Since I didn't get any responses about my baby duck, I called the vet up and she said this was pretty normal for a duck that they are pretty hardy pets. Well she was wrong, I went to check on my duck Saturday, Sept 1st and she or he was dead. My poor ducky :(....

Scyrn, Are you talkin' about my house? Our basement is just like yours and we have 4 Stairmaster machines down there in the winter. In the summer we haul them up (it takes a tractor and a chain-hoist to do so) and put them in the middle bay of the hay barn. It would be cooler (temps, not style) to keep them in the basement year round, but the view and fresh air are better in the barn. We move them in in October and out in May, as they need to be at least at 50F for the lubrication to work. I'm not going to tell you to paint anything (we haven't), but there are a couple of issues, primarily moisture and potential radon to think about. The radon you can test for. Keep in mind that when you are exercising you are spending more time there and also breathing more, so I wouldn't do this in any marginal situation, unless the radon was below the danger point. The moisture is another issue. Even if you have a poured concrete floor, if wasn't installed with a vapor barrier, you're still going to have rising soil moisture issues, in addition to the moisture from the undoubtedly unsealed basement walls. Moisture/humidity can be hard on the machines and also breeds its own problems with molds and mildews, which again, when you're exercising you'll be more exposed to by time and by the fact that you're breathing more. We have no vapor barrier under our concrete (yet), so we park the machines on rubber-backed mats (HD or Lowes, they look like that curly polypropolene doormat stuff, but are larger than door mats and have rubber --or more likely plastic -- backing), which protects their feet from rising moisture. It does nothing for the rest of the floor, though. We're in far northern NY, so we also have to heat the basement a bit to keep the machines happy in the deepest winter. We use quartz heaters or small box heaters. We figure the heat rises to the underside of the floor anyway (what isn't shed through the side of the exposed foundation, of course), so it's not too bad. Now, for the human experience: it's really great to have ex. machines so convenient to the living space. My husband works out on them before anything elese in the am, and all he has to do to go to the gym is walk down a flight of stairs. Beats getting in the car any day. If we kept the machines there year-round I would want to look into installing some of those tricky light wells to capture daylight and throw it around the room so it isn't so cavern-like. He has a TV and VCR there so that's what he watches. The other thing, is that even if we had the space, I would not want the tremendous weight of the machines upstairs. They're happier down on the concrete or out on the barn floor, which is made of hand-hewn oak 4 X 16 's that don't even shiver when we plunk the Gravitron down. If we ever did get good concrete down, I would consider painting that surface a light color, though. You also can buy snap together grids of a subfloor material which would allow a vapor barrier to be laid on top of the concrete, and in turn support the substrate for a finished floor of something like vinyl sheeting. We've considered it, but are still planning on removing the old concrete and having a modern floor poured, perhaps with radiant tubes to handle the heat needs of the machines. HTH, Molly~

Beverly, thanks for keeping this weekly challege going. Two days ago I put away my sewing machine and cleared off the dining room table of all fabric. Since the 8 months that I have gotten into quilting I have practically given up all physical exercise. I have put on 20 pounds. No, make that 25. All the while I continued to sit and sew, watching in horror what was happening with my weight. Last night I awoke at 1:30 and couldn't get back to sleep, for thinking about my weight gain. I decided to look on my bookshelves for an inspirational diet book, and I pulled out "The Choice is Yours, A Practical Guide to Take off and Keep off Pounds Sensibly," by TOPS. I joined TOPS about 12 weeks ago in a fit of desperation, but stopped going to the meetings as I continued to put on pounds (pretty sensible, right?). As I began to read through the book, I realized it was quite excellent and provides techniques that I have not heard of before. Sometime this week I will come back and share one of the techniques that I am going to try tonight at bedtime -- it has to do with imagery, and it makes great sense. Anyway, today, I brought out all the clothes from my closet and piled everything on the bed, and set aside all the clothes I can no longer get into (which was quite a hunk of clothes). I am putting them into vacuum bags to seal up until I get rid of 15 pounds. Then I will open them up and see how I am doing. I'm sad to say that I haven't been able to manage sewing and keeping physically fit at the same time. Having the machine out of easy access definitely helps, and in the last two days I've had much better energy, and the house and DH are the beneficiaries. I'm going to give myself a two week break from sewing and then go back to it a little at a time to see if I can maintain a balance. I like the closing the kitchen after dinner idea. I absolutely have a problem snacking after dinner. Good luck to everybody this week! Mel

Thanks for the ideas! I didn't even think about the potassium. Will add that to my vitamins. I tried the stretches on the stairs earlier. Poor Elmo couldn't understand why i stopped at the bottom step, he was hoping I was headed to bed. I will try them again tomorrow right before I exercise and see if it helps any. Susan, thanks but technically I have a BMI of about 31 which is considered obese. I also have elevated cholesterol, not serious but over 200 and a family history of heart disease. Admitting to being obese in writing is an attempt to face the fact that I have to actually DO SOMETHING about my situation before I end up on medications and develop something more serious than tight pants! LOL (That said, we need to plan a trip to cracker Barrel sometime soon.)