that was fast

THAT WAS FAST
forty years went by real fast
zoom zappo its gone

it all started forty years + ago
i met my wife she while we worked together at a local hospital
when we were in college
i worked as an emergency room technician
she worked as a nurses aide
i wanted to be a doctor
heck i flunked out of college my first try
gpa was 0.0
but now i was getting a second chance
to attain my goal of being a physician
i just was going about it in a round about way

she wanted to be a nurse but got disillusioned by all the
paper work required and little patient contact that was done
by the nurses at that time
so she changed her major to political science which fit her
personality better
later becoming a teacher in high school
where she found her place where she was meant to be
just like i was in medicine

we also had a class together
i sat behind her in microbiology class and lab
with a good view i did have

later i was the lab teaching assistant for her chemistry class
lets just say she got an a in that class
:))

then close to the end of our second year well my fourth year since i
had to work like she did and go part time

then we went to a party together
ok she asked me if i wanted to go so i went

it was hot and heavy for months after that
until the early fall
she was accepted to ucla
i was accepted to uc riverside
we would be separated by an hours drive
then
next thing we know off to vegas we went the weekend before
college started

we were married there
she transferred to uc riverside
we never looked back
now its been 40 years

how have we made it work
compromise
and
compatibility
and
change

we have similar political social and religious beliefs
heck we even have the same favorite sports teams
cowboys longhorns razorbacks eg

you do have to change though to be successful in marriage
both of you do
i am an obsessive compulsive person
she is not
im less so now and
she is more so now well not that much really

we never argue any more
i guess we have fought all the fights and have settled them
in the past

i guess you call it mellowing like a good wine
we are now mellowed together
we even think a lot most of the time
of course im always right
well she say that she does
yes honey your right
well that does make me mad some
since i  know she really doesnt mean it

but overall we get along and are quite compatible
weve had our ups and downs but now it seems a more smooth
of a ride

guess if couples are going to make it they have to be that way

so in august we celebrated our 40th anniversary in san francisco
two months early since we were there with our two sons and
our daugherinlaw and our sons girl friend

then yesterday for our 40th we got the final word
we were going to be the grandparents of a little granddaughter
come april
best present of all

so last night
we had our 40th anniversary dinner
at home at the country n where we prefer to celebrate things
a nice steak potato corn salad
and

this bottle of wine we made 5 years ago and saved it for
this special occasion

cheers to us for making it this far
and for several years more together

have a glass for us please

the organicgreen doctor

plantings

PLANTINGS
when we first moved to the country n i had visions
of grandeur to plant a large garden for us to eat from
and
for us to have extra to can freeze give away donate
then
reality set it
hail storms destroyed it sometimes
the drought made me make choices on what survived
and
what didnt survive
tomatoes always won of course
then
vacations we took in the summer happened during
crop time
if you dont pick things at the right time the outcome
is not good
potatoes will rotten sometimes if left in the ground too long
garlic will not do well either
onions wont either
a tomato crop can get wiped out while on vacation
a big fat tomato worm can wipe out a lot of a tomato plant
in a few days
if you arent there to pick them off the plant thats left
looks like a charlie brown christmas tree
insects all kind of insects that overwhelm the garden
sometimes if you arent watching things closely

so over time we learned our lesson
drought time insects weather pointed us to where
we are today

we have 400 square feet of garden space that has rich soil
in it
and
has at least 2-3 feet of soil depth
at the bottom are moisture holding cardboard newspapers twigs
tree branches several big logs and lots of leaves your leaves
thank you

each bed has a dripper system that has emitters every 6 inches
all of which is connected to my rainwater tanks that i use
for irrigation
total potential volume 6500 gallons
right now thanks to our droughty winter they are only
half full
which isnt good

i have put a lot of time and effort into this the last 2 years
and
think i have it all set up like i want it
i hope

we plant our gardens all year round
the summer there are fewer things than any other times
the fall and spring the most
the winter more than the summer

