Rethinking the Workout Routine, Plus-Celina and Grand Lake, still on the skids!

It was 50 weeks ago today that I started on the "Diabetes II" Diet plan from the dietitian at the Hospital at St. Marys.  That means in 2 weeks a full year will have passed, since it began.  Like all diets, mine has had it's ups and downs...lucky for me, most of those have been "Down".  As in weight, blood pressure, and blood sugar numbers going down.  I have, however, noticed the past 3 weeks since baseball ended, that my weight has inched up a handful of pounds.  Starting out in the 210 pound range, I was bound and determined to drop 25 or 30 pounds by the first year's end....I had dropped 27 by early May and was as low as 183, the bp had dropped from an average of 155/85 to a reasonable 120/68 or so.  The blood sugar had also dropped.  However, since my last baseball umpiring gig the first weekend of August, I noticed that I had crept back up to the 188 mark.  

With Patricia heading back to school today, I told her to start waking me up at 7am.  I had been crawling out of the sack between 7:30 and 8:30 most mornings..."no more" I told her, get me up, and I need to get back on the walking kick I had given up during the hot weather...so this morning I headed out towards the torn up streets and financial mess that is called "Downtown Celina, Ohio"...I would also walk along the north shore of our Grand Lake, that now has become a 13,000 acre abused cesspool of Blue/Green Algae Bloom.   Those two items right there are enough to raise the lowest of blood pressure.

Anyhow, off I went with camera in hand to record the first day back on the walk...more walking, less beer, fewer hand rolled cigars, are in the future as football officiating begins in full this Wednesday with a game at Delphos.  I need to drink less, if for no other reason than to save money for my annual trip to the Au Sable in Michigan in late October...but the real reason is, I've just been downing too damn many beers....and I do love my brews.  I won't be quitting, nothing that rash, but will cut back, especially on the weekends and non game days.  When it's hot, you can bet I will still be downing a few after the games....that won't change.  But less red meat, and a few more green veggies will put me back on the diet plan that the dietitian laid out for me 50 weeks ago....I still want to drop those last 8 pounds, so I can say I dropped the full 30 pounds.

When I was lifting weight 4 or 5 times a week, back in a 15 year period from 1987-2002, I had balooned up to 225 or so pounds...once I gave up the muscle head stuff, I dropped a few pounds, but could never keep off what I wanted or needed to....the past year has proven I can do it...but sometimes I need to kick myself in the ass, to make sure I don't forget what got me to lose the weight in the first place.  These next few weeks should bring that back to practice. I also thought about getting back into some weight training...but at 61 1/2 years...I'm still up in the air on that one.  The last few times I've tried, I have overdone the weights and pulled something, somewhere.  So I will sleep on that a few more days...but the 1 hour walk in the morning is definitely back on the agenda.



Celina and Grand Lake____

As for the other subjects, Celina, and Grand Lake St. Marys...things don't seem to be getting much better.

The street projects in downtown Celina and on Buckeye Street continue to make the city a mess...why bother washing your ride?  Buckeye Street is nowhere near completion, except a small portion of the north end.  Meanwhile Main Street is just getting started.  They say the project, that has closed down 3 blocks of US 127(Main Street), will have one portion completed by November and the last project completed by Memorial Day 2011...Wanna Bet?

I'd bet any takers, a case of Drambuie(that's about $450), that this lame ass, ill advised plan, isn't done anywhere near that target date, and Buckeye Street may take even longer.

Of course they say,  this is all for the improvement of the business climate and traffic in the downtown...Hell the business climate is dead as a Arctic winter, and our fearless leaders want to tear down more buildings to put in more freaking parking lots that nobody uses now.   Is it any wonder Wal-Mart is building along highways and byways and destroying the downtown's?  It's not Wally World's fault, it's incompetent "leaders" of the various villages and towns.  Celina is a prime example of how not to run a city of 11,000 folks.

Then there is Grand Lake....hand dug in the 1830 and 1840s as a feeder for the Miami-Erie Canal....over the years it was a shallow(usually 6 to 8 feet deep in most locations), that was a great boating, bathing, and fishing "reservoir".  Sure, it had problems, the surrounding dwellings were not central sewered and many of the large farms used the place as a private dumping ground for chemicals and manure...you know, hog, cow, and other livestock toilets?  After all, don't talk bad about the farmers in Mercer or Auglaize Counties....because that is the major industry here.

 So the boating, swimming and even the fishing is off limits, and if you fish, for gawd'sshitter....

By this time next year, I can't comprehend how many businesses on and around Grand Lake will be no more....and the number in downtown Celina to fall to the whims of an out of control local government, may equal those gone on the lake.

It's going to be one long winter in and around Grand Lake...and if my guess is correct, it will take many years for the lake and Celina to recover from the incompetence of government and the pure criminal activity of those that turn a blind eye to the pollution of Grand Lake.  Jail time and sever fines are needed for the polluters. Those responsible for the mess in downtown Celina need to be voted out and their hand picked mishandlers of the tax payers money need to be fired!

As far as me....I plan on dropping a few more pounds, and watch the world go bye...Obama destroying the Republic, and local and state political hacks lending a hand in destroying Celina and Grand Lake.  They get you coming or going....bend over America, in Mercer County and elsewhere, this is gonna hurt, big time!

back later>>>>

Photos(double click for larger views)-As you can see, Grand Lake really doesn't look bad, and I believe the pollution has been overstated by the State DNR and EPA...but the damage from them and the pollution from the mega dairy and hog farms and other smaller farms, by people without a conscience has been done.  Meanwhile in Celina Main Street at 8:30 on a Monday Morning looks like a ghost town, and Buckeye Street, now in disrepair for many months, is nowhere near being completed.  But hey, I can at least enjoy my little jungle of a back yard, and watch the 100 or so Sunflowers of different shades and colors out their last days before fall takes hold of the heartland.