On Spring, Bliss and Throwing Out All My Diet Books!

Before I get to the part about throwing out my diet books, I'd like to focus on bliss for a moment. Bliss, according to my Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition, is defined as complete happiness. Which pretty much sums up what I experienced this morning -- bliss on a bike.

I dusted off my bike seat after a long winter, put the dog's harness on and went for a short ride up to my parents' house. Annie, my three-year-old Golden Retreiver/German Shorthair mix, loves going for bike rides. When she saw me put on my bike helmet and reach for her harness, I had her complete and devoted attention. Once I'd checked the tire pressure, adjusted my rear-view mirror and secured my pant leg with a band, we were read to go.

And go we did! At the start of every ride Annie has oodles of energy. I encourage her pulling efforts by ringing my bike bell like crazy. I'm sure some hapless observer would think we were nuts, but really, I've got her under control.

I've been riding my bike with Annie since she was about 7 months old. It was a lot slower and more cautious in the beginning. I also taught her some important commands. To slow down I say "whoa." My command for left is "left." (Propper mushers use haw for left and gee for right.) For right-hand turns I say, "this way," as she's following my lead.

I didn't read any articles on bike mushing like this one. I just did what came naturally. We don't use genuine musher equipment, but we both have a great time. In fact, I think that part of what makes the whole experience blissful for me is watching Annie completely enjoy herself. It's as if her enthusiasm is contagious, and I can't help but smile and whoop for joy.

Bliss on a bike -- the most fun I've had in weeks!

And now onto those old diet books. . .

About a year ago I read a book called Health at Every Size: The surprising truth about your weight, by Linda Bacon, PhD. I even wrote a couple blog entries about it such as this one and this one. At that time I was going to give up on dieting, but my anti-dieting resolution didn't last long. I've tried both low-carb and WeightWatcher's momentum plan since then. With little results.

But this time I'm serious. This time I bought the book Live a Little: Breaking the rules wont' break your health, by Susan M. Love, M.D. and Alice D. Domar, Ph.D. Once again, it confirms what my body has known all along -- everyone's body is different, and no one is completely in control of their own health or weight either. These two authors have anazlyzed the research on health, wellness and living a longer life, and they report what is and is not really going to help women live longer, healthier, happier lives. (This really is a great book!)

One of my favorite parts debunks the calories in, calories out myth. They write, "According to this theory, big people are big simply because they eat so very much more than their slender counterparts--and weight gain is inversely proportional to the amount of a person's self-control. But Sims's studies, and other like it, suggest this is not necessarily the case. It's far more likely that each of us has a genetically programmed weight range of about ten to twenty pounds. One person's natural range might be from 160 to 180 pounds, while another's might be from 115 to 130. Yet both people may eat the same amount of calories and perform roughly the same amount of exercise." (emphasis added)

There it is in black and white -- what my body has been trying to tell me for years. I am not genetically programmed to be thin. Yes, I'm bummed about that. (Literally.) But just because I carry more weight than others my height, it doesn't mean that I can't be healthy. On the contrary. After a discussion about BMI (Body Mass Index), Love and Domar state, "A study by the Centers for Disease Control found that overweight people tend to live longer than those in the obese or normal categories."

So live a little! And love the body you're in.

Instead of focusing on my weight, I'm going to do what I can to be healthy and be more appreciative of my body. It may not be January, but these are my resolutions.
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Side Note: I just went on Amazon.com to buy Health at Every Size. Apparently it's out of print. A USED paperback copy (only two available) goes for $124.00 or more. I guess it's time to issue a new edition. I'd buy one! (But not for $124.)

Fall in the Valley

Yesterday I needed the truck to take some things to Deseret Industries in. And as long as I had the truck, I figured I might as well take my dog to a trail along the wetlands in the middle of the valley. I couldn't have chosen a more perfect day!

I took quite a few photos, many that I plan to use as wallpaper on my computer or possibly as a new header on this blog. If you like any of the photos, you're welcome to right click on them and copy them to your own computer to use as you wish.

Enjoy Fall!

(Note: If these don't come out well for you, I'd be happy to e-mail you the original photos.)

Dog-o-Rama!

I just got finished with a little morning bliss – working with my dog, Annie. There’s something about having a dog that gives me a lift, makes me happy and in a way, completes me.

