Strong & Sensible

Lisa, Gandolf! and hugs to you on therapist visit, probably quite an emotional ride.
Mary, yuck to mowing!
Ronne, how was weekend with family? Work still busy?
Tracy, where will you hike? Sounds like a lovely trip.

Yesterday was patio max- I wasn't sure what to do with my day til I saw a rat on patio eating almond I'd thrown out for squirrels. I took down some feeders and plants and swept and raked seed. Quote from my pest guy who just so happened to be here yesterday, "I don't know why everyone thinks squirrels are so cute, they are just rats in drag. One works the day shift, one works the night shift."

Thank you for all the congrats on grad- I'm so proud and amazed! I'm off this week, so I should be getting some workouts done. Right now I'm trying to plan some bike/paddle adventures to combo with heading back up to Gainesville again to get dd cat while she is in Puerto Rico through mid June.

ETA I loaded bike but possible rain forecast turned into severe storm warning so I turned around, tomorrow!
2nd ETA 17 mile bike ride- I was checking a map sign and got started by a couple of juvy gators!
 
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Hi all! Today did an Yvette workout. Did anyone order the new ones? I caved, and quickly!

Jody, gators? My youngest would be thrilled! Scariest thing we have here are possums. Enjoy your time off.

Lisa, I’m glad you got to hash things out with your sister. It is better to get it out.

Hello to Ronne and Tracey!

Happy Mother’s Day to you all! Taking my mom out to lunch and a movie. Talk to you later! Mary
 
Mary, same to you! I did KCM Shape Up again, subbing BW work on tower for her wt work. I had something else to add, a burning desire of some sort, but it escapes me at the moment, oh well, bbl!
Oh anyone else in for new step workouts?
 
Hi all, I hope everyone is well!

Ronne, going back a few weeks, I wanted to ask about going to the coast, can I picture Doc Martin or something similar? Obviously I watch too much TV. I don't think you can count me out of the group or as a full cyclist; I'm more eco tour than speedy. I hope work calms down a bit.

Mary, now I see you did order new work outs as well! It looks like a nice set. I'm working on my workout space and that has involved getting rid of stuff. I'm getting rid of all my Beach Body stuff and just keeping Cathe, bellydance and yoga stuff and kcm. I have a bunch of random stuff I get from Aldi's center aisle, too. Anyone else go for that stuff? When faced with the clutter, I am reminded it is much easier to not get such nonsense to begin with! I tossed a stereo in the dumpster- what is that called, an anachronism?

Lisa, I'm jelly of all your bike paths. I was going to take my bike on a road trip but love bugs are so awful right now I didn't want to risk it. I could barely see out the front of my car after my recent road trip. I hope you get some nice weather for your rides. And peace and closure with you sis for that matter, hugs.

Tracy, I want to see some pics of the pups as well! Is your wine and hike weekend here soon? I think I stopped taking C4 stuff if I ran out of it or found some other stimulant that I liked. I used it more like a monster drink to power through and carry on but it makes my heart race, which I'm kind of OK with, ha ha. But I also can't afford to take stuff that interferes with sleep because wakefulness is a different type of pain.
My weight is doing better and I've not had any alcohol at home for a few months now and staying semi food sober as well. Yes, I share a BD w/ your dad, that's funny. Are you caught up on GoT? I'm enjoying it, trying to enjoy the ride and be surprised, even though there are sooooo many podcasts and youtube videos with theory, cannon, and fandom. I kinda prefer a holy sh*t I did not see that coming experience. Congrats on seeing the sunset cliffs, it sounds very special!

Happy joyful mother's day to all including dog moms and UK moms who celebrate at a different time!
 
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Hi everyone

Wow, I don't know where the time goes!

Jody - congrats to your graduate. Puerto Rico sounds like fun. More wildlife investigating? I love your close encounters with wildlife (less so rats, we sometimes get them in our garden). Well done on the 'sobriety'. Coastal wise: Dorset, Devon, Cornwall all lovely (Doc Martin is Cornwall I think). Dorset is where I was at Easter. Scottish coast fab, best time of year June/July. You get some beautiful beaches up there. Also NE coast around Newcastle great, vvv windy but big empty beaches. Re the bugs, I've decided to be grateful for them. I remember as a kid when we'd drive up the motorway in summer and the windscreen would be covered in them, but that doesn't happen anymore.

