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06-13-2008, 06:23 PM
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I think I have a huge "calamity" magnet attached to me lately!  I have delivered horses/foals and helped hatch cockatiels. (I used to breed cockatiels and parakeets when I was helping my kids learn genetics for 4-H and homeschool.) But not babies...on the way to the hospital as we were timing her contractions I was saying to myself, "Okay...if she goes in the Blazer it's not that much different from delivering a foal!" Next thought was, "Oh my fawking lord! Get us to the hospital BEFORE this baby comes!" I was out on the trail practicing today...bo staff work.  Although Sifu Eric was happy with my test last night...I was not. No surprise there, I didn't feel on top of things and it just kinda bugged me that I was groggy through most of my test. I did everything I was supposed to do. But I just felt so 'off'. Oh well...I'm sure next test I'll do better. I'm already getting ready as I know what some of the things I'll be asked to do are. Hiked today...it was a 'comedy of errors' day for me...more on that later. I need a shower. I'm grungy.
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...I am the wanderer's wandering daughter... 
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06-15-2008, 11:59 AM
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Friday's Hike
Mount Holyoke Range State Park
http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/trails/Holyoke.gif Mount Holyoke Range State Park 06-13-08 The Comedy of Errors Hike (At least for me!) So I've been struggling with sleep again (and this week was pretty horrendous for screwing with my sleep patterns) so Gypsy and I decided on a 9AM departure time (from town) since the drive out to the Mt Holyoke Range State Park is only about 45 minutes. We stopped for gas and supplies and were on the way in short order. We arrived at the Notch Visitor's Center on Rt 116 in Amherst. We stopped in to see if there were updated maps. And there were! Wow! There were a lot of new trails in this section of the park! We had decided on taking our 'old friend' the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail for the first part of our hike up Mt. Norwottuck and after viewing so many new trails we decided that we would 'play it by ear' as to which trails we would take back with the agreement that we wanted to take the Robert Frost Trail as our final trail back. So with that decided I sprayed on my sunscreen, donned my pack and off we went. Now, this particular day I was trying out my new water reservoir. A 3 liter Platypus. I have been through three reservoirs to this point. A HydroStorm (military issue), Outdoor (cheapie res that came with my hydration pack), and a Camelback. All three have taken to leaking where the tubes join the reservoir. Now in New England most of the time a leaky reservoir is more a nuisance than a serious problem. When my three reservoirs leak they all leak down the inside of my pack onto my butt. And that drives me nuts on chillier days... My Camelback is antimicrobial. A feature I really like so I bought the Platypus that is also antimicrobial. The Platy also had what I thought was a neat feature. A button where the tube and reservoir meet that secures the tube and in theory prevents leaking. Notice I said "in theory." My other 'issue' with my various reservoirs is bite-valves. More on that shortly. I also tried something with my Teva Terra-fi's. They have been getting 'stiff' from exposure to mud, dirt, water, and sweat. They rinse off easy enough, but late in the season last year my right Terra-Fi was irritating the area just behind and above my big toe and from time to time my pinky toe. And if you hike you know that foot irritation can be the beginning of the end of an otherwise awesome hike. So back to the Terra-fi's...I had tossed them into the washer with my jeans a couple weeks back and that seemed to help a bit. So this was my first day out with them instead of my trail runners. (I normally hike most of the year in Terra-fi's. They are great in preventing that black toe syndrome that so many hikers encounter when they have frequent elevation changes.) The trail up Mt Norwottuck elevates steeply and quickly about a half mile into the trail. Gypsy and I were heading up and I noticed that my butt was damp...no, not just damp. Soaked! Completely soaked on my right side. Grrrr! That meant one thing! My brand new reservoir was leaking! So I plunked myself down in the middle of the trail and tore my pack apart to get to my reservoir. And dayum if somehow that button I thought was so cool hadn't been depressed just enough to cause my Platy to leak. Well...that left me with a dilemma. Normally I have 2 liters of water in my res and I carry another liter or more in bottles in my pack. I didn't pre-fill the bottles this time. So I made the decision to transfer some of my treated (with Camelback Elixer/electrolyte) water to my bottles just in case that tube/button proved to be a problem. I didn't need to be out with less than two liters of water. I know that from hard experience and we still had elevation gains ahead of us. Okay, easy enough...except that the bite valve I thought was so awesome because it didn't leak...was a freakin' pain-in-the-butt to drain from! I ended up pulling my pack over so it went down hill to gravity feed the dayum tube while I pinched the bite-valve to fill my bottles. It took f-o-r-e-v-e-r! I was just about spitting bullets at this point. Filled the bottles, reset the tube into the res, wrapped my pack towel (very absorbant little sucker) around the bottom of the res to hopefully prevent the button from getting depressed again. Pulled my pack on and headed back up Mt Norwottuck. (Elevation 1,106ft) The rest of the way up was uneventful and the view out over the valley was spectacular and fairly clear of the haze that is so often a part of the Connecticut River Valley. We could see right out to Mt Sugarloaf South and North and the ridgeline we trekked as part of the Pocumtuck Ridge Trail from South Deerfield to Greenfield last year, along with Mt Toby and Mt Monadnock in New Hampshire. We stayed on the summit for lunch, since we had lost some time to my reservoir fiasco. Well fed, rested and in good humor we donned our packs and headed for Horse Caves. The last time we had visited Horse Caves it had been raining. So we stayed under them until the rain let up. But since the rock was slick from the rain we really didn't get the chance to explore them as much as we would have liked. Now as we headed out my 'wet spot' had cooled since my pack wasn't over it keeping warm via body heat. So in short order I thought my res was leaking again. In disgust I stomped my foot down near a rock that I intended to swing my pack on to so I could rip it apart again...and almost immediately I felt a sting on my toe, another on my ankle and then again on my other ankle. I had freakin' stomped on an ant hill! And those little monsters were swarming over my feet and ankles. So there I am swatting and stomping the ants off me as I'm trying to make my way further down the trail, with my pack perched half open and swinging from one shoulder, trekking poles under my armpit on the other side to leave one hand free to swat those freakin' bitting little maniacs! (Or was that me that was now the maniac?) A few feet down the trail I'm away from the ants, I'm grumbling up a storm and tearing my pack apart to find the res is fine...it's just me with a chilly butt. I roll my eyes and laugh, Gypsy laughing with me and we set off again. We come to the beginning of the cave area I reach back for my camera that is secured at my hip-belt on my right side and get stung on the thumb! I have no idea what the hellz stung me, but at least it didn't leave the stinger in. I head down into the 'cave' area and Gypsy heads up a bit, we both explore the area and meet about mid-way after she squeezed down through the crevasse the trail takes you through and decide to spend even more time checking out the area since we missed so much. I decided to belly along a ledge that basically has only toe-holds to go check out an area that opens up beyond. I could have stripped off the pack and left it behind with my poles, but in my mind I'm thinking, "I might as well get used to doing this." (taking everything with me) and off I go, hand over hand, slipping my feet along carefully after having tossed my poles ahead of me. It was pretty cool and if I lost my balance I wouldn't have fallen too far and my pack would have taken the brunt of my landing anyhow. (At least that was my thinking at the time...no I did NOT fall!) Gypsy is not a fan of ledges like that...but I turned around from my inspection of a large crevasse a short time later to find her working her way along the ledge. I was really dayum proud of her for doing it the 'hard way'. She joined me in short order and I decided to shimmy into the crevassse and try and see if it opened up into anything interesting. (After checking for bats and spiders of course!) It didn't, but we had fun squeezing into the darn thing. We started to head out and ran into a couple guys and their dog heading up from the lower levels. They had never been up to Mt Norwottuck and wondered if the view was worth the climb. We assured them it most certainly was and after chatting about the dog they were hiking with we started to head out again and ran into a family coming up. Husband, wife and daughter. He stopped when he saw our loaded packs and our hiking sandals and asked about what we were doing and why we hiked in sandals. So we spent some time with him explaining our training and reasoning. Then we headed out to Rattlesnake Knob (elevation 787ft) our last planned 'view' of the day before deciding on a trail back to the Blazer. As we went along I noticed