Day 170 – Jim’s Trek – Schwinn 150 in Saskatchewan, from Tampa

Good Day,

Today I cycled, on my Schwinn 150, 20.7 miles. I burned 601 calories. To date my total miles equal 3,105.2, and I am still en route to Seattle, Washington.

On this 170th day of cycling I am currently still located in Saskatchewan headed south on Highway 2. There is no one around and the scenery appears to be the same. I now have 552 miles to go to get to me next Interlake address goal.

Supper last night, and the tables were filled – Gyoza, Sesame Ginger and Garlic Spiced Rice, Japanese Cucumber Salad, and Steamed Buns. After five days of reduced diabetes medication I’m still maintaining a reasonable, and in the normal range, blood sugar level.

And I decided that for my viewing pleasure I would watch, once again, the Harry Potter movies. These films, all-things-being-equal, should keep my attention fixed for the next couple of weeks. The first one is Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, 2001.

The question is – Where would we be without Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock? Star Trek Into Darkness, 2013, IMAX and 3D, definitely entertaining couple of hours… and it is enjoyable when something has been a viewing experience in my life for so, so many years.

Our work continues on The Amulet. We are now testing quilting patterns to find the ones that complement the construction of our work. The hexagons are being added to the Tampa Kaleidoscope design. Double Entendre, our new afghan, is now just about half-way complete. Thus far two pounds of yarn have been crocheted. Check Quilts SB for details.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 166 – Jim’s Trek – Alleluia! 3,000 Miles – Yeah!

Good Day,

Day 166 on my Schwinn 150 and I top 3,000 miles. I never thought I would do this. My total miles to-date: 3,019.0. I am located on the Trans-Canada Highway at Esk, Saskatchewan.

From my search and observations, Esk, on the Google mapping application, is a Hamlet. Not much there, and I can’t even find a population count listed. It appears that any Esk numbers may be included in the Jansen, about 6 miles away, numbers. Flat land and farms distantly placed apart. And of course this is where I stopped for the day… The sign does warn me that there are “No Services”.

I now have about 40 miles to go to get to my next Interlake address goal, and 1,148 miles to my ultimate goal in Seattle.

Okay, I do get stymied from time to time. Today is May Ray Day. Weather permitting, accordingly this is the day of May, with any excuse, to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. And yes the sun is shining here in Tampa, and yes I have been in the pool. No discernible information as to who, what, where, when began May Ray Day. I definitely can understand the why. Today is also National Devil’s Food Cake… Not a good celebration when one is trying to reduce one’s diabetes medication. Bah, humbug!

Doctors have agreed on the reduction of my diabetes medication. I am now taking only 25% of what I was taking when I started my Trek. I will be monitoring my blood sugar counts for the next month to see if there is a positive trend resulting from my exercise and diet. Counts were up a wee bit this morning, but I sort of expected that with the first day of the change. I definitely will now be aware of fried foods.

This morning’s viewing pleasure, first part, is the 2009 film Valhalla Rising. The star is Mads Mikkelsen who is currently involved in the television production of Hannibal. Valhalla Rising takes place about 1000 AD about a one-eyed Norse warrior and his travels.  The goal is a crusade but they seem to get lost.  A very strong visual presentation with minimal dialogue.

Immediate work continues on our Astro-Physics, Tampa Kaleidoscope, The Amulet, and Double Entendre. Stay tuned to updates at Quilts SB.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 165 – Jim’s Trek – 20.5 Miles – I Continue in Saskatchewan

Good Day,

Today my cycling completed 20.5 miles. I am located on the Trans-Canada Highway in Saskatchewan just south of Big Quill Lake… (which of course, I initially read the map as Quilt Lake.) Quill Lake, a village on the northwest of Big Quill Lake and Little Quill Lake is known as the “Goose Capital of Saskatchewan”.

Tomorrow I will hit another milestone in my Schwinn 150 Trek. Stay tuned.

Supper last night included homemade Kale Walnut Pesto. Sausage Tortellini with Kale Walnut Pesto. Buitoni sausage tortellini… Pesto – kale from Urban Oasis, walnuts, garlic, parmesan cheese, lemon juice, salt pepper. I think I like this new diet. I’m eating in moderation, period!

Episode 6 of Da Vinci’s Demons becomes darker as we are introduced to Vlad the Impaler, aka Vlad III Dracula. Leonardo is still on his quest to understand the Sons of Mithras and his search for the Book of Leaves. The Medicis are in pursuit of alliances with neighboring kingdoms in their all and out acrimony with Rome and the Papacy.

