Nature Songs ~~~~

February 9, 2001 - January 23, 2001, I went online and ordered some swimsuits on sale at 60% off the original price. Great bargain until I look a little closer at an error I made. Before getting my address typed in I mistakenly hit the “enter” button instead of “tab” and the order was sent in without the address. They wrote the following day asking for my address. I returned it immediately. After several days, the suits had not come. I email the company, but get no reply. A week later, I repeat my email request and ask if I need to reorder the items. As of today, I have yet to receive any reply from them and no package has come to my doorstep.

I went back to the website this evening and reordered my suits. A jacket I had also ordered had gone up in price from $40 to $45 dollars. It was not on sale, but is a big help for me when the water is on the cool side. I included a comment about the order I have not received and the emails I got no response from. I made a note also about the extra cost of the jacket. Now to see if I get my order and how the comment is handled. I really like the swimsuits and their aqua shoes, but will not be comfortable ordering more from them without knowing how things are being handled and how much I can rely on them.

My trip to the doctor yesterday helped me in a way and then again I have to wonder if it helped or hindered ... I got an ultra sound treatment on my back which felt great for a while. I came home relaxed enough, I slept the best nap I’ve had in several days or more. Today has not gone that well. I got up with pain in the calf of my right leg. It hurts to walk or even move it around. Working out in the water it bothered me. Coming home and resting, I found I could not get comfortable to rest and the other leg hurt and cramped on me as I tried to get in a comfortable position. It was useless to keep trying and I had to get up. Walking hurts, lying down hurts, sitting hurts ... that doesn’t leave much in between.

I sat with Mother while she played Bingo this afternoon. That was not very comfortable, either. I found myself putting both hands between the chair back and the small of my back. There is a very tender spot on my spine and it is not where the ultra sound was used, it is up higher. Add to that the pesky, itchy bumps of psoriasis that keep popping up this week and it is not a rosy picture of relaxing fun. And - the rain is moving in over the mountain!

Friday, week one of my new online courses, and I’ve lagged along without doing hardly any of the assignments on any of the three courses. That can only mean that there is plenty for me to do over the weekend so I will be able to step into the routine for week two. Monday will come around all too fast. Oh, I know I set myself up for the three classes and I will do that which is required of me. That includes getting into the discussion areas for each course and catch up with the comments of others in the classes. I need to touch base with all of them. I have something to occupy myself while I rest my legs with hopes of getting around better next week.

February 10, 2001 -Lest I forget:

Things to remember about FACTS ABOUT METABOLISM

Metabolism is the sum total of all the energy yielding reactions throughout the body at any particular time.

Factors:

1. BMR
After about 20 to 30 minutes of activity, the body turns to stored fat to use for more energy.
Basal Metabolic Rate - amount of energy used by the body while awake and in a state of complete rest.
The factors considered on this level are age, weight and height.

2. Digestion
Thermic affect of food on the body. Increased Metabolism that occurs as a meal is digested, absorbed and stored.
Adaptive Thermogenesis - energy expended to regulate Body temperature.

3. Physical Activity
This is where a person can use metabolism along with weight management. Energy (food) intake can relate to weight control in three ways.
1.Caloric (energy) balance
2. Positive caloric balance
3. Negative caloric balance

Two formulas for calculating the BASAL METABOLIC RATE:
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION formula is easier to do.

First convert body weight to kilograms.

Weight in pounds divided by 2.2 kg equals weight in kg.
(*using weight of 150 lb., height of 5 ft 10.5 in, and age division over 60 as an example in order to help remembering.)

150 lb. /2.2 kg = 68.18 kg

BMR formula is:(Factor from table according to age X weight in kg) + factor from table according to age = number of calories needed per day at rest

BMR = (10.5 X 68.18) + 596 = cal/day always work the parentheses first

BMR = 715.89 + 596 = cal/day
BMR = 715.89 + 596 = 1311.89 cal/day
That means that a person over sixty years of age weighing 150 pounds and close to six feet tall needs 1312 calories a day sitting around doing nothing to sustain that weight.

