Das Boot

Okay, I know that Das Boot actually means The Boat, but since this thing Reeder is wearing now is almost the SIZE of a boat.... well, I think it's close enough.

He tore his Fascia last week. He hobbled around over the weekend and then went to the foot doctor to find out what it was. Now he hobbles around in this huge, heavy contraption - these things are way beyond the little soft plastic, pump-up kinds they used to have you wear. At least his is.

The first time I saw it was when he hoisted it up next to me on the couch - it looked like something Herman Munster would clunk around in, chasing Lily for a little kiss.

It has a metal bar that runs up the back of his calf.
I weighed the other day, while he was sleeping, and it weighs 3 lbs!

And then there are the velcro straps! The first night he came to bed after I was asleep and I woke to the most awful SCREECH SCREECH SCREECH... It was him undoing the Velcro straps. There are SEVEN of them. (either I'm getting used to the cacophony of his undressing, or else he's found a quieter way to do it. I still hear it, but I can go back to sleep. Well, most nights. Obviously one of those nights it annoyed me enough, I COUNTED how many ripping screeches I heard!)

He said it's helping, his foot feels better. It prevents him from bending his foot at all, letting the fascia heal. Oh, or I could say heel heal. (if it was a really painful process, could you say 'heel healing hell?')

A Major Award

"Fra-JEE-lay! Huh; must be Italian!"

That is what Brenda and I heard from the other room today as I massaged her shoulders.

Jim was in the living room, unpacking a gift I'd bought yesterday.
I called out to him, "It's a MAJOR AWARD!"

And then Brenda continued the dialogue.

"Only one thing in the world could've dragged me away from the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window"

But this major award wasn't at all as interesting as a leg-lamp, it was only a new office chair. Jim had finally relented to our spending the money to get him a really good one, since he spent so much time in his office. And I surprised him yesterday with one I'd found at Costco.

And now he was saying, "OH, 'Do not tighten screws completely' Couldn't they have told me on that last step BEFORE I tightened them all the way?"

As he was loosening the screws, we realized he'd put the armrests on backwards; good thing I'd stopped him before he got very far. As he was having to unscrew the 4 screws, I tried not to sound too mocking as I restated, "Be sure not to tighten the screws completely."

I bet he was really appreciating my help about now.

I did eventually prove somewhat useful and we got the back on and it finally looked like a chair. A comfy, lumbar-supporting, "Approved by the American Chiropractic Association" chair.

However, he'd not sat in it yet. At least when I found it at Costco, I could give it a test-run. I was a little nervous he wouldn't like it after 90 minutes of assembly. (I wasn't risking much by bringing it home, Costco has such an awesome return policy.)

Hurray, he likes it! And at an excellent price, about a quarter of what we expected we'd have to pay for a decent office chair.

Riddle me a Riddle

Danielle knows I like a good logic problem, so she sent this poser my way tonight.

There are 3 men in a dark room full of hats. Two of the hats are red, and all the rest are black. The men enter the room in the dark, put on a hat, and then the lights are turned on.

The first man looks at the other two and states,
"I see what you two are wearing, but I don't know which color hat I am wearing."

The second fellow looks at the others and says the same thing,
"I see what you two are wearing, but I don't know which color hat I am wearing."

The third man, who is blind, says,
"I cannot see what you two fellows are wearing, but I know what color *I* am wearing."

So, what color hat is the blind man wearing?

In the House of Stone and Light

I was privileged to go to the temple today.

The Mesa temple is an old building, with few windows, and thick walls that shut out the noise of the street. One can leave all discord at the door. Everyone speaks in hushed tones, and we all change into white clothes, to represent purity. Our common clothing hides any class distinctions and we are all just brothers and sisters there, children of God.

Shedding the outside world like that makes it easier to feel the peace inside, and when in the proper frame of mind, to really receive inspiration. And it reminds us that that we are expected to be quiet and listen in order to hear.

