Crone Cronies - Happy Canada Day/4th of July. Let us work for better days ahead. 6/28

[Laura S.]

The Cronies is a place for women who are mature in age or attitude. The group is highly diverse in that we have ages ranging from 30s to 60s, some are moms, some are single, some are teachers/professors, and some have jobs and work outside the home and some don’t. We do our own thing and are happy when life doesn’t get in the way too often. Some are training for a marathon, some don’t even do vids, you get the picture.

Life and exercise are what we report. A thread is started every Sunday. Some report every day, others whenever they can.

Bottom line: we are a diverse group and very supportive of each other’s goals. Oh, and we’re funny as heck. If you’d like to join us, just come on down.

[Laura S.]

Well, The Great Godzilla Dust Cloud has arrived in Raleigh. The air quality level is orange and we're supposed to have storms this afternoon. Hopefully, they'll wash some dust out of the air.

I may get some crafting done today. This afternoon, I'll go over to Mom and Dad's to just hang out.

Paula - It sounds like a good day with your trip to Catalina.

[sciencelady]

Thanks for getting us started, Laura!

Today's another hot and humid day. Definitely will try to get a Gus walk in before it gets too hot. I'll also be working with some orchids doing some baby removal and planting as well as repotting some crowded ones. I'm debating whether to try to prep my concrete walkway for painting or hire the whole project out to be done - I waited for the driveway to be done before doing the prep and painting as they are next to each other.

Laura, I hope the Godzilla cloud of dust doesn't ruin your AC - I'd definitely change out the filter once its done! Eventually I gained weight after knee replacement, but the first few months I lost quite a bit. My whole diet/exercise world is changing as my exercise portion is not going well with calorie burn - just slow walking is a workout nowadays.

Dede, sorry about your osteoporosis diagnosis . Don't know if it would be lots earlier or worse if you didn't exercise to try to prevent it . Happy BD to your son!

Paula, I had my AC turned on a few weeks ago when we were in the 90s, and it will go back on likely today. Up here, it's rare for an AC to be on ALL THE TIME - mostly if you have a bedroom in the attic or are allergic to stuff flowing in the air and needs filtering. I think the signs on the playground equipment have been removed and I do see some families out there every day - definitely not crowded there. We'll be having some softball starting amongst the kids also in July. I think my mom was on Fosamax for a while also, then got taken off when she entered hospice care - she wasn't a fan of it either. My affected hip has pretty limited motion currently - everything out of that narrow range hurts lots and irritates my joint - hope I'll be able to get some motion back after the replacement.

Waves to all (from >6 feet apart)!

Anita

[Paula]

Good evening. No real workout today. DH and I when grocery shopping. We try to leave early and get there while there are fewer shoppers. Weather was overcast all day, so a good day to cook, I made a big pot of marinara scauce this afternoon for freezing. Maybe I'll get in some yoga before bed.

Laura, thanks for getting us started. Did you get an actual dust storm or just haze from dust in the air?

Anita, Hope you and Gus got in a nice walk. We don't run our AC all the time either, just on the hottest days. Just to feel good can you do upper body work in a chair? No one is using the play equipment in the parks either - still all taped off. You can use the open area and some of the picnic tables are open spaced apart, but even the basketball area is still taped off.

[sciencelady]

Good morning!

Planning on doing laundry, stopping by a grocery store to pick up salads for tonight's picnic, walking Gus, and overall putzing - picnic at my friend's house tonight. We had really heavy rain last night - luckily no flooding in my area, but others not so lucky.

Paula, unfortunately I have one shoulder very arthritic also - another reason why I'm not doing any flying trapeze. I used to get cortisone shots to try to do kettlebell and circus work, but if I don't do lots overhead, I'm OK not getting the shots. I'm not lifting weights overhead, but picking up from the ground was still OK until my hip went out with adding carrying weight. Sigh... this sucks. Our children's portions of the park playground used to be taped off, but now supposedly open - it's not used much, so doubt it's much of a hazard there. Cool that you made marinara sauce - I wouldn't trust my canning capabilities to do that safely - sounds like you're storing frozen also.

Waves to all (from >6 feet apart)!

Anita

[Laura S.]

Anita - We pretty much go back and forth between heat and air conditioning. No open windows here, but then DH is allergic to all kinds of things outside. Thanks for the tip on the filters. I'll mention that to DH (the filter changer...)

Paula - On the news yesterday, they showed a shot of the Raleigh skyline and you could see the dust. It looked hazy. But I didn't notice it where we are. It must not be bad enough to see if you're in it? So, it's not really a storm, just more in the air, I guess.

I uploaded several pictures to my crafting album. I have done quite a few pages and figured I'd upload a sample of them.

Today is the one day we don't have something big to do this week. I will go pick up library books this afternoon. (Yay!) And I may go to the chiropractor. My back isn't bad. It has been awhile though.

Everyone have a good day.

