Down By a Third

Chessie, down to 62 pounds

If you've been keeping up with the Chessie weight-loss saga (and if you read my blog regularly, you couldn't help BUT; if not, see July 25/Rest in Peace and forward), I'm proud to announce that she has now lost a total of 28 pounds since I got her in July.

Watching a doggie fat farm piece on Good Morning America this am prompted me to take her for a weigh-in—her first in quite a while. Although I've upped her daily ration a bit and we occasionally skip our runs on bad-weather days, she continues to drop weight—albeit more slowly than when we were in full-fledged workout mode. So to the dogs whose owners pay the big buck to trim down their overweight pets, really—there's no need. Simple exercise and laying off the overfeeding will do it for free. Congrats, girl!  :-)

Warmish + Sunny = Playground

Even after his first haircut, Lincoln still has those curls!

After Lincoln patiently sat in his car seat while I shot photos this morning, we stopped at the playground for some stretching, climbing & running. Then we had some lunch at McD's and came home to wind down for a while. Fun times for Grandma Diane!

Christmas Greetings!

Kristin (32) with Keilyn (7) and Chano (15)—Livin' in Texas

Melanie (31) with Greg and Jeffrey (5 on Christmas Day) and Grace (3)—Camas WA

Lauren (28) and Mike—St Louis MO

Lyanne (22) with Lincoln (21 months) & Loren—Moscow ID

Annette (21)—St Louis MO

Me with Grace & Jeffrey on the family tree chopping field trip

The 2011 Rice Family Christmas Letter:

Wishing God’s choicest blessings for you and yours as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and look forward to a new year with hope and anticipation. It’s been a whirlwind year—lots

of travel, lots of fun, some sorrows, but mostly joy and thankfulness for all the blessings received.

Kristin (32), sadly, lost ectopic triplets this year. But happily, she graduated from cosmetology school in Fort Worth and despite the economy, quickly found a job as a stylist near her new home

in Kyle, Texas. Perhaps especially when times are hard, women always want to look good! Keilyn LOVES her new school, and Chano is growing up so fast I can hardly keep up. Thank goodness for Facebook and a grandson who’s not embarrassed to “friend’ his Grandma Diane! 

Melanie (31) & Greg’s big accomplishment this fall was painting their house in Camas, Washington. It looks great—even more so now that it’s decked out with blankets of white Christmas lights! I’ve been fortunate to be able to visit them several times this year, & they came here in August to camp with me at Dworshak Dam nearby. Jeffrey loves dinosaurs, Cars, Thomas the Train, superheroes and Wild Kratts. Grace loves Super Why, Rapunzel & my Brittney Spaniel, Chessie. Both love preschool.

Lauren (28) is perpetually overwhelmed, working full time for Brown Shoe Co near her home in University City, Missouri, while earning her MBA from University of Florida. She has about 16 months to go in school. She also enjoys spending time with her Little Sister. Mike’s painting business is booked solid, & he enjoys watching & talking sports while Lauren’s busy with school.

Lyanne (22) is still in Moscow. She’s head of security—all 5 feet 4 inches of her—at a gaming spot nearby, where Loren also works. Lincoln just (Nov 30) got all his baby curls cut off. He’s a happy little guy, and now he can even see! Hahaha.

Annette (21) moved east from Portland this year. She stopped at Kristin’s in Fort Worth, then moved on to stay w/Lauren & Mike ‘til she gets established. She works for Famous Footwear (maintaining the family shoe biz tradition!) and also as a waitress, & plans to go back to school in the fall.

I was able to travel to Vero Beach, Florida, to visit my brother Al and his wife Jody, and my older brother Harry joined us from Wisconsin. We had a great time seeing the sights—Kennedy Space Center, Jensen Beach Farmers Market, Elliott Museum & House of Refuge in Stuart, McKee Botanical Garden in Vero Beach, Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse (and Jupiter Island where all the celebrities live), Blowing Rocks Preserve and Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, And all that—plus shopping and a movie—in one week! Maybe we aren’t as old as we sometimes think.  :-)

In the sadness department, I lost my beloved collie/Aussie, Finley, to lymphoma in June. But about

a month later, I adopted a grossly overweight spaniel, who has patiently suffered a restricted-calorie diet and progressively longer walks as my “project.” In the process, she’s lost more than 20 pounds and has gone from couch potato to quail flusher extraordinaire. It’s a joy to see her loving life.

I finished my dental hygiene prereqs but didn’t make the cut for the program’s limited spaces, so am doing some freelance writing, editing and photography. (See www.DianeRicePhotos.com and YourWordNerd.blogspot.com, and my Facebook pages.) Life is good. 

