189!

 8:41 am - Monday - April 18th - Likely, CA - 46° F, humidity 32%, wind 11 mph out of the south......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 60° F.....high winds coming in later this morning.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were walking along the National Mall in Washington D.C........↴

General Grant

Smithsonian

Lincoln Memorial in the background

Sunday was promised to be our first 60+° day here at Likely Place, and I had big plans for the day which included deploying yard lights, riding my Haibike SDURO mountain bike around the perimeter of the property, hiking the nature trail, hitting a bucket of balls, check out the putting green, and watch the end of the current PGA tour event.  Not on my list of things to accomplish Sunday was dipping below that 190 pound barrier, which has been haunting me for a couple of weeks now, but dip below it I did!.....

.....for the first time since April of 2014 I weigh less than 190 pounds.  When I began my quest to lose weight, and keep it lost, on January 31st my near term goal was to lose 20 pounds by April 2nd.......my granddaughter's wedding.....I made it with a pound, or two to spare.  My next interim goal was to get below 190 pounds, and I have now officially made it as of April 17th.  My long term goal is to get down to 183 where I have not been since the early 2000's when I got down to 178.....only 6 pounds to go, and those will the the toughest pounds.  The big thing for me is I am losing weight, and keeping it in the lost category.  I've gotten used to only eating between 12 pm and 8 pm.  I'm sleeping so much better at night, I have more energy, my blood pressure is down, and I'm wearing clothes I haven't worn in years.....I'm glad I saved them....lol!

For the first time since we arrived here on April 12th I wore a t-shirt, flip flops, and shorts as I worked to deploy several strands of rope lights......

Taken about 8 pm....they turned out nice!

......next on the list was to ride my mountain bike around the perimeter of the property, and I did that.....there are a few high points on the trail where the views are stunning, and unobstructed......

....by the time I finished my ride TLE had returned from another training session in the office, so we changed clothes and took the hike on the 1.4 mile nature trail.....

A babbling brook

....over the course of the hike we gained 142' feet of elevation, which surprised me as it seemed pretty flat most of the time, but we did get high enough to get some good views.  By the time we returned the RBC Heritage Tournament being held in Hilton Head Island, SC was in its final stages with Jordan Spieth in the club house with a one stroke lead.  Patrick Cantlay birdied the 17th hole to draw even with Jordan and force a playoff, which was won on the first sudden death hole by Jordan Spieth.  At one point on the back 9 there were nine golfers within 2 strokes of the leaders, so it was anyone's tournament to win at that point. Congratulations to Jordan!

Full of inspiration I changed my clothes again, dug out my golf shoes, loaded both sets of golf clubs on cart #20 and drove over to the driving range.....

....to hit a bucket of balls, and compare one set of golf clubs with the other.  Surprisingly, at least to me, I hit a lot of good, straight shots with one driver in particular.  I found this driver a couple of years ago, and was fascinated by its purported 22° loft.....most drivers I've seen run from 8.5° to 11°.  It has a carbon fiber shaft.  In all I hit 12 drives with that driver, and all but one were long, high, and straight.....of course, long for me is somewhere between 150 and 200 yards, but I have always had a serious slice most of the time, and an occasional duck hook thrown in for good measure, when hitting a driver, but with this one no hook, or slice....just right down the middle of the fairway.  Of the three Callaway woods I bought recently in Borrego Springs, I really like the 3 wood.   I hit a lot of irons Sunday, and am still undecided which set I like better, but I will narrow that down more on another day.  From there drove over to the putting green to spend about an hour putting with three different putters I've acquired over the past few years, and am still undecided there, but there is one toward which I am leaning.  In all my first day hitting balls was delightfully successful.  The last time I hit a bucket of balls was back in July of 2020 when we visited my sister, and brother-in-law at their home at Rock Creek Ranch in Wyoming, and that was a terrible experience.  Of course, I was using borrowed clubs.  The clubs I've purchased at thrift shops over the past few years were clubs which fit my eye, and felt good in my hands....that, apparently, makes a big difference, and the results I experienced Sunday proved that point....at least to me.

What a great day Sunday was....I accomplished everything which I set out to do, and with the added bonus of dipping below 190, it was a superlative day indeed.....

Subtle sunset

I'm not sure if that is Warren, or Eagle Peak in the distance, but I'll find out

....thanks for stopping by!

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