Smile, breath, and go slowly---Thich Nhat Hanh

     Outside temps are hot, hot, hot.  I had to resort to the treadmill for run/walk/run #2 using Jeff Galloway's plan.  Actually, the treadmill does help with the timing.  I did a 1 min. run, followed by a 30 second walk and repeated for a total of 5 miles.  It wasn't exactly easy, but when you know you only have to run for 60 seconds at a time, it is doable.  I intend to keep trying Galloway's program for a while to see if it helps me get back into running.  

"Running is what keeps us alive and keeps us healthy.  Not running is the most harmful thing we can do to our bodies."     Dr. Daniel Lieberman, evolutionary biologist from Harvard

Visitors

     We had a wonderful visit from family for most of last week, so today I have the time to get back to regular exercise and eating healthily.  We did take a 2 1/2 hour vigorous hike on Saturday, which was lots of fun;  however our company was decidedly not vegetarian.  It is hard to cook for carnivores when you haven't cooked meat for 17 years.  I hope, someday, to change their minds about all the meat-eating; but they don't ask my opinion, so I can't offer it. 
     Today I tried Jeff Galloway's Run-Walk-Run program for the first time.  I don't have a timer yet so ran for 60 respirations, then walked for 30 respirations, and repeated for 5 miles.  It worked just fine.  I plan to try this for awhile to see if it helps my running.  I'll also get a timer later this week.  I wore my minimalist Merrill Pace Glove shoes, but went sockless so now have a bad blister.  That was poor decision making on my part.  The 10k we signed up for, Fans On the Field, is only 90 days away. Must get motivated.
     We also had animal visitors over the weekend.

This is why my lilacs are fenced, remain so short, and never bloom.   But isn't he beautiful!  He startled me when I first walked out of the back door, though.  It is amazing to stand so close to something so huge and untamed.  I'll take our wildlife visitors over a perfect flower garden any day.

Bears

     I live in suburbia, but early this morning when opening the back door I startled a mama black bear and her 2 cubs as they were decimating our bird feeders.  They immediately took off running, but one cub ran up a fence post.  The second cub returned to get him and then both followed mama around the corner and out of sight.  So  cool, but it all happened too fast.  I wish I could have gotten pictures.
     We will start bringing our bird feeders in the house overnight; no need to get the bears in trouble by having them so close to people.

"If you're a bear, you get to hibernate.  You do nothing for six months.  I could deal with that.
Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid.  I could deal with that, too.
If you're a bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown, but cuddly cubs.  I could definitely deal with that.
If you're a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business.  You swat anyone who bothers your cubs.  If your cubs get out of line, you swat them, too.  I could deal with that.
If you're a bear, your mate expects you to wake up growling.  He expects that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat. 
Yup, I wanna be a bear."
                                    author unknown

Run-Walk-Run

     Jeff Galloway and his wife, Barbara, spoke at our local running store yesterday.  Jeff is a lifelong competitive runner and was a member of the '72 USA Olympic team.  He has written multiple books on running; he coaches plus owns running stores.  He is best known for his run-walk-run training methods.  He is 66 years old, and he and his wife use this method to run a marathon every month.  
     I was really impressed with his description of how this works.  Taking frequent walk breaks early on lets you run much farther with less fatigue, and less chance of injury. It is sort of like interval training, so that when you run you go much faster.
     I have been jogging for 4+ months now, with no real improvement.  It is discouraging.  I will be giving the run-walk method a try.  I think it could be a good starting point for Dean, as well, once he gets medical clearance to get back to full activity. 
     Jeff and his wife are delightful people.  They are down-to-earth, friendly, and are both slim and fit. There was a man in the audience who uses the run-walk method and is a member of the local Galloway running group....he looks fantastic, like a slim fit 60 year old....he is 83!!!!!  I want to look that great at 83. If I ever plan to run longer distances, I will certainly join the Galloway training group. 

"You don't stop running because you get old.  You get old because you stop running."
                                            Jack Kirk

Celebrate Diversity

     Yesterday we went to the Pridefest parade to support the Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgender community.  Our daughter has attended with friends for a number of years to support other friends, and it sounded like a hoot.  It was.  There were thousands of people there and it is becoming a family event.  Basically, it was a big party with lots of people dancing, holding hands, and wearing rainbow colors, tutus, feather boas, etc. 
     The parade entrants included politicians (mayor, senators, congresspeople), large businesses, local restaurants, animal rescue organizations, and dozens of churches and church members all out to support diversity and the GLBT community.  There was also an ex-military contingent fired due to 'Don't ask, don't tell', as well as AIDS prevention groups. 
     There were a handful of protestors carrying placards, but even they were peaceful.  It was a great event and we hope to attend again.

