A Man and his dog

taking a nap on a Saturday afternoon. Saturdays are a regular work day for Win except that he works at home and not at his office. But as the day wears on, one becomes weary, especially on a rainy day like today. So Win and his dog, Little Jack took a nap.

I forgot to post

Well, I had a one pound loss last week, so I am now at 54 pounds lost. My official weight in is on Mondays. But I have to admit that I watch it all it week. Right now I am on track for 3 pound loss on Monday.

My partner in all this is down 43 (think) pounds. About every 6 weeks after we exercise we treat ourselves to breakfast at a local restaurant. They have the best omelets and those omelets fit in great with WW. We have them make ours with egg whites. We are going to treat ourselves when we get to the collective 100 pound mark. We are almost there.

So, downward we go...

One Eyed (Little) Jack

OK, I know, we are crazy. Our Menagerie just got a little bigger. I am going to post the e-mail that Win wrote the ladies in his office because he can write so much better than I can.

" As you know, my wife kindheartedly picked up the little guy as he was running down the middle of Upper Wetumpka Road, right after she told our 8-yr-old daughter to close her eyes because she was sure he’d be hit by a vehicle.

He wasn’t, and she brought him home. He seemed to take to me, and he doesn’t like to be alone, so I brought him to work a couple of times. I have been unsure whether we should keep him. We have 8 animals, including the lizard, and he has upset the mix a little.

I have some bad news though. I am sending this out at the end of the day because I didn’t want to depress anyone at the start of the day. Little dog seems to brighten up everyone’s day when he comes here.

My wife and I were sitting in our backyard yesterday, and Little Dog got up in my lap. He was acting fierce, growling and snapping, with our two Labs. The black male did not take it seriously, but our female, who also likes me and weighs probably 20 times as much as Little Dog, took it more seriously. I kick myself now for not stopping Little Dog, but I thought the Lab would simply growl back and warn him. However, her response was more vicious than expected. In an instant, so fast that I did not see her jaws open, she snapped at him and popped his right eyeball out of the socket. Because it was Sunday at about 3:30 or 4 pm, I rushed him to the emergency vet on Perry Hill Road, where the vet did emergency surgery. The goal was to see if they could save the eye, but they could not.

So, now we have a one-eyed dog. The two sad things are that his other eye has cataracts in it, and the trauma apparently was not helpful to his sight in that eye. Also, we thought we were rescuing him, but it appears we put him in danger at our own house.

The little guy came home this morning and is a real trooper about it all. He does not appear to be totally blind and can get around okay. I hope to bring him for a visit soon. Thought y’all would want to know."

So, we have named this dog - Little Jack. He answers to Little, but we are calling him Jack more and more. He is learning the ropes around here, getting used to the cats and we are having to house train him. He seems to want to go to the bathroom any where but he is really coming along on this. No more going in the house. When we are gone we put him in the bath room and he will go to the bathroom in the tub. He is learning.

I ran an ad in the newspaper for 2 weeks looking for his owner and I even put signs up and no one called for him. He belonged to someone, these dogs sell for about $900. But after all the money we put into him over the eye, he is ours now.

Today, he went to the groomers and had a haircut. He is so cute. Next he will be neutered even though he is about 8 or 9 it will be best for him. He will also get his teeth brushed while he is under.

He loves Win and Win loves him. I am a substitute when Win is at work.

My plan seems to be working

I met with a personal trainer last week and yesterday I ran stairs to get my heart rate up. I now seem to be back on track. I lost 3 pounds last week. I am now down 53 pounds. I hope to lose 15 pounds by Spring Break.

Want to get your heart rate up?

Find a set of stairs that you can run up and down. My friend and I did this a few weeks ago. We went to downtown Montgomery on a Saturday and found a parking deck that had stairs on the side. We ran up and down them for about 20 minutes.

So today, even though it was Sunday, I convinced Win to go with me. We ran up and down for about 20 minutes. Of course he took the stairs 2 at a time but not me. My heart rate was really up and it felt great.

Hoping to see 3 pounds gone in the morning.

Something only William can do

Is hold two of our cats this way. They will only do this for him, why, we don't know. But sometimes he walks around our house holding Polly Kate and Alton like this. We just shake our heads and go on.

A cat in heat

That is what was at my house last week. Lucy is 5 months old and I was planning on having her spayed next month but she surprised us and went into heat this past week. So, off to the vet she went. She had to stay over night and I went and got her this morning. She hasn't been out much but when she does come out she is purring and happy to see us. I think she missed us. Below is a picture of her a few weeks ago, I can't get one of her today since she is under Davis' bed.

I can hardly walk!

Yesterday I met with a personal trainer. She is someone whom I have done a "boot camp" with last year. I contracted with her for an hour and she set me up a workout routine using weights, a 62 cm ball and a chair. She gave me about 6-8 different exercises to do at least three times a week. This is to go along with my walking.

Well, since my workout with her yesterday, just so she could show me the routine, I have been so sore. I found some new muscles and today they are talking to me. Just to sit down is a chore. But this is great. Muscle confusion. My 5 mile walk this morning was tough since I am so sore but I was glad for the soreness.

She thinks this should jump start my metophilism and get my weight to falling off again. I have only lost 2 pounds in the month of January.

I will meet with her again in about 6-8 weeks and she will change up my routine and add to it. But for now, just going to the bathroom is hard!!

50 Pounds!

On this day - February 9, 2009, 5 months from the day I began, I have hit the 50 pound mark. These last few pounds have been hard to shed. So, now I have 50 to go and the deadline is September 9, 2009. At times it feels daunting but I just tell myself to continue doing what I am doing - walking in self control and exercising and most importantly -- Praying.

This whole journey is more than just losing weight. My friend and I have really been diligent about taking inventory of our lives as we walk and lose weight. We are working on our attitudes and our reactions to things that happen and to people. This weight loss is as much about my spiritual life as it is about my physical life. They go hand in hand.

So, as my friend reminded me, I am on the down hill slide. I pray the pounds just peeling off and I reach my goal - 100 pounds!