Lisa - glad to hear session with sis' therapist went well. Hope things are getting better for you.

Mary - Not sure if I'm going to go for the new series. Think I'm falling out of love with step. I do like a short cardio. I used to love choreography but I get a bit bored now.

Been busy with work although this week is looking a bit more reasonable. Had a nice quietish weekend. Did some gardening as everything is growing like mad. Weather has improved a bit, warmed up and we've got sunshine for the next few days.
I'm mixing a yoga programme in with weights/cardio for the next month.
 
Hi everyone! Today did tabatacize, forgot how brutal!

Ronne, share some of that sun! Today is nice, has been raining and dreary, kind of bringing me dow!

Jody, I have been throwing things out, I’ve been looking at stuff and wondering why I had to keep it! Hard tho, they only take bulk trash once a month, have to time it right.

Lisa, how are you? Biking??

Hi Tracey!!

Not much here, we ordered a new bed, so I have been deep cleaning our bedroom. Also, once the grass dries out have to mow. Good day to all! Mary
 
Hi all, hope you had a nice Mother's Day, you too Ronne! You can celebrate with us and get double the celebration. Yep, we've been cycling, today I am BEAT! It went from winter last week to summer this week so we have to get out early to ride now and it's still hot when we are returning home, uphill nonetheless! The boys took me out for MD Sat night, it was nice but I felt so bad when the bill came! But they are doing so well in their careers (such a proud Mom). I feel bad for the youngest because I can see he's missing his fiance (don't know how to get the accent mark). She's flying back again on memorial day. My oldest will be on vacay in Japan, so I will have ALL the furry kids here that weekend! 4 dogs and a cat! I'll take furry grands, not sure I'm ready for any human ones yet anyway :)

Jody, Good job on the rides! Are you ready to tackle our area? Gators always gave me a scare, worse was once when I wiped out water skiing and my friend yelled, 'hurry and get up the gators are here'.....I got those skiis back on as quickly as possible! I was only in 7th grade, should my friend have been driving her parents boat? shrug THat's funny about the squirrels, ours pester the dogs so much! Our resident owl has been back, we know because we hear the crows mobbing him. Nature can be so loud!

Mary, we have soooo much stuff! ONE day we'll clean out but for now I want to have fun, I have no time for chores! I'm like a teenager :) . On a sad note, one of my online quilting teachers died Sunday, it all happened so fast, then my Aunt died Sunday too. So I've been in a funk. Our city has a cleanup every year, you put out your stuff and they haul it for free (minus some stuff, electronics, paint, etc). We put out old rusty metal edgings, old kids bike, old weed eater that doesn't start and some other stuff. People know these days and some go around to find the "goodies", some guy stopped with his truck and trailer FULL of stuff he picked up and he piled ALL of our stuff into his truck and trailer. Guess we have good trash! hahahha

Ronne, I think I've sadly fallen out of love with Cathe. So glad you all still welcome me here! Now that the warm weather is here and there was A LOT of snow in the mountains this winter, we are expecting a big run off, sure hope the creeks stay in their banks! Oh, also, we had so many avalanches in the winter, and now that the snow in the mountains is melting the aftermath is seen. The bike path we rode with my brother last summer is strewn with downed trees from the avalanche and still has yet to be cleaned off. The things you don't think about happening, but not surprised since this winter avalanches covered the highway not once but twice, taking some cars (thankfully no fatalities). Check out the news story here if you want, watch the video if you have time. The power of Mother Nature! https://www.9news.com/article/life/...losed/73-b0daa883-2e6f-480f-b244-cc0e725e9c70

I've chattered too much, I better get with my day, time flies!
 
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Hello! Quickie check-in for now. Yesterday, I took my bike with me to auto dealership for service and went for a ride across bridge and over to beach. I'm scared of speed, I use brakes all the way downhill over bridge! On MD I was in Gville w/ dd- drove up 3.5 hours, lunch at Bolay B1G1 for mom's so dd check was pretty cheap, rented bikes for Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail, collected dd cat and drove back home. I loved the trail, but hated my bike, it was too big for me and therefore very uncomfortable. For a rental, it was an extremely nice bike Trek Domane, but I really appreciate my own bike! I'm so happy I spent the time looking for something that fit and has been easy to transport.
Lisa, I understand about letting Cathe go, especially with your surgery and injuries. I hope to stay with her forever, though! At least continue lifting weight and including Hiit, etc as I think those are parts of fitness I shouldn't let go. I should be including yoga/stretch. Once my "goddess" workout area is complete, maybe I will be more inspired to do so!
Mom duty today fixing her wireless and stuff~ be back later with additional personals as well as some of the above mentioned weight stuff!

