Dog Day Afternoon

Sunday was a gorgeous Autumn day! We went to the gym and I took a walk in the morning, but in the afternoon we still had spare energy and decided to take our hounds to one of their favorite places. This public space is just blocks from our house! It is beautiful but not the sort of place a human goes to crank out exercise as the terrain is too rocky and in a lot of areas there aren't even paths. It's more for wanting to enjoy nature and savor a beautiful day. We rarely encounter anyone here except for wild turkeys and ground hogs. Sadly, very few people hike through here, but that works out for our dogs, Beau and Zeke, as we let them run off-leash here.


The ground is carpeted with beautiful leaves this time of year. Today was perfect -- as if mother nature knew we were coming and decorated everything just for us. I also love the smells of autumn-- there is nothing like a New England forest in October -- the colors, the smells, the crunch of leaves and acorns under your feet.

Don't know what sort of nest this is -- wasp? hornet? But it was HUGE! I actually took this from a distance and used my zoom lens-- just in case there was anyone home. LOL

So many kinds of pine trees-- OMG, the smell! I love it!

Beau and Zeke blend in with the scenery. They are both rescues and Beau is quite elderly. He has cushings disease and must be on medication that costs us a fortune. They are the best dogs though. I swear they are grateful for having a home. There's a GREAT story about the day I met Zeke and brought him home-- there's a spiritual element to the story and I will tell it here sometime soon.

Ooooo, pretty!

This Pine tree went down in a recent storm

Poor old Beau tries to keep up with Zeke -- who zooms around at the speed of light!

Creeping Hemlock is all over and makes interesting patterns that I love to photograph!

I love the colors! Doesn't this sort of thing make you so thankful to have eyes?

I don't know what this is called but I love it.

The "mountain" is Connecticut Blue Stone. This indigenous rock is actually a beautiful pale blue. Photos don't capture its beauty! We fashioned a stone retaining wall out of it on our property and it looks spectacular.

These red berries are so pretty.

I haven't a clue what this is but it sure is pretty.

A survivor. It found a little space and thrived. If it can do it, so can we!

I had a great day on Sunday! DH wanted to go to the gym early so I had him drop me off about 2 miles away so I could get a walk in. Once I arrived at the gym I hammered my upper body with heavier weights than what I usually use. I worked my chest, back and arms to failure and was drenched in sweat by the time I finished.

Once we got back home, I made us a delicious brunch of scrambled egg whites and tofu with onions, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, mushrooms and spinach. It was awesome! I sauteed the veggies first to soften them-- except for the spinach- which I add at the end so it is just wilted.

This was so satisfying that I wasn't really hungry for lunch, so I just waited until mid-afternoon had a protein shake and a handful of grapes to hold me over until dinner. My 6 meals a day eating schedule got messed up but I was never hungry so I guess that's ok.

Our housemate, Nina, went with her church group on a trip to a local apple orchard/produce farm where they let you pick your own stuff. She brought us back a number of apples that are simply delicious. I ate one with breakfast and it is so awesome to be eating something that was still on the tree just yesterday! MMmmmmm, YUMMY!

This is the week to post my progress pics and inches lost for the month so look for that towards the end of the week. I have pretty much been on target with everything so I expect to have a loss of at least a few more inches overall.

Yesterday I put on a pair of fleece pants that I bought in the spring and because of the amount of weight that I've lost, I can now pull them all the way up so that the waist band is under my boobs. Also, they were tight in the thighs and now are mega inches too big in the thighs. DH was laughing and said I look like an extra from the cast of REVENGE OF THE NERDS. All I need is a plastic pocket protector and some goofy glasses, as I already have the pants hiked up to the chest. LOL

That's it for today kids. I have a busy day with work. By the way, I think what I do for work may interest some of you so I will post about that this week too.

Be good to you today and get your week off to a strong start! I'll be making the rounds and reading all of your blogs! You guys rock!