May Stats for Working Out Was a Bit of a Struggle

The month of May was not a great time for me and working out. I did manage to get at least two days in each week but they were not long workouts. I think I averaged 20 minute workouts. Still, good I am getting some exercise, but not as much as I had intended. Trying to keep the rides going even when busy with other events through the week is the tough part but it is also part of what drives me to make sure I get those rides scheduled. I need to do more when I know it is a busy week so that I get up early and ride or move the days around to get the three days a week workout done.

Consistently worked out on Tuesdays through the month of May except for the last Tuesday of the month, but we had just returned from camping that Monday and did not feel like getting on the bike. Sunday was consistent too for me. The Thursday workout was the toughest it would appear for May only working out one Thursday during the month which also happened to be my one week during May that I did get three workouts in for the week.

Interestingly enough I did work out three additional times in May then the prior month, but it does not look like it when I look at the report of dates I did a workout. My minutes at 283 total minutes working out is better too. So, even though I feel like it was a down month, the overall report for the month does not look too bad.

 

Miles traveled and calories burned were all up compared to the prior month. So, progress there even though it feels like it was a down month, I can see in the reports that I did better than I thought.

 

I do continue to see weight being lost. Since January 18, 2022, I have lost 11.6 lbs. So, not a lot, but it is gradual. As I have mentioned multiple times in past updates, I continue to drink beer or not eat very well. Although, eating better as Carrie and I are doing good with our eating at home and trying to eat healthier too. Eating healthy is a constant battle and it is so easy to let it slip where I eat a burger or something for lunch because it is easy. Happy to say it has been a while since I have been to McDonald’s during the week. We did get simple burgers when we went camping and when we returned that Monday.

 

Feeling good about my working out. Summer months will continue to be a struggle to get workouts in. I need to make sure that I keep working out and plan for when I am going to be busy with other things so i do the workout earlier or on other days. 

 

Have a great week and I will talk to you later….

 

First Camping Trip of the 2022 Season We Went Back to Our Favorite Eisenhower State Park at Lake Melvern

Two Tents Ready to Camp

We are so excited to be out camping for the first time this year. Somewhat a last minute scheduling as we figured all the spots would already have been taken when we booked our site only a few weeks before the Memorial Day weekend. We booked three spots as Greg and Erin now have a tent and went with us. We had some other friends we were trying to convince to go with us, but it did not work out for them, so we kept the third camp site anyway. This will be our longest camping experience so far in our rather young camp life as we will camp for four nights. Prior to this weekend, we had only camped three nights in a row last year, so we are excited to be out for another day.

 

 Packed a Lot!

The events of our weekend are written each day, or the day after, to track accounts of what we did those specific days. This post will not be published until the weekend after our weekend get away to give you a sense of timeline and how I was writing the memories of each day.

 

Thursday, May 26, 2022

I worked a half day this day so we could get out to the camp site earlier and start the weekend. We ended up leaving later than we had planned and I had a conference call to join while we were driving out to the site. We did manage to get out to the camp site by 4 pm. We took Oliver, so he rode in Carrie’s lap as there was not room to put his car seat anywhere in the car. Oliver was so excited to go in the car although he had no idea where we were headed.

Once again, our car was completely full and could not fit another item into the car. Carrie was sitting with a box at her legs full of wood and we had other boxes stuck in various places for firewood… we do not want to run out… Our car was stacked to the ceiling with everything we needed for our camping weekend. Of course, after we arrived at the camp site, we realized/remembered everything we forgot. Oh well, nothing we need immediately and we can live without those items, but it sure would have been nice to have them for this long weekend.

 

Once we got camp set up, we chilled for a while and enjoyed some adult beverages. It was a bit chilly with a good wind gust, but later in the evening the wind completely stopped and it was a beautiful night with stars as far as we could see down to the horizon. It was beautiful!

 

Firedisc Dinner is Served

We did fajitas the first night. Man they were so good! We did them in the Firedisc that we bought last year for camping. Good way to start our camping weekend with good food. We made short work of dinner and headed to the fire pit. As I mentioned, the wind died down once the sun went down, so the fire was nice to have going to warm things up a little as it was in the 50s or 60s, but sure nice to not have the wind blowing any longer.

