exercise

The Long Weekend

6 Comments Posted on by Snoskred

Our Easter long weekend was mostly a lot of lazing around. This year so far has been go go go for both of us, a lot of family outings, quite a bit of work for me, work and uni for the other half, just busy-ness in general.

Living in an area where a lot of tourists – referred to by some locals as another T word much less flattering – visit on long weekends, public holidays and school holidays, a staycation is your best way to avoid long queues, busy restaurants, sometimes badly cooked meals or meals you had to wait a very long time to arrive, and much traffic.

Once I left work on Thursday, we did not go near another shop and I will not until I go back to the shop tomorrow. Part of that is thanks to getting back into meal planning and a fortnightly shop.

We did go out for one long walk down to our former neighbourhood Callala Bay / Beach. We chose that instead of Huskisson as they were having a rather large event. They do have quite a good network of walking and cycling paths down that way now, so it is always a more peaceful option we can use if Husky/Vincentia is crazy busy.

We are never quite sure if a decision will be a good one until we are on our way there. In this case we feared the worst because the traffic was quite heavy on the way down but once we got there the people all went different ways and the walking paths were mostly free of insanity.

We did a 10km run/walk. I like to split my 10kms into two halves because the first 5km is where I usually run – in this case it was the first 2km and then some sprints – and the second 5km is a bit more leisurely. It was very hot out – almost 30C (86F) so we paced ourselves.

Part of this was through the neighbourhood known as Benton Sands which is a very lovely development. They have a community centre and pool and I believe the plantings were all supposed to be Australian native plants which does make for a more natural environment. It also does mean a bit more hayfever at this time of year, at least for us.

We passed this large group of swans feeding. I’ve never seen this many swans in one place at one moment before.

We ended up at the Boat Ramp on our way back to the car which is always great entertainment on a long weekend. It was absolutely packed with cars and boat trailers. BOATS AKIMBO. Absolute madness!

At home there was much coffee..

And cake.. which made me fit in another 5km run on Monday around our home block, in which I encountered a very large spider just hanging out on the ground for no apparent reason and let out an incredibly loud scream as a surprise to myself and though I did not ask I suspect also as a surprise to the spider. I went back and took a photo, which I suppose is a step in the right direction towards not being quite so terrified of those creatures. I will not share it here because That Is Not How I Roll.

At home there was The Bus at least once a day, AKA Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I’m not much into the Marvel universe at the best of times and I couldn’t tell you anything about the movies but I love this show and their bus – aka the massive plane – is super cool.

I also binged Season 5 of Bosch which was deeply excellent, caught a few episodes of various shows which I am watching weekly at the moment in particular Line of Duty, LOVING Project Runway with Christian Siriano as the mentor, 24 Hours in Police Custody, COPS, and my one hate watch, Sister Wives. I like the wives, I just HATE the guy and therefore it is beyond my understanding how he has collected up 4 wives who can stand to spend as much as one minute near him.

Sephyroth and I caught up for a lovely video chat in which he updated me about a work conference he went to, sounds like it was awesome. I caught him up on all our happenings here.

I brought home the work laptop for the weekend so I could try and clear out some extra space on there, deleting useless games and various Windows junk which nobody wants or needs.

I also sat down with the Spreadsheet Maestro AKA The Other Half and we created a couple of things which will make my work life a lot easier. I’m fired up and super excited to get back to work today, then I have a couple of days off in which I will run quite a bit, and then a little more work.

How was your weekend – long or short? :)

coffee, exercise, food, Home, television shows

Fitness February Wrap Up

1 Comment Posted on by Snoskred


This is the last section of path to be completed in Vincentia, it is one of my favourite parts – this used to be asphalt and poorly laid asphalt at that. They have added a carpark here, too.

Fitness February is done and dusted. I have two walks to add – both of these were with family so not my usual speedy pace.

On Monday afternoon we went down to Vincentia and Huskisson for an afternoon walk and we were planning coffee, but we ended up with pizza and gelato instead at The Cheesy Grin. That added 4.5km to the monthly total.

Tuesday I did 30 minutes of Beat Saber after work and managed a perfect score on my favourite song Escape. I also got a bit better at Gangnam Style and totally failed Rasputin. It is a very hard level, so I switched No Fail on, but I still struggled to make it through the song.

