Dieting is Like Being in Hell

I have been trying to lose weight. About 3 weeks ago, I bought a juicer and started juicing. Now after the three weeks, I am starting to lose weight like crazy, I also changed some of my eating habits, eating more organically and eating more whole grains, too. I feel like my metabolism is turned way rather than being way down like it was. In the morning is the best to weight yourself, right after you get up. I go to the bathroom first before weighing.

Juicing is not recommended by all doctors and is seen as being detrimental by some in the medical community. Therefore you are forewarned that you are about to leave the safe harbor called the AMA and venture into good health using Homeopathic methods of treatment. Be aware these methods were formally used in the practice of good health by those who knew these methods worked, but could not answer why they worked.

Ok, I want to give you what I have been doing.

• Diet Foods are NOT allowed. We are getting healthy here and not letting the Dr's and Food Industry poison us anymore. The only truly safe sugar substitute is Stevia. Nutrisweet, Aspartame and High Fructose Corn syrup are not good for you and should be avoided. If you must have food with sugar in it go for the Organic brand of whatever you desire.
  
• Breakfast - Coffee with 2% milk and 1 tsp sugar, bowl of whole grain cereal, no added sugar, like Kashi brand has, and milk, and last a boiled egg, salt and pepper. You could add in a fruit like a banana, but they are high in calories. Ignore what the Dr's say about eggs, eggs are a complete food and are good for you. Salt is an essential nutrient, you need to maintain proper sodium and potassium levels, I recommend Himalayan Sea Salt as it contains many trace minerals needed by the body for proper health.
  
• Morning Break - Kashi fruit bar and a glass of chocolate soymilk. If need be maybe yogurt or some other nutritious snack. A slice of good quality cheese won't hurt you, avoid American Cheese products. If the package says Cheese, it is ok, if it says Cheese Food or any of the other coined phases, it is not true cheese and should be avoided.
  
• Lunch - unsalted mixed nuts, natural peanut butter and all-fruit jam sandwich on whole grain organic bread. Avoid regular breads, mayonnaise and cold cuts, if possible.
• Afternoon Break - Juice with 2 stalks celery, 2 carrots, a cucumber or zucchini, 4 or 5 leaves of greens like swiss chard, collards or kale, I prefer the swiss chard, 1/2 small beet plus beet greens, 2 apples, or other fruit, 4 or 5 stalks of parsley, 1 clove of garlic and thin slice of ginger. I look to see whatever I have in the refrigerator and will make substitutes as necessary. Nothing is fixed, except the celery, carrots and apples, they make the drink more palatable, so don't leave them out. I use a beer mug and keep juicing until the glass is full. Now there's a drink for ya.
• Supper - I have to make something the old-fashioned way with meat, so whatever it is, is ok with me, I limit my portions, especially when the meat is beef origins.
• Drinks - No soda or diet drinks, including sports water of any kind. Water is the mainstay or you may need a little chocolate soy milk. Alcohol, at your discretion. Alcohol is hard to metabolize, so be advised before you hang a big one on.

I have been doing this regiment for the last three weeks, more so recently and have started losing weight big time. Have yet to determine how many pounds per day. I have also gone over to eating only organic, when I could afford it. Some organic stuff is very expensive.

This has been the only way I have been able to lose weight. Juicing allows a person to consume more vegetables and fruit than I would normally to able to, using a regular diet. So I believe the fruits and veggies are what is making me healthier and to lose weight at the same time.

Any other foods you desire, in very limited quantities, unless they are organic whole grain foods, with limited sweeteners and limited oil, limit deep fried stuff. Artificial anything is not allowed. If you are diabetic you have to be careful with fruits and root veggies. Monitor your blood sugar and go slowly with juicing. A very good online juicing resource is http://www.juicingbook.com/
There are also good books at the bookstore, such as Juicing For Life by Cherie Calbom, MS and Maureen Keane, MS, CN. This book came to me highly recommended, so it is worth buying and reading.

Psalm 22

1: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

2: O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.

3: But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

4: Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.

5: They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

6: But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

7: All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head saying,

8: He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

9: But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.

10: I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.

11: Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.

12: Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.

13: They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.

14: I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

15: My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

16: For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

17: I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.

18: They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

19: But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.

20: Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.

21: Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

22: I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.

23: Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.

24: For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.

25: My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.

26: The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.

27: All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.

28: For the kingdom is the LORD's: and he is the governor among the nations.

29: All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.

30: A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.

31: They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

Psalms, from The Holy Bible, King James version
Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;  5

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,  10

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.  15

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.  20

"I Never Promised You A Rose Garden", Garden

A look at the garden, small but ever changing, I started with planting in to soil and decided the soil was too rocky, so that brought on the concept of an elevated garden using the wooden boxes for the elevated garden frames.

In the center where the weeds are is a lower elevation, the choice is to fill it in or make it a lower elevation for plantings. In my Minds Eye, I want two lower elevations, the lowest would be some sort of pool or water statue, maybe a cherub pouring out the essence of life, Water into a pool of water. The next level would be for plants only, herbs and flowers, maybe plants which grow naturally near water.