that I was developing two 'hot-spots' on my right foot. I made the decision to deal with them when we reached Rattlesnake. On the way up to Rattlesnake I mumbled, "What else can go wrong?" And then quickly realized I should not have done that! We arrived in short order and we were excited to find the view even clearer. So we dropped our packs and I pulled out my first aid kit to cut a couple squares of duct tape. Yes, you heard me correctly. I carry moleskin in two types, thin and thick and I carry a small role of duct tape. Duct tape is cheaper than moleskin and hikers will cut a piece and put it over a 'hot-spot' to help prevent the formation of blisters. The surface of the duct tape is slick so the footwear slips over it and most of the time the duct tape stays put and doesn't rub off. If I were to use the moleskin I would cover it with duct tape as I've discovered that normal band aids and mole skin will 'catch' on footwear and rub off. So...if I need to protect the top of my foot...I use duct tape. If I have a toe to protect I use a small band aid and cover/wrap that in medical tape if it's not rubbing the shoe. Duct tape if the toe is rubbing the shoe. Sometime I'll tear my kit apart and talk about what I carry with me at all times on all my hikes...but not this time around! Now, many of you know that for me spotting a hawk is akin to finding 'good luck' I'm not really superstitious, but I have been told by a few people that they feel the hawk is my totem and whenever I spot a hawk it seems to always portend a great hike. (I only spotted one hawk this time around, but I did hear a few in the distance.) And spotting a hawk brings peace to my heart in a way I cannot explain. Now vultures on the other hand, used to bug me a bit. I'm not sure why, maybe because they are considered harbingers of death. But Gypsy and I have been hiking so long that spotting, and even looking for vultures has become just as exciting. I'm not sure when the change in my thinking took place. It may have been the day I was standing on a ledge way up on the Taconic Crest Trail and a vulture appeared in front of me and hung on a thermal just silently watching me, mere feet away, so close I could see the intelligent gleam in its eye. Or it could have been the day Gypsy and I were making our way over Mt Race on the Appalachian Trail and we found a juvenile along the trail with no less than 10 adults calling to it trying to encourage it to take flight with them in the thermals above the valley. We were ever so careful to make our way past junior and not upset the adults as we made our way along the trail. So spotting vultures and watching them kite gracefully on the thermals is just as beautiful to Gypsy and I. And dangit! Don't you know that while I'm taping up my darn foot 4 absolutely gorgeous vultures came up out of the valley to dance on the thermals above us! Gypsy got pictures this time. So with my foot taped up we headed out. Now if you remember correctly. I mentioned that we had new maps. Well the new maps and the trails had some new markings. Numbered intersections. At the beginning of the hike we thought it a pretty novel idea! But by this time we were getting aggravated. You see, Gypsy and I have gotten into the habit of 'turning the map around'. No seriously. We will stop in an intersection along a trail and orient our maps, even using a compass from time to time to be sure we are heading in the correct direction. The maps we now had in our possession showed arrows that you were supposed to use along with the map to orient you in the correct direction. Well, finding the numbered markers proved to be interesting a couple times. But we did find them. And quite honestly, we are so used to 'turning the map around' that we fell back into our old habit. So Gypsy navigated us through a couple side trails, (I kind of tossed her ahead so that she could get some lead time in.) and I meandered along checking the forest floor to see what was growing and we made it down to our 'old friend', the Robert Frost Trail. We went along at a rather fast clip back to the Blazer, stopping to chat with a couple out with their dog, before continuing to bootscoot along and happily chat about this and that. The visitor's center was closed when we returned so we stopped at one of our favorite places, Atkin's Farm, before heading home. The Robert Frost Trail and a couple other trails cross Bay Rd so we drove along looking for the parking areas and took a side trip up Harris Mountain Rd to find the parking area for the MMT and RFT. We plan on spending more time on both in the future. Our drive back was leisurely as always since we are never in a rush to return home...and no, nothing further happened to me. Ya know...I never did realize it was Friday the 13th until a day or so later. But heck, I'm not superstitious and trying new gear and finding ways to keep using favored gear 'going', and gear 'failure' is all part of the game.
