Update

I have been meaning to update the weight loss progress but well, I've been kind of busy.

Shortly after my last post I started watching my neighbor's dog for them.  It actually was helping the cause because I was walking him daily and he initially was so high maintenance (thankfully we've fallen into a nice routine now!) I didn't have time to eat.  I lost ten pounds pretty quickly.

Things seemed to level out after that and I lost another pound or two.

Then, a couple of weeks ago I got bitten by some bug that resulted in a pretty significant allergic reaction and I've been on steroids since.  So for the last week or so I've been eating like I was trying to qualify to be a sumo wrestler and I had to pack on 200 pounds by June 1st.

As of yesterday the scale still reflected a weight loss of 11 pounds but I expect the weight will change at some point and I will have lost less than that but once these anti-allergy drugs flush out of my system, I'll be hitting it hard again, with a vengeance!

Set Back

Well, last week was a rough week for dieting.  I knew I was cheating but I kept going.  Call it a binge, you wouldn't be wrong

So, when I got on the scale on Monday, all progress I had made in the first week had been washed away.  And I wasn't surprised.

As I was binging, I thought about 2006 when I went on Weight Watchers and lost 45-50 pounds during that year.  What is different now than what was going on then?  How was I able to stick to a diet plan than allowed me to eat whatever I wanted, so long as I stayed within certain guidelines?

Several things came to mind.  First of all, I was working.  There was food available to me at work but not as readily available with things I personally picked out / up from the store.  It's very easy to go into the kitchen and grab something to eat, whether I need it or nor and whether or not I'm actually hungry.

I thought about accountability because I was being weighed every week but had assumed blogging about it provided that here.  

But the big one, I think, was the fact that I was shelling out a lot of money to go to Weight Watcher meetings at work.  It was easier for me to stay focused on losing weight because otherwise the money I was spending was being wasted.  Once I reached my goal weight I didn't have to pay anymore - I just had to weigh in once a month.  When I started gaining weight, I stopped going to meetings, planning to lose the weight and go again.  That never happened.

One other thing occurred to me though, I allowed for snacks and had them ready and available to me. I almost always had bananas, yogurt and hard boiled eggs on hand for snacks.  I also had the Weight Watchers ice cream almost every single evening, which helped me feel like I was able to indulge while on the diet.

To that end, I have stocked my house with low calorie snacks in the hopes that it will help eliminate binges like I had last week.

So, it's back to square one on the goal to lose weight but I think (hope) identifying the obstacles will help going forward.

Pounds desired to lose: 50

Pounds to go: 50

Net loss:  0   :(

Book Review Club - April 2019

I didn't think I would be reviewing a book this month and then I came across this one on amazon. 

Here's the thing, Kim Gruenenfelder is one of my favorite authors and I've reviewed several of her books already and had even waited three years for her last book to come out.  So I was surprised to find she had another book out that I didn't know about.  Happily surprised.  :)

This month I will be reviewing Hangovers & Hot Flashes by Kim Gruenenfelder.

As with several other of her books, this story is told from the viewpoint of three main characters (and best friends) who tell their story from their own point of view in alternating chapters.  All of the women are in their mid-to-late forties.  They are:

Alexis (Alex):  Alex is in television (show creator), lives on the beach and has more money than she knows what to do with. Her "boyfriend" of twelve years shows up when it's convenient and then seems to go into hiding for weeks on end.  But the sex is great so she's reluctant to kick him to the curb.

Michelle: Michelle is a high end real estate agent who has been married to Steve for 20+ years.  She feels so unappreciated at home that she literally parks her car a couple of blocks from her house to brace herself for she'll have to face inside.  She feels she gets no help from Steve at home so she's questioning why they're still together.

Zoe:  Zoe has been married to Carlos for 20+ years.  She loves him with all her heart but she misses the "zing" you feel when a romance is new.  The electric feeling you get when you have your first kiss.  She wants to feel that again so she suggests trying an open marriage to her husband, Carlos.

One of the things I love about Gruenenfelder's books is that she really taps into the human emotions we all feel and she doesn't hold back.  But she does it in such a way that it is funny.  SO funny!  I laughed so hard while reading this book.  I also couldn't put it down - I read it the same day it came in the mail!

I also saw myself and my friends in these characters.  Some of the things told were things I'd actually experienced!  To the point I might have wondered "how did she know?"  ;)

One experience that mimicked one I'd had myself was when Alex took the dog her boyfriend had left with her to the vet.  She asked the vet what kind of dog it was and the vet told her he was a mutt.  So she asked what mix of dogs did the vet think he was.  The vet responded "cute and adorable".  It made me laugh because the first time I took my dog, Harley, to the vet I asked what kind of dog he was.  My vet looked at him and gave it consideration before he answered "brown".

In any event, I thoroughly enjoyed Hangovers & Hot Flashes and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys books about love, friendship and who need a good laugh.

For more reviews click on the link below or go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

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@Barrie Summy

One Week In

First off, dieting is hard.  HARD.

I find myself sitting on the couch watching TV and I'm unable to concentrate on the show I'm watching because I'm thinking about the food in my kitchen.  This isn't new to me dieting but it does make the dieting harder.

In fact, I haven't been that good on the "diet" this past week.  To be totally honest, I've gone way over my allowable calorie intake more days than not.  I did walk five out of the seven days, so that is a good thing.

But, when I got on the scale this morning (the official one, not the many unproductive ones I did during the week!), I had lost 2.5 pounds!

I've already eaten about two days worth of food today and it's not even dinner time yet!  (I'll probably skip dinner, for what it's worth.) But I've just got to keep plugging along until I reach my goal!

Pounds desired to lose: 50
Pounds to go: 47.5
Net pounds lost: 2.5

Day Four

Well, so far so good, as they say.

