Peace

In 1958, Gerald Holtom, a British textile designer, created a symbol that today is known as the Peace sign. While we generalize it's use in modern times, it was originally intended to protest nuclear weapons in England. A group called the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War first used the peace sign on their banners during a 52 mile march from London to Aldermaston, a town known for atomic weapon research. In the 52 years since, that sign has been officially known as the CND logo. CND is the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Most folks call it a peace sign, but I've also heard it called a 'chicken's foot logo'. The idea came from Holtom's knowledge of semaphore signals, a visual method of communication using flags. The signal for the letter N is to hold the arms downward at the 4 and 8 o'clock positions. The signal for D is to hold one flag vertically overhead, and one flag downward, making a vertical line. These letters, for Nuclear Disarmament, are combined in a circle and the result is the international peace sign.

I think it is also interesting that the hand signal for 'Peace', where one holds up two fingers with the palm facing outward, was originally the 'V for Victory' sign used by Winston Churchhill during and after WWII. The idea of using a 'V' as a psychological rallying symbol originally came from Victor de Laveleye, the Belgian Minister of Justice in 1941. Laveleye, on the BBC, stated "the occupier, by seeing this sign, always the same, infinitely repeated, [would] understand that he is surrounded, encircled by an immense crowd of citizens eagerly awaiting his first moment of weakness, watching for his first failure." In modern times, this same sign has been modified, originally by the military, but in pop culture by Robert Deniro's character in 'Meet the Parents', where the two fingers point to one's eyes and then outward to mean 'I am watching you'. But somewhere along the way, back in the 1960's, hippies and counter-culture elements transformed the hand symbol to mean 'Peace'. It is a good mental stretch to think about how a war's victory sign comes to mean 'peace' worldwide.

A friend of mine has the following quote as her signature file: "Peace doesn't require two people; it requires only one. It has to be you. The problem begins and ends there." That is pretty thought provoking, I think. I searched and found that those are the words of Byron Katie, or properly Byron Kathleen Mitchell, a California woman who, in a time of despair, reached a point of enlightenment and ended up writing a book (The Works) about it. She claims that she doesn't belong to any religion or tradition, but from what I have seen of it, it is most similar to a Buddhist path, in my opinion. My thinking contrasts the two ideas: If peace means being submissive to a bully, and not striking back, then that certainly is different than the 'victory' message. Perhaps that is not a fair example of how things would begin and end with one person, but I believe that is the reality if one did nothing in the name of peace. I'm not sure where the line is. What would the Dalai Lama do? How much violence would he absorb before striking back? The answer just might surprise most people. While the Dalai Lama practices ahimsa, the avoidance of violence, he readily admits that it does not always work. He believes that war can bring positive outcomes and that ahimsa cannot conquer terrorism in the world. I believe it is reasonable to practice ahimsa, almost all martial arts are defensive and teach avoidance first, but it would be naive to think that peace can be achieved solely by non-violent techniques. Perhaps Roosevelt was right when he touted that one should walk softly and carry a big stick. Ronald Regan revised this idea in his era, but does military might really make peace, or just subversion where violence erupts at a later date? Many believe, rightfully so, that today's terrorism problems can be traced back to the policies of the Big Stick era.

Things just aren't black and white-they are not clear cut and you can't always know what method to use to bring lasting peace in the world, if it is possible at all. Perhaps Byron Katie's quote is better suited as a mental exercise, that we should find peace within ourselves. I suppose in the end, it's a personal thing and we each have to decide for ourselves how much responsibility to take in our own lives for our own peace.

Peace Out

New Beginnings

Yes, I am still alive and kicking. I'm amazed that I still have 'followers' after such a long absence from this space.

Basically, over the last nine months, I poured everything I had into a job, but even so, it apparently wasn't enough as I was fired last month-for the first time in my life. I've always been the star, the go-to person, and now, I am experiencing the other end of that spectrum. The only thing I can do is to move on and to learn from my failings, career and social. I've never been good at playing politics, sucking up to people. My emotions are always on my sleeve, which makes me easy to manipulate. Plus, I tend to think the best about people, even those who act like assholes and jerks. I make excuses for them in my mind, and try to block their influence and in doing that, I allow myself to be blindsided. They win influence, I don't. It is the story of losers everywhere, I suppose, that the victor's side of the story is the one recorded in the books. C'est la vie.

So in my quest of self improvement, I've decided to try to lose some weight and become more fit. This process began two and a half years ago when I stopped smoking after 27 years. I gained 30 pounds from that, and I lost that over the following 18 months, but now I am back on my pre-quitting plateau. I vowed to lose 50 pounds in 2010, and I have lost about 10 pounds with half the year gone. My BMI is close to 27, in the overweight range, but luckily under the obese marker. I just pulled out the Wii and weighed to make sure. I just weighed 199.5 pounds with a BMI of 27.8, up from last month by three pounds. That is where feeding your failure leads! Wii Fit states that my ideal weight should be about 157 pounds, which is where I would be if I lost the 50 pounds I intended with my New Year's Resolution. I have 43 pounds to lose in 6 months, 7 pounds a month, 1.75 pounds a week. That should be a safe loss rate and something I should be able to manage with diet and exercise. I've already given up soft drinks this year, and I am working on swapping out saturated fats for unsaturated fats. I don't believe in 'going on a diet', but I do want to make lifestyle changes. I've used a couple of calculators and figured that my Basal Metabolic Rate is about 2200 calories a day. I haven't been counting calories as to what I am consuming, but I will keep a journal for a week or so just to get an idea. If I can keep my intake between 2200 and 2500 calories, I should be able to exercise and burn off at least 1000 calories a day. One mountain bike ride around the 7 mile 'block' burns just over 700 calories and takes about 45 minutes, so I think with some stretching and a few additional minutes, I should be able to hit that 1000 burned goal. In addition, it is summer, and that means gardening-more calories burned. In a few weeks, I'll need to start splitting wood for the winter-more calories gone. So doing the math, If I consume 2500 calories and burn 1000 from exercise and 1000 from seasonal work, then my net caloric intake is 500, which is 1700 less than my BMR. If I ride my bike or exercise 5 times a week and spend 3 hours a day working, that is 8500 calories a week, equaling about 2.5 pounds a week. Of course, that will be the short term weekly goal that I strive for, not a given.