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...I am the wanderer's wandering daughter... Last edited by Hawkwind; 06-15-2008 at 07:47 PM.
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06-16-2008, 10:18 AM
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Wow, nice hike and adventure! You are as free as any bird Amy!
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06-16-2008, 11:03 AM
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Great read as always Hawk and your "adventures" are always a bit more special when you have someone to share them w/. You and Gypsy must have a whole book full of great stories.
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Papasmurf: "there are no miracle supplements, fix your diet" http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39994
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06-16-2008, 05:10 PM
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I am in the process of writing a book about our/my hikes around the Quabbin Reservoir the past few years. With plans to write another book about many of the hikes we've been on in our state parks. This is actually a 'banner' time for trails across the nation as many of them have been designated National Recreation Trails which is similar to a historic designation. I'm a huge fan NR trails and of multi-use trails as I've been using trails for horseback riding, hiking, snowshoeing, mountain biking, and atv's since I was a teen.
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...I am the wanderer's wandering daughter...
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06-17-2008, 11:49 AM
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Well, as I promised myself I stuck to 1/2 my bodyweight for my dead day work. I felt so 'cheated'...but I kept reminding myself that my body will thank me for going light since I have my ma classes back-to-back tonight!
Tuesday - Dead day 'Plate' deads basically, pulled from a stack of plates (since I have been doing rack pulls and have no rack here) 3 sets/8 reps - 75# Romanian deads 3 sets/8 reps - 75# Sumo deads 3 sets/8 reps - 75# *Pbbbttt! Grumble!  Sumos with my straight bar are more difficult than sumo's with the oly bar! The freakin' plates end up banging into my legs. Urgh! 
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...I am the wanderer's wandering daughter...
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06-17-2008, 08:20 PM
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So finally, finally, finally! I got to both of my Tuesday classes. My combined regular training class and my broad sword class.
I was exhausted after though!  The first class was a bit crowded. "J" from my regular class was as overwhelmed as I was the first time I stepped into the combined class. We both had to keep altering our forms to keep from running over the youngsters. But hey...they have to learn to work with teens and adults so it's all good. Poor "J" though...we did strike work with bags, bare-fisted as the younger kids don't really have the power to hurt their hands yet. I kept knocking him back and having to step back so he could step forward. "Don't your hands hurt?" he kept asking me. "No, I do this a lot at home on my heavy bag." He checked my knuckles after, they were red, but no pain. Then elbow strikes. I nearly knocked him off his feet with the first couple of strikes. Then on to kicks. He's getting pretty good at being able to stay put through my kicks now. Next week "K" should be back. I always enjoy working with them so it will be good to have her back in class as well. I have a blast in the broadsword class, but it's interesting evading enthusiastic kids ...and then don't I go and nick Sifu as he was helping me with reverse flower form.  We looked at each other and laughed...he had been watching me evade the others all through the class and then I nick him. It was rather amusing to watch as one youngster in particular kept nailing the wall.  I'm going to have to have a meal ready to eat as soon as I walk in the door though. I was s-t-a-r-v-i-n-g when I got back! Good thing I had left-overs from supper!
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...I am the wanderer's wandering daughter...