   
I'm straight, not narrow.  (a teeshirt slogan)
    

Happy Father's Day

  Thank you for slaying the dragons.  

"Sherman made the terrible discovery that men make about their fathers sooner or later...that the man before him was not an aging father but a boy, a boy much like himself, a boy who grew up and had a child of his own and as best he could, out of a sense of duty and, perhaps love, adopted a role called 'Being a Father' so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important; a Protector, who would keep a lid on all the chaotic and catastrophic possibilities of life."   (Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities)

Kedge #1

     I have set my first kedge....something to renew my motivation and to pull me forward.  Dean and I have signed up for a 10k run/walk in late September....Fans on the Field. The course goes through Invesco Field at Mile High (the Bronco's stadium),  along the warning track at Coors Field (the Rockies baseball stadium), and across the floor at the Pepsi Center (the Denver Nuggets basketball arena).  Sounds like a blast, doesn't it?  Of course, we can always walk it if need be, but hope to run it.
     It is time to start training and get back in the routine of things, to stop letting life interfere with health.  The former Olympian Jeff Galloway will be at our local running store on Monday talking about his run/walk method.  I hope to attend.  It should be interesting to meet a legend, and his method sounds like it would be helpful for us.  I'll have to get a copy of his book.
     Wish us luck.

"Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal."     Wayne Dyer
    
    

The heart of the farm

     I grew up on a small farm in Nebraska.  My parents still live there, but 2 of my brothers do the farming.  Agriculture has changed.  They no longer raise livestock, which is really great from a vegan's perspective.  However they will soon be tearing down the 90+ year old barn.  It has fallen in disrepair, would be quite costly to renovate, and has no use for them. 
     I have barn memories.  My brothers and I played up in that loft, which was used for storage of straw bales.  There was an ancient saddle probably from my Grandfather's generation.  I would ride that saddle, imagining and dreaming of someday having a horse to put it on.  A couple of Christmases, after we had opened presents, I snuck out to check the barn just in case Santa had brought a horse my parents weren't aware of.  He never did, though. Santa was evidently as practical as my parents.
     I remember sometimes finding the delicate remnants of pigeon eggs nestled in the straw after the birds had hatched and moved on.  I recall the sounds of pigeons cooing from the cupola and seeing dust motes drifting in the sun rays in that darkened space.  The loft was a great place to hide from my folks to get out of chores.
     Once my Mom had a visitor at the house.  Her 2 kids, my 2 brothers and I found a hidden hen's nest with rotten eggs in the corner of that barn.  You can imagine what transpired....a rotten egg fight, followed by tossing ground corn at each other when the eggs were gone.   When over, we were all slimey, smelly, corn and dirt covered.  I remember the 5 of us being tossed into the bathtub together.  I don't know who started it, or why, but it was so worth it. 
     Later my folks had dairy cattle for about 15 years and the barn became a milking parlor.  I remember being out there on a few frigid winter mornings.  There was a diesel space heater going...if you stood close enough to get warm, you risked setting yourself on fire, and if too far away, you froze.  I didn't have to help with milking cows much, though.  My brothers did that.  More often, after the milk truck came to pick up the milk, I had to clean out the big bulk tank with chemicals and very hot water, also not a fun job.
     Farming has definitely changed.  It is now big business.  When we visit, and walk around the section on the dirt roads, most fields are planted from roadside to roadside.  There are no longer fence rows of wild plum thickets and chokecherries, or ditches filled with wild roses and wildflowers.  No wild trees sprouting up to provide occasional shade. The country school I attended through eighth grade and two nearby farmplaces have been bulldozed and planted over with endless rows of corn.
     The barn is old, and must go.  Someone will tear it down and reclaim and reuse the lumber.  But not all change is progress. 

"My barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon."
                                                         from a Chinese Proverb

Eating to live

     I recently read the biography of Dr. Walter Kempner.  He was one of the brilliant German researchers that our country allowed to immigrate to the USA prior to WWII in the 1930s.  He was employed at Duke University.  He did research as well as treated patients with renal disease and malignant hypertension with a rice diet: mainly grains, fruit, vegetables, and beans.  This was a very low sodium, low fat diet.  He discovered he could heal people of these diseases, and also treat high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and congestive heart failure.  Incidentally he discovered that this diet also enhanced weight loss.  He did this successfully from the 1930's until the 1990's when he retired.  His program continues, now separate from Duke University, as a weight loss program.
     He found that salt as well as refined sugar promote an increase in appetite, and that without them, his patients did not feel hungry.   Also, salty foods cause a higher rise in blood glucose and insulin response.
     It is interesting to me that no one promotes diet as a way to heal disease now that pharmaceutical companies have drugs to control symptoms.  Dr Kempner offered a way to cure the disease.  Now in this country we just pop pills to treat symptoms with drugs that have serious side effects of their own.  No one even tries for a cure.
     Dr. Kempner's "Rice Diet" is a very rigid program, and would be difficult to follow, but he deserves much credit in showing the way. 
    
