Friday, March 01, 2013

Snow in Tampa?

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida (high 65, low 41)

 

For the past 8-10 days, the buzz on the local Tv channels, has been about the chance of snow in the Tampa area this coming week-end. 

Our favorite local meteorologist, Denis Phillips (Mr. Suspenders) had had some fun on Facebook, teasing us about this possibility.  It’s hard to believe, but there are actually people in Florida who have never seen snow.

Several of the computer models have been showing the possibility of snow Saturday night or early Sunday morning. 

 

Could it snow in Tampa  Florida this weekend    Capital Weather Gang   The Washington Post

The last time I saw snow in Tampa was 1977.  There was enough snow to accumulate on the ground and of course it caused a  lot of accidents that day. 

 

1  Denis Phillips

The following picture is from the 1977 snow.  Notice the hair style?

snow.png

 

I guess we’ll see how the snow prediction plays out this week-end.   We will definitely have some cold temps for the next week and may not even get into the 70’s all week!   I know that doesn’t sound cold to you northerners, but for us it’s cold.  Florida cold always seems colder for some reason.  :)

 

We haven’t been doing anything exciting around here.  Our days are busy, and we don’t seem to find enough time to get everything done, but unfortunately we haven’t had the time to do any kayaking. 

We have been going to the gym most every day.  I’ve had some problems with my right shoulder and have been unable to do most of the upper body exercises.  I suspect have a bone spur that is causing rotator cuff pain.  I’ve been through 3 rotator cuff surgeries with Al, so I know the symptoms.

Al’s been pushing me to see a doctor and get a cortisone shot, but I’m trying to avoid that if I can.  For the time being, I’m self-treating.

I’m taking ibuprofen, and eating lots of fruits and veggies for the anti-inflammatory properties.  I’ve  also started taking curcumin/turmeric for the anti-inflammatory benefits, as well  as using Joint Flex Cream .  The pain seemed to improve when I started using Joint Flex, but it could have been all the other things I was doing.  Joint Flex is great stuff though, if any of you have any aches or pains.  You can get it at Walmart for about $13 I think.

Al is outside playing “cornhole” with a neighbor.  I think I’ll skip that until my shoulder is better.

 

We’ve been on our Vegan diet about 7 months now. 

I remember the first day we decided to give it a try.  We told ourselves, we would see if we could do it for just one day.  That was easy, so we went another day, and another.  It’s now become a permanent change I think.

I remember when we first met David and Sherry and found out they were vegan.  Al told me (many times) “I will never go vegan.  Don’t you ever  ask me to.”   We still laugh over that!

I never did ask him to.  I also had no intention of becoming vegan either….until I read the book “The China Study” and watched the video “Forks over Knives.”

We consider ourselves 99% vegan.  When we want something non-vegan, we have it, but we don’t do it all that often.  We like knowing we can eat whatever we want.  We try to get a lot of variety or fruits and veggies into our daily diet.  The Blendec blender makes it easy by making a smoothie every day.

We  found a new restaurant we can get a quick and inexpensive vegan meal.  It’s called Tijuana Flats.  We normally have a wheat quesadilla with black  or refried beans.  We don’t have cheese or sour cream on it and it’s delicious, especially with all their choices of hot sauce.  It’s nice to have a place we can go besides Subway.

When we first started eating vegan, the pounds dropped very quickly.  The longer we were vegan, the more variety of foods we found to eat and probably the more calories we consumed.  We both gained a few pounds back and then hit a plateau.

We’ve been watching the fat content a little more and substituting cooking with olive oil, to cooking with a veggie broth or Olive oil spray. 

Whether it’s because we’re going to the gym most every day, or the cooking, or both, but we’ve both lost a little more weight.  I hope the trend continues.

Al is down 18 pounds and I’m down 17.  We still have more to lose, but it’s been very easy and we still eat all we want, so we haven’t felt like we were “on a diet.”

Many people think all Vegans eat is tofu and vegetables.  I can tell you, that is far from all we eat.

We still have our favorite foods like taco’s, pizza, spaghetti, and lasagna.

We’ve learned to love new foods like, Red beans and Rice, veggie/potato scrambles (compliments of Sherry) and many bean dishes and soups.

The dish below has potatoes, onions, garlic, spinach and “sausage”.  It was yummy.

IMG_8497

Here is the “sausage”  Another Light Life product.

IMG_8503

We discovered Light Life products and they have given us back our “ground beef.”  I don't believe anyone could tell the difference between this and ground beef when mixed in spaghetti, or lasagna.  The taste and texture is the same. The grocery stores (except Walmart) carry these products too, so we can  get them anywhere.

IMG_8498

We’re hoping our health has improved with all the exercise and diet changes.  I guess we’ll know when Al gets his blood work done in the next month or so. As a test, he quit taking his Lipitor (with the doctors approval) a few months ago.  The blood work will tell if he will be able to stay off of it or not.