1st Kings 19: 11-12 And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still, small voice.

Attending the temple is kind of like entering a mineral spring for the soul.
It seems to have Spiritual restorative powers for the truly humble.

The rites and rituals performed in the Temple all point to Jesus Christ, reminding us we need to be seeking him and serving him, and striving to be better Christians.

I know this song, In the House of Stone and Light, wasn't written about Christ, nor a temple, but many of the lyrics certainly make one think of going there. Martin Page wrote this while staying in the Grand Canyon. You get the sense of his yearning to shed the past, to be reborn, to hear what God could teach him if he'd become a child again and open to learning.

Some of the lyrics:

"O Mount Kailas uncover me
Come my restoration
Wash my body clean
I've been walking
Along a crooked path
Where the walls have fallen
And broken me in half
I'm telling you
I will not rest till I lay down my head
I'm gonna go
In the house of stone and light
I shall not cry for the blindman I leave behind
When I go In the house of stone and light

Old man waiting at the gates for me
Give me the wisdom, Give me the key
I make my way, O gonna be such a beautiful day
In the house of stone and light"

If you've never heard it, here is a link to listen - it's a youtube vid, the only recording I could find to share.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIa9UEXd98Q

"I must go there, to find my soul there..."

Fat vs Lean, or Ode to the Mighty Calorie

My friend and I live a few streets apart and most mornings meet in the middle of the neighborhood, usually right around 6:30, walking about 45 minutes, winding through the streets.
This morning's walk was just lovely, we had many clouds, it was below 80, (YAY, I think we get to start opening our windows at night again!) and there was a wonderful breeze. (We usually have to plan our route to find as much shade as possible - not everyone can be Shawna Jones and go out at 4 am to truly beat the heat!)

But if you had seen us out walking this morning, you might have thought it pitiful - we both were carrying FOOD as we walked! As I approached Nichole, I laughed as I realized that besides a bottle of water, she was carrying a little plate, some goodie for me to try. Because in MY hands I also had a bottle of water, and a baggie with 3 homemade rolls.

She and I keep experimenting with wheat recipes.... how much wheat flour in conjunction with all-purpose flour? How much Gluten should we add to bread and rolls? So we keep adjusting, and then sharing our finished products.
She brought me some very fresh pancakes she'd just made for her men's breakfast - pure whole wheat, but you whip up the egg whites to give them lightness. It's a recipe she got from Helen Butler, a former neighbor. And as we walked, I HAD to nibble and taste. YUM! No syrup, but she'd put a little butter on them, just like I like them.

And she plucked tastes out of the baggy of rolls; last night I'd made whole wheat rolls to go with soup for dinner, and I'd used 2 cups ground red wheat flour, and 1 cup all purpose flour, along with dough conditioner and some gluten she'd given me. These were savory, with herbs and garlic and parmesan cheese. I was really pleased with how they turned out.

At the end of our walk we compared recipe notes before departing, and some golfers drove by... and I'm pretty sure they were thinking, "What, they can't manage a morning walk without sustenance?"

So we walk every day to stay in shape and hopefully keep our weight in check - eating while doing so would seem counter intuitive... calories going in while calories are expended sort of defeats the purpose, right?

23 yrs ago a med student said to me, "If you just cut out 2 cookies a day, you would lose 2 pounds a month," something logical like that (according the math,) but so illogical 'cus we have too many things in our body's metabolism that will make this work or fail. Are we sick, or sedentary this week? Do we have a lot on our plate and super stressed and going here and there in a dither? I know a (thin) man that just plain burns calories like crazy, his speed is always a little faster than everyone else and he just never really relaxes. I had one friend who couldn't eat while stressed, but her husband handled it the opposite, he ate way more when really under stress.

