Day 358-360: Just Stuff U Wanna Read

Hope all had a fantastic weekend!. I did; highlights:
Wife bought me a new LaZBoy chair to replace the LaZBoy she bought some 11 years ago.
Dinner with my wife & mother at Bonefish Grill.
Watching (on TV) Matt Kenseth win the NASCAR race in Texas.
Watching the Blackhawks secure a playoff spot even though they lost their final game of the season.
Getting in an outdoor walk with my wife.
Going to the DMV on a Saturday morning, wait; that was NOT a highlight!

Yeah, I know it is Tuesday and that weekend well wish may be a day late. Took Sunday off from blogging and yesterday just too busy to get here. Almost made the time but just couldn't get the quality 10-15 minutes needed to write a post.

Question: How long does it take you to write your typical blog post? I know some can bust their typical post out in 5 minutes, others need an hour or more. Myself, 10-15 usually.

So the picture there to the top/left, what do you think that is? No, this is not a picture riddle. Has been a while since I've posted one of those, about time for another; soon I promise. But as I added in those two red circles to this cell phone photo of mine I wondered just what others might think I am highlighting...

A. That I started to draw a pair of googly-eyes and forget to finish?
B. My way of reminding myself that if I want to look so far away I need to remember to wear my glasses?
C. Using these circles meant to highlight something else?
D. Other?

My guess is more of you have D thoughts and if so please do share. While it is true both B & C apply here, C is what my intent is. As for A, I rarely draw googly-eyes but when I do, I am the Picasso or googly-eyes; just another of my many unknown talents now made public.

So the something else I am highlighting for you here is a pair of deer. The walk my gorgeous wife & I went on this past Sunday was at the Rollins Savanna, a place I have blogged about often. We just did the 2-mile segment versus the 3.6 mile full loop. Weather was amazing, it was this amazing...

Friday it was 50F'something, Monday 60F'something; great days sandwiching an awesome 84F Sunday. A freak temp spike for April for sure, not complaining for certain.

OK, back to the red circles, sorry had a momentary bout of bloggers ADD, aka as BADD. As I said there are deer in them circles, see them? No, of course you don't, neither do I. This photo was taken while my amazing wife & I were on that walk. I used my trusty Blackberry to snap that shot knowing full well it was futile. OK, it was an excuse to stop walking for a minute and look at lunch, I mean at the deer.

Trust me, there is a deer in each of those circles. I could see them clearly with my naked-eye, and not at all with the Blackberry camera; doesn't say much for Blackberry does it?

Gas prices continue to rise around here. Hard to find the cheap stuff under $4 now. Saw one yesterday that was $3.97, this however seems to be the norm north of Chicago & Cook County...

Last week John shared with me his horror of when he landed at Chicago's Midway airport and was shocked to see 4.29 for regular unleaded... ugh, soon that will make its way north to my pump I am afraid. Forgetting about gas, let me talk about John. Not that he has gas, not uncool correlation intended there. Rather let it be know John is way cool and you would be way cooler if you followed him. My opinion, for what it's worth. What is it worth by the way?

HAVE FUN!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 219 - Stairway to Heaven

Good morning, hope all had a great weekend. Welcome to a new week. A short work week for most of us. Perhaps some even are off of work entirely this week.

Our hunt this weekend was productive. As soon as I hit the publish button on this post I am off to take our deer to the processor. But the hunt was productive not just from a harvesting sense. Oh no, it had some serious exercise benefits too. Oh, and an NSV.

The land we own is basically farm land cut out of a forested hillside and hilltop. So each day we hunt I get in easily 3 miles of walking and generally 1/2 of that is uphill. Do the math, the other half is downhill. The deer stand I typically use is a crudely built tower stand out of scrap lumber. It sits 30 feet off the ground and access to it is via climbing straight up one side of it it over a ladder of 2x4's nailed into one side. Hey, we inherited it with the land, nobody I know would ever come up with such a crazy and dangerous design. But this stand is in a prime harvesting spot so I use it often.

My point, for a big boy like me, it is a serious workout to get up into this thing. And down from it. Saturday evening after getting up and down from it four times I was sore. The next morning I was sore sore sore. So sore that on Sunday I actually opted out of going up there. I know, lame on my part.

Because of this fact, I have renamed it the "Stairway to Heaven". Actually for two reasons. The first is I meant it when I said it is dangerous. One slip, wrong hand placement, and down you will go and off to heaven you will certainly go. The second is it reminds me of a USMC boot camp obstacle on a course called the confidence course which is named the Stairway to Heaven. Here is a picture of the obstacle for perspective...

source

As for the NSV I mentioned, I discovered I can sit Indian-style with my legs crossed. I don't think I have done that since when I was back in boot camp. I was shocked when I realized what I was doing. While walking the property to check in on the kids I stopped in on Andrew who was sitting on the hillside on a leveled out spot of dirt and rock that overlooks a fairly open field. We just discovered this location in October and have not had time to improve it and put a ground blind in, agenda item for next spring. So while sitting there and whispering I did so legs crossed. Huh, look at me Mom!

Ok, I need to get scootin and get off to the processor and then to work. If you are interested in more about our weekend of hunting you can go to my hunting blog. Warning, do not go there if you are bothered by photos of harvested wild game. Otherwise, stop on by and enjoy via this link HERE.

Have a great day, what did you do this past weekend!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 176 - Sunday Shout Some

It is weigh in day, however, I am not home today. Today I am some 4 hours north-west of home hunting in Vernon County, Wisconsin. I'll weigh myself tomorrow, or, maybe I won't. The same will be true next weekend too. Perhaps I won't weigh in for these next two weekends and put my mind to the test of not relying on the scale to reinforce that I am making progress. We'll see, what do you think?

What a gorgeous Sunday. Almost too gorgeous for deer hunting really. But I can't complain at gorgeous weather. What I do insist on doing here is sending out some shout outs to a few bloggers I've enjoyed this past week...

Bobbie aka Anonymous Fat Girl is enjoyed by many here and many more who have no clue who I am. Her blog, cool; her posts, cool; and her Fitness Warrior Wear, COOL! She unveiled her wearable site this past Wednesday and I must say, Bobbie and her fellow fitness warriors are looking intense and down right good in her gear. Check out her stuff and check her out if by chance you and Bobbie haven't crossed paths yet.

Carrie from My Healthy Journey Begins wrote a post this past week about trusting oneself which I both enjoyed and connected personally with. She talks of mindful eating which I find value in and am working and putting in mroe and more of my trust in. Carrie & I connected on twitter and she too is participating in the October Go The Distance Challenge which I gave a shout out to last Sunday.

Pictures, I have some more pictures for you. The picture up there is of my wife's shot glass collection. We had that display, and all of the hot sauce shelves you see below, custom made a year or so back. Over the past decade in our travels we've slowly built up our respective collections to the point they needed they out habitats.

I am not sure how many shot glasses she has, I'd guess 75'ish. My hot sauce collection is about 300 bottles...

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!