 

Sitting Around Camp Fire

Erin got our fire roaring and we had a fun night listening to a playlist Carrie had us working on for original music scores. It was fun to hear what everyone selected and then try and think what movie the music was from. We stayed up late the first night listening to music, telling stories, and looking at the beautiful sky with all of the stars. 

 

Carrie did mention she wants to get up early one morning during this camping weekend to watch the sunrise. About 1 am, I asked her if Friday morning was that time and she said maybe Saturday morning. I think this might be difficult to accomplish as we enjoy staying up late, around the camp fire, and telling stories, so we will see if this happens.

 

Lake Was Calm Like Glass

Friday, May 27, 2022

Our first full day at the camp site was a good day. We slept a late and then had egg and bacon sandwiches to start the day. We spent time just relaxing, reading, listening to music, and talking. Such a relaxing day doing nothing. By mid-afternoon we were playing cornhole. We played teams that we changed around throughout the game. It was a lot of fun, but a few of us got a little burnt. I once again have my outlines of shoes on my feet without shoes. One item Carrie and I forgot was sunscreen, but we did end up picking it up on Saturday to we could keep safe.

 

We stayed up late listening to playlists we all submitted to Carrie ranging from songs we like to sing to songs we like to dance to while we listen. Oliver was enjoying himself sniffing all the smells and seeing people go by from their camp sites. We did let Oliver go leash-free while around the camp site which is something new for us and for him. He did great off of the leash. A few times he would start to wonder off and we would call his name, so he would come right back to camp. Good boy!

 

Sunrise Coming up Over Lake

Saturday, May 28, 2022

Saturday morning we all got up early to watch the sunrise. It was an idea Carrie had that she wanted to see the sunrise from where we are camping. We all got up with no problem and took some pictures of the sun coming up over the lake. It was beautiful! We could have gotten up a little earlier as we missed some of the colors, but it was still breathtaking to see the sun climb in the sky.

 

Walking Trails

Following watching the sunrise, we all went back to bed for a bit before we started the day. We had an easy breakfast with snacks and then headed out for the day. We then headed out to get some sunscreen, firewood, and to do some trails. Nice way to start the day. When we got back to camp, we relaxed and listened to the Royals playing in the afternoon. 

 

A Few of Us Sleeping

Some of us might have taken naps following the Royals winning their game and of course Carrie snapped a picture of us all snoozing with some snoring happening too. Always fun to get a picture of sleepy heads after having a fun time camping.

 

For dinner Carrie and Erin went into Casey’s to pick up pizza. Tradition as this is the second time we have done this as our first time was last year when we stayed at this same camp site with Greg and Erin. Delicious and no one had to cook. Following dinner as the sun started to set, we played another round of cornhole mixing up the teams once again. Beautiful evening as we played our game and listened to music. Finally, we could not see any longer, so got ready for the evening which included taking showers before we settled around the camp fire to spend the evening.

 

Sunday, May 29, 2022

We awoke early this morning to our tent leaning in our heads as the wind picked up. Oliver was a little frightened and it was rather concerning to Carrie and I too. The south side of our tent was being blown in so much by the wind it was hitting my head and freaking Oliver out. Oliver was shivering so bad as he was scared, so Carrie put a blanket over him and held him which helped to calm him down. The sun was not up yet, but I am not sure what time the wind started although it did finally dwindle and we were able to sleep until about 8:30 or 9. 

 

Tent, Lake, Movie, and Fire

Greg and Erin left us on Sunday leaving just Carrie and I to be around camp. There were still a lot of campers down the way, but no one in our area. We spent the afternoon snoozing and I listened to the Royals game. By dinner time, we had leftovers we had made the other nights camping. Decided we would build a fire and settle in for watching a movie. We watched a movie from Netflix which was not very good, but entertained us enough that we did not stop watching. The movie we watched was “Senior Year”. Glad it was “free”.

 

We let the fire die out and decided to head to bed. We wanted to get an early start to Monday morning to get packed up and head back to Topeka. We both knew we would be tired once we got back home and likely needed to rest up Monday afternoon so we could prepare to be back to work on Tuesday.

