Geocaching and January, 2022

Good morning everyone.

Welcome to the first of the monthly blog schedule.  When I decided to make the switch from weekly to monthly, I had no idea what was waiting for me.  This actually begins before I concluded my fourth quarter review and year in review blogs.  I kicked off the new year by testing positive for covid.  Fortunately, I was double vaccinated at the time, but I still needed to isolate for a week.  Honestly, it was the best week off of work.  I had gone grocery shopping days before testing positive, so I was good for food.  I had a few people check on me via text, one of which is my geocaching partner, Auntie Mo.  I did solve a couple of geocaching jigsaw puzzles that are located in Southern Ontario.  Aside from that, it was a whole lot of video games.  

(I had plenty of time to get creative on Minecraft, building a tardis and a rustic church).

I honestly thought I was coming down with a cold.  I got tested and much to my surprise, I was positive.  All I had was coughing, a low fever, and a brief stuffy nose.

What was the first thing I did when I came out of isolation?  I found 2 traditional geocaches nearby.  My first two finds of the year.  

The weather hasn't been very nice around these parts.  It's been a cycle of frigid cold temperatures, followed by a brief warm spell that only brings a big dumping of snow.  Not really ideal geocaching weather.  I only got out two more times for a total of three caching days in January.  I found eight traditional, did six stages of various Adventure Labs, and attended one event for fifteen finds in total.  That isn't much to write about.

(finally completed this AL)

(one of the eight traditionals I found)

As we roll into February, I'm approximately 1,500 points shy of reaching the peak for January.  Fortunately, Mt. Aconcagua goes until the first weekend of February.  

For those that have been following along will recall that Angie (aka Jangie/Geo-Jangie) and myself were running a FB page for bloggers, The Geocaching Guild.  That project basically came to a stop last fall as neither of us had the time anymore to do the scheduling.  There wasn't any immediate plans to resurrect the page either.  Until.....  for those who have listened to the Podcacher show, one of the hosts, Sonny, Googled geocaching blogs and found The Geocaching Guild.  The page got a mention on a recent episode.  I've been thinking of how to breathe some life into the Guild again.  It's still in the idea phase, but hopefully soon.  You can catch the episode here > Podcacher

My time has been spent at the gym.  With the exception of the week I was isolating and the week after as I felt I wasn't quite ready to return.  I didn't let covid stop my plans of losing weight.  I couldn't go to the gym, but I did maintain my intermittent fasting.  On December 28th, I weighed 241.8lbs.  On January 28th, I was 235.6lbs.  A drop of six pounds in the first month.  I'm getting more acquainted with the weight machines at the gym again.  It's been seven or eight years since I was last at a gym.  I'm starting to get into a rhythm.  Although my cardio is predominantly recumbent bike and treadmill, I change things up with each visit.  Different length of time, different levels, just be different so the body doesn't become too comfortable.  One day I was goofing around on the bike and came up with a good workout.

My version of riding up a hill, then down.  Each row of dots across represents two minutes and twelve seconds over a 35 minute session.  Each row up is a different level, starting at level 5 on the left and hitting level 13 at the peak.  I skipped level 12 as it didn't give me that peak in the middle.

The six pounds that I lost is expected.  When you go from a sedentary lifestyle to an active lifestyle, you will have that initial weight loss.  Now that I'm active, the weight doesn't come off as easily.  Plus, I'm slowly replacing some of the fat with muscle.  The numbers on the scale may not say so, but I'm still slimming down.  The one place I want to slim down, my mid section, will be the last to see the inches come off.  I find that going to the gym is good for the mental health.  I feel good after each workout and seeing the weight go down also feels good too.

That's been the first month of 2022.  Hopefully I can do a little more geocaching in February.  I still have to reach the peak.  I'll let you know next month if I make it.  Hopefully I have more good news in my quest to lose weight and be healthy.  Until next month, be happy, stay safe, hug your pets, and most importantly, just have fun.  Peace out ✌ 

There's always just one more picture, or in this case, two pictures.  Since I don't have any other geocaching pictures to share, I give you the kittens that are at my work.  There's three in total, all very black.