My wife and I took our two cats, Smoky and Ryder, to the vet Tuesday for their annual checkup. They were also given a booster shot. I know no animal enjoys their trip to the vet and they seemed to know exactly when you are going to catch them for the vet trip. It doesn't matter how calm and normal one tries to be a cat just seems to know.
Smoky is a sweet and gentle lap kitty, a long haired Maine Coon, who not only doesn't mind being handled but often seeks out a lap to lay on. Ryder, a short-haired tortoise shell, loves to be petted and rubbed but on her terms. Don't ever try to pick her up and if she chooses to sit on a chair with you, you should be honored.
Smoky is my wife's cat and Ryder is mine. Ryder outweighs Smoky by 5 pounds although by looking at the two cats together Smoky looks bigger. Maybe that's why Ryder always seems to defer to Smoky; that and Smoky is a more take charge cat. Ryder prefers to observe first. Ryder even sneaks up on her food bowl. Before this trip to the vets, the behavior of the two cats was predictable. Now it's like we have two very different cats.
The days we brought them home they spent hiding. It is like they felt betrayed by the trip. Wednesday Smoky sleep most of the day in my wife's desk chair and Ryder hid where ever she was. Yesterday both cats slept on my wife's bed. Finally around 7 pm Ryder did come into the living room and slept in her tunnel but she was only there because my wife ran her out of the bedroom.
Normally Ryder comes to bed with me around two in the morning and Smoky is in here at 4 when I get up ready to be given her morning treat. This is the third day without Ryder in my bed and Smoky begging for her special meal. I knew the cats weren't happy about the vet trip but I thought they would be more forgiving than they have been.
Friday, June 26, 2015
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Eleven Happy Years
Gorgeous wives of the NFL the headline enticed. Yea, I know, all us men want a beautiful wife. My first wife was just that. She was just a little thing and she looked so child like. I was once accused of robbing the cradle even though we were the same age. I quit taking her to nightclubs because someone would always threaten to beat me up if I ever hurt her. When she cheated on me it was with a man half her age, literally. She was 42 and he was 21. That's right, she cheated on me.
My current wife is far from a beauty queen. She suffers from involuntary movement and curvature of the spine and is a little hefty around the middle and she doesn't make friends nearly as easily as my first wife did as she is quieter and has higher expectations of people. But she is an absolute joy and I wouldn't swap her for my first wife on her best day or for any beauty anywhere.
Would I prefer that she be better looking? It doesn't matter to me unless if her being pretty would change who she was I'd rather her to remain as she is. I always clean my car before I take her out. I open the car door for her, always let her go in the house first, and always stand at the bottom of the steps before she walks down so I can catch her if she falls. I almost lost her once but God gave her back. His gift to me is most precious. She may not be a beauty to you but she is a precious gem to me.
My current wife is far from a beauty queen. She suffers from involuntary movement and curvature of the spine and is a little hefty around the middle and she doesn't make friends nearly as easily as my first wife did as she is quieter and has higher expectations of people. But she is an absolute joy and I wouldn't swap her for my first wife on her best day or for any beauty anywhere.
Would I prefer that she be better looking? It doesn't matter to me unless if her being pretty would change who she was I'd rather her to remain as she is. I always clean my car before I take her out. I open the car door for her, always let her go in the house first, and always stand at the bottom of the steps before she walks down so I can catch her if she falls. I almost lost her once but God gave her back. His gift to me is most precious. She may not be a beauty to you but she is a precious gem to me.
Friday, June 19, 2015
Garden News: the good, the bad, and the ugly: picture tour
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| First time I've ever had 4 blooms at once. Wow. |
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| Gardenia is getting ready to bloom |
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| Lilies |
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| Loaded tomato vines |
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| This one is loaded too |
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| German Johnson |
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| Another German Johnson |
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| The bad: Squash had been productive but went flat. Sigh. |
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| Cone flowers |
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| The ugly |
Monday, June 15, 2015
My experience with diet soda
I just posted an article on the benefits of stopping the consumption of diet soda. When I switched from regular soda to diet drinks I did not experience a weight gain nor a weight loss. Diet soda did seem to quench my thirst better so I continued to drink it. Now I find drinks with sugar in them are hard to swallow, including the Southern favorite sweet tea. No thank you.
I don't suffer from headaches nor do I consume alcohol so I won't comment on those supposed benefits. I do have diabetes so I will go there. I stopped drinking anything and everything except for coffee and water. I experienced no weight loss. I headed to the gym and walked three miles each morning and another 7 miles out of the gym and averaged 70 miles per week for a year and a half.