The garden itself is going to be like a Garden Oasis, with structure from the planting boxes. I know there will be 4 boxes on the side where they were started, ultimately 6 to 8 boxes. The boxes will house the garden plants for ease of harvest. This is a work in progress, the final outcome is yet to be defined.

This box was the first one to be completed, it houses the onion plants and the pepper plants. There is also parsley, sage and lemon thyme. The peppers were kept too long a period tightly packed waiting for the box to be completed, so they are struggling to recover from their ordeal. About half of the peppers are showing signs of new growth. I do expect all to recover, but the harvest might not be what I would wish it to be.

This box was the latest addition to the Garden, so I have planted herbs in it, basil, chives, thyme, mint, tarragon, rosemary, cilantro and summer savory. Hopefully most of these are perennial.

This last picture shows where the next box will be laid out, actually there will be four boxes on this side. The area around the boxes will be lawn, some of the are has already been seeded, just waiting for the seed to germinate.

As time goes on the garden will grow into Garden Oasis.

Touring The Back Yard

Picnic and Barbecue area under the shade in the back yard.

View of back yard from the picnic tables.

The swimming pool.

The garden frames.

Rest of the garden area.

Bite The Bullet

A year ago I was flooded out in NH, my trailer was the one closest the river in the center of the picture. One of the reasons we got flooded out, was the Corp of Engineers opened up the Pittsfield Dam, so that dam would not give way. I don't regret the action taken by the Engineers, they had little choice, but to open the dam.

The problem was and is the same on the Mississippi River, that there is no place for the water to go. If the Pittsfield Dam had not been there or all those levees were not holding the Mississippi in it's banks, the water would have had someplace to go. So you say that is crazy, all those homes and cities would be ruined, well isn't it high time to respect Mother Nature and move those homes and cities away from the edge of the water onto higher ground. Without the levees in place the water would have never come as high as it is doing.

After everything is said and done, everyone is going to want to rebuild in the same location and cry out for stronger and bigger levees. When they should be looking at the river and asking how can we give the river more room, so when the water is high, it has a place to go. What is needed is to remove some or all of those levees and move the homes and cities onto higher ground, so then both the river and the people can live in peaceful coexistence.

Can It Get Any Better

Well I got the basic remnants of my outdoor kitchen set up. The Smoker, my Worktable which I built myself and a place to sit sipping from my water bottle. It sure is a lot of responsibility running this smoker. Can I really cope with all this stress.

Looks like this smoker needs some adjustment. It sure is making a lot of smoke.

The final result is a plate of Barbecued Chicken. That works for me.

Trees

Trees
(One of my favorite Poems)

Joyce Kilmer. 1886–1918

I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Patriot's Day

Paul Revere's Ride
(Dad knew this from memory, he thinks I forgot him reciting it. I always could remember those memorable details.)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five:
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry-arch
Of the North-Church-tower, as a signal-light,--
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country-folk to be up and to arm."

Then he said "Good night!" and with muffled oar
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,
Just as the moon rose over the bay,
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
The Somerset, British man-of-war:
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
Across the moon, like a prison-bar,
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
By its own reflection in the tide.

Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street
Wanders and watches with eager ears,
Till in the silence around him he hears
The muster of men at the barrack door,
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,
And the measured tread of the grenadiers
Marching down to their boats on the shore.

Then he climbed to the tower of the church,
Up the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
To the belfry-chamber overhead,
And startled the pigeons from their perch
On the sombre rafters, that round him made
Masses and moving shapes of shade,--
By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
To the highest window in the wall,
Where he paused to listen and look down
A moment on the roofs of the town,
And the moonlight flowing over all.

Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead,
In their night-encampment on the hill,
Wrapped in silence so deep and still
That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread,
The watchful night-wind, as it went
Creeping along from tent to tent,
And seeming to whisper, "All is well!"
A moment only he feels the spell
Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread
Of the lonely belfry and the dead;
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
On a shadowy something far away,
Where the river widens to meet the bay, --
A line of black, that bends and floats
On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats.

Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride,
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horse's side,
Now gazed on the landscape far and near,
Then impetuous stamped the earth,
And turned and tightened his saddle-girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfry-tower of the old North Church,
As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.

And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height,
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns!
A hurry of hoofs in a village-street,
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
And beneath from the pebbles, in passing, a spark
Struck out by a steed that flies fearless and fleet:
That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light,
The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
Kindled the land into flame with its heat.

He has left the village and mounted the steep,
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
And under the alders, that skirt its edge,
Now soft on the sand, now load on the ledge,
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.

It was twelve by the village clock
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.
He heard the crowing of the cock,
And the barking of the farmer's dog,
And felt the damp of the river-fog,
That rises when the sun goes down.

It was one by the village clock,
When he galloped into Lexington.
He saw the gilded weathercock
Swim in the moonlight as he passed,
And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare,
Gaze at him with a spectral glare,
As if they already stood aghast
At the bloody work they would look upon.

It was two by the village clock,
When be came to the bridge in Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,
And the twitter of birds among the trees,
And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadows brown.
And one was safe and asleep in his bed
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket-ball.

You know the rest. In the books you have read,
How the British Regulars fired and fled,--
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard-wall,
Chasing the red-coats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.

So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,--
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo forevermore!

For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.