What Have I Been Up To?

Most of the time I am fighting my weight or blood sugar. I mean, that is a daily battle, and really... Do you want to hear about it? If so, here's a little update. Finally, I think I have my insulin intake under control - for the most part. I mean, I still have minor bouts of high numbers, especially when I go off diet and binge at the Chinese "all-you-can-eat" buffets. Give me a break. Sushi? Fried fish? Fried shrimp? Fried... well, whatever? And rice? Of course my numbers are going to be out of bounds. DOH!!! Also, I've learned, if I turn just right, I can jolt my back out of place and that insipid continuous pain can sky-rocket my blood sugar, too. So, I deal with it, and on most day, I'm good.

Weight? I didn't gain this spacious 100 pounds overnight; I'm not going to lose it overnight. The faster it comes off, the faster it comes back and usually brings extra luggage and friends. I'm losing at a slow pace, a hair over three pounds over a three month period. That would mean, one pound per month. Maybe I "could" step it up a little, but, well, read the previous paragraph. Buffets? Doh?! If it ain't deep fried, it is coated in a heavy sugary syrup. Hence, when at home, I eat a lot of less carb meals, cutting corners on the carb count as I can. Sandwiches are now basically a wrap, but with lavash bread which is only 4 carbs for 1/4 section of bread which is more than enough to wrap a sandwich. Sure beats 20+ for a slice of bread.

So much for all that same-o, same-o crap about my diet, weight, and blood sugar. Big whoop! I'm controlling it for the most part. I'm happy.

So... What have I been doing? We decided to revamp the front porch. Okay, in full honesty, we decided to revamp the whole appearance around the house. First step was getting some of the weeds under control and to do that, we decided to get rid of some flower beds. We didn't get rid of flowers, just the beds. Flowers now reside in pots and they're doing real fine and I've discovered, so much easier to weed. As I wander around the yard, checking the posies, if I see a stray weed growing in the pot - well, out it comes!!

The garden was six feet by fifteen feet. Slightly raised. To be honest, barely eight inches off the ground. It did help keep the weeds somewhat controlled, but leaning down to get to them. Uh, that was a stretch.

A new raised bed this spring. Smaller. It is - inside dimensions - four feet by nine something feet. Note I said inside dimensions. I used concrete blocks, two blocks high. So the garden is now sixteen inches from the ground and quite reachable. Weeds? Yeah, a few at the start which I was able to remove in less than ten minutes. Now, that's what I call easy gardening. This image is when I first started to put it in. Uh, two trips to Menards to lug them back in the rear of a 2014 Ford Focus, 700+ pounds, just in blocks, each load. LOL.

Almost finished. Just a little more dirt. I've put in some dirt, some sand, and lots and lots of chicken crap. I cleaned out the chicken coop and well, what better place to put all that fertilizer? I let it sit for almost a month, watering it so it wouldn't be too strong.

And, now? Here's what it looks like today.

I have two struggling bell peppers on the extreme right with some nice looking bells. There are 2 rows of green beans and one row of wax beans. My "salad" lettuce is on the left. It is a mixture of different leaf lettuces. And, across the back, I have five (5) tomato plants. Starting from the left, it is a cherry tomato (in case you didn't notice, it is HUGE) for salads and munching, a Beef Steak for sandwiches, a New Jersey Devil which is a strange Roma-type for pastes and salsa, a Pink which will add a lighter color to the mix, and finally, on the far right, a Mortgage Maker which is a heavy bearer and great for sauces. Yeah, a lot of tomatoes going into pint and quart jars this season until the first winter frost kills them. Of course, I'll probably sneak out and grab a couple of green maters to fry up. Love them. Oh, and before I forget, I am proud to say, everything in the garden but the lettuce was grown by me from seed.

I've also been working on the front porch and side deck. Let's go with the front porch. It is "almost" done. I just need to get the LED post cap lights for the four small posts, and I also need to string rope between the posts. Since the porch is only two feet from the ground on the sides, and a couple of inches from the front flower beds, I don't need to have any railing. We love the look without. BUT, we discovered, a strong wind moves the furniture across the porch and well, in the past, the railings kept things contained to the front porch and not flipping all over the yard. Hence, we are placing a decorative rope around to at least keep the furniture on the porch during a storm. Here's the porch, as built in 2006 when the house was going up. The only thing missing is the slapped-up white roof with no trim.

This is what it looks like today, minus the cap post LED lights and ropes ... which are coming soon.

And, now, some close ups. They are: front porch left side, front porch right side, my fancy corner emblem so I didn't have to miter the corners when putting up the trim, and the newly painted furniture.

Now, a little about the furniture. Originally, the love seat was the same insipid "tan" color as the table next to it. The Adirondack chair was a lovely shade of dark army green. The other chairs were also a shade of dark moss green. I painted them all a dark blue. We put new blue and white cushions on the old rockers. And, in the near future, I will paint the tables white. Also, I plan to paint all the shutters on the house to match our new color scheme. Yup! It will be that dark blue.

I'm currently working on the side deck. It is a mere eight (8) to ten (10) feet above the ground on the east end of the house. I had some of that crappy plastic trellis screwed to some of the uprights. Not really all that safe. I have since put up welded fencing and will be covering it with wood strips. When I finish that project, I'll post. Hopefully, by then, I'll also have the rest of the front porch, and shutters completed. One neighbor asked if I was getting the house ready to sell. I informed him I was changing a lot of things around the house to make it easier for me, a seventy-two year old fart, to keep things up-to-date. I will be enlarging the "hillside" flower bed this fall. My son bought a new place and my DIL doesn't want to fiddle with all the myriad of flowers. Guess who is going to inherit them? And, in the manner of keeping it easier for me, I'll add a simple path through the new bed to make weeding easier when in the flower bed.

A Gardening Lesson

Here's a gardening tidbit. When is the best time to weed? Well, of course, when the weed first emerges from the ground and has very little root... but, well, we don't tend to catch them until they are larger than the flowers. LOL. So, now to answer the question. After it has rained. If you get a heavy deluge, or really good dousing of water that seeps deep into the ground. The next day... or later that day, grab your bucket and whatever weeding tools you use and get out there. PULL... yes, PULL those weeds out. If the ground is really wet, they will literally slip out, maybe even with all the hairy little roots still attached. I did that for a mulch area, pulling dandelions, Queen Anne's lace, thistle, creeping Jenny and all sorts of other weeds out - tap root and all the little roots, too. If you get the root out, they don't tend to grow back. LOL. I've got a little weeding to do and it has threatened to rain for the last couple of days. Even the weatherman believes it will rain. It hasn't. Each day it doesn't rain and I don't pull the weeds, they get stronger root systems and bigger. If it don't rain tonight, I will get the sprinkler out and let it run for about an hour in the morning, then again for about thirty minutes in the afternoon. Then, in the evening shade and cool, I'll sit on my little bench and pull those weeds out. BTW, if you know my luck, it will pour that night after I've watered so well.

