A Productive Morning

I was quite pleased to wake up and find it was a wonderfully cool 60F. Pups went to the park and were bored that no one else was there to play with. I snapped a few pix with my phone. The built-in identification system has advanced significantly! Instead of just telling me my pictures were of dogs (well, duh), it suggested I look up Korean Jindo Dog all by itself. Conveniently, it shows several similar photos it found online and links to more information. 

In the past I have found the ID function very useful in identifying plants and bugs, but less so with mushrooms and other fungus. Now it's giving stand-alone ID apps a run for the money! The only app that has managed to maintain it's usefulness has been Cornell Lab of Ornithology's BirdNET which allows you record a bird song and have the app analyze it for identification. It's not always 100% accurate but will state whether it's certain or just taking a wild guess.

Dozens of Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies, and other smaller species continue to flitter through the milkweed grove in my yard. My butterfly garden, although mostly single-species (not for lack of trying to diversify with other butterfly favorites), smells wonderful and is host to myriad bumblebees and other fluttering creatures like the Silver Spotted Skipper and the Folded Wing Skipper. I'm thrilled. 

Because it was pleasantly cool and not raining, I spent the morning cleaning out my car. Wiping down grimy surfaces, removing and shaking the dirt and fur from the dog hammock in the back seat, and finally, using a car plug-in vacuum I bought myself last Christmas. Actually, I put the dogs' names on the "from label tag," and as in the case of most wee tots, mom paid for her own gift. The vacuum is made of cheap hard plastic so I wasn't sure it would have enough suction. The attachments were useless but the naked hose itself inhaled all the gravel, dirt, crumbled leaves and other yard debris that had accumulated inside the foot wells. Yaaay me.

This all means that I didn't get to the gym until nearly 1 pm. I was expecting the place to be emptier, but there's a guy (I'll call him Wind Breaker) who is usually on one of the ellipticals when I arrive, no matter what time. He pedals for at least an hour and I don't know that he does anything else. I'm feeling more tired than yesterday so I'm worried that cardio is going to suck. It's actually a skosh better, but just a skosh. I'll take it!

I skip pull-ups since I did them yesterday. I do my full routine for DB Shoulders. The DB area is packed with teenagers. And the UnHappy Couple. Then, suddenly, the area is empty. Except for me, dutifully grinding out my reps and sets. Sweat is dripping off my face onto the hoodie I have draped over the inclined bench. But I've mostly cooled off by the time I enter the Aerobics Room. There's a guy doing a weird balancing motion with a jump rope. But he leaves as soon as I plop a mat down on the floor. I skip push-ups and wall sits. Because not only am I tired, I'm also running late and still have a few errands to attend to after I leave the gym... 

BTW, have you seen the new DeadPool & Wolverine trailer? I'm captivated by those arms, especially the delts. I wish I had delts! I guess they could be CG. How hard does Hugh Jackman have to prepare to play that role? Alas, much like my forearms, I don't think nice round delts are in my genetics. I do have tri's and bi's and somethings better than nothing, right?

28 June 2024 1:03-2:35

Temperate Friday'

Precor elliptical #2

Program 3

Time: 30+5 (5676)

Distance: 2.87

Cal: 320

Avg Hr: 156, 197-84

Fitbit: 53-138

Incl DB Press s/s Lateral Raises s/s Rev Incline Flys

10 lbs x 25/15/25 warm up

15 lbs x 25/15/25

20/15/20 x 25/15/25, 25, 28 (3 sets)

20 Hip Bridges

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

DeadBugs 20 x 5

10 Hip Bridges & 10 one-leg ea

Quick Child’s Pose

Cat stretch 12

Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose

Fire Hydrants 20 x 2

Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Air Squats 25

Arm rotations 20

Neck stretch / Eye yoga