For Eleanor Bell

Thirty three years ago today, my birthmother and her husband died in a flash flood in Colorado. The flood made the national news, and several documentaries have resulted from the tragedy. Meteorologists have learned a lot from this particular flood, and if there is a silver lining to the dark cloud that killed so many, perhaps the lessons learned have saved others. River gauges that transmit data via satellite offer real time warnings today, you may have even seen one before-they are fairly common along riverbanks. Many lives have been saved by the advanced warning of flood conditions that these gauges provide and it is a direct result of the Big Thompson Canyon disaster on July 31, 1976. About 145 people died in the flood, which swept through the canyon without warning, turning an ankle deep creek into a 20 foot wall of water and debris.

My birthmother died instantly. Her body was found weeks later miles downstream. I was 15 at the time, living with my adoptive family. I had no knowledge of this event or the implication it would hold for my future. I found out about this when I found my birthfamily in 1989. My brother's wife, from my birthfamily, was kind enough to take me to the site where my mother was found and up through the canyon to her old homeplace in Drake. My brother was in the Navy in CT at the time and flew back to Colorado to help in the search and to support his sister. My sister on the very day of the flood, had given birth to her son, the first grandson. My birthmother had been to the hospital to see Ben for the first time, and were on their way home when they died. For my sister, this day is extremely difficult and personal, as you might expect. She gained a son, but lost her parents.

It is my personal belief, based on radio transcripts and a timeline I created by survivor accounts, that Officer Hugh Purdy had stopped to help my birthmother and her husband when the road ahead of them was washed away. The radio transcripts reveal that he stopped to help a couple in a truck. Their truck was never found. I believe that the three of them died in the same moment, at the same place, just east of Drake. The canyon walls were steep there, and there was no where to go. There is a memorial in the canyon for the victims of the flood, and for Officer Purdy. If you are on your way up to Rocky Mountain National Park via Loveland and Estes Park, you will travel through Big Thompson Canyon. Perhaps you will find time to stop and remember those who died.

This page has a list of the dead:
http://www.idreamof.com/disaster/vic_btc.html

This page has a very nice flash media presentation of the flood:
http://www.coloradoan.com/news/thompson/

This page has a few stories and eyewitness accounts:
http://www.super70s.com/Super70s/Tech/Nature/Disasters/Floods/76July31-Big_Thompson.asp

Future Shock or Just Getting Old

Alvin Toffler, in Future Shock, predicted this would happen, but he didn't tell me that I would feel old and worry about having early onset Alzheimers. You see, I'm having trouble keeping up with technology. I know I am not alone, but I feel alone. At some point in life, I must have decided to turn my back on it and I just haven't kept up with things. For example, I have no clue what Blue Ray is, or what 3G or 4G means. I don't suppose I'll ever own a cell phone, um, Blackberry or iPhone. I've never texted anything, never received a text. I've never surfed the internet on anything but my desktop computer, never had a laptop even. Never had a Mac or an Apple...brother in law partitioned a drive for me and I had Linux at one time, but there just weren't any apps for it back then, so I went back to Windows. It takes more than 7 minutes for my Facebook home page to load, and I can't chat from it. Point is, even my experience on popular sites like Facebook is not what others experience. I can't watch video - no YouTube. I don't have a web cam for Skype. I'm really not even sure how that works, or if it would even work, connecting as slow as I do. No iPod, no Mp3 music or podcasts, never done it because of my connection speed. It is getting to the point where I almost can't get updates for the programs I have. These companies forget that dialup users have a hard time downloading a 15 meg update. I just got a Windows update. Even leaving the computer online all night long, it took all day yesterday and last night and this morning...24 hours..I have no idea of how large the update was, but whatever. 18 kbps download speed....Woohoo!

Long ago, I stopped looking at vehicles. I couldn't tell the difference between a Honda or Chevy. All the cars kind of look the same to me. People say, "I saw you on such and such road and waved-didn't you see me?" Of course, I don't look at other cars, just the road, so I never see anyone. I'm really nearsighted, which also plays a part in not noticing friends or family in oncoming cars. If I do make them out in passing, it is too late to wave, so people think I'm snobby or angry.

I'm out of it in more ways, too. Just for kicks, I googled the Billboard top 100 and top 50 singles. Out of 150 entries, I recognized 28 artists(some duplicated like the Black Eyed Peas) and two songs (Boom Boom Pow, Kiss A Girl). This poor showing from someone who used to know even the most obscure group on the top 100. When and how did this happen? I swore to myself when I was 15 that I would NEVER ignore pop music-that if nothing else, I would at least know the most popular artists and songs, the top 40, etc.

At my last job, I worked with this boy genius kid who knew more about Excel and spreadsheets in general than anyone I've ever known. Today's 20 something kids have been taught about these useful programs and software apps in school, whereas, my generation was forced to learn on our own. It is no wonder that people my age can't find a job. We are dinosaurs. I'm a chemist, but even the periodic table is different now than it was when I was in school. Experimental physics and polymer chemistry has changed everything in industry and manufacturing. When I was in school, polymer chemistry was a chapter or two in your Organic Chemistry class. Now, you can major in polymer chemistry.

I kept my granddaughter on a recent Saturday. I used to think that I would have a lot to offer her in the way of knowledge and wisdom. I did graduate college with a 3.94/4.0 GPA. I consider myself intelligent, and yet, I wonder if my knowledge will be relevant by the time Jordan is old enough to understand things. Will she appreciate Nature, or will she become a city girl who would rather be shopping at the local mall? Will she care about what I think if, in her eyes, I am old and irrelevant and not 'with it'? Already, my advice to my daughter concerning finances doesn't make sense as I write checks and keep paper records and she banks and pays bills electronically. Will Jordan even want to visit me here, where there are bugs and mosquitoes? What do I have to offer? Will she be so bored she hates the place when she can't get her Tweets or Texts?

In a homesteading, subsistence lifestyle, one doesn't have a need to watch anything on Blue Ray. One doesn't really even need television. It is optional. My field peas don't need a podcast, and I can hear the rooster at 4 in the morning just fine without 4G. Still, I wonder.

Future Shock was written in 1970, I believe, but it is very relevant today. It is worth reading if you have never read it, and worth a reread if it has been a while since you did. If you are like me, you have forgotten a lot.

Food in the Future

My new friend Dave has asked my opinion of the prediction of higher energy and food costs, possible shortages ahead, etc. All I can say is that I believe that to be true with every ounce of my being. I've long believed that we would see much hardship in my lifetime. I've tried to prepare by living simply, learning skills, and being frugal. I grow and preserve what I can, we hunt and fish, and we try to live close to the land. I've tried to learn about native plants and herbs in the event that medicines are scarce or non-available. For a while, I raised dairy goats and learned to make cheese and process milk. We've raised rabbits, pigs, goats, sheep and all manner of critters except cattle. Many people have asked why I don't sell my farm products, and the simple answer is that people will not pay enough to offset costs. I justify my own costs with the knowledge that I know what I am eating, how it was grown or raised, etc. I think I eat healthier than most people, even though I eat a fat-laden diet. I know that I am not poisoning myself with pesticides or herbicides.

The plight of farmers is all over the news. California may have happy cows, but the farmers are going out of business. Equipment costs, testing, transportation, and the cost of growing food for the cows all add up to drive the cost of a gallon of milk through the roof. Patented seed and chemicals have made Monsanto et. al. rich and left farmers poor. The rising price of oil and fuel has put a hurtin' on large agribusiness farmers who need specialized equipment to grow and harvest crops, and on the the truckers who transport the food to the processor and then on to grocery stores.

It is a no-brainer that we are headed for hard times. When I was born, the world population was about 3 billion, the US population was about 180 million, and the population of the county that I grew up in was 114,000. Today, world population is 6.6 billion+, US population is about 300 million+, and Cobb County has about 700,000 people. My local population increased five fold, and the world population doubled. By contrast, natural resources are diminishing, not growing. It is a train wreck that will have a gory outcome, and no one wants to think about it. To make matters worse, I believe there will be people, an elite class, that profit from the suffering of the general population. I believe that the decline has already begun. And no, I don't think it has much to do with politics or any particular politician. It is a global problem that no one is trying in earnest to solve. The only thing I can do is to try to reduce my dependence on utilities and purchased goods and live close to the vest. The Earth cannot afford too many of us living extravagantly, and far too many people in this country live above their means, which in the end will only increase their suffering. We have chosen a home away from city conveniences, a home that is modest and heated only by wood. Our water is from a well, and we protect the well because it is the life-blood of this land. Georgia and Tennessee are already battling over Georgia's claim to a spot on the Tennessee River, and that is child's play compared to western states' battles over water. I think, in my lifetime, we will see wars fought over water rights and development rights for production of electricity. Water rights are already a key issue in solving the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. It is a problem which will only get worse. Yeah, I believe that food shortages are coming.