I grew up in a family that always had a dog. Always. My dad used them for hunting, but we also got to play with them. The first dog I can remember, Cleo, was a German Shorthair. We used to dress her up in farm boots, put baseball caps on her head. No exploring trip was complete without Cleo by our side. I can even remember one summer afternoon when my younger brother fell asleep on the front porch with his arm around Cleo, using her as his pillow. She woke up, but never moved until he was awake. She was quite a dog!

Duke (the first) was another memorable dog. He was the first German Wirehair Pointer that my dad owned. Boy was he scruffy! Ugly but loveable, that’s how I’d describe him. When released from the kennel, Duke would run straight at the nearest kid. At the very last possible moment he would turn aside and just miss us by a whisker! I loved the game, but my younger brother made a miscalculation one day and moved in the direction that Duke also happened to choose. Andy ended up on the ground with a bloody nose. From my perspective as a kid, the very best trick Duke performed was what we referred to as Jumping Barrels. One kid would lie down on the grass and Duke would run at them and jump over them. He’d wait while we added another kid and them jump over the pair. This waiting and adding kids continued until we had a whole passel of kids lying down, face up, on the lawn. He could clear us every time! If I remember correctly, his record was nine kids. We never found out if he could jump over more. We never seemed to have more than nine kids in our backyard at one time.

But back to my own dog. Annie loves to play. Probably because she’s still a puppy. (She’s 16 months old.) She catches tennis balls in her mouth, catches Frisbees on the fly, plays tug with her rope toy (by herself if I’m busy in the yard), runs with me when I’m on my bike, sits, stays, fetches and comes. Last night Hubby and the kids were picking strawberries. She’d be right in there picking her own berries if we let her, but we don’t. Instead she had to stay up with me on the patio. When the kids found berries that were overripe or bird/bug eaten, they’d toss them to Annie. She loves them! Mostly she caught them in her mouth. She made some really amazing catches.

Thanks to a little technology, I’ve been enjoying my dog more than ever. I finally broke down and bought a shock training collar. Best money I’ve spent on the dog so far. Prior to the shock collar if we were out in the yard with Annie off the leash, she’d just up and run off to visit the neighbors’ chickens or dog whenever she wanted. No amount of “Come!” or “NO!” would bring her back. It was highly frustrating! Mostly we’d put her on a long leash when we were out in the yard with her so that when she’d start to make a run for it we could step on the leash and stop her. Problem was, the leash was dangerous. If you weren’t careful it would wrap around your ankles. (I got the worst rope burn of my life from the long leash.)

Thankfully, the shock collar has solved all of Annie’s obedience problems. It comes equipped with a beep and a shock button. It also has a dial to let me adjust the amount of shock. I couldn’t feel anything on my hand until I got to level three. Level four was a mild shock, and level five was a high as I wanted to experiment on myself. When I first tried it on Annie she didn’t register any sensation until level five, so that was the training level I started on. When she’d start to misbehave I’d give the training command followed by the beep. If she didn’t comply, she’d get a shock. The first couple of days she got shocked quite a few times, but by the third day all I had to do was sound the beeper on her collar and she’d obey. And now that I’ve had the collar a week, she rarely even gets the beep. She’s now the dog of my dreams!

Speaking of dream dogs, our family was watching the Great American Dog contest on TV last night. Of course now that Annie is more obedient I think she has contender possibilities. To prove it I tried teaching her some new tricks this morning. First we worked on Play Dead. Because she already knows Lie Down and Roll Over, Play Dead wasn’t too hard. I’m also giving her a hand command – my hand held like a finger gun. That way when she’s fully mastered Play Dead I can use my hand signal, say “Bang, bang,” and have her die. Cool, huh?

Next I taught Annie how to jump over a broomstick. It was a little more challenging but with more practice she’ll master it. And who knows, once she can jump over a stick maybe we can line some kids up on the grass and have her Jump Barrels like Duke used to.

Column-writing dog needs your help . . .

Annie is going to write a newspaper column, but she needs your help. You see, she's preparing sample columns of "Annie Investigates" to send to prospective papers. What we're looking for are quirky questions that Annie can investigate and answer. Questions that children and adults will want to know the answers to.

Annie is currently working on writing up her findings to the question, "Where is it polite to burp after dinner?" Another topic that has piqued her curiosity is how the cyclists on the Tour de France relieve themselves during the grueling race. (Annie loves bicycles!)

If you've got a question that you've always wanted to know the answer to, send it to Annie courtesy of this blog or my e-mail address. We'll do the investigating.

(We'll also let you know when we've got Annie's proposal packet ready, and you can send us the contact information for your hometown newspaper so you can read every tantilizing article.)