 

View from Inside Tent to Lake

Monday, May 30, 2022

I woke up a few times overnight with some high winds once again. Not as bad as the other night, but it did wake me up a few times. I know Oliver woke up from the gusts too as I would wake up and look over and he would be looking at me. I am not sure Carrie heard a thing. As we began to break down our camp site, I thought the winds picked up again, so once we took the rain fly off of the tent, our tent almost completely collapsed in on itself. Disconnecting the lines and trying to fold up the tent was a challenge, but we managed to get it done and not lose the rain fly, tent, or our tarp.

 

Tent camping in high winds is not a lot of fun, but we survived. I am thankful we did have some good weather for one or two days. While the winds were high overnight, and some during the day, overall, it was a great camping trip.

 

Sleepy Oliver

We were packed up and ready to leave about 10:30 or so. We were back in Topeka and had the car unpacked by 11:30. Oliver was exhausted as he sat in his pillow seat on Carrie’s last on the way home. He could not keep his eyes open and his tongue was out. So tired after protecting our camp site for four nights. I think he had a great time!

 

We had checked for ticks a few times and not found any on ourselves, or Oliver, but Monday evening, Carrie found one crawling off of Oliver. Later that night, we found one on me and one on Carrie that had locked into our skin. We got them removed and have not found any more on Oliver or us. Thankful the ticks were not too bad when we went. I read a Reddit camping post from someone saying they went camping in another state in the woods and found 115 tickets in 24 hours. I think we would check out and leave at that point. No thanks!

 

Closing

We had so much fun camping. So happy we were able to take Oliver camping with us and he did great! Had so much fun with Greg and Erin. We ate some amazing meals thanks to everyone involved (team effort). I hope we are able to go again soon. It is fun to put together amazing moments in nature. This was our third time for Carrie and I to camp at this exact spot and I imagine we will go back again sometime in the future to camp again. We hope to try out some new sites and other camp grounds in the future. For now, I use these blog postings and pictures to recall our time at these favorites spots as we continue to enjoy our camping adventures.

 

Until next time, enjoy your camping adventures and please feel free to comment and share your experiences. Note, clicking on any of the pictures on this post will link out to our Flickr page for all of our pictures.

Memorial Day 2022

Have a Happy and Safe Memorial Day. This day indicates the start of the summer for many, but it is a day to remember those that served in the line of duty for our military and gave their life in doing so. While you enjoy your holiday be sure to remember and understand why we are able to do what we do each day and give thanks to those that gave their lives in active duty. 

 

Be safe and enjoy the holiday. Until next time, have a great week!

 

Cooked Salmon on BGE Using Meater Thermometer to Measure Doneness and When to Remove from the Grill

A few weeks ago while browsing social media, I had an display for me about a new meat thermometer called Meater. One of those ads where I saw it a few times, looked interesting, and then started seeing it on YouTube, FaceBook, etc. as I was browsing other sites as it was detected I was interested in the product. I eventually ended up buying Meater as it looked really cool!

 

I have now used Meater twice and love it! I have a meat thermometer that I have had for a few years which I use frequently for cooking larger cooks such as turkey, chicken, etc., but my old thermometer uses wires. Meater is wireless and has an option to connect to a block that extends wirelss to be able to use all over the house and still keep track of a cook.

 

I first used Meater to cook steaks. Straight forward enough but I was excited to use Meater, so I used it with two t-bones we purchased. They turned out great! I likely would have left the meat on past when Meater told me to remove them from heat. The steaks were cooked perfectly and Meater even allows for post cooking time as the meat continues to cook.

 

On Sunday, May 22 I used Meater to cook salmon filets. Prepared them straight forward enough with salt, pepper, and some seasoning we had in the cabinet. Inserted the two Meater probes and got the grill ready for cooking. I did the salmon on wood planks we have had for a few years but never used. Set temp for 400 degrees and let it do its thing. All told, it took about 26 minutes for the full cook and food to be ready to eat. Turned out great!

 

The Meater monitors wirelessly which is nice so I can be anywhere in the house and see the temps, alerts, or status of the cook. The picture to the right shows the salmon on the grill with the Meater monitoring the cook. The Meater works not only on charcoal grills, but also on gas, oven, or even air friers. We have only used it so far on the grill. Very happy with the new purchase and the results have been fantastic in terms of the meat being cooked to perfect.

