8/09/2023 Serpents Can Fly ?

             In Texas, Peggy was out mowing 6 acres in her backyard. She makes a pass under a tree and promptly gets hit by an airborne snake. Yikes!  The serpent is holding on to her and striking her glasses for a total of 4 strikes. She was not bitten by the snake. It damaged her spectacles though. Then a passing hawk joins in on the fun. Seeing lunch he attempts to remove said snake from her body. Unfortunately for her,   her arm is cut up by the hawk's talons. Peggy's  blood is all over her clothes and hair. They didn't say if Mr hawk got his lunch and was able to eat it too.

      Peggy probably had a better chance of winning that 1.5 billion lottery numbers from megamillions. Someone from Florida won it. Peggy got to keep her life and appreciation for what she has. What she went through was some waking dream. She believed in Jesus and she called on him at that time.

      "  My family didn't ever mean less to me. They just mean more to me now than before because it showed me how in the blink of an eye life can change, like I said I feel differently about life now.  I'm just so blessed."

       That's the way to look at that traumatic experience. Gratitude is very important throughout one's life experiences. Being gratefull allows more good stuff to come your way.

8/07/2023. Your Body Will Let You Know

       When I increased my dumbell weight to 33.3 pounds, I found a problem. I would have my elbow on the arm rest of my office chair. Well my arm rest has a stiff foam core encased in a vinyl sheath. And that elbow with the 33.3 lbs put more pressure on it causing the skin to scab. At 20 lbs there was no problem. Time for a fix. I laid a towel on arm rest followed by a folded bath towel on top.  I adjusted it to fit comfortably under elbow. Seems to work so far. I also took an old 12 in athletic sock and cut the toe off of 2 of them. Then slip them over forearms, with toe end winding up above the wrist. I drag it up till elbow is covered.

      When lifting the dumbell keep your elbow about 3 inches from the side of your body. I slide my body closer to the arm rest. This helps with the greater weight. Lifting the dumbell, I now start with 33.3 lbs and lift it 40 times then the left hand again for another 40.  You can use what weight your comfortable with. Then the next weight I go down to 20lb. I do it 45 times or 48. I go a little over 45. For my weaker left arm I do about 52 times and the 33.3 lb I go  44 times, 4 more than the right. After the 20 lb lift I do the 33.3 lb for 30 times with the right and 34 with the left. Then back to 48 times with the 20 pounder. 52 with the left. 5 sets of this gives me the 20,000 pounds per day.

      A new lift for me is the reverse curl with the dumbell. You grab the weight overhand instead of underhand. I did it with the 10 lb bell. Start with bell in right hand elbow on arm rest lower down until you can curl you wrist around the front part of arm rest, your elbow will lift off the arm rest at this point a little bit. I did it 25 times. When I went to 20lbs  I could do it 6 times. Now I can do it 12 times. You really feel this move in the wrist and top of your forearm. It's a little awkward but it does the job.

      Another new move for me is the squat. In bare feet I stand with toes out at the 11 and 1 o'clock position. I lower down and put my forearms atop my thighs which are parallel to the floor. I usually balance on the balls of my feet. I hold this position 50 to 60 count. I do 1 set per day.

      Another new exercise is you kneel on floor and place your forearms on the floor,  elbows out, side of your fists close together. lift your hips up and down on the balls of your feet. I do 15, 1 time. I did 30 to start and I got a little back  problem. I skipped the exercise the next 2 days. When I returned I only did 15 which I'm sticking with. There is no more back issue this time. Listen to your body, it gives you warnings.

      The last exercise is the door frame which I talked about in the past. Open the door in, and stand 15 inches in front of the opening. Make sure the door moulding is firm above you. Curl fingertips over the moulding and lean into the opening. Rotate your head left then right slowly. Left and right is a count of 2. I go up to 50 per set. You can do less than 50. I've been doing this for 10 years or more. When I first did this I could hear like a slight crunchy sound. After all these years, I noticed I don't hear it anymore. Happy about that. 1997- 2004, I had to go to the chiropractor. It would work for awhile anyway,  which I was thankful  for.  But I realized, after 4 years I have to do more for myself. So I took on exploring exercises that might work for me. Over the years it paid off. It takes a lot of time but again well worth it. A little here and a little there all adds up to getting to that better place. Knock on wood I haven't been back to the chiropractor since. Back to the door way now lean into opening with fingertips on top of moulding and bend your knees you will feel the pull on your arms and shoulders hold for a count of ten then push back till your feet are flat to the floor. Do 3 to 5 sets of ten. Keeping your neck limber makes for a happy back.

      Think of ways to help your particular situation. You are being pro active at this point. Being responsible to your better life. I know I am. I'm  grateful, is the word. 

8/03/2023 It's a Bird, no a Plane no It's Just a Desperate Guy

       A couple cops and their wives were fishing off the coastvof Florida. The one cop sees off into the distance what looks to be a bird in distress swatting the water with one of it's wings. He motors over to the bird to see whats up. Well it was no bird but a diver guy. He got separated from his boat due to a strong current. His boat was found two miles from where he was found. If it wasn't for the eagle eye cop, he would have been another victim of Davy Jones Locker.

      I Don't know if that diver was a praying man or not.  But God does his thing in his own time and choosing. Chalk it up to another God  miracle. Try to look at life as the what ifs and be better prepared.

