Surprise! I'm still around. :)

I have been enjoying learning the birds in my new home state. :)  Here's a little canyon wren I found yesterday.  What have you been up to?

A fun day in the Owyhees

Holding the sign down

Leslie Gulch BLM Oregon

The road into the area. 

The start of the trail. Basically you follow a creek bed and scramble up rocks. 

Husband and I have always been curious enough about where paths lead to park the car and get out and walk. However, this is my first time carrying a pack. I really want to do a backpacking adventure so I need to practice. My pack weighed 12 lbs, it's a start. I also am clueless about how to attach my new walking poles, hoping to figure that out. 

We saw butterflies, but none waited for a photo, and wild flowers. 

The area looks a lot like Utah. But is closer to home. 

This is the view from the top. I really learned how to use my poles getting up here. 

Owl pellet

We followed a different branch of the creek back to the car and I had to figure out how to get down from the top of this big rock. Dennis found a way down and then reached above his head to help me down. Scary!

Waiting patiently

Changes in me

There's something I love about flowers, in all their stages.  Even as they fade away.

I have felt so energetic and happy all day.  I really can't explain why.  I was disappointed when I stepped on the scale today and weighed the same as last Saturday.  But it didn't defeat me.  I am 15 lbs down in a month and I wish it was moving faster but this past week I have seen the inches change,and my clothes feel looser, so I can live with not losing a single pound this week, I guess.

I went to Zumba this morning and enjoy it so much!  I've been doing it about 3 weeks now, 2-3 times a week, and I can see my progress.  I'm able to jump more and feel less tired at the end of the hour.  There are also improvements in my range of motion - woo hoo!

Outside of Zumba I didn't run much this week so I decided to skip a week at timing my mile.  Last Friday, I got my mile down to 12:30, still working on getting it lower but that was almost a full minute less than the previous week's 13:20.

Yesterday, I did the fit test for Insanity - it kicked my butt, lol.  I actually did better than I thought I would.  I decided to do that 25 minutes test every day for a week before actually starting the program.  So today, I not only had my hour of zumba, but also the 25 minute insanity test.

My biggest problem area is my lower stomach, that part below the belly button, I have had many surgeries and aside from the scars I have found it a very hard area to "fix".  Well, planks and burpees are helping! Why have I never tried them before?! lol

My goal for this week is to move more.  Every single day, for this one week, I want to do something.  Mon, Thurs & Sat are taken care of with Zumba. :)  And the insanity challenge.  Great week ahead!

A cool Jeep

If you look in my glovebox...

If you look a little deeper than my cubby you will find car paperwork, gum, hair pick, car wipes, napkins, kleenex,glass cleaner and cloth, purell, afterbite, straws, pepperspray, hand lotion, aleve, phone charger for house, dog poop bags, Chicago ipass gizmo, hair bands and germblaster. 

No wonder I don't need to carry a purse, lol. What's in yours?

You can tell a lot about me from my car cubby

A geocache, hair bow from baby granddaughter, car wash code, Claritin, Vaseline for lips, dog tag, stitch marker and yarn needle, ink pens and charger for phone. 

One of my happiest purchases

A yarn winder!  It makes me very happy when I wind a skein to prepare for a project. :)

Yummy yogurt

Had a craving for some steamed broccoli

Hope there's not a bird trapped in there

Mystical

Patterns of Ice

Taken in Missouri during the December Ice Storm.

Oregon State Capitol building?

Seagulls

I've seen gulls in Wisconsin and along the Pacific and Gulf, funny the ones on the Atlantic look the same. ;)

I am an Island

Washington Birds

Frosty formations

New traditions

I guess one of our new traditions is to have a picnic on a holiday, lol.  We grabbed a sandwich, some fruit and such and ran out nature.  We found an FTF geocache in Oregon, in the Owyhee Mountains, then we stopped by Snively Hot Springs for a warm polar plunge New Year dip. 

We were surprised that the water was so hot.  Someone reported it was 125.9 F when they were there, it felt hotter to us.  Luckily, there was a spot where the cool water and the hot mixed and it was lovely!