Wednesday I took the day off mostly, until my aunt and my cousin’s wife went for a walk around the block with me. That added 1.3 to the total.

Thursday while you may not see any specific sustained exercise, we did four runs to the dump, which was a bit of a workout in itself.

Mon: 4.5km
Wed: 1.3km

Final February Total – 156.78km

My goal for the month was 140km. so I beat that by 16km.

I’m not sure what goal I want to set for March. At the moment I am setting a weekly goal of 20km per week, and we’ll see how that goes. :) I’d like to do two 5kms and one 10km per week if possible, and add in some shorter nightly walks but we’ll see what happens.

exercise, Fitness February 2019

Fitness February Check In – Almost Done

2 Comments Posted on by Snoskred

I don’t have a lot of activity to share with you this week. I managed to injure myself on Monday which put me on the sidelines for the next few days.

We did the bush track and while walking there was the usual ship and helicopter landing activity out in the bay which I find quite fascinating and somehow I managed to step wrongly on a rock and fall over. I bruised my foot and pulled some muscles. Because I’d set a low goal for this week, I decided not to tempt fate and risk making this worse by walking on it until it felt better.

I did not get back out on the track until Friday, but I did do some Berry walking on the Thursday, I didn’t bother to count that. At some point during the Friday walk I believe I met my February goal of 140kms, while dodging the event set up for the Husky Triathlon Festival. I ran the first km of this, but took it easy after that.

Saturday I decided to walk near to home so you don’t get a map today. This walk met my 20km goal for the week.

Mon: 05.07
Fri: 11.68
Sat: 03.51

Total – 20.26

February total thus far 150.98

On Friday there was a low flying helicopter, I managed to grab a photo. :)

With only three days left of February to go, I’m not setting any goals for these three days but I will be setting some goals for March. I believe if I did not set goals it would be far too easy to not go walking or running – there are so many things that I could do which are not that, and a lot of things this month have been set aside in order to hit my February goal.

exercise, Fitness February 2019

Fitness February Check in – Halfway There.

5 Comments Posted on by Snoskred

A little more than halfway.. there are only 10 days left in February. Unfortunately for me, I am working 5 of those days and three of those days are a long day, not my usual short and sweet 5 hour shift. So those days are probably going to be 2kms max, and knowing this was coming I tried to stretch my walks over the past week.

Monday – I headed out after work for a quick 5km. As I’d had a little argument before leaving work, I was a touch angry which meant I was in the mood to run and push myself hard.

So this was a speedy 5km in lovely but quite windy weather, about 25C (F). I was expecting to experience muscle soreness the next day but I did not, which is a sign to me I can start to push even harder if I want to.

Tuesday – Another quick after work 5km, this one took slightly longer because it was super hot – 39C (f) – and windy. I did a few sprints but mostly walking.

Wednesday – Last week I said it wasn’t realistic for me to expect to do a 10km on a work day and to be fair it probably is not most of the time, unless all the stars align in the correct pattern. Today they did – I got out on time, the weather was perfect with no thunderstorms on the horizon, and by the time I got to the starting point I realised I had enough time to walk a 10km if I wanted to and still get home at a reasonable hour to make dinner.

Strangely this was the quickest 10km I have done yet, coming in at just over an hour and a half and that was even with 5 minutes spent stood still watching helicopters land on a navy boat out in the bay. Hard to get a good photo of it though.

Thursday – I decided to really stretch out my walk today and planned a 15km walk. I did kick off with a quick 1st kilometer. After that I did throw in a few 100m sprints here and there. But somehow my maths was wrong, and when I hit 15kms I was still quite some distance from the car. Just under one and a half kilometers away to be precise.

That last 1.5km I had a very sore left calf and I was worried that this might become a longer term problem but that afternoon I had a pedicure with a massage and that helped to fix it. Just recovery walking tomorrow, though.

It was so beautiful out there, 24C slightly on the cooler side for me but a few sprints warmed me up nicely.

Friday – I did two walks today – one in the morning which was a run/walk, and a second walk in the afternoon which was more a shopping walk but I got in 1.65km in the process by parking further away and walking quite a long way between shops.

