Exercise: Dance!

And also this from the Assessor:

Read: Lewis the Mouse and How He Saved Us All

There once was a mouse named Lewis. Lewis had no tail.

Now I know what your thinking. Did he get into a fight with another mouse? Did someone step on him? Did a cat or dog attack him?

Nope. He was just born without a tail. And having no tail, my friends, is what helped Lewis save the world. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Before Lewis became a hero, he lived under a stack of old fence wood. The wood was grey, dusty, and dry like a lot of west Texas. And there were weeds to provide him shade and cover. His home was safe from bigger, and meaner creatures than himself. But Lewis was not mean. He had a limestone rock in the shape of a heart for a front door.

Where he came from, where he worked, and what was his favorite food are still unknown. But we do know that he had a hobby. He collected bugs. After the incident I discovered that there were 27 dead spiders, beetles, and assorted ants of all different shapes and sizes in his home.

One of his beetles was shiny and green, five ants were bright red and quite small, and three spiders where missing legs. The other bugs were standard. They were just average bugs.

On the day he saved the world, Lewis wasn't under his stack of wood. According to an eye witness, he was sitting on top of the stack. His legs stretched out in front of him as he rocked to and fro unsteadily on his lower back.

A normal mouse with a tail sits while standing, so to speak. His back feet are flat on the ground and the tail balances him from behind like a three legged table. That's not like Lewis. He had no tail! And he was made fun of when he was younger.

A normal mouse-like sitting.

While Lewis sat on his stack, he surveyed. And while he surveyed, he thought. He must have, for he stayed on his stack for quite a while.

Lewis thought about his bugs. Mainly he thought about his one green beetle, his five red ants, and his three spider amputees. If you ask his neighbors, these were not uncommon thoughts for Lewis. He liked things that were different, much like himself.

Lewis enjoyed coming up with names for the exact shade of green that covered his most coveted beetle. For example, he tried out "electric eel green," "ghoulish florescent green," "heavy metal green," and "green as shiny and as brilliant as gold." He never settled on a name, but enjoyed the hunt.

The wind was heavy that day, which made matters doubly difficult for Lewis to sit upright. The rocking motion made surveying quite difficult as well. But even with all the swaying, he couldn't miss what fell from the sky at about 2 pm that Monday.

Lewis was used to things falling from above. Quite frequently, large black tufts of feathers would shoot quickly to the ground to hunt and peck before shooting back up into the blue sky. Sometimes white globs would fall from these black tufts of feathers. The white stuff was gooey and smelly. It was best not to get too close.

But this object that just fell from the sky was new. It looked different, or at least it looked different from far away. So Lewis stood up on all fours ready to take on an adventure and to bring home his new prize immediately. After all, it could be a new bug.

While Lewis' home was fairly safe, the area surrounding it was not so much. There lived two great, slobbering, hairy beasts in close proximity to his heart shaped door. He avoided these beasts using two methods:

1. He only left his wood stack at night when the light was dim. 
2. If he did leave his home during the day, he left when the beasts were not there (sometimes larger, hairless beasts would take away his two hairy beasts for hours at a time in what he believed was their home). 

Now, we know for sure that on this Monday at 2 pm, the beasts were no where to be found, at least at this time. And Lewis knew this too. So Lewis left his stack of wood and journeyed to find his prize in the dirt and weeds about five yards away.

What he found was something smooth, something sealed, something clear, with a liquid inside. "Mid-day-sky blue" is what he probably would have called the color of the liquid. What an amazingly different looking bug it was!

Source

He picked up his new bug and gnawed around the outside. But the new bug didn't move and Lewis didn't taste anything new. It was obviously dead and a beetle; an albino beetle. The bug must have died on impact.

Lewis had just the place for this new beetle. He had a special place. He would place this new beetle in between the "Lime-Jello-glitter green" beetle and a 4 legged spider. This spot was under the corner of concrete that held up a fence post.

He pushed the new blue beetle onto what he thought was its side and contemplated the name of its color for another five minute.

