Exercise Thoughts

By Grace Douglas

Mirror mirror on the wall who in the land is fairest of all? We all remember that quote from a fairy tail when we were children. What if that quote were mirror mirror on the wall who in the land is "healthiest" of all? Health and good looks are inseparable! We cannot all look in the mirror and see a raving beauty or a Tarzan, but at any age we can see a radiant and attractive person. The question now is how does one achieve this?

Two Steps:

1. Work with your health care provider (MD) to reach your weight goals.
2. Choose an exercise program and here are my tips for picking the right program:
   1. Pick a program that is something you enjoy doing.
      • Exercise club
      • Walking
      • Swimming
      • Dancing
      • Cycling
      • Aerobics
      • Sports
      • Machines
   2. This activity must be FUN! If you hate to swim forget it. If you are accident prone the bike is not a good choice.
   3. If you are a social person, join a club. It is more fun for you to be with other people.
   4. I also believe an exercise professional can start you on a great fitness program. The fitness clubs in the area are well staffed with excellent instructors.
   5. "Neighbor" walking groups are becoming very popular.
   6. Community centers are offering many fitness classes.

Getting off to a good start is the make or break point in your exercise program. Old inactive habits are fading out and new habits are just starting to take hold. Most exercise dropouts occur within the fust few weeks of start up. At this stage, the main cause of failure is that people don't know how to change well ingrained habits that support being inactive. Habits don't change just because we wake up one day and decide we will act differently. The road to becoming a regular "exerciser" is full of pitfalls. You can overcome problems with changing and maintaining habits by using the following tips:

1. Make the time to exercise.
2. Avoid boredom by making exercise inn.
3. Set goals.

it is very important to purchase certain exercise cloths to get you started. There is comfortable and attractive attire in all stores.

You are now motivated to pick a fitness program, you have the right clothing to wear so have f~m and do not let anything interfere with your "new life".

I know the mirror on your wall will reflect a healthy happy you in the near future.

Grace Douglas has over 25 years experience as a fitness consultant and instructor.

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Mother Earth

I am fairly new at herb gardening and I wanted some information on preparing my herb garden for winter. I spoke to my friend, Master Gardener Connie Haueter who put me at ease right away.

Most herbs are perennials (they come back every year) and don't really need any special winter preparation and others will reseed themselves. Now is a good time to take cuttings for propagation of those herbs that may not be as hardy, (these would include some lavenders and Rosemary) this will give you new plants for spring. We can continue to harvest and dry most culinary herbs for a while yet. Fall is also a good time to cut and dry some of your bright colored late blooming flowers for potpouri.

Connie also tells me that as long as the ground is still warm we can plant cool weather vegetables, we can tmnsplant things that we want to move and now is a great time to plant new omamentals from the nursery as well as grass. In fact, Fall is better than spring for planting new stock and grass.

Connie Haueter is a member of the W.S.U. Master Gardeners Foundation which is the fund raising

arm of the W.S.U. Extension Office. One of their big programs is PLANTS GROW CHILDREN. This program promotes horticulture in grade schools throughout Benton and Franklin Counties.

Connie wanted you all to know that now is the time to sign up for the Master Gardener training classes which meet weekly during the winter. Call the W. S. U. Extension office at 509-735-3551 for information.

Shirley Channel

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Pet Health

FYI - It has recently come to my attention that our common garden vegetables and flowers can be poisonous to our canine friends. Not only do we have to take precautions for our pets when we fertilize our grass, we must also keep them safely out of our gardens.

Here is list of some of the things that can be harmful to our dogs: The foliage of tomatoes, green peppers, potatoes and eggplant contain various amounts of neurotoxic alkaloids. In the flower garden be aware that daffodils, foxglove, delphiniums, bittersweet, wisteria, lupine, buttercup, Mayapple, Dutchman's breeches, morning glory and periwinkle can cause a variety of ill effects from vomiting and diarrhea to hallucinations. Our puppies are the ones that have to be more closely watched as most dogs will not eat flowers, leaves, or seed pods.

Plants that are common in waste areas such as Nightshade, a vine with purplish stems and lovely purple flowers, contain more concentrated amounts of poisons. Another problem wild plant is Horse-nettle. This plant has fine, closely-spaced, needle-like thorns on stems and leaves. The flowers are purplish or white and potato like Brushing through horse-nettle is extremely irritating to bare skin; the thorns can break off and stab through pet fur

Shirley Channel