Better 321

Since sticking with the Medifast program I've begun to feel better. I've discovered how easy it is to prepare salmon and its wonderful taste. Preparing tasty and easy food dishes is enjoyable.

Last Wednesday I drove to San Diego to test drive a Suzuki Bergman motor scooter. After the ride I told the dealer I'd take it. Halfway through the paperwork I embarrassingly backed off the deal. I knew that the purchase was being made on emotion and that I wasn't ready. So what was my alternative to such a momentous decision?....... go home and contribute to World Bicycle Relief. Later on I went to the casino and did the craps thing. I came home with my shirt and pants in tact so all was well.

Saturday means college football and checking the scores to see if I might have won a bet. I gave a lot of points to the three teams I selected ...... here's hoping.

So as I began this missal, I'm feeling better physically and emotionally, thank you very much :)

So much for that last quest 328

Went to Medifast today and for a few shekels more I was able to restart my 39 week weight loss program. It will work if I can handle my moods, motivation and abstain from beer and wine. I'll just keep on trying.

I think most persons who read this know of my hand feeding experience with the hummingbirds last Saturday. What a trip!

Nancy is doing well. She helps me get out for some minimum exercise. Today, I dropped by 24 Hour Fitness and picked up a workout schedule for seniors.

I've gotten back into the meditation routine. When I don't want to meditate it feels the same as when I don't want to fix salad for myself. I mean, I know it's good for me, but I just don't to put forth the effort. Anyway, I think I'm back in the groove.

I felt bad about not making it up to see Dylan and company this past week. I was just so stiff and bloated I couldn't fathom riding the bus for so long. Penny asked why I didn't fly. This sounds so trite, but I couldn't envision even bending down to take off my shoes in the airport. Do ya think there's a problem here?

I know things will be better if I just follow the Medifast Program, because my weight will go down and my energy will increase.

Joy and I do still plan on driving to Wyoming for Christmas so I had better change my attitude!

New Beginnings 325.4 lbs

Yesterday, I decided that it was a good day to change my habits. "Habits" are meant as: exercise, less food intake and no alcohol. The first and third I followed, however, since I had made bets with my quasi bookie friend in Las Vegas I ate away my agony as the scores rolled in. In the end I had four Nutrella sourdough bread and butter slices, a hefty portion of bean soup with fish and mashed potatoes with veggies on the side, did I forget to mention two large purple grape cuttings? Though Arizona State won they didn't win by the necessary margin which meant I lost my ten dollar bet which would have paid off at the most handsome profit of $220. Fortunately Stanford, Michigan and Wisconsin knew how to play the game so they padded me with $110 profit from a twenty dollar investment. I checked the scales this morning and my weight was the same as yesterday's weigh in. Note to self: betting while trying to change to a healthful lifestyle is not good.

I'm very happy to see that peaceful protests and only minor tactics of police violence are taking place across our country as the streets are being occupied to bring about awareness of the thievery taking place on Wall Street. I never read about the history of the robber barons of a hundred years ago, but I get the picture with what these current bastards have pulled on the American public. I was brought up to love this country and yet I am such a wuss when it comes to the bullies of Wall Street and showing any kind of active patriotism to rid this country of the parasitic practices being foisted upon us. The Citizens United SCOTUS decision has opened the eyes of the usually docile types. I hate to see the divisiveness in this country's politics, but given the propaganda techniques combined with unquestioned funding practices there can be no middle ground.

Nancy seems to be holding her own; every morning seems to be the same as yesterday's and that's all I can ask for. All in all life is good.... Great grandchildren and great children and great spouses of theirs.

Made in the USA

I bought an Acme Challenger 7001 Juicer about thirty-five years ago. I am still using it and I've been throwing the leftovers into my worm bins.......they love it. It makes me feel good to know that ecologically I am taking a small, positive step towards a green earth. I also discovered that the juicer was made.......GET THIS ( drum roll please ) in Sierra Madre, California! I found similar juicers being offered on E-Bay at fantastic prices. So come on readers, buy a worm farm and stash it in a corner of the house and get a warm fuzzy going throughout your body. They're quiet, odorless and don't complain if you forget to feed them regularly. Think of all the good nutrients going through your body as a result of this ecological endeavor.

