…Gretchen and Buttercup!  (That’s me with Buttercup.)

It’s strangely quiet and dark  in the coop.

The rooster who free ranged down the street I found, captured and return to his owner.  We’ll miss their chattery clucking, the scratching about their yard.  Their new home in Alpharetta is amazing and I know that they will be loved, spoiled and cared for just like they were here!  We’ll miss our girls!!!

Chicken Fettucine!

Buttercup, Gretchen and Lucy

Victory Garden isn’t just the name of the PBS show. Victory gardens were vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted at private residences in United States, UK, Canada and Germany during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort. In addition to indirectly aiding the war effort these gardens were also considered a civil “morale booster” — in that gardeners could feel empowered by their contribution of labor and rewarded by the produce grown. Making victory gardens became a part of daily life on the home front.

This bed was the last to be planted. It is at the back side of our garage and was a large bed of day lilies. I was afraid that my planting efforts were ruined last week when we had a new roof installed and the workers arrived and promptly began yanking out the support trellises, stepping on the young veggies, tossed large plastic tarps on top for shingles to be thrown down on. I just had to go inside and couldn’t watch what they were doing to this plot. Someone came to the rescue and put down a large sheet of plywood on top of two packages of shingles, on each side of the bed which kept the young plants from further damage. Gracias señor!

These are the first of many tomatoes that we harvested yesterday. The yellow pear tomatoes are a heirloom variety that were a tasty and pretty addition to last night’s salad and homemade pizza.

Here are two of the raised beds. In front are peas growing up a bamboo trellis. The other box is home to 5 tomato bushes and a squash that got into the mix.
Tonight we’ll enjoy squash and green beans, fresh picked and some cornbread would be nice, incorporating Buttercup and Gretchen’s eggs. I’ll be sure and have some hydrangea blossoms on the table too!

Do you workout on a regular basis?
At home or a gym?
Solo or with a buddy?
Do you walk or run? wii fit, treadmill, swim, bike?
Having been a personal trainer and an aerobic instructor, worked full time in the fitness arena (YMCA!) for years I know the importance of cross-training, varying the mode of training. Also important when trying to lose weight is understanding calories in vs calories burned. One of the BEST training tools is a Polar F4. The great little device lets me know when I’m in my training zone, keeping me working out hard enough, not too hard, keeping track of calories and I’m writing down the summary at the end of the workout. Keeping a notebook or workout diary helps me with motivation and accountability.

This morning I went to the park with Cesar, walked and ran 3.75 miles. My journal entry for today:time, 52 minutes, time in zone, 50 minutes, average heart rate 136 bpm, highest heart rate 156 bpm, calories 346. (I still have my core workout to do!)

My daily workout goal has been 500 workout calories a day. The workouts vary from walking & now running, solo or with one or two dogs, wii fit, Fitness Coach (another wii game workout) pilates, Reebok slide, stability ball, hand weights and bands. Lots of variety!!!
So why did I call the “A Dirty Little Workout”. Saturday was a great day for gardening, my favorite activity and I was curious to see how many calories I’d burn during this activity. On this particular day I was making digging up grass, making a new bed and transplanting 2 rose bushes. Summary: time 5 hours, time in zone, 3 hours and 28 minutes, average heart rate 117, highest heart rate 145, calories… drum roll please…..are you ready for this? 1484!!! Ok, maybe it wasn’t so “little”!