doing it again

DOING IT AGAIN
we do it every year
my wife she and i
the funky chicken
no
not the dance
but
the tour one
saturday april 4, 2015 10am-4pm in austin


now we have chickens
and
have had them for 14 years
so
we know a lot about chickens
just
feed them provide water and safety
and
they will give you eggs in return
bug control
and
lots of fertilizer
and
in our case they make our compost for us


heres why we go on the tour
we get to talk to other chicken raisers
of course
these are mostly inside the city
we always learn something new

at the start of this tour
it begins at the sunshine community gardens in central austin
there are it seems over a hundred gardens in there
the day of the tour what i like is that the gardeners are there
working in their gardens
i could do the whole tour just in the gardens
asking each gardener questions and seeing what they
are growing
that experience there is worth the price of admission

but
we do go on the tour
this year they have each of the sites labeled as to whether
they have composting or gardening or rainwater collection
or xeriscaping or a pond
many have all of them

it was a tour two years ago where i learned how to do
my beds in my garden that has greatly increased its
production and decreased the amount of water thats used

i also have gotten a lot of ideas for my yard
xeriscaping
rainwater tank ideas
pond ideas
and
yes the way i make my compost using the chickens as
my composters
i got from this tour

so if you think you want
chickens
a compost pile
rainwater collection
a xeric yard
or a pond
this is the tour for you and your family

if you have kids they will absolutely love this tour

come on and do the dance with all of us
the funky chicken one

the organicgreen doctor

its ours, post tour

ITS OURS
its ours so we need to take care of it
its the only one we have
except
i hear theres one maybe several generations away
in the far bounds of the solar system

we can rule out going there any time soon

we all of us are gradually destroying this earth
the only one we have
thats not replaceable

some countries are doing it faster than others
we in america did our fair share of destroying it
in the past

we are better but still have a long way to go

i went on line at this link www.earthday.org
and
i calculated my foot print

now im a pretty green person
collect rainwater
generate 40% of our electricity with solar
use as much energy saver appliances and techniques i can
drive cars that get 35-38 mpg
generate only 2 trash bags of trash a  month
the rest plastics glass metal metal cans cardboard paper are
all recycled
produce a lot of my own vegetables
and
of course eggs

i am one of the good guys very pro earth
and
i went to the website to calculate my foot print

it would take 4.6 earths to support the world if they all
lived like i do
hate to see what it would be like for someone who didnt care

it would take 20.6 global acres of this earth to support
my lifestyle

well i do have 10 acres here at the country n

so its our planet
only we can save it for our kids

this needs to be apolitical
i do like eg the way the hunters and fishing organization try to
protect the environment
they know the things they like to do for recreation will go away
if its not taken care of

so
lets all save this earth
we dont have another one

POST TOUR
well we did the funky chicken
tour that is

the first stop was at the sunshine gardens
where people can rent space lots to do gardening
there just seemed to be hundreds of them

we poised in front of the portable chicken coup that
was to be raffled off
we were hoping the couple i and s would win the coop

i could have stayed there all day

then there was this interesting space ship one
the hens lay at the top
the little girl was looking underneath at one of the hens
i was looking at the laying boxes

my wife she and i enjoyed this site
it showed we had a bliss of a day
she of course liked it for the big chicken in the front yard

mobile loafs and fishes
this is the place where we spent the longest time

i asked a lot of questions of this poor volunteer
as she seemed to be the brains behind their chicken operation

i really loved this rainwater collection tank
i even hugged it a little
if you have a rainwater tank you understand

its made of ferrocement and wire
it holds about 800 gallons
the water will be used for the chickens and for the garden

then i managed to catch the volunteer gardener
asked him more questions than i did the chicken lady

here is a hugelkultur garden they planted
these are built and are used as a fence around the gardens
logs in the bottom
then leaves newspapers grass clippings  compost dirt
greens and browns greens and browns
note all my garden beds have been made using this method
all the produce from the garden the chicken eggs are used
to feed the homeless

the most impressive of the 14 sites
well maybe the 1st one was that good also

best tour of the many we have been on

learned a lot again
about gardening chickenering composting rainwater
and
caring for our earth
and
its humanity