Until next I ramble on...

Harvest Time Goodies

Harvest time has hit the grocery stores.

My garden is a wee bit slow on coming to harvest. I mean, the peas were great early on but, as of now, nothing else has really come to fruit.  There are plenty of tomatoes on the vines - they're loaded but nothing red, only green.  Trust me, I'm fighting the urge to pluck and fry them.  The garlic has once again done its disappearing act and the onions are struggling to grow.  Guess I'm not to grow onions and garlic.  Not going to even try next year.  The beets are still growing.  My son's mother-in-law has huge beets growing in her garden. Me?  They look like baby beets.  Oh, I noticed yesterday that the pole beans are finally starting to blossom.  Yay!

Of course, I'm in no big rush to get out there and harvest since it has been hotter than Hades around here the last few weeks.

Me? I'd prefer to go to the state park and camp.  Yup, enjoy the cool lake breeze waft through the pines, maples, oaks and other trees. (I'm rambling...)

So, anyway, the grocery stores have started to lower prices on produce.  I went to the store last week and they had cabbage for 19¢ a pound. At that price, it was time to make Cabbage Balls.  I made about 20 of them and they are now residing in the freezer for a yummy winter treat.  Of course, I'm not that dumb, we had some that same night - just to make sure they were good. They were!

Peppers (the green ones) which normally go for upwards of 89¢ each, well, they were 5/$1.00.  And they were HUGE!  That can only mean one thing - Stuffed Green Pepper Casserole. I normally make stuffed green peppers, but found doing a casserole stores easier.  So I made up a huge pan full, uh, my wife baked cakes and we still have the 12x18 sheet cake pan.  That's what I used.  We froze up 6 quarts.  And again, we tasted the fruits of the effort. I can't believe I'm saying this - C'mon snow!!

Using the above two ingredients, my wife, the expert at making freezer slaw aka Sweet and Sour Coleslaw, used one head of cabbage and one large green bell pepper. She made up 8 freezer bags of this food of the gods.

Another use for cabbage?  Egg rolls.  I love egg rolls.  So, I made up some egg roll filling and wrapped up a total of 36 egg rolls.  I put them into hot oil to parboil them, sort of. Then I placed them on a cookie sheet and into the freezer.  Once frozen, they got shuffled into gallon bags.  Notice I say bags. My daughter-in-law, granddaughter and great-grandson came over the next day after I made them — to make sure they were of the proper quality.  Okay, my great-grandson is only 10 months old so he didn't really test them. My wife, my daughter-in-law, my granddaughter and I did.  And they passed the test with flying colors.  Delicious, a perfect filling — nice tight roll, not greasy, great chicken/pork/cabbage ratio and flavor.

Broccoli was on sale. Not the ones with the huge stem still attached.  No, these were the crowns, the florets with only enough stem to keep the florets together as a head.  And they were huge, too. I bought a lot of them - uh, six. So, I made Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole using the above mentioned cake pan. Froze up 6 quarts of these beauties, too.  Needless to say, yummy.

Also, cauliflower was on sale and we couldn't pass it up.  We got 4 heads of cauliflower and my wife broke them up into small florets, parboiled them and onto a cookie sheet to freeze they went. We now have two gallons of cauliflower to use with broccoli and/or carrots for veggies during the winter.

I guess I should mention that we also found chicken breast, sausage, ground pork, and ground beef also on sale at different local groceries.  We made the rounds to a total of 5 stores - 2 farm markets for the veggies and 3 grocery stores.  Actually, the one farm market was 60 miles away from our house and is what got us started on this adventure.

We were coming home from visiting our sons up north in the Detroit, Michigan area.  As we came through Toledo, my wife thought it would behoove us to stop at Monettes, a fresh farm market. We did and found some of the veggies.  The rest was history as we stopped at the local farm market day which is held twice a week around the square in Bryan, Ohio.  Then it was a stop at our Chief Supermarket and Wal Mart.  (I think there is a Wal Mart within 20 mi of anyone in the U.S.)  And then off to Montpelier, Ohio, where Miller's was having a huge meat sale.

Sure, we spent more on food this month than usual, but then again, we have more food in our freezer for us to eat.  We'll be able to cut back on food costs during the winter.

Is this method practical?  Let's see.  Sweet and Sour Coleslaw is $3.49/lb at the store. I bought a cabbage head for 83¢ and a green pepper for 20¢ — so basically about $1.  I got almost 5 pounds of coleslaw.  I would say, offhand, I saved about $15.  Yes, there is sugar and vinegar to add in. Let's be conservative on savings and say I saved $10.  Uh, that's ten dollars in MY pocket.  To make this on a whim at some point down the road at say, 69¢ a pound for cabbage and 89¢ for a green pepper? Sure, it is still cheaper than buying, but the cost has gone up almost $3 just on those two ingredients. Go ahead, call me a tight-ass, but a penny saved, even a nickel or a dime, is money for me.

When my tomatoes start coming in, we will be making diced, stewed and sauce.  Also a lot of my wife's famous salsa which I snarfle down during the winter months.

Sweet corn is coming to harvest around here, but it is still the early rush. I'll wait and when the price drops, I'll go get some and we'll freeze up some of that golden delight.  Wal Mart had some for 12¢ an ear — that works out to be $1.44/dozen which beats the crap out of $2.75 for a half dozen at the farmer's market right now.

Lest we forget, the orchards are coming to harvest, too.  Peaches and apples.  Yum!  The next couple of months will be busy as we scurry around like chipmunks, burying our treasures in the freezer or canning jars for the coming winter.

