Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Winter Cold, New Year's exercise resolution, got Lisa Whelchel exercise tape

   It appears that we are again going to miss having any real snowfall. I have to admit that that is a disadvantage to living in a valley, but you also avoid driving in precarious weather conditions.
    This time of year I have to admit I don't like the severe cold and winter whipping winds. The other day was a bit windy but we were somewhat shielded as we took a short trek over a tiny part of the frisbee golf course in the woods, behind the "mid county park" in Christiansburg. It'd rained and gee, it was a bit slippery and there seemed to be dried out old grape vines everywhere, along with some downed trees. But we got a little exercise going up and down then up a different part of the frisbee course behind the picnic shelter and pool area for this park. (And they call the pool area the 'frog pond'. Well, they have a big plastic frog slide for little kids, and the pond is actually the pool itself.)
    Speaking of exercising-- I hope to lose some weight this spring. To help me, I have purchased online the "Lisa Whelchel" exercise DVD. She was on TV's "Facts of Life" and "Survivor". She lost a lot of weight on Survivor and I think maybe she came up with this tape/dvd to help keep her weight off. The exercises she showed on "The Talk" didn't look hard so I hope I can do these regularly. I know that there are other exercise DVDs, but I haven't used one on a regular basis since Richard Simmon's "Sweating to the Oldies" on VHS cassette. I need to exercise at home as well as go to Curves and I hope this will do the trick. So many of these dvds require super stomach strength (having kids shot my stomach muscles to hell) so I bet this will be a helpful tape. Are there any other tapes for those who aren't that strong in the middle?

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Walks in Fall and Winter, Cutting Redwoods

  Well, walking in fall can be problematic. If you don't like cool winds blowing your hairdo around  and leaves are not your thing, then autumn is not your thing. Of course, it is "winter" now, but since we have had a real lack of snow in the southeast, then it seems we're back in the autumn mode, with bare trees and the landscape and the grass turning yellowish or brown.
   Radford University has a small, some might say "cozy" campus. It can be a good place to walk and commune with nature for a short while. But the college "plan" is to expand and tear down Lucas Hall, thereby eliminating several dawn/don redwoods and a pecan and bald cypress. Yes, and that is not right. The cutting of established and big trees is never a good thing. But they are doing it to then tear down Lucas Hall and put up a huge Dept. of Humanities building. I like the campus the size it is now, and losing green space is not a good thing, don't you think?