February

28^th. . . . The snow is gone around here but it looks like it is accumulating at the higher elevations. That makes it rough for the river when the warm spring sun comes out in a few weeks. I did not phone about my car today, I will perhaps do that tomorrow. I don’t want them to forget I am still around and waiting. It was a quiet day, after the snow melted I had absolutely nothing to do. Life is tough sometimes.

February

27^th. . . .  . I shall not worry about bowling today; but if the weather permits Caren has already offered Barbara’s car for the duration of the T-Bird repair time. I also have access to Barb’s green pickup. I may drive up to the repair shop tomorrow and get the ball and go practice. It depends on the weather and my mood.

I attempted to call Eva/Pepik in Prague this morning but there was no answer….. Yesterday I watched Carlos 1 and 2 on TV. Today I will finish the series when I turn on Carlos 3. That movie does a good job of showing how much hatred there is in the Arab community for the US and all its friends. Too many of those leaders have the mindset of gangsters. Too many of them came to leadership positions using gangster methods. It is a French movie with subtitles, Hollywood could never make a movie like that, they would be telling the truth and they are not too crazy about advertising how the Arabs really feel. They wish to bury the facts, trying to 'get along' with that bunch of gangsters. There is no way we are ever going to 'get along' with radical Muslims.

Wow! Such a soapbox! I best shut up before they come to get me.

The above is part of an email I sent out earlier today, I decided to paste it here for others to enjoy or not.. . . .The snow was coming down this morning but the radar map showed it would not last too long. The flakes were tiny but there were a lot of them. By 4pm there was only a thin slush left on the driveway, The melting process is winning the war of winter that has been going on in Barbara’s front yard for the past few days.. . . . I wasted a good part of the day watching NASCAR on TV. Perhaps I should say I waisted a good share of the day. I have been trying hard to not eat so much, I’d like to lose about ten pounds, lots’a luck on that.. . . . .This evening I watched the last installment of Carlos, it turned out to be a good movie. They finally caught him but it was a long time coming. He was another of histories really bad people. The bad part is there are many more just like him out there, see something, say something.

February

26^th. . . . You can read yesterdays posting and get a more exciting report than I can come up with today, it was quiet and I spent too much time in front of the TV. The temperature never got above freezing so none of the snow melted. That is not entirely true, the snow on the septic tank covers and the sidewalk did melt. The driveway does not show a lot of blacktop though.

February

25th. . . . Awoke to a beautiful clear morning. Not a cloud in the sky and about 5 inches of snow on everything. It was colder than the dickens, about 18 degrees and spring was no where to be seen. I opened the drapes on the south side of the house to let the sunshine in. I figured that would help cut the heating bill for a few hours. . . .  .R&R Motors called this morning to let me know they will have to keep the car long enough to go through about $2500.00 of my money. It seems the engine froze up from a coolant leak. That money would be a nice down payment on another Mediterranean Cruise or something similar. I am not going to buy another car because I could never buy another one as nice as that one for that amount of money. I do hate the financial set-back but …………..so it goes. . . .  . I did not bother to walk out to the mailbox today, the snow should be all gone by the time the mailman lady arrives tomorrow. I’ll go out then.

February

24^th. . . . Jiner reminded me that tax forms are available at the Library. I decided to stop by there today and check it out. Awoke to an inch of snow on the ground. . The clouds had thinned out by 9:30 and the sun was out in all of its glory. . . . . .  My haircut was due today and that is up the hill a way so I phoned Bernita before leaving the house to make sure I could get in the driveway. She assured me all was fine so away I went. On the way I stopped at the library and found they were open only noon to 7pm today. I planned on stopping there on the way home from bowling . . . . . .The drive up the hill was uneventful and I even made it as far as her front door before I lost control in the two inches of snow and slid toward a pickup that was close by. Luckily I was able to get my rear fender beyond the truck far enough to not slide into it. After visiting with Bernita for a few minutes and getting my haircut I drove back to the house for a quick ‘brunch’ before going bowling. The one inch of snow that had been on the driveway and hour before had melted. I felt OK about getting to Longview bowling because it is at a lower elevation and the highways would be clear because the traffic would have smashed the snow into water.. . . I was very pleased with my results today, 158-147-157. That may not be the best bowling I have done during league play but it has to be really close. . . The team had a ‘conference’ after and I put away half a beer before deciding to get out of town. The snow was starting to make a serious presence and I knew it was only going to get worse the closer I got to home. I got to headquarters road when I noticed the red ‘ Check Engine’ light had come on. The temperature gage had reached the shut down point so I pulled on to the off ramp and turned off the key. I noticed during the process that there was a very large cloud of steam coming out of the tailpipe. The last time that happened to me was about 1997 when my Nissan blew a head gasket. I had my cell phone with me and called the tow truck. I had the car hauled to R&R Motors up the hill near where I had just been earlier getting a hair cut. It was about 5pm so they checked me in and told me they would phone me tomorrow when they find the problem. The owner drove me home and I got in the house seven minutes before O'Reilly came on…….. Muammar phoned me from Libya this evening, wanted some advice. I mentioned that Brent is getting too expensive and he should get out before someone takes him out. He hung up on me. Some friend he is. I have to say that Mubarak never treated me with that much disrespect.