The morning walk was a sweaty event as there was not much breeze today and thus I became quite warm. I ran a fair bit of the first two KMs then just kept up a high pace with a few 100m sprints. This was a very good time for a 10km for me, I was very happy with that. Especially as I felt like it was a struggle while doing it, and I thought I was going to take half an hour longer than I had hoped.

The afternoon walk was in Berry heading to a shop that is in the process of closing. It happens to be one of my Aunt’s favourite shops and I got some super specially priced yarns for her as a surprise. She arrives here next week on the Wednesday.

Saturday – we did the bush track and a bit of the path today. I knew anything more than 6km I would hit my goal, but we kept going a bit further as it was so lovely out.

I mean, does it really get any better than this? Spending so much time out walking the bay is my favourite thing. :)

Sunday I took a day off from walking but not a day off from exercise – see this video. This is a far different form of it than I am used to, but essentially this is what is happening in the man cave right now.. :) my arms are like jelly, I can hardly type. It is a virtual reality game called Beat Saber and it is super fun. In fact I believe this is exactly what virtual reality was designed for.

Mon: 05.31
Tue: 05.51
Wed: 10.56
Thu: 16.49
Fri: 11.81
Sat: 07.51
Sun:

This weeks total 57.19 (to Fri)
February total thus far 130.72

To complete my goal I only need one more 10km walk and I will definitely manage that in the next 10 days. I’m going to take my foot off the pedal slightly and focus on shorter faster run/walks, setting a quite low goal for this week of 20km. The Other Half has two weeks holidays now and we want to get some decluttering done around the house so that will be my main focus once I’ve hit that goal. Other than trying to master Gangnam Style in Beat Saber.

exercise, Fitness February 2019

Fitness February Check In

2 Comments Posted on by Snoskred

Monday – I had an appointment in Nowra on Monday 4th February so I did a 5km wander around town while I was there. I figure take the chance to get my walk in wherever I can! Though I did get held up by traffic lights more often than I would like, the terrain was different as was the wildlife – I never see ducks on my walks down at the bay.

We did have a plan to go walking after The Other Half got home from work but I wasn’t sure how the weather would be. At least this way I got my 5km in for the day, anything extra is bonus distance. It was pretty warm out there, 31C (87.8F) and super humid, so this first walk was a sweaty adventure.

We did end up getting out for a second walk, and that one was down at Vincentia with a sea breeze, much nicer, zero traffic lights and not so humid. We did some running too. This brings the distance for Monday to 10.78km.

Tuesday – was pretty crazy. There was a large yacht in the bay which distracted me once I spotted it. Maybe I have watched a little too much Below Deck. ;)

I thought I was way off the pace for the first 5km so I pushed really hard and it turned out I was actually spot on with the pace. Not sure why the maths in my head wasn’t working, but I am feeling this workout in my thighs right now.

As I finished the 5km it began to lightly rain. I’m not going to let some rain get in my way, so I kept going. However I decided to just slow down and enjoy the walk, and somehow lost track of my distance. So I ended up doing an extra KM as a surprise.

Wednesday – was a work day and I have to be realistic about this – there is no way I can fit in a 10km on a work day. I actually took this as a rest day as I had done 3 solid days of exercise in a row. But it was the worst I have felt on any day yet! I was so tired. I found myself falling asleep in my recliner while dinner was in the oven and I went to bed early. I am going to make more of an effort and try to work in a 5km on work days but even 1km is better than nothing. At the moment with daylight savings it is do-able, I just have to plan it well.

Thursday – I had a dentist appointment, but right after that I headed out. I did not set any pace goals, I just walked for distance today.

It was very windy and wavy out there so there were a bunch of kite surfers enjoying the conditions. It felt great to be out there walking but I am feeling it in the backs of my lower legs today.

Friday – we got out for a quick 5km after work. I did not even take a photo, we were so focused on getting this 5km done fast as thunder clouds were threatening from a distance.. And fast it was. Mostly 100m sprinting, then 100m walking. I wanted to push myself hard today, do a recovery 10km on Saturday, and then I have 4 days of work in a row so I will need to walk at the usual pace on those days.

When we got home the thunderstorm hit, and wow did it ever hit. The Other Half went out to his car to get his phone just as it kicked off, and he wasn’t able to make it back to the house for some time, he was stuck out by the shed where he watched all the water not go into the rainwater tank – because it is full. Meanwhile I was watching a leak develop in the Delicate Nirvana, which will need sorting before the next storm.

