Author: annemariedemyen

Wife, mother, grandmother dogmother - lover of nature, peace and tranquility. RETIRED. Life is good!

Week 21

by annemariedemyen, posted in Health and Fitness, July 2022

It has been twenty-one weeks since I began my fitness journey. In those weeks, there has been a lot to celebrate. Every week there has been some notable improvement to my health and fitness. That is pretty amazing.

Unfortunately, I am in a place where the improvements are becoming harder to come by and less notable. That is not terribly surprising. Regardless of what you do, how you do it, or how well you do it, there are challenges along the way.

So… My thoughts on week 21

#1. Humidity – Our temperature has finally begun to rise, we have had frequent short spells of rain and our humidity has risen accordingly. That may be great for something, but not so good for my lungs. Activity indoors or out is a struggle. I have kept up with my Zumba every day (except Sunday, which is my ‘rest and recover day) – but the struggle is real!

#2. Walking – I cannot believe that Molly and I have been walking daily for two weeks. It seems SO MUCH LONGER. I was so excited about walking our new pup. It was such a long wait until she was fully vaccinated and cleared to go. Now we are walking and it gets worse every day! Molly is getting somewhat better at dealing with the traffic, but…. The warmer weather has brought out the people in our neighborhood. These people seem to be worse than ever for tossing their litter on roads and sidewalks. Molly is distracted by each and every piece. Walking the walks is one ongoing chorus of “Molly come on!” And “Molly drop it!”. Walking in the park is somewhat less distracting but the mosquitoes are brutal and Molly stops regularly to roll in the grass or….

… strike a pose. 💞

#3. Cold showers – I think that I have had three cold shower experiences. When I decided to add these to my fitness routine, the main draw for me was the possibility that cold showers could help me to develop some brown fat on my body. Brown fat is the fat that insulates one body and burns calories to keep a body warm. Living in Saskatchewan and facing the prospect of walking Molly this winter, brown fat sounds like a pretty good idea, well worth the effort it takes to produce it. So, how have the cold showers been going? The first one started as a regular hot shower until I felt ready to go for it . I turned off the hot water and the blast of ice cold water was more than I was prepared for. I got out as fast as I got in. I approached my second cold shower a bit more cautiously. I got into a hot shower and gradually turned back the hot water a notch at a time, until I was hit by the blast of ice cold water. Then, once again, I beat a hasty retreat. Last night, I tried another route. I got into a cool to lukewarm shower. Every few minutes I went a little cooler. When it was cold – but not ice cold – I settled in for a two or three minute chilly dousing. I don’t know that it was enough to start producing brown fat cells but there were a couple of things that I did notice. After exiting my chilly shower, my skin felt smooth and there was none of the typical hot shower, or hot bath, dry itch. Also, my hair was smooth and soft. I have spent a lot on hair products in recent years, some with better results than others, but my hair always seemed dried and fried. Last night, not so much. Obviously, it is too soon to tell if I am sold on cold showers, but I am definitely not ready to throw in the towel.

#4. Sleep – For some reason I am struggling to get any decent sleep – even now that Molly has become a solid sleeper. I sleep for an hour, then I am awake for two, trying to figure out why my sleep is so filled with disturbing dreams. It’s not even nightmares as such. I dream that I am back at work and freaking out because I can’t remember when I last paid the company’s payroll taxes, or some other such nonsense. It is annoying, exhausting, and frustrating.

That is it for this week. I sure that things will turn around and that I will find I have made a big leap in progress one of these days. In the meantime – it is about the journey, not the destination. 😉

Take care and have a great day!💞

Cooling off after a walk in the park.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

by annemariedemyen, posted in July 2022

Yesterday was a rather challenging day for me.  I was just off, and while there were some bright moments along the way, there were some that were less than brilliant.

The Good! I received a few items that I ordered from Amazon.   This isn’t something that we do often, but for some odd reason there is a shortage of squirrel peanuts in our stores these days, so I put together a small order.

If you haven’t tried these crackers or salted nuts, they are both amazing.  I don’t know how Amazon sells Costco products.   Since I cannot handle Costco’s bare cement floors (or their location here), I really appreciate it.

I also got a sundress for myself, which is super comfortable and fits quite well. 

More Good!  I cleaned out my dresser drawers, tossed a number of items, and sorted and folded the rest.  I noticed that somehow, something had slid under the bottom drawer so with some finagling and some help from Molly, a ruler, and a small flashlight, I found a favourite pair of socks, a couple of bras, and SEVERAL unopened packages of pantyhose from my office days.  Weird – I always wondered where they went.  