February

23^rd. . . . We had sloppy snow for a while today. Actually it came down several times but melted away almost immediately. The worse time was while I was driving to the post office to pick up a 2010 Tax guide. They do not have them. The lady told me she was not sure they would get any. I returned home and found everything I needed to know on the puter. Having the book right in front of me is much quicker but with more experience I am sure I will be able to cut the time. . . . . Doggie and I stayed inside today except for the short trip to the Post Office. The weather report still predicts more snow so I am excited to see if it keeps me from getting to my bowling game tomorrow.

February

22^nd…..I reset my pedometer this evening. In the past seven days I have walked 11.35 miles in my slippers. Except for going to the mailbox that is all logged in the house. They are not actually slippers, they are a pair of Birkenstocks sandals I have had for many years.. . . . It tried hard to snow this afternoon but that never really happened. The weather report continues to predict that such a thing can be expected in the next few days. I am hoping it holds off until after I finish bowling on Thursday. . . . .I found my new bed to be satisfactory, with luck it will not wear out before I do. I hate spending that much money all at one time. If things keep going as they have just buying gas for the car will become as hateful.. . . .Charlotte told me about her way of making popcorn and so I find myself enjoying that vegetable more often. She uses a glass bowl with a glass lid and puts a quarter cup of popcorn in it before placing it in the microwave. After it all pops she sprays it with  ‘I can’t believe it is not butter’ spray. That process really cuts down on cleanup time. Barbara’s microwave takes about 6 minutes to cook a quarter cup and in the process of so much micro waving the first kernels to pop come out with a slightly different taste. Even that makes it worth the easier clean up. That is my recipe for the day. Your favorite chef, Cliff.

February

21^st. . .  .The mattress people phoned and told me they would arrive about 3:30 this afternoon. I had started my chili and it was bubbling away by 10AM. I separated some things in the garage that I will be taking with me when I move and caught up my chess games while the chili was bubbling. The wood pile is gone and it won’t be long before that part of the garage will be cleaned up. Actually, the sweeping out has been accomplished but there is still a lot of work to be done in the other 80% of the garage. One day at a time.. . . . The new bed arrived at 3:30 as promised and I found that my form fitting sheets do fit. That was good news, I’d not like having to buy new ones. I had laundered all of the bedding this morning and it was ready to ‘install’ when the delivery was completed. The bed was all put together and ready for a nap by 4pm. However, I didn’t nap, it was too close to “O’Reilly Time” for me to take the chance of falling asleep and missing any part of his presentation. . . . .I also have to mention that I tried my new pot of chili, it is just fine but next time I will use red beans. I used pinto this time, the flavor is different. Next time I will use less tomato sauce too, the tomato flavor is a bit too much for the kind of chili I really like. One of these days I will hit just the right combination.

February

20^th. . . . I talked to Pepik and Eva on Skype this morning. Eva is working on her English and is trying hard but she is a little self conscience about her abilities. We were on camera for about 45 minutes. It was 7pm in Prague and they had something to do so we said goodbye. It was 9am here. Jack Frost had visited this part of the world during the night. The temperature outside was close to 20 when I got up. Brrrrr. I did get to the bowling alley today and was very happy with my scores. I started with a 160 and graduated to a 204 the second game. By the time the third game was complete I found myself looking at a 140. That last game is better than my 136 league average so I ended the day feeling pretty good. I also started a fourth line but I used that only for practice on the seven and ten pins. I should do that more often, they are tough pins to pick up without going in the gutter. On the way home I stopped by Safeway and bought all the things I need to make a pot of chili, that came to $14.00. Looks like I use only the best ingredients in my chili. I was home by 3pm. I put the beans to soak overnight, watched some TV while I had Sunday night popcorn and apple slices and was in bed early. I wonder if the bed will be delivered tomorrow since it is a holiday. They did say Monday.

