We had another fantastic week at Birch Bay. Steve got his big boat prepared early in the week to fish in Canadian Waters for the first time. He was a little nervous about it because he had no idea how far he would take his boat out before being vulnerable regarding fuel. The boat did exceptionally well. He traveled out to Point Roberts from the Blaine boat launch, trolled for several hours for salmon, and returned to the bay in front of our little house, where it is moored. He did all this using less than half a gas tank, so now he feels he can go further out.  He's very excited about continuing to fish in Canada because he can catch more salmon and lingcod, which we both love! He only caught one small lingcod on Sunday but will try for more next week. His brother returned Saturday to fish with him, and I'm happy he did. I don't want Steve to go out alone, and I'm not a good fishing partner. Steve found somebody to go out with him next week and I'm pleased about that. Our Stevie is going to come and visit at the end of the week, so Steve and he are going to be able to go out fishing together. I'm sure they'll have lots of fun. We're so anxious to see Steve again! In the meantime, Steve's still bringing in crab daily. The crab pots remain in the bay, and he brings the crab in the evening and then rebaits them to return the next day. He loves his life here, and I hope he can spend many more years fishing and crabbing with the boats he managed to make seaworthy. He's such a competent guy.  I've started working on my biographies of some of the people who decided to engage themselves in the January 6th insurrection. Their cases are very sad, and most understand that they shouldn't have participated. However, a few remain committed to the idea that they were doing the right thing even when faced with prison! How can people be so ignorant? I cannot imagine anyone thinking they had the right to do this! I'm still in awe of the ignorance that manifested on January 6th and continues to this day despite their convictions.  Many of the sentencing trials are yet to come! It's amazing! I'm very excited because my granddaughter Kayla and her little family are coming to visit in October. It'll probably be rainy and cool, but I hope we'll have a few nice days while they're here.  Kayla has visited here before, but not as an adult.  It will be great to spend time with her little family!  We're still having lovely, 100% keto-friendly meals. I'm harvesting tons of tomatoes, and we're using our green chili, the occasional squash, and the crab. I'm still not gaining any weight, but I'm also not losing any, so I'll see how things go over the next two weeks.  I know I am healthy, but I still want to reach my goal.  Hopefully, with the doctor's help, I'll figure it out.

      Steve successfully launched a new crabbing season in Birch Bay this Sunday rather than Thursday because they delayed crabbing until the 19th due to soft shell crab.  He already made several crabbing trips in Bellingham Bay. However, it's much easier to go crabbing in the bay right in front of the house. He's got some perfect places where he drops his net, and he's very successful. We had company all week, and the last of them left early this morning. It's nice to be on our own again, but it's also lonely after having so many people around. Of course, we'll miss them, but we have plenty to do. Steve has decided to present a paper at a NASA gathering in Galveston, so he and I will be hard at it, writing and editing for a few weeks. Also, I decided to make an appointment with the weight loss specialist and got in immediately.  We discussed my inability to lose weight no matter how hard I work out.  She explained that the gut and brain hormones that regulate appetite also affect how the body consumes and metabolizes calories. Insulin, a pancreatic hormone, influences whether you store or burn calories.  Higher insulin levels promote energy storage in the form of fat, while lower levels allow the body to mobilize fat stores and use them for energy.  She thinks mine is a problem with these levels and suggested that I try Wegovy along with everything I'm already doing and see if that helps push things along. I will hang in there with this and see if it works out in terms of helping me increase my weight loss. If this doesn't work, I will get evaluated for lipedema. That means I'm extending my weight loss deadline at least through January to see how things work out. In the meantime, I published a cute little book on Amazon called "The Enchanted Lei Garden--Living Aloha," and I'm proud of it. I put it up on Amazon the day of the Lahaina fire.  I hope it gets some traffic.  I intend to force myself to send some things I've written to editors and see what happens. It'll be interesting to see if someone accepts my little story. That would be great.  In the meantime, I'm still getting some lovely produce from neighbors and have made several types of stuffed zucchini that have turned out quite well. I've also frozen a couple of cases of Hatch green chili, and our tomatoes are finally ripening. We've picked wild blackberries several times and made jam using monk fruit sweetener, and we both like it.  We are continuing with our smoked salmon brunches and alternating them with crab, green chili and egg wraps.  The salmon is almost gone, so we have to get some more from somewhere. I'm still working hard to build muscle.  I'm completing 50 to 60 minutes of cardio and 5-to-8-mile walks daily. Even though I'm not losing weight, I know I'm staying healthy. I'll take that for now while I continue pursuing other possible issues.

