When halfway is called hell...

I had some fun with my Mormon neighbor and a couple of work buddies. It was almost 70 degrees (again), couldn't ask for a better day to be in the middle of the street.

This was the 50 foot turn around for the prowler

50lb. medicine ball on the left, prowler on the right, metal skids on asphalt

Truck organizing skills...

Highland games regulation length hammers. Farmer carry bars in the background.

Then I went to the gym. I was worried if I didn't show up, my usual workout partner might decide to take an extra night off. Being accountable to someone is important in any fitness plan, especially for those who aren't self motivating. I went with lighter weights than normal but still got in an overall intense workout day.

The 5 day plan means I only have 4 more workouts left out of 30 (hence the circled 26). I wanted to get 30 days of really intense workouts with a lot of Olympic and strongman type workouts. I honestly think that anyone can eventually lift heavy weights or be strong or have endurance... but I want it all.
I'm a greedy little fool like that.

Allergies, workout knowledge, and some religion.

Yesterday morning saw an allergy attack that was the worst one, ever. I've been battling them the whole year and still haven't been able to ID the culprit for certain.
The sneezing was so bad, on top of the runny nose, that I ended up going home for a couple of hours until the medication kicked in. Unfortunately I think it's a reaction to one of the dogs, the longer haired one. I'm getting some more pharm grade medication, time to stockpile enough for one pill a day for 6 months.
Maybe I can shave down poor Luke.

Time for some workout stuff, sorry to bore everyone. I get asked a lot of stuff about working out and running, especially from coworkers.

What should I do: Something, anything, just start.
What if my knees hurt: Slow down or walk. If it's discomfort, push past it. If it's painful find out the root cause and address it. Walking is as close to a magic pill as you can get.
What should I eat: The same things you are eating now, until you discover that what you are eating is holding you back or not enough for the required energy levels.
What supplements should I take: None, it's all crap, going for a 3 mile run and then chugging 32 ounces of sports drink just set you back an extra mile. Protein shakes (with water only) and some amino acid type drink (with water only).
How do I get 6 pack abs: Diarrhea, it will help get rid of the water weight, have fun with that. Stop trying to impress everyone and work out for yourself.
Why does my lower back hurt after leg night: Too much weight or bad technique. Using muscles that don't get much work will make them angry. Stretch your hip flexor muscles, you should stretch for about 20 minutes a day total.
What is the best workout plan: The one you stick to for a year. There is no magic plan. Everything has an advantage and there is so much to pick from. Pick one, start, stick to it.
What web sites should I read: None. Paralysis by analysis doesn't help anyone. Start and then work on refining things like technique, isolation, form, etc. The guy doing 400 pound squats might only be going down 6 inches, but at least he is doing something.

I've been thinking a lot about religion lately. My cousin is very religious and I always remember her saying that she lets God lead her by the hand.
I don't want to be led around, I prefer to have God kick me in the ass from time to time. I'm part of the Cyrus Dallin family so that explains why I'm surrounded by Mormons I suppose. I spent years going to church, singing in the chorus, reading and learning. I really enjoy religious debates, I enjoy talking about the different beliefs between the faiths. No matter what anyone thinks or believes, when I'm outside at 2AM and looking up at the stars... well how much better does it get, I don't always care about the details.
I've learned to just try and live a good life, be a good person, and do what I know is the right thing. That's all any of us can strive for.

Odds-n-ends, that guy in the gym, summer in November.

It's November and there was a time in the past I would call it winter. No longer, it's an extended fall.

Watering the grass in November with weather in the high 50's (it was in the high 60's during the week). The grass is green, unlike the weeds everyone else is growing, Colorado is a shade of brown this time of year.

Wheat bread and chocolate chip brownies, batch #2. I used coconut oil instead of butter in the brownies, I didn't like them as much but it's healthier and I'll take any help I can give myself.

Those 3 photo's are from Saturday and Sunday night as we were out and about the city. I wanted another bread knife and was tired of being at home. Perfect excuse to go out and watch the sunset.

