i met a new neighbor

I was at my kitchen sink this morning looking out towards the street when I saw a woman walking by with a beautiful dog, so I ran out (in my pajamas, yet) to tell her how beautiful I thought her dog was. The dog started walking toward me and I knew she was a good one.  I conversed with the woman, Carol, and her dog Kelly, a rescued, formerly badly abused golden retriever, for about 15 minutes.  The dog was the sweetest girl I've ever seen.  Carol said she had problems with her spine and back legs from the abuse, but what a docile and loving personality.  

Carol told me about the rescue site, Outward Bound, that has mainly goldens but some labradors as well, and from looking at their website it seems many of them are senior dogs who need a loving family or person to spend their last years with.  Carol lives a couple of streets away from me, and would like someone to walk with from time to time, and we hit it off well enough I think we could become friends pretty quickly.  She and I feel the same way about a lot of things in general and in the mobile home park.  

I spent so much time talking that I was later going to the gym than I like to be as it gets so hot by mid morning.  I walked 1.6 miles today and want to get it up to around 2 miles.   I've also been doing some exercises at home - one that I did back when I lived in an apartment where I would stand back away from a wall, place my hands on the wall in front of me and lower myself so that my face was just about touching the wall.  Then I push away, trying to put a lot of force into the push, just like you would when doing a regular push up on the floor.  When I did this before I tried doing a push up and I think I was able to do just one before collapsing.  I am not worried about how many pushups I can do, if any at all, but it does keep the muscle tone in my arms.  I rounded it out with 4# of hand weights in each hand for a few exercises.  I don't knock myself out with these kinds of exercises but just want the nice muscle definition I get.

Tomorrow will be in the 90's again and then the temperatures will head down into the 70's and 80's.  I love the temps in Wasilla - high 40's and lower 50's, my kind of weather.  That will no doubt change very soon, when the temps plummet to below my comfort zone, even in warm clothing!  I could do it, but it would take an attitude adjustment. 

I'd like to thank everyone who has commented about oil paints, and I definitely hope to give them a try.  I feel I need to finish my commitment to the classes in acrylics, and I may end up preferring the ease of use and clean up with acrylics, but I certainly haven't ruled out the oils, or painting along the lines of Bob Ross' style.  I'm currently watching series 3, which was filmed at a TV station in Indiana, and features a covered bridge, rustic barn, campfire, and things you might find in the midwest.  I love those scenes, but still prefer the majesty of mountains!

Joe is coming over tomorrow to finish the job I started with the leaf blower.  I didn't get very far because I can't control the thing.  I really need to clear out all the debris in the bushes in front, so I can start watering the tree and bushes now and then.   I absolutely hate paying for water to just go into the ground!

I have everything ready to cook for my dinner, including a cod filet to bake, but I'm not very hungry yet.  I broke open a bag of dark chocolate chips an hour or so ago and think I ruined my appetite for the day!