Okay, this one will probably flabbergast you.  Eggs.  Remember my chicks?  All 18 of them?  Well, they are now full-sized hens and laying eggs.  Yes, I'm getting about 12-17 eggs daily.  In other words, about 9 dozen eggs a week.  They've been small but as the months have progressed, the eggs have gotten larger on a regular basis.  My 4 sons have been taking some and enjoying the harvest but even now, they can't keep up with the production.  I'm going to have to put up a sign and start selling some.  Now for the flabbergaster. You can freeze eggs.  One only needs to crack the eggs and put them in ice-trays and freeze.  When frozen, pop them out and toss them into a gallon bag. When you need an egg or two, grab out what is needed.  We're considering this.  Anyone ever done it?  I have six dozen eggs in my frig at this very moment. The boys are all coming this weekend (so I've heard) and that will bring down the stock, but…

I guess I should mention we have two freezers.  One (chest type) is for meats. The other (upright) is for non-meats, okay, for everything else.  Both are getting filled right now.  I'm hoping I can find shrimp and crab on sale again. My stock is running low. As to fish, I have some salmon and steelhead stocked. I want more cod, catfish, orange roughy and perch. Now, I've heard through the grapevine that one of our local grocery stores will be having a huge meat sale within the next 30 days.  I see meatloaf, chicken tacquitos, lemon-garlic chicken, chicken pot pie, cranberry pork, chili, potato soup, beef barley stew, orange ginger chicken and a plethora of other recipes being made en-mass for the freezer.

I think the hardest part of winter this coming year will be deciding which meal to get out of the freezer to heat up and eat.

Until next I ramble on...

Doing Nothing

We went camping a week ago and had a great time. While I was sitting there, near the awning, and in the shade of a lovely maple tree and by the firepit, I had an epiphany.

Doing nothing while sitting at a campsite and doing nothing while sitting on your front porch are two totally different forms of relaxation.  Actually, one is relaxing, the other is more of 'taking a break' event.

What do I mean?  The answer is simple.

When I sit on my front porch, doing nothing, relaxing (or so I think I'm relaxing) I tend to let my mind wander to different things like...

• Moving the yard
• Weeding the garden
• Taking care of the chickens
• Trimming the bushes
• Running the weed-whacker
• Cleaning the shed
• and the list continues...

When I sit in my chair at the campsite, doing nothing, relaxing, I tend to do... well, nothing. I relax. I enjoy the breeze and the heady scents of other campfires, listing to the birds, watching and talking to other campers as they walk the campground, passing by my RV.  I let the mottled sunlight caress my face, I might snooze, daydream about a writing project or just let my mind wander.

Did you notice the difference?  I'm retired, I basically run my life like 6 Saturdays, 1 Sunday.

BUT, it was a shock to realize that when I'm camping, I actually do relax more than I do at home when I attempt to do nothing.

Of course, I do have a 'busy' lifestyle on my Saturdays. LOL.  I have my 18 hens which are now giving us a daily total of 10 eggs.  I'm expecting that number to increase over the next couple of weeks to an assured even dozen or more every day.  I'm discovering, much to my wife's chagrin, my hens enjoy watermelon.  They really enjoy the red fruit but most of the time they get the rinds which I cut up into small 1.5" X 3" pieces.  This way, everyone gets a chunk to peck at.  They still like their grass and leaves.  My wife swears I'm spoiling them since they hear me come out of the house, yell "Here, chick, chick, chick" and they all come running like little raptors from Jurassic World.  She can come out and call them and they ignore her.  Maybe it's because I give them treats and she usually comes out to collect the eggs.  Okay, we'll call her the meany. LOL.

Regarding the 'ranch' as we have it.  We're thinking of downsizing.  That's right, going smaller. Do we, a 'maturing' couple need a home of 1840 square feet AND a basement of the same size?  I've been looking at lakeside cottages in Indiana.  My wife is enamored with tiny houses - and these cottages, even though they are year round - are only about 700 square feet.  BTW, I am talking by the lake, not on the other side of the road or a couple of blocks from the water. I want to have some beach area and a dock for a pontoon.  I will be able to go fishing as often as I want.  Yes, I know I will have to give up some of my farmer aspects like the chickens, but I can still do a little gardening.  Of course, I could be just daydreaming.  We'll see.

What else do I have planned?  I don't know.  I guess I will need to go camping and just let my mind wander as I sit by the campfire.  Heaven knows I can't think on the front porch... too much to think about what to do around the house. I won't have time to think about what I want to plan.

Until next I ramble on...

Cooking Experiments

First, a little health update.  This morning (Thursday) when I got up, as standard, I drew a drop of blood to see what my overnight fasting number would be.  Surprise!  It was 108.  That, folks, is in the normal range.  I'm ecstatic.  Of course, that means I have to watch my sugar a little closer today making sure I don't plunge too low.

The doctor put me on Victoza and I'm still working my way up to the full dosage. He told me to finish off my Januvia and he upgraded my metformin pills by 50% so I"m now at 850mg.  My Januvia will last through the end of the weekend... so, by the time you're reading this, I'll be off of it.

Now, about my cooking experiments.  I found a recipe somewhere and they made "hotdog" hamburgers.  I attempted them and now call them "Doggers" and they are amazing and yummy.

Prepping the "Doggers"

I took a pound of hamburger (should have used about 1.25 or 1.5 pounds, but...) and made 4 equal balls. Then I flattened the balls into rectangles. From a chunk of cheese (I used sharp cheddar) I sliced 4 equal size pieces.  I placed the cheese in the middle and very carefully rolled / wrapped the meat around the cheese. Note I have excess on the ends - that is to seal it good since the meat tends to contract when grilled.  Also, make sure to really seal the seams all around so the melting cheese doesn't ooze out.

Above is the finished product ready for all the yummy condiments to be added.

Okay, I'll be honest.  I've made this a 2nd time, didn't take pictures, but should have.  While still open, I added chopped onion, garlic and a little jalapeno with the cheese before wrapping it all up.  OMG!!

The mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup and relish were literally, just topping to an already fantastic burger... uh, er... dogger.

My next experiment was for a breakfast.  I love... no, LOVE... hashbrowns.  And I mean, I've made them with taco meat, baked beans, broccoli. cauliflower... I really have experimented.

BUT, potatoes are a high starch, carbohydrate food and my diabetic meals don't allow things like that. Okay, not in the quantities I enjoy eating.  I mean, who can be happy with about 2 or 3 tablespoons of hashbrowns?  For somebody like me, that's nothing but pure, unadulterated torture.  I  mean it.

Therefore, I decided to attempt sweet potato hashbrowns.  I've only done it once, so far, but I know I will be doing this again and again in the future.

I used one medium-small sweet potato.  Peeled it.  Then shredded it on a box grater using the largest opening.  I had maybe a cup+ of grated sweet potatoes.  I finely chopped a little onion into this.  Then I heated a skillet with olive oil and butter mixture - about 2 tablespoons and when the butter started to bubble, I placed a couple of heaps of the sweet potato/onion mixture on the skillet, tapped it down to make like a pancake and let it sizzle for about 3-5 mins on each side.  Unbelievable.  So scrumptious.