the organicgreen earth day doctor

tour, five things

TOUR
dont forget the
funky chicken tour tomorrow

heres the link for information

you can go to the sunshine community gardens at 49th and sunshine in austin
to buy your tickets
ie  your map for your group

this also is a good starting point

here is the link to the descriptions of the different coops

you might even get to see something like this
so
take your kids

or click to see this kiddo chicken youtube video

FIVE THINGS
researchers have found 5 clues to risk factors for alzheimers disease

blood glucose not just diabetes
but a high normal blood sugar is associated with a increased risk of dementia
i have had slightly elevated blood sugars recently although they are normal now

high systolic blood pressure
middle age folks yes middle aged folks with a 10 pt elevation of systolic
bloodpressure
thats the top number
>140-150
have an increased level of biomarkers for alzheimers in their spinal fluid
that would be tau protein
a protein that becomes elevated in the spinal fluid as beta amyloid
accumulates in the brain
causing cell destruction which leads to the release of these
tau proteins
scary huh

walking funny
folks with a shortened stride and slowed walking pace may have memory loss

depression
folks with depression have a 2 times increase chance of getting alzheimers

heart disease
eighty percent of alzheimers patients have heart disease

so
ive said this before
control your blood sugar with diet and exercise
keep your blood pressure under good control
control your depression
control your heart disease risk factors
ie blood pressure cholesterol diabetes weight not smoking

it seems that a lot of what we can do to control our risk of alzheimers
and dementia is in our hands

how many of these do you have

taking care of ourselves can make a difference
in our risk of getting this terrible disease

alzheimers disease

the organicgreen doctor

do the dance, mr c, mooned

DO THE DANCE
its the weekend to do the dance
called the funky chicken
in the form of the funky chicken tour here in austin

if you ever thought you wanted to have backyard chickens in
your yard
you should do the funky chicken
tour

if you want to talk to chickeners about raising chickens
do the funky chicken
tour

if you want to see good examples of xeriscaping your yard
do the funky chicken
tour

if you want to see examples of rainwater collection
do the funky chicken
tour

if you have kids
they will absolutely love this tour
do the funky chicken
tour

your kiddos might end up loving the chickens

go to the funky chicken tour website
for more information
www.austincooptour.org

watch for the organicgreen doctor and my wife she
along the tour

MR C

another picture of mr c that was left off my blog yesterday
the frogs and the fishes were in the bowl
mr c and the fox and the hound named s when checking
them out
i guess scared those little froggies as they jumped out and
swam away
we managed to save the 6 little fishes
for use in my water trough ponds for mosquito control

MOONED
unlike many of you who either stayed up or set your alarms
to see the blood moon
i thanks to aricept (donepezil) interference with my sleep
i was up and out the door this morning to see the
pre eclipse moon
the eclipsed blood moon
the post eclipse moon

here is the documentation from my iphone
that i was there at the peak time
although im sad to say my grainy fussy pictures did not
do justice to how
beautiful it was

if you miss them those blood eclipses this year
you can see them again in 18 years
when your newborn is able to vote
when those of you who just started mediare will be 84
when the new 50 year olds will be on medicare and
social security they hope

it was refreshing to stop take a deep breath
gaze up at the clear crisp night sky
see all the stars
and
see that blood moon
it could be my last one
so i took the time
to seize the moment

what we need to do more of

if you have a garden and live close to me
i sure hope you took the time
to cover up your garden veggies with a cover
like the thick white row cover i use on my garden
do it again tonight
then in this area you should be ok for the rest of the
spring

last year i didnt do a good job and lost a lot of tomatoes
when it froze here around tax day

happy birthday today to my sweet smiley daughterinlaw

the organicgreen doctor

finally four, post tour

FINALLY FOUR
finally we have four teams left in the ncaa march madness
division 1 basketball tournament
this weekend i got to watch all of the games
well they did happen during some of my nap times but
i saw enought to get the jest of how the games went
and

im sorry to say i was watching live yesterday when the louisville
player went down with that horrific injury
why did they have to show that replay of what happened
all you had to do was watch the other players both coaches and
the fans reaction to this injury

thank goodness they didnt show it anymore the rest of the game
dont think charles barkley would have made it through the
half time show

i worked with an ambulance company during college attending wrecks
and worked in the emergency room as a er doctor for several years
and that injury bothered me a lot

hope espn doesnt show the replays over and over
will be disappointed if they do

my brackets have only one team in the final four
louisville who i think will win it all next weekend
although michigan looked good in its win

my thoughts to the player kevin ware and his family
hope his recover is a good one

