold river will agree with that. It is not just a Japanese technique, they just cashed in on it. At Clear Lake the little catfish (about an inch in length) would crowd near the waters edge and they'd do the same thing to your feet. When we lived in Big Sur, they fish would also nibble. We had no TV reception then, (no computers, cells, satellite dishes, etc. life was much simpler and I'd take the kids to the river to play, weather permitting or to the beach ~ any time of year). Of course you have to keep your feet still or you'll scare the fish away. It was not something we discovered, many people have been and are still doing it. Did you know that the best way to exfoliate you feet is to walk barefoot in the sand at the beach. Used to do that when we lived by the ocean and could walk there from our house. Not new techniques, just in the news. Thought I'd pass that bit of information along. God has blessed us with some simple pleasures, all we need to do is enjoy them.
Have a great day
God bless ♥ ♥

Living Well Wednesdays

I didn't post this morning, things to do and I really wasn't up to it. I will say, I did start back at the gym and I can tell when I sneezed today and my abs really hurt. I guess the tummy crunches are working, sorta. I figure I live close enough to walk up so I might as well do it before school starts. Then I will have to go after work. Finally I got my Weigh Down book out to read, something I was going to do sometime ago. I found a journal at the book store on clearance, Weight Loss Solutions, and got that so I guess I am more for tackling the weight loss. I have had a fair week, about half a pound off. I have a top I like to wear and I noticed more room in it and for me that's good. I am going to a wedding on the 2nd and would really like to get something new to wear so I guess that is some type of motivation.

Hope all is well,

God Bless

Couldn't, shouldn't, didn't want to!

I just have to share this tid bit. My SIL and BIL are bird watchers, not only that ~ they can recognize a bird by it's chirp. On our recent trip to Oregon they took us to a bird refuge near where they live. Really, we were driving very slowing looking, watching and hoping to catch a glimpse of a bird. During the drive we came upon a turtle crossing the road, 1st picture. As we drove by, very carefully and slowly, so as not to harm or scare it. Well, we were wrong, we must have terrified it. It began to run (as fast as a turtle can) across the road and it peed all the way across.
I hope it recovered soon after this ordeal.

Downloading

It is always hard to say good-bye. This is where I left them at the airport on Thursday. Because of the security I cannot go any further.
But we had lots of fun during the visit: playing in the water, boating (notice the shut eyes, Caitlin is all done).
Building a sand castle with uncle Eric and Keith.
We went to the park and the indoor play area of the mall, to many pictures to download here.

When my computer crashed over a month ago, I lost many of my pictures, but not all.
Since Dan's camera has a disc (what he wanted) I spent all morning redownloading (is that a word?) the photos off his disc's. We put in and were successful at downloading 2 disc's that had errored (?) and you couldn't view from the camera. That was good since on of the disc's included Keith's graduation pictures and the ones we took when Brandon was born. YEAH!
Have a good day
God bless

Living Well Wednesday

It has been a full and exciting week at our house. Our daughter and her little ones are visiting from Colorado (sadly they go home tomorrow). I have been doing fairly well eating and being busy doing things you do and enjoying my grandchildren and their mom. I ended up with a house full, as my eldest son came to visit his sister also. I actually weighed myself when I got up this morning (I got brave and made myself do it) and am back to where I was when we left or our trip to Oregon, a month ago. I have been trying to be good and watch it. My husband took some photos of me with the babes, and I sure do not like the way I look. The Bible says your body is a temple, so I need to be serious and really think hard on that one and put it into practice. I mean really, just what do I want that temple to look like! I am happy I lost my vacation weight. I pray about it and God says, I need to be responsible.

Have a great week and God Bless ♥ ♥

Making ice cream

It has been great having Rochelle and the grandkids visiting from Colorado. However, it's not as much fun in the middle of a hot spell, being 112 on Thursday when they arrived. We made up for it by making ice cream a couple nights. Of course they little one's helped me.
Eric came down to visit with his sister for a couple days, and brought his kitties. He has no AC where he lives so the kitties will stay here. They spent most of the summer with us, which was good since he had to evacuate his place due to fire. He has told me they were me grandkitties.

Today we are taking the boat out and hoping the little ones aren't fearful. So I guess I'd better finish making the picnic lunch food.
Have a great day
God Bless

Living Well Wednesdays

Haven't made it back to the gym, but have done some laps around the pool. Which is refreshing when it is 109 outside. Most of the time, I am doing WW meals, which also limits the amount I fix, and not having extra food left over sure helps if/when I get the munchies. I have extra carrots and celery (which I love) that helps. I had thought about going back to WW, or doing WW online, but the expense is something else and I can't put out right now (need the money for gas, but then with gas so high, who needs food?) ........ so I have the books and all my old materials out to help me. (always room for a little wit and sarcasm)

I am glad to hear they have saved most of the community of Big Sur and residents only are being allowed to go home, but with an advisory because the fire is still hot. So sad.........Keep them in your prayers.

So much to do and so little time, today is a busy one. Looking forward to my daughter and grandchildren coming in from Colorado tomorrow for a week.

Have a great day and God Bless.

Happy 4th of July

and remember:

"The Will of God will never lead you
where the Grace of God cannot keep you."

author unknown

Extra's

I don't usually post twice in the same day, but I had to say that Dan talked with Eric tonight and he is not staying in Big Sur and as far as he knows he is done there (at least for now). He helped evacuated equipment from Pfeiffer to the navy base. The fire is coming down the ridge, burning areas it had 30 some years ago, only then it didn't go up and down and up and over the ridge towards the park. I check the Internet and watch the news and hope and pray they contain the fire soon, and actually all the fires. It seems that it was so. Cal. burning last year, now it is no. Cal. and we live in central Cal. I just pray for relief from the fire(s) and for the families directly affected.

http://www.kusp.org/fire/sur.html#evac

I am a little relieved that Eric isn't working the fire crew. My MIL used to tell me things when my kids were little and then she'd say "just you wait", she said that a lot. As children grow up you realize what "just you wait" means in many different ways. Oh if I just knew then what I know now there are many things I would definitely do differently. Once a parent, always a parent ~ but with a twist, parenting days do not last that long so even though your children are on their own you still worry about them just as much as when they were little but they are on their own and you need to let them be, but make sure they know you are always there for them. I never thought I would be one of those parents who fretted when their son went to help out during a fire. Sad to say I am one of those parents and much more then I realized I ever would be.
Well so much for my ramblings, I am in a melancholy mood tonight and probably should go to bed. Tomorrow is a new day and my spirits will be better after a good nights sleep.

Good night and God Bless ♥ ♥ ♥

Living Well Wednesday/ Big Sur

It has been a busy week. Haven't gotten to the gym, but have made wiser food choices. Hoping to keep stresses down, but as a mom ~ well you know how that goes. Read on......

Just got word they are evacuating Pfieffer Big Sur State Park. Eric called and talked with Elizabeth and he is on his was down to Big Sur. He has recently had some fire training, which is good considering he had to evacuate last summer because of the fire where he lives, and he went down to Mt. Palomar to do fire clean up. This time he will be working where he spent part of his childhood. Again I ask for prayer to contain and get control of this fire. Scroll down to see the slide show I put up, just 2 posts away.