One of the things I had decided when I started this "journey" was that I was only going to weigh myself once a week - on Mondays.  I've done that in the past and it has worked well for me because when you weigh daily, or even multiple times a week, you can get a misperception of how you're doing.

For example, one day you may weigh yourself and you have a number to go by.  Let's say you weigh the next day and it shows you've lost 2 pounds.  You feel great and you might feel it's okay to take a little splurge, which defeats your purpose.

Or you may feel like you're starving yourself to death and get on the scale and have gained a pound or two.  You might question why you're torturing yourself like this and decide to binge eat, again, defeating your purpose.

So, for me, it works best if I only weigh once a week.

Only that's not what I've done this week so far.  In fact, I've weighed myself three times already and as of this morning it reflects that I've lost 3.5 pounds.  Maybe I have really lost that weight but maybe it's more water weight than anything else.  I can't lose my focus on the goal here.  So it's kind of encouraging but I don't want to jump ahead of myself here and lose focus.

Speaking of focus, I've done pretty well on eating and exercising.  Today is the first day I haven't gone out and walked the neighborhood yet (although the later it gets the less likely it will happen, just saying).

However, I had said I wanted to create a diet that was sustainable after I lost the weight.  After I wrote that I realized that how I'm approaching this is more of a juicing diet.  I'm eating solid foods too but mainly my diet has consisted of juiced fruits.  We're talking I was up at 3:00 a.m. this morning juicing fruits so that that could be my breakfast.  And it was delicious!

But as a long time sustainable thing, I need to be able to incorporate foods that bring a balance.  I've learned over the last few years that protein is important.  I don't eat meat (or dairy) so it can be challenging to get in the protein my body needs at times.

So I guess in addition to losing the weight, my goal would be to create a balanced diet that gives me everything I need (and even want) while maintaining a healthy weight (once I get there!).

But as I started the post, from the standpoint of how I'm doing - so far so good.  :)

Day One - Take Two

Before you do any scrolling to see what Day One - Take One or just Day One looks like, let me just tell you, that entry doesn't exist.  I'd planned to do a Day One entry but considering I didn't do too well on the first Day One, I feel it's better for all concerned that there be no written documentation that there was such a thing.

But that brings me to the point of this "series" I hope to be documenting. 

Over the last few years I've steadily been putting on weight.  A lot of weight.  I've always known I was a stress eater but I'm finding I eat for other reasons - that don't involve the need for nourishment - as well. 

I had lunch with a friend of mine a month or so ago and I hadn't seen her since I started gaining so much weight (30 pounds in the last two years!!!) and I brought it up.  She asked me why I thought I was eating so much and I mentioned that I was a stress eater but the fact was, there hadn't really been anything I could attach to a recent stress related eating binge and I kind of danced around the answer after that.

A few days later I was sitting in my living room watching TV and I got up to get something to eat.  It wasn't a meal or snack time and I wasn't even hungry, I just felt like eating.  That's when I realized I also eat when I'm bored.  Funny that I'd never considered that but there it was - I eat when I'm bored.

And it's not like I eat healthy stuff during these times either.  I don't buy a lot of junk food because I know I'll eat the bulk of it in one or two days but that doesn't mean all my "healthy snacks" are healthy either.

So, I've been looking at all of that and decided that I need to change things.  I don't want to do a fad diet or any diet that wouldn't be sustainable after I reached my goal weight (which will take some time to get there *sigh*).  I want to incorporate a healthy diet with exercise.  Sounds good, right?

Well, yesterday I got up and had avocado toast, followed by a thirty minute walk around the neighborhood.  I have a treadmill but it's too easy to stop after only a few minutes but if you're walking the neighborhood, you still gotta get back home!  So I decided walking the neighborhood might be the best approach while it's still comfortable enough to walk outside.

Anyway, I won't go into detail but it started falling apart around lunch time.  I have a recipe I make with daikon and brussel sprouts that I love.  It's very light, very few calories.  I had that just before lunch time.  I wasn't hungry after that but it was so early so I had a banana.  I mean, I don't want them to go bad.  I bought them to be snacks, etc.  So where was the harm?

I'll tell you the harm, it's that "I'm bored, I'll eat" habit that I need to break.  As I suggested, it went downhill after that.

So today is officially a second take on Day One.  I had avocado toast again and did my 30 minute walk around the neighborhood.  I just had a sensible lunch (stuffed peppers, yum!) and I just need to stay on course from here on out.

Here's hoping Day Two is next and there's not a "Take Three" to Day One!  :)

Pounds desired to lose:  50
Pounds to go:  50

Just not up to dealing with you today

I recently went on a trip and came home and promptly got sick.  This has happened before and I don't know if it's the difference in the climate, allergens or both or something else altogether.  I do know that when I've ignored it in the past, it evolves into something way worse so I've gotten to where if I see it coming, I go to the doctor to head it off at the pass.  Which is why I went to the doctor the other day.

Here's the thing though, I wanted to beat the crap out of the nurse and if I'd had the energy to do so, I might've done it.  So here's how the interaction with the nurse went:

It started with the nurse asking me to step up on the scale.  I don't do this anymore.  It would be one thing if it was necessary to get a right dosage of a medication that might kill me if the wrong dosage was prescribed.  But given that no diagnosis had been made at this point, I knew this wasn't the case, so I declined.

That resulted in the first smirk I got from the nurse as she said, sarcastically, "Really?!?"

To which I replied, "Really, I'm not going to weigh today."

She looked at me in disbelief as she told me she had to weigh me, it was just what they did!

I repeated, "I'm not going to weigh today."

Then she suggested that I look at her and she wouldn't tell me what the scale said, as if I didn't already know what it would say and that my reluctance to get on the scale was because I didn't want to know what I weighed.

That's when I smirked at her and just repeated that I wouldn't be weighing today, as if maybe she hadn't heard me before.

We went back and forth a couple of more times before she gave up and told me to sit in a chair so she could take my other vitals.