For the first 14 months my weight stayed the same but then my weight started dropping like a rock from a ten story building. It wasn't from the benefits of the water, my better diet, nor the exercise. The weight loss was caused by a A1C of 14 and the need to take insulin shots. I took insulin for 3 months then went on a two kinds of pill routine afterwards. My weight continued to increase until I decided to quit going to the gym and to go back to drinking diet drinks. My weight has stabilized and I A1C has remained at 6. 8 for two straight years now.
Of course I suffered from high cholesterol until I started eating two eggs everyday for breakfast. The only malady I can't seem to control without medication is my Triglycerides.
As far as the taste of food, I can't tell a difference in how it taste while drinking diet soda and how it taste just drinking water. Of course I limited my diet soda to one 12 oz can a day but I do drink zero calorie flavored water and Gatorade (when doing yard work).
I think this is one of those things that people will argue about and study until the cows come home and never come to a proper conclusion. My experience certainly does not bear out and benefit to drinking soda without sugar and not drinking it.
I don't suffer from headaches nor do I consume alcohol so I won't comment on those supposed benefits. I do have diabetes so I will go there. I stopped drinking anything and everything except for coffee and water. I experienced no weight loss. I headed to the gym and walked three miles each morning and another 7 miles out of the gym and averaged 70 miles per week for a year and a half.
For the first 14 months my weight stayed the same but then my weight started dropping like a rock from a ten story building. It wasn't from the benefits of the water, my better diet, nor the exercise. The weight loss was caused by a A1C of 14 and the need to take insulin shots. I took insulin for 3 months then went on a two kinds of pill routine afterwards. My weight continued to increase until I decided to quit going to the gym and to go back to drinking diet drinks. My weight has stabilized and I A1C has remained at 6. 8 for two straight years now.
Of course I suffered from high cholesterol until I started eating two eggs everyday for breakfast. The only malady I can't seem to control without medication is my Triglycerides.
As far as the taste of food, I can't tell a difference in how it taste while drinking diet soda and how it taste just drinking water. Of course I limited my diet soda to one 12 oz can a day but I do drink zero calorie flavored water and Gatorade (when doing yard work).
I think this is one of those things that people will argue about and study until the cows come home and never come to a proper conclusion. My experience certainly does not bear out and benefit to drinking soda without sugar and not drinking it.
Benefits of Stopping consumption of Diet Soda
8 Things That Happen When You Finally Stop Drinking Diet Soda
8 Things That Happen When You Finally Stop Drinking Diet Soda
Ever think, “Why should I give up soda?” (Photo: Getty Images)
You’ve decided to give up diet soda—good idea! Maybe you weren’t hitting your weight-loss goals or couldn’t stomach that long list of ingredients anymore. Or perhaps you heard one too many times that it’s just not good for you.
Whatever the reason, eliminating diet soda from your diet will improve your health from head to toe. Research on diet soda is still in its infancy, but there’s enough out there to identify what you can look forward to when you put down the can and cool down with an unsweetened iced tea instead.
Migraines disappear and focus sharpens.
(Photo: Getty Images)
It turns out the headaches you expected from a diet soda withdrawal didn’t materialize. And now that you’ve quit the stuff, you probably find yourself thinking clearly for the first time in a while. That’s because the chemicals that make up the artificial sweetener aspartame may have altered brain chemicals, nerve signals, and the brain’s reward system, which leads to headaches, anxiety, and insomnia, according to a review in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. And a 2013 animal study found that rats that drank diet soda had damaged cells and nerve endings in the cerebellum—the part of the brain responsible for motor skills. (If you’re still drinking diet soda, take a look at what’s happening in your body right now.)
Taste buds are more sensitive.
It’s not your imagination: Without your usual diet soda chaser, you may find that food has more flavor. It has subtlety. It’s more enjoyable. That’s because the artificial sweeteners in your diet soda overwhelmed your taste buds with an onslaught of sweetness. Aspartame ranks 200 hundreds times sweeter than table sugar. Splenda? 600 times. In fact, brain scans show that diet soda alters sweet receptors in the brain and prolongs sugar cravings rather than satisfies them. “We often see patients change snack choices when they give up diet soda,” says Heather Bainbridge, RD, from Columbia University Medical Center Weight Control Center. “Rather than needing sugary treats or something really salty like pretzels and chips, they reach for an apple and a piece of cheese. And, when they try diet soda again, they find it intolerably sweet.”
(Ready to eliminate harmful sugar from your diet for good—and lose weight for life? Check out the Sugar Smart Express!)