The Bad! While my morning walk with Molly was pretty good yesterday (as our morning walks generally are), the evening one was bad.  I had a bruised toe that was very painful, the mosquitos were terrible, and Molly was distracted and disturbed by every  barking dog we passed – and we passed a lot of barking dogs!

Also Bad! Since I started my mission to get fitter back in February, I have shaken things up every few weeks by adding new healthful activities (like walking Molly), improving my diet, and the like.    Yesterday I needed a shake up so I turned to something a few fellow bloggers, most recently Dwight from Faded Jeans Living , have tried.   I decided to give cold showers a go.  This was a stretch for me because I do not enjoy showering at the best of times (bubble baths thank you) and apparently our cold water is piped in straight from the North Pole.    But, I have been reading up on this practice, there are a number of benefits that do sound reasonable, and I am no quitter.  So,  as much as that was one unpleasant split second after I turned the hot water off, I am not done.   I will definitely giving this another – and several more tries before I throw in the towel, so to speak.

The Ugly! Molly is not the first dog I have had.  She is not even the first BIG dog I have had.  Up north, we had a sizeable Springer Spaniel who was aptly named Sprocket.   But, yesterday, I had a big dog moment that I was NOT prepared for.

Major Puddle
Molly’s water dish
Molly

I don’t know exactly what happened, but Molly came crashing into the porch, holding up one injured paw, and despite my best efforts, swallowed an entire sparrow before I could figure out how to get it out of her mouth or bribe her with something that would be less disgusting than eating an entire bird.   🤢

I can’t believe our veterinarian gives me regular diet advice like, “you can start giving Molly an additional 1/2 cup of dry food a day” or “Molly is too young to have bones or bully sticks”.   Molly eats wood (in fact she eats trees), she chew on rocks, she eats anything out of the recycling bin, and now she eats entire birds – beak, feathers and all!  (I am not even sure it was dead).  

Today is looking up to be a less intense day all around. It is cool and raining out. Molly is relatively mellow and it is time for me to get something productive done around here.

Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞

Perfection

by annemariedemyen, posted in July 2022

This came up on my Facebook feed this morning. It has probably been around forever but I do not remember seeing it before. This relates to everything that is wrong with the world today compared to when I was growing up.

Things are never black or white – they weren’t when I was young and they are not now, but generally speaking, we grew up learning to make the best of what we had – as our parents did, and their parents did before them.

Nowadays, people are so often the opposite. If it isn’t perfect, if it isn’t the best – it is worthless. Waste it, destroy it, and throw it away. ‘IT’ is everything – homes, vehicles, food, clothes, people (parents, siblings, partners, friends, anyone). As a society, ‘IT’ is healthcare, roads, education, the environment, natural resources. EVERYTHING. Waste it, destroy it, and throw it away.

And so many people are miserable – struggling with their health – mental, emotional, and physical AND finding themselves with less and less. Still they are demanding more and more – AND ‘the more’ has to be perfect or they waste it, destroy it, and throw it away.

It is an unsustainable obsession that we have these days, this desire for perfection or having only ‘the best’.

It is kind of funny that this came up for me this morning. This week wasn’t going well for me. My lungs are not liking our weather, I am feeling blah and bloated, I put on a couple of the pounds that I have worked so hard to take off. 😢 So, I decided it was time to change directions. I am not giving up on my health and fitness. It is just time to quit moping and start cleaning cupboards and closets, polishing up the Jeep, maybe give my dog a bath. Just make the best of what I have, instead of being so focused on what’s not working for me this week. This post came up at the perfect time to give me the boost I needed to get on with it. 🥰

Feeling grateful for what I have.🤗

That is it for today. Take care and have a great day. 💞🌞

Around the Yard

by annemariedemyen, posted in July 2022

It is a dull drizzly day here in Southern Saskatchewan. Molly and I did take a walk this morning, I did get my workout in, I am doing a few loads of laundry, but this weather is making me tired!

I was just outside with Molly fort a few minutes to see if the fresh air would perk us up. It didn’t but I did take a few photos.

We had to replace our little Buddha this year as the last one did not survive the winter.
Our current bush is covered with berries. They will change color and then disappear. Squirrels? Birds? Kids? We have no idea and neither of us eat them, so whatever.
I have dug out hundreds of these lilies over the year but they are incorrigible.
Marigolds
Pansies
No idea – I planted mixed wildflowers under the birdbath.
More wildflowers
Petunias
As is this!
And this!
And a few California Poppies

That was it for today. Take care and have a great day!💞

Week 20

by annemariedemyen, posted in Health and Fitness, July 2022

It has been 20 weeks since I got out of my rocking chair and started getting fit for spring. It has been such a great journey, I have had no inclination to quit once spring sprang or at any other time in my foreseeable future.