Saturday – The Other Half and I took the bush track to Hyams and back, then a bit of the normal track to make up a 10km.

It was a gorgeous day about 28C (82.4F) with plenty of sea breezes to cool us off.

Sunday – I had to work, so once I was done we did the bush track again to make a 5km. It was 26C (78.8F) and gorgeous out, so while we kicked off with some sprinting runs, after we got to 2.5km we slowed right down and just enjoyed the bush track.

The totals for this week –

Mon: 10.78
Tue: 11.00
Wed: 00.00
Thu: 10.31
Fri: 05:03
Sat: 10:31
Sun: 05.02

Previous week total : 21.08
This week total : 52.45
February Total: 73.53

Overall it has been an excellent week even with my weird one day on one day off work schedule I’m not sure if I really liked it. I’m more of a work all my days in a row and then have time off. Next week I work the first 3 days, so those will be 5km days, the remaining days will be 10km weather permitting on all of those walks, of course. I will walk in rain no problems but not a thunderstorm and we’ve been having a lot of them just lately. The distance goal for next week is 55km.

exercise, Fitness February 2019

February Goals

4 Comments Posted on by Snoskred

This year I am getting back on the focused exercise train. Too much work, allowing some undesirable foods to creep back into the diet and not enough walking or running have seen a small weight gain on the scales. Not much, because I am doing something about it before it continues, but enough to make me feel slightly uncomfortable.

I wasn’t really sure what kind of goal to set. I did a few walks in January and generally felt they went ok, but I would like to get back to running again. I also wanted to get some serious distance in across the month BUT I have to be realistic about it.

In general I work 3 days a week at the moment but that could increase without much notice as a surprise to myself, in fact I could be called in to cover at the last minute. Making plans and appointments is a bit difficult for that reason. I just have to be prepared.

What I’d like to do at the end of the month is take my mileage and divide it by 28 and it works out to 5km per day. That means I would have to walk 140km in the month of February. I could do it as 14 10kms, which leaves me free days if I don’t get a chance to walk. Is it doable? Who knows. But I know when I set a goal I like to smash it, so.. we will see. I’ll check in once a week to let you know how I am going. We are now 3 days into Fitness February so here is the first check in.

I kicked off the day before February began – this walk will not count to the February total, but I’m just going to put it here for the record.

On Friday February 1st, I did my first 10km for the year. I divided it up into two 5kms when I tracked it on my Fitbit because I set two different pace goals – 8 minutes per KM for the first half, and 10 minutes per KM for the second half.

Friday was a really good day for it, overcast with cool temperatures of just 22C (71.6F) and not much breeze – it would have been too cold for me if there were one.

For the first 5km I ran 100m out of every 500m, which might have been a bit ambitious but felt ok at the time. The next day I was a bit sore and I had to work plus we had family over for a BBQ so I couldn’t go for a recovery walk on Saturday. But I made up for that on Sunday.

I did not set pace goals for Sunday, I really just wanted to stretch out and try to sort out the muscle soreness. My plan was to walk 45 minutes in one direction, then return back to the car.

It was a gorgeous hot sunny day, about 27C (80.6F) with a strong sea breeze. It turned out I needed a bathroom visit mid-walk and I decided to keep going to my preferred bathroom rather than stop at the most used one at Moona Moona creek, which was absolutely packed. This added an extra 1.5km onto my walk, and some extra time as well. It was ok, I wasn’t in a hurry.

In fact every carpark was packed and I couldn’t get my usual favourite spots, so I will have to keep that in mind for Saturday and Sunday walking this month.

February Total so far – 21.08

exercise, Fitness February 2019, Snoskred Lives

Fitness At Home

4 Comments Posted on by Snoskred

gymroom

My main fitness goal for 2018 is muscle toning and core strength. I’m great at cardio, I can run a full 5km without stopping thanks to the couch to 5k program. I did a pilates and yoga class last year and it nearly killed me. For two weeks afterwards anytime I moved a new muscle screamed at me, one that I never knew existed before.

