Let the Good Times Roll!

A couple of grandsons (brothers ages 11 and 8) visited for a few days this week while other family members also came and went.  I loved watching these guys demonstrate their simple equation: boys + turtles + fish + kayaks + tubes = Good Times!

(Another) Experiment in Raw Food

Six years ago today (June 6, 2006) I launched an experiment: a diet of unheated, unrefined (raw) fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds in their most natural form representing the original fare in the Garden of Eden. Within a few days I felt wonderful, ten years younger, clearer-headed, almost euphoric.  Nearly unstoppable. 

In the weeks that followed I found creative recipes online posted by “raw foodists” who ranged from gourmet raw chefs to lay cooks like myself.  I began occasionally enjoying desserts like raw chocolate mousse or date-nut torte as well as everyday fare like dehydrated crackers (dehydrating doesn’t destroy living enzymes so the food is still considered raw) spread with nut cheese – and of course lots of SALAD. The longer I ate this way the more convinced I was that it was not just a good idea but The Supreme Idea. I still enjoy looking at pictures of myself from that era.  The good health showed.

My experiment lasted the entire summer and beyond, but eventually circumstances and expectations wore down my resolve until I slowly caved in to more and more cooked, refined foods.  While still eating a large percentage of raw food 18 months later, I’d also shifted back to many “typical” foods on the sad, sad SAD (Standard American Diet). During the past year I’ve continued to eat raw salad every day but have sadly (Standard American Diet type sadly) also fallen prey to old food addictions that too often make me feel sick, tired, and frazzled.

Today I’m tired of feeling sick and tired, and this morning decided (for the millionth time, but with more resolve because of the 6-year-anniversary date) to give raw food a go again – or at least the 65-85% raw goal recommended by some in the raw community.  Yes, I will cook for the masses all summer when they show up here at the lake.  Burgers and barbecued chicken on the grill, oven fries and my own dips for the potato and corn chips, homemade cinnamon rolls and chocolate-mint crinkle cookies.  But I cooked for them once before and ate like a raw purist anyway.  Can I do it again?

The Pulse

Each day has a unique pulse that hammers out a drumbeat of ebb and flow.  Energy and activity, emotion and expression, loss and gain, discouragement and hope define the score.     

Today’s revved staccato pulse kept me hopping vicariously as well as actually.  Tonight I’m ready for some lazy legato and….zzzzzzz….sleep.

Fixated

Sure he’s a golden retriever, but HONESTLY.  Does that explain standing for hours on end like a hypnotized canine statue in the lake?  Staring into the water like a doggone zombie?

We assume he’s watching minnows or reflected patches of sunlight, but I’ve never seen such intense long-term concentration in either man or beast.  Surely he thinks he’s an aquatic animal, just waiting to grow fins. 

When tied on dry land by a rope to the screw-in post in the yard, he paces the waterfront nervously with edgy addiction.   When unleashed, he returns immediately to his aquatic job.

I watch, partially confused and partially envious.  How curious, to be so fixated.  How wonderful, to be able to tune out the rest of the world and focus so completely. 

Broken Stuff

While most things around here are fine, and in working order, we also have a fair share of broken stuff.  Plans to repair/replace/remodel lurk just around the corner, which is why we’ve adopted a let-it-all-pile-up-and-then-we’ll-overhaul-everything-all-at-once mindset. So we’re not really being negligent, just smart.  We don’t want to end up doing something twice or in the wrong order.

A few examples of our broken stuff:

The door handle.  Actually there is no handle.  To be accurate, the supporting parts are still there, but without the vertical bar to grab and pull.  But let’s be honest. THE WHOLE SLIDING DOOR sticks.  You have to be Tarzan (or in my case, Jane) to open/shut the thing.  We plan to get a new door when we remodel, so why replace the old handle?

The other door handle - the one on the storm door on the other side of the house - is gone. I repeat, there’s NO HANDLE, just a hole.  That door hangs crooked and doesn’t shut tight, which invites the darling Chip-n’-Dales (chipmunks) to waltz right on into the house.  Unhindered.  This entire door will also be replaced, so it makes no sense to spend money on a handle for the old one.

The window screen on a dining room window.  The screen is pulled out at the bottom allowing easy entry to skeeters and whatever other nocturnal creepy-crawly and/or winged insects are drawn to the light.   At the same window, the glass is cracked.  IF we get new windows (a hopeful option), issues like these in the old ones will no longer matter.