As always, I noted a few improvements this week.

#1 – For the first time since I started working out, I noticed that when I am working out, I was really not struggling to breathe or to catch my breath – even on warm and humid days. That is amazing! With asthma, COPD, and bronchiectasis, I used to struggle to breathe all of the time.

#2 – My hands look younger. My blood vessels are not as noticeable. I don’t know if that is because my skin is healthier or because my collagen levels (that affect blood vessels) is better. Either way, that is cool.

#3 – My stamina has improved considerably. On Saturday, I spent the entire first half of the day working to clean up our entire yard in anticipation of a visit from my sister, her husband, and their two German Shepherds – Heidi and King.

This was after they arrived. 🤣🤣🤣. I can hear Dan out back recleaning the back patio as we speak.
Heidi appreciated the nice cool sand.
King – The first pure black German Shepherd that I have ever seen and he is GORGEOUS!
Molly and King went hard.
And rested frequently!

Dan and I had a good visit while watching our dogs carry on. Dan barbecued us a delicious steak and shrimp supper Saturday night. On Sunday, I whipped up some pancakes and bacon, Dan and Jerry went golfing, and Lorraine and I got in a good visit while keeping an eye on the canines. It was a great visit and the weather was perfect – warm, windless, and absolutely bugless!

The dogs all got along great – especially King and Molly who are both still puppies (big puppies). Heidi has quite a few good years on her and struggles with arthritis, so she was more content laying back and watching the young ‘uns.

That’s it for this week’s report. I am still working out, planning to get in some good walks with Molly, and anxious to see how far I can take this fitness program that I am on.

Take care and have a great day!💞

Congratulations!

by annemariedemyen, posted in June 2022
You would think they would offer options before counting your calories. Like… Are you carrying groceries or an infant? Are you walking with a young child who may or may not want to walk? Are you pulling, pushing, dragging a big a$$ puppy who is trying to get overly friendly with every baby, man, woman, child, cat, dog, and police car in it’s path? 🤦
That was fun, let’s go again! 😧

Take care and have a great rest of your day!

I Herd That!

by annemariedemyen, posted in June 2022

Raising a pup to become a dog always has it’s challenges.  Apparently, raising a big pup has BIG challenges.   This week we are dealing with one of Molly’s.

Before we brought a Great Pyrenees sheepdog into our home, I did a fair amount of reading on the breed.  Since having her, I have taken Molly to the vet’s three times and have asked about any specific issues with this breed.  I spoke to people who have Pyrs, as has Dan. (Apparently, they are quite a popular dog!).   For all of our research, neither of us came across anything noting that since herding dogs are so intuned to their environment, they are particularly sensitive to loud sounds. 

Since Dan and I are both relatively quiet, this sensitivity to sound has not been an issue – until now

A few days ago, Molly and I started daily walks.  On Monday, we were walking across an open area across the street when there was a loud BANG.  It sounded like a gunshot.  Molly freaked out!  We turned back and came out of the park and she calmed down so we went on to walk around the neighbourhood, keeping to the sidewalks.  The bigger, and louder vehicles bothered her but she seemed to manage once such vehicles were past us. 

That night, our new nextdoor  neighbour put up a basketball net for his two young sons.  They were exuberant and well LOUD.  It was early in the evening and Molly seemed okay.  She did coming flying into the house and spent the evening laying beside Dan on the sofa, but she seemed okay.  She wasn’t.

Yesterday, Molly was terrified of going outside.  I had to drag her out.  She would run to the gate and peek around a cedar to the basketball net nextdoor.   I brought her lunch outside, thinking that would distract her.  She was too scared to eat.  Dan and I took her for a walk in the park across the street and she was fine.  We had her on an  extendable leash and she raced  and leapt around, ears flopping – having a ball!  We came back home, came into the yard, and she was terrified.  It was a brutal day.

Molly’s rough day. 😢

This morning, Molly was slightly better.  I got her to come outside to do her business and to come back in to eat her breakfast.   I turned to Google and read a few articles about dogs who are terrified (terrorized) by loud sounds.   One thing that sounded promising was that dogs find the smell of Vanilla calming.   I rubbed a bit on my left  hand and let Molly sniff at it.  She immediately, and noticeably became calmer. 

