Focused at Fifty

Kinda Happy With Myself!  Hey kids! You all know me and how much I love the gym. My love affair ebbs and flows though. During the Holidays... not so much. Winter time when I don't wanna leave the house ... not so much. LOL Now that Spring has FINALLY SPRUNG I feel a renewed drive to get back into shape. The love affair has been rekindled! I want to remind people about a few things though. Some of us (myself included) are not in our 20s. If you expect to get back into shape, don't put those expectations so high as that you will be disappointed. Be happy and blessed for even your small steps of progress. I'm turning 48 next month. I've got some dad-bod! But, I'm proud of where I am and I recognize I am continuously a work in progress. Facebook lovingly reminded me of myself four years ago when I worked out and was (gasp) almost 20 pounds less. I worked my ass off doing hours upon hours of cardio and I dropped weight dramatically. I was trying to get back down...

(https://www.someecards.com) The week of April 15th began with what seems like the 96th day of January. That's one of the latest meme going around the Internet. It's quite humorous BECAUSE IT'S TRUE! We had one nice day of almost 80 degree weather on Saturday and then the temperature plummeted back down to the 30s with fierce winds pounding our region through the beginning of the week. The wind chime hanging from the corner of the house is now known as the Devil's Harp. During the winter Nor'Easters it had become pure evil! It kept me up once again all night. I should just take it down but I'm too lazy to drag out the ladder. I woke to a coating of snow on the ground. The yard was once again in shambles with more branches down. I had just spent the better part of Saturday cleaning up those which had previously fallen. It seemed like it had become the winter which would never end. Fingers were crossed though that this would be the l...

(Pic courtesy Pexels.com)  This was originally geared for the younger generation but I feel it can apply to people who feel they are owed by society and play the victim. I don't remember where I got this from but found some scribbled down notes in my files. I cautiously don't want to fully attribute it to myself in case I heard it from someone else and did not correctly attribute it to them. I usually scribble down "heard on NPR or Cable or from so and so author." I figured I would still share it and I have expanded on several parts. I hesitate to say it's only for the younger generation because I have recently met several that I really like and impressed with (my niece Angelica included!) They give me hope for a brighter future and they makes me smile. So without further adieu, some insights into the harsh reality of life as we know it: Life is and will be hard for a lot of you. You need to realize that now. Say it out loud. "LIF...

(Pic courtesy of Pexels.com) In the beginning of Spring, it always seems like the hibernating animals and those that don't (you hear me crazy squirrels) gravitate towards the warm open roadway. One suddenly has raccoons, possum and skunk all trying to do their best impression of the 80s video game Frogger across the busy roads. Maybe the awakening animals are disoriented from hibernation and are most likely hungry while foraging for food. The poor lil' guys get whacked while we drive early in the morning to work or home in the evening. This past morning I sadly struck a chipmunk darting across the highway probably on his first outing of the season. God damn it! I shouted to myself, upset that the lil' bugger got caught under my wheels. I said a quiet Rest In Peace Chippy and went on my way. That brought me back to my memory of the very first time I struck an animal while driving. I was coming home from the AMC movie theater in South Jersey where I  worked dur...

Sleepy morning and definitely a questionable pic! LOL  It is with great irony that the morning I write this blog post, I opened up my Facebook page to see Facebook congratulating me on being a member for 10 years. WOW. I remember I joined mainly to try and facilitate my 20th class reunion back in Fall 2008. Now 10 years later, my 30th reunion is around the corner and I am beginning to promote that reunion as well. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Social media is definitely a double edged sword. I use Facebook at this point as a tool to promote my blog. I would not have as many readers if I didn't have it. My blog is personal, but I choose and select what I write about. But I find myself being more selective on what I post on my social media sites. I have begun limiting my personal info out there. And now, we have the latest scandal of Facebook where Facebook allowed the company Cambridge Analytica to illegally obtain the data of 50 million users wi...

"Jerry Mouse and Tom Cat (not my pic)" Every other winter, I get the occasional house mouse moving in. Believe me it isn't Jerry or Mickey Mouse (were they cousins?). My excellent mousers, Max and his twin sister Moxie, usually take care of the problem. I STILL haven't located where the mice get in. Usually it's a brown small field mouse with big brown eyes. Cute, if it weren't a mouse. Nah, still cute. But still a mouse! LOL I'm not as tough as some of you guys though. I catch and release. I think I remember my dear ole' Philly friend KitKat electrocuted at 43 of them since January 2015. That's Philly apartment living for ya!  And then she so eloquently posted pics of various Mouse Memes of mice stuffed and dressed in various poses. (Other people stuffed them.)  LOL It was actually quite cute if not a bit morbid. Man, she's a tough gal though folks! I had heard my current house mouse making his way through the walls end of February. T...

"Daffodils Coming Up" I went out today to do a little bit of yard work. My buddy Eric had told me a couple weeks ago that he was already collecting branches and sticks cleaning up his yard and I felt a little guilty. So far the Nor'Easters have been preventing me from doing that. Although I really could have but I'm just really using that as an excuse. Ha-ha. I'm kinda NOT gonna do major yard work until it hits the 50s. Today was an anomaly. Guilt ridden too. The yard is a mess. LOL I was collecting sticks in the yard while make sure that the fake owl hanging from the corner of the house is still there to ward off the woodpeckers. He still is. Went down into the lower backyard and collected all of the planters and pots that had blown into our yard from Charlotte's over the winter. I collected them and put them neatly stacked next to her shed and realized I was putting them next to the entrance to her groundhog hole under the shed. Made me chuckle. That...