That is NOT burned but butter sizzled

I was able to get about 5 small patties from that one sweet potato.  Now, as you can see, they aren't large.  That is a pie plate and a normal-sized fork.

Next time, I plan to add cinnamon and maybe (not sure yet) some nutmeg to the mix.  It was suggested to add marshmallows and/or some brown sugar.  Hm?  I don't think that would work with my diabetes.  Now, I could consider a small amount of finely chopped pineapple or even some grated apple. This is a whole new playground for me to experiment in.  I mean, who would have thought left over taco meat, tomatoes, onions, cilantro and refried beans would work on regular hashbrowns?  Uh, that would be me!  Or bacon, broccoli, and cauliflower?  Yup, me, again. LOL.

On the garden front... harvest is starting for the peas.  Just look at those pods!!

Here's what my garden looks like right now, almost the end of June.  In the background, you can see the pole beans are starting their journeys up the fish line trellis. In front, 7 tomato plants are filling out their space. Hidden between are beets, a couple of pepper plants and in the extreme right (out of the picture) are my red, yellow and white onions and garlic.  The garlic, so far this year, has been coming along just grand.

Of course, veggies aren't my only thing I grow.  I have several flowers, both annual and perennial coming up.  Here's my yellow trumpet lily.  One of several, but, alas, a severe storm came through and beat the crap out of most of them and they are down on the ground.  Of course, winter wasn't nice, either.  I lost, I would estimate, over half of all my trumpet lilies.  I don't think I have any red ones left - at least, I haven't seen any bloom on the ground or in the air. 

My day lilies are coming into bloom.  Maybe I'll show them next week.

Until next I ramble on...

Ignorance Of The Law

First, Happy Memorial Day as we honor those who died for our right to a free American life. As you picnic and celebrate, remember to give thanks to those who are no longer with us, allowing us the liberty we have.

How often have you heard that line?  Now, for the salt in the wound - I retired from the federal court system.  You have NO idea how many times I heard that cliche phrase: Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

As a "happy" farmer and proud owner of 18 chickens and a brand new chicken coop, you'd think all is well.  Unfortunately, to quote Professor Hill of "The Music Man" - You got trouble right here in River City. (BTW, if you click on the link, you can hear the song from musical.)

Yup!  I ran into trouble - not so much with the city as the township.  Seems I crossed the line with the building of my chicken coop.  I was told by several friends, family, and other people that if you put up a temporary building, you don't need a permit or approval.

Ah, yeah. About that. Seems I was being ignorant of the law.  MY township has rules and codes and one of them is a simple thing.  ANY structure needs a permit.

Seems simple enough.  Take my hand slap, buy a permit, and apologize for my ignorance, promising not to do it again.

Oops!  Seems the building is "in front" of my house slightly and not off the property line by a minimum of 5 feet.  Oh, also, it needs to be 15 feet from the house.

Since it is a 'temporary' structure, it can be moved.  Supposedly, the contractor built my home 35 feet from the property line.  That's plenty of space to move the coop back a foot, keep it 15 feet from the house and still remain over 5 feet from the property line.

Hm?  Seems the online satellite image of my property shows the house a mere 25 feet from the property line. Doing some quick math - 15 house offset + 5 foot property line offset gives me a whopping 5 feet to work with.  Uh, the coop is 8x12 with 6 inch overhangs for a size of 9x13. Anyone with a feeble knowledge of math can quickly realize this isn't going to work.

So, my sons are bringing over a laser sight to show the property line and we'll work from that information.  If the line is 35 feet from the house, we will move the shed.  If the distance is truly 25 feet - the only place available to maintain the chickens will be the floodplain and that is not a feasibility since it is also close to the woods - which will tempt all the woodland critters who enjoy chicken dinners as well as I do... and snakes that enjoy eggs.  Not a good working environment.

Again, ignorance of the law is not an excuse.  I have a beautiful 8x12 structure that may soon be nothing more than smoke and ash if I can't resolve this.

Don't even consider the word variance.  When I bought my permit and we discussed placement of the structure, I uttered the word variance.  The guy was nice enough but assured me the trustees have a simple way of handling all variance requests - deny.  I guess they haven't approved a variance in years.  I know the night (over 10 years ago) we got approval to change our property from farmland to residential, they denied a variance request unanimously.

Uh, that might be another issue.  I'm considered residential.  Chickens might be frowned upon.  I figure I will cross that bridge this week when I know the guy who approves permits comes out to check on the property lines since there seems to be a 10 foot difference.

On a brighter note - my tomatoes are planted outside, my garlic is coming along quite well - so far and I finally got my onion sets planted.  I also planted 2 green pepper plants.  I went in search of a couple flowers to plant to accent my orange petunias.  I decided white would do it.  My wife thought yellow would be pretty - so I got some yellow ones, too.  Then she found a deep purple with small yellow throat petunia.  She no longer cared about my orange petunias and wanted the yellow to surround the purple one.  So she won that battle and it is now growing in the large planter on front steps.  I put the orange petunias with the white petunias, a light and dark purple sweet alyssum and lime green sweet potato vines on the ends.  So far, they look pretty and the orange petunias should start blooming in the next week or two.

I still have the green beans and beets to plant in the raised garden bed.  I decided to casually throw the sweet corn in the old backyard garden, along with cucumbers, pumpkins, and squash.  I know that sounds silly but raccoons don't line vines so maybe they will leave my sweet corn alone.  I don't plan to weed the patch.  It may work - it may not work.  Hopefully, I'll get something out of the patch since the ground is uneven and my lawn service (#1 son) doesn't like to mow it with his rider - which I understand.  So much experimental gardening this year.

On the writing front, I decided to make a major change to my next Amish novel.  By doing so, I'm now psyched to get writing on it again. In fact, the idea energized me so much, I want to write and write but realize I have other obligations to address - like an edit job for another client.

Until next I ramble on...

The Proud Farmer

This was an exciting week. I didn't plan to transplant my seedlings and hoped to just move them into the final spots in their dinky little 2-inch peat pots.

WRONG!!

I noticed roots spreading along the sides of one of the pots, took another look and noticed that several had roots showing.  Not a good sign... well, yes, a good sign of healthy plants, but for growing, it is like discovering your pants are two inches too short, or the sleeve not reaching the wrist... or worse yet, buttons being stretched to the full bulge limit.

My baby plants needed bigger homes and needed them sooner than I wanted to admit.  We're still having nights that get a little brisk and tender seedlings like tomatoes just wouldn't make it and since I'm not an early riser - uh, 9am is early for me - having them covered and protected from the harsh night would mean under covers that would overheat them in the bright morning sunlight.

