Life goes on with me

 The week that was full of nasty weather. Been in and out of the storm shelter twice in a week is too much for my sanity. We are clear now with brilliant blue sky and full sun and nice north breeze. End of the week is another story. That is life in Oklahoma, a tornado alley.

I do not have much to write today except about my animals. They are part of my family. Oh yes!! I have not introduced Amy, Awie, Aaron, Mina, Mona, Abby (sadly she died), Blondie, Ayu , Lis, Lisa, Anna, Annie, Bibi, Mimi and Molly. These are my furry weed eaters.

 In December 2012, I was visiting Malaysia and I got a message from my dear husband that he got me a couple of weed eaters. I had been asking him to get me a new weed eaters, the kind that uses gas/petrol or the electric kind. When I arrived home he took me to look at the new weed eaters, they were two beautiful goats both female Mona and Mina who got their names later.

Now I got 12 more babies that have no names yet and they are so adorable.

New additions to the weed eaters. They are checking out the mineral block.

Addition to the family on the farm.

We welcomed a new furry member  Boomer early this year after mourning the loss of Dumdum to throat cancer. I missed Dumdum terribly and took me quite a while trying to love Boomer who came from a shelter. At 8 months old, he was very excited and probably saw the whole wide world for the first time and that he could run like crazy. I was and not very crazy with an excited puppy who is huge and knocking me down every time he wants to show his love. Now at 16 months he is huge and strong. He is a mix of Great Dane and Labrador. Shiny black color.

Max is still the puppy of mine. He is older and is very loving ad I love him very much. Will still try to get on my hammock with me if I ever let him. He still sits under it when I am on the hammock.

I have new addition to the animal farm, two cats a boy and a girl. They were dropped somewhere near the farm and must have crawled into my yard. I found them early one morning trying to get to Max. I took them to the garage and they were so hungry they wanted to eat the dog food. I noticed that they were still having their umbilical cords on them. They must be no more than two weeks old.

I gave them milk and opened a can of tuna, but they only know how to lick milk. For a couple more weeks they only survived on milk. Then I opened a can of tuna, it must have smelled so good, they started to eat it.

Later I noticed that the male kitten was not walking normally kind of dragging itself on its belly. I had to lift its tail end for it to pee and poop every time after feeding otherwise he would messed himself. I was told that he had a broken back and was advised to put him to sleep. part of me wanted to end the suffering, but I can't just let the sister be alone, so I nursed him back to health. Took more than a month for him to be able to  lift his back part of the body. Now he is as healthy as any young male cat.

I name them Kit and Kat. Kit the girl and Kat the boy. I took Kit to be fixed just in time before she gets in heat. By my rough calculation and by seeing them playing in a kind of manner that she would soon be at the age  of maturing. So Kit got fixed for a couple of hundred dollars.

Now I have cats.

How time flies

People have dreams, I have them too. People flaunt their achievements and mine are kept in my head in the memory compartment to reminisce from time to time and smile from ear to ear. I don't know how to share my glory, my happiness and my pains either. I want to share them believe me but I think nobody wants to hear.

How time flies, both my husband and me have gracefully mellowed in time.

This is from a drat file . Must be a 2012 pic.

2015

Almost a quarter of 2015 has gone and I am still here. This year has been a good year for me. I have visitors and best of all my family came over to visit me. For the first time since I live in the boonies I have family come to visit.

I am so happy that my brother and his family visited me early in the year and I love them to bits. My niece and nephew had a swell time and so did we Pakngah too had a very busy week with them kids. Even though it was in the dead of cold winter, we somehow made the visit enjoyable. We even fished in almost frozen  pond and ate the fish we caught. Pakngah taught the kids how to make fire from the magnifying glass, to carve their names  by using the solar power. Of course my dogs had a blast.

When they left for a long while I felt empty, watching the hastily made swing  swaying in the snowy day and until it was taken down I would expect to see a boy on it when I look out of the window. I know Max was missing th boy very much as every morning he would look towards the house expecting  a boy would come out to play with him be it in the coldest winter day.

We missed you all and it took time to get over.

Got back to my blog after a long and winding road

I do not know why google has been a pain in the butt lately. This is the second time I have to reestablish my ID and password to continue  blogging. real pain.