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06-18-2008, 01:34 PM
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 Oh-oh-oH! I had a good day in the gym. Alrighty then... Upper body work Pin-suspended speed bench - pin set @ 4. *Not sure I can go lower, but I may try next time. 5 sets - 45/50/55/60/65/70 - 5 reps Pin-suspended bench - pin set @ 5. 5 sets - 60/70/75/80/85 - 8/8/8/8/5 reps!  And that 85 pounds at 5 reps is a PR for me! Decline DB presses 5 sets - 15/20/25/20/15 - 5 reps *Did not have that 30 pound DB press in me today. S'okay. Another day.  Alt. Arnold press 5 sets - 15/20/20/15/15 - 5 reps *Shoulders said, "Enuff for today!" (I wrenched my right shoulder a bit the other day...I could feel it fussing at me today.) T-bar rows - intermediate grip 5 sets - 25/35/45/50/55 - 5 reps Concentration curls 5 sets/5 reps - 15 pounds Alt hammer curls 5 sets -15/20/15/15/15 - 5 reps Yeah dang! I did dedicated bi-work again! Hellz musta froze over by now! Triceps press (machine) 5 sets - 50/55/60/65/70 - 5 reps - inner setting Abs - Plate-Decline crunches 3 sets - 15/20/25 - 10 reps Back extensions (machine) 3 sets/8 reps pin set @ 4/4.5/5 So by finally increasing my bench a tad this bring me to: Squat - 175 Dead - 160 Bench - 85 420 - Getting there! I've set a mini goal of 200 on my squats and 100 for my bench. By my birthday again would totally rock. Eventually I would like to bench my bodyweight since I can squat and dead my bodyweight. I don't think that is asking too much for a mid 40-something. *Big Grin*
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...I am the wanderer's wandering daughter... Last edited by Hawkwind; 06-18-2008 at 10:10 PM.
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06-21-2008, 11:57 AM
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Friday's hike and advevtures
Natural Bridge State Park & Monroe State Forest
06-21-08 Well, the forecast for our day was 50% chance of rain. So Gypsy and I chose a couple of 'small' areas to visit. We headed out across the state for the far Northwestern corner (MA/VT/NY) at 7 AM with a sheaf of printouts. We took the MA pike out and headed north/west on routes 20 and 7 for route 2. It's a drive we love and as we meandered our way through the Berkshires we chatted about past visits and hikes and wondered things like, "What is on exhibit at the Berkshire Museum this summer?" and "How's the access road work to Mt Greylock's summit progressing?" Our first destination was the Natural Bridge State Park. Natural Bridge State Park we just had to check this out even though there really wasn't going to be any hiking and it was well worth the visit! Next we headed out to find the Hoosac Tunnel Museum along the Mohawk Trail (Route 2) in Florida, MA. We never did find it so we headed out to our next destination of choice, a letterbox also along Route 2 supposedly hidden near the Cold River. It was missing in action, either taken by vandals or washed away during the annual spring flooding. We were disappointed to miss the letterbox, but the area was fascinating and we bounced along among the boulders and explored what was left of an old bridge abutment. The weather was holding pretty well, so we had to choose our next destination from three hikes. We chose to backtrack a little bit west and north to do some hiking in the Monroe State Forest. Monroe State Forest http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/trails/monroe600.gif It turned out to be a very good choice for us. The forest and trail system is 'small' by most standards, but it's rather remote, pretty well taken care of and very close to some of the longer trail systems in the area. And there are three shelters and a primitive camping area! We absolutely fell in love with the MSF and decided that we are going back this summer to hammock camp there, finish hiking to the vista we had to turn back from and then head out to either Mt Greylock or the Taconic Crest trail for more hiking. So...the hike. We came into the forest on the Main Road side and parked just over Dunbar Brook so we could pick up the Dunbar Brook Trail. You have to drive over an old wooden bridge with a capacity of 4 tons to get to a rugged parking area. You could in theory continue on the Raycroft Road through the forest and I thought about it at one point. But I had the Suburban instead of my Blazer this time and even though it also has 4-wheel drive it can be a bit large for some of the areas we head into. So we parked on this side of the forest to make our way around on a loop trail to the other side. (This proved to be a wise choice.) The hike started off mostly following the 'contour' we saw on our map and along Dunbar Brook of course. We had wet footing from time to time, but