The blood pressure machine was on my right side but due to a medical procedure I had done several years ago it's better if all tests that can be done in the arm are done on my left arm, which is why I started exposing my left arm (I had on a sweater).  Her smirk and sarcasm reappeared as she wondered out loud why I would want it taken from my left arm.  When I told her why, she was less sarcastic and inappropriate.

That is until she asked me if I had any allergies.  I said yes and listed them, including my allergy to tetanus shots.

She said, "Really?  You're allergic to tetanus?"

I said, "Yes."

"Oh?  And you have a reaction?"

"Yes, I do."

"I looked at your chart."

I just looked at her confused because I didn't have any idea what her looking at my chart had anything to do with me being allergic to tetanus shots.  Then she told me I'd had several tetanus shots at this clinic before and I was even more confused because I've never had a tetanus shot at this particular clinic, and I told her so.

That's when she really showed her ignorance and said, "Almost every visit you've ever had here is listed as TB!"

That's when my smirk and sarcasm came back.  "You do realize that TB stands for tuberculosis don't you?  Tetanus and tuberculosis are two very different things.  So yes, I've had TB tests here before but I've NEVER had a tetanus shot here before."

She looked sufficiently embarrassed and had me go wait back in the waiting room for an exam room to be available and I didn't see her again. But I think it's a sad state of affairs when the quality of the medical personnel don't know the difference between a TB test and a tetanus shot!

Book Review Club - February 2019

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@Barrie Summy

This month I will be reviewing Michelle Obama's Becoming. 

The thing about autobiographies is that sometimes you learn things the author didn't intend you to learn about them.  It may be in what they say, what they didn't say, or how they said something.

What I learned from reading Becoming is that Michelle Obama is the warm, welcoming and inclusive person she seemed to be when she was First Lady.

Becoming tells her story from a young age through her years in the White House.  It's not the story of a black woman - it could be anyone's story.  She does note observations she made growing up about where certain family members seemed to complain about being passed over for promotions in work because of the color of their skin but it wasn't something she dwelled on and never seemed to consider it a hindrance to achieving her own goals in life.

She went to Princeton and Harvard.  She was making her way as an attorney at a successful law firm and was on the path to partnership.  But she felt unfulfilled, wanting to be involved in things that produced meaningful change in the world.

And then she met Barrack. 

Barrack was (is?) a lot more laid back than Michelle but their vision for things was similar.  She left the law firm and went to help put together programs that helped kids and families get a better education and medical assistance where it was desperately needed.  Barrack went into politics.

They were both having positive impacts on communities and loving their work.  But when Barrack said he wanted to run for president, it wasn't something she was excited about.  She didn't want to hold him back though and agreed to campaign with and for him, all the while believing he wouldn't get elected.

While in the White House she implemented programs slowly so that it wouldn't appear she was trying to affect policy - something Hillary Clinton had cautioned her about (from her own experience as First Lady).  She talks about things she was able to accomplish and the impact she believes she had on the people she was trying to help while her husband ran the country and the two of them were trying to raise two well adjusted daughters.

In my mind, before reading this book, I felt that Michelle Obama was someone who carried herself with grace and dignity and her story is told with grace and dignity.  I liked her before I read this book and I like her more since reading it.  There were stories that made me laugh and stories that made me cry.  And it wasn't always pretty.  It made me appreciate the privileges that I have and left me wanting to help others that don't share those same privileges.  It was an inspiring and interesting book about an inspiring and interesting woman.

I highly recommend it. 

For more book reviews click on the icon at the top of this post or go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

Book Review Club - December 2018

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@Barrie Summy

This month I will be reviewing THE GIRL WITH SEVEN NAMES.  Our host, Barrie, reviewed it in February and I requested an eBook loan from my library.  The hold list was such that I had to wait more than four months for the book to become available.

The book is about Hyeonseo Lee's life and journey from North Korea to South Korea.  Her journey started more as teenage rebellion rather than an intention to defect.  China was literally across the river from her house.  A friend wanted to cross the river to prove she could but Lee's mother told her no when she asked permission to join her friend.  This frustrated Lee because she knew her brother had crossed the river several times.  Then one day she decided to just do it.  She decided to go visit family members in Shenyang for a couple of days and told her brother to let her mother know after she had left.

Shenyang and China were so different from her home in North Korea and she was enjoying seeing all the sights and getting to know her relatives so she didn't immediately return as planned.  She received a shock when her mother called a month later and said they were in danger and she couldn't come back.  Shortly after she had left a census was being done for an upcoming election and since she was of legal age to vote her absence was noticed so her mother had to report her as missing.  If she had returned it would look suspicious and she and her family would likely be subjected to punishment that could include public execution.  So she stayed away.

She stayed with her aunt and uncle for about two years before they coordinated an arranged marriage for her.  Not wanting to marry the man she'd been promised to, she ran away and lived on her own for the first time.  Knowing that if she was discovered she would be deported back to North Korea she felt she couldn't trust anyone.

Eleven years after she first crossed the river she was finally legally in South Korea and had convinced her mother to join her.  Arrangements had been made for her brother to get her mother across the river in China where Hyeonseo would meet them.  Her brother was not planning to defect with them as he was planning a wedding to a North Korean woman whom he deeply loved but things did not go as planned when they crossed the river and if he returned to North Korea he would've been subjected to punishment which could include public execution.  As a result he had to defect as well.

One of the things about their transitioning into their new lives that stuck with me is as bad as things were in North Korea, none of them had ever intended to leave.  It made me think of a child that has the alcoholic, drug using, abusive parent who gets put into the foster care system and is placed in a healthy environment for the first time but the desire to return to this abusive parent stays with them because that's all the know - they don't understand people being kind to them and treating them well because it's not their known experience.  According to Lee's telling, free thought was not only discouraged but not allowed.  She mentioned that her parents never discussed their feelings about things in front of her for fear she'd repeat them in public and get them all in trouble with the government.  It's hard to believe such controlling leadership exists in this day and age and makes you appreciate the freedoms we currently have.