I'll Post This Instead

I was going to post about the terrific day and how it started at 3:30 a.m. in absolute stillness outside, with only the trickling sounds of the water fountain heard faintly in the early morning darkness or about how I jury-rigged the patio chair with a reading light or how I used an unused bed backrest pillow to protect my head from the thorns of the Pyrocantha bush after I placed it on top of the chair and jammed it into the foliage to provide me shade from the morning sun while I listened on my radio to the nostalgic songs from the Big Ban Era. No, I won't write about this.

Suffice to say life in Oceanside is quite nice and relaxing. As I told Collin and Megan at Dylan's birthday party, I am fulfilled and for that I am very appreciative.

What I will post will be an article written by Brother Blaise from Prince of Peace Abbey: MY BEE STORY

"About 40 years go, I took up beekeeping as a hobby. It has been a source of fun and has provided spiritual nourishment as I learn more and more about these wonderful creatures, and how God has them all working together like a giant social network. I loved to see how they gather nectar from many different flowers and fruit trees. In addition, they provide wonderful products such as honey, wax, propylese, royal jelly and bee pollen.

The beekeeping kept building up so that during most of the thirty years of bee keeping, I was extracting one hundred gallons from just 20 hives! At one time I had over one hundred healthy hives.

About ten years ago there were a few cell phone communication towers constructed on the back of our property. As the cell phone business expanded, they added more units and built more towers. Since the towers went up, my honey flow slowed down and eventually stopped. All of my bees eventually died within two weeks or two hours(sic)of gathering them from swarms. I gave no notice to the towers since there could be other things to cause bees to die, such as bug spray in the air, mite infestation, weather conditions, etc. The problem of bees dying is so large that the Department of Agriculture in the United States, and similar departments in Europe and Brazil are concerned and looking into the matter.

After ten years of trying different medications and redesigning my boxes, I finally decided to move my bees to a different location. At the beginning of our abbey driveway is a small canyon with steep hills surrounding it. I used a regular cell phone to help locate a safe spot. My phone received no messages there, so I relocated my bees in this protected place. Bees, gathered from swarms, stopped dying off right away and now the bees are doing much better. I have about twenty-five healthy hives. For the first time in over ten years, I extracted my first gallon of honey! What a joy it is to see the light golden honey again from our own hives!

Another thing going on lately is that the bees used to swarm only two weeks during the year starting in March. The past ten years the bees started swarming every day of the year. I used to receive over fifty calls a day to collect swarms. Most of these are from old swarms in valve ground boxes or bird houses. It seems as if the bees are searching for protected places to land and start another hive. This past week I picked up two swarms from the ground located in a parking lot. Never have I had to pick up swarms for asphalt parking lots. I feel the communication towers are taking a big toll on all the bees.

I can freely speak out against the cell towers since I won't lose my job, and I have no money invested in that company. But I am happy to at least have some of my honey production back."
_________________________________________________________________

I think I'll be using my cell a tad less in the coming years; What say you, readers?

10:00 a.m.'s

Lately I've been having some real love-ins with mornings in Oceanside. I've concluded that 10:00 a.m. is the optimal moment for morning gratitude. The outside patio area is relatively quiet, the sunshine still has just a tinge of coolness and the day is just starting. With a couple of cups of drip coffee already inside me the energy level has spiked.

I've been quite consistent with morning meditation, aka mindfulness grounding. Thankfully, Joy presents no "to do" lists so a lot of my time is spent between light thoughts and surfing the websites. I do get things done, but it certainly is "local motion" Moody style. For instance, today I picked up the patio, rearranged a few pots and moved the electric fountain to a different area. Tomorrow I'll pick up some decorative river rock to strew around its base and then it should look terrific. I also found plenty of time to start four different books. Yesterday I finished, How The Scots Invented Everything In The Modern World.

My mood has been quite stable which I attribute to anti-depressants; no alcohol either. I'm methodical about my pill intake so the four various ones are taken daily. Along with my newly found interest in outdoor patio life, I am with Nancy even more so since she likes the patio area with the sunshine. Of course she'll go in and out about ten times, but she can do no wrong. Every morning she seems fine so I just make sure she takes her pills and we live for one more day.

