Pentagenarians & Beyond: April 27, 2025

Didn't get a lot of sleep, but I managed to do Lower/Upper Balance Discs w/SB Lying Stretch.

Valerie I did a bit of searching and it's too bad you couldn't see the culprit. Raccoons and opossums will eat corn, but generally prefer the actual corn on the cob. Raccoons will make a mess of whatever they are eating, so if things are at various angles and scattered about it's more likely to be them. Were there any prints left behind? Cats may nibble on greens and eat a bit of grasses, but they'd have no interest in that, especially roots. Really too bad something got in. I hope you get your ride in and that the shot your DH got is beneficial.

Diane Sue for some reason I have always acquainted Tai Chi with more of a mental balancing aspect than physical. Not sure why I'm guessing it can actually be both, depending on the persons goals.

Hi Carolyn, Judy and Shannon.
 
Cathy DH was blaming the cat but i didnt think so. we have a lot of alligator lizards in the area but they dont eat corn. they eat bugs, beetles etc. we grow corn every year and have not had issues with raccoons or possums before. footprints were not clear, dirt was just stirred up and plants dumped and chewed on. rabbits I doubt would jump into the coldframe. whatever.... we will replant direct seeding. we rechecked our trail cam that is downhill from the garden and saw a possum and one raccoon, squirrels, and a rabbit along with the fox and a coyote. the only new thing is the fox. we cant keep the lid down now because it heats up too much and will cook all the plants.

one thing I learned this year is deer eat lily shoots. we have loads of daylilies. i read they like those but they don't touch those. I bought some lily bulbs last year after growing a few small groups of lilies for several years without a problem. this year deer decided they will eat the shoots. footprints and churned dirt prove who did it, deer. i wish they DID eat day lilies. they spread like crazy and are impossible to dig out. these are Asiatic lilies if any of them try to grow after being chewed on aggressively.

i took the day off yesterday but we will ride this morning shortly.

we rode our usual 15 about an hour and a half with a long stop to look for mergs. only saw two. went early while still colder and quiet.
 
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Today I did Jane Adams Gentle Yoga, Morning Energy practice for 18 minutes. Yesterday we had a small unplanned family gathering. My brother, his wife, his adult daughter and son, and another nephew and his new wife came over for the afternoon. Everybody brought something and I made a couple of salads and some brownies. It was a great day. Two of my brothers live here in the metro area, but it’s about 60 miles between where they are and our house.

Diane Sue, great job with Raw Upper Body and Abs, foam rolling, Jessica Smith’s WS3 Lower Body and Boogie IT, and Jessica’s Gentle Yoga for Knees and Hips.

Valerie, great job with your therapy exercises and Stacked Sets Upper Body. I’m sorry that some critter ate your plants.

Cathy, I’m sorry that you had poor sleep last night. Nice job with Lower/Upper Body Balance Discs and Live 30 Minute HiiT Express and Restorative Yoga from yesterday.

Hello to Judy and Shannon.
 
Good morning, ladies. I hope you all had a good weekend. Saturday I helped Mom with yard work and took a load of bricks left over from a building project to the barn. My stubborn parents tried to do it on their own earlier in the week. I had to chastise them, not that it will do a bit of good. I also did my own yard work and took a five-mile walk. Sunday was indoor stuff, cleaning, etc., but I took another walk, and also took Sara for a few. Sara’s walks usually involve a lot of sniffing on her part and are much shorter because she has very short legs, LOL.

I see we have been talking about wildlife. Here’s a cool thing. Yesterday on one of Sara’s walks, I saw a very odd shadow flying over, looked up and saw it was a hawk carrying a snake! The snake was dangling from the hawk’s beak. I couldn’t tell what kind it was because it was too high up. I’ve never seen that happen before.

Cathy – Ugh, I’m sorry you didn’t sleep well. I know the feeling lately. Good job on getting in that workout anyway.

Valerie – I hope you find the culprit that ruined your corn, and more importantly, a way to deter it in the future. Critters are fun to have around until they mess with our stuff! I hope DH’s knee is better.

Carolyn – What a nice surprise gathering. I hope everyone had a good time.

Hello to Judy and Diane.
 
Today I did LIC Step and the premix Lean Legs & Abs - Bonus Barre (no core). Nice sunny day out, so I'm hoping to walk quite a bit. Going to start getting the car ready to go. I've never bothered with a phone holder, but wanted one this time. My cars dashboard is just not set up to easily put one somewhere. No vents with work at all. Found one that has both suction and adhesive options and I hopefully will be able to put it in a good spot. I'd rather not have it in the window.

Shannon that's a very cool sighting. I've never seen hawks carrying anything but rodents/birds. We often have accipiters in our yard and they prefer birds.