February

19^th. . . . I spent more time on my taxes today. In a way I wish I had to do them more often so I could remember how it is done. I hate having to read the instructions about things that I have done so many times before. On top of that I never did get a 1040 book of instructions in the mail so I have to dig up the answers to my questions on the puter. And print out my own forms. Is that true of everyone this year?

Tomorrow I will be finishing up my last bowl of chili so it is time to get to the market and buy some more ingredients and start again. This time I will be using real tomato sauce and not that other stuff I used last time. My Stew/Soup is also gone. Perhaps I’ll stop by the market on the way home from bowling tomorrow and get stocked up on all of that sort of stuff.

February

18^th. . . . I knew it!! I was moving my mattress and box springs out of the bedroom this morning in anticipation of my promised delivery of the new one I ordered last week. During the process I thought how funny not it would be if the dealer phoned and told me he could not deliver today. Well, about 9:30 he did just that. I had to put my bed back together for three more nights of use until delivery [hopefully] on Monday. Dirty rats! Not much else to report from Larsen Lane, which is a good thing. If that is the worse thing to happen I figure I’m in pretty good shape. . . . .I did start my income taxes today, with a bit of luck I will be able to get back some money I had sent earlier in the year in anticipation of having to pay. I got carried away and lost all track of time so I find myself posting my blog at 9pm. That is late for me!

February

17th. . . . . Bowling was just great today, 160-140-147 for a 447 series. That gives me a 149 average for the day and one pin better than last Sunday. I really feel good about the way I seem to be improving. I took a conference break after bowling today, our team got together in the bar for a beer. That was fun, I felt comfortable with the group, having a good day bowling helps a lot in that department. I feel I really contributed to the success of the team. As a matter of fact when all of the players factor in their handicap I ended up being the top scorer of the two teams. I'm patting myself on the back.

    It was fun and I am going to try to remember what it took today and last week to do so well and try to continue with that program. Dave, my instructor, is still by my side and we discuss all of the balls I throw as the game proceeds. That is a great help, he keeps me on target.

    O'Reilly was his usual wonderful self tonight and since Thursday evening is the day 'Big Bang Theory' comes on I think I will stay up and watch that and perhaps have some popcorn and apple slices while enjoying the show.

February

16^th. . . . . . My chess games were caught up by 9:45. It was not until then that I realized I had not had breakfast. I turned to get out of the chair and discovered while glancing out the window that we were enjoying some fat snowflakes with the light rainfall. By the time I got to the kitchen window it had all stopped. Short winter.. . . .BTW, Happy Birthday, Sol!    I decided to do some grocery shopping today. The weather report has snow in it so I decided to get stocked up just in case it gets too deep to drive. On the way to Wal-Mart I stopped at Jiffy Lube and asked about a radiator flush. I told them I was in there last week getting an oil change and was told they would only charge me $70 for the flush. They told me they would do that so I waited while they worked on the car. After they finished I continued on my way to Wal-Mart. Just out of curiosity I checked to see how much they charged me. It was $116.00. I went back to the store and was told they had also changed the oil and filter. After the dust settled they promised me a free oil change next time it is due. I then continued my journey to buy groceries. That came to $44.00. Turned out to be a very expensive day.

February

15^th. . . . . This was a quiet day, with lots of rain and dark skies. I spent the entire day inside [I did get to the mailbox] in front of the fireplace watching the rain come down. . . . .I prepared myself a baked potato with broccoli and cheese  and ate that while watching O'Reilly. There were two good movies on AMC this evening and I started watching one of them but at the first commercial break I decided I was not interested so I channel hopped to AMC HD and found Shaw shank Redemption starting at 6PM. I decided to stay with that one. Do you know what AMC stands for? Always Multiple Commercials.  I tried my best to stay in the habit of walking during the commercial breaks but it was not easy….there were so many of them…..I checked my Pedometer before going to bed, it shows that I walked only 3.104 miles with my slippers on this week.