This afternoon I checked out CK’s swimming lessons. I am the very proud Grandpa, of course, and I am there with my usual camera… It was when I was snapping pictures that something sort-of strange caught my eyes and lens. On a shelving unit the Elmo props and a life-like looking baby doll was stuck away in a heap. I really had to look twice. I must have been out of it for years… Are dolls now made that life-like or are my eyes ready for a new checkup?

Internet speed upgraded to 90 Mbps. Needless to say The Pack all wanted in to find out what was going on.  In the back - Taylor; right to left - Radar, Max, Bella, and Tinker.  We want in!!!

My Trek continues.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 164 – Jim’s Trek – 20.3 Miles – Kabochas Are Growing

Good Day,

This morning I cycled 20.3 miles on my Schwinn 150. I started late this morning, but I still managed to burn 619 calories and I exercised for one hour and five minutes. I have now changed my direction to a direct westerly heading and I am located on the Yellowhead Highway. I am now averaging, since the beginning of my Trek until Day 164, 18.4 miles per day.

My virtual reality Trek can be a wee bit confusing. Yesterday, Day 163, my Google map location image presented snow on the roadsides of the Highway. Today the sun is shining, the grass is green. This of course adds some questions, not necessarily negative, as to the methodology and timing of the sequential route photos that Google puts together in creating a visual representation of their mapping schemata.

And my blood sugar counts just keep getting better. Already I have reduced my diabetes medications in half. Today I now will reduce my daily dosage to 25% of what they were when I began my Trek. My goal, maintain my positive blood sugar results and eliminate all diabetes medications.  Does this mean that I am no longer a diabetic?  No... but definitely minimal chemicals.

Well I’m up-to-date with the current episodes of Da Vinci’s Demons. A few more pieces to the puzzle and mystery of the Book of Leaves are added. A person, a potion, a periscope, a paste, and a pig…? And as happenstance stands I am currently reading Peter Silverman’s 2012 book, Leonardo’s Lost Princess. It is “One man’s quest to authenticate an unknown portrait by Leonardo Da Vinci.”

Audrey 3 ½ has been growing and growing, flowering and flowering. I have now discovered her beginnings of the production of Kabocha Squash. Gorgeous yellow blossoms, a multitude of flower buds, and baby Kabochas...

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 163 – Jim’s Trek – 20.0 Miles – Hi, Ho, It’s Off To the Hinterland I Go

Good Day,

This morning I cycled 20.0 miles on my Schwinn 150. I am still on the Trans-Canada Highway… and the landscape is flat, flat as my Google eye can see. I just passed through the Town of Foam Lake, Saskatchewan; population about 1,123. I have now about 98 miles to go to get to my next Interlake address goal.

My total miles to date is 2,957.9 and I have now lost 9.1 pounds.

And last night I received my next spam email, from a Mr. James Adam of somewhere in Italy, that I must immediately contact a Mr. Ahmed Yaki of DHL with my vital information. The blatant mistake in the email is that it states that “the amount in your Card is US$1.5 Million”… And the email reads that the “Card” is alleged to be an ATM card with funds. Does not the perpetrator know that plastic cards are not containers or repositories of actual funds and monies? They, the cards, are simply an “electronic key” to allow, supposedly, protected and secured access to the availability of funds.


Supper was Pork-Peanut Chow Mein.  Pork, mushrooms, snow-peas and green onions from Urban Oasis, wheat soba noodles, ginger, garlic, red-pepper, sugar, soya and oyster sauce, and sesame oil.  I am enjoying eating, and due to my daily cycle Trek I am eating much more and really, really enjoying myself.

And the smallest member of The Pack, Tinker, apart from being the most vocal, is an extremely demanding quadruped.  She has the household trained.  During the day she, all 10 pounds of her, when she wishes to lay in the sun... and if her bed is not privy to sunlight, she will yap a couple of times, maybe.  Typically she will find a sunny spot on the deck, to her liking, and then go and stand in her chosen spot.  She will then patiently stand there waiting, staring at the vicinity of the house where there may be some human activity.  We are expected to drop whatever we are doing, move a bed to her newly chosen appropriate location... and then she will settle down on her bed just contemplating the warmth of the sunshine.  This diminutive canine is no fool.  She knows who rules the roost, so-to-speak, and the fact that she has her humans trained.  The question is "Who rescued who?"

Quilt and crochet update and progress continues. Hexagons for Tampa Kaleidoscope are all spread out in the design room. The Amulet is loaded to the longarm. The component parts of Astro-Physics are now being pieced together. The first composition of a crocheted afghan, dark rose and buff, is now 48" in width and 14" long. Check with Quilts SB for complete updates.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 162 – Jim’s Trek – 20.7 Miles – 8th Degree of Resistance

Good Day,

Today I have increased a number of my targets. First of all I increased the resistance on my Schwinn 150 to 8. I decided to at least complete a combined time, mileage, and calories burned to approximate 1 hour and 6 minutes, 20.0 miles, and 600 calories. This morning I clocked 1 hour and 6 minutes, 20.7 miles, and burned 633 calories. My total mileage now equals 2,937.9 miles.