HARRIS BENDICT EQUATION is the most accurate formula for burning calories at rest.

First convert body weight to kilograms as above.

Convert height to centimeters:
Height in inches X 2.54 cm/in = height in cm
70.0 inches X 2.45 cm/in = 127.27 cm
The appropriate equation to calculate BMR for Women:

BMR = 655 + (9.65 X weight in kg) + (1.85 X height in cm) - (4.68 X age ) = cal/day
working parentheses first
BMR = (655 + 657.94) - 299.5 = cal/day
BMR = 1312.94 - 299.5 = 1013.44 cal/day
This shows a truer picture of burning 1013.44 calories a day at rest which is actually less than the shorter formula. Even when resting there are many parts of the body hard at work keeping everything in order such as the heart, lungs, eating and digestion, skin repairs, slight movements and such.

The present formula for working out is (your age - acceptable heart rate). 80% is the maximum heart rate where you should be for duration of an exercise.

The formula is:
220 - age - .8 = max. heartrate for workout
220 - 64 - .8 = 155.2 for me.
All of this to remember that if I want to lose weight I have to watch what I eat and exercise, exercise, exercise, exercise ....exer- ...
Wow! I’m already pooped!

February 11, 2001 - This weekend proved to be BingoKid’s turn to confirm his stretch of equal time with Grandma. He attended church with me this morning following our McD Sunday breakfast ritual. I had forgotten that he is perpetual motion when sitting still, just as his father was as a youngster (and still is, I may add!). He was quiet and behaved himself, but he also spent time taking apart my new ball-point pen and putting it together again, making paper airplanes out of the bulletin inserts and practicing beating his drum rhythms on top of his legs and hymnal rack as he listened to the sermon and music. By the end of church, I was worn out from all the activity.

After church BingoKid and I stopped by Pappa John’s Pizza (all the Grandkids favorite food) to order their carry-out special for lunch. While it was being prepared for us we went to a store and picked out two tulip plants and a balloon to take Mother for Valentine’s Day. We picked up the pizza and proceeded to the nursing center to surprise Mother with the flowers and balloon and eat pizza with her. The tulips were still buds with only tips of red and white color beginning to show. I figured she would enjoy watching them open up into large full-grown flowers and they would last longer for her enjoyment.

Taking him home later in the afternoon, I got to view his “new room” which was almost finished and ready to move his furniture back in that direction . At the moment his bed and other stuff were strewed through the rest of the house. Mom and Dad had put up a wainscot of heavy metal roofing sheets with wooden panels on the top half of the walls. They were putting the finishing touches on a new wooden floor to replace the carpet. Amazing how much larger his room looked. Wes got the idea from one of the houses he saw on one of those tour of homes he had been on. The receptacles placed in the metal were wood covered and had a trim around them to match the door and windows. The water light tower he got for Christmas will reflect off the wainscot all the different colors that revolve through the bubbling water. He can watch the changing colors at night as he lays in bed and relaxes to sleep.

Once back home I finished my online class work for the week and caught up on the bulletin boards for all three classes. Apparently, all three of the classes are extremely large. I know that the Genealogy teacher isn’t sure how many she has in that one class, but there are a lot. The creative writing class had so many entries I found myself having to scan many of the written homework papers. I’ll still have to do some critiquing on five of them and take a few more notes. After reading all the repetitions of the memoir class, I chose to wait until later to make a statement on the bulletin board. Anything I could have written would only be a repeat of many other entries.

Freezing rain and sleet are predicted for our area. It’s hard to imagine a severe accumulation of ice on trees and lines, considering that all around us, it is so dry now. My aunt was describing the lake near the dam today when we mentioned how low the water was as we came across Lake Hickory this morning. Some of the houseboats moored at Lakeside Marina are actually sitting on the bottom now. My aunt’s boathouse that sits in the water is now completely out of the water. The water is twenty feet out from the normal bank of the lake. That causes me to wonder about my brother’s place and his boat and boat dock.