I put on her leash and took her out for a walk.  She was stressed getting out the door and across the yard but she was fine once we were on the other side of the gate.  We walked around the block, came to the back of the house through the back alley (where I knew Dan was chatting with a friend).  Molly was excited to see them, and was happy to be fussed over by both of them.  We resumed our walk and went through the park and back.  Molly was a bit hesitant about a small tractor working in the park, but she dealt with it.  

On our return home, she balked at the gate but she came in without too much of a battle.  I unclipped her leash at the gate and came into the house.  Molly followed within a few seconds.   I sprayed Molly’s kennel, stuffed elephant, her blanket, and the carpet in the porch with diluted vanilla.    It seemed to calm her considerably – until her favorite human stopped in unexpectedly.

Chilling out in her Vanilla scented kennel.

Our granddaughter Genie was passing through from Winnipeg, on her way to Calgary, and she was fortunately allowed a few hours stop in Regina.    She managed a few minutes to come by.   Molly was beside herself (and on top of Genie) the entire time.

When Genie had to leave, Molly bounced out the door with her and walked her to the gate.     She barely glanced at the dreaded basketball net. 👍

A month for the Calgary Stampede and the Edmonton Exhibition and the The North American Midway will be in Regina for a few days – with Molly’s favourite human!

We seem to be heading for a gradual recovery, but if anyone has any suggestions for dealing with our fearful pup, I would love to hear them.  This is thunderstorm season in Saskatchewan and The Weather Channel has a warning for tonight. 😳🌩️⚡

That is it for today. Take care and have a great day!💞

Week 19

by annemariedemyen, posted in Health and Fitness, June 2022

It has been nineteen weeks since I started my current, and most successful ever, fitness journey.

I have three things of note on my weekly update!  🤗

#One – My husband came home sick a couple of weeks ago.   I don’t know if it was a chest flu or what,  but he was miserable.   I did feel so bad for him BUT for the first time  since I met Dan twenty-five years ago, I did not catch whatever he had.   Not a single sniffle!   Dan is back on his feet and feeling much better, so I can be happy for him now, as well. 🥰

#Two – I am shedding noticeably less hair this week than I have been for the past couple of years.    I don’t know if it is because my health is better or because I started using Dove hair fall rescue shampoo, but YAY!

#Three – Molly and I have started daily walks! 🌟

I am harnessed up and ready to go! (No idea why she looks so small.  She isn’t.)

On Saturday, we took a short walk around the block.  Molly did not appreciate the traffic, the people, and she was particularly taken aback by the other dog yards.  It did not go well.

Yesterday, I took Molly to the ball diamonds across the street and she did MUCH better.   By the time we returned home, she was walking beside me like a pro.

This morning, I decided we should go back to the ball diamonds to reinforce yesterday’s training. Molly did great until we got half way to the diamonds and a particularly raucous bird startled her.   🙄 She had almost pulled herself together when there was a loud BANG.   It was probably a vehicle but it really sounded like a gunshot.  WELL, that did it for Molly!  She spun around and decided to hightail it home.  The good news is, I stayed on my feet and managed to hold onto her.  

When we got out of the park, Molly calmed right down and decided she was ready to go for a nice walk afterall.  We walked to the end of our street and turned onto Sherwood.  It was about 8 A.M. and Sherwood is pretty busy at the best of times.    Molly didn’t mind the cars, SUVs, and half-tons. Then she saw a semi. She came to a screeching halt and sat trembling as it went by. This was repeated when she saw the bus. When the garbage truck rattled by, I think she upped the drama queen routine by experiencing a short fainting spell. 😞

We turned right on Elphinstone. The traffic was a bit less of an issue as there were vehicles parked along the side of street, between us and the semis, buses, and garbage trucks. Things were uneventful until we turned onto MacKinley. We met up with a few pedestrians and Molly wanted to be a little too friendly. I kept her in check and I was feeling pretty good about how well we were doing. Molly and me, walking down the street like pros!

Then, for probably the LAST time ever, Molly drifted right. I didn’t see her coming into my path and I stepped on her foot. Molly let out a high pitched YIPE and stopped dead in her tracks. I did not. I went head over tea kettle and did a totally imperfect faceplant. Fortunately, for me (not so much for her), I landed on top of Molly.

I scrambled to my feet (I can do that now, because I am in such good shape), Molly stumbled to hers, and we proceeded home – each on our own side of the sidewalk!

That is about it for week nineteen. I am still doing my Zumba workouts, drinking my beet juice, and eating my sauerkraut. I am looking forward to many more walks with Molly and can’t wait until we are ready to tackle some more challenging parks and hiking trails.

Take care and have a great day! 💞