Toivo

Today, July 24, is my father's birthday. I should say, my biological father. Just to avoid confusion, I should also say that I have a legal father who is deceased and whom I never met-that is my biological mother's husband, an adoptive father who is deceased and whom I was estranged from, and a stepfather who raised me and was my Daddy-there for me everyday. I did not meet my biological father until I was 29, twenty years ago. I had 17 years with him before he died, and I treasure that time. I'll dedicate this blog entry to him. The picture of us was taken in 1998, in Astoria Oregon where he lived.

Toivo Johannes K. was barely born in this country, a first generation American whose parents were both from Finland. In Finnish, Toivo means Hope, as he represented a great hope for the family's future in America. His father had left Finland in 1909 to avoid a second purge by the Czar Nicholas. Finland was part of Russia at the time, the the ruling czar was trying desperately to stamp out the communists. My grandfather was a communist, so he Finland left for North America. He met my grandmother who was also from Finland as they traveled through Canada before settling in the US. Toi spoke very little English as a child, and quit school at the age of 10 because he needed to help his family in the Great Depression and because he was struggling with the language. Toi worked for a dairy, and you guessed it, he was a milkman for over 50 years, with the exception of the time when he served in WWII. He served in the 132nd Infantry and the 164th Infantry of the Americal Division. Americal is short for Americans in New Caledonia. This division was the forerunner for the Marine Corp, but part of the Army at the time. http://www.americal.org/ambook.shtml

My father was an infantryman and driver who fought on Guadalcanal, Leyte, Bougainville, and other islands in the Northern Solomons in the campaign to liberate the Philippines. The picture at right was taken on the island of Bougainville. He received a Bronze Star for combat heroism-I never learned the story on that one, and a Bronze Service Arrowhead(Arrowheads are given for assault landings such as those at Normandy or in this case,Guadalcanal), as well as the usual Victory Medal, Asiatic Pacific Service Medal, etc. He was a good man, who loved my birthmother, loved her other children, and loved me unconditionally when he learned of my existence. He was a stubborn, Finnish, and had a drinking problem, not unlike others of his generation who served in WWII. In the short time that I knew him, he was very good to me.

He spent the latter part of his life working with other vets in the American Legion and VFW. He was a Legion Post Commander and even served as a the Secretary of the Legion in the State of Oregon at one time. Service was more than just a word to my father.

Grandma's Little Angel

I love Jordan!

Normal Day

We have about a 30% chance of rain over the last few days-30% everyday-but alas, not a drop of rain fell here. It is overcast, and and at least not stifling hot. I picked tomatoes and beans this morning, as usual, and came in to wash up, as usual. I'd love to know what it is about garden plants-beans, tomatoes, everything, that makes my arms itch! I either wear long sleeves or have to come in and wash with soap and cold water. It is as if there are microscopic fibers-akin to fiberglass-on the plants. Why me? Oh well, that's the breaks.

Today I've been subjected to the obnoxious sound of machinery. They are thinning pine trees across from me-imagine logging sounds-skidders, saws, trucks coming and going...Right now, the view of that treeline is hidden from the house view due to the leaves still being on the trees. I'm almost afraid to walk down there to see what it really looks like-the view I will have in the winter. I hope he is only thinning and not clear-cutting. Logging you say? In north Georgia? Yup. Logging. It is a major industry in this area, right up there with poultry farming..lol.



I painted the chicken coop the other day-it is a nice green color now. I thought painting the coop was a good idea to give me a chance to see how the color would look in this environment before we bought house paint. I like the color-it blends well with the woods and surroundings-but I'm not sold on how it looks with the roof shingles, which are a tan color. It took 3/4 gallon to paint the coop, and I suppose I will paint the old wellhouse with the remainder. If there is any leftover after that, maybe I will paint an adirondack chair or the mailbox. I've sworn off saving paint cans. No mas.

I was outside with Bingo today when I saw an unusual sight: a dung beetle. I've seen one before so I knew there was a population of them, but this is only the second time I've one in action. In the 90 seconds that it took me to get my camera, the beetle had rolled the ball of dung almost 3 feet across the leaf litter. It was quite amazing, and I wondered how the beetle keeps his sense of direction being upside down and backwards to the direction he was moving the ball.

Bingo is growing like a weed, and he seems to be a lot more loving with the collar on. If you scratch his ears, he is your friend for life. When we were out today, his ears looked very cute inside the collar. I tried to catch it with the camera, but the image at right is as close as I came. He is just too cute.



I also took some shots of my seedlings. The image at right is actually Brussel Sprouts. It is my last try to grow them before I give it up entirely. I have another tray like that of cabbage, and a large 72 pot tray of broccoli. I also have some onions. Wish me luck.

Non-trivial Science related Trivia

I have this list of useless, but interesting random trivia, so for something different, I thought I would share the list with you. As you might expect, most have a science bent....Big surprise on that one as you all know, Bev is Earth.

Pavement on land creates "expressways" for oil and other pollutants to run into the ocean. "Every eight months, nearly 11 million gallons of oil run off our streets and driveways into our waters -- the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez oil spill," --- from the Pew Oceans Commission in 2003

That's why I like my gravel driveway. Yeah, it is rut filled and gets the vehicles muddy, but at least I know that my pollutants stay here and do not become someone else's problem downstream in the watershed.

The quest of alchemists—to change base metals into gold—was achieved to a certain degree in Soviet nuclear reactors, where radioactivity transformed some lead nuclei into gold.

The largest reservoirs of gold on Earth, about 10 billion tons, are the oceans. Unfortunately, there is no practical way to get it out. Gold is also plentiful elsewhere in the solar system. In 1999, the NEAR spacecraft showed that a single asteroid, Eros, contains more gold than has ever been mined on Earth.

That's a WOW from me. I heard the other day on TV that all the gold ever mined in the history of human mining would fill only two Olympic sized swimming pools. Same show informed me that a gold bar weighs about 27 pounds.

Kevlar, superglue, cellophane tape, Teflon, Post-it notes, photographs, and the phonograph: All were laboratory blunders. Chinese alchemists were trying to make an elixir of immortality and made gunpowder instead.

Speaking of Kevlar... the International Space Station is covered with a foot-thick blanket of Kevlar to protect it from over 100,000 meteoroids that will slam into it over a 20 year period. Of course, every day, up to 4 billion meteoroids fall to Earth, most of them insanely small, but you never know when a killer rock might slip in undetected.

Life on earth began about 3.8 billion years ago, but sex did not evolve until more than 2 billion years later. Asexual reproduction is a better evolutionary strategy in many important ways, so it is unclear why sexual reproduction developed.

The hermaphroditic earthworm Dendrobaena rubida has both male and female genitalia. If it cannot find a mate, the worm doubles up so that its female bits and male bits can go to town.

Some fish and reptiles can 'change sex'. In marine environments near coral reefs, most fish change sex at least once in their life, and they can have both male and female organs at the same time, like the worm.

Homosexual behavior is found in at least 1,500 species of mammal, fish, reptile, bird, and even invertebrates.
In the animal world, there doesn't seem to be a choice, just an adaption. Nature wins.


Burials in America deposit 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid, formaldehyde, methanol, and ethanol, into the soil each year. Cremation pumps dioxins, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide into the air.

Americans generate 472 billion pounds of trash every year, including 96 billion pounds of food trash—more than 300 pounds per person, wasted.

Food waste is only 2 percent of the total waste. The rest is industrial refuse, including mine tailings, agricultural waste, construction debris, and chemicals

One quart of motor oil, improperly disposed of, can pollute 250,000 gallons of drinking water.
WOW!


Each year, consumers in the United States spread 300 million pounds of chemical insecticides, including compounds that the EPA says may impair the nervous system, disrupt hormones in the body, or cause cancer.
Not me, not me-I'm getting greener all the time!


Landfills are actually the No. 1 human-generated source of methane, belching 7 million tons into the atmosphere each year.
Those poor cows and pigs have really gotten a bum rap.

Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island in New York, which closed in 2001, is the world's largest city dump, covering about 2,200 acres

Doing the Right Thing by Bingo

Today was not a good day for little Bingo. Today, he was neutered. I'm telling ya though, this dog is tuffnuts, even without them. Yesterday, he was harassing Big Brother Bear while Bear was trying to eat. Tonight, he feels good enough to be running around playing with toys and eating everything I feed him. We've kept him away from Bear at least until he adjusts to walking around with his Elizabethan collar. Right now, he's rather clumsy, but I know he will master the movements soon. He just looks so forlorn in there. He wants to get loving, but he also wants to interact with you visually, something the collar interferes with. He has to wear the collar for a week until I take him back and have his staples removed. But now I can say that he has had all of his shots, including his rabies vaccination, he's been neutered, dewormed, and he's pronounced healthy. When I took him to the vet right after I got him, he weighed 12.2 pounds, I think it was, and today he weighed just under 20 pounds. He's a growing boy.

Midsummer Garden Happenings

It's been a few weeks since I gave a garden update, and now I have to subject you to a really long post. I apologize. I'll try to get some pics up soon.

We've been quite busy around here with the garden, canning, dog training, etc. This past weekend, we also kept our granddaughter. I'm trying to take it easy and follow the doctor's orders, but it is hard. The sutures are gone, but I still have to elevate my foot 50% of the time, 30 minutes for every hour I am up. Worse still, I can't wear normal shoes yet and am still in the surgical shoe. The incision is healing nicely; there's a nice, raised, hard ridge at the site. The pain is really minimal, more in my pinky toe itself than in the joint for whatever reason. At least now I can take a shower, swim, etc. I've haven't done any heavy garden work, mostly picking beans and such. Skyguy has been picking veggies, watering, monitoring for bugs, staking tomatoes, etc. He tilled a patch and planted more okra, too. I'm really quite impressed with his gardening.
Anyway, I just want to ride my bike. I've gained back about 12 pounds of what I lost, and I am not happy about it. I really should have dieted, but dang, when you are laid up, you get bored, and boredom leads to eating!

Bed 1 is a hodgepodge of plants. I did not get cages around my tomatoes early, so they, like kudzu, have sprawled over the bed and they are taking over! I have about 3 romas and a serrano pepper, a poblano pepper, butternut squash, two eggplants and probably something else in that bed that is lost under the vines. At the east end of that bed, there are a few blue lake bean seeds that have not germinated. That raised bed is next to the chicken run, and in the foot wide space between the bed and the run I've planted sorghum which is about 12 feet tall and almost mature. I've already bend some of the canes over into the chicken run to feed the chooks on the fly.

Bed 2 just has dill in it right now after I pulled up and harvested all of the cauliflower that was in it previously. It was not a good year for cauliflower, but I did get a few meals out of it. I'll replant soon.

Bed 3 has a couple of toms, a butternut squash, and blue lake bush beans that are just coming up. There is a tomatillo volunteer and two Anaheim peppers.

There is nothing in bed 4. I'm hoping it will be ready to plant in the Spring.

Bed 5 has one very large and sprawling yellow crookneck squash and some Tendercrop green beans that are just starting to flower.

Bed 6 is empty and won't be planted until late 2010

Now, for the in ground plants:
Peanuts: I only had about 20% germination, but I left them alone hoping to at least get enough nuts to roast for a snack. If I am lucky, I might get enough for one jar of peanut butter. I had hoped to get enough for 4 jars, but a vole or mouse or something ate the nuts. They are just now flowering, so it will be a while before I can use that space.

I have another large crookneck squash in the ground, as well as a zucchini, and all of my squashes, both winter and summer, are doing great. I've been diligently killing squash bug eggs and it is paying off. For winter squashes I have planted butternut and acorn squashes inside and outside the garden fence in various places. I'm hoping to fill up at least one laundry basket of each type. For the summer squashes, we grill them fresh, I freeze some, and I make squash
casseroles and freeze those. I also make squash bread from both zukes and yellow squash-no use wasting the big ones, I just grate them up and then make and freeze the bread. It is a banana bread recipe, but I sub 2 cups of grated squash for the bananas. I make loaf pans and muffins that I can freeze and eat later for breakfast and snack food.

We are starting to get some okra(Dwarf Lee is the variety) and we have just planted Clemson Spineless. Since it is Skyguys's first year in the garden, he wanted to grow what everyone else grows, so we have hybrid corn, a hybrid tomato, and the Clemson Spineless....

The strawberries are going like gangbusters, but they are a bit smaller than I would like. I think they need fertilizer and water. Even so, they are tasty and I'm picking a bit more than a pint a day. All 3 grapevines(Remailly seedless, Catawba, Mars seedless) have multiple clusters of grapes, and I've been picking blueberries for a week now. The blackberries are in the freezer already. It looks to be a good apple year, but I don't see but a few pears and no plums. In hills
around the garden, in addition to the winter squashes, I have a few pickling cukes, a couple of Georgia rattlesnake watermelons, and scads of sweet potatoes. I hope to have a laundry basket of sweet potatoes as well.

I planted a 10x12 patch of small, teeny-tiny red field peas the way my friend James suggested. I scuffed up the ground, hand cast the peas, and covered them with waste hay. The peas came up great, and they still look great. It takes about 100 days for these peas, and I am right at Day 85. Next year, I'll grow more peas and black beans this way.

I've got 3 areas of corn. The first group was sweet corn planted just after Easter. This corn really has not produced, tassled at only 2 feet tall. No one around here that planted corn early has any-it was a bad year for early corn-too much rain early on, I think. We got a few stunted ears which were delicious, but we only got a few meals instead of being able to load the freezer. However, as bad as the early corn was, the late corn was good. I had a beautiful stand of Bloody Butcher corn that was 6ft tall or more until late last week when a summer thunderstorm downburst flattened it. I'm crushed. I tried to stand it backup, but the canes just broke. I planted this corn deeper than usual, about 2 inches deep, just to prevent this problem, but to no avail. I'm hoping that there is enough corn left standing to at least regain my seed. Corn plot #3 is another plot of hybrid, Early and Often, that Skyguy planted in a dog kennel out behind the barn to keep the distance from the other corn and to protect it from the deer. It is doing well- about 2 feet tall now. This is not the first time I've lost corn to thunderstorms and lodging. I've planted deeper, I've hilled up around the plants..I've ruled out rootworms. I just don't know what else to do. Obviously, my garden spot, which is just a few hundred feet downwind of a ridge, is where the storms dump their downbursts. The storms are uplifted by the western side of the ridge, but once the storm crosses the ridge line, the mountain starts to break them up and in the process they dump wind in a downburst or straight lines. The ridge protects us from super cell storms, but this is the downside of it. Skyguy wants to try allowing the corn to grow up through cattle panel placed waste high, but I don't know. It seems rather silly-no one else does it, but, really, I'm ready to try odd things to save the corn. Maybe I should grow it in small plots and put posts on the corners and then run string around it and through it to support the stalks. Maybe growing it in hills would be better. At least with a 3 sisters style arrangement in a hill, I would not get the domino effect of toppling corn like I saw in the block. I'm open for suggestions. Help.

Sunday, I pulled up, peeled, blanched and froze carrots. I julienned some for salads and stirfries, and I used the small ends in some pickled jalapenos for color. I'm going to try and replant the tops, too. I need to now amend the 12 foot long bed and add some soil and in a few weeks I will replant more carrots. There are a few chard plants left in that bed, and I'll cut them back, too. In addition to more carrots, I'll plant some radishes and beets. Also next week, I'll move some cattle panels around and resow some snow peas, turnips, and English peas for the Fall.

Also on Sunday I canned some jalapeno peppers with some carrots. Soon, we will make cucumber pickles. I grew up with a certain kosher dill pickle recipe, but Skyguy wants to experiment to see if we can find something more crisp. We bought one of those Mrs. Wages mixes, and I'll make a pint plain, and then mix and match the ingredients to see what he will like and think works best. Some jars will have grape leaves, some will have garlic, some will have dill heads, some will have dill seed and weed, and some will have all of the above. I already know that the jars with everything in it will be my favorites, but he wasn't raised in a canning/gardening family and he is enjoying the experimentation of it all, so since we have plenty of cukes, why not? Some of the best discoveries in the world were accidents. Viagra did not help the angina of Welsh miners, but hey, we all know what is does help!