ETA Wow, Lisa that is a huge impact on your trail there, akin to hurricane damage. I've been meaning to ask you if you usually start your ride from home or transport your bikes to another location? Do you have access to all those nice rides directly from your house? Too bad about the avalanche damage for sure.

2nd ETA Tabatacize PM 1 and 2 tabatas f/b abs. Mary did you do the whole thing? if so, CHEEZUS!! Also note my idea of sticking with Cathe at this point = full acknowledgement of doing half the intensity (air jacks = tiny heel clicks, lol) and half the time. However, in my head, when I retire someday and might workout daily I might turn into Ernestine Shepherd while Cathe Road Trip may well have been my swan song :D
 
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Hello everyone! Did Cathe live today. I don’t think I can give up Cathe, I need direction, if left to my own I would never get it done.

Lisa, avalanches, scary business. I can’t even fathom. We once got snowed in our house, all the doors opened out, there was so much snow, we had to wait for the neighbors to dig a hole for us to get out. Made me so anxious!

Jody, ugh, cars. We recently had to get DH a new one, and who’s is acting up? Mine! Took it in, needs breaks, a head gasket, and something with the transmission. All added up, to way too much. Have to go car shopping. I despise having two car payments. Do they still make Yugos?

Ronne, when will DD start University? Is she taking a gap year? I would love a gap year!

Hi Tracey!

Sorry to be such a downer, just everything is adding up. House taxes arrived yesterday too. Those went up quite a bit. And all this nonsense with the tariff’s. I thought by this age we would be on easy street, or a bit easier! Anyway, DS comes home tomorrow!!! For a month! It will be so amazing to have everyone all in the same space! Good weekend to all! Mary
 
Hi everyone

Lisa - you sound really happy. It's lovely to see. The city clearance thing sounds like a good idea. We're trying to organise something similar in our area, just a clear out, selling and giving stuff away to anyone who wants it. You will always be welcome here, Cathlete or not!! All that biking counts just as much.

Jody - I like your version of Cathe, whatever it takes. Will you be buying the new series? Wow, that woman is amazing. I didn't read the whole thing, but it's funny she said she likes to work out in heels! It sounds like you're turning into a real bike head like Lisa!

Mary - have fun with DS at home. Also, hats off if you did the whole of Tabatacize!! DD goes in September, she's doing her final exams at the moment. Getting in depends on the grades she gets which we won't know till mid-August. I'm picturing you disappearing behind a massive pile of bills!

Did a mix of yoga and Cathe this week. Did Xtrain CLB one day and some cardio (which I've forgotten) on another. Been out four times this week (!), a live theatre broadcast on Tues (All My Sons starring Sally Field and Bill Pullman, fantastic!), cinema, piano recital and then out for dinner with DH last night. Just one of those strange, busy weeks.
 
Arrrrgghhh! One more complaint, (I’m sorry). Ants were around the kitchen sink, took the sill off to look where they were coming from, all the wood around the window and inside the wall are full of carpenter ants and the wood is sopping wet, where is the water coming from?? The kitchen sink? The bathroom up above?? I miss renting!

Ronne, so exciting for DD! Sounds like a perfect week!

Hope everyone else is well, everyone is home and it is wonderful!
 
Aw Ronne, you touched my heart when you said I sounded really happy and it was nice to see. I've been putting so much into me after the nightmare. I've been trying hard also to live in the PRESENT. A saying I found is 'Regret is time travel back to the past, where you ruminate on something that can no longer be changed because it already happened. Fear is time travel to any number of possible futures, where you think of all of the “what ifs” that could happen.' That live theatre looked very interesting, you do such intriguing things!

