This is Runtly, the ever so entertaining Jack Russell Terrier. Mom and I have been having some serious discussions about my behavior and I thought it best to set the record straight.
Sometimes, Mom forgets that I am a dog. She says she does not understand how so much stuffing can come out of a small toy. I assure her, endlessly, that by being a dog, I have the innate ability to take just a small amount of anything and shred it into a zillion pieces. Therefore, it is easy to spread those pieces all over the front room floor. Sometimes though, when I find a plastic bag or a paper towel, I just go to Mom and Dad's room and shred it under their bed, so Mom can't see it.
I call it their bed, but really it is our bed. I like it so very much. Mom and Dad are so funny, they sleep on each side and let me have the whole middle! I sure appreciate that. I think they are afraid I might fall out, if I don't sleep in the middle.
I have a wonderful basket full of toys and I diligently empty it at least twice a week. I am very careful to make sure that all the toys are distributed evenly through all the rooms. That way I always have something to play with regardless of where I am. Mom gets aggravated because I do not pick them up. See, this is where Mom gets confused, dogs don't do pick up.......at least not this dog.
Mom says I must be part cat, how rude, because I sleep a lot. She is right, not about the cat part, but the sleep part. I do sleep a whole bunch. The reason for this is quite simple. I do not know how to read. I do not know how to do Sudoku. I do not know how to cook or run the vacuum. I cannot make the bed or do laundry or go grocery shopping. Mom will not let me help her while she is working, even though I'm pretty sure I would be of enormous help. So, since I cannot do all these things that I see Mom do, I do the thing I know how to do best, I sleep. And when I sleep, I dream and when I dream, I can do all those things and then some.
I heard Mom say that a certain book says that dogs are just flesh and bones, nothing more. I think she knows that really isn't true, because when I get into her lap and peer into her eyes, she knows I'm trying to tell her something.......that I need to go poo!!
I have one more thing to tell too. Mom, you know that little dead snake in the road? I rolled on it when you weren't looking!!!!!
Well, time for a nap.
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Down The Rabbit Hole #7 The Fat Free Lie, How Sweet It Is.
The size and scale of the predator is massive. It is everywhere. It is hard to hide from it. It's power reaches not only coast to coast, but its tentacles circumnavigate the earth.
It has the extraordinary ability to cloak itself in harmless fashion. Most everyone thinks it is wonderful, would follow it wherever it leads and not think twice about offering it to their families.
Walking the isles of any store that sells groceries, it is in nearly every product, from floor to ceiling. It comes in a variety of forms and it is tasty. We call it sugar.
From here on, I'm going to give a movie/documentary review, rather than bore anyone with how the body uses foods to fuel itself. The information is out there, for anyone to research in case what you are about to read seems impossible.
The Magic Pill (Netflix)
What if most of our modern diseases are really just symptoms of the same problem? The Magic Pill is a character - driven documentary that follows doctors, patients, scientists, chefs, farmers and journalists from around the globe who are combating illness through a paradigm shift in eating. And this simple change --embracing fat as our main fuel -- is showing profound promise in improving the health of people, animals and the planet. *
This documentary begins with a group of Aboriginal people. When they were first discovered by westerners, they were a robust people. They were healthy, lean, had great teeth and lived long lives. When asked what was the main cause of death, before the Europeans came, their answer was "old age". In less than two decades, this once strong vibrant group, after being introduced to western foods were decimated. They had illness, they were over weight and many had diabetes.
The doctors take 11 Aboriginal women, all who have diabetes. They change their diet back to the way they used to eat, pre European times and in ten weeks, the diabetes was gone.....in all 11 women.
This is just one of the astounding changes that happen when the diet is changed and sugar is removed, but it goes way beyond the white stuff in a bowl on the table. Take just about any pre-packaged food from the pantry and look at the carbohydrate amount. Then look at the ingredients. Any word with 'rose' in it, is sugar, refined sugar. Keep in mind that the amount of carbs is per serving. So, if the entire bag of tortilla chips is eaten in a single setting, 208 carbs have been consumed. Since these carbs are refined, it does not take the body long to realize it doesn't need all that fuel. The body then takes the excess and stores them as fat. The soft drink industry does not want people to understand this.
The Magic Pill shows what happens when healthy fats are introduced again and the change is phenomenal. Also, according to the doctors, the claim that meat fat is a leading cause of heart disease, is false. That claim is due more investigating.