This is one of those books that makes you stop and think about things.  It's also a compelling and interesting read.  I would highly recommend it.

For more reviews click on the icon at the top of this post or go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

Risk Factors

I saw a doctor the other day to discuss a medical concern I had.  It was at a facility where they have the ability to run a surprising amount of tests.  And to pay for this equipment I think they run every test they can on every patient they see.

Before I saw the doctor they ran a few tests on me.  Everything was clear.  So they ran more tests.  I still hadn't seen a doctor.

When the doctor finally came in to see me, he told me the tests were clear before he proceeded to tell me my options.  You see, this facility has the capability of having overnight guests, so to speak.  The doctor informed me that there were two risk groups - high risk and low risk.  A low risk person would be sent home.  A high risk would be invited to stay overnight.  He said I fell in between those two and that the option was mine as to whether I stayed or not and he would give me time to think about it and he left the room.

Shortly after he left the room someone came back to get me so they could do even more tests on me (equipment is expensive!).  Again, everything was clear.

When the doctor came back to see me he asked what I had decided - as if it's still my choice.  I told him I was going home to which he replied "okay but you're going to have to sign a waiver stating you're leaving against my orders".

Huh?!

At no time did he so much as suggest I needed to stay overnight.  Although, as I type that, giving me a choice may have been that suggestion but he definitely did NOT make it sound like it was necessary.

In any event, I asked why I needed to stay - what were the risk factors that kept me from being low risk?  His response - my age and weight.  That's it.  Every test had disproved any issues that would warrant an overnight stay but then, if I left they couldn't charge more for my visit.

But it makes me wonder, do they offer overnight stays to everyone of "a certain age" and weight?  Because those "risk factors" are present with me at this time, even if I hadn't gone in to discuss a particular issue.  I can't change my age so I guess that will always be a risk factor.  And I know my current weight puts me at a higher risk for a lot of things.  But that I have some control over.

So, I decided to start walking again.  I have a treadmill in my living room but I decided to walk outside.  Today was my first day.  One of my neighbors was out so I asked her to join me - and she did.  The funny thing was she didn't want to take the longer route I suggested, yet she took off like it was a foot race!  I was winded and sweating half way through and she had no discernible side effects from the walk.

Anyway, we agreed we'd walk together when we could and hopefully I'll whittle away at the weight risk factor that makes doctors wishing to pay for their expensive equipment offer me overnight stays. In the meantime maybe I can find a counter thing for my blog to track weight loss so I'll feel a bit more accountable.  :)

Book Review Club - October 2018

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@Barrie Summy



This month I will be reviewing The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen.  I came to know about it because Sara Haines of The View recommended it as a summer beach read thriller and I borrowed it from my library.

The story is about what happens when Richard and Vanessa Thompson divorce and Richard is about to remarry.  It's primarily told from the viewpoint of Vanessa and tells / shows the great lengths she goes to to try to stop Richard from getting remarried.  Part of the book flap and amazon blurb is:

When you read this book, you will make many assumptions.
You will assume you are reading about a jealous ex-wife.
You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love.
You will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle.
Assume nothing

That is all true.  There are twists and turns that are completely unexpected.  The book is divided into three parts.  At the end of each "part" there is a bombshell revelation that you don't see coming - or at least I didn't.  It left me with a 'what the heck' feeling at the end of each part. 

But speaking of a what the heck feeling, I want to compare it, to a degree, to a murder mystery.  In a murder mystery the author deliberately misleads you and has you second guessing the conclusions you've come to.  The author will drop little clues for you to follow.  You might have thoughts like "but I thought . . . didn't he say . . . wasn't it the brother who" and I think that's normal for a murder mystery.  It makes me feel more involved in the story, like it's an interactive book almost.  I had those type of thoughts with this book too, well actually only in part one of the book.  The thing is, this wasn't a murder mystery and when I had those thoughts I was going back to find passages earlier in the book to clarify.  I thought the author had screwed up.  Even when I got to the bombshell moment where it's all explained I was a little confused for a minute.  Again, this was only in part one of the book but part one is roughly 150 pages of a 340 page book.  Part one was told in a unique way that initially confused me before I realized that I'd missed clues the size of boulders that could be seen from outerspace!  I can't say anymore without giving away spoilers but I will say that when all is said and done, it was totally worth it.

That all said, I really enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down.  It was totally worth the read and has some jaw dropping revelations in it.  I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the thriller genre.

For more reviews, click on the icon at the top of this post or go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

Book Review Club - June 2018

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@Barrie Summy

This month I will be reviewing My Pride and Joy by George Adamson.

Before I go into the actual review of this book I want to put out a couple of disclaimers.  One is, I read this book between two and three years ago.  Having just watched Born Free today though, I felt inspired to write this review for the book review club.  The second disclaimer is that around the same time I read My Pride and Joy, I also read all of the Born Free books (there are three) written by George's wife, Joy, as well as a bunch of articles and I watched a number of interviews and documentaries.  I mention these things because there may be some unintentional bleed over from other materials captured in this review.

With that said, My Pride and Joy is the life story of George Adamson, as told by George Adamson.  It starts from when he was a young boy and follows his life to becoming a game warden in Kenya and his work with rehabilitating "domesticated" lions so that they can live in the wild.

I'll be honest and say that the first part of the book about his childhood and young adulthood did not hold my interest well and therefore I didn't retain a lot of that information.  (Maybe I needed a third disclaimer?  :-/ )

But I do remember when he first met Joy.  She was married to husband number two at the time.  George was drawn to her but considered her off limits until one day she bluntly told him that she was interested, her marriage was over and she had permission to divorce and marry George.  George was stunned but confirmed with the husband what Joy had said and when he found it was true, he did marry Joy.  He had concerns that she would be too "delicate" for the life he led but he quickly found that she held up just fine and never complained about the conditions in which they had to live.