Mary, complain away! I think the ants would send me over the edge! I freaked last friday when the brand new toilet wouldn't stop running (the flapper wouldn't go down). Called DH in a panic, he said turn the water off, DUH, I knew that but I was just frustrated since it's a brand new toilet. DH got home, the chain on the flapper got stuck in a groove on the flapper, such a freaky thing but at the same time thank goodness it wasn't anything major! I will tell you (at least for me), it's a bit disconcerting trying to live on a fixed salary with no new money really coming in. It's such a mind shift, thank goodness for DH pension and even though he can get social security we are waiting to let it build. The worst is health care, the monthly amount is huge (thankfully DH goes on medicare next year), then the insurance we have we have to basically pay all out of pocket until we each reach 7k. We were used to co-pays! Geez, guess I didn't help your frustrations, sorry! As far as on your own for working out......Suki doesn't let us miss a ride (or walk). Saturday was a cloudy cool day, but Suki was raring to go, so we went riding and I was so glad she made us! We also rode a couple times during the week last week, tackling the hills but doing shortish (15-20 miles) rides. Didn't you just love that creek picture? Now it's cold, rainy and possible skiff of snow, so no riding until thursday, probably no walking either. I could go do Cathe step or something but I feel my body needs the rest for when we ramp up the cycling once the weather clears. I hear you about property taxes! Ours went up, and this month is home insurance. i had to look up if our home insurance went up because of the hailstorm last year (remember we had a 15,000 claim on the roof), and thankfully it didn't.

Jody, OK, I must admit, I LOL'd at you riding the brakes downhill! I had to look up your Strava and check out your speed on the downhills. Sorry but I LOL'd some more! You'll get used to it, I remember when I started cycling that I was tense just riding the flats because it had been so long since I had been on a bike! Now I can go down big downhills like that (or bigger) at easily 35 mph...I've never broke 40 mph. (for the group, Jody was 13.5 mph). And I can so understand about rental bikes, especially with my need to be mostly upright, that's why we go to nearby trails and cycling vacays are only a max of 7 hrs or so away. I would love to cycle the trail from everglades to key west. Quite a few of the trails we ride are right from our house, sometimes for variety we will transport about 30 mins away to a trailhead....we maybe average that every 8-10 rides? The bad thing with right from our house is the darn uphill to get back home! Somehow I always manage to make it :) I figure with the hills I get lots of HIIT in (that's a way to spin to myself to make the hills ok, it's so mental!)

OK off to do something....it's quilting weather!
 
Hello everyone

Mary - yuck!! Have you solved the mystery of the water yet?

Lisa - love the photo, it looks beautiful. That's so funny about the toilet because a similar thing happened to me a couple of years ago. The toilet just kept running and running, it wouldn't stop after flushing. I ended up in a right tizz (I think it's something to do with the noise), running around the house panicking. Eventually, someone suggested I turned the water off. The flush mechanism was broken and had to be replaced. But I couldn't believe I hadn't thought to turn the water off!

I did some short yoga on Monday, Tuesday I did a real oldie, Cardio Kicks which was tough, I took a rest day yesterday and today did KCM Bodysculpting followed by STS abs. I really like the music on that KCM, makes it go quickly.
The weather is lovely here at the moment. I went out for dinner with a friend last night and we sat outside. Felt like we were on holiday!
The three of us are going to see Rocketman tonight. Should be fun!
 
Hi all,
Ronne, I hope that is a good movie, I'm interested as well. I don't think I even have that KCM, is it newer? I did buy the new series already. Going back a bit- interesting about a live theater broadcast with Fields and Pullman! Not sure how that even would work for going out? Yes, Doc Martin is Cornwall. I think hiking and eco touring around GB would be beyond amazing, but primarily during warm months. I'm sure the water would never ever actually be warm enough to swim though? Norwegian has some great prices again, so don't think I won't try it, ha ha! FYI, The B52s are coming your way soon if you are interested! LOL, I bought mine already for the Fla stop in August. I'm also interested in Weird Al's upcoming show. Geez, I guess I'm the low brow 3 stooges member of the check in. :p

Lisa, thank you for checking on the speed, I didn't really know. I tend to be obsessed with animal sightings. And that's OK, you can LOL at my speed. I don't wear a helmet yet. I might become more daring on familiar trails with a helmet. DD rode ahead of me in Gville and said she ended up off road at bottom of hill that ended in sharp turn. She's in her 20s so obvsly relatively invincible! Great that you have both quilting weather and biking weather back to back! It sounds like you always have to end your rides on an uphill, I see. Yes, I guess that is something to consider. Re toilets, I recently had a plumber around to replace a broken flap valve. I probably could have done on my own, but the the water shut off to the toilet was stripped and needed repair. So good news I remembered about turning off water, but ended up paying $$ for professional anyway.