The list of disease and illness that can be turned around contains, cancer (which thrives on sugar), asthma, diabetes, autism and many others.
My only hope is that someone will watch this documentary and take away from it something that will change or save your life and the lives of your family.
* IMDb website: story line information
It has the extraordinary ability to cloak itself in harmless fashion. Most everyone thinks it is wonderful, would follow it wherever it leads and not think twice about offering it to their families.
Walking the isles of any store that sells groceries, it is in nearly every product, from floor to ceiling. It comes in a variety of forms and it is tasty. We call it sugar.
From here on, I'm going to give a movie/documentary review, rather than bore anyone with how the body uses foods to fuel itself. The information is out there, for anyone to research in case what you are about to read seems impossible.
The Magic Pill (Netflix)
What if most of our modern diseases are really just symptoms of the same problem? The Magic Pill is a character - driven documentary that follows doctors, patients, scientists, chefs, farmers and journalists from around the globe who are combating illness through a paradigm shift in eating. And this simple change --embracing fat as our main fuel -- is showing profound promise in improving the health of people, animals and the planet. *
This documentary begins with a group of Aboriginal people. When they were first discovered by westerners, they were a robust people. They were healthy, lean, had great teeth and lived long lives. When asked what was the main cause of death, before the Europeans came, their answer was "old age". In less than two decades, this once strong vibrant group, after being introduced to western foods were decimated. They had illness, they were over weight and many had diabetes.
The doctors take 11 Aboriginal women, all who have diabetes. They change their diet back to the way they used to eat, pre European times and in ten weeks, the diabetes was gone.....in all 11 women.
This is just one of the astounding changes that happen when the diet is changed and sugar is removed, but it goes way beyond the white stuff in a bowl on the table. Take just about any pre-packaged food from the pantry and look at the carbohydrate amount. Then look at the ingredients. Any word with 'rose' in it, is sugar, refined sugar. Keep in mind that the amount of carbs is per serving. So, if the entire bag of tortilla chips is eaten in a single setting, 208 carbs have been consumed. Since these carbs are refined, it does not take the body long to realize it doesn't need all that fuel. The body then takes the excess and stores them as fat. The soft drink industry does not want people to understand this.
The Magic Pill shows what happens when healthy fats are introduced again and the change is phenomenal. Also, according to the doctors, the claim that meat fat is a leading cause of heart disease, is false. That claim is due more investigating.
The list of disease and illness that can be turned around contains, cancer (which thrives on sugar), asthma, diabetes, autism and many others.
My only hope is that someone will watch this documentary and take away from it something that will change or save your life and the lives of your family.
* IMDb website: story line information
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
A 6 Day Squeak
Mother: The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Me: What?
Mother: The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
We all do it. We think in pictures. Such as dog.....enter the breed thought of here. What I saw in response to her old saying was a wheel from a covered wagon, squeaking and then someone putting grease on it. Problem solved. Being a slow learner, it was adulthood before the real meaning sunk in.
I do not even know his name. He was just a funny looking old man. I use the word old because, being born in the mid 1950's, he could of been my age. But, I don't think in old terms and avoid mirrors.
In the entire time I have lived in this new place, I probably only saw him maybe once every two months. When I did see him, on my morning walk, he was always sitting on the sidewalk, outside his apartment. He always wore one of those one piece jumper looking things.....things funny old men wear. His hair always stuck up all over his head, as if he had just crawled out of bed and he was always smoking a cigarette. The only other things I knew about him were 1, he was a horder and 2, he had a small weather station next to his front door.
Being from a small mid-western town, I practically always speak to people I meet. I use the word 'practically' because I have learned that speaking to everyone in a city of over 400,000 people can not always work to my advantage. Even a blind pig can find an acorn. So, the nut ratio is a lot higher here.
Each time I saw this funny old man with his wild hair, jumpsuit and smoke, I always spoke. It was just a hello or a small tid-bit about the weather. I never stopped walking and he never moved from his position either.
I really had not noticed that I had not seen him in awhile. After all, one cannot be expected to calculate a once in every two month happenstance. Then, I heard that he had a stroke. He had a stroke and laid in his apartment for 6 days before a family member found him. His weather station is gone now and he is somewhere in a nursing home.
Check on people. Check on your neighbor....even if you do not like them. Call someone who may not have many friends or perhaps no close family members. If the thought of them comes into your mind, pay attention, you could save a life or maybe lessen several days of suffering. If you live next door to a whackadoodle acorn, be the squeaky wheel and alert the proper authorities. Eventually, they will get tired of the squeak and get out the grease.