I want to pass along a few websites that I have found refreshingly useful.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/

From this link you can sign up for daily newsletters concerning topics that interest you. I've been receiving the Diet and Nutrition newsletter and it has a lot of informative articles (like choosing cooking oils) as well as a lot of simple, everyday recipes.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/

Nutrition data is just that, but I like this site because it gives you enough information to make balanced choices about food. They feature an Inflammation Factor chart which is helpful if you suffer from allergies or auto-immune disease. Also, there is a glycemic load chart for those who deal with blood sugar issues like diabetes. If you have a few minutes to check this site out, it will be well worth your time.

Going Green

My employer, a few months before I was hired, quietly initiated an voluntary environmental management system known as ISO 14001. This past Tuesday, after a week long audit, we have been recommended to be certified as ISO 14001. That is usually just a small formality-for the most part, we can say that we are ISO 14001 certified, or at least, we soon will be, but for the purposes of this blog, I will assume we already are.

We are now the only commercial flooring adhesive manufacturer in the US to be ISO certified. This is HUGE, and I am proud to say that I intend to play a more important role in this program in the future as anyone who knows me knows how much I care about the Earth, the interconnected nature of living things-Gaia, and environmental issues in general. Our environmental policy is straight in line with my personal belief set and green goals-conserving energy, reducing my footprint, becoming self sufficient and striving to live in harmony with nature. I also hope to become more active in the GreenBuilding community in the coming years.

http://www.usgbc.org/
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=222

My dream home is a passive solar earth sheltered home in the back pasture at the ridge line. Green Building, rather, sustainable building, is not new to me. It is a rare find to work in a place where your personal ethics and environmental concerns are shared by upper management. One day soon, our company will be building a new lab and office. I saw the architect's plans and WOW, would you believe that the building will be a LEED certified passive solar building with louvers to control the light and other energy saving features?!? How cool is that?

For those who aren't familiar with ISO 14001, you can learn more from the links below, and hopefully, for the sake of our planet, you can convince your employer and/or your community to follow suit. It can make a real difference, both for your organization, and for the Earth.

http://www.iso.org/iso/management_standards.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_14000

To quote Wiki, "The aim of the standard is to reduce the environmental footprint of a business and to decrease the pollution and waste a business produces."

And this could only be the beginning. We, as a business, could go even further, making even more voluntary changes that would benefit the company's bottom line and the environment. In fact, one such program that we could probably benefit from is called Six Sigma. Motorola invented this strategy for consistent business improvement back in the 1980's, and since then, other large, successful companies like GE and Honeywell have developed Six Sigma programs. It is really all about statistics-(I really, really wish I had taken more statistical studies in college). The Greek letter sigma, "σ" or "Σ", is equivalent to our "s" or "S". Sigma is the mathematical sign for standard deviations and there is a mathematical model that states that if there are six standard deviations between the process mean(the average in a data set) and the nearest specification limit, practically no items will fail to meet specifications. It is a process, and if your business operates within the process, then you will make less errors, 3.4 errors per one million opportunities, to be exact. In other words, if you put a system like this in place, and you make a million products a year, you can expect less than 4 product issues as a result of production or business error per million units. It is actually pretty interesting how far math can take you these days. Who knew that statistics would ever be so important in something other than baseball? ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma
http://www.ge.com/en/company/companyinfo/quality/whatis.htm

It is an insane world. I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but it sure is nice to work for a company that morally and ethically tries to do what is right. They get it. In a world where no one can agree on the cause of global warming, whether or not it exists, and what should be done about it, if anything, I have found an oasis of green common sense in my workplace. It is refreshing. I only wish I hadn't wandered around in the desert for so long.

Vitamin D and me

I've written before that I thought I was Vitamin D deficient. There were a few symptoms that I had, but nothing too serious, or so I thought. On my own, I started taking fish oil, then switched to cold liver oil because it contained more Vitamin D. I've always craved oily fish and chicken livers and eggs and other foods that are notoriously high in Vitamin D. I eat plenty of dairy and milk, too.

Back in July, I wrote about Vitamin D on my blog. (July 17) It was around that time that I decided to start a trial of taking Vit. D supplements in the form of Cod Liver oil. This page gives a quick overview:

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

I did some reading and discovered that there is quite a controversy over the RDA for Vitamin D. We need more as we get older. The relationship between Vitamin D, cholesterol, and the melanin pigment in our skin is important to understand. Basically, the short story is that the sun's UVB rays turn cholesterol into Vitamin D. Fair skinned people like me whose ancestors are from the far north have very little melanin to block UVB, because north of the Arctic Circle, there is very little UVB making it to the ground and our bodies don't need to block it. However, here in the US, I have the possibility of more sun, more UVB than Finland, and yet I still don't have the melanin to protect me. Because I am so fair, I don't get enough exposure year around to produce enough Vitamin D from my cholesterol.

So anyway, I started taking about 1500 IU's of cod liver oil a day as well as a multivitamin with an additional 400 IU's, and after a few weeks, I could swear that I felt a bit less achy from my arthritis pain. I seemed to have more energy and was more able to think clearly. About that time, I had an appointment with my rheumatologist and I told her of my suspicion that I was Vitamin D deficient. She ordered a test, as well as a test for bone density since I had had a stress fracture a few months prior. The other problem I've had for a few months is gum inflammation. I had my teeth cleaned in March and in early April, my gums started to bleed. There was a lot of blood, not just pink in the sink. I increased my brushing time, rinsed with fluoride washes and tried all kinds of stuff, but still, my gums were bleeding at the drop of a hat. I could also tell that they were receding a bit around my bridge. Things seemed to be changing fast, yet I had no pain or tenderness. I went to the dentist, but he had no answer other than it could be Vitamin D related but usually gum bleeding was gingivitis related. Well, as it turned out, the bloodwork revealed that I was indeed Vitamin D deficient. Very much so, even though I had been taking the Cod Liver Oil. Normal was 31-100 and my result was 14. Some docs think 'normal' should be 20, I've learned, but even with that I was deficient. My first thought was no wonder my arms feel like they are about to break when I do something like unload the washing machine! No wonder the dentist is telling me that I have bone loss and gum inflammation! So, my rheumatologist prescribed a Vitamin D supplement that I take once a week. It is a little blue gel pill of 50,000 IU of Vitamin D. WOW! The RDA is 400 IU and daily supplements are usually up to 2000 IU a day.

