Our extended California winter found me gazing longingly out at the rain-soaked yard. More and more weeks of non-gardening passed while I dug out and read my old garden books, updated our solar website, got our taxes done, joined a Garden Forum, and forwarded emails of cute dogs, jokes, etc.In the meantime I was watching the bathroom scales climb steadily upwards from this sedentary lifestyle.
I tried giving up favorite delicacies; half & half, French bread, apple pie, dark chocolate. Yumm. But this kind of deprivation wasn't working; then again neither was eating.
Joined Weight Watchers for a couple of weeks and found a good cookbook and a lot of hungry women. Decided I could try to live with Fat-free everything if that would help. Our frig is now full of FF milk, yogurt, sour cream. Husband won't touch the stuff. The only thing I can share with my Atkins friends is chicken breast and salad.
Dug out an old exercise video: Power Walking combined with aerobics and way-too-cheery sweet young things. Lost 5 lbs. but I'd memorized every chatty, little comment in a week and had to turn the volume off just to keep Power Walking.
A week with the grandkids in MI. Upon returning to CA. we were greeted by a frantically outrageous spring. Everything bloomed at once. Including the weeds. We came back to 4' high grass and weeds.... all 2 1/2 acres.
My husband and I gassed up the lawnmower and took turns slowly plowing through the our own personal veldt. Where the lawnmower couldn't go, I tackled borders and fence lines with rubberized gloved hands and began pulling. And digging. And hauling out wheelbarrows full of foxtail.
Working 3-5 hours a day, I felt like some cartoon charicature of a 'mad gardener. I pushed myself beyond my limitations. Never would I spend this much time on the treadmill or with my power walking video-friends.
At night I fell into bed 3 hours early and arose the next day to tackle another micro-garden. In about 10 days I sweated off another 5 lbs. If I keep this up, maybe I can shed a few more pounds. If not, well I have a great view out my front window now.Nice group of GardenBloggers:
http://voices.gardenweb.com/
Only you could make earwigs and fish emulsion so darn interesting !
ReplyDeleteKeep writing and I will keep reading
Where is the chapter about Dear Rudy ?
Only you could make earwigs and fish emulsion so darn interesting !
ReplyDeleteKeep writing and I will keep reading
Where is the chapter about Dear Rudy ?
I knew those weren't flee beetle holes. I would have guessed slugs. But I forgot--that is California; this is Minnesota, slug capitol of the world. So What does an earwig look like/do? How did it get that silly name?
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