From many of the things I've read about Joy, she wasn't a particularly pleasant person and George actually addresses that in his book.  He admits that she was difficult and put off many people because of how she was.  Despite the fact that Born Free had been written mostly by using his notes and that he had helped edit the book, he didn't receive any proceeds from the books or movies.  She used this money to manipulate situations and eventually cut him off completely financially when he refused to do as she "demanded" when Bill Traverse (who played George in Born Free) refused to make her the star of a documentary he was working on.  He (Bill) had wanted to film a documentary on the work George was doing on lions to help bring awareness to the need for conservation.  By this time Joy had moved on to working with cheetahs and wanted the documentary to be about her.  George refused to insist that Bill do his documentary on Joy so Joy cut George off financially.  George was unable to pay his workers (who stayed with him anyway) and had to eat camel and military rations to survive.  But he never complained and continued to have affection for Joy up until her murder by a disgruntled employee she had refused to pay.

A lot of the book was about his work with lions.  He talked about working on the movie Born Free.  He was the film consultant (Joy wasn't allowed on set, much less allowed to give input, even though she "authored" the book).  He didn't like the treatment the lions were getting and he threatened to walk off the film, if they didn't change.  They changed and he stayed. 

When filming ended he bought as many of the lions as he could so that he could work with them and help them to be able to live in the wild.  Two of the lions from the film were brother and sister and named Boy and Girl, respectively.  He spent a period of time in one particular area with the lions.  Girl had adjusted well but Boy had gotten injured.  When George was told they had to move on, he left Girl behind and took Boy with him.

George loved Boy to the extent that when George was murdered (trying to save tourists, I believe, from poachers - something from another source not the book since his book doesn't cover his own death), he was buried next to Boy, per his known desire (Joy's ashes were spread over Elsa's grave - at least some were anyway).

He also talks about a lot of other lions that he worked with and the trials, successes and failures he had in doing that.  It was abundantly clear that he loved his work and the animals he worked with.  Some of the animals went off and he didn't always find out what became of them.  He related those stories to question marks, saying that the best possible outcome was the question mark because it likely meant a successful re-introduction into the wild (some animals they found evidence of their lack of success in the wild, which is why the question mark was a good thing).

In general, the book was a story of a man who was a true conservationist who cared more about the animals in the wild than he did just about anything else.  He didn't seek fame or fortune and got by with whatever he had to without complaint.  I think a testament to the type of man he was is that his crew stayed with him even when he wasn't able to pay them.

I really enjoyed this book, even though I did have difficulty in the beginning of the book which covered his early years.  Otherwise, top notch book that I highly recommend!

For more reviews click on the icon at the top of this post or go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

Heartbroken

This post is going to be a hard one to write.  Just over two months ago (March 15th), I had to make the gut wrenching decision to have my sweet Harley put to sleep.  Two weeks prior to that I had taken him to the vet for a quarterly check up (I took him that often because he was on steroids and I wanted to keep tabs on how they were affecting him).  He didn't seem symptomatic to me so I wasn't expecting (or prepared) for a bad report on him, but as it turned out (unrelated to the steroids) he was suffering from age-related kidney failure.  Once I knew what was going on, he went downhill fairly quickly so I took him in for a follow up well before I was expected to only to find that things were much worse than Harley had let on, and that's when I decided I had to do what was best for him even though it broke my heart.

I remember the first time I met Harley.  I had two other dogs, Max and Brewsky at the time.  I also had (and still have) a doggy door.  You see where I'm going with this, right?  I came home one day to Max and Brewsky greeting me at the door like they always did but there was a third dog there as well.  He seemed the most happy to see me of the three, like he'd heard a lot about me and was happy to finally be meeting me.  He was very sweet but I assumed he belonged to someone, so I put him out.

He howled outside my living room window (after I fixed the hole in the fence that had allowed him into my backyard and then my house) for hours.  He started camping on my front porch and howling when my alarm would go off in the morning (even though I liked to snooze for an hour or so before getting up).  He'd be waiting for me when I got home to be let in to play with his new friends.  He wouldn't ever eat anything here though.

Then one day I saw him follow two girls and another dog to a cul de sac a block over.  When he wasn't on my porch a few days later when I came home I drove over to the cul de sac and found him in a front yard chewing on a toy near a water and food bowl.  I knocked on the door to talk to his owner only to find they were only feeding him and were tired of doing that and planned to call the pound on him because his previous owners (who they knew who were) had just discarded him.  Knowing that if they called the pound he would be destroyed, I took him home with me saying I'd find a home for him.  From that day forward, he was my dog.

Harley was unlike other dogs that I've had in my life.  He marched to the beat of his own drum, as they say.  He did things I'd never seen other dogs do.  For one, I had a kiddie pool in my backyard when I got him.  He didn't get in the pool often but he would stick his face in the water and blow bubbles.  It was funny to watch.

Of all the dogs I've had in my life, he was probably the most curious of them all.  He would see or hear something and he had to go investigate.  Whenever I would have workers over to my house he would have to follow them, wherever they went.  If they went into the attic he would sit by the pull down ladder and wait for them to come back down.  He just liked being in the thick of things.

He was unable to tell the difference between real life and the TV - in some areas anyway.  Many years ago there was a movie trailer to some animated movie that had a cat meow - Harley thought it was a real cat and would come running through the living room out the doggy door every time it played on TV.  He'd look over his shoulder to see if Max and Brewsky were backing him up but they'd look at him like "dude, it's the TV, be cool!" and not go out with him.  One night I found the trailer online and played it several times and he came running every time.  It may have been cruel of me but it was funny.  :)

 

 

Harley was a pretty laid back dog but if he didn't like something, he would let you know it.  If I disturbed him and he didn't want to be bothered, he would let out a low growl.  He wasn't aggressive about it at all, and it wasn't even really a warning, it was just his way of letting me know he wanted some "me / Harley" time and I should come back later.