I have now taken two of them, the most recent being on Wednesday. Yesterday, Thursday, for the first time since April, my gums did not bleed when I brushed my teeth. Not a speck of blood, when just a few days ago I had to rinse 5 or 6 times just to not taste the blood anymore. Better yet, in the last week, I have had less arthritic issues, less overall aches and pains, and I seem to be more optimistic and more focused in my thinking. I'm now looking forward to seeing how good I will feel in a few months. The best part of this...these little Vitamin D pills were only $6 for a month's supply, 4 pills.

I'm hoping that I will at least be able to reduce my NSAIDS and pain meds, and hopefully, hopefully, I will be one of the lucky ones who might be 'healed' to the point that I would not need expensive biologics like Enbrel that are ruining my liver over time and increasing my chance of getting lymphoma.(I have something like a 40x higher chance of getting lymphoma that those who do not take Enbrel) This morning, I found this UK article, which supports the notion that RA might be curable after all.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-508283/Could-vitamin-D-really-cure-arthritis.html

This article makes a lot of sense as to why elimination diets might work for some and not for others. It mentions alkaline diets where you reduce acid foods, too. Dieting could even work for a while and then not work again. If you are Vitamin D deficient, anything can happen.

I can't believe that this might have been the precipitating factor for a lot of my health issues, for a long time, too. And it seems to have such a simple, and inexpensive solution. I've tried turmeric and milk thistle and other supplements and herbs but the biggest difference in pain relief and general well-being has been with Vitamin D supplementation.

Last year, I went to the ER with a kidney stone. I'd never even had a kidney infection or a bladder infection, and out of the blue I get a kidney stone. Well, I read that Vitamin D deficiency can cause "increased excretion of calcium from renal tubules". If you are going to the doc for bloodwork anyway, get them to check your Vitamin D levels. You might be surprised. It might keep you from getting cancer or even from getting the flu or other viruses.

This page lists some risk groups(including vegetarians) and talks about how certain meds can affect your Vitamin D levels.

http://www.the-vitamin-and-supplement-guide.com/vitaminDdeficiencysymptoms.html

I hope everyone takes a few minutes to read these articles. It just might save your life or prevent you from having osteoporosis or other bone issues later in life.

Okra and it's Beneficial Slime

Okra. It is an oft maligned vegetable usually associated with the Deep South. I'm growing it, as are most of my friends and neighbors who have gardens. I have the old standby, Clemson Spineless, and a heirloom variety called Lee. Lee's pods are not as heavily ridged as the CS, and the pods are darker green and smoother. I personally think they are less spiny than the Clemson Spineless. Both varieties are doing well in the garden. Did you know that okra historically grew wild on the banks of the Nile River and was one of Cleopatra's favorite foods? Egyptians were the first to cultivate it 1200 years before Christ. By trade, okra became a popular crop across north Africa to Ethiopia, around the Mediterranean Sea, and even as far away as India and the Americas. By 1658, okra made it to Brazil and New Orleans and by 1781, they were growing it in Philadelphia. African slaves used ground okra seeds as a coffee substitute as well as cooked gumbo. Even today, ground okra is used in Africa to make a soup cooked with fish, and okra as a coffee substitute found widespread consumption during the rationing era of WWII. The words okra and gumbo are of African origin, but this easy to grow and useful vegetable is now known around the world by the following names: Okra, Okro, Ochro, Okoro, Quimgombo (Cuba), Quingumbo, Ladies Fingers, Gombo, Kopi Arab, Kacang Bendi, Bhindi (S. Asia), Bendi (Malaysia), Bamia, Bamya or Bamieh (middle east), Gumbo (Southern USA), Quiabo, Quiabos (Portugal and Angola), okura (Japan), qiu kui (Taiwan). Asians, especially the Japanese and Chinese, treasure okra as a fountain of youth.

Okra has hairy spines that are prickly and irritate the skin like fiberglass insulation. The sensation is easily remedied by quickly washing in cold water. The plant has varieties that are burgundy or purple podded and stemmed. Some varieties are dwarfed, but most grow tall, 3 to 6 feet or taller depending on variety and the more you cut the okra the tall the plant gets. It is an 60 day annual that likes hot weather, from the same Mallow family as hollyhock, cotton, and hibiscus. The yellow flowers on the the okra plant are beautiful enough to warrant growing the plant simply for the flowers alone. Ants seem to like the plant, and can often be found on the leaves and flowers. The immature seed pods we call okra are eaten raw, used for soups, pickled and canned, used to thicken stews, breaded and deep-fried, or simply boiled. The pods are cut from the stem when they are about 3 inches long. If they get longer than about 6 inches, the pods become tough and woody, and the pod is not worth eating but will dry nicely for seed. It can also be used to make cordage or paper. When washed or cut, okra releases a sticky, mucilagenous substance with thickening properties. Many people will not eat okra because of this 'slime', but it is this soluble fibrous slime that is extremely healthy for you. If you just can't take the slime, try it deep fried, pickled, or raw. After you cut okra, store it in a paper bag in a warm part of refrigerator, as temperatures below 45 degrees will damage okra. Use within 2 or 3 days at most, or cut it and freeze it. Washing okra will precipitate the sliming process, so do not wash the pods until absolutely necessary. Okra is alkaline in nature, that's why it goes so well with the acid in tomatoes. They balance each other, and I think the acidity helps reduce the sliminess. When canning okra however, recipes must be either pressure canned or acidified for safety.