not usually too bad. Early on we found what was probably an old mill foundation site that we checked out quickly before heading out along the brook. We were interested in seeing the condition of the shelters and had thought about breaking for lunch at Dunbar Brook Shelter, but the 'call of the river' was just too strong for me and I talked Gypsy in breaking for lunch at a 'beach' along the river. We hung out on a boulder and listened to the water rush by and kept tabs on the sky overhead looking for signs of the storm that was eventually supposed to overtake us sometime during the afternoon. We didn't hang around too long though and were soon back on the trail through a beautiful and healthy hemlock forest. We were so happy to see healthy seedling hemlocks coming up in profusion as last week we spotted a lot of sickly and dying hemlocks along the trail. (There is a disease that affects hemlocks making its way through various hemlock stands in the state.) In short order we came upon the first shelter shown on our maps and were absolutely tickled to find it is well used and well kept and in a very delightful spot close to Dunbar Brook. We didn't stay long as we were aware the weather could overtake us at any time and we really hoped to get to at least one of the vistas in the forest. We soon happened upon the primitive camping area, taking note of how well it too was cared for and passing over an interesting bridge of two rather long poles, the kind found for old high tension lines, with a board walk covered by astro-turf matting. (probably to prevent slipping since there were no 'handrails' on this bridge). Turning on to the Smith Hollow Trail we now began in earnest and steep climb up the lower section of Spruce Mountain. We hurried along as best we could, stopping for short time at the Ridge Shelter, finding it also in wonderful condition and headed along the trail to check out Smith Hollow shelter. We discovered that this particular shelter, although also neat and clean for the most part, is used quite often by ATV'ers and was also part of the S.A.M snowmobile corridors. A little too often visited we decided for us to stay at in the future. Our climb was leveling off just a bit and we were heading out to the Raycroft Road section of the trail to head up to the Raycroft Outlook when the storm started to sneak up on us. We arrived at the Raycroft Road and upon hearing thunder coming in closer decided we had best boot-scoot back to the Suburban. We were about half-way back along that road when the rain started to come down a bit harder. We were damp, but not to soaked thanks to a rich and abundant tree canopy when we arrived back at the truck. (It was on our way back over the old road though the forest that I discovered my earlier decision not to take the Suburban through the forest had been a very wise decision. The Blazer would have had no trouble at all...the 'Burb most certainly would have come close to getting 'hung-up' more than a few times.) We decided to head out to River Road along the Deerfield River and see if we could get a look at the Hoosac Tunnel. The rain was coming down harder. We found it, but we were not going to be able to hike up to the entrance for a look. So we continued to meander our way out to Route 2 going East until we could pick up Route 112 to Route 116. We picked up 116 just out of Ashfield by taking a small back road and were delighted to find that a block dance was going on next to our favorite country general store. (We had driven out of the storm at that point, but it was gaining on us again and would probably overtake the dance in a half hour or so unless the mountains kept the clouds at bay.) We were very tempted to stop in and enjoy the festivities, but we really wanted coffee at that point and so continued to meander our way home. We got a lot of use out of my Massachusetts atlas and my Western Mass atlas. We hopped on and off the main routes taking wonderful, scenic and meandering back roads at every opportunity. It was a great day even if we were rained out a half mile from our scenic vista. Quick note for the curious taken from the website below: "The Hoosac Tunnel is a railroad tunnel in the Northern Berkshire towns of Florida and North Adams owned by Guilford Transportation. It runs under the Hoosac range of mountains for a total length of 25,031 feet or 4.74 miles. It took a good 25 years to build and incurred several delays and out right stalls (and you thought the big dig was bad). It took 195 lives during construction, and has taken 30 or more since completion." Hoosac Tunnel Information: The Hoosac Tunnel, Florida - North Adams Massachusetts.
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...I am the wanderer's wandering daughter...