7/30/2023 Bulletproof Knees

       Its about building the muscles up around the knee. Take a 5 pound dumbell and tie a two strand electrical wire around the handle. Use a utility knife and gently bring the knife between the 2 strands. You will now have 2 pigtails 5 inches long. Wrap the 2 around the handle and tie a  square knot with the 2 pigtails. Now do the left side of the dumbell. There is a loop where you will put your foot into. When you pick up the loop with your hand , it should remain affixed to the handle. Now take a used toilet paper sleeve and cut it length wise. I use 2 sleeves and put the wire inside and then tape close. This is the cushion for the top of your foot. Wear a sneaker or a stiff bedroom slipper.  Put your foot in the loop and lift your foot a couple inches off the ground with your knee locked. Lower weight a half inch off the ground and then back up, while sitting in your good office chair. The movement you make is only a couple inches. Bring the weight up and lock your knee then down to floor and back up. When I started I used a 10 pound dumbell and did 25 lifts each leg. I would do 3 sets with long rest times between each. Months later I'm up to 15 pounds and do it 110 times, 2-3 reps per day. Try to do it every day. The muscles got bigger above the knee first then along the outside part of thigh. Now the under side of thigh is getting firmer. The first year was of the 10 pound weight. This year the 15 pound weight. It's the heavier weight that does it. You want to develop your foundation first with the lower weight. It's better. No need to rush it. Nice and easy in 2 years you will feel the difference. Going up and down stairs is easier. Walking is a bit faster and it looks good too. You are making changes for a stronger you. When you stick with it and see the results it builds self confidence. And that is your best reward because you will apply it to other areas of your life.

      You can start with as little as a one pound dumbell. I keep a notepad handy and chart the date and year,  then my poundage and how many times I do it in a row. When the row is done it's called a rep. I use to get charlie horses which are painful, no more though. I do think the leg lifts helped with that. I can also kneel and get up from the kneeling way easier than before. You want results you will need to put in the time and forget the pills for now. If you do have pain with your knees see the appropriate doctor first before doing these exercises.

    Take your time with the exercises. There is no rushing through them.

7/26/2023 Oh ... It's.. Beautiful ..Not!

       Quartz countertops that is. All that pretty, at what cost. Today there are young men waiting for lung transplants because their lungs have been damaged by silicosus. It's like black lung, what coal miners came down with. A painful death awaits. A lot of these guys are in their twenties. They're on waiting lists to get that lung.  For a lot of them they don't survive the wait.  These men wore special masks but it didn't do the job.

      Maybe if your in the hunt for a new counter top, pick something other than quartz. It's the little guy that picks up the tab. Too costly a price to pay for pretty. This comes under the title, are you your brother's keeper.

7/19/2023 And the Tears Spilt Upon the Sea

       A recent event. A gal quit the nursing field and went into marine biology.  During one of her dives, she noticed an animal below her coming in from right to left. It started to circle below her. Uh oh, time to make for the boat. She was hoping she had enough time to get there because the tiger shark stopped circling and was heading for her. Shark now getting too close and still a ways to go. Then an animal comes in from the left a right whale, it uses his big head to cup her and it brought her quicker to the surface. The guys pull her aboard.  She looks down in gratitude at her savior shaking as her tears curled around her lip to drop inconspicuously into the bright blue sea.

Hunt the whale......no more.

7/17/2023 20,000 Pounds

       Or 10 tons.  It doesn't matter what your gender is, or how old you are.  Anyone can start to lift a dumbell. When I was 15 I got a cheap weight bench and weights  spent like 20 bucks. It held my interest for maybe a month. Eh, too much work. Mid twenties roll around join Jack La Lane gym. I used to watch him on tv before the cartoons came on. Him and the farm report. So they have this thing called the circuit that entailed working out on 6 differing machines. The weights were not that heavy. After a short period of time you would move on to the next machine. Well a little over a half hour later, I made it to a bench sitting up. I was ready to pass out. Took me a half hour to get back to normal. 1200 bucks down the drain. It was a lifetime membership but you had to pay like 75 /yr dues. And if you didn't you would lose your lifetime membership. One of my big mistakes with money.

      Jan 1, 2020 I decided to start with the weights myself. I had a 10 pound dumbell and started to curl it for 20 times then rest then curl 20 times til I did 60 for each arm. When I felt comfortable with that weight,  I added 5 pounds. This is months later. I like the dumbells with the rubber coverings on the fat part of the dumbell. Also it has a good grip. I got it at Wallmart. The standard is a buck a pound. A 15 pound dumbell is around 15 dollars. Used dumbells are also about a dollar a pound. I have a good office chair, it can bend back a little and has wide arm rests. I sit in chair elbow on arm rest and bell in one hand. Lower your arm and back is one rep. Do it slow. There are dumbells 1,2,3 5 pounds. You can start with any weight. And if you don't have a dumbell you can use a soup can, not opened. Always took my time, never push it. Over time you will become stronger. Don't lift if you feel any twinge, take the day off and maybe go to a lighter weight.

        A year ago I went to 20 pounds. Increasing the reps slowly along the way. I have another dumbell that has a screw ends, that allow you to add weights to it. With the bar wt of 3.3 lbs I had a total of 33.3 lbs. I used flat steel plates. So I now lift that weight 34 times then the 20 pounder 50 times, then the 33.3 pounder 33 times and again 30 times. I do each arm separately. So those 4 reps equals 4,000 pounds. I do this each day 5 times for a total of 20,000 pounds( this includes the total for both arms). The definition is showing after 1 month. So I started off real slow and developed a foundation within me. From that solid foundation the pushing off was way easier. When you have total command of the weight and can do it for a month then you can add a little more weight.

      You have to want to do it first. For any progress to be realized. It requires work and determination. Losing weight was my first goal, I set in motion. I started 5 1/2 yrs ago. I hit 260 pounds. I said that does it, diet tomorrow. I'm a foodie so it has been hard but now I'm at 200. I didn't think it would take so long. Glad I did it. 

      When you have success, it builds confidence. You then want to apply it to other areas of your life. It is so so worth it. These dumbells have made me stronger and added to my confidence.