Okra Nutrition (half-cup cooked okra)

Calories = 25
Dietary Fiber = 2 grams
Total Fat = 0.2 grams (the healthy fatty acid is Omega 6)
Protein = 1.5 grams
Carbohydrates = 5.8 grams
Cholesterol = 0
Vitamin A = 226 IU (5%)
Vitamin C = 13 mg (22%)
Vitamin K = 32 micrograms (40%)
Folic acid = 36.5 micrograms (9%)
Calcium = 62 mg (6%)
Iron = 0.4 mg (1%)
Potassium = 108 mg (3%)
Magnesium = 46 mg(7%)
Manganese 0.2 micrograms (12%)
Phosphorus = 25 mg (3%)
Plus approximately 7% of the RDA of Thiamine and Vitamin B6
With a glycemic load of 2, it is excellent for weight loss due to the lack of fat and the high fiber content.

According to famous nutritionist Sylvia W. Zook, Ph.D., the following benefits of okra should not be overlooked making okra a staple in your 'green pharmacy'.

- The superior fiber found in okra helps to stabilize blood sugar as it curbs the rate at which sugar is absorbed from the intestinal tract.
- Okra's mucilage binds cholesterol and bile acid carrying toxins dumped into it by the filtering liver.
- Okra helps lubricate the large intestines due to its bulk laxative qualities. The okra fiber absorbs water and ensures bulk in stools. This helps prevent and improve constipation. Unlike harsh wheat bran, which can irritate or injure the intestinal tract, okra's mucilage soothes,
and okra facilitates elimination more comfortably by its slippery characteristic.
- Okra fiber is an excellent probiotic for feeding the good bacteria, contributing to the health of the intestinal tract.
- To retain most of okra's nutrients and self-digesting enzymes, it should be cooked as little as possible, e.g. with low heat or lightly
steamed. It can even be eaten raw. However, if one is going to fry it (and it is undeniably delicious prepared that way when rolled in cornmeal and salt), only extra virgin olive oil, or UNREFINED coconut butter is recommended (this is NOT the unhealthy partially hydrogenated product found in processed foods.) Organic ghee used by gourmet chefs, has the oil and flavor of butter without the solids, is also excellent for frying okra (does not burn like butter), and may be obtained from the health food store or made at home.
- Okra is a supreme vegetable for those feeling weak, exhausted, and suffering from depression.
- Okra is used for healing ulcers and to keep joints limber. It helps to neutralize acids, being very alkaline, and provides a temporary protective coating for the digestive tract.
- Okra treats lung inflammation, sore throat, and irritable bowel.
- In India, okra has been used successfully in experimental blood plasma replacements.

The following are anecdotal stories and studies detailing how okra is helpful in eliminating specific ailments. The treatments were found on the web and should be used at your own risk and with common sense.

Acid Reflux and Constipation
A person, suffering from constipation for the past 20 years and recently from acid reflux, started eating 6 pieces of Okra. Since then, has not taken any other medication. Now, his blood sugar has dropped from 135 to 98 and his cholesterol and acid reflux are also under control.

Asthma
Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. This anti-inflammatory activity may curtail the development of asthma symptoms. A large preliminary study has shown that young children with asthma experience significantly less wheezing if they eat a diet high in Vitamin C. One half cup of okra provides almost 25% of the RDA of Vitamin C.

Atherosclerosis
Diets high in insoluble fiber, such as those containing okra, are associated with protection against heart disease in both men and women, diabetes, cholesterol and obesity.

Cancer
The insoluble fiber found in okra acts as a mild laxative and helps to keep the intestinal tract healthy, decreasing the risk of some forms of cancer, especially colo-rectal cancer.

Capillary fragility
Eating plenty of flavonoid and vitamin C-rich fruits and vegetables such as okra helps to support the structure of capillaries.

Cataracts and Vitamin A support
1/2 cup of cooked okra contains 226 IU of vitamin A. Some studies have reported that eating more foods rich in beta-carotene or vitamin A was associated with a lower risk of cataracts. Vitamin A also helps night vision and of course has anti-oxidant properties, anti-aging nutrients, supports mental health by maintaining brain chemistry, great for healthy skin, helps with blood circulation and liver functions.

Cholesterol
A study (JAMA July 23, 2003) showed that consuming a diet rich in soluble fiber from oats, barley, psyllium, eggplant and okra was as effective as the cholesterol lowering drug Mevacor. Raw okra is a great weapon to lower cholesterol and it also provides some protection against absorption of trans fats.

Depression and Lack of Energy
Okra is a supreme vegetable for those feeling weak, exhausted, and suffering from depression.

Multiple sclerosis (MS)
In one survey, researchers gathered information from nearly 400 people (half with MS) over three years. They found that consumption of vegetable protein, fruit juice, and foods rich in vitamin C, thiamine, riboflavin, calcium, and potassium correlated with a decreased MS risk. Okra is an excellent disease fighter.

Alternative Dialysis type treatments
Take 2 pods of Okra, cut into 3 pieces each, rough crush the pieces, fill glass with water soak the pieces overnight.(do not refrigerate just use bottled or tap water) In the morning before eating,
drink the thick slimy texture, swallow the seeds too. Drink three times a week it clears excess cholesterol and toxins (in bile acids). It removes extra wastes from your blood, does the job of a dialysis machine by helping the kidneys to function properly.

Last Dance

Everyone needs joy in their life. I've always disliked the word 'joy'; some of you will know why that is so, and if you don't, it is not that important anyway, but lately I've decided to make a concerted effort to enjoy life more. As Oprah used to say, 'remember your spirit'.

My best bud Ava (Shout-out and wave to Ava!), knowing that I'd soon be returning to the workforce and thereby leaving the way of life I've grown accustomed to for the past year, invited me to join her and my other friend Melissa for a horseback ride on local wooded trails. While I've gone riding with Ava in the past, I'm still very much a novice rider. I've been on horses since I was a kid, but not with enough frequency to become a good rider, and certainly not with anyone who was willing to teach me the way Ava and Melissa do. They've both been riding continuously since they were kids, so usually they take the boys on more complicated rides, rides not suitable for someone like me. So today was a real treat for me, and I learned a lot, both by doing and by watching. That's me on Dallas, Melissa on Spike, and Ava on Joe, left to right in the picture. Skyguy took the picture, and I guess he did not realize that my eyes were closed-not the best picture of me in many ways. Oh well, I guess it happens to everyone eventually, right? You know, Dallas just isn't as pretty with me on him. He deserves his own space, so I post my favorite picture of him as well.