Hope I am not without power because of ice. Sounds selfish, but there is no wood close for me to use and a heavy love seat sleeper/couch is placed in front of my wood stove insert and fireplace. That could create a slight problem, then again if the power is off I can go to bed and cover up with my two doggies to keep me warm. Only time will tell, so I wait and see.

February 12, 2001 - Morning brought a Charlie Dog much quieter than his customary and usual self. I found him sitting on his pillow on the Deacon’s bench, chin propped on the windowsill, staring out the window not at ice and sleet, but snow! He has that same wonderment about him each time it snows. There is some sort of magic and calming effect of snow for him. Naturally, when the trash truck came, all the quietness ended and he was back to being the noise maker.

So much better we have snow this morning and not the sleet and ice. I’ll take it any day. Taking no chances of possible changes in the weather later this morning I choose to stay in the house, missing the trek down into the valley for Quest and the pool.

My first assignment for the writing class was a bit hard for me. On the one hand I was to write how someone else would describe me if they happened to see me in a shopping mall or some other place. In other words, what kind of impression I would leave on other folks. All I could think to write were comments I have overheard people make about or to me. In some cases the comments were about me. Other comments were some I’ve heard made about other people that happen to be obese and I combined them together to write the first paper. I have learned from experience that people have a tendency to never get past the fat part of a person. They fail to see a better side or take in other observations. Fat is fat, the end!

Paper number two was written from the perspective of being inside looking out and describing myself as a person. For this paper, I tried to write without using me, my or I throughout the description and yet touch on some of the aspects of what others may see if they really looked at me as a person capable of living and doing things as any other living individual would accomplish.

Now to check back and see if any comments are made concerning my entries. I know that the last class I took only those who had friends taking the course with them had many comments to share. Seems they were only comfortable taking note of those they knew before the class.

For the record, here is my first assignment for the course, and now to begin work on week two.

On the Outside Looking In

Wow! Look at that heavyweight! She’s the granddaddy of them all! Well, grandma... If you ever get to be her size, I am out of here! Can you imagine what the grocery bill for that family must be? Glad I don’t have to buy them because I’d run out of money for my beer and poker night out, or the ballgame bets.

No wonder she has trouble getting around. I would too, if I were as big as a battleship. She can’t even climb those few steps over there. She has to walk around them to the ramp for wheelchairs. Now she is trying to sit down in one of those chairs over in the food court. Guess it’s time for her to fill up again... Wonder why she isn’t buying anything yet?

Wonder what that is she is pointing to? I don’t see anything over there but a bunch of old wilted trees. Maybe that’s a child over there or something. Nothing special seems to be happening. Hurry and turn your head, she is looking our way. Don’t let her see us staring at her. Quick! No, no, don’t look back at her.

You mean, she used to teach school? Weren’t the young’uns scared of her? SHE taught Kindergarten? I’d like to have seen that. How she could ever get around in a classroom full of kids, I’ll never figure out. I bet the school building shook when she walked down the hallway. I can see it now! Nothing like having a fat lady for a school teacher.

Come on, it’s time for us to go. Besides, I just as soon she didn’t come over this way close to us. There’s too many pretty women around to feast my eyes on. Look at that one over there walking down the other way. Blonde hair, body fit to kill for ... what a figure on her!

On the Inside Looking Out
“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”

“Not thee my dear, thought fair ye be....”

OOPS, wrong person to ask! Looking more closely on that point more meets the eye than first imagined. Yes, hints of things past and present are hidden just out of sight of those less watchful. A lifetime is evident if only you take time to search.

So the body shows evidence of plumpness from inactivity or maybe a fondness of food, but watching closer, a limp is noted as one side seems to pull the other side along tugging at it to hurry a little bit faster. A brief change of expression skirts across the lines of the face. Was that pain as the right side tried to move more quickly?

Eyes of green, with maybe a hint of gray, show lines of laughter and softness through the pain. Here comes a stranger and the face lights up with a bright smile and brief nod of the head. However looking a bit deeper, there is some unspecified sadness; perhaps from lost love of yore. Who will bother to question the cause?