I decided it was time to invest in some new fitness equipment. In December 2017, I bought the Pilates Body Toner from TVSN. I have been using that at least 5 days a week and can feel a big difference. I’ve cobbled together my own workout which I follow, it is based on this 11 minute express workout, but I have added in some other exercises and removed some of the ones I consider to be quite silly, like the Statue of Liberty.

yogadummies

I combine that with yoga at least twice a week. I follow this youtube video “Yoga for Dummies” which is quite long time wise, it runs about 52 minutes and a lot of that could easily be edited out to make it shorter. What I most like about this workout is, she fully explains how to get into these positions properly. I’m already better at these positions, I can do positions I never could before eg Tree, and I tried her second shorter video, too.

yogacat

I have always loved step aerobics. I used to go to the gym super early in the morning and do a step aerobics class, it was fantastic. Youtube has made it a lot easier to find step aerobics classes I can do without having to go anywhere. All you need is a step and a way to watch the video.

I grabbed about 10 different step classes and added them into a folder, and I have been working through them. My favourite instructor so far is Jenny Ford. She has quite a lot of classes available on her youtube channel.

jenny1

If you’ve never done step but would like to give it a try, you could start with her beginner class – it runs for 25 minutes and it has 4-5 very easy to follow steps. I love the simplicity of this workout and it *really* is a workout. The music that kicks in when it hits 62% is my favourite and I love the side to side steps around that time.

I do find her shoes quite distracting and I don’t love that she waits until right before changing the move to tell you what the next move will be, but once you have followed the class once you can pretty much remember what the next move is. If you want to have a longer workout, you can just skip back to the start. I wait until I get to 83% and then I skip back, adding in an extra 20 minutes.

Another great channel which is a hard core workout and not recommended at all for beginners is Yvette Bachman. These are recordings of real classes, which is fun. This was the first step workout I tried and I made it about 25 minutes in. This is a very tough workout, and I am working my way up to being able to finish a whole class.

pbt

Happy cat is helpful. She likes to join me for any workout, and will quite often sit on my yoga chair and swipe at me while I am trying to do tree position.

exercise

7 Days Of Jervis Bay

4 Comments Posted on by Snoskred

day1

Day 1 – a group of tourists take a selfie on the beach while the dolphin boat heads out.

I have lived near Jervis Bay for over 10 years now. You would expect that the stunning effect would eventually wear off. I’m here to tell you, it does not. There are days when the beauty stops me in my tracks and I cannot help but stare.

day2

Day 2 – swimmers are surprised by a pod of dolphins on their way to meet the Dolphin Boat.

There are days when I reach my “goal” of however many KM that I set myself, and decide to just keep going instead. However the past 2 days I have not been able to get to the bay due to a long weekend and I knew this would happen so I made sure to add on an extra 5km to my 10km walk on Friday. Traffic was bad on Friday. I got stuck at one notorious intersection for over 20 minutes.

Long weekends are great times to do a lot of work at home when you live in a holiday destination but you have to plan ahead, make sure you have everything you need well before the weekend, and choose your moments – and places – if you do need to get out and get something as a surprise. Between 5-8pm on Saturday and Sunday are generally good times to go places as long as you are not wanting to eat out in a restaurant.

day3

Day 3 – The dolphin boats await their passengers.

I have been trying to get to the walking tracks at least 6 out of 7 days for the past 3 weeks. The weather has been excellent. I would actually prefer it to rain because we really need it. If it did rain, I would still go for my walk. Thunderstorms and lightning, not so much.

day4

Day 4 – Kayakers head out into the bay.

Lately my photos have not been doing any justice to what I am seeing with my eyes. It might be time to replace this camera. Here you see 7 photos from my most recent 7 days at the bay. Most of the photos should enlarge if clicked on, except for day 6.

day5

Day 5 – Rays of sunlight break through the clouds.

It is school holidays here. I don’t mind the extra people about. It is so lovely to see more people enjoying the bay. Everyone I pass says hello. I do mind them being endlessly inconsiderate of others walking the path – and alternately being completely unaware of anyone around them which means I tend to scare them when I walk or run past them – littering – and somewhat memorably last week someone set fire to the toilet paper in our public toilets.

day6

Day 6 – I made a lizard friend.

I do think sometimes I could use a bike bell to let people know I am approaching, but I wonder exactly where I would put it. Both my wrists are spoken for – one with my fitness watch, the other with my camera cord. Maybe I should wear a bell around my neck, like a cat or dog.

day7

Day 7 – Shark Net beach is usually very calm, perfect for swimming.