The first thing I should say that I learned is that it is a much more comfortable ride, and an easier ride, if the stirrups are adjusted properly. You may be able to tell by looking at the picture and comparing my leg posture with theirs that my stirrups are a bit too high. We later lowered the stirrups and voila, bliss! When I first saw the picture, looking at myself and my friends, I couldn't help but hear the Sesame Street song, "One of these things is not like the other" in my head. LOL! It is just too funny. You gotta laugh at yourself on days like this. At any rate, we rode for several hours, mostly walking through the woods and pastures. It was wonderful, and while it is not quite Fall yet, it wasn't hot like you would expect on a late Summer day. If I had enough money, I think I would definitely want a horse. You can totally forget about the world when you are riding. You can hear and see things that you would not normally notice. Perhaps it is just me, but I think I enter a state of heightened awareness. I notice what the horse is doing, what other horses are doing, what trees or holes or barbed wire or spider webs are ahead of me. Of course, I try to be aware of how I am holding the reins, how I am sitting in the saddle, whether or not I am leaning too much, and I try to make sure my feet are where they are supposed to me. I wish I could say that it all just comes natural to me, but I just don't ride enough to get to a point where I don't think about such things and just naturally progress from one position to the next as the terrain or conditions warrant.

Will I be sore tomorrow after four hours on a horse today? I'm sure I will, but hopefully it won't be too bad. I'm rather used to those kind of aches. Today, I felt my shoulders and neck and biceps after pulling muscadines and catbriar vines out of the trees yesterday. We are in the middle of cutting and stacking wood for the winter, and while we were back there getting standing dead wood, we decided to clean up a small section of woods. So today, when Dallas would trot, I could feel it in my shoulders and neck. Tomorrow will be no different, except that the location of the ache will be a bit lower. It will remind me of how much fun I had. At least right now I stay active enough to constantly be feeling my muscles and joints. I wonder how that will change after a few months on my new, sedentary job.

Late Summer Garden Report

I'm still pulling in 5-10 pounds of tomatoes every other day, but blight or magnesium deficiency is taking a toll here. The tomatoes probably have a few more weeks of life. I've got enough tomatoes, juice, and sauce canned, but I think I still need more pizza sauce. I'm thinking of perhaps trying to make some soup as well.

I'm still picking about 2 quarts of green beans a day, freezing most of it now. The Kentucky Wonder pole beans and the Blue Lake bush beans are going crazy, and I expect to still be in beans a month from now. The red field peas that I planted turned out to be half runner types, and the 10x10 area is now about 20x20 and the runners are taking over like kudzu. They've covered my bush cherries, and are threatening the pole beans. I've picked dry pods as I see them, but 98% of the crop is still on the vine. Interestingly, at least to me, the peas look more like what I would call white acre peas than the red field peas I planted. They are small and white. Odd thing.

Round one of sweetcorn was a disaster, so we replanted a short season sweetcorn in mid-summer. We are about a week from eating corn again, but I don't want to count my ears before they are picked. On this farm, anything can happen to corn, and usually does. The Bloody Butcher corn lodged from a downburst in a thunderstorm, but much of it is still alive, even if it is laying over. I decided to leave it alone as when I tried to stand the stalks upright, they broke. I have no clue as to how this will affect pollination. It was planted June 12, so it has a few more weeks as well. My goal for the BB is to get a few ears for seed, one or two ears to roast, and enough to grind for 1 cup of corn meal. It seems like a lot to ask out of what I have in the garden. Can anyone tell me how much corn-how many ears or pounds, does it take to make a cup of corn meal?

I'm nursing along a watermelon(GA Rattlesnake), but it just isn't growing the way I'd like. It is more round than oblong. Another odd thing. I've got squash everywhere, quite a few butternuts still out there(I already harvested 30# or so) as well as acorn squashes. The squash vines are growing on the deer netting, and it looks funny to see acorn squash hanging 8 feet in the air. A few of the hanging squashes have holes bored into them, as if some kind of wasp or squash borer drilled hole in the fruit. I took a few pictures for the blog. The summer squashes are done and gone. Peppers are still producing, and I've canned or dried as much as possible: Anaheims, serranos, banana peppers, poblano(ancho), etc. I've also made homemade salsa, of course. The okra is just starting to really come in strong. I've pickled a few jars of it, and will pickle more. I have taken a liking to pickled okra. Yum! I have sweet potato vines everywhere and expect to get 30-50 pounds of sweet potatoes next month. I never did harvest my Yukon Golds, but yesterday I went out with that intention and found a bunch of new potatoes, beautiful little yellow golf ball sized things. I decided to leave them as seed.

I had to reorganize the shelves and such to make room for everything I've canned so far. I made grape jelly and elderberry jam, elderberry elixir, horehound cough syrup, blackberry jam, fig preserves, and blueberry jam. We harvested over 50 pounds of apples a bit early to keep the deer from getting them, and I've made applesauce and apple chips. I have discovered that if you dehydrate the peelings and mix them with blackberry leaves, blueberry leaves and dried huckleberries and blueberries, it makes a great tea, so I have made a few jars of that to give as gifts. I froze about 5 gallons of blueberries, and gave that many away. We did not have any peaches, pears, cherries, or plums this year, but I still have peaches in the freezer from last year, which was a banner year.

I've planted lettuce for the Fall, but a rabbit mowed it down in one day, so I will have to replant. All the neighbors have noted that the rabbit population is exploding, so it makes me wonder if folks have killed too many snakes or too many coyotes. I have no idea of how a rabbit got inside my garden fence unless the gate was left open just long enough for him to get in, eat my lettuce and my only honeydew melon, and get out. I've also got a few broccoli plants in the ground, some Osaka Purple mustard, several brussel sprouts in the ground, a small patch of kale(I've never tried it so this is a grand experiment in taste) a couple of 15 ft rows of collards, a few cabbage plants, a 32 ft row of intensively planted snowpeas and English peas(both sides of the panel are planted, 16 ft of English peas and 16 ft of snow peas. I have both turnips and turnip greens, and have yet to plant spinach. I also need to decide where I will plant my garlic next year. I need to get busy with all that. I have also replanted carrots, radishes, and beets in my carrot bed. The carrots I planted in the ground did not germinate, but the board trick worked well in the raised bed and the carrot greens are about 5 inches tall.