Carolyn I'm glad you were able to enjoy your time with family yesterday.

Valerie I don't know where they originally escaped from but Michigan roadsides have daylilies in a lot of areas. Generally in the countryside so they just make a colorful addition to the landscape. In random animal destruction, my Mom is still grumpy about the fact that years ago she had tulips along the sidewalk near the front door and a squirrel came along and took every petal off them!

Hi Judy and Diane Sue.
 
No workout for me today. My husband had a neurology appointment this morning.

Cathy, great job with LIC Step and Lean Legs and Abs Barre.

Shannon, sounds like a nice weekend with helping your parents, your own yard work, and getting in your walks.

Hello to Judy, Diane Sue, and Valerie.
 
Today I did LMR Upper Body, 49 minutes, 132 calories and LMR Functional Pilates foam roller premix, 22 minutes, 45 calories. Total time 71 minutes, 177 calories. My arthritis doctor changed my appointment for earlier so May 21 instead of 30th. I messaged him because I had not told him how the blood pressure lowered stopping the med and saw that it had been cancelled. I guess he had something else to do that Friday and it is his half day. Still waiting on my Bone density scan. No workout yesterday. I wish the rains would let up. There is a chance today, but right now it is not. Our yard was so full of water all of the mulch was floating out of the planters. Harvey likes the water wading and my house has lots of Harvey muddy foot prints. I mopped twice this weekend. Gertie used to avoid it which was odd for a lab.
 
Good morning. Yesterday I did my usual weight lifting, along with STS 2.0 abs #3, which is the one with the little fitness ball. It was a decent workout, but I wasn't really in the mood.

Has anybody heard about the huge earthquake that could happen in the Pacific Northwest in the next 50 years? Whew.
www.nbcnews.com

Cascadia subduction zone earthquake could be even worse than feared

A once-every-500-years earthquake in the Pacific Northwest could shake for five minutes and cause 100-foot tsunami waves. New research says that would be just the start of the horrors.
www.nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com

Cathy - I hope you have a good trip. When are you leaving? I tried a phone holder last summer when I went to California but ended up sticking it in the glove box. I didn't like it. Most of the time I just kept my phone in my lap.

Carolyn - I hope your husband's neurology appointment went okay.

Diane - I hope your arthritis appointment goes okay. I'm sorry you're still inundated with rain. Wow.

Hello to Judy and Valerie.
 
This morning I did IMAX 4, I hadn't done it in quite awhile and had forgotten that the evil one put squat thrusts in the 10th blast. The 10th one :eek: Then I did Upper Body Bliss, includes core. Beautiful day here. It was already at 70 at 6, and it's only going to mid-70's, so not too hot. Members only open at the zoo tomorrow, so I don't know if I'll get a workout in as I'm leaving a little after 8:00.

Shannon I leave a week from Thursday. going to start making a time list for packing. A lot of the stuff I'm taking along I can start packing now. The more I can get done early the better, since I'm taking so much along. I have a big blue IKEA bag packed with Derek's stuff and I told him that I'll be dragging it to the car and power lifting it in, and that HE will be carrying it into his apartment. LOL I'll be testing out the phone holder tomorrow.

Diane Sue dogs are so weird when it comes to whether or not they like water. Our two lab mixes would happily go out in the rain, but put them in a bathtub, that they considered cruel punishment.
 
Shannon...not "new" science but someone delved into it further. its been known for a loooong time that we are subject here to a massive earthquake in the PNW, from Washington state up thru Vancouver island. that could happen tomorrow....... or never. a 9.0. i grew up in the 50's and 60's before plate tectonics was known about. DH and I have taken several college level courses to learn about it. knowing all about it wont be a big help if it happens! weve had many small quakes. earthquakes happen all over all the time, its just when a big one happens somewhere, every one gets on high alert to them. like the big one in Sumatra on the early 2000's or the one in Japan that wrecked the Fukushima nuclear reactor. i vaguely remember the big alaska one. chile had a big one too but I dont remember when, but huge. think in the 1960's?
if we get a big quake it will be horrendous. (so i cant stand the idea of tornadoes but a big earthquake is a risk i decided i could live with) forget any idea you can get earthquake insurance! usually you just cant get it all, or all the clauses make sure hardly anything is actually covered, plus it is ridiculously expensive. like flood insurance in florida or fire insurance in CA. a big quake is considered in building codes and road construction but a lot of cities are along the water built on "fill", which will liquify in a quake, and then there is the likely tsunami to follow. Port cities are like that.
I have a quake alert on my phone. we have food and water extra clothes sleeping bags stored outside our house. we have a plan for getting out if one should happen. otherwise, you live with the risk and hope it doesnt happen.