I keep saying it and I believe it. I think I'm getting ready to get into some kind of regimen for a healthy lifestyle change. I'll keep you posted.

Back From Colorado Springs

Denise and Collin celebrated Dylan's birthday at the North Pole play station located near Pikes Peak. He had a wonderful time with grandparents, aunts and nieces all trying to figure out which was whom or whom was which. All of us stayed in a comfortable condominium for a couple of nights. We were entertained by chipmunks, bluebirds and hiking trails. Denise and Collin did a great job of planning.

We got our house in Wyoming rented out again thanks to Denise. We even got a bit more in the rental rate so we decided to support another Compassion child with the extra money. If anyone wants to contribute letters or money to Glendmar Gayem (PH-898-0054) feel free to go ahead and contact Compassion online.

I plan on keeping track of my attempt to rebound from lethargy. Anti-depressants and no beer gets me off to a good start. The nucleus of my activity will be within the household premises, i.e., the Health Rider, cement blocks for push ups and sit ups, the bedroom for meditation, the patio for reading and the garden and plant life for general activity. Toss in some swimming and bicycling with or without Nancy and the plate is full. Wish me well :)

Mundane Happenings In Oceanside

Okay, so here's the deal........ I am going to blog today on this email rather than Google's blogsite, because the freakers won't allow me into my site! 

This morning was wonderful.  I awoke from a long slumber to listen to my favorite sports talk show(ScottandBR) for an hour before I became bored with the repetition.

I then brewed some coffee which until recently I had avoided.  Sitting in a mid-60 degrees setting, I took in the clear clean air and sunshine and watched the finches and hummingbirds flit about their business.

The finches are the size of canaries and are just very, very cute.  After filling their gullets they fly to a nearby tree and chit chat about about the quality of food and the privacy which I afford.  The hummingbirds, on the 

other hand, fly by my eyes no more than two feet away from my pupils, pursuing territorial pursuits.  They are intrepid. 

Around noon I returned an impulsive watch purchase to Princeton Watches, because the watch was smaller than expected.  Afterwards, on the return home, i picked up a BLT Arby's sandwich for Joy.

I stopped by the Z-Market to pick up my own kind of sandwich before going home.

I diddled around and got hung up on my Lumosity ( www.Lumosity.com ) subscription which indicates I am just at the top of any person in the universe!  How could an elementary, junior high and Covina High School administrator 

not have known what a National Treasure was in their midst?  (I am a lifetime member so I am sure I will always be assuaged with this designation);  I believe in prostitution! 

I contacted my professor at the horticulture class to volunteer for general work.  I love walking around growing vegetation and observe growing techniques.  Next week I'll probably have some kind of 

schedule to allow roaming the premises.

When I took Nancy for an exercise run throughout the neighborhood I reversed the glow-reflected halo-collar and that fit her with a perfect unimpeded reflector around her neck.

Politically, this is my stance:  Give me truth, not pragmatism; let the chips fall where they may: "  In war, truth is the first casualty. "

Aeschylus

Testing

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

The Unstitching of Nancy(1/26/11) 316.2 316.2 lbs

It's 5:00 a.m. and I'm so ready to take Nancy to the vet office. I've slept with her on the floor since the operation to ensure that she not tear her stitches while trying to climb up on my bed. After stitch removal it's limited exercise (she's really raring to go) for a week, then I'm trusting that everything holds. As I've already noted, it looks like she has a clean bill of health; the operation to remove the mass cell tumor was successful, because of its early stage.

I really had a struggle this past week with eating while watching the football games. Yesterday I ate fairly moderately with plenty of vegetables. I was ready to throw in the towel on this weight loss program, but I have to be honest and acknowledge that I haven't given it my best shot. I have to accept the fact that I am an emotional eater, but if I sincerely try to change my eating habits I can overcome such gluttony.

Last night was the first night of my Horticulture 110 (Basic Gardening) class. I should be able to remember the instructor's name since her name is Megan. I also noted as class room attendance was taken that there was a Dylan and Collin in the program too. It will be interesting with field trips to various locations throughout the North County, one which will be to Petco Baseball Park. There will be opportunities to volunteer at the campus plant shop. I felt very comfortable in the class.

