school starts

Took this photo in June and forgot I had it on the computer. There is a little 'homestead' in town where the gardening is magnificent and a little log home still stands in the corner of the lot. As we drove by, I couldn't resist the colors of these flowers - definitely caught my eye.

I've got myself some-what programed to go out and exercise in the morning (like it or not) but when I get home, I get so side-tracked. Seriously need to learn to focus better and get more done. I was walking back home after doing Poleline Road twice (takes me an hour) and noticed all the kids out waiting for the bus! I was thinking all morning it was Tuesday and wondered why they were waiting one day early! Joke was on me - school started today and the bus showed up to cart them all away to their first day of school! Daaa! I start teaching guitar this coming Monday as I've taken the summer off - first time in thirty-eight years not teaching in the summer!

We met up with Whitney and her little family down south to go see "Bodies, The Exhibition" last night. The exhibition features real bodies with skin removed to view muscles, tendons - well, everything the human body has to offer. The bodies are actually from China's morgue - unclaimed bodies! They go through a process of preserving everything. Well, it was impressive - to say the least and I walked away with a new appreciation of what the human body actually consists of. Well, let me put it this way . . . I'm going to be very careful what goes into my body and setting goals to take much better care of myself ! ! ! If you have a chance to see this exhibit, be sure and go but take your time! As I walked this morning I couldn't help but think how our lives here on earth, our bodies are no accident - there is a God with a plan (the "great designer" if you will) that is greater than us all - no doubt in my mind! We all headed to dinner after and enjoyed hanging out with each other.

This past weekend was our County Fair. For the first time, I decided to enter some photos and ended taking (5) to be viewed and judged! I got a text/photo from my granddaughter, Morgan, that one of my photos had a red (second place) ribbon on it! Wow, that peaked my curiosity and Bob and I went down and checked things out for ourselves. Nicole's 'sassy' photo on the horse received 2nd place and the Teton's black and white photo (ta-ta-da-daaaa) earned "GRAND CHAMPION"! Little did I know that we also got a cash award to go with it!!! I was shocked - money? I heard roomers that it would be $50 for Grand Champion - wow, I started adding on my fingers how much that would total - so I rushed over to the building where they were handing out checks! There was a long line so I started waiting patiently. When I finally reached the front the guy checked my ribbons and yelled to the other guy, "That'll be $29!!!!!" I was slightly deflated but figured $29 was better than NO dollars - I would have totally been happy with my pretty-frilly ribbon - really I would! Haha!

Started TODAY to attack my next 10 lbs of 'fatness' following the "17 Day Diet". So far, 31 lbs of poundage are GONE, GONE, GONE! I really love this program - it is a sound program of eating and exercise that can't be beat. It does follow many of the principles of Weight Watchers - but just eliminates sugar and white flour from your vocabulary. So, between Bob and I, we shed almost 70 lbs. Hurrrray!