Perhaps he thought about "sea blue," "ice blue," or "blue-diamond blue." Or maybe "lonely blue," "glacial blue," or "steel blue." We can only wonder.

Lewis would have continued to wonder about the different names for blue for another seven and a half minutes if it weren't for the interruption which occurred about 10 yards in front of him.

Lewis heard a large crack and a boom coming from the beast's home and knew he was in trouble. Their door had opened and something(s) came out. Working quickly, he placed the beetle in between his teeth, turned tail so to speak, and ran for his home.

He dodged mounds of dirt, weeds, and holes in the ground at top speed. All the while, two hairy beasts where gaining ground. As Lewis neared his stack of wood and the heart shaped rock, he slowed down to a speed necessary to make a left hand turn into his little home.

One of the beasts was almost upon him as he made his way to safety. In fact, if he had been born with a tale, he would have died before making his way past the threshold.

Instead, Lewis died after burying his newly found bug in his special place. One of the beasts tore apart Lewis' home 15 minutes after he arrived and dragged him away.

Don't cry! When I say Lewis died, that's an assumption on my part. For neither I nor his other neighbors (mainly feral cats like me) ever saw him again. But who knows. He could be living it up in Paris, London, New York,...or under the oleander bush in the front yard.

However, I can verify that Lewis' act saved the world. This little blue beetle was really a container. And in this container was the new genetic discovery of viral warfare scientist John C. Fivalman.

John C. Fivalman's new virus has been touted as a cross between the Chicken Pox, the Swine Flu, the Bird Flu, and the great plagues from Europe's past. That means that it's pretty bad. After you catch it, you die in 6-12 days. By the way, I learned most of these tidbits about Fivalman on the TV at my owners house. I just about tossed my catnip during the 6 o'clock news.

Anyway, John C. Fivalman was flying in a personal aircraft owned by one of his friends on Monday at 2 pm. They were traveling from Mexico to Dallas, Texas in order to drop off his virus. They also wanted to see the Cowboys play in their new stadium in Arlington later that week.

John C. Fivalman was looking for a cup holder when he accidentally opened the door to the plane. The virus container was sucked out of the plane in a briefcase that opened on it's 20,000-foot drop to the ground. And this little piece of ground is exactly where Lewis found the container.

If the beasts, or dogs as I call them, had gotten their paws on this plastic container, the dogs would have surely chewed, stepped on, and smashed this incredibly important vial within minutes. The vial's contents would have leaked and splattered the animals thoroughly. Then the dogs would have touched the humans and the humans would have touched other humans and animals. Within 24 weeks, all beasts would be dead on planet earth, including you and me.

As it is, the virus will die in that little hole under concrete within about a week and we'll go on about our normal lives. But let's not forget Lewis. Although Lewis will never know what he did, and he probably wishes he were alive to see his new beetle, Lewis died to save us all.

Hopefully the hairless ones won't decide to repair the fence anytime soon.

The End.

___

What do you think about my short story? :) Some parts are true. Can you guess which?

Exercise: My Current Training Routine

During a regular work week (not the holidays or during vacation) I've kept to a pretty regular routine. The plan is to stay healthy and strong but not push me too much while the "Assessor" and me are trying for kids.

I call him the "Assessor" because he's my lovely, planning husband. We must make an assessment before making a plan before taking an action.

Time for an assessment.

Monday

• 35-45 minutes of brisk walking
• 2-3 mile run or 15-20 minutes elliptical
• 20-30 minutes weight lifting/strength training

Tuesday

• 35-45 minutes of brisk walking
• 30 intense minute bike ride

Wednesday

• 35-45 minutes of brisk walking
• 2-3 mile run or 15-20 minutes elliptical
• 20-30 minutes weight lifting/strength training

Thursday

• 35-45 minutes of brisk walking
• 30 intense minute bike ride

Friday

• 35-45 minutes of brisk walking

Saturday-Sunday

• 1 or more hours of endurance activities 

What's your routine?

Laugh: I'm Not a Fan of Physical Therapy