BALLS!

Today is February 26 and it’s a beautiful sunny, nary a cloud in the sky kind of day. Now that I think about it, every day is a beautiful day, sunny, cloudy, rainy, snow, I love em all. Makes you think, “as long as I open my eyes in the morning, it’s going to be a beautiful day.”

Anyway, it’s about them darn cats of mine. Sometimes I think they are just stupid animals, but they fool me every now and then. I have been trying to get them to chase a ball and return it to me and then repeat the process over and over until they drop from exhaustion or I drop from exhaustion.

Balls! I wish I could find them all.

            I know this can be done, because I remember years ago my brother taught his cat to do the same thing and I was totally amazed. And of course I have seen it done on the boob tube and in books and so forth. And when my son was here, a few years or so ago, they did that, brought the ball back.

            So, for the longest I have been picking up a ball and saying, “ball” and I would repeat this over and over again and they would chase it. But, they would never bring it back. I haven’t learned that part yet, how to get them to bring it back. But, they chase it and run all over the place chasing that ball. I purchased about 10 of those fuzzy balls and for the most part they have just about chewed those balls to death.

            Only the yellow and the green balls are still recognizable. The blue balls look like they have been chewed up and spit out. But, I do love watching them chase that ball. I have been opening the basement door, just a crack, just big enough, so that they fit through it and I toss the ball through the door and watch them chase it down the stairs.

            Every now and then they will bring the ball back up the stairs. They drop it and go about their business. I get the hint at that point. I pick it up (I think they are training me) and throw it back down the stairs. Or I throw it anywhere and they go nuts over that ball. Of course one of them will watch and the other goes after the ball.

            The only problem is that they don’t bring it back to me. They bring it up the stairs bat it a second or two then move off.  If I don’t come and get it their day is over with that ball, even though, in the middle of the night, I hear one of them running around the house like crazy. When I get up in the morning I can see that one of them had been knocking that ball around.

            Anyway, the other day, I was lying on the couch and the cats were fighting (playing?) and I started to yell “ball”. I did this for about 10 minutes. They sat there just looking off into space. But they stayed seated. I started to get bored and I didn’t want them to start fighting again.

            But, I gave up and fell asleep, it was my mid-day nap. I do a lot of that since I retired. I got up about an hour later and had my mid-day snack. I do that a lot since I retired, too. I hadn’t noticed, though, when I get back to finish watching TV, I noticed that there were four balls next to the couch. They brought all of those balls back but I was sleeping.

            I gotta give it to them though; they are learning the word, “ball”. Now, if I can get them to bring it back to me when I am awake, I’ll celebrate. Go figure.

Resolutions Part IV -- Quitting and other stuff...

            Today is February 16, 2012, and today is my birthday.  (I wrote this on the 16^th, but finished it on the 18^th). It’s been a month and a half since I decided to make a few resolutions, (lifestyle changes). But, alas, some of them are so hard to quit, even for a month or so.

 I love coffee, I really do. I love the smell and the taste of coffee. I love the smell of coffee brewing in the morning as it slowly wakens me. My resolution was to quit, at least for at least for a few months.

            I was never planning to totally quit, just ease on back a bit. Last year I, well a couple of months before the first of the year, I had given up coffee, beer and all sweet thing, you know, cookies, cakes, and my favorite, vanilla ice cream.

 And it all worked well for me. In the first four months of 2011 I lost 30 pounds. I was feeling it the first half of the year. The second half was another story. I weighted myself this January and I had gained 14 pounds! As of this past Monday I had gained another seven!

Anyway, I decided to do a resolution (lifestyle change??). I said I was going to quit coffee (for a few months). To be honest, it lasted about two weeks and that was only because I had run out of coffee. All I had was that instant and some decaf coffee, which is awful, just saying it out loud. Last year I did a lot of reading on the effects of coffee. I found out that coffee is, supposedly, good for you, in a few things. So coffee is back.

Then next resolution was to give up beer. Give up Beer? Me? Never! But I was going to cut back and pick it up again later in the year, like I did last year. I think I went with a beer until the Super Bowl, which was held on February 5^th. I purchased a case of 20 bottles and one of my son’s friends came with a 20 case of Irish beers. I love that guy!

Anyway, hardly anyone drank any of the beers, go figure. So, I had all this beer and I really didn’t want it to go to waste. So, I guess that ended that “resolution” per se. Twelve days into February I decided that I have to get down to my fighting weight, I decided to quit drinking beer for a while, at least until I get back down to 220. That means I had to finish off 15 beers, from the fifth to the twelfth, of February, and must say it was good. I still have the Irish beers, but I will wait for that day to finish them off.

So, quitting is hard, but I say never start and you will never get into that position. Talk is cheap and easy, but can you really quit? I know for me, it’s hard to quit sweet things, like cake and cookies, my downfall. I didn’t really have any until October of last year when my nephew, who is staying with me while he recovers, had his birthday at the end of October. And the cake was raining down from the sky. I went on a two month binge of cookies and cake, my addiction.

I got wise and said, to myself, I had to get back down to my fighting weight. But, I was slightly derailed during the Super Bowl, but, I am back on track; I will not touch any sweets until after all of those summer sports. I gotta show off that body of mine, the one I am sculpting now.

Speaking of working out, yeah, I am back in the gym. I hear that most people make that one big resolution on the first of January, “start back at the gym”. I read somewhere that most people who make that resolution quit the gym by the end of February. I got back in, but for some reason I just didn’t feel it. So, I think out of the 31 days of January I went for a total of seven. But, I was feeling bad and I had started back playing racquetball and I needed the energy and breathe to keep up play and being in the gym supplied that for me.

But, wouldn’t you know it; I caught a cold, my third in seven years. That cold reminded me as to why I don’t go to meetings, you know, the shaking hands, hugs, and stuff like that. I did take one week off but the last couple of weeks I played, I had the energy, but couldn’t get the breath. Needless to say, I lost every game.

I have been a member of a gym; as far back as I can remember. I really enjoy working out, yes, it gets boring at times, but the results are great. I can’t quit the gym! But, I guess we will see what happens in the fall. For some odd reason I usually let up and quit everything when I said I wouldn’t quit. I am finding the three things that make me quit, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Super Bowl.

So, I will be working hard out hard for the next 10 months, then I quit…Now that I think about it, no more resolutions, let’s just get on with enjoying life! Just the way I like it.

Happy Birthday to me!

            Today is February 16, 2012 and it is my 59^th birthday! Yeaaaa! One year older and starting to feel it, well not really. As I say so often, age is just a NUMBER!! I still play racquetball, weekly, but I feel it when I get home and I bowl, but I don’t feel as bad when I get home. Still working out at the gym, today I just didn't feel it, though, so I am writing instead.

            Anyway, it’s a foggy, rainy kind of day, a beautiful day, the more I think about it. I got up early this morning and had a wonderful first cup of coffee -- that made my day! Maybe I should go to the gym…but relaxation is the key today, as it is for me every day…

            It’s kind of funny, I got nothing to write about here, that’s because it’s the start of the day and nothing has happen and there is nothing really on my mind, well, except for my birthday and that is just another day for me. Why, because every day is Saturday, except for Sunday, Holidays, and my birthday.