we plant only usually what we can eat directly from the
garden with the onions and garlic and potatoes being some things
we store and use for several months
it doesnt  take a lot of work to do that

the tomatoes we plant extra so we can freeze some for use
in soups sauces etc
sorry but those made from your own tomatoes are so much better

i dont till or even use any tools in my garden
just my hands
since the beds are raised and the soil is easily handled with
my two tools attached to my arms
there are no weeds in my soil
since i either made my soil or bought the ladybug hill country garden soil

then
over time ive developed a list of things we plant here at the
country n
so
here is the list of what i have planted now this spring

garlic 100 planted in november and will be pulled and stored in june
to be used all year
onions i use 1015 ones since they seem to do so well in our garden
planted then in  january and will pull them in june
and hang them in what i call onion chimes to be used for
several months
potatoes i used red lasotas
i dont cut them when i plant i just buy small ones and throw them
in a hole
we dig them in june and store them for future use

tomatoes
i plant them in early march or late february
you have to keep a close eye on them so the freezes wont get them
i use a deep hole planting method and 5 gallon buckets to cover them
and then row cover thick type on top when the cold comes
this way i can gain a month of growth before the heat starts

-we plant early girl since they the first to produce
-juliette and sweet 100s which are small and very productive
and will usually last until it freezes in the late fall
-celebrity it always does well
 -multiple different heirlooms since they taste so good
cherokee purple brandywine are the two we always plant
then i pick others some ive never heard of

this year have limited my tomatoes to just 10 plants
spaced them further apart hoping to increase production
boy that is sure hard to do just pick 10

squash we love zucchini and yellow squash but the squash vine
borer is such a problem here and there is really no way to stop it
some years it hits late and some years it hits early
so
ive changed to one called tatume
a heirloom that vines like pumpkin or melons
if picked small like a baseball size its like a round zucchini
if left on the vine it gets larger and is used like a winter squash



okra i plant clemson spineless and a german red okra i got from
malcolm becks garden via my rainwater brother via malcolms wife
they both seems to do well here



cucumbers i plant armenian cucumbers
its a long narrow one that is productive
it does well in my garden
we dont pickle or store cucumbers so these are easily
eaten raw without peeling etc

we plant sweet basal since we use it a lot in pesto cooking
salads
in the fall we just pull up the plants and my wife she puts them
in the freezer sometimes in pesto sometimes in ice cubes etc

we plant these peppers since its what we eat
bell pepper sweet banana pepper poblano pepper
and a mild jalapeno pepper
yes im a wuss when it comes to peppers



we plant egg plants usually the long narrow ones called ichiban
sometimes we plant a standard eggplant



we have malabar spinach that returns from seeds each spring
it runs on a vine up our fences in our garden
it gets a permanent place there
we eat it cook it just like the spinach we plant in the fall
so we have spinach 365 days a year

we have oregano rosemary sage bay thyme planted permanently
in beds
in fact we use them in place of shrubs



so this is what it has come down to
a smaller but more manageable garden that doesnt overwhelm you

the country n organic garden

the organicgreen doctor

heart healthy?, does it or doesnt it

HEART HEALTHY?