I am still located on the Trans-Canada/Yellowhead Highway in Saskatchewan and I am somewhere on the flat horizon southeast of the Village of Sheho, Saskatchewan. And this is the smallest population yet. In 2006 there were 121 persons living here.'

And the junk and spam emails guaranteeing me wealth beyond my dreams that really does belong to me, shy of the Publishers’ Clearing House, have increased substantially through the night and early morning. I received one from Singapore, one from Japan, a new one from Nigeria, another one from Zambia, and one from the good old USofA. I do know that I have relatives and distant cousins scattered over this globe, but according to these “please-act-as-fast-as-possible-and-send-us-your-vital-information” I should be a lucky recipient of somewhere in the vicinity of enough money to satisfy the Euro debt of the country of Greece.

My apologies to Mr. David Bryan, Mrs. Debra Whitman, Mr. David Ogundipe Gbolahan, and Dr. Elias Dulce but I truly feel sorry that some unscrupulous idiots out in Internetland are using your names to incite some type of air of authority and credibility to their bogus and supercilious schemes. My thoughts are that if the numbers of spam emails are increasing substantially, does this mean that there is an exponential increase in the number of victims who are responding.

This morning’s episode of Da Vinci’s Demons just heightens my awareness that power-mongering and thievery in organized religion and politics has not changed since the days of Leonardo da Vinci to today. That's in over 500 hundred years... Do we ever learn?

Back to the quilting, the search and research, the crocheting, and something tonight for supper with pork and mushrooms.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 161 – Jim’s Trek – 21.9 Miles – Another Goal Reached – 2,900 Miles

Good Day,

This morning, on my Schwinn 150 Trek, I cycled 21.9 miles. It looks like I am going to be on the road in the nowheres of Saskatchewan for quite some time. All-things-being-equal I am about 140 miles from my next Interlake address goal destination. There are two other Interlake locations in the distant vicinity of my Trek through Saskatchewan and I have only chosen the one that is more or less in a westerly direction on my route to my final destination in Seattle.

I have now topped 2,900 miles on my Schwinn 150. Today’s total – 2,917.2 miles.

And today is the most important day of the year. It is the Day of the Chicken Dance. Just keep in line for the Macarena, the Electric Slide, the Hokey Pokey, the Hustle, the Tush Push, the Gangnam Style, and of course, the Hora. Just think of all the light tripping at the next weddings on tap.

Da Vinci’s Demons, the search for the Book of Leaves. Two keys to unlock the mystery, one from the body of the hanged Jew removed by Leonardo, the second with the Lord Girolamo Riario, Count and Captain-general of the Holy Roman Church, (the bad guy). And of course I would like to find out if there is any history and/or reality to the possible Book of Leaves. Definitely check this STARZ's production out.

Not much more to scribble with the keyboard.

Working on the top design of Tampa Kaleidoscope, the quilting designs of Equality, and The Amulet.

Enjoy,

Jim

Day 146 – Jim’s Trek – 20.0 Miles – 1,429 More Miles To Go on my Schwinn 150

Good Day,

Today I traveled 20.0 miles on my Schwinn 150 Trek. I have now passed the 2,600 mile mark – 2,601.9 miles. I am now averaging 18.1 miles a day. And I’m still in Manitoba closing in on my 21st Interlake address goal. (You’ll have to wait until tomorrow.)

I’m headed south on Manitoba 7 and located at the northern end of the Old Highway. Accordingly from my current location I now have a remaining 1,429 miles to reach my final destination in Seattle, Washington.

And I've been in one of those funks like “I want to eat well, but I don’t want to cook, and I really do not want to go to a restaurant” type of moods. And so I’m searching for those type of recipes that I really couldn't care less about the cooking part but ones that will take no time at all but yet will taste as good as if I spent all my effort and time in the preparation.


And what does one do when one has two left feet and today is the celebration of Dance Day? I suppose I could learn the Macarena or the Gangnam Style.

Speed did work, that is, the second half of the movie. My time to burn 606 calories, 1 hour and 4 minutes… and I traveled 20.miles. Not a very scientific study but, I wonder if I find some other visual clues, like fast-paced action movies that may, or not, increase my adrenalin and therefore increase my stamina on my Schwinn 150.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 145 – Jim’s Trek – 19.4 Miles – 604 Calories Burned in Manitoba

Good Day,

Today I clocked 19.4 miles and I still burned 604 miles on my Schwinn 150. My goal is 600 burned calories a day. I am headed south on Manitoba 7, and the landscape is somewhat… well I can see for miles and miles and miles.

