The goods and bads

Had my annual check-up this morning. Went in fasting so I could have my cholesterol checked, but she said it was so super from last year, I didn't need the labs.

So it's good about the cholesterol, but too bad that I had to be so hungry for nothing! This was accentuated by the fact that yesterday was the middle and leanest day of the diet: 3 meals, two of mixed vegetables and one of mixed fruit.

And that reminds me...

Scale Report: down 1.5 more pounds. That makes a net (good) loss of 4.5 pounds :-D plus, I'm just past the halfway point and see some light at the end of the tunnel. More than 6 days done, less than 5 to go.
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Derek rode along to get his pro-time. When we got back to the little room with the new lab orders (to be sure and tell us the results, which is good), the resident (or whatever) had written down an extra test that Derek never gets, which would require a blood draw instead of a finger prick. (bad)

After a phone call to Iowa City, someone OK'd the cancellation of the extra unnecessary test and we were back to finger-pricking. (good)
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Carolyn's been having some heart wackiness (bad) and when I sent two event recordings over the phone, there was enough artifact to obscure the readout and we don't have a clear indication of whether she was in a-fib or not. Bad.

They will send us a different event recorder through the mail. (good)
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After the doctoring stuff I dragged Derek with me over to Beads Lake State Park which is just 3 miles west of Hampton.


He got to work on schoolwork in the zippy red car, blissfully surrounded by trees and a lake, while I took 30 or 40 minutes to explore. From my standpoint, things were looking pret-ty good.

I was really, REALLY hoping to spy something new.

Saw more than one woodpecker...this is probably the red-bellied variety.


There was a little trail along the lake/marsh and before long I heard a roaring noise...

Wow! Iowa gots waterfalls !

There seemed to be a feeder stream and several surrounding poolish places...and suddenly through the scrub something big and white caught my eye...carefully I crept along, trying to get to a point where I could take a picture...

And thar she blows !

The Great Egret ardea alba

Formerly known as "American Egret," "Common Egret," "Large Egret," "White Egret," "Great White Egret," and "Great White Heron," this bird's official name in North America is now "Great Egret."

Alba is Latin for "white." Ardea is a genus of herons.

Even though it flew away when I got closer, this just made my day :-)

And that's good.
 

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