A couple weeks ago my husband and I bought a Memory Foam mattress for our bed. For the past couple years we’d been sleeping on air, but that was no longer very comfortable. So, we shopped around and found this one on sale. What a difference! Most of the morning aches and pains have gone.

Because this mattress is stable, I am able to do low back stretching exercises just before I get out of bed. That has made quite a difference in keeping my back and neck in place and makes walking much easier, too. Then, once I am up and the tea water is heating, I do a few more stretching exercises. Now, that isn’t aerobic, but it is helping with my back problem and I am finding more energy! That is good. I may still get out and do some walking before winter hits.

Less back pain equals more baking and cooking. In turn, the guys are all pleased with meals and desserts that actually require recipe books! Last night I used the recipe in Cook Right 4 Your Type for Curried Lamb. It was fantastic! We put it over brown rice. Even Muppet went wild over that when he was given a little for himself.

Tonight we had meat loaf made with buffalo and applesauce, sautéed yellow summer squash and more rice. That was also a hit, especially with Muppet.

Muppet is nearing 15 years and in the past couple months has become rather brazen. He is no longer willing to sit idly by and wait for any leftovers to be delivered to him. He actually sits beside me on the couch as I eat. We use our dining room table, but not for every meal. Anyway, tonight as I was eating he reached over and onto my plate where he removed a piece of buffalo meatloaf! He had no intention of waiting because I assume he thought I might eat it all and leave him out. He wasn’t taking chances. Now, he would never have gotten away with that in his younger years. I suppose I’ll just have to eat at the table more often. That way, he’ll still be on the floor and just begging relentlessly.

This incident reminded me of our cat of years ago. One night I fixed liver for dinner. While we were at the table, Cinderella leaped upon the table, grabbed the entire piece of liver off my plate and was gone! All in one smooth move. She had never done anything like that before and never did so again. No, we didn’t end her life over that! I just figured that there was something in that liver that was necessary for her health and she knew it. We didn’t take it from her or scold her. Maybe it was that way for Muppet and the buffalo meatloaf tonight.

Today was mostly sunny. The high was in the low 60’s and currently it is 49 degrees. We had 12 hours 59 minutes, 48 seconds of daylight. That was a loss of 5 minutes 30 seconds over yesterday. Sunrise was at 7:29 a.m. and sunset was at 8:29 p.m. (almost half an hour ago). At 1:04 a.m. we had a high tide of 17.8 feet. A low tide was at 9:07 a.m. at 1.1 feet. Another high tide was at 2:52 p.m. at 17.6 feet. The second low tide will be at 9:23 p.m. tonight at 5.4 feet. We live where the tides are the second highest/lowest in the world. It is interesting to see the extremes as we drive across the river near the mouth of the inlet.

The state's extremes yesterday were 67 degrees at Seward and 34 degrees at Ugnu-Kuparuk and Prudhoe Bay (where the gas pipeline begins).

Until next time…take care and thanks for reading my blog.