Various challenges for the day and throughout the year: 1) Incorporate at least a half an hour a day towards gardening of the chopping, squatting, pulling, digging, etc... type of activity. 2) Avoid the big chair in the living room and the remote control. 3) Walk slowly 20 minutes a day concentrating on breathing. 4) Keep a journal of what I eat, the time and how much. BTW I've found an excellent website for such record keeping: mycaloriecounter@newsletters.everydayhealth.com

Am I Over The Hump?

I've decided to stay with the Medifast program (translation: do it exactly as prescribed). I set up an 10:00 a.m. appointment with the counselor.

Two more days and Nancy will have her stitches removed. After the last restitching event I decided that she go nowhere. She's a stay-at-home kind of girl, home schooled for at least another week. She is so cooperative in everything we do to her..... putting on the plastic collar, opening her mouth to insert a pill, banging into hallway corners, no exercise, etc...

I finally figured out how to get pills down Nancy's throat; I dip the pill in honey and place it in the back of her mouth. I cleared this with our vetenary specialists since I was concerned about the sugar, but apparently it's such a small amount that it's not a problem.

Next Tuesday will be my first horticulture class. I'm really looking forward to getting some ideas and learning about the basics. I've put off thinning out the lettuce sprouts, I have to do that today. Here's the funny thing about all of this "things to do" talk. Realistically the thinning process will take no more than five minutes yet when I write about it one would think that I have quite a looming task ahead. I am a procrastinator and I am not proud of that fact, however, in today's parlance: "It is what it is."

A little this and a little that 315 lbs.

Saturday morning I took Nancy to the vet for removal of her drain valves. While there the doctor informed me that the test results came back from CSU indicating no more cancer. We were lucky to have found it at an early stage. I pet her all the time and never felt that particular nub. As I remember the vet found it, because I had requested that she look at another area on her abdomen. There was something resembling a tiny black hair which felt like a stitch. The vet pinched at it like I would have pinched a blackhead and this weird worm yuk emerged with pus dangling from it. It turned out that was benign, but the other small nub located where the thigh bone meets the abdomen was not.

We've gone to great lengths to keep an eye on Nancy to see that she not lick her stitches or make any sudden movements. Last week, as most of you know, she was able to get around her collar and lick her stitches to the point surgery was necessary to reattach the cut away area again. I have even thrown down a sleeping bag on the living room floor to sleep with her at night. If I don't do that she will climb up on my bed and that would risk reopening the stitches. She also has a larger collar to wear so she bangs all around on the corners of the house hallways.

Tonight I didn't sleep too well and noticed a high pitched barking coming from some house below us. This continued for at least six hours. At 4:00 a.m. I finally got up determined to walk down to find out which house it came from. As I put my sandals on, cinched the belt on my jeans and reached for my jacket the night became quieter than Christmas in Bethlehem............go figure......so here I am updating my blog.

I had a great weekend watching the NFL playoffs. Amazingly I have two tickets from betting last May on the Super Bowl winners: the Bears and the Jets. Wouldn't that be wild if the Jets and the Bears make it to the final game? Definitely a win-win situation.

I heard a TV conversation between Suzanne Sommers and Dr. Andrew Weil about the detoxifying effects of milk thistle so I figured I'll try it. I have no way of knowing if it works or not, but I figure it can't hurt and since these two concur it must be worth something. I've also begun to cook quinoa and use it as mixer as if it were rice.... very nice texture and taste, I recommend it.

I haven't stuck to the Medifast program and this bothers me. It's my responsibility to follow the schedule, but it just hasn't happened. I'm considering dropping out of the program and get some of the money back. The concept isn't that hard to understand and I just hate going in once a week knowing that I am not following the program properly......... I'll think about it some more.

My worms seem to be thriving and my garden is so so. I'll be sky high if ever I see nasturtiums blooming from the hillside; I've also planted some at the end of the garden.

It's 5:30 a.m. and it is still a Christmas quiet. I think I'll walk below to stir up the dog.

Ooze from Nancy 313.4 lbs

Nancy is recovering well from surgery, however, this morning she started to bleed from the stitched area. I dropped everything and raced to the vet, and thankfully, was told what I had hoped for; the blood was essentially a pocket of fluid which had built up and was the pressure was normalizing. She should be totally healed in 3 weeks. The final results from the pathologist will be another week.