The herb garden has been very productive this year, too. I've made several batches of pesto and froze that, too. I've harvested enough kitchen herbs like thyme and oregano to fill several quart jars, and I still have herbs drying in the kitchen. You might be a redneck if you hang your herbs to dry on your antler chandelier in the kitchen. :) Of course, I also use window screens and my truck as a drying oven, as well as two dehydrators, which are running right now(more apple chips today, onions tomorrow) Seriously, I've harvested and dried oregano, marjoram, thyme, sage, tarragon, savory, fennel, dill, lemon balm, chocolate mint, peppermint, 3 kinds of basil, nasturtiums, chives, violets, dandelion flowers, passionflowers, and horehound. I dried all but maybe 15 bulbs of garlic, of which I'm using fresh in canning and cooking. The echinacea did well, so I will be able to harvest that in a few years, too. This year, I planted beans in the herb bed to fill the gaps. Next year, we've decided that the herb bed will support chili peppers quite nicely.

The big plan for this Fall is to plant and grow more asparagus. We have decided to plant a 3x50 ft wide row of asparagus crowns as the little patch I have is 10 years old and just isn't enough now that Skyguy has decided he likes asparagus, too. If will take a lot of ground prep and double digging, as well as mulch to make this happen. Earlier this year, I planted a 8x15 area with Jerusalem artichokes-a gift from Rob(thanks again!)-and they are 9 feet tall and beautiful right now. The blooms are awesome. I'm not sure what the protocol is on digging the chokes, but I figure I will give them a few years, like I would asparagus, before I try to dig anything. I'm super psyched about that.

This year's garden has been the largest garden I've ever planted. I've tried to keep something going all the time. I will continue to do that, but I'm afraid that this might be my last big garden for a while. There is no way that I could have this size garden working full time. It saddens me. It is like giving up a part of myself. I guess I've been spoiled after a year at home. We all have to sacrifice I suppose. This is probably my last extensive garden update before I start working full time. :(

Heal Thyself

I am back from the brink of Viral Hell and I refuse to worship the Porcelain God ever again. :) I am healed.

Last Saturday at lunch, quite suddenly, just after I blogged/bragged about my mullein oil cure in fact, I got a headache and felt nauseous. I went outside to try to throw up, but could not. Thinking that I just needed to eat lunch, I went and got some soup from the pantry, and as I reentered the kitchen with the soup, I passed out cold in the floor. Apparently it was the sudden onset of a gastrointestinal virus and I passed out from a fever spike. It's never happened to me before that I can recall, but I have no idea of why I passed out. I did not even see it coming; it was as if someone clobbered me with a wrench: Lights out. Some time went by, I climbed into bed and just laid there. Late that afternoon when Skyguy came home, he took my temperature and it was 103, which is super high for me since my normal is 96.7(thyroid issues). I was really sick for a while. The GI distress started on Sunday morning with diarrhea, but by this time, my temperature had dropped to 99 and hovered between 99 and 100 all week until last night, when it rose to 101. Yesterday morning I decided to called the doctor to make an appointment. They told me that this GI flu is going around and they have one patient who has been fighting it for 16 days. The nurse I spoke with shared that she personally had this wicked virus for 7 days, but did not feel 'well' for two additional weeks. They just told me to stay hydrated-no visit needed. So there I was on Day 5 of a beastly illness with no end in sight. The headaches, fever, and body aches were relentless, as is typical with the flu. I lost 15 pounds and because of the infection I could not take my RA meds for the second week in a row. It was frustrating because I have so much to do, including two doctors appointments and a formal job offer luncheon to attend. The thought of possibly being sick next week was not only depressing, but I knew that would mean missing a third week of my RA meds, and that is a serious thing. Desperate times call for desperate actions.

What kind of medicine woman would I be if I didn't take my own meds, right? To be honest, I was so sick Saturday through Tuesday that I did not even think about anything, let alone meds. After all, I've been brainwashed that the only drugs for flu are Tamiflu and a perhaps a few others that should be taken in the first 48 hours of illness. So it wasn't until my best friend Ava, in a phone call, reminded me that I had just made an elixir for this very illness and I should take it. Recall my blog post from last week where Ava and I canned all day and made and Elderberry Elixir. It looks red in the picture, but it is purple in reality, so much so that it looks like grape juice. So Wednesday morning, with a fever of 99.8, after I hung up from the doctor, I found an eyedropper and dipped into the elixir. It took some serious guts as you must remember that this Elixir is brandy based, and brandy is not exactly what one thinks of five days into a gastrointestinal virus at ten in the morning on an empty stomach. It was akin to the old 'hair of the dog' cure, but I held it down. Two hours later, my fever rose to 100.3, and I took another dose. I took about half a teaspoon of this Elixir every two hours or so, and throughout the afternoon and evening my temperature crept up, but I actually felt better. I did not feel like I had a fever of 101, I felt almost normal last night. It was very, very odd. This morning was Day 6 of the virus and my temp was 97 degrees when I woke up. I got up, poured a cup of Joe, and kissed that pint jar of Elixir next to the coffee pot. I am cured. All day long I've had no fever and no GI symptoms. My temperature has been hovering between 97 and 98, which is still above normal for me, so I have continued the elixir regime, but I feel great.

The short story is that I, the sickly one, the one with a weakened immune system, the one who usually keeps a 24 hour bug for a week, kicked ass on a wickedly evil 7-16 day GI virus. How did that happen?