Anniversary

It has been 15 years since I took that big step in changing my life. I could have been brave but more aptly I was naive. The 15 years I shared with a man I call my husband has been smooth and have not changed since day one. I have mellowed some but I am as passionate about my life as the first week I joined my husband in matrimony.

It took me a while to accept his as ours and mine as ours. Being single is lonely. I needed someone to call my own. It is not the same to pour your love and care to someone who is not exclusively yours. I love my siblings, my nieces,my nephews but they are not mine, mine alone to love and share my life with.

Fifteen years is quite a long time to be with another person, but I am happy because I am a loner, not very sociable and feel at ease with little company. I am not a limelight seeker nor do I feel comfortable to be with showy people.

Ask me what I did the last 15 years? I can' really say, but I just have a wonderful time all the time.

Roadrunners and tortoises

This morning, I was driving to send  a gas can of gas/petrol to my husband who was mowing a friend's yard. The friend had a heart attack while working at an oil field up north and still in hospital. He is doing fine now, and is about to be discharged and driven home by tomorrow. I almost ran over a road runner on my way back home. Not once but twice. I am wondering if it is the time for them runners to mate at this time of the year.

Going up the hill onto my driveway, almost mashed a tiny tortoise crossing the road. It is suicidal or what, this tiny creature has no need to get on the road as both sides has a little creek running under the bridge/road.

A crawdad was crawling up the hill to the house...hmmm finding a better place? or is it the hot sun that makes them try to find a better place, a greener pasture for the road runners. a juicier grass for the tortoise and a cooler pond for the crawdad.

What we learn about people in social network

I have been in different stages of social network system since it all begun in the e mail stage in late 1980's. I have progressed along with its development with IRC (Internet relay chat of different kinds), the forums etc. I even knew the two young guys who begun the ICQ (I seek you) social network at the beginning stages who then sold their product to a company who then developed the ICQ to what it became now. I don't know how many times it changed ownership.

I met a lot of people across the globe and some are still my friends till today. What I learned along the way too is that people were more sincere then than now. There was the Vice president of a known airline that one of my friends who I introduced to my friends in Hawaii. They sailed their boat and spent vacations there.

My ICQ sister in Sydney with whom we shared a lot of pain and happiness, a "big" brother in Adelaide who kept us under his care. A friend in Hong Kong who was very talented architect whose designs can be seen at McD in Penang. His photography are all over on airline magazines. These are real people that are very hard to find these days.

Now days, people you meet on the social network are liars, bullies, scammers and very few real honest people.

Do I know me?

I thought I write about me. Not because I want people to know me the way I know myself, but more towards about looking at my life.

I was not the limelight catcher or an attention seeker because I was and more of a kind that aspires for self satisfaction. I do not seek to be popular or outstanding in a group or crowd but given an opportunity I shine. I was always in the top half of class,( except in the first couple of years in secondary school adjusting to a new environment) but nobody noticed. I was never in the debating team, neither excelled in the extra curricular activities or sports but did a good job of getting full points for my house every year. Nothing spectacular.

I passed my big examinations with flying colors, but not very outstandingly to get great attention. I got a very good scholarship into the university where few got them. I sailed through the university years and graduated not too poorly. Things sure did run very smoothly for me as I follow the flow of my life.

I got into the workforce without any hardship though it was not my first choice for a career, but it did suit my temperament and my interest. My career did bring me to places and meeting people that few have the opportunity to experience. I sat at the same table with dignitaries from places nobody ever heard of. I interacted with well known authors and famous people yet I never know how to beat my drum. They are in my path of life and some are still my friends.

I took calculated risk to go to places and work where and when nobody dared. I made lasting friendships and established trusts where the people trust nobody. I learned a lot about people and culture a long the way.

In many ways i trust myself and believe in my ability to carry out missions that many failed with my unassuming stride. My greatest achievement is teaching an old lady to read the Quran in 3 months as well teaching a lady and her son English in the same period.

I was able to practice Ramadhan in the land that many Muslims don't. I was able to gather a few people to do the tarawih and became the imam for a week until the group got bigger and a local elder could take over. I knew that in the Tarawih group was a government spy ready to report me, but I befriended her and since she was fluent in arabic ( was a spy in Saudi arabia), I requested her to read the Quran for all of us to listen.

I am so proud of myself for all my achievements although was never in the limelight. Now I am smiling.