So, like a good parent, I transplanted my seedlings into bigger pots.  The tomatoes all went into 5-inch peat pots where I know they can grow sufficiently for the next week or two with no repercussions. The geraniums, petunias, and impatiens moved into 3-inch peat pots.  So far, everybody seems happy in their new homes.  Take a look:

Most of the seedlings in their new homes - tomatoes (Roma, Rutgers, Beefsteak and Mortgage Lifter) along with mixed geraniums, impatiens, and petunias

A couple of the 10 geraniums, don't know the colors - yet.

My two impatiens, colors unknown. Notice the size difference, same day planting. Hm?

Two of the 4 petunias - African Sunset, a true orange petunia. To see the color,Click This Link

And, I promised pictures of the finished chicken coop and as promised, here they are. The coop is basically an 8x12 building and the fenced chicken run is 10x16 and about 5 ft high at the peak. The run has fence on 3 sides, along the base of the coop and, of course, over the top.  There is a door on the side of the coop nearest the RV and another one to access the chicken run.  The run door is originally a display sign at a local hardware chain store where we purchased the windows you see in the pictures, two on the front and a larger side window.  My son cut a small section from the base to make it fit and with the 4x4 base to help secure it, the door is great.  All the fencing is secured with tie-strips about every 4-6 inches to keep it 'critter' proof.  I still need to add the fencing for the base to completely enclose it, but I need to find somebody to help bring in a truckload of pea gravel to pour over the fence when I put it in.  I want about 2 inches of gravel so the chickens don't have to walk on the wire - plus the gravel might invite some "live" chicken food.

Some of my chickies - two types: Red Cross (bigger ones in brown) and ISA which are light brown and white and about 4 or 5 weeks younger.  But everybody gets along - for the most part.

Another angle of the chicken run

The door I described, and to the left, the white-ish chicken is "Snow" as my one granddaughter named it.

We had a lot of rain and I had some rubber mats out and worms and other bugs collected under them for protection.  That was short-lived.  My sons, while finishing up the coop decided to have some fun. As the #2 son worked on the coop chicken door inside the fenced area, #1 and #3 decided to pick up the mat and grabbed several worms and bugs to throw into the chicken run.  The chickens had a field day with the delicacies. #2 happened to see it and yelled "Sure, go ahead, teach them to be carnivores while I'm still in here! Just what we need, Killer Chickens." They all got into a fit of laughter until I told them, due to the height of the roof of the run, I was going to have my youngest grandchildren and then the great-grandkids go in when needed.  Suddenly it wasn't so funny to them. "No way, dad!" they exclaimed. "Not in the pen with the Raptors! Have a heart!  They'll be pecked alive!"

Needless to say, farming can be fun.

And, on that note, so can writing... and editing.  Right now I'm editing a story for a client. The story is really exciting and I get reading and forget to edit until I read a really blatant mistake.  Edits are going slower than anticipated but I love the storyline.

Hoping all the mothers, young and old, had a great Mother's Day.  We have four sons - they all checked in for the day.  In fact, one brought over t-bone steaks to grill. My darling wife had a great day and I topped it off by taking her out to Burger King, using a coupon to get us 2 Whopper Jr burgers, 2 small fries and a big cup of icy cold water to drink. Okay, I also got her an order of onion rings that she so loves.  I'm such a romantic and expense was no issue, obviously. LOL.  We ate our meal as I drove around on some back roads enjoying the scenery, even going almost 20 miles to the church where we got married and it all started.  It was just an enjoyable evening.

Until next I ramble on...

Writing Spree

First, let me make a little announcement.

For a short time, I am offering my editing services at a discounted price of $.75/page which should be double-spaced, 12 pt Times Roman, and have 1 inch margins.  If you have any other questions, please check out my editing page: http://www.bobnailor.com/editing.php

Now, with that out of the way - I can't explain what happened last week.  Call it "Miss Muse" came to visit.  Call it "enlightenment."  Call it 'creativity.'  Call it whatever you want.  It was a writing fury.

Yes, I was in a writing frenzy.  For some reason, a novel I worked on for NaNoWriMo back in 2013 caught my attention and I decided to do a complete rewrite of the story, changing, of course, the main plot line quite a bit. The original plot was:

Jolene works at Pop's Burger Joint with Henry who constantly asks her to marry him. The restaurant is owned by Ben Masters who once prospected for gold and invested in the restaurant. Now Ben is old and is considering retirement. He has contacted his only next of kin, Ben Jr., his estranged son, who finally shows to find out why the cryptic letter was sent. Ben Jr's wife has already made plans for the restaurant. Ben has set the stage and all the players must perform their part. The one who performs in the manner which Ben has established in his will gets to inherit the restaurant and the treasure within. But what exactly is this treasure... within?

Now I have changed things up a tad.  Sure Henry is still asking Jolene to marry him, but Ben, the owner, has discovered he has only months to live. He has pancreatic cancer. He has contacted his estranged son who has responded to the cryptic message and brought his wife and son back to his hometown. But we now discover Ben has another child who is eligible to inherit. Things only get more interesting. But the bottom line is ... exactly what is this treasure... within?

Last week  (Saturday) I was at 8,000 words but realized I needed to add a couple of new characters and change some of the plot lines. The week had been a frenzy of writing, indeed.  Right now I have a total of almost 14,000 words written on the new story.

In addition to everything else I've done this week, by the end of Friday, I had written another almost 6,000 words in five (5) days.

This weekend was a total loss for writing.  My sons came to visit and work on projects around the house, mainly, the chicken coop, so I was busy helping my wife fix meals for the 'crew.' LOL.  Good news!  The chicken coop now has a working 'slide' door for protecting the chickens at night. In the morning, I pull a rope and the door slides up.  At night, I can release it and the door slides shut. I no longer need to bend over to walk in the chicken run to open the door in the morning and close the door at night.  YAY!!  Plus, the shingle roof was put on.  Now I just need to stain it for the summer and then get the siding and inside paneling this fall so I can insulate the building for the winter.

My new neighbor from the down the road came over to introduce himself. He bought the property next to me last Friday.  He was impressed with the chicken run.

On a different topic - health - I decided to go back on my old diet this week and I already am noticing my weight dropping.  It appears I've lost a couple of pounds.  I won't know for sure until I go in later this week, but I'm feeling better... okay, somewhat.