It happened because of elderberries and the magic of everyday, easily accessible medicines, knowledgebases that are almost lost, but that thankfully, a few souls like Kiva are preserving. I feel such a kinship with this woman; I should hope to have her knowledge if only in my dreams. She is my new hero. I wrote to thank her as I like giving credit where credit is due.
http://bearmedicineherbals.com/

Mullein Magic

I went swimming a few weeks ago, and know exactly when water entered my ear. I felt it and knew immediately, from past experiences, that it would mean trouble if I couldn't get it out. Of course, I came home and doused vinegar in my ear, and thought it would be okay. Last week, my ear started hurting, and I recognized the problem as otitis externa, i.e. an external ear infection. I've had them plenty of times before, about half of the time it starts with allergies, not water, but what happens is that bacteria thrive on the extra moisture in the ear, and I think some people, and some ears, just have a susceptibility to becoming infected. My left ear is almost always the one that gets infected. I hate swimmer's ear.

So for the last few days, I've been trying all sorts of home remedies, as usual. Olive oil is usually what brings relief, but since I've made some infused oils and elixirs this week, I thought I would experiment to see what I could concoct that might help. I read that mullein flowers can be used to infuse an oil, and then I read that the leaves would also work to soothe an earache. I had leaves, but no flowers. So in a small glass, I crushed some dried mullein, about a tablespoon full, and sprinkled a bit of garlic powder on it. I added olive oil, heated it, stirred it, and then coated the inside of my ear with it. Within a few minutes, I got relief, more than just relief from the oil alone. I inserted a cotton ball and went to bed. This morning, I have no pain whatsoever from the infection. My jaw is not sore or swollen; I can touch and press on any part of my ear without pain. The key ingredient is either the mullein or the garlic, and my bet is on the mullein, because it has astringent properties and soothing properties. The garlic may have killed the bacteria, but the mullein probably dried up the fluids that caused the swelling and pain.

I just wanted to share another of my WOW moments with you.

Canning, Drying, Putting By

This is what my kitchen table looks like recently, well, presently. It is quite the mess, but that is not even half the story. I've got the not quite ripe toms ripening, a pineapple for grilling, some bottled hot pepper oil, a few pimentos and Anaheims, an Avocado for salad, tomato seed saving jars, a chair full of books and jellies for Ava, and a ziplock bag for picking beans and stuff.

My best friend is an morning person. If she were a robin, there would be no more earthworms for the other birds. Ava works the way 75% of the world works, she is on a dawn to dusk schedule. By contrast, I am not a morning person. I've got plenty of reasons/excuses, but suffice it to say that I go to be late and sleep till almost noon. It is hard for me to get to sleep, but it would take a nuclear weapon to wake me up. I can get up, but it is difficult and doesn't feel natural at all. Thank God I have Ava to call me and put a boot to my butt to get me out of bed in the summer, because otherwise I'd be working solely in the heat of the afternoon.

Two days ago, Ava and I, partners in crime, went foraging for elderberries and harvested quite a few. We got a few other things, too, rocks, ornamental grasses and the like, stuff from old homesteads and roadsides. Today, we made jam, jelly, and a special elixir.

I have about 2 quarts of elderberries drying on a large window screen in my spare bedroom. They will be for tea or muffins or bread or whatever I decide to put them in. I took a pint of fresh berries and the first thing we made this morning was an Elixir to be taken as medicine in the event of the flu or swine flu or whatever virus comes down the pike. It was super simple. I mashed some berries with the back of a spoon, put them in my pint jar, squirted the juice of a lemon in there, and made a mixture of 2 parts brandy to one part honey, of which I poured that over the macerated elderberries. I did not seal it or anything. Alcohol and honey keep almost indefinitely. This Elderberry Elixir should be used by the dropperful. I got the recipe and instructions from this article.
http://www.wellsphere.com/complementary-alternative-medicine-article/into-the-forest-exploring-elderberry/373317
Secondly, we cooked down 2 quarts of elderberries using the vinegar recipe in the BBB. I wasn't satisfied with the thinness of the jam, so I decided to add half a pack of pectin. It tastes great, but the jam did not set well, so I think I will rework this batch, adding another box of pectin, OR maybe I will just strain it and make syrup. I dunno.

After the elderberries were done, we started on making grape jelly. This was my first foray into jelly making, but it won't be my last. About 3 years ago, I planted a Catawba grape in my garden, and this year, I got almost 5 pounds of grapes from the vine. I was psyched. I planted this variety specifically for juice and jelly, Concord likes NE, Catawba likes the South. It is very Concord like in appearance and use. Anyway, this turned out wonderful-it was so good, I was licking all the utensils, even the plate I sat the spoon on. I saved a swig of juice for Skyguy to try, and he loved it, so the Catawbas are definitely a valuable crop now. I'd like to get 10 pounds from that vine next year.

After the now purple kitchen was cleaned up, thanks to Ava who gave me a break from washing dishes, we decided to finish another project that I had been working on. Ava was fired up and worked like a dog. She's ten years my junior and worked circles around me today and I actually felt a bit old. In my own defense, I've been dealing with this vertigo like dizziness for a couple of days, along with a low grade fever and an ear ache. Obviously, it is an ear infection, else I have some kind of foreign object or bug inside my ear! During allergy season, I sometimes have ear problems, and if I don't stay on top of it, it just gets worse. Additionally, I've had a lot of stress in my life in recent weeks, and that has caused a psoriasis flare AND and RA flare. Today was the first day my jaw(from TMJ) was back properly aligned....but I digress. The point is, that I feel old and Ava was working circles around me. I had started making hot pepper oil this week and had the oil infusing in a large dutch oven inside of a black gas grill. I usually do the straining with coffee filters, but Ava came up with the idea to use the other jelly bag. What a timesaver! So, that project was finished quickly as I already had the bottles ready to go.

After Ava left-I decided that I needed to toss the elderberry waste and hope that I get a tree or two to come up on my property. Thinking 'full sun-moisture', I walked my property and tossed out seeds and seed heads in certain locations. JohnnyAppleseed reborn as Beverly Elderberry. Behind the house, where our greywater is treated(by canna, jewel weed, privet,elephant ears, and now elderberry), I happened to look back over towards the house to the fig trees and see another tree full of golden and purple figs. Ava and I had just picked them a few days ago and she made fig preserves from them. Since I wasn't up for more canning today, I grabbed a bowl and just started picking figs. I sneered at the nearby cardinal family that were yammering on at me while I picked. I came in, removed the stems, and sliced them in half vertically. They are now on the dehydrator. After a few hours of drying, I lightly sprinkled each fig with confectioner's sugar, like it really needed that, but it sure tastes good! So far so good. I'm hoping that I can substitute these dried figs for dates in my date bread recipe. If anyone knows what kind of fig these might be, I'd like to know. I cut one of these open and made an inset so you can see the inside. The quarter, of course, shows scale of the whole figs. The inset, sliced fig, is the one on the left. Anyway, the trees are 40+ years old. I've cut them down to the ground before, and they came back just as strong. I will be hard pruning them again this year. They are on a slope and the trees are taller than the house and it is difficult to harvest. Harvesting will be easier and safer if the trees are smaller.