POST TOUR

weve done the funky chicken tour now for several years
it seemed this years selections at least the five that we saw
were better than usual

not only was there coops with chickens on the sites but there
was rainwater collection going on xeric landscaping ponds
gardening using water conserving methods
i sure enjoyed visiting with the owners and the visitors
who were my kind of  people


(www.austincooptour.org)
one site that was interesting was at an elementary school that
had the two tiered coop built up against the window of one
of the classrooms so the kids could watch the chickens as they
nested laid their eggs dusted dug around in the bedding
heck they even let a chicken run around in the classroom
sometimes
each kid gets to help with the care of the chickens
collecting eggs  cleaning out the coop
the bedding with its rich manure is placed in the compost pile
which is later used in the schools garden
what a hands on educational experience for these kids
in town near the inner city


(www.austincooptour.org)
one intriguing location whose owner is associated with
the urban patchwork organization had chickens and ducks
which provided eggs for sale and manure for the garden
a greenhouse which also grew mushrooms
and a fish pond that was used to water their rain gardens

the chickens also had a run around the large garden space which
helped cut down on insects entering the garden
(i have the same system here at the country n)

the garden beds rarely have to get watered
they use a method where the dirt is dug out down to a certain
depth then is replaced with layering of limbs and trunks and leaves
and compost and dirt
at the top the garden has a bowl like appearance so that water doesnt
run off but soaks down into the garden
it almost like a reverse ant hill garden ive written about before
its at ground level
one of their beds that is growing winter crops hasnt been watered
since october
this site we visited was worth the whole trip to this years
funky chicken tour


then there is this pretty purple flower that one of the meals on wheel clients
has in her front beds that ive been admiring now for a year
in fact last week she said why dont you dig some of them up for your place

i wanted to make sure what they were before i did it though
didnt want some invasive plant taking over my landscape

at one of the funky chicken tour sites there the plant was
i asked the owner who didnt know the name for sure but gave me
enough hints that i was able to identify this plant
as the mexican petunia or ruellia

i plan to transplant some to an isolated bed so that if it becomes invasive
i can hopefully control its growth

so yes the funky chicken tour was a success again
we plan on making it a yearly event we attend

the oganicgreen doctor

do the funky chicken

DO THE FUNKY CHICKEN

not the dance but the funky chicken coop tour
its in austin about this time every year
my wife she and i have gone the last several years
and enjoy it every time we go


one of the memorable coops had an old television set as
a roosting box for the hens
you could look through the tv screen at the chicken laying
or sitting on the egg
so austin

this year we plan to experience the whole thing
from the talk on how to raise backyard chickens to the
author signing his book  raising chickens for dummies

theres even a bicycle tour of all the coop sites
no thats so austin

my wife she has this chicken purse that she carries around
with her that day
its always a big hit
people like to have their pictures taken with it
me i just hide when she flashes this purse around
i always pick my battles and this isnt one of them

my wife she and i love the tour even though weve done
it several times and have raised chickens for over ten
years
we still learn things every year
we get to talk to the fellow chickeners

i especially like to look at the different coop designs and
the landscaping that people have done in town on their
properties
many have rainwater collection systems

weve borrowed a lot of ideas for landscaping projects
and gardening projects over the years

many of these chickeners are young professionals who
enjoy the fresh eggs every day and the experience of
raising chickens

granted some of the coops humans could live in
the chickens are spoiled some of them more than
poodles are sometimes

so if you are even thinking you might want to raise backyard
chickens
you should go on this tour

if you have young kids they definitely will love it

im a kid at heart i guess and i love it every time i go

try it out this year
and
do the funky chicken

the organicgreen doctor

the tour, nba, wanna cookie, no moon

THE TOUR
my wife she and i did the first annual hill country chicken coop tour this
weekend
we saw 6 of the 10 coops
we love chickeners as we are one of them
they are so enthusiastic
about raising chickens and helping others do the same

below is one of the most impressive coops ive seen doing this
tour or the funky chicken coop tour in austin

these chickens have it made for sure

we that is i asked a lot of questions of the chickener at this place

think this tour was a success
all the chickeners were good ones
got to see a lot of the hill country that ive not seen before
next year will devote time to see all of them