The oven.  Fortunately we have small stack ovens (2 units on top of each other dated 1961), and the bottom one (big enough to accommodate one cookie sheet) still works.  The top one (big enough to accommodate two cookie sheets) is shot.  The element has been clamoring for retirement for a long time, and it finally decided to quit.  Since I still have limited oven function, we’ll wait to order a new one.  So far the model I like that fits the opening has consumer reviews that say the control panel conks out after about 4 years.  So I’m still researching.

The refrigerator. The extra one in the storage room. It chugs along reliably (I’m envisioning those scrappy-looking old gray-haired Shriners in the Christmas parade who keep up a steady pace on their scooters) as long as you don’t open the door multiple times on a hot-hot day.  Then it just can’t keep up.  And the food gets warm.  And I start coaching everyone in my sweetest voice, “Now the frig isn’t doing very well today, so don’t get in there unless you absolutely HAVE to.”  But then those darling grandkids or their darling parents HAVE to get SOMETHING about every 30 minutes.  Yes, we need to replace it, but in the new house configuration I’m not sure WHERE the extra frig will be located?  Somehow I just want to wait until I know its final resting place.

The bathroom sink stopper.  It got tired and crashed in the down position. Water couldn’t drain. So we took it out.  Hopefully the entire bathroom will be torn out and redone, which brings me to…

The curling bathroom linoleum.  It just keeps pulling up around the edges.  Recently we patched another kind and color of flooring (leftover from another room) behind the toilet – functional, but a nasty mis-matched look.  However, who wants to fix the floor when the walls need to be torn out first? We might as well wait for the overhaul.

There are more examples, but you get the picture.  I think I’ll stop here.

The point? Our broken stuff will soon be fixed, probably within the next few months.  It’s always good to upgrade, and yet there’s something bittersweet about letting go of things that have mattered, served us well, and/or marked a certain era of our lives.  New is good and needful, while old is....nostalgic.  Reminiscent of what has been.

I Wait

 My computer screen has been an alarmist all day.  It has insisted on flashing warning boxes, some with flat-out statements of techno-malfunctions (techno-ouchies are serious, they say), others with stern warnings that I'd better be calling the urgent care techno-doctor right away to take care of them (in other words, expect things to get worse, and by the way, they won't get better).  These boxes tell me I don't have enough room; I've used up all my space.  I may have lost recent downloads.  I'm unable to save anything.  My email doesn't work.

For now, this blog window is the only place I can DO anything!  AH...a small crack-of-an-opening. A place to air my word processing addictions. Whew.  I was getting a little claustrophobic, there.

So FINALLY I concede.  It's time to call that techno-doctor.  Lucky me that we have one in the family!  But...crud...he's unavailable for comment!  AWOL.  Wouldn't you know? And so, I WAIT.

Cold Lazer

I am currently experimenting with cold lazer therapy (also called low level lazer therapy) as a treatment for tinnitus, although it has many applications.  It is a relatively new technology featuring healing light that can be used to target acupuncture points and/or deep tissue (bones, muscles, organs, nerves, etc.).  Cold lazers have been used more extensively as a healing modality for animals, but are proving to be successful beyond veterinary practice.  So far the FDA has sanctioned the use of cold lazers for osteoarthritis of the hands, but various doctors and practitioners are already using them to treat other things as well.

Cold lazer therapy is non-invasive and has been successful in treating many issues including, but not limited to, acute and chronic pain, ligament sprains, muscle strains, soft tissue injuries, tendonitis, arthritis, tennis elbow, back pain, bursitis, carpal tunnel, and fibromyalgia.

How does it work? The cold lazer delivers certain light energies (photons) to damaged cells.  Photons absorbed by the cells stimulate mitochondria to accelerate production of ATP.  This biochemical increase in cell energy is used to transform cells from a state of illness to a stable, healthy state. 

The application of the cold lazer is easy.  It is extremely safe, non-toxic, and non-invasive. There are no side effects and no pain.  It is highly effective (some studies say more than 90% efficacy).  It is a superior alternative to medications with side effects, and invasive surgeries, and works synergistically with other modalities like chiropractic, acupuncture, and physical therapy.

Still, my personal verdict is out.  After 10 sessions with a practitioner, I rented a unit (for a week, possibly two) to use at home more frequently.  If nothing else, this is another stone to turn in my search for help with tinnitus - another hopeful avenue I must pursue.  In the meantime, we’re also treating other family members for other things: shoulder pain, back pain, varicose veins, prostate infection, heart failure.  It’s one-treatment-for-all-issues because it works at the cellular level to assist the body’s natural healing.  I like that!