if you look at our family tree and trace back some medical history

youll see that there is a lot of strokes and heart attacks as the 

cause of death or disability 

this is because we have high cholesterol and have a tendency to have

hypertension and yes if you look at old photos youll see some degree

of obesity 

in fact my father had high blood pressure high cholesterol and had

a bypass graft done at 68 and was slightly overweight

in his last years he developed some issues that when i look back i 

think he probably had some dementia that was probably alzheimers 

disease

knowing that vascular dementia and alzheimers disease gets intertwined

sometimes

ive thought of his health and i have the same risk factors except for the 

obesity

now that im on aricept (donepezil) for possible alzheimers disease which

slows down symptoms of the disease but not the disease itself

and i have blood pressure and weight and cholesterol and exercise and 

diet under good control 

i think sometimes well im just making myself live longer so that the 

alzheimers can just reach its full effect

although in some studies not controlling your blood pressure can increase

production of that beta amyloid that may be the cause of alzheimers disease

which can make the disease occur earlier in life

my dad died in his mid 70s of a heart attack sparing us and my mom and 

himself the last years of a demented life

which is worse i wonder

dying early with a heart attack to get it over with or 

dying later with alzheimers allowing your family to suffer with you as the

alzheimers disease takes you away 

if i could chose i would go for early heart attack every time

i always tell my wife she if you ever come home and find me lying face

down here at the country n know that i died happy and died where i 

wanted to die and the way i wanted to go  

then this week i read about how aricept (donepezil) actually may be good 

for your heart

if i have alzheimers disease i could be on aricept (donepezil) for over

15-20 years if im  lucky?

it may decrease the heart attack and death rate by 35%

thats a significant number folks

but

it does somehow seem cruel if we cant at the same time come up 

with a prevention or treatment for alzhemers disease

so for now ill just take my aricept (donepezil) and keep everything under

control but when or if i get alzheimers disease and i get more advanced

my wife she has been instructed to take me off all my medications

so everything will speed up and get it over with 

DOES IT OR DOESNT IT

im always being asked about coconut oil

does it help or not with alzheimers disease

my response had been probably not but it doesnt really hurt to 

take it 

my younger brother took it and it didnt help him any 

there is a medical food 

(thats a category thanks to good lobbying by

pharmaceutical companies to bypass the fda since their products arent

medicines but food-doesnt quite sound right does it)

thats called axona it a medium chain triglyceride that in some early studies

appeared to maybe help improve memory which have not

been able to be duplicated by followup non drug company sponsored 

research

i actually tried this for a month and decided to not take it 

i decided to put my efforts to controlling those things mentioned in the 

above section on heart healthy?

so coconut oil is similar to this stuff

the thinking is that by taking this stuff axona you get ketosis 

think acetone

which the body can use as an energy source so those alzheimers 

damaged cells can use this stuff for a food source instead of sugar which 

it cant seem to be handled well by these damaged cells

so thats the thinking

now a researcher has gotten money to do an actual 

controlled scientific study using placebos in one group and then using 

coconut oil in another group and then will follow them over time to see if 

it works

(you can go to this link also to get information to be in the study)

simple experiment thats not really ever been done

why 

you can get this stuff cheap at walmart target your grocery store health food store

so no drug company can make millions off it 

so its never been scientifically tested 

just anecdote stories

so we should know soon does it or doesnt it

folks we just need a cure dont we

the organicgreen doctor

wish we had that

WISH WE HAD THAT

those of you who follow my blog everyday will recognize
that my blog was posted late today
ok a few hours late

my wife she and i love living at the country n
we feel peacefully isolated here
nearest neighbors 1/2 mile away
the river a quarter of a mile away
wildlife and birds everywhere
heck we sometimes just dont want to go anywhere because
its so nice to live here
some people drive and travel to stay at a peaceful place like this

but sometimes there are drawbacks
like
today since we cant get real fast speed internet service ive been
fighting our internet now for a couple hours trying to get this
blog done

weve tired regular ole dial up
at first when we first moved here that worked real well
then over the last 12 years as the internet progressed that
would not work well if at all anymore
heck we couldnt even get them to help with the phone line when
it would malfunction
so after several attempts to get my land line working
with the promise of no service available to make it work
heck the guy that came out always blamed it on field mice
who set up a nest every spring in the control box out front
bet he told everyone that

so i decided to fix it myself
i simply canceled the land line and converted the number to an
old cell phone we had to use as our home phone
its used mainly to catch calls from those we dont want to talk to
you know like political parties robo calls things like that

weve tried the land line service initially that sucked big time
so we changed to a satellite service called wildblue which
actually worked well when it worked
but  a storm coming through like last night would knock out
the service
then
if you got close to your data limit they would start slowing
down your internet speed
so frustrating
so
we canceled the service after a couple years

they left this big dish on our roof that i had to take down
when i did that i was so impressed with the guy who put it up
how in the heck did he get that up there all by himself