I walked our yard yesterday for half an hour and did therapy work for 20 minutes.

today I did therapy and was planning on an upper body but we had a power out for a while just as I was heading down to do it. dont know why.

Ive seen hawks with fish, osprey and eagles with fish but not a snake. i saw one of our previous cats with a garter snake. it was hilarious, like he was doing a stir fry. he didnt hurt it and let it scoot away.
 
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Today I did ICE Chiseled Lower Body Blast, 48 minutes, 230 calories burned, average heart rate 115, and maximum heart rate 140. My husband’s appointment was fine with no changes to his current routine. Parkinson’s is a progressive disease and it’s been 10 years since his initial diagnosis. We see changes, but it’s manageable.

Diane Sue, great job with LMR Upper Body and Functional Pilates foam roller mix.

Shannon great job with your weight lifting and STS 2 Abs #3.

Cathy, great job with IMAX 4 and Upper Body Bliss.

Hello to Valerie and Judy.
 
Today I did CDorner 80's Basic Step Aerobics that I did a week ago and it stopped before the end. This time I got to do the whole thing, 33 minutes, heart rate 133/158, 208 calories, 3,183 steps. I also did LMR functional Core Fusion, 32 minutes, 110 calories. Total time 65 minutes, 318 calories. It is still raining. They put flood warnings up till Thursday. I am glad I have no appointments this week.

Shannon, that would be fascinating seeing a hawk flying with a snake. Nice job on STS 2 Abs 3, and your usual weight workout plan.

Cathy, great job on I Max 4. Good job on getting through the squat thrusts and still having energy for Upper Body Bliss.

Valerie, I used to have daylilies and no problem, but they were in a flower bed. I liked that they came back every year. Trying to save a garden from critters sounds like a real pain.

Carolyn, good job on Ice Chiseled Lower Body Blast. I am glad your husband's Parkinsons has not changed and has been controlled.
 
diane sue, Our day lilies are in a flower bed but they spread by underground shoots and are impossible to dig up. our winters are mild here. they are nice when they flower but they are like bamboo and comeup feet away from the parent plant. . maybe not quite that bad, but bad. we have a lot of spreading ground cover plants and mostly i let them fight it out to see who wins. lily of the valley, oxalis, sweet woodruff, day lilies, adjuga, bishops weed, many more. spread everywhere.

carolyn your husband is lucky to have you to take care of him. thats a hard one to deal with. not everyone has the same response to meds.
 
Good morning, ladies. Yesterday I started to do All Out Low Impact HiiT, extreme premix. But I decided that my body really needed some stretching, so I stopped the DVD at the end of the original workout (after the disc segment), cooled down a bit and did a 30-minute stretch. So total workout time was an hour, more or less.

Does anyone ever get tired of exercising? Sometimes I find myself wondering what it would be like to just quit. Of course I actually know what it would be like, and I won’t ever just give it up. But sometimes I do get tired of it. I think some of that is because I’m bored with the same old DVDs.

Cathy – Way to go on the squat thrusts! What happens during Members Only Open at the zoo? Good luck with the phone holder, LOL.

Valerie – Oh, I didn’t think it was new science. I’m sure the geologists mapped everything out long ago. I had just never heard about such a huge quake potential up there. It was quite impressive to read about. I live a few hours away from the New Madrid Fault. You’ve probably heard of the earthquake back in the 1800s that made the Mississippi River run backwards. You should read about that fault. It’s very interesting to see how it’s so different from the ones out west. Because of the way it’s situated and the type of soil and rock it’s on, any earthquake will be felt over a much greater area than those out west. The big one was felt clear up in Canada. I think I was in my late 20s or early 30s when we had a series of small quakes (just rattled pictures on the walls) out here that were related to that fault. They put a seismograph in an old house down the road to record things.

Carolyn – Nice work on Chiseled Lower Body Blast. I really enjoy that one. I’m glad nothing major has changed with your husband’s Parkinson’s disease. My parents have a good friend who has it, and it’s very sad to see it progress.

Diane – Good job with the step workout and LMR Functional Core Fusion. I love 80s music. I’m really sorry about the flood warnings. I hope you’re not in a flood zone.

Hello to Judy.
 
Today I did KCM’s Cardio Quick Fix, workout one for 26 minutes and 201 calories burned. My average heart rate was 137 and maximum heart rate was 161. I had virtual WW meeting and another Zoom meeting this morning. It was a busy morning.

I wasn’t clear about my husband’s condition. The doctor didn’t change his treatment, but there is definite progression. I describe it as “more”. More problems with balance, more falls, more fatigue, more of everything. Valerie is right about the medications in that each person reacts differently and they have significant side effects. Given all of that, we are managing it okay at the moment.