 

A nice cold bevarage was sipped while the salmon cooked. Having the range of being able to be in another room and know how the meat is cooking is amazing. The Meater monitors not only the internal temperature of the meat but the ambient temp surrouding the meat too which means it can monitor and tell you when to remove the meat from the grill as well as when the meat is ready to eat as it monitors the meat that continues to cook as it is removed from the heat. Again, I have been impressed so far with my use of the Meater.

 

The finished product turned out nicely. Flaky salmon and not overdone at all. Unlike past grilling sessions where I have tried to cook salmon, this turned out done but almost buttery because of the temp of the fish. Both Carrie and I were pleased with the result and I cannot wait to try again with a different cut of meat. I plan to do swordfish at some point and look forward to doing larger items using the Meater to see how those turn out.

 

On Saturday, we ran errands to various places and one stop was in Holton, Kansas where we visited Willcott Brewing Company. If you have a chance, I recommend stopping by Holton, KS to visit Willcott Brewing Company. I had a wheat and IPA while I was there and ended up taking home a growler of their beer which is what I was drinking on Sunday when I did the salmon. Great weekend!

 

Until next time, have a great rest of your weekend and I hope to start posting again about my cooks using Meater and drinking some of my favorite beers.

 

Oliver Was Sad When I Was Away for a Conference Wednesday and Thursday Last Week

This past week, I did some traveling for work to a conference in Wichita. The conference was great! It was fun to be able to see and connect with peers from other Kansas institutions as well as our vendors who sponsor the conference. This post is not about the conference so much, but I wanted to say how great it was to be at a conference again in-person.

 

While I was gone, my dog missed me. Carrie sent me a few different pictures while I was out. The one to the left was the first night I was gone and he was laying on our sofa with his lamb (that is bigger than him) watching the kitchen door to see when I would return. Carrie shared with me that at night, Oliver would sit on the end of our bed watching our bedroom door to see when I would return. Then at night, he slept in my spot next to my pillow. Poor guy! 

 

It has been a while since I had been away from Oliver where Carrie was only left with him. Same for Carrie where she has not traveled anywhere without me, so this was a first for Oliver to have one of us gone and him wondering what happened. I think he missed me!

 

Oliver loves our back yard to watch for people. Again, while I was out, he was hanging out with Carrie in our back yard watching for people, other dogs, or anything that he could bark at, but he was also keeping an eye on Carrie to make sure she did not leave him too.

 

Of course Oliver, like humans, he loves routine and when the routine is broken it causes him some anxiety. He will have his normal day broken up next week as he has a day at the vet scheduled for multiple shots and spa day to get him smelling good. We think he likes his spa day at the vet, but he is exhausted when he gets back home in the evening and his whole day has been completely different from what he is used to doing when we are at work. That is to say, he is exhausted because he stayed awake to watch other dogs at the vet. Poor guy has to protect and announce the existence of those dogs to others.

 

It was a good week and flew by quickly! Unlike Oliver, it was a busy week with the two day conference in Wichita, KS. It breaks up my routine for the week, but I really have no routine any longer as every day is different which is good. I was able to stop by and see my sister and brother-in-law while I was in Wichita which was fun. Had dinner with them and chatted for an hour or two before I had to get on the road back to Topeka Thursday night. 

 

Routines are good but it is good to mix it up and have things be different too. Have a great week and we will chat later.

 

Bally Sports+ Planned Release in Second Quarter for MLB, Soccer, etc. Streaming with a Subscription Required

Bally Sports has finally confirmed that they will be releasing Bally Sports+ here in the second quarter according to an article from The Streamable. How many more things can we have created that are called “+”? This is an aside, but maybe you are wondering the cost to sign up for Bally Sports+. The soft launch will be $19.99 a month or $189.99 a year. Holy crap! $189.99 a year for streaming of sports. This seems rather high to me and not worth the money.

 

I am already using Bally Sports to watch the Royals allbeit from my Mom’s account who lives in Lawrence. I have YouTube TV which does not have Bally Sports because of contract disagreements, but Sling and Dish Network customers are in the same boat where only Direct TV Stream has Bally Sports. I wil note that the Bally Sports app on my Roku, iPad, and iPhone have worked really well since the start of the season, but lately, the app on Roku does not work at all. On my iPhone and iPad, I can watch for a few minutes and then it locks up and has to be restarted. When I read the announcement from The Streamable regarding Bally Sports+ being released soon, that made me wonder if this is on purpose to force us over to the paid subscription.