I also do mind when they cannot allow the beauty of the bay to distract them from their problems and issues. I overhear things. Who cares about work, you are not there right now, you are here in the bay, enjoy it!

Sure, none of the overheard things are “No Mummy, PLEASE, NOT the mineral water, Mummy!” which was our most remembered overheard snippet of conversation ever, in a supermarket in Adelaide and we have been laughing about that ever since. We have no idea what Mummy does with the mineral water but we have imagined many things. More than likely the child wanted Coca Cola instead.

What is your most remembered overheard snippet of conversation?

exercise, Fitbit, Jervis Bay

It Turns Out, I Am A Runner.

5 Comments Posted on by Snoskred

background
My windows desktop background image. Why did I choose this, when I was not a runner?

At the start of 2016 I set myself a simple main goal for this year. Eat less, move more.

I love to walk, I always have. I was never someone who enjoyed running. I saw the value in it, especially in short sprints to raise my heart rate during workouts. I did it, but I did not LOVE it. Nor did I think I ever would love it.

I began aqua jogging regularly and discovered that I quite enjoyed that. Though I find people look at one weird, when one is doing it. Or maybe that is just me and the way I do it, because I do sprints in the shallow end to get my heart rate where I want it, then I walk the pool for a lap, back to sprints, back to the walk.

160heartrate

As time went on, I got better at running. I could do it for longer. I began to feel STRONG when I did it. I watched my legs change the more I did it. The muscles started to stand out more.

One day, I ran for a full kilometre on the treadmill. It took somewhere around 7 minutes. This was amazing to me. How is it possible that I could do this, when I used to struggle running for just one minute?

After that, I began to increase my running time during workouts. I began to challenge myself, to watch my times, to note personal best times. I walked, then *ran* up and down beach stairs. I worked on my cardio at Aqua Aerobics. I got my 1km time down to 6 minutes.

stunner

My fitness level is the best it has ever been in my 41 years on this planet. I have lost over 20kg (44 pounds) now. My nutrition is the best it has ever been. I am drinking protein shakes daily, which I never expected I would do. The best part – I am actually enjoying all of this.

I still never thought I would want to – or be able to – run long distances like 5km or 10km. One week, I walked 75km and some of that – in fact quite a bit of that – was running.

totalmileswalked

Then August 21st happened. For weeks I had been seeing signs down at the my usual walk, telling me of running events due to happen on the 21st. HA, I thought. I won’t be down here that day, it will be crazy busy.

When the day happened, it was gorgeous out. Grumpy was due to have surgery that week and I knew this might be my last chance to get out for the next week, so I checked the times for events online and found it would all be over fairly early, but there was another run due in the afternoon. If I went right then, chances were I would have the path pretty much to myself. Within 20 minutes I was in the car and on my way.

husky1

I thought – I’ll just run a little bit, then walk, then run a little, then walk. It turned out more like Forrest Gump. I just kept running, pausing only 7 times to take photos.

21082016first5k

(the blue line = pace, the red line = heart rate)

That is my personal best time for a 5km, ever. I did not stop there – I went on to walk/run another 5km that same day. The second 5km was slower and I did walk for more of it.. however the running in this case was sprints rather than an even pace. In total, I ran more that day than I ever have before. I expected to be in a world of pain the next day, but I was not. I did a recovery 5km walk, and the following day I ran 2.5km out of my 5km.

21082016second5km

I have since run another full 5km with only 3 pauses for photos. I would not call them stops, because it was literally pause, take the shot, back to running. I am running 2.5km out of my treadmill 5kms, and that is only because my treadmill gets too hot if I run a full 5km.

I enjoy running.

I am as shocked to type those words as you likely are to read them. :)

exercise

Around Here

4 Comments Posted on by Snoskred

freezing

It was Saturday morning, and I was sitting in my pyjamas drinking the morning coffee and doing a bit of reading. The Other Half was headed out to the Man Cave, and he said “Shall I let the chooks out?” I said, sure, not even thinking that there were strong wind warnings, because the caffeine had not kicked in yet.

Maybe 20 minutes later, while I was playing Cascade on my phone, I noticed an incoming call from The Other Half on his mobile. Before I could even think what the heck, I answered it. “I need your help out here” he said, out of breath. It sounded like he was fighting spiders, or snakes, or some kind of bad thing was happening, then he was babbling on about the padlock. What padlock, I was thinking? “I don’t understand what is going on” said I.