Getting started all over again

I have semi retired from blogging for reasons I really don't understand or know. There was nothing much to write about going the way I was going, and facebook seems to have taken over. Now that I am a little bit disenchanted with facebook I am turning back to blogging. Perhaps this time around I write on something retrospective which has been on my mind but never get strated.

Hey, people published books on their rambling and blogging and make lots of money, perhaps I can do the same, minus the publishing bit. Stranger things do happen, who knows? Even the horny author who wrote the kinky 50 shades of Grey becomes a millionaire overnight. Just thinking.

Weather playing tricks on my trees and plants

Fall will be around in a few days time, but my trees are behaving like it is going to be spring. My Tipton pear tree (flowering tree) are in full bloom for a second time this year, so are my cherry trees. The hot summer made these trees sleep like it was winter and when it stars to rain and temperature getting cooler, they are confused and they are rsponding to it like spring is here.

My roses are in full bloom again like it is spring time. Bunches of them. New shoots come out with little rose buds and they sure are making me happy.

My almost dead tomato vines that survived the hot summer temperatures are making flowers as well, so are my okra that i thought were dead and gone. Mints are sprouting everywhere.

Weeds and grass have to be mowed like it is springtime:)

I am happy to see my trees and plants enjoying this cool weather of Fall.

My little town Cromwell

The town of Cromwell and its surrounding area probably has a population not more than 600 see the  information below.

This morning I went to visit my friend the post mistress at our little friendly post office. She knows everybody since she was born and bred in Cromwell and used to be a teacher at the local school. I brought her some of my garden produce, tomatoes, zuchinni, and cucumbers. We usually talk and visit unless there is a customer pops in. Today as usual we were talking, a man  age 92 came in and asked her if he left the key to his post-office box. H ehad been looking for his keys for more than a week and wanted to check his mails. Our friendly post mistress took his mails and handed him his mails, and in came another customer, a young lady (in her 50's) and said that who left a bunch of keys hanging on the passenger side of a pick up. Sure enough the pick up beongs to the 92 years old customer who has been looking for his keys for one whole week.

By the way the post mistress is 88 years old. I sure feel young at 59 years old.

Cromwell, OK Demographic Information

Population:	0
2000 Population::	652
White Population::	484
Black Population::	36
Hispanic Population::	12
Asian Population::	1
Hawaiian Population::	0
Indian Population::	92
Other Population::	11
Male Population:	319
Female Population:	333
Median Age:	43.30
Male Median Age:	44.60
Female Median Age:	42.20
Households:	222
Average Household Size:	2.64
Average House Value:	$36,300
Average Household Income:	$28,750
Land Area:	19.672 sq mi
Water Area:	0.063 sq mi

Is Max picking the apples?

Since Max was given a duty to guard the peach tree, Nutkins and his cousins have not made as many visits as before. Max has settled down at his new guarding station quite comfortably judging by his huge dug out pothole under the apple tree.
Lately I noticed Max is having fun throwing up apples in the air and catching them as well as rolling on them in the grass. Upon checking I saw a few apples around his house and under the RV as well as under the tree. I suspect Max has been picking apples to play when he is bored.
It looks like I have to tell Max that the apples are not yet ready to be picked and to leave them alone on the tree.
I wonder what is his next plan to keep him occupied .

Max gets a job

Since my peaches on the tree are almost ready to be picked, the tree have had many visitors checking the fruits. There were the birds, the human and of course Nutkin and his cousins the squirrels. Nutkin has been bringing his cousins and family to have a party every morning and after the party, they would always take home a party gift in their mouth.

I have kind of marked which fruit I woud eat first from the tree, but after Nutkin took it as a "door gift" to bring home, I could no longer let them party on my tree. So, I employed Maximillian the Great Pyrenees to guard the tree. Since then, Nutkins and his relatives have to make a wide circle to get to the tree. Max (as he is lovingly known) would lay quitely watching the tricks and would jump and scare them when they thought they could jump from the apple tree to the ripening peaches. So far, Max has been doing a very good job and I am proud of him.

Spring is here again

Yes, spring time is here again. Winter just went away without much ceremony as it was a warm winter. We did not have much snow as it was a very dry winter. The summer is another story. It was the hottest summer I have so far experienced. Its effect can now be seen as a lot of my huge trees are left dead. Big trees that have been in my yard for many decades have not sprouted green leaves and their bark are peeled off the trunk, looking sad. I am SAD. My huge oak tree that I have been hanging my hammock for years is dead too. I counted about a dozen trees in my yard are dead or almost dead. Those in the woods are too numerous to count.