Beans...I've got a million beans, but because I was trying to get rid of old seeds, I have a little bit of a lot of things. Some were old and had poor germination, some just did not provide enough plants. Long story shorter, I haven't canned or frozen any beans yet, but we are eating good every night. I did give some away, too. We've planted the equivalent of a 100 ft row or more of blue lake bush beans and they are just now breaking ground so two months from now, I should be able to can beans. I'm still getting beans, but that should wane over the next few weeks. The wax beans are in a lull, the Roma II bush beans are waning, the KY wonder pole beans are hitting stride, the yard long beans are starting to flower, and the Royal Burgundy bush beans will be ready to pick within the week. It's a lot of beans.

And now, the tomatoes....finally, I am starting to get some ripe cherry toms. Some of the Romas are ripening, but only one of the slicing toms is getting ripe and that is Skyguy's Better Boy. However, in a week or so, definitely by two weeks, I will be canning and making tomato products. I expect to be doing that for the next month or so. I've started washing mason jars and getting everything ready. I washed and sterilized the Victorio strainer, a device I use to make the paste and sauces. It's a good thing. I don't even know how many tomato plants I have -more than 50- and probably 60% of them are paste types(Roma, Sausage, Oxheart, etc), 10% are cherry(Super Sweet 100 and Husky Red Cherry), and the rest are slicers/sandwich tomatoes (Brandywines, Caspian pinks, Mortgage Lifter, Abraham Lincoln etc.). I'll be making tomato sauce, tomato paste, tomato juice, V8 juice, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, chili base, and a bit of salsa in addition to stewed toms. I still have some salsa from last year, but I might make a bit if I get overrun with peppers. I'd really rather dry the serranos as I use those in guacamole.
Speaking of guacamole, I've started about 7 or 8 avocado trees. I know I won't get avocados here, but hey, they make nice houseplants and I can always hope for a miracle. Who knows what global warming will do, right? There's got to be an upside to it, and if I could grow avocados, I'd be super happy!

It is time to plant and plan for the Fall crops, and I started that Saturday. I planted the following in those little peat pots to be transplanted later:

72 broccoli plants-Green Goliath-a new variety I am trying
25 cabbage plants-Danish Ballhead-seeds are from 2007-yikes
25 Brussel Sprouts-Catskill-it's the last time I'll try growing Brussel Sprouts..I mean it this time.
22 Red onions, with more to be planted in the ground in mid August

Next week, I'll plant Snow peas, English peas, radishes and carrots. The other big job I need to do is to dig potatoes. I have different varieties in multiple places that would amount to about a thirty foot row. I really hope that the Yukon Gold produced well.

Mid August, I'll plant more carrots collards, kale, beets, salad greens, spinach, turnips(both the root and the greens), Osaka purple mustard, and of course the brassicas and plants I sowed today will go to the ground. Neither of us have ever eaten kale, but I'm hoping it will be a green we can harvest all winter. Skyguy is the one who wants all of these Southern greens...I personally don't care for collards or turnips(the greens are okay though), and I like beet greens better than mustard, but we are trying to find things that we can harvest in the winter that we both like and that would be healthy for us. At some point after that, I will sow some Aquadulce Fava beans as a cover crop in the spot where I'll grow corn next year.

A month or so ago, I planted a seed packet of Artichokes. There were 8 seeds in the pack, and I got 7 plants to transplant size. Unfortunately, between the heat, the puppy, the chicken, and just bad luck, I only have one plant left. I'll be sowing more, I think. I've grown fond of artichoke hearts and perennial vegetables are king!

The other major garden venture that we have in the works is a plan to expand the asparagus bed. Now that Skyguy eats it, we need more, so I'll be tilling and double digging an area near the water line to the barn, along the outside of the garden fence-essentially a 50 foot double row. The water line presents a problem in the initial dig-I'll have to be super careful, but it should not hamper the asparagus' growth and the extra mulch feeding in the fall should help insulate the PVC water line from the cold.

So that's the plan!

Survival of the Sickest, Part III, Vitamin D and Race

This will be my last post about this very thought provoking book, but first, I want to tell you about sunlight and Vitamin D as this health information is important and it might be the missing puzzle piece you need to solve your own health issues. This probably should be two blog entries for brevity-Vitamin D and Genetic Race, but I figure if you intend to read it, you will, if you aren't interested, you won't.

Sunlight, specifically UVB rays, prompts the body to manufacture Vit D from the cholesterol in the blood. If we have low cholesterol and don't get enough sun, we may become Vit D deficient. Sunlight also, in the balance of things, destroys folic acid, or folates in the body. If our cholesterol is low, cell membranes won't be repaired and the brains' messages to the immune system get lost and we are not protected against cancer and disease. Cholesterol is important in the production of estrogen and progesterone as well as Vitamin D. The UVB rays in sunlight are strongest when the sun is directly overhead and to get enough Vit D, we need 15-20 minutes a day of sun over 40% of our bodies, which is nearly impossible to do year around. Additionally, we are advised to avoid the high noon sun, and to wear sunscreen to prohibit UVB rays from hitting our skin. In winter, our cholesterol levels rise because the sun does not get high enough or stay high enough long enough to convert cholesterol to Vit D. Vit D also plays a part in our metabolism. Almost 60% of diabetics are deficient in Vit D, as are the obese. It is unknown whether the afflictions cause the deficiency or visa versa, but there is a relationship.

We all know that skin color varies by the amount of melanin it contains. Darker skin protects against sunburn, but it also reduces the amount of UVB that reaches the skin and that can lead to a Vit D deficiency, high cholesterol levels, and low folic acid levels. Melanocytes make melanin, and pituitary hormones control how much is made based on information that arrives at the pituitary via the optic nerve. When you go out in the sun, the eye measures the strength of the rays and sends a message to the pituitary glad to produce hormones that boost melanin production, so the cells make massive amounts of melanin to protect the skin from harmful rays. HOWEVER, guess what happens if you, like everyone does, wears sunglasses. Yup, you trick the pituitary gland into thinking that the sun is not as bright or harmful, and therefore the gland does not send the chemical signal for the melanocytes to make melanin. The end result is a sunburn, maybe even skin cancer. Secondary result is a depletion of folic acid in the body. Dark skinned peoples may not always be Vit D deficient due to the evolution of a protein called Apolipoprotein E, which pumps extra cholesterol from the liver into the blood so that sunlight can more effectively convert the cholesterol into Vitamin D. That might explain why some African Americans suffer more from heart disease resultant from high cholesterol levels. Similarly, the protein is also found in light skinned peoples that originate in the far north-like me. They don't have melanin in their skin to block UVB, but they live so far north that their UVB exposure is minimized. It might be that neither of these groups of people would need cholesterol lowering drugs like statins for life. Perhaps, just perhaps, a daily dose of UVB would be of more benefit. I'd choose the tanning bed, or move closer to the equator. Fortifying milk with Vit D doesn't really work for people of my ancestry. http://tinyurl.com/nk9mjc

For more information about Vitamin D, where you can find it and how much exposure you will have at certain locations and times, read this:

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp

More and more, science is learning about the importance of this vitamin in immune response, cancer prevention, and general well being. Have your levels monitored the next time you have bloodwork drawn by the lab. Chances are, you will be deficient.


Of course, the point of Moalem's book is that one generation's evolutionary adaptive solution is another generation's disease producing nightmare, as high levels of cholesterol in the blood lead to heart disease and high levels of sugar in the blood leads to diabetes. The problem becomes exaggerated when populations are removed from the area where the adaption took place. In my case, I no longer live north of the Arctic circle like my Sami ancestors, so my body is not really adapted to the increased amount of sun at this latitude. I burn because I don't have enough melanin to protect me.