 

On Roku the Bally Sports app starts, I can go to go to Teams and then the Royals, but if I try to play a recorded or live game, the app shuts down and returns to the main Roku window. This has been happening for three or four weeks now. However, if I open the Bally Sports app on Apple TV, the app works fine and I can watch games. Annoying though that the app is broken on Roku.

 

Just as annoying is that the Bally Sports app on iPad or iPhone simply stops playing video. I have to go out to the main screen of the app and start the feed again. Before long, less than five minutes, it will stop playing stating there is an error. 

 

If Bally Sports decides to make changes so that I can no longer watch Royals through their app from my a TV provider that subscribes to Bally Sports, like Midco in Lawrence, then I will not be paying for their add-on service to simply watch the Royals. I will rely on video clips from YouTube and listen to the radio broadcast. Paying $20 a month to watch the my team is not worth it let alone paying almost $200 a year to be able to watch. Instead, Bally Sports should re-work their deals with YouTube TV, Sling, Dish, Hulu, etc. so that other streaming options are available and likely do it much better than Bally Sports.

 

The season for the Royals has not gone very well thus far. Friday night was our first win in what seemed like many weeks… We had won games on Wednesday and Sunday the past week, but still, it seemed like a long time. We are 11 - 20 or 6.5 games out of first in the AL Central. We have not seen production from some we were expecting and some we would like to leave the team. The way social media is discussing, a complete management replacement is needed. I love my Royals and it makes it difficult to watch when we are struggling, but us Royals fans are used to this too. I just hope that I can continue to watch the Royals even if they are not very good, but hoping that turns around too. 

 

April Stats for Working Out Went Up Slightly Compared to March

The month of April, I did much better with my working out each week. Well, at least for the last three weeks of the month, it was much better. I felt good working out during April. I consistently worked out on Sunday mornings. I continue to read while I work out on the Tuesday and Thursday days which is helping me get through my book list and then Sunday is typically spent working to a live instructor. 

 

As I review the month of April, I know why that first full week is so sparse with working out… that was the week of the NCAA championship game. It occurred on Monday, April 5 and it was a late game. As I recall, I went to bed early on April 6 which is my normal workout day. Then it appears I did not get motivated again to workout until the following Sunday. Not ideal, but I got back into the routine the middle of the month. 

 

Feels good to keep the routine going and I am seeing a few pounds drop off through the efforts. I still have not done anything about really eating better, but some how I am seeing pounds drop off little by little. Here we are in the early part of May and I still have not started the jogging once a week plan I had mentioned in past updates. I am hoping to start jogging on Saturday mornings. Hopefully in a future post, I will let you know how that goes. I want to use the Peloton app on my phone to do the run and then see where it takes me. Hoping my knees do better this time around with running than when I started it up before Peloton bike arrived.

 

The following month I get an email from Peloton to let me know how I did which is where these graphs and information come into play. My normal live workout on Sunday mornings is with Alley Love and varies from 20 - 60 minutes depending on the day. She did recently get married and looking to move to London, so I am not sure what that means for my normal workout at 11 am CDT with her as the instructor. She continues to be my favorite instructor as she keeps the workoug intense, she has stories that help pass the time, and she motivates during the workout. Anything to keep the routine enjoyable is what I am looking for in an instructor. If she does move on or changes time, I am not sure if I will find a new instructor for the Sunday morning spot or change to when she does do her live session.

 

I am approaching 300 bike riding workouts. In fact, when this update posts on Sunday, I should reach 300 on Sunday, May 5 as I usually write these early in the week. I am hoping to do the live ride with Ally Love on Sunday so I can get a shout out during the ride. She did mention me a few weeks ago in a live ride although she was not sure how to prounce “Havertyj”.

My monthly stats were down a little from March which is odd as I did not work out much in March with basketball happening. On average, I rode the bike for 25 minutes. I stopped doing the additional cool down rides and instead only focus on however long the ride is scheduled or that I want to ride. I usually do a cooldown but after the session has ended. Miles traveled are down a little too from March, but I hope over the summer I can continue to increase those to higher numbers across the board for monthly stats. We will see what happens...