It’s not your imagination: Without your usual diet soda chaser, you may find that food has more flavor. It has subtlety. It’s more enjoyable. That’s because the artificial sweeteners in your diet soda overwhelmed your taste buds with an onslaught of sweetness. Aspartame ranks 200 hundreds times sweeter than table sugar. Splenda? 600 times. In fact, brain scans show that diet soda alters sweet receptors in the brain and prolongs sugar cravings rather than satisfies them. “We often see patients change snack choices when they give up diet soda,” says Heather Bainbridge, RD, from Columbia University Medical Center Weight Control Center. “Rather than needing sugary treats or something really salty like pretzels and chips, they reach for an apple and a piece of cheese. And, when they try diet soda again, they find it intolerably sweet.”
(Ready to eliminate harmful sugar from your diet for good—and lose weight for life? Check out the Sugar Smart Express!)
The scale finally goes the right way.
(Photo: Getty Images)
While you may have started drinking diet soda to facilitate weight loss, quitting it may actually do the trick. A recent 9-year study found older adults who drank diet soda continued to pack on belly fat. The study piggybacks on research that found each daily diet soda increases your chance of becoming obese in the next decade by 65%, and a study published in Diabetes Care that found drinking diet soft drinks daily was associated with an increase in metabolic syndrome—obesity, high blood-pressure, high triglycerides—which leads to heart disease and diabetes.
Bones strengthen.
Putting down the soda may be the best way to improve your bone strength and reduce your risk of fractures. One 2014 study found that each daily soda increased the chance of hip fracture by 14% for postmenopausal women. And another found that older women who drank cola had lower bone mineral density in their hips. The jury is still out on why soda has this effect, but the science pretty clearly suggests that a soda habit weakens your bones. (Diet soda’s not the only sugar-free food making you miserable—check out 6 gross things that happen when you chew gum.)
Putting down the soda may be the best way to improve your bone strength and reduce your risk of fractures. One 2014 study found that each daily soda increased the chance of hip fracture by 14% for postmenopausal women. And another found that older women who drank cola had lower bone mineral density in their hips. The jury is still out on why soda has this effect, but the science pretty clearly suggests that a soda habit weakens your bones. (Diet soda’s not the only sugar-free food making you miserable—check out 6 gross things that happen when you chew gum.)
Your attitude towards food changes.
Since diet sodas have no calories, people drinking them often feel it’s okay to indulge elsewhere, finds Bainbridge. Often she sees her diet soda-drinking patients make poor food choices, like a burger and fries, a piece of cake, or potato chips, because they think they can afford those extra calories. Plus, soda often accompanies unhealthy foods. “Sometimes those poor choices are built up habits,” she says. “You’re conditioned to have soda with chips, fries, or something sweet. When you eliminate the soft drink, you also break the junk food habit.”
Since diet sodas have no calories, people drinking them often feel it’s okay to indulge elsewhere, finds Bainbridge. Often she sees her diet soda-drinking patients make poor food choices, like a burger and fries, a piece of cake, or potato chips, because they think they can afford those extra calories. Plus, soda often accompanies unhealthy foods. “Sometimes those poor choices are built up habits,” she says. “You’re conditioned to have soda with chips, fries, or something sweet. When you eliminate the soft drink, you also break the junk food habit.”
You handle booze better
(Photo: Getty Images)
It’s a fact: Diet soda gets you drunk faster. When you mix it with alcohol, your stomach empties out faster than if you used regular soda, causing a drastic increase in blood alcohol concentrations, according to an Australian study in the American Journal of Medicine. And when you add caffeine, look out. Another study in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research found that bar patrons who mixed drinks with diet colas were intoxicated much more easily and frequently. Your best bet for a mixer? Club soda, which is naturally sugar- and calorie-free. (Try these slimming Sassy Water recipes to stay hydrated and make your taste buds happy.)
Fat storage and diabetes risk decreases.
Our hormones may explain the great paradox of why people gain weight when they switch to diet soda. A study in Diabetes Care found that drinking two-thirds of a diet soda before eating primed the pancreas to release a lot of the fat-storing hormone insulin. When the pancreas is overworked from creating insulin to control blood-sugar levels, diabetes rears its ugly head. And a recent study in Japan found that middle-aged men who drank 1 or more diet sodas daily were much more likely to develop type 2 diabetes over a 7-year period.
Our hormones may explain the great paradox of why people gain weight when they switch to diet soda. A study in Diabetes Care found that drinking two-thirds of a diet soda before eating primed the pancreas to release a lot of the fat-storing hormone insulin. When the pancreas is overworked from creating insulin to control blood-sugar levels, diabetes rears its ugly head. And a recent study in Japan found that middle-aged men who drank 1 or more diet sodas daily were much more likely to develop type 2 diabetes over a 7-year period.
Kidney function improves.