 

I’ll report back with pictures if we get any snow!

22 comments:

  1. 1977 , yes nice hair!
    Good for you for going vegan and loosing the weight.
    Hope your snow does not happen for you guys.

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  2. I've been having what I suspect is rotator cuff pain myself the last couple of months. I irritated it by slinging a backpack on my shoulder for 20 minutes the other day before I remembered that was a no-no! It was so stiff and painful this morning I had trouble brushing my hair...time to go see a doctor.

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  3. If life gives you snow, throw snowballs.

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  4. SNOW!!! I'm shocked that you are using such a terrible four letter word! :cO

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  5. Karen,
    Just a note about the shoulder pain.....believe it or not I have been able to live with the very severely torn right rotator cuff injury...
    The Doc had his doubts about the repair and the seconded opinion doc felt the same way soooo I was forced to look for alternatives .... The cortisone injections have done the trick along with carefully chosen exercises ..... I am sincerely surprised at how I have been able to deal with the pain and range of motion .... So glad in MY case that I did not try to push the surgery ..... There are times I have to baby the shoulder but all and all it has worked out much better than expected .....
    You both are remarkable the way you have adopted the vegan lifestyle .... I am impressed ..... Like some of the products you have suggested.... You are always great at sharing !!!
    I have been waiting for you to share the info on the cart you said you purchased at the RV Show .... Did I miss it or have you decided to pass on that ..... I need one so I was waiting for your info ....
    Thrilled you like the gym.... Sounds terrific especially the pool !
    Until the snow falls in Tampa .....WOW, your photo proves it can happen ....... Fun ....think it will make it to Sarasota ???
    All the Best, SallyB

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    1. Al had a really bad tear in his right shoulder and the doctor thought it might be beyond repair. Fortunately it wasn't, but he did end up having two separate surgeries on it.

      He thinks I need a cortisone shot, but I'm a coward and will put that off if I can.

      I forgot about the cart....will get it out and take some pics. It's pretty cool.

      I don't think we'll see any snow here, or in Sarasota...at least not at ground level, but who knows!

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  6. I had a cortisone injection in my shoulder back in July and it was like a miracle. I had another just about a week ago and it hasn't helped much at all. Have no idea what the difference is. It's certainly worth a try. The injection did not hurt but I was very stiff and sore for the next 24-48 hours. Good luck and stay out of that snow!!

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    1. I hope I don't have to have one. Al says it wasn't too bad when he had them, but he's braver than I.

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  7. Good to see your post....was hoping nothing was really wrong. You seldom go a week without posting. Take care of the shoulder Karen AND congrats to both of you on the weight loss.

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    1. Thanks for missing us Jeff! We haven't been doing anything "blog worthy."

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  8. Snow in Tampa is like snow in Phoenix. Enjoy it (if it really happens). Good luck with that shoulder. Hope your treatment works for you.

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  9. That is great that you are eating better and feeling good. Hope your shoulder gets to feeling better. I fell on the ice and broke mine 2 yrs ago and after much PT I am back to 99%, but boy did it hurt.

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  10. Very yummy looking scramble you have there. You two have been an inspiration to many of your followers. It is a bummer that the body gets itself to a weight and seems to hang on there although for me it seems to be simple calories. But, weight or not I feel better. Really sorry to hear your shoulder is giving you problems. I went to a chiropracter for mine and it really helped. Ortho guys always want to do surgery. Guess that's cause they are surgeons. ;-))

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    1. I hadn't thought about a chiro. I'm a little skeptical of them due to my injury claims handling job and finding the ones I dealt with were quacks! I do know there are some good ones out there...but how do you find them?

      I'm trying to emulate you and David. Keep those pictures of your meals coming!

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  11. Waiting to read about the Blizzard of 2013 in Tampa!. Kuddos on the eating habits, I wish I was that dedicated.

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  12. Appreciated the update and review of your vegan diet. We have drifted to about 70% vegan mostly because of our love of seafood and eggs. I also found out I had extremely low B12 levels and my doctor suspected the vegan diet as the culprit. She also told me to limit soy in my diet because it has estrogen. Seems hard to strike a balance but we do eat organic and minimally processed foods as much as possible. You have been a source of inspiration in many ways!

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  13. There's a chill in the air here at Lazy Days but no snow! We've been eating more vegan days than not for the past year and I'm jogging 4-5 days a week (3 miles). I've lost 17 pounds also but the best part is that I just feel better. I'll have to remember Tijuana Flats.
    Syl

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    1. The "snow" possibility is delayed until Sunday night now. At least you have the nice hot tub there if it does snow!

      3 miles jogging...good for you.

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  14. It is easy. I made a vegan cassoulet that I would dare any carnivore not to devour.

    Snow, ugh. The nice thing about being in the subtropics is that is doesn't stay around long enough to get nasty looking.

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