So then, I realized that I had not been out to the garden today, so I grabbed a few bags and buckets and headed out there. I moved my mother hen and her chicks(only 2) to the chicken tractor, and cleaned up the mess out there where I had them sequestered. There is always some distraction around here first the figs, then chickens,,,,at any rate, I began picking tomatoes and tomorrow I will be canning tomatoes again. It seems to work out that every third day I can tomatoes. This time, I am drying some, along with the figs, the tomatoes are for pizza and whatnot, and will be making a few more jars of stewed toms. There are quite a few slicers in this batch, so I may end up cooking it into sauce, but we will see.

So while I was out there picking tomatoes, I happened to notice more beans that needed to be picked. I realized it had been a few days, so I started picking beans, too. Another gallon, and they are in a lull of sorts, but the flowers are picking up again, so it won't be long until I have more than I know what to do with.

Speaking of that, I am starting to get more and more okra. Skyguy wants fried okra, but I want to pickle it. I tried it for the first time and OMG, I kept eating it and eating it. Okra is so good for lowering cholesterol, and I know the vinegar is healthy. Thanks to my neighbors, Pat and Crystal for bringing me a jar of this wonderful stuff. I'm now addicted! I traded them a bottle of hot pepper oil...good trade, I think.

So after picking tomatoes and beans, and snacking on pickled okra, I blanched and froze the beans, did some laundry, took a shower, and called it a night. Skyguy cooked THE best dinner tonight. It was a Southwestern style grilled chicken salad with our cherry toms, scallions, avocado, romaine, feta, pine nuts, and the world's best lime and olive oil dressing. This salad was to die for!!

'Tis canning season. Tomorrow, we will be reworking some apple jelly and fig preserves that did not jel well. I should probably take my elderberries down there and rework them, too. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I'll be dreaming of pickled okra and stewed tomatoes!

Onward

What to write about....what to say...
I have lots to say about the things going on in the world, but since I can't change any of those things, there is no use in writing about it, except to say that contrary to what Nancy Pelosi says, I am one of the most patriotic people I know, and it is my right and duty to protest what I feel is a misstep in healthcare legislation.

I've been busy the last week or so, mostly gardening and canning, but also house cleaning and running errands. I may go back to work soon, and I feel unprepared with a zillion loose ends here that need tying. I really thought I would have heard something by now, and I really hate waiting.

The stress of it all has sparked an RA flare-up, and every joint in my body hurts and is stiff. I keep going, else I will be like the tin man and become stiff. When my RA flares like this, I end up totally exhausted because I don't want to sit down at all. It is too hard to get up. So, I channel the Energizer Bunny and head to the garden. I'm no speed demon, but I can get things done. Today, I planted English peas, snow peas, carrots, spinach, radishes, lettuce, and onions. I transplanted Brussel sprouts. Tomorrow, I'll finish sowing my brassicas: broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collards, and cabbage. The seedlings of broccoli and cauliflower are not ready for transplanting yet. Skyguy planted more sweet corn a few days ago. It will be a close call on getting it in before the first frost. In the last week, I've also planted more butternut squashes and a few cukes. Those squashes store really well, so if I can put a few in boxes, I won't be too hungry this winter. You just never know what the future holds with the economy teetering on the edge of disaster. One trucker's strike (Hi Trevor!) or a hurricane which disrupts the gasoline flow again, and the stores will be bare within a few weeks. If we all become home-bound due to swine flu, I'll be glad that I can make a nice, velvety butternut soup to comfort me.

About every three days or so, I can small batches of tomatoes. Because my stove doesn't get that hot anymore, and because I am too lazy to fire up the outdoor propane burner just yet, I've been hot water bath canning in my large, flat-bottomed Dutch oven. I can process 4 pints or 3 quart jars, about half as much as the rippled-bottom canning kettle. Because the Dutch oven heats quickly and more efficiently than the ripple bottom kettle, I can process two batches in the same time as one kettle full, so it doesn't slow me down much. I've canned stewed tomatoes, pizza sauce, plain tomato sauce, and tomato juice. The mixture of this year's tomato varieties has resulted in a very tasty sweet sauce, but the pH is right at 4.0, so it is safe to can. Yeah, the chemist tests sauce pH with pH paper strips-what can I say.

I've never grown sweet peppers. I do not like bell peppers, but I just love chili peppers and devote my garden space to the chilis. However, someone gave us a few banana peppers and they are pretty darn good. They smell like the little hot peppers you get with your Papa Johns pizza(I call those pepperoncini), but they are not hot at all. It is the strangest thing because they smell hot but don't taste hot. They are large, some are 6 inches long, and they look waxy like Hungarian Wax Chilis. I'm not quite sure what to do with them. Should I slice them and pickle them as pepper rings, or should I cut them into strips and maybe freeze them for use on pizzas??? Decisions, decisions. I may have to save the seeds from these-they are definitely interesting and not what I am used to eating. I wonder if they are really supposed to be hotter, but due to some soil condition or some other variable, they are super mild? Could that be?

Change of subject...
Snakes are crawling here in valley. Skyguy hit a big timber rattler on the way home from work a few days ago. He drove on home, picked me up, and we went back up the road to get a better look. That puppy had 11 rattles and a button and was as large as my arm. There was another dead snake on the road near here that was almost as large as the one Skyguy hit and killed. There seems to be a lot of snakes this year, but perhaps it is just that the neighbor's logging and tree thinning has stirred them up. The machinery and logging is in an area known for legendary-sized rattlesnakes. Habitat destruction is real and local.

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.

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

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.