Late yesterday evening I noticed that I had ripe cherries. Now, you would think that I must be oblivious to the obvious. These are, however, bush cherries and the only cherries that survived the late frost were on the back of the bush. I really couldn't see them from the back door. So, I decided that I would get up early this morning and pick them. Now imagine if you will, bushes that were planted 20 years ago with the assumption that they would be puny and unhealthy, so we placed them closer than recommended. Now imagine next, bushes that have not been properly pruned and then you will understand the challenge of the task. It was more bramble than bush. Watermelon Head started right off by cutting off the branches that hung over the fence. Then he sat in the shade and picked his share of the cherries. My share of the cherries were well inside the fence, so I did not have that option. Long before I was through, I was feeling like a contortionist. I finally decided to prune as I went. If the branch was in my way, it had to go.

So the good news is that we picked about 13 pounds of tiny (1/2 inch) tart cherries. The bad news is that now I have to do something with them. I cleaned them and decided to make a juice off the whole fruit, pits and all. So, I simmered them and now the juice is dripping through a bag into a bucket. Tomorrow will be soon enough to finish jelly and whatever else I do with it.

Today was my official weigh-in day. I lost 1.5 pounds, which places my weight at 150.5. Yeah! I broke through my plateau. Yesterday I sneaked a peek, and I weighed in at 149.5. If that had held true, I would have broken through the 150 pound barrier (and a new setting on the balance beam scale). So, despite the very real progress that the scales showed, I was a little disappointed. Then I analyzed the situation and remembered that I had had a mild bout of diarrhea Thursday. So, the 149.5 number reflected a dehydration state, not fat loss.

It's true. Sometimes, the scales lie. They certainly DON'T tell the whole story.

I'm tired. A nap is so tempting.