Let me explain.  I've been having sharp pains on my right side, directly underneath the lower rib cage. I thought I might have pinched myself when trying to catch the chickens when I was leaning over the walls of the brooder area in the basement.  My granddaughter, a medical type, thinks it could be gall bladder issues since she just had her's removed.  My wife tends to agree with my granddaughter.  The pain let up somewhat yesterday and hasn't been as intense today.  I noticed I sat hunched over, pushing my rib cage down into my protruding tummy ... which may have caused the pain, so I've been sitting upright with a straight back the last few days.  So the family can rest assured I'm okay, I've agreed to see a doctor this week... or so I said.  I'll see how I feel over the next couple of days.

As mentioned above, I was so involved in writing, I almost didn't notice that my garden plants I had growing inside the house were getting thirsty.  I almost lost the tomato plants - they wanted water.  I watered them and prayed they'd survive.  Whew!  They drank the water and pretty soon were standing back up again.  Almost time to plant them outside - I don't want to lose them now.  In fact, this week I'll be re-potting them into larger pots before they go outside in about 2 more weeks.  Yes, they are getting THAT big.  I have to move them into 5 inch pots.

Until next I ramble on...

The Bobs Update

And now for some updates from Bob - The Farmer, The Cook, The Writer, The Grandpa, The Traveler and The One Who Wants to be Healthy...

The chicken coop is complete and the chickens have been transferred to the new enclosure. Of course, they weren't too happy with the idea of being moved but now, with the chicken run available, I think they're getting acclimated to the new home.

Yes, the younger ones are still terrified and intimated by the larger hens but when the 8 brown hens go out into the yard, the little brown and white ones run wild in the coop, eating and drinking.

Sure, go ahead and think I'm crazy. Every time the little ones attempt or think of coming out of the coop, one of the crazy (what my sons call her) hens goes flying up in their face, pushing them back into the coop.  At least it has been that way for the last two day.

Tonight! Tonight was a day of liberation for the little ones. One of them (I think it is the one my granddaughter named "Snow") strolled out onto the ramp. The crazy hen came fluttering up and it just jumped down into the yard. Shortly thereafter, two more joined the first one.  So, in the end, there was five little ones out in the yard with the eight bigger hens.  That means that there were still five more little hens inside plus two very BIG meat chickens.  Those two are so huge they can barely walk and - sorry, folks, but they will be butchered this week.

The remaining eighteen hens will be allowed to mature to lay eggs... which should start maybe in late June or mid-July.  When all eighteen start laying, the possibility of eighteen eggs a day is a fact, BUT, more than likely, it will be more like about twelve to fifteen eggs a day.  Still, seven to ten dozen eggs per week is more than I can use.  Notice I didn't say eat.  Plain eggs or heavy egg items and I don't get along. Fried eggs, hard/soft boiled eggs, eggnog, even eggs in potato salad - I become sulfuric - and trust me, you don't want to be around.

So, as my neighbor stated, get that sign-up and out there when eggs are available and he'll be over to get farm-fresh eggs.  He said I'll have a thriving egg business in no time.  He was checking out my coop and said I may want to enlarge the chicken area and cut back my shed share of the building.  He thinks I should up the ante to about thirty hens. Hm? Maybe he likes eggs?

Also, as Farmer Bob, my plants I started inside are coming along fantastically. My tomato plants are growing even larger and I will probably need to transplant them to five-inch pots this coming week. The geraniums are getting big, as are the petunias and impatiens... but I think I may be able to keep the last two in the current pots, the geraniums might need bigger pots.

Yesterday I planted two rows of peas out in the garden. Hopefully, they will do better this year than they did last year, but still, last year was really nice.  I mean, a full gallon of peas to freeze. I don't know how many of you are familiar with "Tater Tot Casserole" but those fresh frozen peas tasted absolutely wonderful in the casseroles during the winter. Here's a quick recipe from Cooking Bob:

1 lb ground beef, 1 can cream of mushroom soup (or celery or chicken), 2 cups frozen peas, cheese slices (cheddar or Colby) and a bag of frozen tater tots.  We do NOT cook the beef prior.

Set oven to temperature for tater tots - usually about 400.
1) Spread the beef thinly on bottom of 9x12 pan.
2) Spread soup across the beef (do NOT add water)
3) Spread frozen peas on top of soup
4) Put slices of cheese to cover entire pan
5) Place tater tots in a layer. (my sons line them up for easy cutting, but...)
6) Bake as directed for tater tots, about 30-35 mins.
7) Cut and serve.
NOTE: Use a clear glass dish the first time so you can see if the meat has cooked properly. Some people prefer to crumble and fry the beef with diced onions prior to layering - your option.

Now, as Writer Bob, it has been very good the last couple of weeks. My latest book, "At Death's Doors" has done well on Amazon. Sales skyrocketed at its initial release sending my book into Amazon's top 100.  Writer Bob has really been busy this past week working on an old novel, rewriting "The Treasure Within" which is more of a literary work than my usual fantasy or horror genre. I've been making myself accountable to another author friend for word counts. LOL. And she has been making herself accountable to me for her word counts.  Great incentive, eh?

And Grandpa Bob had a fabulous time last weekend celebrating three birthdays: one granddaughter, Keeley, turned 6 while her sibling twins, Jaxson and Mikayla, turned one. It was a fun party because, as Grandpa, I got to see ALL my grandkids and a lot of their friends. Party! Party! Party!

Now, for Health Bob - not so good. I can't seem to lose any weight. And my sugar has been all over the place.  I'm trying to get it all under control.  Maybe I just need to toss out what the doctor and dietitian want me to eat and go back to my diet I was on back in December which dropped my A1C from 10.3 to 7.2 and my weight from 268 to 240.  The diet they have me on, I now weight 251  HUH?  What part of losing weight and blood sugar control don't they understand?

Trying something new - I was told to be interactive with my audience. So, now I will ask you a simple question.  Not everyone is a writer, nor a farmer, nor grandparent, or a health expert. So exactly what kind of question can I ask that everyone can participate with?

You're going on a simple trip, call it a day trip. Where would you go? What would you see? Why would it be fun? And how much would it cost?

Does that sound like a silly question?  Not really.  My wife and I like to travel and sometimes we miss those little "secret" places that only the locals know about.  We've stumbled onto a few of them, especially one in Iowa, one in New York on Long Island, a few up in Michigan, a couple over in Indiana, and some in Ohio. Well, actually I wish I could remember the one in California and the other in -- I think -- Arizona? It can be a campground, a scenic view, a landmark, whatever.

So, tell Bob The Traveler about your favorite hideaway.

Until next I ramble on...

Aw, Crap!

Even the best laid plans go awry.  Oh, how true.