This afternoon, (a very lovely weather) I was sitting on my porch or deck watching a squirrel chewing on the almost dead tree trunk, eating whatever it can salvage.Squirrels lack food especially in the spring as there isn't any fruits ready to pick yet. I felt sorry for it so I went to get some corn to give it. My husband said, squirrels learn to survive and that is what that particular squirrel is doing what nature teaches it.

My fruit trees have fruits on them, whatever left by a late freeze earlier in the season. I may have some to share with the critters in my yard. My grape vines have not sprouted any leaves yet, so I can assume that they do not survive the cruel summer. They have been growing good all those years and this year I won't have any grapes hanging on the vines.
This spring too we have added new members to the family, two nanny goats (Boer goats) and three young billies. It was supposed to be a surprise for me after i return from a trip to Malaysia. My husband did tell me that he got me weed eaters (machine) as ours was not running real good. So when I arrived I was being greeted by embeeeeek beside the love bark by my two dogs. That was a real surprise!.

The Summer that was

That was a brutal summer, temperature wise. I have been here for over 12 years, and this is the first summer that we had so many 100 plus degrees ever. The garden suffered, the fruit trees did not bear any fruits, the big trees just turn brown. We have to wait till next spring to see if they can recover.

The Ramadan was smack right in the middle of the driest and hottest summer ever. Praise be to Allah, I could finish my fasting with only one day off due to heat. Even though the weather was kind of brutal, but it has a silver lining to it. It was so hot and dry that i stayed in door all day and finished reading the Quran. (Recite and read the translation) in the month of Ramadan.

This Ramadan

There isn't much difference this Ramadan than the previous ones except for the unbelievably very hot summer we are experiencing. Praise be to Allah, everything goes fine with our fasting with a little of adjustments. Have all work done early and be in the house by 9 in the morning. By 11 am the temperature shoots up to 100 F and above.

Unlike most muslims, who make a lot of preparations physically and mentally, we just do what we do everyday. Eat the same food like we eat everyday. The only difference is spiritually we increase our effort. Since I can't go out after 10 am due to the excessive heat, I do my solat dhuha and read the quran. Alhamdulillah, so far I have not missed my tarawih too.

Food wise, there isn't much to prepare, we eat our regular breakfast during iftar and only later eat whatever dishes we usually prepare for our dinner. Simple food.

I feel great that we can suppress our nafsu, especially the food.

Keeping healthy in paradise.

At 118lbs.

Being obese and not healthy in "my paradise" is not a very good idea. I want to look good, feel good and being able to be agile as well. I want to be able to run along the streams, walk in the woods, run with the deer, fly with the birds as well.

I was thinking of me looking like Julia Roberts or Mila Kunis or the one who married Ashton Kutcher. Not in looks (reads pretty) but in size. In reality I still can, only if I want to change my mind set and work at it.

Feeling resigned to live in my body and shape is not good enough. I have spent years comforting myself and pretending that I was just fine at my age by being a little plumb. After all I was in my late fifties (58). In actual fact I was miserable, acting up comfortable when I was not.

Reality hit hard. I could not look at myself in the long mirror any more. I was devastated at the sight. How could I let myself be at 155lbs or 70kg. in a matter of only a dozen years. The weight was creeping like the morning glory in the early spring.

Something had to be done, something that I can handle with little effort. I read the weight watchers, I read on most of all the getting skinnier diets, the Jenny Craig and the likes but I decided that I have my own way of doing things. Those programs mostly stressed on the food, making it those people who really wanted to lose weight are actually looking at the food.

Those kind of diets are not going to work when one goes into it for the food they are going to eat. Another kind of diet is the starving kind, making you hungry and is not sustainable by weak willed people.

There must be something good in those kind of losing weights and being healthy, otherwise they are not in the market anymore.

The combination of food and a little movement in our bodies will help us lose some weights and let us maintain our size.