My total miles equal 2,581.9, and I have reached another goal. My belly measurement is down another inch to 35”. I have now dropped 9-inches from my starting point of 44”. This Trek is definitely working.

And there is something I do not understand. Today is Workers’ Memorial Day… and today is Sunday. This is a day of commemoration of those who died at work and an attempt to try and promote safer working conditions… But today is Sunday, usually considered a day of rest. Wouldn’t it be more effective to the intent if the commemoration was held on a day of work, and not necessarily on a date of an anniversary?

My Kabocha plant/vine, aka Audrey 3 ½ is certainly surprising me. I bought a Kabocha squash at the market a number of months ago. I really did like this squash and I prepared it by cutting and slicing it, without peeling it, cleaning out the seeds and then sprinkling it with olive oil, salt and pepper and baking it in an oven. Something possessed me to keep and plant the seeds in the front yard. It has grown, and grown, and spread up and out. Today I was surprised when I discovered a number of squash blossoms on the vine. Who knows that Audrey 3 ½ may be providing us with a supply of progeny.

On the marquee today is the 1994 movie Speed. Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves, Jeff Daniels – these are the good guys; Dennis Hopper – the bad guy. The pace of the first half of the movie must have increased my adrenalin as I reduced the time on my Schwinn 150 by nine minutes even though I burned 604 calories. My time on the cycle was 1 hour and 1 minute. I wonder if the second half of the movie tomorrow will have the same effect.

The Amulet quilt has been loaded to our Longarm. First step is to secure the sandwich by quilting in the ditch. The fabric has been chosen for our new experiment Tampa Kaleidoscope.

Be healthy, and enjoy,

Jim

Day 144 – Jim’s Trek – 21.2 Miles – 20th Interlake Goal Reached

Good Day,

And today I reached my 20th Interlake Goal on my Tampa to Seattle Trek. This one goal is a wee bit out of the way. (Ya think?) My goal is the Interlake Homes at Winnipeg Beach in Manitoba, Canada. This Goal is at the 2,557th mile of my Trek. Not really sure where the Interlake Homes are, but this is, the image to the right, where Google map directions led me, eh.

This morning after 21.2 miles I have now completed 2,562.5. I am now headed west again… (Yeah, that’s the right way to Seattle.) I am located at MB-231W about 5.7 miles west of the Town of Gimli, Manitoba, on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. And I’m now have in sights my 21st Interlake address goal location.

Spring is here in the northern hemisphere and today is Sense of Smell Day. Achoo… thank you allergies. Today is the day to promote one’s proboscis.

Episode 1 and 2 of VEEP… How do brainless politicians sell their lives to manipulate and be “Gepetto-ized”? It is pointless to ask why. The best of the VPs’ and VP-wanna-bees’ gaffes and conundrums are well written into the script of the Second Season of VEEP.

Top of our Equality Quilt completed. Now the quilting begins. It is a big quilt. Stay tuned to Quilts SB for updates.


And the squirrels are teasing the hell out of The Rats and Radar.  They jump from the trees to the top of the screen, to the white bird of paradise, then scurry along the screen, back-and-forth, back-and-forth... I believe that they are doing it on purpose.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 143 – Jim’s Trek – 20.8 Miles – IT Does Get Bloody Cold!

Good Day,

Today I finished 20.8 miles on my Schwinn 150 Trek. I am now located at a point on MB-8 N and just about at the intersection of Matlock Road. I am to the west of Matlock and Lake Winnipeg. Matlock is really a resort community with a very small number of year-round residents. Matlock is considered the southernmost part of the Village of Dunnotar; full-time population in somewhere in the vicinity of 670.

It appears that I am in the middle of almost nowhere. But… when I check out my location on a satellite picture from Google, it looks like I am just about smack dab in the middle of the North American continent.

Manitoba might be a very nice place to move to… but it gets bloody cold!!!

And today I celebrate Pretzel Day and I have completed 2,541.3 miles.

I watched the last two episodes of VEEP while cycling this morning. I keep having to say to myself that this is just a TV show, that this is not the real life of the political circles in our glorious nation’s capital. But writers do have to have sources and roots for their thoughts and ideas. It truly is a very funny and riotous presentation of the foibles of our illustrious elected officials… and the nannies, and paper pushers, and power-hungry wanna-bees. On to Season Two.

EssbeeCon has arrived in Denver. The border has been attached to our new Equality quilt. The Amulet has been loaded to our Longarm and the new quilting design is in process. A new wall hanging, Ladies on The Boardwalk is going to muslin. And we’ve begun another new quilt – Tampa Kaleidoscope. Updates always at Quilts SB.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim