Hot .... and more HOT!!!

FIRST DAY Total Steps: 8,203

ALRIGHTY THEN. After reading D J's [known in blogland as D Janity] post about her health app that counts/records each step she takes ...a pedometer, for her iPhone, I had to go to Google Play Store and search for something similar to that but for an Android Phone. I found several and chose one to install. It only keeps track of the steps you take which is what I wanted. AND!!! Best part is, it does NOT consume a lot of the phone's battery charge. 'Nother thing that I like, the waist band carrier I use for ID purposes and carrying my cards with me....having the phone closed in the carrier, it STILL keeps track of my step count accurately too, I counted the steps along with it's count....same as my own. The Android app is FREE and it's downloadable from your phone's Google Play Store...called Noom Walk [Moon?....nah, it's NOOM]  But, as D J mentioned the goal that's considered highly active would be 10,000 steps per day. Now....how many steps would equal a mile? According to all walking for exercise sites, it says the average is 2000 steps per mile. I would have to argue this point. In other words, don't go by the "average numbers". Why? I would think each person differs. There may be an 'average' total to equal a mile, but I TAKE SMALL STEPS!!! Logically,  I would be using MORE energy and taking more steps than Bud because of the stride distance and breadth in comparison!!!   I'm burning up energy more rapidly than Bud 'cause his wide stride is torture for me to match, while for him,  his pace is leisurely.  Wouldn't that be the situation? In other words, walking with Bud as I usually do, I will reach the 10,000 much quicker than he keeping up with Bud's momentum.  So, it's definitely an INDIVIDUAL number to equal a mile/5 miles. In most cases, I am familiar with distance where we walk, so I know how many miles it would be beforehand. The guide for walking from the CDC in America tells us: Walking 10,000 steps equates to about five miles a day, which comes out to about 90 active minutes a day. That is three times the amount recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Instead, it recommends adults engage in 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, such as brisk walking. To meet the CDC's recommendation, you would only need to walk about 7,000 to 8,000 steps a day.

graphic borrowed from website

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ONE THING that has been a true positive from the wettest month on record in the state of Texas this past May is the fact that I haven't seen our Crepe Myrtle Bushes bloom so profusely!!  What with the drought we experienced since...


...before this past Spring, we were doing good to see even a sprinkling of color from them....but this year it's a whole different story. Of course we have the 'natural colored bushes'...the lavender and the hot pink. But a few years back I bought and planted a hybrid. "Strawberries and Cream" which is the ruby and white tipped blossoms in the last photo on the right. This season it's getting mighty pretty...

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OUR TWO MOVIES for the week have been a new one I found on DVD cheap, and the other is an oldie favorite. The oldie first. Beverly Hills Cop II. Judge Reinhold as Billy Rosewood is a fun character in this movie. He makes me laugh several times during the flick. Then, on to the new one. It was a two part miniseries from Australia I believe. Called The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant. A true story. A teen, Mary, is imprisoned for stealing some coins and a bonnet in England in the 1700s. She is sentenced to go to the not yet built [her shipmates as other prisoners are instructed to build] penal colony in Botany Bay. Her story is told from her pregnancy and giving birth on the ship while at sea, befriending another prisoner [soon to be husband during her colony life] having two children; she's reputed to be the first to successfully escape the penal colony with her two children & husband...only to lose all to the fever aboard the small boat they used to escape... and live out her life at home again, in England. It was a good two part movie.  It was somewhat predictable, but yet held my interest throughout.  The character acting was quite good, and emotions were high during a lot of what happened to her during her stay at the penal colony AND her notorious escape.

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OUR WEEKLY DRIVE to Port A took us to Charlie's Pasture North.  This time, since it was quite hot and humid we took the shorter of the two trails.  The short one is more in the chaparral areas of the pasture; hardly any water.  But, while walking the path, you can keep track of the ship channel activities.  In fact at one point during the trek, the walkers have an option at a fork in the trail...go to the right and continue walking the path to a birder's gazebo, or left and end up at the trail's end at the channel itself.  As I said, the morning hour was very humid and the closer we got to the waterway, the more mosquitoes let us know just how hungry they were, so while a ship was going through, I only got a chance to take ONE photo of the dolphin activity before I  just had to keep moving, the blood suckers were so bad!!! The bird life was quiet also in the inferno...a couple of mockingbirds, a few white ibis, white tailed hawks [3], some great blue herons, egrets, and brown pelicans showed themselves sporadically.

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Before we flipped a "U" to return to the park's parking lot, the grayish, swampy, green-gray overcast sky was breaking and the puffy clouds sparkled with the hot sunshine glaring down on us all too soon.  I also snapped a photo of one of the ferry boats transporting vehicles, crossing the channel, from Aransas Pass to Port Aransas. We did see quite a few jack rabbits...and they were HUGE! ---

...when we arrived home, the atomic thermometer showed an outdoor temperature of 97 degrees. IN THE SHADE!!