 

A few years ago I had a surgery and couldn't lift anything for a period of time.  Prior to this time I was having to assist Harley getting onto the bed at night.  Since I wouldn't be able to do that for a while, I moved the ottoman from my sofa to the foot of the bed for him to use as a stepping stone.  I figured it would be there a month or so and then I'd move it back into the living room.  Well, it never made it back into the living room because Harley decided he liked it for a bed - not one on the floor (and I had four of those in my bedroom alone) and not one he had to "share" with me.  I tried to move it back into the living room and it didn't go over well, so it stayed in the bedroom for the remainder of his life.  In the living room he had his own couch (pictured above), in addition to two other floor beds.  Harley wasn't spoiled or anything.  :)

 

The last four years of his life it was just the two of us.  I knew he was in tune with me and my movements but since his death I'm becoming more and more aware of how in tune I was with him.  It's been two months and I still hear things and look to see his reaction.  When I drop or bump into something, I still expect him to come running to check it out.  I was aware on some level I was doing that when he was alive but that I'm still doing it to this day, I realize I was more in tune with him than I really understood.

 

I miss him so much.  There's no doubt in my mind that I made the best decision for him but my head and my heart are still at odds about it.  He has a very special place in my heart and I'll be eternally grateful that I was allowed to have him in my life for as long as I did.  He was 12 years old.

 

 



Book Review Club - May 2018

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A new month, a new book to review!

This month I will be reviewing Sweet Tea Tuesdays by Ashley Farley.

Here is the blurb from amazon:

Three best friends met every Tuesday for twenty-six years. And then they stopped.

From the author of the bestselling Sweeney Sisters Series comes a novel of friendship, family, and hope.

When new next-door neighbors Georgia, Midge, and Lula first assembled on Georgia’s porch in Charleston for sweet tea, they couldn’t have known their gathering was the beginning of a treasured tradition. For twenty-six years they have met on Tuesdays at four o’clock, watching the seasons change and their children grow up, supporting each other in good times and in bad. With their ambitions as different as their personalities, these best friends anticipate many more years of tea time. And then, one Tuesday, Georgia shares news that brings their long-standing social hour to an abrupt halt. And that’s only the beginning as unraveling secrets threaten to alter their friendship forever.

I agree with amazon that it's a book about friendship, family and hope.  It's also a story about what happens when life throws you curve balls - we don't all handle it all that well.

From a storyline standpoint, I read this book very quickly and wanted to know what happened next and how things all worked out - it definitely kept my interest.  From a writing perspective I felt that at times it was a bit stilted but not overly so.  The characters were interesting and sympathetic. 

The story was told from the perspectives of Georgia, Midge, Lula and Lula's youngest daughter, Lizbet in alternating chapters.  There were things that were somewhat predictable but there were two story threads that ended in ways I hadn't expected.

I enjoyed the book.  I started it Sunday evening and finished it early Monday afternoon.  I would recommend it.

For more book reviews click on the button at the top of this post or go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

Book Review Club - March 2018

It's that time again, to review great books that we've read.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm only about two-thirds of the way through THE RHINO WITH GLUE-ON SHOES but I feel confident writing this review because it's a compilation of stories told by various vets from across the world about their experiences with their animal patients.  This book is one I'm reading for my zoo volunteer book club.

The stories are wide ranging and the amazon description is as follows:

A moray eel diagnosed with anorexia…A herd of bison whose only hope is a crusading female doctor from Paris…A vet desperately trying to save an orphaned whale by unraveling the mystery of her mother’s death…This fascinating book offers a rare glimpse into the world of exotic animals and the doctors who care for them. Here pioneering zoological veterinarians—men and women on the cutting edge of a new medical frontier—tell real-life tales of daring procedures for patients weighing tons or ounces, treating symptoms ranging from broken bones to a broken heart, and life-and-death dramas that will forever change the way you think about wild animals and the bonds we share with them.
From a root canal on a three-thousand pound hippo to one doctor’s heartbreaking effort to save a critically ill lemur, here are acts of rescue, kindness, and cross-disciplinary cooperation between zoo vets and other top scientists. We meet highly trained specialists racing against time and circumstance to save the lives of some of the most exotic animals in the world. Shoes designed for racehorses help a rhinoceros with a debilitating foot disease. A kangaroo survives spinal surgery performed by a leading human doctor. These unforgettable stories capture the bonds that develop between vets and their animal patients, the ingenious measures many vets have tried, and the remarkable new insights modern medical technology is giving us into the physiology and behaviors of wild animals.

At once heart-quickening and clinically fascinating, the stories in this remarkable collection represent some of the most moving and unusual cases ever taken on by zoological vets. A chronicle of discovery, compassion, and cutting-edge medicine, The Rhino with Glue-on Shoes is must reading for animal lovers, science buffs, and anyone who loves a well-told tale.

Two of the stories actually come from zoo vets where I volunteer . . . dung beetles who have bugs and a story about a giraffe who needed orthopedic help because she didn't stand up right away and her mother accidentally stepped on her.  The giraffe story is beyond where I've technically read but because of the zoo connection (and my love of our giraffes), I read it out of turn.  That chapter's opening paragraph is:  "Hello.  My name is Lauren Howard and I'm calling from the zoo.  I was wondering if I could speak with one of your orthopedic surgery instructors?  No, I'm not a patient.  You see, I have a giraffe with a leg problem . . ."  Click.  "Hello?"

All of the stories I've read are well written and compelling.  While not all the stories have happy endings, you see the collaboration between veterinarians across the globe and the compassion and bonds that develop with their patients.  I'm really enjoying it and highly recommend it to animal lovers.

