Friday

The expected cold front hit this morning, or at least the leading edge hit. A strong rain shower began falling. After a short while it stopped. Nuria had papers to mail to her lawyers in Chicago, and she wanted them to get there as soon as possible, so she just left the house on a trek to the Post Office. She likes to walk there and the rain isn't falling now. I hope she gets back before the weather gets bad. It's only about 8 minutes to the Post Office and, of course, 8 minutes back. She may spend 5 minutes inside the Post Office, doing business there. So, unless she decides to extend her walk, she should be back about 20 minutes after she left. 

Last night we had a fire log burning in the wood stove and relaxing music playing and it created a very nice mood. I captured a glimpse of it with my phone camera.

Nuria just returned from the Post Office. Her package of paperwork is in the mail to Chicago, 2 day delivery and signature requested. 

Tomorrow we'll walk up the street and visit my buddy Butch. I'd do it today but I fear we might be caught in a downpour.

Nuria is in the kitchen making rum cakes. She said she will make three cakes. She wants to give a couple of them to friends and, of course, there will be one for us. Her last home-baked cake was a red velvet cake with cream cheese icing, and needless to say, it was very good. When the new year gets here, I have to lay off these tasty treats. I've already gained five pounds just in the last few weeks. If I keep gaining weight, I won't be able to get out of bed. Then, I'll have to give up snacks, unless Nuria keeps bringing them to me. There is a YT video about a man who fasted for more than a year and lost 382 pounds. He fasted under medical supervision, but fasting that long is dangerous and doctors don't advise it. When he ended his fast, he resumed eating but he did not put the weight back on. There's a video about his experience here.

I've fasted, and I can tell you that after the first three days, your hunger goes away, because your body switches to burning ketones (which are derived from body fat) and so you're not hungry. Our bodies can burn two kinds of fuel: glucose (sugar) and ketones. As long as we have glucose in our blood, our bodies don't make ketones, and excess glucose is stored in fat cells. When our bodies run low on glucose, we switch to breaking down fat into ketones, which our bodies then burn for energy. That's the basis of the Atkins diet and the reason it works. I'll be joining the millions of other Americans who will swear, on New Year's Eve, that they're going to lose weight in the New Year. Good luck to all of them, and good luck to me.