Watching the New Orleans Saints vs. Seattle Sea Hawks. Surprisingly close score at half time, I expected the Saints to dominate.

I am switching channels between the game and Tucson coverage of the assassination attempt on the U.S. Congresswoman's life. It will be interesting to find out if the assassin was a loner. I wonder what news programs he watched?

Tuesday with Nancy 316.0 lbs

I took Nancy into the vet for surgery. That was six hours ago and she is now being prepped before the operation. As I understand, it will not be too complicated since the mass cell discovered did not spread to any other area of her body. She knew something was up and resisted being led into the back room this morning, but then I took the leash and she went with me into the buffer room where I turned her over to the vet assistant. I called just a few moments ago and she seemed "good to go" on into the operating room.

On the way home Joy asked me pick up a green pepper and sour dough, but by the time I left the market I had $18 worth of groceries and a live cilantro plant for the garden. When I got home I broiled about a 2 or 3 ounce cut of tuna dipped in a mixture of dijon mustard, olive oil and a mixture of my dog deterrence formula. I cut a large slice of yellow onion and broiled that alongside the tuna. After about 10 minutes I brought it out and placed it on a plate with sliced avocado, tomato and an assortment of winter veggies ........... Wow, I astound myself with these off the cuff concoctions; Very delicious and so easy to prepare.

I'm feeling pretty comfortable with the Medifast diet. Now that I've forgone the beer and wine I am pretty much in control of hunger pangs.

A chimney sweep man came out and spruced up the fireplace (gas) ..... he added a top guard, some fake ash and a few other things. Now we have a gas fire for the first time since we've been here. All of the past rainy days have left the area when it really would have been cozy.

Stanford beat Virginia Tech last night; Ohio State takes on Arkansas tonight. There's no telling where Jim Harbaugh will end up. Some sources say he'll stay where he is at Stanford.

Both of us miss Nancy. She is such an adorable and friendly sort. She's got just enough impishness in her to not allow her sainthood status. This morning she's out front with me and all of a sudden ...... ZOOM, she's off and running down to the commons area and I can see her ever so slightly glance my way to check out my reaction. When I got the car instead of the bicycle to retrieve her she knew her time was limited on the loose, though never can I get mad at her.

Second day of 2011 318.4

January 1, 2011 allowed me to watch a pretty decent football game ...... The Rose Bowl where TCU beat favored Wisconsin by two 21 to 19. I'm really looking forward to January 3rd when Stanford faces Virginia Tech ..... I see Stanford cleaning their clock. I have a five dollar futures bet which pays 20 to 1 if Oregon beats Auburn.

After an on again off again start with Medifast, I restarted the program with vigor. It's not that it's hard, it's just that my habits aren't the easiest to break, however, I did try something unique yesterday as a reminder to stick to the program. I took a two pound hand weight (dumb bell) and put it in my pants pocket the entire length of the day. Folks two pounds in a pants pocket lets you know that you are carrying around two extra pounds, that's for sure. As I type this I can feel the pulling from the weight of the dumb bell in my left front pants pocket. To put this in perspective, if I were to multiply that two pounds times 50 I'd come up with one hundred pounds; one hundred pounds less would have me weighing in around 220 lbs which is still forty pounds over an ideal weight of 180 lbs. Yet with just that two pounds in my pocket it now makes me more aware of being overweight than when I do a daily morning weigh-in.

I read somewhere that the best way to keep dogs and cats from spraying flower beds is to mix cayenne pepper, black pepper and crushed red pepper in equal amounts and broadcast the mixture on the ground. Yesterday I did this and this morning I found not one shred of evidence ( wood chips all over the driveway ) of a furry friend helping to fertilize the flowers. As an added bonus I added a half a tea spoon of the mixture to my morning breakfast of Maryland Crab Soup and spiced it up perfectly.

I purchased a worm composting system. I probably have two thousand worms in a 2'X 2'X4" tray with an assortment of materials designed to hold moisture and provide feed. I did put a few out in my garden, but not too many until I figure out how to heat up the area where I placed them. They're free to roam, but I'm not sure of their movement patterns. I think what I am going to do is place some opaque plastic over the insert area to make it warmer and thereby break down the compost faster as well as create a friendlier environment.