 

The important point is that I continue to enjoy bike riding. I enjoy the process and how it makes me feel even when the workout is kicking my butt and I am not sure I will finish that particular ride. I enjoy reading while I workout and often times have classical music playing while I ride and read. Whatever I can do to make the workout enjoyable is what I am looking to do and that helps to pass the time and not even realize I am working out. Well, until I get off of the bike and try to walk down the stairs, then I know I have been working out and I am right back to reality.

 

What do you do to motivate yourself for working out? Any tips or tricks you can share?

 

Until next time, enjoy your workouts and strive on for motivation to keep the healthy balance of life.

 

Happy Mother’s Day

A beautiful time of year and perfect time to celebrate our Moms! Happy Mother’s Day to Nancy and Joan. Happy Mother’s Day to all.

Celebrate Mother's Day with your mother today. Call your mother and let her know you are thinking about her. Do something special for her and remember all the times she has done so many special things for you. Try not to make this the only time this year that you call her to just talk or say hello. 

Our First Camping Trip of the Season has been Booked

We have our first camping trip of the year scheduled. We thought it would be too late to schedule anything, but we found a spot and it happens to be a spot we have been to twice last year. We have two spots booked as Greg and Erin will be going with us. We had been talking that we need to go camping and do it soon, so that got Carrie to looking and found a great location with spots available right next to one another. We are going to try and convince some other friends to go with us too.

I cannot wait! It is going to be so fun and hoping the weather is good for when we are camping. We are planning to take Oliver with us as the weather is nice and cool, so he should have a fun time. Plus, hoping the ticks are not bad when we go too so he does not get too many ticks… or us for that matter.

A short update to say that a camping post will come in the near future. We are so excited to have this scheduled and I am sure we will be looking at camping sites to find when else we can camp this summer. 

Fun Wedding Weekend on April 30 in Kansas City... Family, Fun, Eating Good Food, and Dancing

Carrie and I went to a wedding in Kansas City on Saturday, April 30. My cousin Lindsey married Tyler that day, so it was a chance to go to Kansas City, see family, eat well, and have some fun. We had a great time even though Carrie was having some leg issues that limited her from being able to dance, we did get some dancing in on the slower songs.

 

Dina, Carrie, and I left Lawrence to head into the wedding Saturday mid-afternoon. The wedding was outside and while it was a bit chilly, the wedding was beautiful. I saw my Uncle Charlie, Aunt Barb, Cousins Susan, Doug, Janet, Jeff, Matt, and Mike. It was fun to all be in one area and talk to one another. My brother Tim made it too so we were able to hang out for a while.

 

We estimated there were around 200 people at the reception based on the number of tables. The food was delicious and the wedding cake was good too. I could have had seconds on the wedding cake, but I refrained and only had one slice. They also had a candy bar which was really cool and had some of that too.

 

Dina, Tim, Carrie, and I were at the table with Mike and his friend Dee. Good conversation and fun watching everyone dance. Yes, we did get on the floor a few times. At one point others came over to join us and talk for a bit. As the night started coming to an end for us and we needed to head back to Lawrence/Topeka, we did a fawewell tour to say bye to our family. 

 

Our sister Jen was supposed to be at the wedding, but was unable to make it. We did see my nephew Spencer that night too which was fun as he was in from New York. Even better was that none of my cousins knew who he was and greeted him like a new person… we had to explain it was Spencer son of Jen and Kent. We all had a good laugh about that as it had been a while since anyone had seen Spencer. 

 

Before all the dancing started and before dinner, the DJ did play a Neil Diamond song and got everyone out on the foor. Next to the bride and groom in the picture to the left, you can see my Uncle Charlie on the dance floor talking to Lindsey. That was fun and got a lot of people on the floor before everything started.

 

What a wonderful evening! Congratulations to Lindsey and Tyler. So happy for them! Their wedding was beautiful and reception was so fun. I am so glad that Dina, Carrie, and I were able to make it on from Lawrence/Topeka. We had a large time and it was great to be able to see family that I had not seen in a few years.

 

Looking forward to attending another get together in a few weeks with family where cousin Mike turns a big number. He has having a party and we are invited to attend. Carrie and I are planning to attend and I am working to convince Dina and Betsy to go too.

 

Congrats again to the happy couple!