Two Fridays in a row Kevin was denied a dental procedure due to his high blood pressure. After his second scare he came home crestfallen but determined to do something about his health. He's put on weight. He smokes a pack a day and drinks quite a bit on any given day. His weight and his smoking have impacted his blood pressure. Now it's time to do something about it and that time arrived yesterday.
"I like being fat," he said, "until I see myself in the mirror!" I wish I could share his ambivalence about his weight; when I gain five pounds over my personal ideal weight (130 pounds) I panic. And I've reached near-panic mode with my own weight.
We shared an intimate moment Friday afternoon talking about his health. I've been worried about his health for over a month, as he coughs like my dad did before he died of a misdiagnosis at the Methodist Hospital in his hometown back in Indiana. (Doctors there did not realize he had pneumonia until it was too late. For a whole week he coughed all night long, keeping me awake next door in the guest room while I was visiting him that summer.)
This time he conceded that he needs to do something about his health. "I am ready this time" he reassured me.
I am jubilant about his determination to lose weight and start a healthier lifestyle. I think this time he knows he's got to do something, like eat more healthy foods, do more exercises AND cut back if not quit altogether, his smoking. I gave him my wrist-mounted bloodpressure monitor and he now records his BP three times a day in his "Belly" Journal.
So yesterday he went up Hunter Canyon to power walk the 1.2 miles to the National Forest boundary and back from Kelly Springs. He took the dogs with him. I stayed behind so as not to be so pushy with him as I walk faster than he does. Hopefully once he's lost some weight and feels more spry we can resume our joint power walks around the neighborhood. I've missed that comeradie anyway; we used to go on joint hikes and power walks in New Jersey; why should Arizona be any different?
Afterwards he went to buy groceries, to include cereals, bananas, apples and oatmeal. We both had cereal for lunch and dinner yesterday.
I, too had put on weight, much to my surprise (no wonder I have a belly!) so I am also going to walk more. I will lose five pounds by the end of the month. These last two months, with night classes and daytime subbing, I have fallen behind the neighborhood walks with the dogs. If I put on weight, so do the dogs and Sara does not need to get any fatter. Didn't I just say recently that too many teachers are fat and out of shape (because they spend too much time in the classroom)?
This morning Kevin took Sadie up Hunter Canyon again. I took the two older dogs for a power walk around the neighborhood. The 2.1-mile loop takes me 30 minutes. That means both dogs have to learn how to "pee on the run" as I don't stop for their pee breaks. (Poop breaks are exempt). They know the circuit and maintain a steady lead ahead of me without pulling on the leashes.
It's nice to see the neighborhood again. The snow has melted off the mountain tops. Three more homes have gone up for sale. The house across the street found a new renter last Tuesday, a single mother with two young girls now lives there. Pink penstemons are now in bloom in people's yards. Butterflies and pesky flies are back in swing in the front yard and all the fruit trees are now sprouting leaves. (YAY!) Bees have been buzzing in my rosemary bush for several weeks.
I also found out today that Ron is moving back to Alabama as soon as his tax return comes. He got disillusioned at his current job in town, working for an alleged corrupt and abusive doctor. His former girlfriend Nancy left in December back to Alabama so that means that the other house next door will soon be vacant. The owners are only asking $800 a month for rent, but the house is noticably in declining condition. The previous renters were drug users who had "visitors" stop by at all hours of the night.
Although I didn't talk much with Ron after Nancy left, I will miss his Southern charm and his north-Alabama accent. His summer nights of drinking tequila on the roof while gazing at the stars will soon be over.
Well, it's now 11:15am local time and I have to do some gardening. It's going to be another beautiful spring day with temps in the 70s...while Chicagoland and the Southeast up along the Atlantic Coast will get snow. Then I must resume my book report (Massacre at Camp Grant, Forgetting and Remembering Apache History, by Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh, University of Arizona Press, 2007). God do I hate writing book reports! I thought I was done with that when I graduated high school last century!
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http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/03/snow-cook-will-county-indiana.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/world/americas/01juarez.html?_r=1&hp
http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_11810836
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/fromcomments/282140.php
http://www.post-trib.com/news/1455017,cafasso-con-301.article
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