Diane Sue, great job with CDorner Basic Step Aerobics and LMR Functional Core Fusion. I hope that you don’t have significant flooding. The weather has been big news for days.

Shannon, great job with All Out Low Impact HiiT extreme premix. The intensity of your workouts might be causing burnout. I try to vary my workouts so that I don’t feel like I’m doing the same thing over and over. Judy’s idea of taking a recovery week works well.

Hello to Valerie, Cathy, and Judy.
 
Shannon i had not heard about that earthquake. there is always more history to learn about , isnt there? i will look it up. i know the Mississippi river would like to change its course to the west and jump to another river basin, and engineers do a tremendous amount of work keeping it in the current path because of the mess it would create if it changed.

we mt biked this morning. i sure feel that we didn't mt bike much this winter. we did more road biking because it fit in better with the medical things we were doing, and the tree farm closed down its roads for a while for logging projects, mt biking is much harder than road biking. bike is much heavier, hills are much much steep and more challenging and it takes a while to get used to rough surfaces with rocks, branches and ruts. we havent used trails yet but stuck to roads, whihc are not very road-like. . around 6 miles and an hour and a half today. weve found several spots that definitely aren't the same as last season.

i do better if i take no more than two days off. or doing an easy day but doing still "something". a week is too long for me to not do something, everything wants to seize up and stop working. this was hard today, tomorrow we will do a road bike instead. Then we are doing a test overnight trip in our camper with the kitty. going to the state park we walk at all the time. if its impossible and we cant sleep with him, then its only a half hour trip to come home.

carolyn I hope your husband continues to respond to the meds and that you are able to keep him comfortable and support his greater needs.
 
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Today I did Lift Move and Restore Functional Barre with the bonus upper foam roller, 64 minutes, 207 calories. Tired today. Harvey decided to start whining in the middle of the night. I am not sure why, but I finally got up and took him outside and tried to fall back to sleep in the recliner, so I was in the room with him. He went back into his crate, and I left it open.

Valerie, I cringe at the thought of bamboo. I spent a lot of time getting rid of that at our last home. Why someone planted it in a corner of the tiny yard is beyond me. I also had a hard time getting rid of cannas that were planted along the drive and kept spreading all over. It was a silly place for someone to put them. They are not really bulbs, but a rhizome and it makes a difference.
Nice work getting in a mt bike ride today.

Shannon, nice job on the Low Impact Hiit Extreme and stopping and getting in a good stretch. I don't think I can ever stop exercising. I am better at taking some breaks than I used to, but I have always felt the day was just not right without some sort of workout. I get bored at times though and spend entirely too much time just trying to decide what I am going to do. Or start and stop workouts because they are not clicking with my mood. I am always happy to have new workouts to do.

Carolyn, nice work on Cardio Quick Fix today. I am sorry your husband is going through this. It is rough watching a loved one dealing with illness like that.

Hi to Judy
 
Happy May, everyone. We had a lovely thunderstorm yesterday evening. It was kind of nice to listen to it. It only lasted an hour or two, including the regular rain that came after the storm. Yesterday I did LMR Functional Mobility Fusion plus the little cardio bonus.

Carolyn – Thanks for explaining more about your husband’s situation. I’m sorry there is so much more of everything. I sure am glad he has you to help him through all this. Most of the time, I don’t think I work out too hard, and if I have an off day, I usually know when to back off. But I will admit that some things are changing, like I feel more “creaky” when I get up and down off the floor, etc. I can still do it easily, but I feel a difference. So that may make a workout harder than it used to be.

Valerie – Yep, always more to learn! I hadn’t heard that the Mississippi wants to change its course. It’s too bad we can’t let nature do it’s own thing. I wish we didn’t mess with the natural process of things so much. It’s going to bite us in the butt in the long run, and actually already is. I agree – a week is too long for me to do nothing, as well. I think the longest I’ve managed is four days. And if I decide to take some rest days, it has to be when I’m on vacation and plan to do other active things. After sitting at a desk all day, the last thing I want to do after work is more sitting. Good luck with your overnight trip with Puss. I sure hope he enjoys it.

Diane – I hope you and Harvey both slept better last night. My mom has a cat who wakes her up all the time. Fortunately Sara stays quiet all night in my bedroom. There is no way I’d plant bamboo anywhere. Crazy invasive stuff. I get bored with my workouts too. I have a rotation that I wrote up so I can be sure to use most of my DVDs on a regular basis. But sometimes I look at the day’s selection and just can’t make myself do it.

Hello to Cathy and Judy.
 
I just wanted to do a quick check in. We are finishing up with the carpet install and other miscellaneous projects this week. It seems like every project we start leads to 2-3 new projects we hadn't planned on so it's been a little chaotic here. I'll try to catch up with posts later today or tomorrow.
 
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