Mary, carpenter ants are my arch nemesis preceded by water intrusion. I hope you get it all figured out. Re the car stuff add the hassle of dealing with dealerships as part of the poison. DD and I are trying to tie up details still! Have you made any purchases? DD used carvana and Truecar to narrow down her selection, ended up getting a Truecar through the dealership but had to hold feet to fire in order to have them honor the price. I wonder what the outcome would be had she just done online?

Hopefully paddling on Saturday in combo with Dad visit. I did a bike ride on Monday. Nothing today- shameful!
ETA ended up going for a short ride with friend Thurs eve and I did some Cathe tabata tri bi core this morning. Probably won't do paddle tomorrow after all.
 
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Happy Friday everyone! Today did a mat workout, mowed 2 yards yesterday, needed a bit of a break.

Lisa, cannot believe you got snow! It’s almost June! It melts quickly?

Ronne, how was the movie? DH really wants to see that! He’s quite a character!

Jody, we did get a car! Looks like a little clown car! It will get us where we need to go! B52’s that takes me back! I just got us tickets to see Chris Isaak, just love him!

Hi Tracey!

Ronne, question, (because I just don’t know if it’s good or bad). I saw Theresa May resigned this morning? How does that work? Is there another election? Who picks the new Prime Minister? I should have paid more attention in school.

Hope everyone has a beautiful weekend! Mary
 
Hi all, we are trying to cycle, cycle, cycle before more rain (at least it isn’t snow). But we were so tired yesterday so we did just a Jody type ride around town.
Jody, please get a helmet! I know in my 20’s I rode motorcycle with no helmet (yes we tend to think we’re invincible then, but there is so much more traffic now). Anyways, protect yourself, please it’s one of my pet peeves (kinda like smoking). I saw a guy go head over hill down one of the gravel paths. Ok, lecture over.
Mary, history and civics never interested me in school so I never went beyond the basics , and now have promptly forgot! I learned enough to get me an A. So I’m in the same camp as you there. Yes the snow melted in a day, but we had 4 inches! There seems to be a theme of water. We had a leak! Gah! Found it when DH was gone, thankfully I knew how to shut the water off to it (sprinkler system). It’s always something!
Ronne, sounds like a lovely time. i just realized it’s almost June! I have girlfriends over end of July so I better get planning our night. I was thinking to let them play on my quilting machine so they can see anyone can do it. They said they’d need a little quilting juice, er wine.
Hoping to get in a ride today, then it’s quilting weather again. I’ve been busy making the kids and the wife’s quilts and now I decided on matching pillows (mainly because I had extra fabric, but I decided to try my hand at making a pillow where I piece in our last name. Thank goodness it’s short!
 
Hi everyone

Jody - I reiterate what Lisa said - get a helmet!! I know you're not really cycling on roads but it's still important (although probably sweaty). I wish they'd make them compulsory like seatbelts in cars. DD doesn't wear one despite us buying her several. DH had a friend who came off his bike about 10 years ago and ended up in PVS. Absolutely tragic. Have you got a few days off work at the moment?

Mary - Film was great, we all really enjoyed it. Just a lot of fun, nothing too demanding. I'll try to answer your question. We don't have a presidential system in this country (the queen is our head of state). The Prime Minister is the leader of the party that's in government so is chosen by that party's members rather than voted for by the country. We vote for individual MPs in general elections and the party with the most MPs governs and the head of that party becomes the PM. So her resignation is an 'internal' matter but usually a general election follows sooner or later as the new PM is not seen as legitimate. All fun and games!!

Lisa - I'd probably quilt my own hand (especially after a few glasses of wine!). Hope you enjoy some rest days after all your cycling.

Mixture of workouts, yoga and rest over the weekend. DH and I went to our local pub for dinner on Sat and then breakfast on Sun as DD was away. I told her that she's being irresponsible going to university - we'll end up alcoholic and obese by Christmas!!
Work mad again!!
 
Hi, I did a CLB premix, subbed some UB body weight in a few places and some of the abs. Then I took bike for a spin wearing new helmet- I was tired after all that.
Lisa, you are very punny and quippy on Strava!
Ronne, good job on the civics lesson, thank you, it helped! LOL at you guys going out while dd is away.
Mary, congrats on car! Have you experienced the tornadoes I keep hearing about?
Waves to Tracy~~
 
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