For more reviews, go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

February 2018 Book Review

 I recently saw a bumper sticker that said "I like animals more than people."  My first thought was I needed one of those bumper stickers myself.  The book I’m reviewing this month is THE ELEPHANT WHISPERER by Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence and I would venture a guess that Mr. Anthony might share that sentiment as well.

The blurb on the back of the book says:  When Lawrence Anthony was asked to accept a herd of ‘rogue’ wild elephants on his reserve in Zululand, his common sense told him to refuse.  But he was the herd’s last chance of survival and in order to save their lives, Anthony took them in.

In the years that followed he became a part of their family.  And as he battled to create a bond with the elephants, he came to realize that they had a great deal to teach him about life, loyalty, and freedom.  In The Elephant Whisperer, he tells of his heartwarming, exciting, funny, and sometimes sad experiences with these huge yet sympathetic creatures.

The main thread of the book is about his relationship with the elephants.  They had been badly treated and witnessed family members being killed in front of them so they were very distrusting of humans when they reached Anthony’s game reserve, Thula Thula.  They escaped the confines of the reserve not long after arriving and were aggressive enough that the townsfolk wanted them destroyed.  Anthony plead for their lives and managed to get them back to his game reserve but was told in no uncertain terms, if they escaped again they would be shot on sight.  As a result, Anthony took extra measures to ensure they didn’t escape again while also attempting to gain the trust of the matriarch of the herd, Nana, knowing the others would trust him if she did.

Through this story you get to know the animals and care for them.  But the story wasn’t just about elephants.  It was about life in Africa as well.  There were side stories about other animals and incidents and things he went through having to deal with poachers as well as African traditions, among other things.  It wasn’t a one note story.  The writing was fluid and there were parts where I laughed out loud and parts that were, as the description says, sad.  But it was very good book.

Actually, I absolutely loved this book.  I think anyone who loves animals or has an interest in African culture would also love this book.  I highly recommend it.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I read this book because it was the February choice for our zoo’s volunteer book club.)

For more reviews go to www.barriesummy.com.

January 2018 Book Review

The book I will be reviewing this month is We're Going To Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union.

This is another book where I didn't know who the author was but I saw her in an interview and she got my attention.  In my mind I knew I would read and review this book and, also in my mind, I had the review written before I got the email from the library telling me the book was available.

After I finished reading the book I felt there was an unintended message in the book that needs to be talked about.  Based on what she said in the interview I thought the book would be inspiring and an "every woman" book.  What it is is a black woman's book - I would even go so far as to say an angry black woman's book.  I wasn't expecting that. 

She doesn't hold anything back either.  She goes deep and unapologetically lays it all out there.  She talks about growing up in a predominantly white community and trying to pretend she was white as well, going so far as to snub other black students who enrolled in her school.  Her parents had told her that to be successful she would have to work harder than anyone else and she would have others take credit for her work.  It's a message some of us have heard before but she was told this because her skin color would hold her back.

She talked about a guest appearance she made on a sitcom.  The director came over to her and told her they'd need her to stand on a mark and went on to explain that this allowed the cameras to keep her in the shot.  She took offense to this because she believed he did this because he thought she was stupid because she was black.  She then went on to talk about all the things she had accomplished up to that guest appearance and compared it to the "lack luster" accomplishments of the white stars of the show she was appearing on.  It was clear that she wasn't over the incident, even though it happened more than fifteen years ago.

Later in the book she talked about having to teach her sons about what they could and couldn't do because of their skin color.  She had talked about this in her interview and it broke my heart and was one of the reasons I wanted to read the book.  If I had been asked a couple of years ago about racism in this country I would have said it was dying.  But because of the events of the last couple of years, I now know that's just wishful thinking.

The conversation, as I've heard it, has always been about the racists though.  It's been that racists aren't born, they're taught to be that way.  In reading this book though, I feel that there needs to be a conversation on the other side as well.  Black babies aren't born believing that their skin color puts them at a disadvantage, that's something that's taught as well.  And maybe that is a conversation that's happening but if it's not, it should be.  Gabrielle was upfront with what she had been brought up to believe (work twice as hard so someone else can take credit for your accomplishments) and it was stated as if it were fact and not something that was wrong with the system.

Given the climate we currently live in I know that dramatic changes are unlikely in the near future but we've got to stop teaching our kids that skin color matters because it doesn't and shouldn't.  I didn't go into reading this book thinking I was reading a black woman's story but that is what I read and while I don't know that I could say this book was for everyone, I did feel that there was a message in it worth sharing that made it my pick for reviewing this month.

For more reviews go to barriesummy.blogspot.com

December 2017 Book Review

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I've been writing my reviews a month or two in advance so when I email Barrie my selection for the month, it's usually ready to go.  This month she let me know that in March Sarah Laurence had reviewed the book I'm reviewing this month.  You can read her review here.  She wrote a very lovely review and it's spot on about the book.  My take was a bit different because I had a different expectation going in, based on the title.  I still enjoyed the book enough to make it my pick for this month but if my review doesn't sell you on the book, Sarah's will!  That all said . . .

This month I will be reviewing Sy Montgomery's The Soul of an Octopus A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness.  This book was a New York Times bestseller written by an author who was won a number of awards and honors, including a lifetime achievement award from the Humane Society of the United States and the New England Booksellers Association.

I volunteer at a local zoo and we started a book club recently and this was the first book for our group to read and discuss (it was decided that all books would be animal focused, given we're all zoo volunteers).  It was presented as one we could use to learn information about an animal we have at the zoo and therefore share more information with our visitors.  Given the title and how it was presented to the group I thought I would learn tons of information about octopuses (turns out that is the correct plural for an octopus).

While I did learn some new information about octopuses, the book was more of a recounting of the author's experiences with octopuses, primarily at the New England Aquarium in Boston.  It was interesting to hear the personality descriptions of the different octopuses she got to know and be around.  Most are very curious creatures and a lot of the descriptions reminded me of a small child discovering new things and having new experiences.  From that aspect, I did enjoy the book.