Me: What?
Mother: The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
We all do it. We think in pictures. Such as dog.....enter the breed thought of here. What I saw in response to her old saying was a wheel from a covered wagon, squeaking and then someone putting grease on it. Problem solved. Being a slow learner, it was adulthood before the real meaning sunk in.
I do not even know his name. He was just a funny looking old man. I use the word old because, being born in the mid 1950's, he could of been my age. But, I don't think in old terms and avoid mirrors.
In the entire time I have lived in this new place, I probably only saw him maybe once every two months. When I did see him, on my morning walk, he was always sitting on the sidewalk, outside his apartment. He always wore one of those one piece jumper looking things.....things funny old men wear. His hair always stuck up all over his head, as if he had just crawled out of bed and he was always smoking a cigarette. The only other things I knew about him were 1, he was a horder and 2, he had a small weather station next to his front door.
Being from a small mid-western town, I practically always speak to people I meet. I use the word 'practically' because I have learned that speaking to everyone in a city of over 400,000 people can not always work to my advantage. Even a blind pig can find an acorn. So, the nut ratio is a lot higher here.
Each time I saw this funny old man with his wild hair, jumpsuit and smoke, I always spoke. It was just a hello or a small tid-bit about the weather. I never stopped walking and he never moved from his position either.
I really had not noticed that I had not seen him in awhile. After all, one cannot be expected to calculate a once in every two month happenstance. Then, I heard that he had a stroke. He had a stroke and laid in his apartment for 6 days before a family member found him. His weather station is gone now and he is somewhere in a nursing home.
Check on people. Check on your neighbor....even if you do not like them. Call someone who may not have many friends or perhaps no close family members. If the thought of them comes into your mind, pay attention, you could save a life or maybe lessen several days of suffering. If you live next door to a whackadoodle acorn, be the squeaky wheel and alert the proper authorities. Eventually, they will get tired of the squeak and get out the grease.
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
The Nature of Things
It started out as an idyllic scene. Two mallard hens, one large domestic duck and a Canadian goose. The four were working the edge of Beaver Lake. They were busily working the mud, at the water's edge, for whatever food or nutrients were to be found in the thick muck. The water at this edge of the lake is only a few inches deep. The attack was unseen, silent, stealthy. The goose was in a fight for its life, its head now under water, wings flapping wildly. The other three fowl made a quick exit of the area. The struggle continued. It was raw and brutal and there was only one outcome.
After what seemed like an eternity, the goose gave up the ghost and after some human intervention, lay motionless in the shallow water. We had witnessed this from the swimming pool deck that extends above this side of the lake. The attacker was no where to be seen. Some speculated the goose had gotten its head stuck in some debris along the waters' edge, a couple of us were certain we knew what had happened, but there was no evidence, so we waited. While we waited, the entire flock of geese stood silent on the other edge of the lake, all looking in the direction of their fallen feathered counterpart.
The wait was long and required patience. It had to have been a snapping turtle, there was no other explanation. But, the water is so shallow and it would have been seen coming up behind the goose.
Patience finally paid off. The water had remained murky in one spot and oh, so very slowly, the beast began to raise its head to inquire as to what had happened to its meal. As gruesome as it was to have witnessed this act of nature, what exposed itself was nearly awe inspiring. The head of the turtle, the only part we saw, was nearly the size of a football. It had not come up from behind, to attack the unsuspecting goose, the goose had simply been in the most unfortunate spot at a most unfortunate time. The lair of the turtle. The rest of the turtle was submerged in the thick mud and silt and perhaps that is were it spends the majority of its time. This creature, whose species have been around since the age of the dinosaurs, did not get to the age and size it is now by being careless.
A recent walk through the forest, surrounding a man made lake, produced an unusual encounter. Our youngest daughter and myself were walking back from the lake. I was in the lead as we walked on what was probably a deer path and as I looked up, I saw a small animal approaching us. It was a grey squirrel and it was making little squeaky chattering sounds as it headed right towards me. We stopped and as my daughter said something about me being 'one with nature', the little squirrel climbed onto my feet. I reached down and slowly ran my fingers across its tail. It was the oddest experience. Just as I was going to offer my hand, to see if it would let me hold it, the thundering feet of terror to all living things, aka, Max the German Shepherd, came bounding through the undergrowth and the little squirrel high tailed it up a tree.