I hate the word 'race'. Race is a label that humans use to create separation and distance where there may be none. Race is defined based on visual observations, not genetics, because when you look at genetics, the house of race cards come tumbling down. There are populations of dark skinned North Africans who are genetically closer to fair skinned Europeans than other dark-skinned Africans. Race is a convention, and when it comes to evolution and adaptions, it doesn't always match the ethnic markers seen in certain populations. Dr. Moalem shares the case of Cohanim Jews who claim to be descendants of Moses' brother Aaron. DNA was collected from Cohanites from all corners of the globe. Their appearance was a spectrum of color, in skin and hair and eyes, yet they all shared very rare and distinct Y chromosome markers that date back to the time of Aaron 3180 years ago. It takes less than 10000 years for skin color to change in a population, and again, race is just a temporary convention-a way to group people, that should never be set in concrete because at best it points to a snapshot in time. Everyday, groups of people are adapting to their environment. People are getting influenza, sunburn, etc. For other people, their environments are climate and light controlled, or perhaps they are on supplements or medications that have changed their body functions. I feel that my ancestors left Africa early and headed towards modern day Iran. Interactions with the Mongul and Persians drove them northward into Russia, into Siberia. Eventually my ancestors were pushed westward to the Baltic and Arctic. Less sun exposure during those centuries slowed the melanin production, except for the melanocyte that controls freckles, that one went awry, I think.

Humans have been walking around for a million years, and we have been essentially the same for the last 100,000 years. Natural disasters and diseases have reduced our numbers, but evolution marches on and each human adapts to his environment. It is a dynamic process, not a static one. During the last 500 years, since Columbus 'discovered' America, the world has gotten smaller in the sense that there is more trade, more cultural exchange, and more interbreeding between peoples from different areas of the globe. In fact, there has been far more gene mixing than people realize. Discrimination based on what we refer to as race is simply idiotic. It makes about as much sense as discriminating based on where someone was born. Of course, there will always be people who discriminate because they have to find a way to make themselves more important than others.

Seriously, we are who we are, and that is a changing organism. When it comes to genetic predispositions and markers, it is not enough just to have a marker, but how many times that marker is present is also important. For example a gene call CYP2D6 affects drug metabolism. People who have only a few of these genes are slow metabolizers (maybe 10% of Caucasians) and it is even rarer in Asians (1%), however, Ethiopians often have as many as 13 copies of the gene, meaning that they metabolize drugs very quickly. Only 1% of Caucasians fall into that category. We can't just look at someone and say this person will metabolize drugs quickly based on their skin color. You NEED that gene study, and even with that, you still can't make assumptions, because the individual might have moved away from the location in which the original mutation occurred. An African living in NYC instead of equatorial Africa will probably have too much cholesterol in his blood and still be Vit D deficient. The CYP2D6 gene probably came into being because of polluted environments. The more toxins in an environment, that faster the body needs to process them through.

In the 20th century, there has been a correlation between sunspot peaks and flu epidemics. 6/9 sunspot peaks occurred in tandem with massive flu outbreaks. The worst outbreaks of the century, killing millions in 1918 and 1919, which followed the sunspot peak in 1917. Epidemics are thought to be causes by antigenic drift, when a mutation occurs in the DNA of a virus or a antigenic shift, when a virus acquires new genes from a related strain. It the virus changes or mutates a lot, our bodies will find it dissimilar to previous viruses and we will not have immunity to it, leading to pandemic conditions. These mutations, while not proven, could be a result of increased radiation from the sun.

There is a gene, CCR5-Delta 32, that blocks HIV from entering cells. One copy hampers the virus' ability to replicate, and if a person has more than one copy of this gene, it is like an immunity to HIV. It is estimated that 5-10% of Caucasians are immune, but sadly, Africans are not. It is unknown why this particular gene came into being, what the adaptive stimulus was.

Mitochondria might have originated as a bacteria that our cells married and integrated. Many viruses and bacteria not only shape our adaptive process, but we may be a result of integration of those microbes. Viruses that we may have incorporated into our DNA and that co-evolved with us are called "persisting viruses". If you think about this stuff long enough, it will creep you out to the point that you will start writing sci-fi horror books!

Survival of the Sickest, Part II-Diabetes

More about Survival of the Sickest...

The Younger Dryas period of extreme cold, coming just at the end of our last ice age, began in less than 10 years and ended in less than 3 years. That is what is called sudden onset of climate change. This was proven using ice cores and other methods. The present 'stable' climate of the last 11000 years is the exception in our climate history, not the rule. Change happens quickly, so how did humans adapt in such a short period of time? If human evolution takes millions of years, how has our species survived series after series of sudden climate change when grasslands turned into glaciers in a matter of a few years. The answer could be simple: Diabetes mellitis.

In diabetes, the body excretes water and dumps sugar into the blood, exactly the response seen in nature by plants and animals who are attempting to survive the cold. Grapes do it, Frogs do it, and humans do it. Almost everyone has the urge to pee when they have to go out in the cold. That's the body's way of reducing water, because water freezes and destroys cells. Less water, less ice crystals. Also, sugar lowers the freezing point of blood. Saline also lowers the freezing point.

When you are faced with abrupt cold, you shiver. The body robs the muscles of stored sugars and the friction generates heat, then capillaries restrict blood flow to the extremities, reserving the blood for the body core. Certain ethnic groups who live near the poles, like the Inuit and the Sami, have adapted and developed what is called a Hunters response, meaning that every few minutes, the capillaries dilate and allow the blood to flow to the extremities to prevent frostbite and damage, then restrict themselves again. These groups of people have adapted so that their capillary response is much quicker than those peoples who live in more temperate zones. Those who hail from more equatorial zones lack the response entirely. Polar peoples also have a larger quantity of brown fat cells, cells that don't store fat, but burn it to generate heat. The combination of these small adaptions could allow a human to hunt and forage longer in the cold, a skill that might allow survival to reproductive age.

Maybe, just maybe, those who are genetically predisposed to diabetes are those descended from places where there was a sudden advance of the ice sheets in the Younger Dryas period 13000 years ago? Diabetes may have helped certain groups survive the last ice age. There is definitely a cold link to the disease. More diabetes is diagnosed in the colder months-between November and February in the northern hemisphere. Children with Type I are usually diagnosed when the temps drop in the Fall of the year.

Adaption is a two way street. Natural selection chooses a technique that will allow the organism to survive an immediate threat, BUT, the adaption may weaken the organism in other areas. For example, peacock feathers make him more attractive to females, but also make him more obvious to predators.

Survival of the Sickest: Part I

My daughter Kate has similar tastes in books as I do. We like non-fiction, but it needs an edge so it is not too dry of a read. This time, Kate has loaned me a 2007 book by Dr. Sharon Moalem, called Survival of the Sickest. It is a good read, but then again, I like things like this-hypotheses that make sense, have some scientific evidence to support them, but are not totally proven or accepted as fact. To me, this is the fun of science-it is the big 'What If' that allows you to wonder about coincidences and explore connections between seemingly odd things. I believe that there are no coincidences in life, and I believe that all things are connected.

"DNA isn't destiny, it's history", writes Moalem, and that quote reminds me of a conversation I had a while back with my friend James, who is oft irritated by those who use genetic predisposition as an excuse for continuing unhealthy behaviors and lifestyles. Moalem's quote is important to remember. We have to study history so as not to repeat it, but just because history tends to repeat itself doesn't mean that the future is locked in. When it comes to disease, there are so many variables and triggers that it is possible to be predisposed to a disease and have a high probability of contracting it, but never actually contracting it because one lived a life avoiding the potential or known genetic triggers, like smoking or eating a diet low in fiber, etc. Later in the book, when discussing epigenetics, Moalem writes "DNA is destiny--until you get out the old methyl Magic Marker and start rewriting it." You see, it is actually possible to change your DNA by your actions. What you do can initiate certain genes, formerly thought of as junk DNA, now thought of as jumping genes, to fasttrack mutations and speed up evolution. So yeah, Lamarckian was correct after all and the concept of jumping genes, while not fully understood, can explain things like why a small percentage of Australian Shepherds are now being born with naturally docked tails, and why some lizards are born with larger bodies and tails if the mother smells a certain snake while she is pregnant, versus a small bodied lizard if no danger is sensed. Scariest of all, is that my smoking habit may have switched on cancer genes for my daughter AND granddaughter, even if they never smoke. Get this: since I smoked when I was pregnant with my daughter, and she was born with every egg she will have, essentially, my cells passed epigenetic signals to my granddaughter while she was still an egg in my daughter's ovary, while my daughter was still a fetus inside of me. This stuff is wild, and it goes to show that Heinlein was right and the universe is not just stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.

At any rate, the book is about history, genetics, and human evolution, and it is fascinating. He starts off by talking about the disease called hemochromatosis then moves on to diabetes, then blood lipids. I took notes because I am increasing suffering from CRS, a middle age affliction known colloquially as Can't Remember Sh*t. I won't spoil the entire book, but in this post, I do want to talk about his first talking point-the relationship between iron and disease and how that may have helped mankind survive.