[ddj]

Laura, nice job on the journal pages. I hope you find it relaxing. I probably wouldn't, being a perfectionist and all. I know the dust cloud is supposed to be here, but I haven't noticed anything. It's been cloudy and rainy off and on, so that might be why. And I believe we are getting a second wave of it later in the week.

Anita, I hope the surgery helps you too. It's frustrating to have to work around injuries and pain. I still think walking is the best exercise, but I know what you mean about things changing when your workouts do. Have fun at the picnic!

Paula, I see the GYN tomorrow. I will see what he says. I haven't heard from the primary yet, but they usually call late in the evening, and he probably didn't see the report until today. The other thing about yin yoga that's hard for me is that I have a monkey mind. That's why I was interested in the tai chi/chi gong sale mentioned on GD. I thought that might be more my speed. But I'm annoyed because some of the DVDs I wanted aren't included in the sale.

I ended up blowing off Friday's workout (just too much going on last week) so I did it today. I did Cathe's Pyramid Pump, Timesaver Premix - Upper Body pyramid down only. It moves quickly, but with substitutions and modifications, it was doable. I will probably put it in rotation and see if I can increase the weights over time.

Have a great evening!

[Paula]

Good evening. Workout this morning was a neighborhood walk with DH then Strong Women/Strong Bones then Yoga with Kassandra - Morning Stretch. Did some gardening in the morning.

Anita, sorry you're feeling so limited with physical problems. I can relate, I have bad days and good days with the hip and my right shoulder too - aging isn't for sissy's. I've never canned anything - my mother used to, but I never have. When I make big batches of stuff like the marinara sauce, I freeze it. Shame the chidren around you aren't making use of the parks now they are open. 4th of July is going to be so different this year. My community usually has a 5/10K walk/run, a kiddie bike parade and fireworks in the evening. Not to mention the parks and swim areas are filled with people using the grills. All of it is cancelled this year.

Laura, we get that alot here in SoCal. If you're flying you can see a layer of haze/dust hanging over the area but when you land, you don't notice it. Good for you getting some crafting done.

Deedee, maybe the rain is cleansing the air? I like yin yoga because of the deep stretch, it's a challenge not to let your thoughts run away with you. I've been doing it for years and only occassionally do I feel I got a true yin practice, i.e. I was able to relax and concentrate on breathe. Mostly my brain is running in a million directions.

[sciencelady]

Good morning!

Planning on walking Gus, doing chair yoga, doing some work outside, and putzing around. I had a good time with friends yesterday and they came over for a house tour afterwards - Gus wanted to play frisbee with them . We did have more rain last night (luckily not while with friends) - hope the people flooded out are OK. Unfortunately the central part of our state is in drought - I hope they're able to get some of this rain - the Southeast part of our state is flooded.

Laura, we're having some outstanding sunsets, but I think we're still north of the dust plume from the Sahara. Your crafting pages look wonderful - are you assembling them electronically on your computer for the backgrounds? Or are you pasting papers together then scanning them in electronically? You've got a good eye for this!

Dede, even walking is a pain these days - lots of gimping... I'm glad Gus is patient with me .

Paula, I remember we had several fruit trees growing up - cherries, pears and plums. Mom would make various fruit mixes in a sauce from those and use the fridge for storage - chemist mom wasn't going to do official canning either . I don't think we have much officially for 4th of July, but lots of people have bought fireworks and are setting them off each evening. Mostly in parks, but some in the streets. Luckily Gus isn't as freaked by them as my other dogs.

Waves to all (from >6 feet apart)!

Anita

[ddj]

Boy howdy, did we get the rain yesterday! I wasn't expecting that. I could see the rain blowing sideways and down the road. I would not have wanted to be out in it. Two gravel driveways were washed out. Their gravel was all across the road. Not in our subdivision, but the first road out. Sheesh.

Oh, and remember that porta-potty that got blown over? They finally righted it. And put a cinderblock on the floor inside.

I'm glad the GYN appointment is over for another year. This doctor said I need to be coming back each year. The one I saw last time said I didn't. He also pushed me to get another colonoscopy and mammogram. Sheesh again. He is deferring to my primary about the bone scan (since the primary is the one who ordered it) but we had a long discussion about dairy, calcium supplements, and Actonel/Fosamax/Evista/Prolia. Blerg. I don't know what to do. I don't want to take any of them. He asked if I take calcium. I said I used to until I heard it could clog your arteries. He said, yes, but what about fractures? So my choices are a potential hip fracture or heart disease? Whoopee.

Anita, I'm sorry walking is painful for you. Maybe not too much longer?

Paula, you're right - aging isn't for sissies. And here I thought I wasn't that old yet. There are people around here who set off fireworks every year. I'm thinking they will do it again. I can walk down to the road and watch them. I can't see from the house because of the trees. Our newest neighbor has a big black dog. I noticed a dog house in the backyard, so I'm guessing it's an outside dog. (I've only seen him when he's on a leash and they are in the front yard.) I hope the fireworks don't spook him.

My plan is a spin bike ride if I ever get to it.

Everyone have a great day.