February

. Happy Valentines Day. The day started with a little earthquake about 10:35, I think. The computer monitor jumped once and that was it. Perhaps others felt it. I left the house about 11:30 and drove into Longview to check with the people I hope to be renting an apartment from. They said nothing doing as yet but I should stay in touch. After leaving there I drove to Beaverton and met Terri in Borders. It has been weeks since we talked so we had a lot of catching up to do. When The Outback opened at 4pm we were right there ordering our steak and shrimp. We talked for another hour and a half before returning to Borders. I then spent forty-five minutes exploring the book shelves for something I could not live without but never found it. So for the first time in months I left Borders without adding to my stack of unread books. I now have 15 sitting by the bed. I’ll get to them. So many books, so little time.. . . . I got home just in time to turn on O’Reilly and as soon as that was over I got to the puter. I had chess games, email, and news headlines that needed my attention. I will answer Obama’s request for help in the morning after getting a good nights sleep. I don’t know why I bother, he seldom takes my advice. Oh well…….

February

13^th. . . .  . .           Isn’t it interesting, Friday the Thirteenth fell on Sunday this month. Wonders will never cease. After the big, bad rain storm last night the skies are clear enough to see where the sun is today. I keep talking about spring coming, for all of the good it does. We have not yet had our first really heavy snowfall.. . . . I arrived at the bowling alley at 1PM and found it rather busy. They did have a lane open but there was a lot of bowling going on in that place. I bowled four lines in about an hour and averaged 148; that is 13 pins above my average. I felt good about my results as the hour progressed, I learned to slow down, that seems to help my accuracy. I need accuracy because I leave too many pins standing with the second ball during each frame. Now I am excited about getting back down there Thursday to see if I can keep it up. I stopped by to see Ron and Caren on my way home. I missed Colter because he was sleeping off a very busy morning. Ron had to chase calves while I was there, they had wandered into the front yard and were walking up the driveway toward the street when Ron intercepted them. Chasing cows, what a job! Barbara had told me many times that that is the reason she took up cussing. I can see why. Cows have been getting smarter every year since 1963. Nineteen sixty three is the year Teachers Unions came on the scene. . . . I would have gotten home with a dry car had I not stopped by Caren and Ron’s place. As it happened the rain was just starting as I walked out the door to come home. So now I will drive a dirty car to Portland tomorrow. I’m going to take Terri out to dinner, unless she pays this time. I’m not sure it is her turn to pay, I think she treated me last time. I wonder if she reads this blog. I watched ‘Paper Chase’ on TV this evening. It was rather late [for me] but it was interesting enough to stay up for.

February

12^th. . . . Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln. . . .  .My chess games were up to date and breakfast was over by 9:30 this morning. The threatening rain was 40 miles away according to weather radar. It sure has taken its time getting here. Maybe this foretells the beginning of real winter. I cleaned up the mess at the base of the woodpile in the garage. Swept the floor of all wood debri and placed it is a paper bag for burning. The garage is looking better for it. One row of wood to go and it will all be gone. Once the estate settles there will be a lot of work to do to get the place ready for whatever comes next and getting rid of that wood pile is just one little part of it.. . . . . .I gave away my queen in one of my chess games so I resigned that one. My new rating is 1818, sad, sad.. . . The rain I have been expecting for days arrived about 4:30 and by 6pm it was really coming down. Happily, it was not a cold rain but I would not be surprised to hear that there is a lot of snow at the higher elevations. With a bit of luck it will pass by quickly and spring will arrive.

February

11^th. . . . . . . Had my chess games caught up by 8:15 this morning. The temperature outside was 36 and weather radar showed rain falling about 100 miles west of here. Infrared tells me I’m sitting in the middle of a very large storm of water vapor. Looks like it might rain. I have decided to not do anything about it……… Donna Bishop, Grandmother of my God child is having her 95th birthday today so I stopped by around noon to say hi. She certainly is doing well, she owns many rental houses in Kelso and still runs the business all by herself. She can not hear very well but she sure can take care of business. After leaving there I drove to a mattress store in Longview and let them talk me into ordering a standard wide mattress but with extra length. Now my fitted sheets that I am using will no longer work. Perhaps I will just buy regular queen size sheets and let that be good enough. The mattress and box springs will be delivered next Friday. I laid on the bed and found it to be fairly firm, it was comfortable. I'm sure it will outlast me but I hope not. The weather was cool and cloudy today but I was able to do my running around without suffering raindrops on my little pointed head……..I was home by 2:30 and had a snack before building a fire in the fireplace. This smaller print is caused when I copy and paste previous writings from my email account. I don’t do it too often but when I do this is the result. Sorry

February

Went bowling today and got home around 4:30. I was hungry so I fixed dinner and ate while O'Reilly was on. I had a fire going in the fireplace and it was warm and toasty, I was almost too lazy to get out of the chair and walk during commercials.