     I also re-read  "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" by Dr.  Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr.   Dr. Esselstyn is a former surgeon, researcher, and clinician at the Cleveland Clinic Hospital.  Based on his twenty year research study on a group of patients with advanced coronary heart disease, he showed that a plant-based, low sodium, low fat diet can not only halt, but reverse heart disease.   You will recall in the news within the past year that former President Bill Clinton started Dr. Esselstyn's program to reverse his own heart disease. 
     Dr. Esselstyn's program is plant based, no oil, low fat, and low sodium.  It is a less rigid program to follow than the Rice Diet, although similar. 

     You may not recall, I mentioned in a previous blog that my husband's chemo was possibly the cause of his newly diagnosed diastolic congestive heart failure back in Febr. of this year.  We are hoping that following Dr. Esselstyn's diet, along with his getting back to exercise to strengthen his heart muscle, will help him to get off of some of the many drugs he is on at present.  We are hoping for a reversal, not just treatment of symptoms, and also to prevent a recurrence of his cancer. (See "The China Study" by Dr. T. Colin Campbell).
     Not a single Doctor has ever talked to my husband about diet or exercise, not after his cancer diagnosis or during chemo or radiation, not even after having been diagnosed with heart failure.  That says a lot about American medicine today, doesn't it?

"The doctor of the future will give no medicines, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and the prevention of disease."
                                                Thomas Edison

Thank you for being a friend.

The Color Purple

     Dean is recuperating well from his surgery, and I have been busy catching up on gardening and yardwork.  We have both been reminiscing by looking at pictures of our Sadie-dog growing up, and feeling like two musketeers without her.  We keep listening for the jingling made by the tags on her collar, or lapping sounds coming from her water bowl in the other room.  She was a birthday present for Dean.in 2002...the best gift ever.
     I am having somewhat of an identity crisis.  Frequently when out shopping or at the library I have run into strangers who greet me and say, "Aren't you the lady with the big black dog?", or "Where is your big black dog today?"   I am the lady with the big black dog, or I was.  Who am I now? 

     "If you pass by the color purple in a field and don't notice it, God gets real pissed off."
                                                                                     Alice Walker

My eyes keep leaking memories.

     Sorry I haven't blogged lately.  Once again, I let life get in the way of all of my good intentions.  Our son Jason was here all last week for a conference.  We really enjoyed his visit.  Our daughter Kate came over several times, as well.  A nice week.
     Jonas, the dog we were fostering, went back to Freedom Service Dogs.   A great, great dog.  We hope he gets placed in a wonderful home; he deserves it.  He will bless the home he joins.
     Dean had his last surgery yesterday.  It was outpatient, and he is doing fine.  He has a pain pump device to wear for a few days, so only feels sore when moving.  He took a week's vacation from work to recuperate.  This is the last thing he needed done, so except for healing, getting strong, and follow-up visits, he is done!   What a relief for him to be finally done.
     Our beautiful old Sadie-dog has been getting sicker.  We have been changing dressings on 3 of her legs.  As of yesterday, the 4th leg is infected and very swollen.  She no longer goes for walks,  pretty much sleeps without moving all day long.  She is panting, and short of breath.  I think she is telling us that it is her time.  She waited until now when Dean's treatments are over, because we needed her.  We have an appointment with the vet late this afternoon.
     Meanwhile, she is resting on her bed out on the patio.  She can feel the breeze, see and hear the birds and bunnies.  I think we will take a detour for her to see the South Valley Park one more time on the way to the vet's.  And of course, we will take lots of cheese treats.  Most of today will be a good one for her;  as pleasant as we can make it.  She has been more than a companion, and is a true family member.  Thank you, Sadie, for everything.  We will never forget you.  You are a part of all of us and will reside in our hearts forever.  Your wise old eyes may haunt me for a long time.

    .                                    Syd and Alex with Sadie, 2006, she is their dog, too.

"To live in this world
you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it
against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go."
                                  Mary Oliver, from "Blackwater Woods"