Hemochromatosis is a disease where the body locks up and stores iron. Yes, iron is a good thing, but too much iron can cause organ damage. The body has chelators, proteins which lock up iron, and they are very important in the immune response. Egg white, albumin, is full of chelators, as is breast milk. Bacteria multiply unimpeded in iron rich environments, so if you can bind up iron, as chelators do, you can starve bacteria and allow the immune system's other defenses to work.

Bubonic plague affects lymphatic system, causing glands to swell and even rupture through the skin...survival rate is 33% Airborne plague has a survival rate of 10% Those that survived the plague probably had hemochromatosis, a disease where chelating agents lock up iron in the body making it inaccessible to bacteria or were anemic. Today, the hemochromatosis mutation is seen in those whose ancestors came from Western Europe. The downside is that the disease can eventually kill people by the organ damage the iron causes, but because the body's iron is locked away, bacteria starve. The same type of effects are seen in populations that are anemic, like Somali nomads who were exposed to TB, malaria, brucellosis and other diseases, yet did not become sick. In the old days, bloodletting may have helped those with hemochromatosis. It would reduce the iron load. In modern times,people with this disease often give blood more than others. It literally, physically, makes them feel good.

This idea about iron and bacteria requires more study by me. Moalem mentioned what he called the Geritol Solution to Global warming. There was an experiment in 1995 near the Galapagos Islands where massive quantities of iron were dumped into the clear blue(basically barren) ocean. The result was that there was an increased phytoplankton growth and the ocean turned green with life. The plankton and bacteria feasted on the iron, and in doing so, sucked carbon dioxide right out of the atmosphere. I'd like to read more about this, but it sure makes me like the idea of ships as artificial reefs a lot more than I did at one time.

I'll make a few more blog entries on this book, but as a teaser, here's a couple of things you might find interesting:

ACHOO syndrome: Autosomal dominant Compelling Heliopthalmic Outburst syndrome is uncontrollable sneezing when someone is exposed to light after being in the dark...response is a leftover immune response from the days when people lived in caves, and upon emerging into the sunlight, cleared their nasal passages of molds, microbes, etc. that they might have picked up in the cave.

Most adults are lactose intolerance because after a child is weaned, their bodies no longer produce the enzyme that breaks down lactose. People who are descended from tribal or farming communities where animal milk is regularly consumed perhaps have a mutation that allowed continued lactase production after weaning, and therefore would not be lactose intolerant.

The impact of drug addiction

This is a rant about all manner of things-mostly drug related- that piss me off. Click away now if you're not interested. Rant mode: ON

Today, we went to Walmart, which I detest, but almost everyone goes there at some time or another. I dislike their business model of putting the Mom and Pop stores out of business by buying second quality goods from countries that are not friendly to the US. Whatever happened to Sam Walton's Made in the USA pledge?? What about their commitment to the environment? Are they more loyal to the Chinese than to the US? So many questions, no answers. But I digress...

I'm in Walmart (did I mention that I'd rather shop elsewhere?) and remember that I need the antihistamine, Zyrtec-D. I walk over, pick up the card, and wait in line at the pharmacy to swap the card for the meds. The clerk, who was older than me and should know manners, was extremely rude and unfriendly. She stated that she could not sell the Zyrtec to me without a driver's license. This stop at Wallyworld was after we had an impromptu picnic, and I had not brought my purse, therefore, no ID. She asks me if I have ever bought drugs from them before and I answered in the negative. She looks at me suspiciously and with disgust, like I was scum of the earth for not having a driver's license on me. She thought she was better than me because I did not have a driver's license on me and she worked at the pharmacy at Wal-mart! Give me a break! Some people, when given positions of authority, really abuse it, and she was an abuser.
So after she refuses to sell me the Zyrtec, one box of Zyrtec I might add, I finally get Skyguy over to produce his license for the witch. She must have entered every bit of information from his license, which really must be illegal-or ought to be illegal, because I think you just have to sign for Zyrtec, not face the Inquisition. I mean, really, I have all my teeth and I am 20 pounds overweight. Do I really look like a freakin' meth-head? GRRRRR!

The picnic....I've been bored with cabin fever since my surgery, so Skyguy decided we should go up to the old mountain campground(only 1.5 miles away) for a picnic-it would be a change of scenery with no chance of getting my foot wet, no hike required to get there, etc. It really was nice up there-very quiet, and the knowledge that not a soul was around within miles, was pretty cool. We ate our cold KFC leftovers, some grapes, and chips in the middle of the woods. We practice Leave No Trace, but obviously others do not. The Forest Service closed this primitive campground a few years ago, tossing the picnic tables into a ravine(good neighbors with tractors pulled them out and now all of us who live here in the valley have a souvenir picnic tables probably made by the CCC in the late 1930's) and capping off the hand pump well. However, the the tent pads are still there, and people still use the campground. Before we left, we walked around and looked at the trash. At first glance, the place looked pretty good, but as you walk around, you see plastic and metal and all kinds of trash that had been overlooked in a cleanup. I honestly do not understand why people can't clean up after themselves. They couldn't just throw their junk away on their own property, so why do they not care about Nature? As soon as my foot is better, I am going to go up there with some trash bags and clean. One reason that the campground closed was that it was used for parties and illegal activities by the locals. It was also the local "lover's lane", for everyone, but right before they closed it, there was a lot of homosexual meetups out there. I personally could not care less what people do in their private lives. My only complaint about the activities that took place at the campground was that it increased traffic on the road and people were dying as they drove out drunk. At any rate, my anger was over the apathy that people show towards Nature and natural areas. With government cutbacks, who do they think will clean up their messes? GRRRRR!

Why is it that one or two idiots can mess things up for everyone? We have warning labels on things because some idiot had no common sense. We have our privacy violated because some dope head couldn't put his joint down long enough to go to college and become a real chemist. Oh no, they would rather make drugs in their car, or in their apartment and endanger the lives of innocent kids next door, or anyone else within the blast zone. They are too interested in partying with their weed or meth to pick up the beer bottles or bungee cords or tiki lights or condoms or bottle caps or whatever. Because of this, there's a whole generation of people who don't know what real freedom is. The really sad thing is that people who are old enough to remember freedom, like the Walmart pharmacy tech, now are apathetic and don't care about anything, as long as she's getting a paycheck every week. Everyone is so taxed and beaten down, that people are becoming thoughtless drones who only know one path. The crooks and bad guys are never affected as they don't play by the rules. The only ones inconvenienced are the law abiding citizens, those that still care about freedom and nature and the right thing to do in this world. GRRRR!

Rant mode: OFF

P.S. I wrote this while on prescription pain meds. I overdid it a bit on the walking today and now my foot is swollen. In keeping with the Title and Subject matter of the post, I thought it only fair to inform you of my hypocrisy. Hypocritical or not, I think I have a point.

Baking Day, Part II

My foot is good and swollen tonight after two days of standing in the kitchen baking. Today, I made 3 more pizza crusts, some cheese breadsticks (see picture), a zucchini nut bread and zucchini pecan muffins. I did not get around to making the saltines. The cream cheese pound cake I made is excellent, but the vanilla one is overcooked. I sliced off the crusts and have saved the guts of the cake. I'll freeze it for a special occasion, then make some type of tort dessert, layers of pound cake, berries, and whipped cream.

At any rate, I like batch cooking, especially batch baking. I find that if I know I have 2 dozen muffins, then I don't crave them. By baking my pizza crusts in advance, I can make pizza in less than 30 minutes for a quick dinner. I made my own pizza sauce, too. The bread machine does all the hard work, and in less than 3 hours, I have 5 crusts ready to load up with good food, a head start on 5 dinners. Other big advantages to batch cooking, in addition to simply saving time and for the convenience on a night when you are too tired to cook, is that you can have a ready meal when you are too sick to cook for yourself. I make and can homemade soups just for this purpose. Also, by baking cakes and making casseroles in advance, you just pull something out of the freezer to take to a neighbor's house in the event there is a death or they need help cooking, etc. It's a good thing.

