Ramble on

I've been doing many things I swear, even though blogging is not one of them. I am almost two months into my goal of doing 20 minutes on my elliptical machine every day. I am so darn proud of myself that I can not stand it. Go ahead ask me now proud I am.

I thought it would be difficult to make that change for myself, but once I made the decision to do it my priorities changed. Since my time on the elliptical was not negotiable it changed from if I could fit it in today, to when I would fit it into my day. The last two days I've come home done my time, cleaned up and went out to have fun. Now you should know both nights included a fine time and cake. Really good cake too. I changed priorities, not my love of cake. I think cake tastes better when it is after a workout. All of the fun none of the guilt.

I've also been knitting. The weather is getting colder and I am feeling the need to knit seven or eight sweaters. Oh heck let's just make it an even ten. I think this weekend will be full of finding patterns, winding yarn balls, locating correct size needles and using all that to fill a couple of project bags. It is time to get my wool on.

Is it wrong that I am thinking of knitting Gus a wooly blanket? My boy is a bit thinner now and the cold seems to get to him more. I still think my alpaca shawl played a part in his decision to get better and not give up. Well that and he can not stand to see me get teary. His blood test a couple of weeks ago showed his pancreatic level dropped significantly, which is a very good thing. D keeps telling me that G needs a sweater too, but what yarn can compare to the silkiness that is Big G?

Of course with colder weather I also start baking more. I found a great recipe for an Oat-applesauce bread. It was so good that I made it again the very next day. That loaf did not last long either. I still have one loaf of pumpkin bread in the freezer, so don't worry about us.

I finally broke down and bought a new bread machine. I do so love the smell of fresh baked bread in the winter. And now I am thinking of making some pulled pork to go with it. Do you think the post workout appetite is kicking in?

So to sum up I am meeting my exercise goals, my knitting goals have switched to their winter schedules and my baking goals are quite tasty. All of these goals seem to come at the expense of my blogging, guess I'll be working on balance goals next.

I'll be back showing off bread loaves soon.

USS South Dakota

All the way back in August we took the opportunity to play tourist in our home state. Where ever I live I will always think of South Dakota as my home state. 

Turns out our state had a very successful battleship named after it in WWII, USS South Dakota, AKA Battleship X. In her five years of operation she received thirteen battle stars. Battle stars were issued to US Navy warships for meritorious participation in battle or for suffering damage during battle conditions. She was nicknamed Battleship X due to her successes before her first year in operation. She operated in the Pacific Theater, seeing 15 months of combat in her first tour.

The largest town in SD, Sioux Falls, is home to the memorial. The memorial is shaped like the ship rising out of the ground. Rather a neat idea I think. You feel a bit like you're walking on board a mighty battleship.

The chain links were hefty. I just had to place my knitting bag there to give you a glimpse just how big the chain links are. Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "ball and chain" if this is your chain.

This would be the anchor and my anchor clanker. Dad says thats's what the Navy guys were called during his time in the Army. You know how witty the Army guys are.

The mast overlooking a set of guns.

This was one of the 16 inch guns. It was massive. No really I mean massive. I don't remember the size but I do remember the feeling staring a long ways down its barrel.

They had one of the screws on display too. That thing was massive also as you can see.

My father-in-law told me that the ship was considered a bad luck ship initially because the state of South Dakota broke with tradition. The state was too poor, too thrifty, or too cheap to buy the ward room china. Traditionally the honoree outfits the ward room. But I can not find confirmation of this. I suppose it is not one of the things that you should note about a great battleship. Only the ex-Navy guys can talk about it. 

I first learned of Battleship X when touring USS Yorktown in Charleston, SC. They had a whole room of clippings and displays of her successes. There is a video about her here.

Battleship X or the USS South Dakota did her job and did it very well!

You may be right...I may be crazy

D accused me of having a sickness. He may be right. Let me tell you a story and see who you agree with.

Things have been busy at our house for a while now. I have new front teeth, which meant multiple trips to the dentist. And G has been not feeling well for a while too. Which meant multiple trips to the vet. Now we're giving him fluids at home and things are starting to fall into place.

Speaking of fall it is where our story begins. Our leaves are coming down which means we need to clean them up. Too thick of a layer of leaves can kill your grass over the winter. Yes, we did not get them up properly one year and learned that tidbit the hard way. 

What works best for us now is to mow them into smaller pieces and then bag up a big pile. D does the mowing since I burned myself so badly on the mower that one year. I went out to help bag the leaves and stepped off the porch and I turned my ankle. 

D helped me back to the steps so I could sit down and I decided that would be a good time to take a picture of my Witchy Woman Socks. What? Don't you take pictures of your knitwear when you're in pain too? That's when he told me I have a sickness.

After a few moments I tested out my ankle since it was not hurting like I thought it would. It is just a wee bit tender in a small area so I would say that I fared very well. I braced it up and we cleaned up the leaf piles. I even did my normal elliptical work out too. So the streak of workouts remains intact.

I don't know if that makes them my lucky socks or not?