It appears some people just are more efficient at burning calories, on top of the other components like what kind of calories we're ingesting. Why is it you can eat a lot of meat and fat and leave out carbs, and yet still lose weight? Does food mixing really effect this process? It would seem so. And what about eating 5 small meals thru the day? They say that also keeps the metabolism up and running a little 'faster,' and therefore you effectively burn more fat.

So they say.

And then after my walk this morning, in my email I received, (as part of a daily digest discussing weight-maintenance,) this discussion of just how many calories really are in fat and protein.

Tracy said: //I just read in my Livestrong.com newsletter that science is now
discovering that one pound of fat is not necessarily 3500 calories, as we
all have been taught//

Jessie's answer (Jessie is a nurse, and other things too. She has like 40 letters after her name when you add up all her little titles and degrees. She's worked with doctors in helping people manage their weight loss through a variety of ways, including surgery.)

"That hasn't made any sense for a long time. A pound is 454 grams (453.59237 to be exact).
If fat is 9 calories per gram then a pound of fat is 4,086 calories.
If protein and carbohydrates are 4 calories per gram then a pound of protein or CHO is 2,180 calories - so why do they say you have to eat 3500 calories more or less to gain or lose a pound?
It's never made sense to me. I've been doing those calorie calculations and basal metabolic rate
estimates for over 20 years and the only consistency is that it never adds up.

As you point out, the control of appetite, food intake, weight, satiety, and
body composition is way more complicated than any of the current explanations. "

I'll leave you with this fascinating article to read - it is about some starvation experiments done with people, to see how they handled having very few calories - but one group was allowed mostly carbs, and the other allowed 3 times the fat calories.
Why a calorie isn't always a calorie

And then hopefully in a subsequent post, I'll find the video Nichole once watched in Japan where they stuffed people with their favorite foods, they were SO FULL. But then they announced they could have some of their favorite dessert if they wished. Their stomachs literally PUSHED the food through a bit, to make room for dessert! They have it on x-ray, they played it over and over again... the stomach made room for the treats! Seriously?
That would be my stomach. I like food far too much.

Once Upon a Smell

Once upon a time there was a man who smelled.

And he didn't smell like after-shave, he didn't have a hunky, masculine, worked-out-at-the-gym sweaty smell; he smelled BAD. Not all the time, but it was definitely there sometimes.

And his wife was WORRIED!!

This was not a normal smell at all, but a very bad and suspicious smell for a human to have.
And the man's wife worried even more.

But she didn't say anything to him. For a couple of weeks she noticed it off and on and she kept her thoughts to herself, wondering if maybe she was mistaken about it being the man himself. But the weird smell was still there, and she was really getting worried that perhaps he was very sick somehow, and that is why he was giving off this very unnatural smell. A bad sickness causing a bad smell... that is what she was fearing.

She hugged him and could smell it. She smelled it often when they were in the car together. And still she kept her thoughts to herself, pondering and worrying.

Finally after a few weeks of this, she determined she had to say something to her
husband about it. Their kids were in bed, they were watching TV and he was sitting in front of her taking off his shirt to have her scratch his back, a nightly ritual.


She gingerly broached the subject.


"Um, I've got to tell you something. I've noticed this weird smell on you. And it worries me, it is really a bad smell." She sniffed at his neck, down his back. It was still there.

His answered relieved her.


"Well, actually, I have, too! I smelled something weird lately; in fact..."

He jumped up suddenly and pulled off his belt, and commenced smelling it.

"This is IT! It's this new belt! THIS is where the smell is coming from!"

She took a whiff, and sure enough, there it was, a really strong skunk-like smell. Very NASTY smelling indeed!


The man said, "I thought I had smelled something recently, I didn't really figure out what it was until just now."

Sighing with great relief that her husband wasn't dying of some undiagnosed cancer, the woman promised to return the belt the very next day.


So that is why you may have seen her, the woman in the belt section at Kohl's, smelling all the belts as she hunted for her husband's size, getting odd looks from the other shoppers.




There's a method to her madness, be assured.