From the perspective of I was excited to learn tons of new things about the octopus, it was a bit disappointing.  The author did not have enough information about the octopus to fill an entire book so she filled the book by sharing stories about unrelated adventures she's had, personal information about the people she got to know while visiting the Aquarium and a whole chapter (30+ pages!) on her getting her SCUBA diving certification so she could see octopuses in the wild.  (It's worth noting that I did enjoy this chapter, it just wasn't octopus specific and seemed like filler, given the title of the book.)

The Aquarium doesn't breed its octopuses so there isn't a steady flow of octopuses to fill their octopus exhibit.  This means that every octopus they have has been taken from the wild for this purpose.  The author doesn't address the concerns over this other than to say that there is an abundance of octopuses in the ocean and this use of them does not hurt their status.  But it did make me think.  I have struggled with animals being kept in captivity but feel slightly better that the zoo I volunteer at doesn't remove animals from the wild.  The animals we have were either born in captivity and know no other life, were injured and can no longer survive in the wild, or were captured by others and then later had to be surrendered and placed at our zoo.  Animals that have been injured and can be rehabilitated and returned to the wild are returned to the wild.  The Aquarium this book focuses on, however, takes the octopus from the wild for the soul purpose of drawing a crowd to see it.  The author described a situation where one octopus died suddenly (they only have one at a time) and there was a desperate need for a new one because they HAD to have one on exhibit. That process was disturbing to me and tainted my enjoyment of the rest of the book - but I did finish it!  And there are a lot of sweet stories about the individual octopuses. I can't give it a wholehearted "must have" recommendation for the reasons I mentioned but if you love animals and would like to learn a bit more about the octopus, you might enjoy this book.

For more book reviews, click on the link at the top of this post.

November 2017 Book Review

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This month I will be reviewing Eileen Cook's THE HANGING GIRL.  I've been a fan of Ms. Cook's for years and she's never disappointed.  But I have to say I was not expecting this book. And I mean that in the best way possible.  It is a great book and I highly recommend it.

I'm at a loss for words though because I just finished the book and I was not expecting the final twist the book ended on.  I did not see it coming - at all.

The book has a bit of everything in it.  There's a paranormal element to it (sort of), with some mystery and thriller added into it as well.

As with all her books, Ms. Cook told a great story and tied up all the loose ends nicely.  It was very well written but it is different from other books she's written.  I'm convinced there isn't a genre that she couldn't write and be successful in.  This was yet another good book by Eileen Cook.

The blurb for the book:

Skye Thorn has given tarot card readings for years, and now her psychic visions are helping the police find the town’s missing golden girl. It’s no challenge—her readings have always been faked, but this time she has some insider knowledge. The kidnapping was supposed to be easy—no one would get hurt and she’d get the money she needs to start a new life. But a seemingly harmless prank has turned dark, and Skye realizes the people she’s involved with are willing to kill to get what they want and she must discover their true identity before it’s too late.

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Sleeping with a Night Light

I've had a doggy door for my dogs for more than 15 years now.  I didn't get it so I could be lazy about taking my dogs out but rather so they didn't have to wait for me to go out.  That said, I will admit to enjoying its convenience over the years.

Fast forward to a few years ago.  My sweet dog, Harley, got very sick.  He stopped going outside to eliminate and he wasn't eliminating inside either.  I got very concerned and started dragging (literally!) him outside to try to encourage him to do his business.  If he did do anything, I gave him a treat.  Well, that caused a bad learned behavior when he got better to where he didn't (and to this day doesn't) want to go out without me because there was/is food involved if he did/does something.  He only goes out without me if 1) it's a sudden "urgent' need to go out; 2) I'm out cold asleep or not home; or 3) I don't get up to go out with him until it reaches the "urgent" need to go out. 

That said, I will usually go out with him anyway because now I track what he's doing so I know everything is working well and I document it, in case I need it later.  Then, a few days ago, he went out without me.  I decided to follow him out so I could document what he was doing and sat on the little "stoop" at the back door like I usually do.

We have this family of frogs that visits us quite often so I wasn't alarmed when I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye.  I'm not afraid of frogs or anything but I do like knowing where they are so that I'm not startled if they move closer to me.  So I looked over to where the movement had taken place.  Only it wasn't a frog . . . it was a snake!  And not only was it "next" to me, part of it was actually UNDER me!

Unlike frogs, I AM afraid of snakes as in deathly afraid of snakes!  When I saw the snake I screamed and suddenly (although I have no memory of moving) found myself on the other side of the patio.  I stood there a moment trying to figure out what to do.  Did I go in and get a shovel or hoe and try to kill it?  Did I go get my camera to take a picture of it so I could show it to people to identify the kind of snake?  And how did I do either of those things with the snake between me and my house?

I finally decided to chance it and run in the house.  I opted for the camera, I guess because it was closer.  By the time I got back outside it was climbing between my walls.  I snapped the picture and then stupidly decided to try to coax it back out of the path it was taking into my walls by using a long tree limb.  When I touched it instead of coming back out of the wall, it scampered in more quickly.  It probably would've ended up between my walls anyway but I ensured that it did and more quickly at that.

I immediately came in and called my stepfather and emailed him the picture.  He assured me that it's a non-poisonous snake but I really don't care - I want it gone.  Thing is, I haven't seen it since it crawled between my walls.  Logic tells me that it's long gone by now but my irrational fear of snakes tells me it could show up anywhere in my house at any second.  I can't get near cabinets without checking for a snake.  I can't crawl in bed without checking under the pillows and covers first.  And, I can't sleep without a light on so that I'm not getting up in total darkness where I couldn't see the snake slithering by.

So, if you drive by my house and see a light on in the middle of the night, it doesn't necessarily mean I'm still up, it just means I'm still traumatized by my experience with a snake who may or may not still be somewhere in my house.