i took it down
man it was heavy and it was held down by these heavy concrete
blocks

i recycled all of it by setting the big antenna on the side of the
road here at the countyry n and after a couple of days it
disappeared
im always amazed at what people will take off the curb

the concrete blocks i used to build my wife shes garden at her school
yes i try to recycle everything just ask the people at habitat
for humanity

next we switched over to verizon jet pack 4g lte service
i know what 4g is and never quite understood what lte service is
but
we were told
oh yeah theres a new tower near where you live that has 4g service
forgot to ask how near was near

have you ever seen a light that flitters off and on all the time
we have one here on our front porch that will make you
dizzy as heck if you sit and watch it too long

well thats what our internet service is like
a flittering light
so that we fluctuate between 3g and 4g and no g
usually that happens just as i start to write or post my blog
like this morning
heck that lte lettering probably goes to xyz on our service

but
like living out here at the country n there are trade offs you just
have to accept
bringing home a car on empty like my wife she does a lot
if shes used up my gas can gas already from the last time
then what she does is take my car instead or even worse take
my old beat up black pickup truck thats used up a few of
its nine lives
then theres the time when you go to the store and come home
and start to cook something and you go oh darn it i
forgot the sugar or the salt or the pepper or the chicken etc
you adjust the menu or cook something else
my wife she recently forgot no that was me some of the
ingredients for her cornbread so she just made up a new one
and well it actually tasted good even though it was a little
on the flat side
friends sometimes say oh thats too far to drive why dont
you just come into town to see us
that doesnt make sense does it
we also dont get any of those solicitors here
they never get past our dogs at the front gate

so when you write out the pros and the cons
the pros have it for living out here at the country n

even though
we will continue to have to deal with this slow internet speed
at times and hope there will be more times when it really is
fast speed internet service

i know that google fiber is coming to austin promising a 100x
increase in speed to that town
heck
a 100x increase here at the country n will get us up to
where you guys are now in town
but
well stay where we are now
as we are happy and content here

the organicgreen doctor

what happened, debates thoughts

Walk to End Alzheimers
we are walking in the bell county/temple 
walk to end alzheimers on saturday november 3 2012

you can walk free but a donation to and or joining
my organicgreendoctor team is appreciated

join us there

WHAT HAPPENED



by now we have all heard about benghazi
before now i sure didnt know where it was
and probably didnt care
still dont care except that we lost an ambassador and three men
on the attack

why it happened or how it happened will be hashed out
im sure in the political arena over the next few weeks
of course when the election is over it will probably disappear
off  the radar

so what really happened
here is a good article with a timeline of what  transpired that
night and what has happened since

im sure 47% of you will think one way and 47% of you will
think another way and the rest of you will be undecided

my view
its a sad story
it shouldnt be repeated
it was on president obamas watch so yes you accept responsibility
thats the way it is

it could easily have been on someone elses watch
this stuff happens to all presidents
reagan-lebanon   carter-iran hostages   bush 2-9/11
clinton-twin towers and multiple attacks

should these be politicized
no

what really matters is what we are all worried about
economy jobs taxes medicare medicaid social security
womens issues wall street reform

it is sad this event will be forgotten mostly in 15 days


here is the link to the timeline of events that awful night
we should all read about it

DEBATES THOUGHTS

here at the country n we use to have these two roosters
(one was larry of larrys weekend
my wife shes nemesis)

they use to get along until the smallest one matured
guess his testosterone levels got high
and they began to fight on a regular basis

they would face each other
bring up their neck feathers
peck and circle each other
real macho guys
those cock fighters

thats what the last debate reminded me
was those two roosters fighting each other

so im glad this is the last debate
and that theyll be sitting down this time
bet theyll kick each other under the table
dont you

not sure how theyll talk on foreign policy for 90 minutes
know id like to hear more about the stuff that matters
to all of us as i mentioned above

ive decided next election im not going to watch the debates
live
im going to only watch them on snl saturday night live
theyre more fun to watch that way

the organicgreen doctor