This morning I got in some meditation and a self induced pep talk to clean up the house ..... we'll see how peppy that talk was.

Out to the horses 311.8 lbs

I found a source for horse manure! No, I know the original source, I mean I found an equestrian ranch that will allow me to scoop so I'll go there this morning with a big ole 55 gallon plastic blue trash can sticking out the rear of the car trunk with shovel in hand. I plan on applying manure directly to the planting area, but also I'll use it as a catalyst to start the composting process with the composter that Megan sent me four years ago! Stay tuned on that one.

The twins were playing kickball down at the lower parking area when I arrived on the bike with Nancy running at my side. Eventually they gave me ten modified pushups and twenty regular situps.

Went to the Casino late in the afternoon. Up and down results, but eventually drove home with vegetables I bought and dinner I ate all paid for with winnings.

I've been pretty good about practicing meditation on a daily basis. I had wanted to meditate both morning and night, but I find night time not too easy to do. Anyway, meditation has really been working well for me. I combine the meditation with auto-suggestion just before beginning in order to motivate me to accomplish the small tasks around the house. I've been keeping the kitchen cleaned up since beginning two weeks ago. Also, things like starting the garden and picking up clutter has started to appear the horizon....... I feel calmer too.

Flirting with idea of going to San Diego Saturday night to watch San Diego State play Utah. I floated the idea with Bill Erne; if he's up for it I'll probably go.

I'm still eating nutritionally sound foods and have laid off the bread, sugar and alcohol save for one evening of wine and watching football on T.V. The oranges I bought last night are out of this world! I had four last night.

Supreme recognition

I am now king on the hill in the neighborhood. The six year old twin boys across the street now come over and ring the door bell to see if I want to play. Oh yeah!

Power Salad 315 lbs

Last night I made a huge salad of:

One gala apple
walnuts
yellow onion
broccoli
spring lettuce collection
dates
hard tofu
tomato
radishes
canned nacho slices of jalapenos
green pepper
carrot

Chopped most of this stuff up and added cayenne pepper, all around seasoning and added a small amount of vegan honey mustard dressing and mixed.

Tasted pretty good, but here is the outstanding part ....... I chilled the leftover salad and added about a half cup of cooked red lentils (still warm) this morning and mixed it up and added just a tinge of sea salt. Very, very tasty. If one were to add Pasley Farm's Four Bean Salad to it I'm sure it would be even better.

Never tasted anything better!

Yesterday 313.2 lbs

I finally made it to the inside of a 24HourFitness gym yesterday. Didn't exert too much....just enough to stretch and break a light sweat for half an hour. Ideally I want to go daily with only three days spent for any kind of strength training, the rest of the days would be general light workouts.

I've been trying to motivate myself through changing habits. I've incorporated the website: http://www.mylearninghabit.com/ to assist me...... seems to be helping. So far I have limited my habit changes to only four things: 1) practice meditation 2) eat a salad daily 3) exercise daily 4) floss twice a day Didn't Mao say a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step?

I'm feeling much better since switching to a gluten-free menu. I think that I will eat about six ounces of organic grass fed beef per week.... a little fish and mainly everything else of a vegan approach.

On the political side of things I had to chuckle after I read where Texas is going all out to develop large scale electrical storage capacity. Here's the kicker, Texas and all the pure capitalists say that the R & D is too expensive and must be funded through federal governmental grants. You've got to love them ass hat cowboys down there. That's socialism man!

Remembering a lock combination 314.2 lbs

I have about five combination locks and can't remember their number sequence. Rather than pay a locksmith to retrieve the lost number, I'm now on my sixth one and I think I've solved the dilemna. I took a quarter and traced it on a white piece of paper.....(for example) I might write down a person's age, sport figure's number, etc... say the combination is 7-22-34, I would write within the quarter sized piece of paper clues to the numbers. 7 would be "MM" for Mickey Mantle's number, "1st rifle" for 22 and "GW's iq" for 34. Take the circular quarter-sized paper and seal it to the back of the lock with some clear mailing tape and when I find it in a drawer two years later I still won't remember it, but I'll have this treasured memory of brilliance dulled by the years.