NBA
this is the time of the year when i start to watch the nba
cant wait to see the lakers and thunder play each other
what a series that will be
then each series after that just gets better

hope the spurs hold up to all those games
they just plod along and takes care of winning with
out any splash or flash or drama

all the west is playing for a chance to get to the heat
miami vs lakers or thunder or spurs
either one will be a good finals
cant wait

WANNA COOKIE
maybe thats what ill have another should be named since iha loves
cookies and that where the name came from
bought for $11000 by a blue collar owner trained by a blue collar
trainer rode by a newbie jockey
hope iha makes it through all three races as the winner
? next triple crown winner
what a story that would be

NO MOON
we were looking forward to that moon this weekend
even had friends over to view it since we have a great
view of the sky not available in town
instead we got clouds then later that night we got a fantastic
light show from all the lightening (of course no rain with it)
but it wasnt as good as that fantastic moon would have been
maybe next time

the organicgreen doctor

tebowing, the funky chicken, habitat

TEBOWING
i like tim tebow
and cant wait to watch him on sundays playing for the jets
i like a lot of people watched him play whenever he was on tv

he doesnt hide his religious beliefs but what i like about him is he
doesnt push those beliefs on you and seems to know when its
appropriate to talk about his religious beliefs and
he seems to have a respect for those who dont have religious
beliefs or have a religion different than his
he probably gained this from his world travels

i learned this from seeing people from different cultures
you have to respect a persons personal religious beliefs
and ask that they respect yours
i would see protestants moslims hindus atheist agnostics budhists
all in one day
each religious belief was different and sometimes affected how
the patient was managed

yes tebow
you wear you religion on your sleeve but you dont wipe it on someone
who doesnt want it on them

he came to this area this weekend for easter sunday
100 buses transported people to the services
roads were closed down
people came for miles and arrived hours before the service started

maybe he should run for president one day

THE FUNKY CHICKEN
my wife she and i and relatives did the funky chicken this weekend
the tour i mean not the dance

dang what people will do to house a chicken
these are animals not your kids
well think some are treated like they are their kids

its interesting to see how backyard chickens can be tucked into
the backyards of house in an urban city and be discreetly done
and be intermingled with the landscape and architecture of the
property

also it was fun to see the coops the landscaping and the house themselves
to get ideas for the country n
this is actually where i got a lot of ideas for my landscaping ive
done from doing these tours
many of the homes had xeriscaped landscapes done

be sure and do the funky chicken next year

HABITAT
this week there is one more workday left on wednesday
its doing all those final touch ups that need to be done
before the new home owner can take over the house
this weekend the final landscaping will be done then
the next weekend the house is hers
know shes excited

ive learned a lot of skills that i can use here at the country n
especially as i redo my old barn
ive also met a lot of interesting people who volunteer
and a lot of skilled workers who make building this happen

the majority of the work is done by volunteers
so volunteer where you live
ill guarantee that youll feel good about yourself when you do it

i know i do

the organicgreen doctor

what to do, tour

WHAT TO DO
i get this question a lot
what to do
my spouse parent friend aunt uncle brother neighbor may have
memory problems or dementia and i want to know what to do

remember
they are embarrassed and are embarrassed to ask for help and
embarrassed to see the doctor for help

they are embarrassed to take the mental screen test if they cant
answer those questions that are being asked
i know
but i got over it
to have a tester ask you to remember those things and you cant
or to try to work a puzzle and you cant
its embarrassing especially if youve worked professionally at
a high level

sometimes the person wont do a screen test available on line
but you can do one on them

