Eleven months (or more) to my ideal weight.

Here is my weight history since I started on my diet in May 2018.

Month           Weight     lbs lost in month     Cum weight loss
May 2018        249         
June                 241         8                                8
July                  234         7                                15
August             229         5                                20
September       225         4                                 24
October           219         6                                 30
November       219         0                                 30
December       216         3                                  33
January 2019  213         3                                  36
February         212        1                                   37
March             211        1                                   38
April               209        2                                   40
May                208        1                                    41

In the first five months on my diet I lost 30 pounds. In the next seven months I lost 11 pounds. Currently I am losing about 1 pound per month. (Last November I had a monthly loss of zero). Someone said that your ideal weight is what you weighed at the age of twenty. For me that is 197 pounds. At the current rate it will take me 11 months to reach my ideal weight of 197. That is ok. I have lots of time. That is close to my 95th birthday on July 20, 2020. To relax the pressure on me I hereby change my goal to be at my ideal weight of 197 by my 95th birthday. I will have two goals. 1) to be at my ideal weight of 197 on my 95th birthday and 2) be alive on my 95th birthday.

Here are my vital statistics for March and April.    I did pretty good considering all that I ate on my trip to California.

Tornado!

Around one or two in the morning on Thursday April 25, 2019 a strong tornado skipped across Ruston. It was narrow in spots and off the ground in spots but where it hit it really tore things up.  I have many happy memories of the baseball and softball parks. They were badly hurt. The evening before the tornado I watched a softball game form my favorite spot. Between a light pole and the chainlink fence off first base. The fence and the pot are now laying on the ground.

In the background is the torn up scoreboard.

Here are more pics of the ball diamonds area. Notice the modified refreshment stand.

The area below the softball bleachers were enclosed.

Large portions low the concrete roof fell on seats at the baseball stadium.

I drove over to look at the Senior Center. The new roof looked good, but our flagpole was on the ground. So were many trees.

The Pow Wow station on the interstate was almost blown away.

The tornado was off the ground here.

Bottom of the fourth.

Saturday I attended a baseball game between Louisiana Tech and Marshall from West Virginia. Good game. We won 5 to 4. I made a time lapse video of the bottom of the fourth inning. Not too exciting an inning but there was a pitcher change by Marshall. You can get an appreciation of the pretty Tech baseball park. Before today's tornado!

Catapult. West Monroe Model 2019.

In his senior physics class at West Monroe High School my great grandson Ethan was given an assignment (with three other students) to build a catapult that could hurtle a water bomb for 25 feet. Last night in front of my porch they conducted some final touches on and tests of their catapult. It was exciting. Sparkle got a big kick out of the activity.

Catapult at work.

Ethan on the right.

Spike Ball

Spike Ball is a good bullpen game. Helps hand/eye coordination.

Five hour layover in Los Angeles.

On my train ride home from California I boarded the train in San Juan Capistrano. I had a five hour wait in Los Angeles before I got on the Texas Eagle. I had last been in the Los Angeles Union Station during WWII. That was 76 years ago. The Station and I were new, so to speak. The Station was built in 1939 amd was four years old. I was 18 amd new in the Army. I remember the Station as new and glittering. The outside of the Station looks as good today as it did then. The inside look a little worn.

Olvera Street (some like to call it the oldest street in LA) is just across the street from the Station. I remember taking my family there some 60 years ago. I walked over for supper.

Entrance to Olvera Street.

Want some color?

Tamale, beans, and rice.

Strolling musicians.

View of LA Station from Olvera Street.

The five hour layover gave me another opportunity to stroll down memory lane.

The last diaper that I changed.

There has to be a last diaper change in most lives. Well I remember mine. It was around 18 years ago in Arizona. Ethan's (my first great grandson) Mother and Grandmother went to the movies and left me in charge. Wouldn't you know a stinky diaper change was needed! I remember that the hardest part of the job was keeping Ethan's heels out of the stinky stuff. I did it.

Well today we are all looking forward to Ethan graduating from High School in Louisiana. On my Face Book today I found the following photos. Ethan's grandfather , John Adams, had posted this photo collage.

I like to think that my last diaper change helped Ethan get to where he is today. We are all so proud of Ethan and love him to the max!

V. Elaine Thompson, Louisiana Tech History Professor.

Professor Thompson gave a talk yesterday at the monthly meeting of the Northwest Louisiana Historical and Genealogical Society in Monroe, LA. The talk was on finding history in your backyard. She has certainly done that and has written a book on the history of her hometown, Clinton, Louisiana.

There was good attendance at the meeting.

Professor Thompson talk covered many aspects of southern life. Both sad and good. She has studied the history of Clinton for years. She found many happenings that were completely hidden. She has items that she is still researching. (Such as why there were no longer any Jews in Clinton after the 1920s.) In the future she may have to write an addendum to her book on Clinton.

I enjoyed the meeting.

I miss my cat.

Her name was Patches. She was named by my grand daughter Katie. She was many colors and very ugly. So ugly that she was cute. She was a wild cat and untamed She bit me and scratched me many times. I carried bandaids in my wallet. About five years ago she came out of the woods and sort of moved in with me. She had three liters (one in my closet) before I had her fixed. I could not get near her outside but inside she would lay on my lap for hours at a time. She lived outside under the trailer at night. In the morning she would come in and I would feed her. And she would often sleep in the trailer all day. She was a lot of company. She was semi-around all the time and made up to Kerry.

John told me Monday that she had not been around for several days before I got home  from my trip to California. A day later he found her body in the woods behind the house. It is a mystery how she was killed.There are foxes and coyotes in this area

As the days go by I really miss her. In five years you can get used to a critter even if they bite you.

I love dogs and cats but I do not want another pet.

The Dogs of Eastvale. (Visit to the Shafai Family)

In the confusion of my recent trip to California I did not post about my wonderful two day stop at the Eastvale home of my granddaughter Annie Shafai, her husband Paymaan, and their three boys. Annie is my hero. She picked me up in Pomona. Eastvale is aa new California city in the Corina/Chino area. Here is a picture of the family. The boys are Jack, Charlie, and Max. All fine young men. I am so proud of them.

It was fun to see their dogs again. Two big beautiful nice dogs.  As big as they are they are very happy in a small yard. The white dog is Koda, a husky and the other is Hunter, a german shepard. Koda can sing!

We managed a visit to the IN N OUT Burger. Oh boy! they are the best.

I said that I liked onion so I got an extra slice.!

Here is a picture of the Shafai family with the PrunePicker and Paymaan in the second row.

Thanks to Paymaan, Annie, Jack, Charlie, and Max for a great visit,

The lawns of Dana Point.

My daughter and my son in law Nancy and Bob Wright live in Dana Point, California.

I am just returned from a wonderful visit to their home. I had a chance to study the lawns in the area. They are smaller than the lawns of Ruston, Louisiana. Here is a photo of the Wright's lawn.

Land values are high in the area and not much land is devoted to lawns. The Wright's lawn is one or the more spacious. I believe that it is 300 square feet. Luckily Bob has a large 16 inch mower and is able to mow his lawn in 3 minutes.

More Dana Point photos.

Jerry's jigsaw puzzle.

View of Dana Point Harbor.

PrunePicker, Jerry and her son Bob.

Cajun blackened sea bass. Good!

Boat in background is the ferry to Catalina island.