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06-22-2008, 07:20 PM
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Hello dear,
just dropping by to see how you doing  It sems that things are smooth as silk compared to few months ago.......How are your energy levels? My girl she is on the same medication and found out that generic meds suck big time and now she takes the original brand. She said that she feels better and hopefully the weight will start to come off too
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I don't think you need to go looking for the enemy. He's going to look for you. Willie Aames
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06-23-2008, 08:06 AM
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My energy levels are a bit better. The Armour Thyroid made a very noticeable difference for me right away. I'm up to 45mg daily now. I supplement with mega doses of vitamin D3 and calcium. But I'm looking into supplementing with guggulsterones as quite honestly I still 'bottom out' at least 4 times a week between noon and 2 PM or so. Rather frustrating! My weight came down and has been remaining steady. The bonus of getting a better handle on my meds was that my lifts went back up dramatically after falling off on me throughout the winter as my thyroid was shutting down on me. I'm building muscle again and that makes me happy! I've also been concentrating on eating lower and mid-range glycemic load foods. There is a good little book out there The Easy GL Diet Handbook it made keeping track of my foods very simple. I'm not going mad doing any more cardio than normal. MA three times a week, hiking once or twice a week and elliptical/stair machine work when I cannot hike and no longer than 30 minutes or so. I make sure to take at least one day a week off from everything. Keep me posted on how your girl is doing Vas. Always good to have you stop in.  So...no heavy auxiliary leg day for me today...I'm fighting off a summer cold and am a fanatic about not spreading germs around. Not to mention my head is a bit stuffy...so heavy leg day will wait until Wednesday or until I know I'm better.  That means bench work will wait until next week. Dang.
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...I am the wanderer's wandering daughter...
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06-24-2008, 06:28 AM
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Alrighty then...I stayed out of the gym yestedray due to fighting off this cold. We had torrential rains...so torrential that the rain came down my cellar bulk-head and flooded under the wall into my room. So I had that to deal with. Decided that since I wasn't going to the gym that I would stop and see 'Chele and have her work some of the knots out of my shoulders and back...I feel so much better!
 Then I went off to visit Rissa for a couple hours. It was a good thing I stopped down, she's been in a bad state lately and just needed to vent to mom. So...I've been wanting to tighten up the diet and get down a bit more. My diet is already pretty restricted as it is, but, after searching around I found a diet I can work with. (I think...) So...Ms Hawkie is going to be dieting for a month or so. My cheat meals will be Friday's since the diet is very, very low carb and I'll need re-feeds for my hikes. Soo....let's just see how biatchy Ms Hawkie can get.  I haven't tried to seriously diet down for a while, and last night around midnight I was h-u-n-g-r-y! (I started the diet yesterday.) I also have added supplements with guggulsterones and yohimbine/caffeine back in. I was awake until the wee hours today, so I'm thinking that I'm going to have to half the normal dose as it seems that I'm very sensitive now to caffeine/stimulant products! I have blood work coming up next week and the guggulsterones in particular may skew the results. But I'm always upfront with Kim so I'll discuss my reasoning as to the supps when I see her. I'm also thinking that due to being so sensitive now I may not use them at all on the weekends. I suspect the restrictive diet will be stressful enough. For the curious...I am shooting for taking the next 5-10 pounds off rather fast, hence not only a tougher than normal diet but the stims for me this time around. I may end up deciding to try guggulsterones all by themselves in the long run...but I actually like the balance of ingredients I see in my favorite thermals so I figured I would give them a try. (I dropped all the weight off from the pre-med weight gain of my hypothyroidism...so I'm back to wanting that last bit off and off soon!) We shall see...I'll keep ya'll posted. Today's challenge: finding a way to get 6 egg whites into my belly...no cheese whatsoever.  The diet called for 10...there is no freakin' way I can eat ten egg whites...man o' man am I in for an interesting journey this time into diet-land!
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...I am the wanderer's wandering daughter...
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