So there you have it: The year on one page. Hope your year has been as memorable. Have a wonderful Christmas and a joyous and prosperous New Year!

Frolic in the Fog

These geese don't usually picnic here; the fog must have fooled them into thinking they were safe. The photo is deceiving—the flock was HUGE.

Enter Chessie the Wonderdog, stage right.

Civil unrest

Hahaha—Got ’em!

THAT was fun!

You're probably getting sick of my Chessie posts. Sorry! It seems Facebook has become my blog of sorts; I don't usually think to re-post photos here. But now that Chessie's down to less than 70 pounds, I can't help but be ecstatic that she's able to run for MILES! Just a few months ago she could barely walk ONE mile.  :-)

Gettin' in the mood—for fall

I don't know about you, but I had a REALLY hard time getting in the swing of fall this year. Maybe it's because summer hung on until just this past week. And who can complain about that?! (NOT me!)

So I devised a recipe to use my garden bounty and also to bring some of that fall color into the house to put me in an autumn state of mind. Here it is. Tasty and good for you, too. Use it as an accompaniment, or use it as an entree. Either works. A good hunk of buttered garlic bread goes really well with it, and add a sliced or quartered tomato or a green salad for those extra vitamins your body needs.

Now, bring on those fall leaves!

Diane’s Butternut Squash Mélange

1 whole butternut squash

1 large yellow onion

1 cup rice, uncooked

1 15-oz can black beans

1 sprig fresh rosemary

EVOO

Salt and pepper

Butter

·      Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Add 1 Tbsp butter to each depression and roast face down in the oven on small foil-lined baking sheet at 350 degrees for 1 hr. or ’til firm-tender.

·      Peel and chop the onion, place in pyrex pie pan, drizzle with olive oil, salt & pepper, and roast in the oven, along with the squash, for about ½ hr.

·      Cook the rice in 2 c water and 1 Tbsp butter, with rosemary laid on top, for 20 min.

·      Open and drain the black beans.

·      Peel the squash, discard skin, and cut the “meat” into bite-size pieces. Combine in large pan with roasted onions. Cook briefly to caramelize ’til the mixture gets a little brown.

·      Add the rice (discard rosemary stem) and beans, turn whole mixture into a casserole dish. Bake about 20 min.

From couch potato to quail flusher

Chessie, 76 pounds

What a joy it is to see Chessie go from a 90-pound blob on the floor to an energetic—if a bit arthritic—bouncy dog who's eager to chase squirrels and flush quail from the weed patch along our walk route. I'm sure she enjoyed life at the food bowl, but I'd venture to say she enjoys her active life tons more. It sure does MY heart good.

The Amazing Shrinking Dog

"What is it with you and that annoying camera??" says Chessie

As you can see from the photo above and those in earlier posts, Chessie—although still overweight—has dropped an impressive 10 pounds since I got her about 2 months ago. She's actually starting to show a real "waistline"! (Wish I could say the same for myself!) Ten of her original 90 pounds have dropped off, and she's joyfully romping on walks (which are now squirrel- and bird-chasing RUNS!). It's so heartwarming to see her enjoying life as a pseudo-athlete rather than playing doorstop!

The Dog Formerly Known As Fat Girl

My workout buddy, Chessie

Chessie at 90 lbs (Yes, her former owners really called her Fat Girl.)

For your formal introduction to Chessie, my new "woman's best friend," please see my July 25 post. 

Since then, we've walked once or twice a day, anywhere from 1–3 miles each jaunt. Weigh-in #1 at adoption-day-plus-2-weeks revealed a 4-lb loss for Chessie: from 90 to 86 pounds. Chessie's weigh-in today, 2 weeks later: down to 84 lbs! (Note: a "normal" female Brittney spaniel should weigh 30–40 lbs!)

As I feared (because my brother had a Springer Spaniel named Murphy who'd run for what seemed like an hour, come back to the house, plop down and pant for 5 minutes, then be off again at full steam for another hour), regular exercise has turned this portly girl from a lagger-behinder/panter to a gung-ho puller who can take a 2  1/2-mile walk and still be out in front. Seriously, the first day I got her, she was panting so hard and walking so slow after 1 mile that I was afraid she'd have a heart attack; I thought I might have to tie her to a tree and go get the car to take her home!

So now I've felt the need to invest in a Gentle Leader (head harness) to keep her from charging on ahead at the end of her leash. Anyone have experience with them? I'm excited to teach the old girl the meaning of moderation. And I'm excited to chart my own fitness progress too. Chessie and I still have a long way to go 'til we reach goal, but we're enjoying the journey.