It was a heart breaking sight. A set of twin small spotted fawns lay dead alongside the road. Their mother was standing close by. The road is not a heavily traveled one and whether their demise was intentional or accidental, will never be known. A kind person stopped and moved the fawns off the road for two reasons....to allow the mother the time she needed and to keep her from being hit by an oncoming vehicle. The doe stayed for several hours before leaving.
Parkour: the sport of moving along a route, typically in a city, trying to get around or through various obstacles in the quickest and most efficient manner possible, as by jumping, climbing, or running.
There is a delightful video traveling around the world wide web of a raccoon defying all the odds of man made interventions. The video shows the animal as it effortlessly climbs a bird feeder pole, bypassing a large dome shaped barrier meant to thwart this type of behavior. It holds on to the pole, above the aforementioned barrier, with its front paws while it swings the rest of its body over to the bird feeder and grabs it with its hind legs. Then, while looking directly at whoever is videoing this spectacle, it grabs the top of the feeder, with the front paws and proceeds to unscrew the bottom of the feeder with its hind legs, until the bottom falls to the ground followed by a payload of bird seed.
Google: parcoon to watch this hilarious and crafty critter. It will help lift the soul and put a smile on your face. It is like a small sparkling diamond that leaves us to ponder about the true nature of things.
After what seemed like an eternity, the goose gave up the ghost and after some human intervention, lay motionless in the shallow water. We had witnessed this from the swimming pool deck that extends above this side of the lake. The attacker was no where to be seen. Some speculated the goose had gotten its head stuck in some debris along the waters' edge, a couple of us were certain we knew what had happened, but there was no evidence, so we waited. While we waited, the entire flock of geese stood silent on the other edge of the lake, all looking in the direction of their fallen feathered counterpart.
The wait was long and required patience. It had to have been a snapping turtle, there was no other explanation. But, the water is so shallow and it would have been seen coming up behind the goose.
Patience finally paid off. The water had remained murky in one spot and oh, so very slowly, the beast began to raise its head to inquire as to what had happened to its meal. As gruesome as it was to have witnessed this act of nature, what exposed itself was nearly awe inspiring. The head of the turtle, the only part we saw, was nearly the size of a football. It had not come up from behind, to attack the unsuspecting goose, the goose had simply been in the most unfortunate spot at a most unfortunate time. The lair of the turtle. The rest of the turtle was submerged in the thick mud and silt and perhaps that is were it spends the majority of its time. This creature, whose species have been around since the age of the dinosaurs, did not get to the age and size it is now by being careless.
A recent walk through the forest, surrounding a man made lake, produced an unusual encounter. Our youngest daughter and myself were walking back from the lake. I was in the lead as we walked on what was probably a deer path and as I looked up, I saw a small animal approaching us. It was a grey squirrel and it was making little squeaky chattering sounds as it headed right towards me. We stopped and as my daughter said something about me being 'one with nature', the little squirrel climbed onto my feet. I reached down and slowly ran my fingers across its tail. It was the oddest experience. Just as I was going to offer my hand, to see if it would let me hold it, the thundering feet of terror to all living things, aka, Max the German Shepherd, came bounding through the undergrowth and the little squirrel high tailed it up a tree.
It was a heart breaking sight. A set of twin small spotted fawns lay dead alongside the road. Their mother was standing close by. The road is not a heavily traveled one and whether their demise was intentional or accidental, will never be known. A kind person stopped and moved the fawns off the road for two reasons....to allow the mother the time she needed and to keep her from being hit by an oncoming vehicle. The doe stayed for several hours before leaving.
Parkour: the sport of moving along a route, typically in a city, trying to get around or through various obstacles in the quickest and most efficient manner possible, as by jumping, climbing, or running.
There is a delightful video traveling around the world wide web of a raccoon defying all the odds of man made interventions. The video shows the animal as it effortlessly climbs a bird feeder pole, bypassing a large dome shaped barrier meant to thwart this type of behavior. It holds on to the pole, above the aforementioned barrier, with its front paws while it swings the rest of its body over to the bird feeder and grabs it with its hind legs. Then, while looking directly at whoever is videoing this spectacle, it grabs the top of the feeder, with the front paws and proceeds to unscrew the bottom of the feeder with its hind legs, until the bottom falls to the ground followed by a payload of bird seed.
Google: parcoon to watch this hilarious and crafty critter. It will help lift the soul and put a smile on your face. It is like a small sparkling diamond that leaves us to ponder about the true nature of things.
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