Those same eyes show an intelligence of a particular character and constantly scan the area to observe any movement and new artifacts. Years of teaching young ones has left it’s mark and wisdom and the swift eye of an eagle.

A gentle quietness follows along, almost to the point of shyness. No loud commotions accompany the slow uneven gait of one who once was so lithe and full of fun and gaiety. An air of dignity and quiet solitude have taken over the once fair maiden.

February 13, 2001 - One of my friends out in the vast unknown of Cyber space sent me an e-mail that contains information which can be a great help to me as I work through the Memoir Class this next six weeks. There is no author noted, yet it is evident that the note has traveled far and wide. A llooooong list of those receiving it were still attached as it dwindled down to me. Wishing to keep it handy as a resource for writing I’m placing it here. I’ve enjoyed the memories it evokes each time I read through the long roll call of remember when’s. And oh, all the things I DO remember ...

Remember When?
We've seen it b4 but it does kinda feel good to remember.
Close your eyes.....And go back in time....
Before the Internet or the MAC, Before semi automatics and crack
Before SEGA or Super Nintendo...
Way back........
I'm talking about hide and seek at dusk.
The Good Humor man,
Red light, green light.
The corner store.
Hopscotch, butterscotch, doubledutch, jacks, kickball, dodgeball.
Mother May I?
Red Rover and Roly Poly
Hula Hoops
Running through the sprinkler
The smell of the sun and licking salty lips...
Wax lips and mustaches
An ice cream cone on a warm summer night
Chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe butter pecan.
A cherry coke from the fountain at the corner drug store

Wait......
Watching Saturday Morning cartoons ...
Short commercials Fat Albert, Road Runner, He-man,
The Three Stooges, and Bugs,
Or staying up for Gunsmoke
Or back further, listening to Superman on the radio
When around the corner seemed far away,
And going downtown seemed like going somewhere.
A million mosquito bites.
Sticky fingers.
Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Zorro.
Climbing trees,
Building igloos out of snow banks
Walking to school, no-matter what the weather.
Running till you were out of breath
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt
Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights
Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles.
Being tired from playing.... Remember that?
The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
War was a card game.
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.
Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.

I'm not finished just yet...
Eating Kool-aid powder
Remember when ... there were two types of sneakers for
girls and boys (Keds & PF Flyers) and the only time
you wore them at school, was for "gym."
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.
When nobody owned a purebred dog.
When a quarter was a decent allowance, and another quarter a miracle.
When milk went up one cent and everyone talked about it for weeks?
When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.
When you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped,
without asking, for free, every time.
And, you didn't pay for air. And, you got trading stamps to boot!
When laundry detergent had free glasses,
dishes or towels hidden inside the box.
When nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got there.
When it took five minutes for the TV to warm up, if you even had one.
When your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces.
It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb.
When it was considered a great privilege to
be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.
When girls neither dated nor kissed until late high school, if then.
When all of your male teachers wore neckties
and female teachers had their hair done.
When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to carry
groceries, and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.

When they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed. And did!
When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared
to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home.
Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't
because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc.
Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat!
and some of us are still afraid of them!!!
Didn't that feel good? Just to go back and say,
Yeah, I remember that!

Remember when......
Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo."
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do over!"
"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly."
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties.
It was unbelievable that dodgeball wasn't an Olympic event.
Having a weapon in school, meant being caught with a slingshot.
Nobody was prettier than Mom.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.

Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin.
Ice cream was considered a basic food group.
Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.
Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare."
Older siblings were the worst tormentors,
but also the fiercest protectors.
If you can remember most or all of these,
then you have LIVED!!!!
Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their "grown up" life...

I DOUBLE DOG DARE YA!!!

*I love reading it over and over. Each time I remember something new. If only I remember enough to write about.

©2001 by Stormy Jeanne
All of my writings on this web site are copyrighted. Reproduction and/or distribution of the written works on these pages in any form is prohibited.