if there appears to be a problem it needs to be evaluated
remember sometimes curable treatable causes are found
that when treated can revert things back to normal
eg hypothyroidism or low vitamin b12
so they need to be evaluated

dont go in to the doctors office unprepared
you need to have something to hand to the doctor to point
them in the right direction for a work up

remember if you notice things or the patient does its there

here is an alzheimers 21 question  form questionnaire you can
fill out yourself and score it
put your patients name on it and hand it to the doctor
it becomes a part of their medical record
that cant be ignored

dont go in empty handed or you may be put off especially if
they are busy and
dont go in and at the last minute say on by the way we are
concerned he has dementia or has trouble remembering things
let that be the reason for the appointment

the patient needs a history and exam done
remember your looking for treatable stuff

the patient needs lab work
here is what they need
write this down and hand it to the doctor
it becomes part of the medical record
and has to be acted on
they need a cbc complete blood count, a metabolic profile that
has sodium potassium sugar or glucose bun creatinine-kidney functions-
liver function test  a tsh level a screen for hypothyroidism a b12 level
a syphilis test and a hiv test-remember we were all young once and these
things can show up years later as dementia
a urinalysis

most doctors will do some type of mini mental evaluation and
may send the patient for a more involved neuropsychological testing

a mri is needed to rule out strokes brain tumors masses increased fluid

if the patient has not had this work up then they have not had
enough evaluation done

if the patient does have mild cognitive impairment or alzheimers and
no matter how early it is
dont be afraid to start treatment
remember the meds ie aricept (donepezil) work better the sooner
it is started
ie
it delays worsening symptoms better when its started early
eg
in my case being on this medicine early may delay worsening symptoms
for five years before it quits working
thats five years thats very important to me and my family

so
dont go to the doctor empty handed
do the form
ask for labs-cbc metabolic profile tsh b12 level syphilus test hiv test
urinalysis and a mri
dont be bashful
go with them to the appointment and go into the exam room
with them
remember im speaking from the experience of being on both
sides of this story as the doctor and now as the patient

TOUR
if you live in central texas and are interested in backyard
chickens do the funky chicken coop tour in austin
tomorrow
heres the link funky chicken coop tour

happy easter
well have fresh eggs for easter
they come out already dyed blue and brown or white

the organicgreen doctor

reslimed, do the funky chicken

RESLIMED
in a recent blog i wrote about the pink slime
oops that made everyone turn red based on
the responses back to me

basically pink slime is bits of left over meat from other cuts and uses

(is that the ears tails testicles noses tongues  all that stuff i give my dogs)
that is heated to 100 degrees f then it is spun in a large centrifuge
so the fat is separated out

-thats what they do with your blood when they draw it so they can run
tests on the resulting serum-the stuff left at the bottom is pink slime-

whats left is pressed into bars and then gassed with ammonium hydroxide
to kill any bugs
that my friend is pink slime
yum yum
guess if i was starving i wouldnt care but im not
heck my rainwater brother ate bugs lizards rabbit when he
was put on a survival course once but he said he was hungry and
would have eaten anything

dang still feel like thats stuff that you would only feed your dog

now the company that makes it has applied to label all beef that has it

so does that mean that it will say warning this has pink slime in it
nope
it will say
contains lean finely textured beef
is this kettle black or what
its pink slime

they say it will improve consumer confidence by labelling it
do they think we are stupid or what
its pink slime

just call it bologna burger or something
we all understand what that means
anything could be in there
but hamburger
thats hamburger
all beef real beef not dog bits and pieces

guess ill have to eat free range grass feed beef now from the
farmers markets
no pink slime there

DO THE FUNKY CHICKEN
no not the dance but the funky chicken coop tour this weekend
here in austin texas
heres the funky chicken tour link
basically you go to one of two locations to buy a map for $10
then just follow the map and look as these unique and sometimes
odd urban chicken coops
it will make you want to have your own backyard chickens

then on sat may 5 do the hill country chicken coop tour
basically you go to one of the local sponsoring businesses
the hill country feed store or the cedar park farms to market
farmers market at lakeline mall to get your map
(no pink slime sold there)

we always get good ideas on new things to do to our coops
or how to care for the girls

the organicgreen doctor