Skyguy and I miscommunicated on dinner this evening. He was being sweet and brought home KFC, but I had already cooked spaghetti sauce with some grated squash added, not to mention the breadsticks. I suppose we will eat that tomorrow for dinner. I haven't had KFC in a while, mainly because we don't eat out much, and secondly because the local KFC has been closed for remodeling after a fire. It just reopened a few weeks ago. It has probably been a year since I ate KFC fried chicken, and maybe it is just me, but it wasn't good. The extra crispy crust wasn't crispy at all, nor did it have the flavor I expected. I don't know what kind of change they've made, but Harlan Sanders would roll over in his grave if he tasted that. My favorite is Church's Chicken, but there isn't a store near here. Bojangles will have to do, because I certainly don't want KFC again. I probably should just start frying it at home. I did pretty good on the last batch, but I just don't fry that much. I do love fried chicken though, and I know that I can do better than the crap we got from KFC tonight.

Skyguy also picked up a couple seed packets of bush beans since we had low germination on the Blue Lake and Contender beans from 2006. I think we have just enough time to get another batch of beans in before frost. We are getting beans, and this morning I finally picked enough to can, but I think I will freeze them instead. Hopefully, in a few months, we will still be eating beans from the Royal Burgundy and the Asparagus beans so I will be able to can the Blue Lakes I will plant tomorrow. Pressure canning is such a pain for me because my stove doesn't get hot enough and because pressure canners scare me. I usually do this on the propane burner outside, just in case of an explosion. I can do 7 quarts at a time, and canning like that, in the heat, just drags on and on. Blanching and freezing is much faster, and I actually have room in the freezer for a few quarts of beans. But, I've been trying to can more and freeze less, so that I can eliminate one of my freezers and save on the power bill and reduce my demand for energy in general. The other day I came across a list of things you can do to save money and energy, and I'd like to pass them on to you.

1. When you buy gasoline, make your purchase at night. At night, temperatures are cooler and that makes gasoline more dense. Since the pumps measure gas by volume, you will actually get more gas—it will be cheaper overall.

2. On long trips, keep your windows closed at high speeds—drag from open windows reduces a car’s fuel efficiency by 10 percent. If your truck gets 15 miles to the gallon, you could get 16.5 miles to the gallon. Over a year's time, the savings add up.

3. Cleaning 100 pounds of junk from your car will get you up to 2 percent more miles per gallon. That is like getting a free tank of gas over the span of a year.

4. If you are going to be baking at 350 degrees, and the oven is not packed full, wrap and bake some potatoes for quick meals, lunches, and snacks. Or, use stale bread to make and freeze garlic toast for those nights when you just want bread with your pork chops or salad. Just as you should run full loads of laundry and dishes, try to fill the oven as well.

The Best Things in Life

The process of training a new puppy can be daunting, but there are a few milestones along the way that let you know you are on the right path. Bingo and I passed one of those milestones today. Not that we have the "come" command conquered, not by a long shot, but we are making progress. It is my belief that dogs think of people as members of their pack. They don't discriminate on looks or the color of one's coat/clothes. Some are born into a ready made pack, and some join packs later in their lives. Of course, in a pack, there is always an alpha male and an alpha female. When that pack includes humans, we should be the alpha animal, but not all humans take their responsibility as alpha seriously. The alpha animal not only provides food, but leads the pack on the hunt. They decide where the pack goes and what the pack will do. Alpha leads the way through doors, they are the first down a path, and the first to face danger. As we all know, having a leader allows the followers to relax, because they aren't the decision makers. Relaxed followers, in this case, puppies, are generally happy if their needs are met. Still, it is up to the pack to train the pup how to behave, what is acceptable and what is not. When the Alpha Bitch yells "come", she expects compliance from her boys.

Luckily, in our pack, Bear is submissive to Skyguy and I, and Bingo is submissive to Bear, for now. Our job is to make sure that Bingo does not bond with Bear more than us. The bond with the Alpha animal should be strongest. It is easy to allow Bear to 'babysit' the pup, but there is a limit to how often that should happen. Skyguy and I have been getting into the fray when the dogs play, just to reinforce the idea in Bingo's head that we are all part of the pack, there is no separation. In doing this, we have seen a huge difference in Bingo's attitude and behavior. He is more affectionate and less 'stand-offish'. Perhaps that change is a natural part of the relationship of trust in our third week of bonding. When I let him out, sometimes I go with him, and sometimes I don't. Sometimes he goes out with Bear, and sometimes he goes out alone. Sometimes I put him on the leash, and sometimes I don't. I've noticed that when we go out sans leash, he generally stays within 25-30 feet of me, closer if I talk to him. Bear does this too, and it lets me know that they are choosing to remain close by. In the last few days, when I call Bingo, I call him the same way..a whistle, a long "Biiiiinnnngggggoooo", and then "Biiinnnggooo C'mon,,, Beeeeaaaar Beeeaar, C'mon." It usually takes a few seconds until they come into sight and run towards the door. They are always together, Bingo following Bear. I've been really rewarding Bingo when he comes through the door, I change my voice pitch to show excitement in seeing him, I run him and love him and sometimes I give him a treat, sometimes not. Today, as I was in the middle of baking, I let Bear and Bingo out together. After 5 minutes or so, I called them, as usual. A minute went by with no dogs in sight, so I called again. Then I see Bingo, running as fast as his little legs would happily go, coming towards the house. He ran all the way home, without Bear's accompaniment, and bounded in the house excited to see me. Of course, he got a treat for that one! I looked out after that and saw Bear walking, no, piddle-poking around near the creek. Bingo chose to come to me instead of hanging out with Bear. That is a milestone. I know now, that he feels as though he is part of our pack, my pack. He has definitely adopted us.

Baking Day, part I

Today was Baking Day, and I made a couple of pound cakes, one vanilla and one cream cheese, two dozen squash and almond breakfast muffins, and a couple of pizza crusts. Tomorrow, I'll make more pizza crusts, breadsticks, and maybe some saltines and tortillas. My pizza crusts are like those Boboli crusts you buy in the store, only better. I developed the recipe myself using garlic and herbs. I make the dough in the bread machine, and then roll it out to the pan shape. Sprinkle additional herbs and cheese on it, and you can make breadsticks from the same dough. EASY. I made the cream cheese pound cake in a Bundt pan, and once it cooled, I divided the cake into three sections. Two will be frozen. By dividing the cake, I spread the desserts out over time so that we don't pig out on cake and gain weight. I'm not going to deny myself, because in my opinion, one of the best things about life is good food, but for me, pound cake necessitates moderation, and the easiest way to do that is to divide the cake. I probably should have quartered the cake, but oh well. What was that I was writing the other day about self indulgence? The two pound cakes used a dozen eggs, and I still have a few more dozen to consume. In the next few days, I may try to make an angel food cake and a devil's food cake. Traditionally, they were made together, as the lighter angel food cake uses the egg whites only, and the heavier devil's food cake uses only the yolks. I can use up about 9 eggs making those two cakes, which can also be frozen. As an alternative, I could just make a couple of angel food cakes and cook the yolks for use later in salads or something...yeah, that would be the healthier choice, I think.

This N That

Monday I went to the doc to have my bandage changed, and while I had hoped to convince him to remove the sutures in my foot, I will have to wait another week. Note to self, work on powers of manipulation, cast magic manipulation spells, and perhaps sex up requests using the word 'please'. Yeah, that's the ticket.

While in Rome, we checked out the new Cycle Therapy bike store. They've moved to the center of town and are sponsoring a local Sprint Triathlon, the second annual Navigator Triathlon to support Cancer patients in our area . Kate and Jon have decided to attempt the triathalon in September, so it should be a lot of fun to watch. Skyguy might even try it. I can't because my foot won't be well enough to train in time for the event. This is an abbreviated competition consisting of a 500 meter swim, a 12 mile bike ride, and a 3.1 mile run.

http://www.navigatortriathlon.com/

It's being held at a nearby state park. We are already riding 12 miles over hilly terrain, so that would be the 'easy' part for us. Running would be the hardest leg, and these races are almost always won on the run. A good runner can make up for being a mediocre swimmer. Skyguy and I decided it would be a lot of fun to complete one of these things, but we would have to take it slow and train well, making sure not to overtrain and risk injury. Neither of us deals well with high impact activity like running, so it would be a risky venture, but don't you think it would be a cool thing for a couple of geezers like us to do? I do! Anyway, we went to the bike store to look at road bike tires and I noticed that they had all of their womens apparel half off. I'd been looking for a pair of riding shorts since before we went on vacation. They are padded, and wick moisture away from the body. The tight fit compresses muscles, reducing recovery time and bruising. I'd been looking at the various styles of riding shorts, but finding them in my size is daunting. I'm still overweight, and in case you had not noticed, most serious cyclists are rail thin. Usually I see Small and X-Small, maybe a Medium, but nothing designed by Omar the Tentmaker. However, I suppose it was my lucky day at Cycle Therapy as I found a skort in an XL that will be great for riding. (I'm 5'11 and 190#) It is a Shebeest Cycloskort like the one on this page:

http://www.bikesomewhere.com/bikesomewhere.cfm/product/391/3743/31592

Don't freak on the price...no way I could afford that, and I paid less than half of that price. Anyway, for a woman of my age and shape, I think this was a good choice in shorts. If I had to, I could swim in it as well. But for now, I can't ride or swim or run. I can do tai chi though. The doc said I could ride a stationary bike on Monday. Woot!