        Bowling went well, 122-148-168- in that order. I was feeling pretty bad about my results during the first game and first half of the second but I then started finding myself in the groove. It is strange though because during my bowling today I was always feeling that I could do better. The 148 was a shock to me when I saw the final score and we won the last game because I did so well with the 168, but again the final score was a surprise. I did not feel I was doing very well at all. The team is now in 19th place out of 22. I think we started the season with 24 teams so perhaps some folks dropped out.

        Perhaps I am too 'hung up' on my scores each week but that is what keeps me trying harder, I see no reason to just throw the ball down the lane and to heck with the results. If I am going to get an average score and be at least an average bowler I want to constantly push myself. Fantastic scores may never happen but I feel better knowing I am trying my best. At the present time the average bowler in this league has a 148 score. Mine is at present 135, I really want to reach the point where I can expect at least 150 average each week. Perhaps I can reach that lofty goal before this season ends, I am going to try. It is fun but at the same time it is very frustrating, overcoming the frustration and scoring well adds to my pleasure.

    I'm stubborn, I am going to make it yet.

        After bowling today I stopped by Jiffy Lube and got the oil changed in the car. It has been a while since I did that, I hope the car stays happy for a few more years. Regular oil changes make that possible.. . . .Tonight I will watch TV until after 'The big Bang Theory' then get some sleep. I see no rain off the coast at the present time but the infrared view of the clouds tells me it is coming on rather quickly.

9th

9^th. . . .I forgot to mention that I checked my pedometer for the week and found that I logged 10.93 miles in my slippers last week. That is what I get for climbing out of the chair at each TV commercial and walking big circles in the house.. . . . .  This was a lazy day, accomplished very little, perhaps I am saving my energy so I can do well at the bowling alley tomorrow. I will have to wait until then to find that out.

February

8^th. . . . .Easy morning, cool outside but no rain, in fact the sun was out for a little while, which reminds me of spring, and that is good. I have to know that good times are coming. Later in the day the temperature reached 55 or close to it…….. I left the house around 10:30 to meet the guys for lunch at Silver Star. One of the guys, George, who lives in South Kelso,  has a two bedroom apartment above his garage. It has no washer/dryer and I would have to park the car out in the elements. The price is right but I’m going to wait a couple more weeks to see about the one in Castle Rock. I think I like it better. It too, does not have covered parking but the washer/dryer is available to all tenants. After checking out George’s apartment I drove to the bowling alley and could not resist throwing four lines. I did not do any better than I did Sunday. At this rate I am going to be a 130 player for the rest of my bowling days. I know I can do better! I know it! Dang it! The rest of the day was spent enjoying the fireplace and commercials on TV.

February

February 7. . . . . Had the fire place going at 9am today, the temperature outside is up to 40 but I doubted it would go much higher. Today turned out to be laundry day and I had that job finished by noon. I challenged a very strong chess player in England to two games today. He is going to really test my ability stay out of trouble and make some kind of showing for myself. I ended the day relaxing and trying not to eat too much. No more football for a while so now I have to wait 2-3 weeks for NASCAR to get back on the TV.

Feb

Feb. 6^th. . . . Today presented a very slow morning, being a weekend I didn’t have many chess games needing attention and no email so I was off the puter by 8:30. I watched a bit of TV news and fell asleep about 10AM. Hunger pangs tore me away from the slumber party and after getting something to eat I decided to get in my Sunday practice at the bowling alley.. . . . That turned out to be a nothing effort, I averaged 122 after five lines. I was throwing pretty fast because I finished the five lines in an hour. . . . . .I go back to the house in time to catch the kick off of the football game. There was a nice warm fire going in the fire place and that really relaxed me. I was about to turn the game off and find a good movie when Pittsburgh scored a touchdown just as the half ended. I decided to stay with it a while longer.. . . . During half-time I discovered my chess opponent from Lithuania had me trapped so I had to resign the game. My new rating is now 1829. It has not been that low for several months. That’s chess.. . . The ball game turned out to be  a thriller, it would have been better if Pittsburgh had scored in the last few minutes but it never happened.

Feb.

Feb 5^th. . . . Finally got out of the house for a while today. I had not talked with Charlotte for weeks so invited her to lunch and we talked for a couple of hours. After a while she got bored and said she had a headache so I took her home. On the way back to the house I stopped by to see Caren and Ron for a short visit. Bill was there too. Lizzy was out for the day and Colton was having a good time with Sol’s little girl who was visiting for a while today. I got back before any serious rain ruined my clean car. It was a good day. Watched a movie called Open Range and was in bed before 9pm.

Feb.

Feb.4 . . . . . It was noon before I finished making my chess moves on the Internet today. These guys are much stronger than I am and it is all I can do to maintain an even position against them. Eight times out of ten they win but once in a while one of them makes a mistake that makes all of my efforts worth while. Some days I am the bug and some days I am the windshield.. . . . . Rain is on the way but I don’t care, the car is in the garage and I am warm, healthy and happy. ChiChi is doing fine except he sticks close to the fireplace on days like this. I didn’t accomplish a lot today but I did get a bit of exercise in addition to feeding the fire place all day. The exercise consisted of not staying in the chair during the commercials while watching TV. We will see what Saturday brings.

february

February 3. . . . . I promised to report my bowling results so here they are, 154-99-131. ‘Nuff said. I did stop by the market on the way home and still refused to buy ice-cream but I did pick up some cookies. The clean car was a pleasure to drive and I got it home before any rain drops got on it. I even took the time to stop by Caren’s place to drop off a piece of mail that came to this address by mistake. They were not home so I was unable to beg some dinner out of them. I got home in time to put away my groceries and watch O’Reilly. Again, O’Reilly was taking the day off so Laura Ingram was sitting in for him. She is OK, nicer looking than Bill but not as tough on the guests who try not to answer direct questions with direct answers. Did you ever notice how few politicians seldom answer questions and are seldom pressed about it? Those people are our employees, they should speak up when asked, I say. But then who am I? A peon taxpayer, that’s all.. . . . Watched commercials a bit later than usual and went to bed.

February

February 2.  . . . . . Any Larsen Lane Groundhog that might have been out and about today would have surely seen his shadow. I did break down and wash my car, lets hope it stays clean for a while. The only way to assure that in this part of the country is to keep it locked up in the garage. Rather than drying it  I took it out on the freeway for a few minutes to get rid of any standing water. It looked very nice parked in the garage.. . . . Had a fire going all day in the fireplace, supplying that animal with groceries makes exercise and that is a good thing.

February

February. . . .First.

Great weather! That is always a wonderful thing to report. And so seldom too. Around here anyway. It is not warm at all but the sun is bright and shiny, that makes this one feel pretty good. I went through my ‘Junk’ mail folder and found stuff from months ago that I had never known I had received. There were pictures there from Jennifer that she sent last summer. My filter, for some reason refused to put them in my inbox. I’m glad to have discovered them. In the future I will check my ‘junk’ file to see if anything else has been misfiled. It is never my intention to fail in answering emails.. . . . When Terri and I went to Europe last year she had suggested I get a small backpack to carry food and water in. I followed directions and bought a SMALL one. After a few days in Europe I decided it was way too small so I bought another larger one and brought the first one home. Today I stopped by to see Colter [almost three] and gave it to him, It fits just fine with room to grow.  I hope he does not wear it out before he grows out of it. . . . .I was tempted to wash my car today but never got around to it. Clear weather is supposed to stick around for a while so perhaps tomorrow things might warm up a bit and tempt me again. I won’t hold my breath.. . . . A few weeks ago I attached a pedometer to a pair of worn out Birkenstocks that I wear around the house. While watching TV I drag myself out of the chair during all commercial breaks and walk around the house. At the end of a week I check to see how many miles the pedometer claims I have walked. Last week it showed 7.49 miles and this week it reported 8.8 miles. That beats just sitting there getting fat-er. The habit is so ingrained that I hate to sit down in front of the TV even more than previously. The walking has helped me get off the BP med so I will continue with it. I hope it continues to work.