I started with small steps. I looked at what i ate. I do away with those non essential that my body do not need in excessive. No teh tarik with condensed milk. I know I can survive without it for a while. I drink tea instead with creamer. Later I just drink black tea with no sugar.
I do away with deep frying, instead I grilled or baked my food, they taste good too. I cooked my curry with little oil or substitute the cooking style like the Indian curry with no coconut milk.
I tried to find a way to substitute using oil in my cooking.

I read that polished white rice is 98% starch, so I figure if I do not eat polished rice, I can cut off some of the scary carbohydrate. I tried brown rice occasionally, eating more protein and less and less unhealthy carbohydrates. I ate on one plate, no second helping. Make sure it has a balanced food spread. Divide my plate into 4 segments, the biggest segment is the vegetables, then the protein, then the smallest portion is the carb. Turn my plate into a pretty presentation like the one those famous chef do at those pricy restaurants.

With this new eating habit, I find that I lost 8 lbs in the first week. Then I started on my walk because i do not want to be flabby. It was hard completing a km on the first try. My legs and body ached everywhere, but i was determined to progress in my walking. By the fourth week I was walking 3 km a day. My spirit was high as my weight was coming down rather quickly.

By the the 8th week I was down to 135lbs. My plan was to go down to 135 lbs only, but as I was losing weight with no extra effort, i just continued doing what I was doing, adding my time to 2 hours walking daily which is equivalent to 5 miles or 8 km. By 16 weeks i was already down to 125 lbs and I was losing weight at 2 lbs a week. I am at my ideal weight of between 117-119 lbs now and maintaining it is no problem. I have been at this weight for a few months now. I am eating normally and still walk everyday although not a regular 5 miles. Sometimes I walk 3 miles, sometime 4 or 5.

If I can do it, I am sure many can do too.

Am I living in paradise?

I think I am living in a paradise. I have my walks in a wooded part of the property filled with beautiful, colorful flowers dancing in the cool breeze. I listen to happy birds and critters enjoying their spring time. Birds sing and chirps, Locusts sing for their partners and squirrels bark when startled.

Occasionally I run across a possum or a raccoon or an armadillo and even a red fox being late for home. An owl or two being caught by the early sun looking down from a dead tree branch.

Squirrels chasing each other playing around or mating in my yard everyday. Red hawks flying high and diving down on prey are sights I enjoy watching. Baby rabbits running for cover when disturbed, parents of Blue jays encouraging their babies out of the nest and trying to fly. Little humming birds fighting over the sugar water feeder in the evening, these are all my favorite things to observe and watch.

Springtime again

My last entry was in mid winter and I have been lazy to update my blog. There isn't any interesting thing to write and blogging seems to take the back seat from Face book.

Since last year after thanksgiving, I have been keeping busy taking care of my weight. It came to a point that I was not happy to look in the mirror. I was depresssed that I let myself to be so fat and weighing at 155lbs, equivalent to 70kg. I have never been that fat in my life. That was upsetting me and it seemed that the more I became depressed, I ate more. My husband tried to cheer me up and buying me the wiifit etc. but it did not work.

When a friend told me that she needed to get a personal trainer to lose weight and pants sizes, I felt that it was like a challenge that I should not miss. Quietly I took a look of what reasonable thing to do so as to keep up with her regular trips to the gym. I started to walk up and down my driveway. It was hard to make a mile in the first few days. It was winter and it was easier minus the heat.

The walk became easier each day and I could walk for longer time and distance. My husband then made a track in our back woods and measure the distance correctly so that I know how far I walk each day. He bought a pedometer and health-o-meter as an encouragement. Eight weeks into this regime and good eating habit, i lost some lbs. I lost 8 lbs in the first week and gradually lose a couple of lbs each week subsequently. Now 5 months later I weigh 121lbs or 55 kg.

I love it now eventhough I have to get a new set of clothing. I have to pack up all my jeans sizes 6-12. gave away some of sizes 10 and 12. I am now wearing sizes 4 and 2 jeans.

I do not go on strict diet, but I learn how to eat smart. I do not eat at fast food and eat very little processed foods. I prefer bake than fry food. I love potatoes and instead of eating fries (which is fried and greasy) i eat baked potato or oven fried potatoes than deep fried. I eat whole grain or brown rice pasta instead of polished white rice. I eat chicken minus the skin and importantly I make carbs as side dish.

Now I am giving myself a pat on my back for keeping up with my routine. I now walk 5 miles or 8km a day.