Tuesday, in addition to my David Carradine Tai Chi tape exercise 'workout', I clipped more herbs from the herb garden and hung them to dry. I harvested some more oregano and marjoram, as well as lemon balm and horehound. I also tore up and jarred up some mullein that was dry. After washing and hanging the clippings, I decided to make a cough syrup from the fresh horehound. I stripped the leaves and buds from the stems and put it in the food processor to chop it and bruise the leaves. I probably had 2 cups of crushed horehound leaves and 1/2 c of mullein leaves. Both are expectorants. Then, I added it to about a cup of lemon juice and a bit of water. I brought the concoction to a boil, then allowed it to steep for a few minutes. I separated the plant matter out by straining it, and then added 2 cups of locally produced honey to the 'tea'. When the time comes to use it, I'll probably doctor it up with cayenne pepper and garlic, too, depending on how I feel. Adding some dried lemon balm might make it taste better, too. Horehound is good for making cough drops, too, but I don't have a candy thermometer at present and I did not feel like standing at the stove all day. Mullein is a great herb that grows wild almost everywhere. Not only is is a good expectorant, but it is good for the respiratory system in general. It can be smoked in a pipe to counter asthma or pneumonia. Some companies use it in their herbal cigarettes, replacing tobacco.Its tall yellow flower spikes and fuzzy leaves make it easily visible on roadsides for wild collecting. These pages have a lot of good info on mullein, but they are by no means complete:

http://www.herbcraft.org/mullein.html
http://www.prodigalgardens.info/march%20weblog.htm

While I am no expert, I do consider myself somewhat of an herbalist. Additionally, while I would not characterize myself as a person of faith, I do believe that there is great wisdom in the Bible. I found this quote from Psalms: "He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man" Psalms 104:14a Pretty cool. I really like the Psalms. Another of my favorites is: "The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display His marvelous workmanship." (Ps. 19:1,2)

Yesterday, my friend Ava and I picked the last of the blackberries from Patch #1 on the mountain, and we both ended up getting chiggers for our trouble. New bites, and I still have sores from the last time I picked berries before my surgery. I did get enough berries for a cobbler or pie, but there is yet another patch, my Secret Patch, of blackberries to pick, and hopefully I can get another quart or two. It has been so dry lately that the yellow jackets are sucking the juice from the berries. I'll need to start picking blueberries soon before the wasps suck them dry, too.

Speaking of berries, I got about a quart of strawberries from my plants yesterday as well, and we enjoyed them mixed with some sugar and a few blueberries over angel food cake last night. Berry good!

It's All Good

The Fourth of July has come and gone. The year is flying by. Like many of you, I had a very nice family cookout for the holiday. My foot is good-I must say this is the easiest surgery I've ever had, and I can't wait until the stitches come out and until I can get it wet. I long to take a shower again, but I suspect it might be another week before that happens. This afternoon, the doctor called me to check on my recovery. That was definitely a WOW moment as they just don't do that anymore. So, if you need a good foot and ankle surgeon in the Rome, GA area, I can provide a recommendation!

Bingo is wonderful still, he hasn't chewed anything he shouldn't, and he is just all puppy. You remember in Charlotte's Web that Charlotte wrote 'Some Pig' in her web to tout the specialness of her friend, well, here, I write "SOME DOG" for the same reason. Day before yesterday, he helped
my daughter and I catch some chickens and put them back in the run. He herded/chased the chickens around the perimeter right into my hands. When I caught the bird, I continued to hold it at Bingo's level, and he just sniffed the bird and did not try to bite it or act aggressively at all. This was very surprising considering what a rambunctious pup he is. I read into this that Bingo has excellent herding instincts, not so aggressive as to hurt stock, but aggressive enough to install fear in the animal. His eyes are very different than Bear's eyes. Bear has normal dark brown doggie eyes, but Bingo's eyes are more hazel, a weird light brown color that is more piercing and intense. I hope they don't change as he ages. I like his eyes. Jordan loved him, too. She could say his name and sing the melody for the song, and by the end of their visit, she was telling him "No!" so that he would not jump on her. After she got tough, he did not jump on her anymore.

Today it is raining-the first rain here since June 4. It is not raining much, but it is a slow, light rain and that is the best thing for the garden. Yesterday, Skyguy reinforced the pier under one of our rainwater tanks, so it is filling up again. The support pier is made of scrap 4x4's and 2x8/2x10's on the side. Over time, some of the joints had weakened and the tank and pier had started to lean. If we have a good downpour of hard rain, it can fill in about 15 minutes but since we only have a light rain, it might take all day, if it fills at all. We use rainwater for watering the garden as well as for watering birds that are kept in the old coop (roosters or turkeys or whatever). The purpose of the pier is to elevate the 350 gallon tank to provide head for gravity flow to the garden.

Also of note this weekend are a couple of more Facebook reunions with college friends. I am glad to be back in touch with Donna and Susan. I am fortunate to have such good friends-to know so many who are "good people", people who have huge hearts and work for the benefit of others.

I Survived

I survived my bunionette surgery (a bunionette is on the pinky toe whereas a bunion is on the big toe) and while it is only the second day, I can say this is the easiest surgery I have ever had. They gave me two Xanax, be even so, I was awake and conscious the whole time. I think taking RA meds has increased my tolerance for pain medication. I told the Doc while he was cutting on my foot that I've be drunker after two glasses of wine...lol...It did not hurt, but I could feel things, like the vibration from whatever kind of grinding tool that was and of course the numbing injections. Oh, and he let me keep the bony parts he removed. Part of it was ground off and lost, of course, but he even told me how I could permanently save it. (Bleach it, dry it, drill it, cord it for a necklace or charm...LOL. The largest chunk of bone is still rather small, about half an inch square, so probably a charm would work better than a necklace. I came home and slept about an hour and half-maybe the Xanax finally kicked in, then got up for dinner and to take a pain pill, which I did not feel that I needed, but was coerced into taking because the local anesthetic had not worn off. I can bear weight and all I need is a surgical shoe. It is a pain though because I can only be up for 5 minutes every 30 minutes and the rest of that time my foot has to be elevated. There are so many things I want to do and need to do that 5 minutes just isn't long enough. At bedtime, I took my normals meds and no Lorset/hydrocodone for pain. It really did not hurt that bad. However, I woke up at 4 am and felt it, so Skyguy went for the pills. It says to take it every 3 hours, but I just don't to be all doped up with a new puppy. He's very sweet, but has still bonded to Bear more than to Skyguy and I. I'm hoping to remedy that today by leaving Bear crated more and letting the boys outside to walk, poop, and play at different times. Bear still continues to amaze me with the abuse that Bingo dishes out. He will tolerate it, then finally, after 30 minutes or so of a seemingly endless barrage, Bear will snap and get serious, but then, a minute later, it is like he feels guilty to he initiates the play, and of course the cycle begins again. They do love each other, and Bingo had parked himself with Bear in Bear's crate a couple of times. Now, I make them both sit in front of the crates and say Bear Go Bear Crate, Bingo Go Bingo Crate. It is too cute.

At any rate, I have to be careful until my stitches come out in two weeks. I have 20 or so in 3 layers. 2 will dissolve on the inside, 9 in the middle layer, and 9 larger stitches on the outside. The incision is about 2 inches long. The good thing about being awake is that you can see what it looks like before the bandages go on! I'll get the bandages changed on Monday. It really hasn't been bad at all so far, but it is going to drive me crazy to stay off it and not exercise. I want to ride my bike so badly! But for now, we are all resting.