I am attempting to get a chicken coop built.  Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, has gone right.  The weather was beautiful and we started the project by getting the platform and some of the wood. We covered it and it has been covered more than uncovered.  My boys can only work on it during the weekends and they are limited weekends due to their jobs.  So we've had two great weekends, one they were able to get a little work done, the other they had to do mandatory overtime. Almost every other weekend has been crappy.  This weekend was no different - okay, a little different. A mere fifty miles away in Toledo, they got over six (6) inches of snow!!  We got about two (2) inches mixed with ice.  Whoo-hoo?  To finish the coop, we need to finalize the roof with shingles and finish the north wall and add one more stud to that north wall to match the south wall so we can put in a retainer wall to keep the chickens on one side and I get to have a small storage shed on the other side.  PLUS, I have to build an outdoor enclosure which needs to be all protective.  It will be a hoop-type enclosure with fencing going over the hoop and across the bottom on the floor so any invasive critters can't get to my chickens.  We have eagles from the top, and cats, foxes, opossums, skunks, stray dogs and yes, even coyotes in the area.  I've even heard a bobcat with tracks in my backyard and rumors have it that there is a cougar and bear that roam the outlands where I live - although I haven't seen them - YET.  The joke around here at the current time is:  The hens will be laying eggs before the coop is done.  Just so you understand the joke - it takes a chick to an egg-laying hen - about 5 months.  Jeesh! I hope my coop gets done before that!!

I wanted to plant my peas in the garden.  My hope was this coming week.  Obviously, with the snow and ice this weekend, my plans are going to be delayed a tad.  In fact, my hope to weed and cultivate the garden is being delayed with all the rain we've had of late.  About the time the ground gets perfect for me to work it, it rains... or snows!

Farmer Bob is getting frustrated... need I say more?

Traveling Bob wants to work on his RV, but again, the weather has not cooperated.  Who wants to go outside and work in a cold RV.  I mean, the temps have been freezing.  Yes, I could "heat" the RV but why should I do that?  April is supposed to be a nice month.  Remember?  March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.  April brings May flowers.  March sucked and so far, April seems like a "Ground Hog Day" rerun of March.  Come on warm weather!!

Writing Bob released a new book. Finally!  The collection of stories has been released.  Yes, the one which I had you help me decide the cover.  It did great the first few days out - reaching #35 in anthologies and even up to position 52K on Amazon.  If you're curious about this book...

http://amzn.to/25HQinV

I was asked just how scary the book was. Hm? It is not a blood, guts and gore type collection. I tend to write more "light" horror - I like to play with your mind, the psychological horror. Somebody told me it was more "Twilight Zone" type stories.  Whatever.  It deals with death and its myriad aspects, so it don't fall under the romance, western or Christian genres!

Oh, while I'm discussing crappy.  I went to the doctor and dietitian this past week. Hm? They weren't upset by my almost ten (10) pound gain.  Hey!  I was!!  Seems I'd given in to despair and given up my diet.  Too many all-you-can-eat buffets and not watching what I was eating, including all those fabulous Lent fish frys.  I'm not Catholic but I love fish frys and look so forward to the Lenten season splurge of local fish frys at almost every organization.  Especially those which offer all-you-can-eat fish!  So, there are repercussions to eating like this - and I gained almost 10 pounds.  Now I need to get back on the bandwagon and be assertive in my goal to lose some weight.  Due to the weight-gain I've noticed my blood sugar increase.  Everything is interrelated.  So I lose weight, my blood sugar will come down and with a little luck, I'll begin the spiral back up to a healthy body instead of the horrible spiral down into oblivion of fat despair.

On an up note - last weekend I had my #1, #2 and #4 sons and their families to visit me and we had a lot of fun.  I enjoyed the antics of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  The 6 yr olds kept wanting to play outside, eventho it was close to freezing but sunny.  The twins who are just learning to walk kept getting into everything and who can ignore their smiles and get upset?  The great-grandkids are still learning to sit up and attempt to crawl.  But they don't crawl - YET.

This weekend I had my #1, #2 and #3 sons and their families to vist.  The older granddaughters were a lot of fun to tease - 14 and 10.  And they had a blast in the kitchen with grandma learning how to make different things.  Let me tell you this - the drop biscuits were absolutely fantastic and they did them with grandma only giving directions.  Plus they helped me with my Farmer Bob chores, feeding and watering the chickens.  They started to name the hens - the egg-laying ones.  I told them they shouldn't but if they were naming, only name the brown chickens.  They only named a couple. Whew!  I don't want anyone making pets of these chickens.  At some point, the chickens might become nuggets and well, I don't want upset grandkids.

In case you're wondering - sons #1 and #2 live in the immediate area.  Sons #3 and #4 live in the Detroit area - about 2 hours away and all of them have jobs where they work with mandatory overtime and/or weekends.  We're always happy to see them visit.  LOL.  I love making a 7plus pound meatloaf - that is 2 pounds of ground beef, 2 pounds of sausage and 3 pounds of venison.  Now add the rest of the ingredients - over 7 pounds.  YUM! They LOVE meatloaf.

Until next I ramble on...

All The Verdicts

Let's start with last week. I wasn't here and there was no update to the voting on the book cover. My bad and I apologize. I was sick and for all practical purposes, really didn't care if I lived or died and wasn't too sure if I was dead or alive. Here comes the story...

Friday night I and my lovely bride enjoyed the company of some friends at a local fish fry. The fish consisted of piles of all-you-can-eat deep-fried fish accompanied by two types of coleslaw (creamy and vinegar,) three types of potatoes (baked, mashed, 3 cheese hashbrowns,) several types of bread/buns and a huge assortment of desserts - I won't even attempt to describe but I would say, if you couldn't find something you liked, you're just too damned picky. All this food - I call it $10 Heaven. I ate so much fish, I didn't have room for dessert.

Got home and about 7:30pm, Heaven turned into absolute Hell. My stomach turned, there was some gurgling and I had a countdown of less than 10 seconds to make it to the facility - 3-2-1. I think I made another 2 trips before I finally attempted to call it a night. During the night it was another, at least 4, if not 5 trips and Saturday was a constant race. Fortunately we have two bathrooms so one was always available for my use. Saturday night wasn't any better. I'd awake to an urge and make a dash. Do you realize how difficult it is to dash when half-asleep? And in the dark? I thank the Lord for giving me the foresight to install an LED nightlight in the bathroom. So Sunday was a total wash. I didn't even bother getting out of bed - except to run to the facility. I'd given up on attempting to eat and was just trying to exist on beef broth. Water begets water.