I'm very careful at the gym, removing a weight from the bar on each side so I don't cause an accident. Last night the guy next to me wasn't thinking and took all the weights off from one end of the bar (yes, leaving all of them on the other end, about 250 pounds worth). As anyone could predict, the bar flipped off the top of his squat rack and came at me with high speed. I use a squat rack for a lot of different things, it has bars that you can adjust to catch the weight if you have to drop it... or in this case if 'that guy' has a brain fart. I took it in stride, he was sorry, and I used another of my apparently numerous lives.

Some great WW2 photo's from theBRIGADE.

It's Veterans Day. Father in laws birthday is today so we got him a new coffee maker. I was looking at my Grandfathers photo's from WW2 and Korea and then my Dad's photo's from Vietnam. My Dad had about 100 or so pictures of beautiful women, my Grandfather has photo's of liberating France and his ship after it got hit with a Torpedo. My Father must have been adopted. My photo's from Iraq aren't very exciting, I wasn't really into photography and figured the sand in my ass was enough of a memory to last a lifetime.

Thanks to those who have served or are serving.

Last ride of the year?

We thought last weekend was going to be the last ride in the mountain. Yesterday was overcast and had us doing yard work until the sun popped over the clouds. We dropped the tools and bailed out of town.

view from the trailer, hayman fire burn area

view in the other direction, pikes peak in the distance

pikes peak from a trail head

The weather was 10 degrees cooler but in the tree's we didn't feel the wind, we added 35 miles to the ATV's. We took some harder trails and some less than traveled trails.

Standard trail in the Woodland Park and hayman burn area

The trail less traveled. My favorite trail so far, very hard in and out.

We got back in town and unloaded and I rushed into the kitchen. Our MAG meeting was yesterday and we don't want to show up without something from food storage. A lot of people bring stuff from the store for snacks but I we always make something from home. Last night it was pumpkin pie, since nothing beats a good homemade pie.

I realize it seems to be lacking crust, but with all the working out we do, lower carbohydrate is better (and who really eats the thick crust anyhow). We also needed bread for the week for sandwiches, so that got whipped up.

Yes, you are correct, those are chocolate chip brownies. Dual ovens are just so awesome. It's a great feeling to be able to make just about anything you eat, without having to go out and grocery shop. Right now we only buy meats, fruit and milk at the grocery store, in fact Costco hit us for $250 on Saturday... meat fest. The freezer is 90% full, the food storage is so full we are working on making more space and getting more shelving.

I try to get almost 300 grams of protein, 200 grams of carbohydrates and 70 grams of fat each day. The one day a week I don't workout I drop the carbohydrates to 70 and the fat to 35. I can hit the 35 grams of fat with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, so it takes planning and calculating before I open my mouth.
I'm debating signing up for a strongman competition in March. The only thing holding me back is there are no age or weight classes. I wouldn't win in any class or group, but it would be nice to compete with people my age and not those 20 years younger. I'm sure I could have a great time, and worst case is I train really hard and get in better shape. Win-Win!

In closing, have a random picture I took on Friday morning. This is looking to last years burn zone.

Sweaty palms, or did I just watch American Blackout...

First off, some pictures from our front yard:

This picture was on the way to work, I've been looking at this tree several times a day and decided to snag a photo. If I'm motivated I'll get my good camera and get on it later, for now it's just iPhone quality from the window:

I recorded American Blackout last night, I actually really enjoyed it. It made me think I don't have enough, know enough, do enough, etc. There were a lot of unrealistic scenarios, but for the most part I thought they did a great job. The elevator jump, the penthouse invasion, the home fire, etc. were my favorites as far as being realistic (and in the penthouse case, perhaps deserving?)
The bugged out family in Colorado was good, until they didn't do anything about the useless daughters boyfriend giving away food.... but then I also realized they weren't armed and were doing night patrols and that entire scenario just caved. When the end of the movie came and it was the 'hostage' situation, we both agreed that there would have been a lot of dead people and the neighbor would probably die in his sleep that night.

Being part of a group has it's benefits as long as everyone is willing to help. Last night we loaned our flatbed car hauling trailer to a group member so he didn't have to rent a U-Haul trailer. He was very thankful, but we told him it's what we do as group-mates. If you are part of a group and aren't willing to help when times are good, I'm not going to be able to rely on you under stressful situations.