     More relatives arrived this week, and we enjoyed a lovely dinner together last night. Our niece, her family, and Steve's brother and wife are in Birch Bay for several days. Jacob and Harald will arrive this evening, so we look forward to more family time.  Hatch green chili arrived last week, so everyone is in for a treat!  I'll make some green chili chicken for burritos using the Carb Balance tortillas.  Yum! We're still doing our daily routine and continue to enjoy it.  The crabbing season opens in Birch Bay on Thursday, so we'll enjoy that for many more weeks.  Steve and his brother also plan to fish for salmon in the Canadian waters across from our place.  I hope they can catch some salmon because they are so expensive.  I've had smoked salmon brunches daily because they fit neatly into my keto cuisine, and Steve absolutely loves smoked salmon, especially if it's sockeye. We found a ton of Bristol Bay sockeye on sale several weeks ago and smoked, packaged, and froze it.  However, we're about to run out, so we've been searching for more sockeye and trying to find a price as reasonable as we found earlier but that's highly unlikely. We might have to face the facts and pay the current sockeye prices because we need more salmon to smoke. Steve finished fixing the brake lines on our old van.  He amazes me the way he figures things out.  He fixed the catalytic converter on our Prius in Hawaii, which was complicated! He also fixed his brother's ophthalmology table, a highly complex system that includes a microscope and other very sensitive equipment on board a rotating table.  Steve managed to fix it using relays, switches, and tension belts. He did such a great job that his brother bought two other disassembled tables.  Steve put everything together, so now Ken has three separate functioning rooms that are fully equipped. He can bring in a couple of other ophthalmologists, which will save the day for him because he's pretty tired and ready to reduce his hours at the office. We are so blessed that Steve is so capable and so many ways. His ability to figure things out and our hard work allowed us to complete several fixers and sell them for a profit. With those resources, we've built a couple of really nice houses. Also, if it weren't for Steve, we wouldn't have our little surf shack by the beach in Oahu. We absolutely love it and hope to continue hanging out there for several months every year. I'm working hard on building muscle and continuing my hour of cardio every day. Even though I'm not losing weight, I know I'm staying healthy. I'll take that, although I'm still trying to determine if I have any other issues preventing weight loss.

​     Even though I haven't lost any weight this week, I'm sticking with keto.   As I mentioned, I'm going to the doctor this coming week to figure out what's going on with my inability to lose weight. I'm putting in 7 to 8 Miles daily, including 50 minutes of intense cardio. I'm also consuming fewer than 1200 calories daily, so this is just not making any sense. I should be losing weight. I'm not cheating, and I'm not lying to myself. I've never lived in denial! It will be interesting to see what can be figured out. I suspect I am going through the same things as my younger sister, who has lipedema and hypothyroidism. It will be interesting to see what the doctor determines. In the meantime, we enjoy our life, live healthily, and engage in every activity we find within our area. ​We're still having a wonderful time in Birch Bay. It started cooling off yesterday. It was between 75 and 80 this past week, but yesterday it dropped to below 75 again, and the weekly forecast says it will remain between 70 and 75° degrees. I feel so sorry for the people living with terrible heat, particularly my daughter and her family in Phoenix. I'm so happy that we don't have our place in Houston anymore, and we don't have to worry about everything that goes along with that area, including hurricanes and highly humid summer heat.  Although I loved living there because of our view and the wonderful ocean breezes, I'm happy that we sold our little place.  We no longer have to worry about these things and continue to thrive in Birch Bay.  Steve and I are receiving a lot of produce from neighbors in the area. We've been getting the occasional zucchini from the neighbor next door and berries from Steve's friend Annette. She's a grower for Welches and periodically brings us blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. It's such a huge treat, and we appreciate it so much! Steve gives her crab in return, so I know she's delighted with the exchange.  We picked more of the ripening blackberries, and I'm cooking them this morning for jam.  In other news, I'm relieved because Steve also brought his brother's 30-horsepower motor and put it on the big boat he just finished repairing. The new motor will act as a pusher motor so they can get back to Birch Bay if anything goes wrong with the big motor.  He had a motor, but I thought it was too small.  This motor is much better.  They're planning on doing a lot of fishing around the Canadian Islands, which I think is very exciting, mainly because they can fish for lingcod, my all-time favorite fish and I'm hoping they will catch a few. We're looking forward to next week because Jake and Harold are coming from Hawaii, and Kelcey, Jeremy, and Raphael are coming from San Francisco.  Ken and Trudy will also come to Birch Bay so everyone can spend some enjoyable time together.  More on the visit next week.  Until then, happy living!