By midday on Monday, I thought I was on the heal. There was no longer a dual water spigot - the original pipework theory seemed to be the plan of the day.  Tuesday morning proved that wrong with a small diarrhea run but it was short-lived. Whew!

Wednesday found me feeling pretty good which meant that our trip to French Lick, Indiana was on track. Both my wife and I had received a complimentary room, so we each booked a room and took her sister and her brother and his wife with us. We had a room, they had a room. Uh, our room had TWO fireplaces!! The place was very, VERY nice and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay, only wishing it was a tad warmer and the gardens more in bloom. But, it was still a fun time.

This is mezzanine (2nd floor) looking down into part of the lobby. Our room is 4 doors down hall behind us.

This is our room w/ a nice flat screen and fireplace. Huge room!

I decided to catch a couple of Zs and she decided to take pictures. Coordinated effort!!

I told you there was 2 fireplaces - the other one was in the bathroom!

Mural in ceiling above lobby and mezzanine level - so much gold leaf!

More of the murals above the mezzanine. That chandelier is about 5 or 6 feet across, maybe more. I would say it was about 25  or more feet between the two marble columns.

We each found a piece of furniture we wanted to take home.

My wife fell in love with this table and floral arrangement. Even with four sons, I don't think this table would get moved too often once it was put in the house.

As you can see, it was a very enjoyable trip and experience and we hope to get back there again, even maybe later this summer. They do have an RV park and we may take our RV next time.

Verdict with the doctor and my health. Discussed my diabetes with an endocrinologist and he has put me back on 500mg metformin twice a day which should be gentler to my kidneys. We'll see. Has it helped my sugar? Yes!! A resounding YES! Of course, he wants me to lose weight and go on a 1500 calorie diet which is probably more than I eat now with my current diet. I see a dietitian in March and we'll see what she has to offer. I also go back to the doctor about mid-March so I won't have a lot of time to institute the 1500 calorie diet.  The scales indicate that I have lost 7 pounds since I went to the doctor - and that I would call a good thing.  Of course, the medical scales can be different than mine - although I did weigh myself when I got home from the doctor to see how far off my scales were. The results were 1 pound difference... my was more.

Now, the question, by now, on everyone's tongue is: The book cover! Which cover made the cut?

There was a lot of discussion as to which one was better and each argument had its own value. The basic concern was readability. Another was the skull and teeth.  Some thought the doors disappeared or got lost on the cover. Finally, after an immense time getting all the votes from here, my different media sites like Twitter and Facebook and some of my favorite watering holes on the internet, the final verdict was...

I offer you the winner designed by Sheri McGathy of Sheri McGathy Book Cover Design

This is the winner!!

With a little luck, hopefully it will be ready for a release date in early March. My beta readers are giving me some vital and critical feedback and I'm getting the editing done. Hopefully this will be a very clean book on Amazon and I won't be seeing their ugly "flag" denoting errors within.

By the way, is anyone else getting excited?  Spring is on the way!!  In about two weeks I will be starting some of my seeds.  I may even be getting the first of my chickens to raise. We want about a half dozen hens for eggs and those we want to get early. Then I will get the other twenty-five we want to raise for butchering and Sunday dinners.  Spring is on the way!  Summer is coming!!

Until next I ramble on...

Cover Verdict - And Other Stuff

I'm sure it has been bothering you in the worst possible way ... sitting on pins and needles, even ignoring any primaries, waiting to hear the verdict on my latest book cover.  The votes are in and have been tallied.

It was close.  It seemed either you liked the ghostly skull specter (option 1) and hated the teeth (option 2/3) OR you liked the skull (option 2/3) and wanted a cleaner font (option 1) for clarity.

The final version - I think, sort of, could be, maybe. LOL.

No, we have two NEW covers.  This time it will be much easier.  Vote for Option 1 or Option 2.

The above is OPTION 1

The above is OPTION 2

Yes, I realize these weren't in the running.  In fact, they weren't even created.  Reading all the comments, some online here, others from different social media threads, the general consensus was a font issue.  Okay, some had big issues with the teeth but I really feel it was addressed with the new layout and font. Also, there was concern about being able to read the title when a thumbnail.

In stepped another book cover artist.  Wow!  After some open dialog, I was able to get both artists working together. There was a final and then there wasn't.  They worked on other possibilities.  I anxiously awaited their creative efforts to see which one actually wins.  I checked to see if the two offerings would thumbnail and be readable. They passed muster. So the above is my dilemma...

ONE OF THESE WILL BE THE WINNING COVER.

Now, the big question.  When I release the book, will the winning cover be enticing enough to make a reader want to check it out?  To read the back (yet to be done) and maybe even open the book to read a page or two?  Finally, will the buyer BUY THE BOOK?  Only time will tell.

Somebody asked what the book was about.  It is about Death and its myriad "doors" to the final end. It isn't really a horror book.  But, then again, you don't want posies and butterflies on the cover.  Let's just say it is about the different avenues Death can open.

Now, for something totally different.

My health?  I've been relegated to just Januvia.  The doctor took me off Metformin which I was getting via the Janumet.  I go to an endocrinologist on the 12th and we'll discuss other options since the Januvia isn't keeping my sugar under control.  I can keep it down as long as I don't eat a lot but, really, a person does have to eat something more than just salads all day.  I mean, I enjoy celery and air-popped popcorn is okay, but every once in a while you want more.  I even drink an immense amount of water - no pop except on the rarest of occasions... and then it is diet, which I know isn't good for me, either.  With a little luck, maybe I can get back on Janumet.  I was reviewing everything.  I was on 50/500 Janumet - have been taking it for years, twice a day.  The doctor decided to put me on Januvia, 100mg, once a day.  Sugar went out of balance.  My heart specialist put me on Janument, 100/1000, once a day.  My kidney numbers skyrocketed and I'm off Janument, back on plain Januvia 100.

Uh, did you notice?  I was on 50/500 for years - no kidney issues.  I'm placed on 100/1000 and all Hell breaks loose.  

I'm going to see if I can go back to the 50/500 twice a day.  It might be gentler to my kidneys.  One can only hope.

Also, since Mr. Groundhog didn't see his shadow, that means Spring is just around the corner.  I'd like to believe that - even the weather since has been warm-ish.  You know that means - Gardening!!

I've got my seeds all purchased except for the corn, beans, and beets.  Still deciding if I want to grow corn.  In a few short weeks I will be starting many of my tomato seeds, along with some of the more slow-growing flowers, like Impatiens, Geraniums and Petunias. Sort of getting excited.

Anyone else got Garden Fever?

Until next I ramble on...