We are adding 2 families to our group, and my 'squad' this weekend. I'm responsible to keep everyone informed with group activities, meetings, events, etc. These additions give our squad the following: 14 children from infant to teenagers and 19 adults. Most of the male adults have military training, police undercover training, and a handful are currently active duty special forces. We also have a massage therapist, medic, administrators, construction people, homemakers, etc. It's a well rounded team and getting better each day.
Most of the doctors are on the other team (3 of them) but we feel comfortable as-is.

Here I was thinking my life was often dull and boring.

The fall colors, without a camera

Sometimes we just enjoy the colors and scenery and don't care to take pictures. Perhaps the magic is lost when you start running around shooting photo's and trying to get that perfect shot.

This year the colors are amazing, reminding me of the fall colors back in NH. The usual one shade of gold Colorado fall leaves are vibrant gold, yellow, red and combinations. The cool nights, warm days and the weeks of monsoon rains really made this fall one to remember. It's almost November and the colors are still powerful. 1/2 the leaves have fallen but the other half remind us to really take the time and enjoy what nature is doing, the small things we tend to take for granted and in this case just rake and put in trash bags.

I did steal these from a new website, enjoy:

This past weekend was lazy time, some college football and some ATV riding. We decided to spend some money on a good leaf blower and even got the backpack version. I'm tired of extension cords, crappy old blowers that leak gas, etc. Leaf blowing is fun and I was envious of the neighbor kid using it in the yard on Saturday. We made a couple of large piles that will be added to as the rest fall down.

A zen moment was watering the grass... yes, at the end of October in Colorado. Once I was done I just admired how great the grass looked, the wet leaves in a few spots and of course the backhoe tracks in a couple of spots from the sewer pipe repair. Way to ruin a moment.

We are having our monthly prepper group meeting this weekend. Basic first aid is the subject and with 3 doctors and 2 medics I'm hoping we will learn a lot. I'd be pleased to stick people for IV practice but it's hard to find a willing candidate. Instead I'll make some bread, pumpkin pies and some cookies.

Fall is for bulking up!

Bake-a-thon

I haven't had a UFC fight night in a while and I felt out of touch with a few people so the invites went out. We had the house in order but since I'm the only one not working on Saturday, it was up to me to get the food together.
Spaghetti is easy, the sauce gets cooked and simmers for hours, the noodles get cooked as people who up. I've tried other food but it tends to be a lot more work. We were down to 1 loaf of bread so I got the over warmed up and it was sort of a whirlwind of cooking.

This was an attempt at apple crumb pie, but a lower carb version (if there can be such a thing with apple pie). I think it took more time to clean up than it did to get it ready. While this was being made the bread was in the oven.

While the new loaf was cooling I made a ham sandwich and got the hot pads out for the pie. This sort of baking madness is nice with double ovens, I wouldn't enjoy going back to a single.

Ham sandwich done and the pie's are done. They turned out good, but I cut the apple slices too thick so they didn't cook down much. I have one slice left, everyone enjoyed it I guess.

Now it was time to make something new. I've always wanted to make some fancy dinner rolls but they take forever. I made a double batch so the process goes like this:
Mix, knead, rise, flatten, cut, shape, rise, butter, cook.
Almost 3 hours later the process was over and I ate 4 of them while they were still hot.

You can see I've already snagged one from that picture. I think they were the best rolls I've ever had and they were worth the effort. Just in case anyone wants to made them, here you go:

1 t yeast (regular)

1/2 C warm water

1/2 C milk

1 egg

2 T vegetable oil

2 Tablespoons sugar

3 C flour (to start, I ended up over 4 cups in order to get the dough to be the right consistency)

butter (for the top to brown)

Mix, let rise for an hour. Flatten out and cut (it's easier then pulling chunks out), form round-ish shapes and put in pan (I used parchment paper so it would be easy to manage). Let rise another hour and then butter the tops, bake for 15 minutes @ 375 or until they are as brown as you would like.

The fights were good, everyone had fun and we ended up with 14 people hanging out in our small house. I slept well and on Sunday we finally got the dining room table empty of tomatoes and made our last batch of salsa. I made this batch hotter by using jalapenos and serrano peppers.

I actually had the thought of doing something like salsa as a small side business, but then I realized how much work it would be for very little money. Not hard work, just very time consuming. Next time I'm at costco I'll price everything out but even at $5 a jar it wouldn't be much profit, unless I'm missing something.