“Rosie has escaped the yard, she flew over the fence and I am trying to catch her, and if you open the side gate I might be able to shoo her in there, but at the moment I am not even sure where she has gone”.

So I raced to the bedroom to throw clothes on, then ran to the backdoor and put on my new gumboots, then ran to the back gate and tried to open the padlock. No go. It had rusted over. I yelled over the fence that I would swap with the other half because I could not open it, and ran around the side of the house. By the time I got out the front I heard this tremendous squawking and then I saw The Other Half emerge from the bushes, Rosie firmly grasped between his two hands.

He was covered in blackberry thorn scratches. She appeared to be fine, other than being very upset about being caught! She is a small chook, and when she gets separated from the other girls she will run like a bat out of hell to catch up with them, and if that does not seem to be fast enough, she will fly. On this morning, being quite windy, she got a little more lift than she expected and sailed over the fence as a surprise to herself.

It will be a few days before we recover enough from this incident to let them out again. I might have to head out down the side lane with the clippers and remove some of those blackberry bushes for everyone’s safety. One night recently, we heard someone using a chainsaw in the dark, the next day I found someone had been cutting up trees for firewood down there. Not a smart move, methinks!

What else have we been up to here, besides chasing chooks?

framingmrrobot

Watching – The X Files – we are up to season 8 finally! Plus, Mr Robot is back and it has been amazing thus far. I’m also enjoying season 3 of Murder In The First and The Deadliest Catch.

Freezing – bananas, strawberries, and pineapple for protein smoothies. Namely this Lava Flow recipe with protein added. I am going to try this carrot cake one next..

Ordering – protein in bulk from bulk nutrients, and k/d cat kibble from My Pet Warehouse.

Building – New IKEA furniture – a story for another post. :)

Cleaning – the house like a crazy person as our vet did a home visit for Grumpy. Guess who spent two hours cleaning the bathroom and toilet in case the vet needed to use them, which of course she did not? They are super spotless now though, which is awesome. And that two hours does not include the four or so hours I spent deep cleaning the kitchen/lounge the day before, or the hours we spent vacuuming and mopping the floors the day before that.

Considering – We’ve realised that Grumpy gets very stressed out having to go to the vet, and that was actually making her eye ulcers worse than better. Any progress we would make was wiped out the following visit because she got stressed about the previous visit. On this home visit, we were very glad to find no eye ulcers in the eye, however we are talking with the vet about corrective surgery for her eyelid as it keeps turning inwards.

goldcoast

Planning – Our Gold Coast – Tamworth – Bathurst trip with Sephyroth, this coming October. In the above photo the pink arrows point to the Peninsula Apartments, where we will be staying, and the blue arrows point to the Q1 which they were building on our trip up there in 2003.

Listening – I made two MP3 CDs for my nephew recently, for his new car. The first two burned wrong for his car, something about folders and playlists, but they work ok in mine, and so I have been greatly enjoying them. It is all 80’s music, all kinds of stuff from I’m Too Sexy by Right Said Fred to Gold by Spandau Ballet. We burned them correctly on the second try and loaded them into his car as a surprise. He sent me an SMS after he drove home in the car to say how awesome the first CD was, and he was right!

Wondering – just who the heck this person is that I seem to have become. I went to Aqua Aerobics last week but the warm indoor pool was closed. My options were – go home or get in the outdoor pool and do some aqua jogging and swimming in there. It was 17C (62.6F) outside, and the pool is heated to 25.2C (77.36) and normally there would be NO WAY IN HELL I would get in an outdoor pool at these low for Australia temperatures, but I was determined to do my exercise, so I GOT IN.

Playing – Cascade and Tiny Tower Vegas on my phone. I do not play a lot of games these days but I LOVE Cascade, it is a bit more difficult than your average gem matching game

I have been playing Tiny Tower Vegas for probably 6 months now, just when I’m going to bed or waking up in the morning. I have 68 levels most at level 7 and 8 – I believe the game runs out of levels just over 100. I also have 1212 chips – and I did not cheat! I just ran out of time to play the poker games and the chips have been stacking up as a surprise to myself.

Chickens, country life, exercise