Home again

After returning home to a garden overrun with grass growing in it I have just about gotten it back into shape again.  I finally got to turn on my irrigation system and it works great.  I have also been to the doctor about my knees.  They are both blown and will be scoped next week.  Also the doctor said that I needed to lose 50 pounds before adding 40 more on my back for my next hike.  I had already decided to begin a new diet, and take it seriously.  I really love to eat though and usually eat way too much.  I have downloaded an app on my ipad that will help with the diet.  The app is MyFitnessPal.  It seems really easy to record and keep track of everything I eat and the calories that I burn through exercise.  This is not the first time that I have been on a diet.  Hopefully I will be able to stick to this one.  I did start walking again.  This was the first time since I got off the AT.  Today it was only 3.3 miles, but the knees were painful.  I was also walking in new shoes for the first time.  I also had the wrong kind of socks on.  Hopefully I will be able to walk again in the morning.  Time will tell.
Back to the garden, I have so many cucumbers that I am going to try to make some pickles again.  The last time was a total failure.  I was following an old recipe for 10 day bread and butter pickles.  Evidently I did not follow the recipe correctly since I ended up with about 20 pints of terrible pickles.  This time I will try a simple recipe for sweet pickles that are ready to eat in 24 hours.  Maybe these will be fit to eat.  I will follow up with pictures as I begin to make them.  More to come tomorrow.