Now that your body no longer has to make sense of the unpronounceable ingredients in diet soda, your kidneys can get back to clearing toxins, stabilizing blood pressure, and absorbing minerals. One study looked at 11 years of data and found that women who drank 2 or more servings of diet soda doubled their chances of declining kidney function.
Now that your body no longer has to make sense of the unpronounceable ingredients in diet soda, your kidneys can get back to clearing toxins, stabilizing blood pressure, and absorbing minerals. One study looked at 11 years of data and found that women who drank 2 or more servings of diet soda doubled their chances of declining kidney function.
By Jordan Davidson
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Finerprinted Drunk
UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Police say a Pennsylvania man showed up drunk to be fingerprinted for a previous drunken driving charge and earned himself another one in the process.
Online court records don't list an attorney for 41-year-old Kevin Kroll, of Dunbar Township. He faces a preliminary hearing June 30 on charges of drunken driving and public drunkenness for the Feb. 20 incident.
That's when Uniontown police say Kroll walked in smelling of alcohol when he arrived to be fingerprinted for a Jan. 9 drunken driving incident.
The officer smelled alcohol and gave Kroll a breath test — and later a blood test — both of which showed he was legally intoxicated.
Uniontown Lt. Tom Kolencik says, "To come in intoxicated is disrespectful to the judicial system and disrespectful to the police."
When I was researching "Queen of Southgate" I offered to take a women to court in Raleigh on a trespassing charge that was several years old. While waiting for her to get ready she smoked three crack rocks and on the ride to court she downed a quart of rose wine. She was dressed like a clown in raggedy clothes and shoes 4 sizes to large. She was three hours late for court, stoned and drunk, and was given a new court date and dismissed. I thought for sure she would get locked up but I guess the judge knew that it really would not do the woman any good.
Online court records don't list an attorney for 41-year-old Kevin Kroll, of Dunbar Township. He faces a preliminary hearing June 30 on charges of drunken driving and public drunkenness for the Feb. 20 incident.
That's when Uniontown police say Kroll walked in smelling of alcohol when he arrived to be fingerprinted for a Jan. 9 drunken driving incident.
The officer smelled alcohol and gave Kroll a breath test — and later a blood test — both of which showed he was legally intoxicated.
Uniontown Lt. Tom Kolencik says, "To come in intoxicated is disrespectful to the judicial system and disrespectful to the police."
When I was researching "Queen of Southgate" I offered to take a women to court in Raleigh on a trespassing charge that was several years old. While waiting for her to get ready she smoked three crack rocks and on the ride to court she downed a quart of rose wine. She was dressed like a clown in raggedy clothes and shoes 4 sizes to large. She was three hours late for court, stoned and drunk, and was given a new court date and dismissed. I thought for sure she would get locked up but I guess the judge knew that it really would not do the woman any good.
Tuesday, June 09, 2015
Monday, June 08, 2015
Stubborn people who think that the only person who can be right is themselves
I have volunteered to take care of the heating/cooling system at the church, I make sure it is turned on and off to save money yet have a comfortable atmosphere for services. I went over to the church yesterday morning to turn everything on and the units in both buildings were running.
I mentioned to my wife t would have been nice if who ever turned it on would have called or texted me so I wouldn't have wasted y and money to check on the church.
Being the sweet heart but sometimes disobedient wife she is, she mentioned to Charles and his reaction was "Well if Dale doesn't want to do it, I will". Of course his attitude upset her.
"Now you know why I don't talk things over with him," I told her after she related the incident to me. He never listens or tries to understand another's viewpoint.
I mentioned to my wife t would have been nice if who ever turned it on would have called or texted me so I wouldn't have wasted y and money to check on the church.
Being the sweet heart but sometimes disobedient wife she is, she mentioned to Charles and his reaction was "Well if Dale doesn't want to do it, I will". Of course his attitude upset her.
"Now you know why I don't talk things over with him," I told her after she related the incident to me. He never listens or tries to understand another's viewpoint.
Sunday, June 07, 2015
Computer problems and funny news
My computer crashed from a hardware failure so I had to hook up my old desktop so I can take my laptop in to be fixed. There was an article on the web a few days ago that said it listed the fourteen worse things we can do to our bodies. It listed things like smoking and lack of proper sleep. I'll admit most of the things listed were not good behaviors but worse than anything listed are things like sticks sharp objects into vital objects, shooting projectiles into our head, or detonating bomb vest we have strapped around our waist.
Seriously, wouldn't you rather have that third drink rather than ride a 500 pound bomb to glory? I think the writer needs to rethink his article.
Seriously, wouldn't you rather have that third drink rather than ride a 500 pound bomb to glory? I think the writer needs to rethink his article.
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