Who'dve Snown It?

Saturday morning were were off to hike either Ranger Falls/Green Lake or Grand Park through the Backdoor depending on what the rain was doing. Phyllis, Sue, Pam and I quickly decided on Grand Park and off we went. The weather geniuses were saying the snow level was at 8500 feet so either hike would likely be in the rain.

We were surprised that there was snow much lower on Forest Service road 73 on the way to our trailhead. We had little trouble negotiating it, but it was actively snowing and the trail was snow covered and we opted to head for a lower trailhead - Crystal Peak which Pam and I hiked 2 weeks ago and were treated to great fall colors.

A decent rain was coming down at the trailhead, but the first section is fully in the trees which help so off we went. We were less that one half a mile before we encountered snow on the trail and before one mile we were fully hiking in the snow.

 

What a difference 2 weeks makes sometimes! The reds and yellows and oranges were mostly covered by white. The same misty clouds shrouded the mountain views like 2 weeks prior, but we were plowing through up to 18 inches of snow on a trail that was dry and clear before.

Phyllis is a tree hugger afterall.

 

A dicey walk down a slippery boardwalk.

Our late trailhead arrival and plans for the evening kept us from making the peak, but we were able to get in more than 5 miles before we headed home.

Some food and showers and Pam and I were off to the Seattle Symphony's Mostly Mozart at Benaroya Hall. We took the bus from Tacoma and back which made the trip actually pretty nice. It was a late night for us - 11:30 or so - but all in all a great day with freinds.

Be very well and more soon...

1000 Days & Counting

It was 1000 days ago - according to Pam- that I had my thorocotomy and changed my life. Prior to that I was in the denial program that so many are in right now.

I was sick and didn't even recognize it. All of the doctors said that I must have had pneumonia to get the infection in my pleura that led to my left lung being mostly collapsed, but I didn't feel sick. I'm confident that I would recognize the illness now though.

I got there over time. I was pretty active when I was in my 20's. I biked and used to love a good pickup game of basketball. I got to where I would go to scary neighborhoods because the games were better, but I quit that when too many people said they were going to get a gun to settle on court disputes. Somewhere along the line life got in the way of activity and I got sick.

I became a really good cook and found all of the tricks to jack up flavor without thinking about the fat and sodium content. I also didn't think about alternatives to the "cheats" I was employing to jack up flavor. I didn't ask myself "Should I" I only asked "Can I?"

I found myself drinking more I suppose as we could afford to. Four nights a week sometimes at Moctezuma's drinking 4 or more Margaritas on the rocks that had to be 6-800 calories each with huge amounts of sugar to go with tons of fried food so I could get my fats as well.

The bigger you get the less you do so the spiral down continues. More jacking up of food flavor becomes necessary as you continuously overwhelm your taste buds with fat and salt and sugar to the point where you salt stuff at restaurants. That stuff already has high sodium content.

So there I was in the 270 pound area. I didn't get on the scale much when I was big because I am not a huge fan of despair, but when I started going to the Doc-In-The-Box they weighed me all the time and that was where I started.

I was sick from just after Christmas 2009 until the surgery at the end of January so I lost some weight along the way. It turns out most of what I lost was mass from laying around sick for a month, but I was 15 pounds lighter when I got released.

The rehab included walking which is now more of an obsession for both Athena and I. The side benefits have been a new love for the out of doors including hiking, snowshoeing and a renewed love for biking.

I am a way better cook now than I ever was before. I can actually taste things properly so I can add what is necessary and not too much of the wrong things. My mind and skin are clearer and I have a more hopeful and optimistic view on life. I still struggle with trying to find good first when dealing with other inhabitants of our planet - particularly other drivers - but I am trying. It can be hard to unlearn 50 years of biases and reactions.

So here I am 1000 days later with 20 pounds or so left to lose and a ways to go to become who I will become, but change starts with the simple statement "I will" and everything else follows. That's the update for now.

Be very well and more soon....

Uncomfortable Friend = Paully Reasearch

After weekend in Spokane for the big college reunion I had a mission. A friend who went to he reunion with us had a couple of uncomfortable nights with GERD - Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease. He was up and down and couldn't really sleep much.

My Mission? Find some natural remedies so that I could help next time someone has this crap.

So off I went on the Internet and got the following treatments that anyone can use if they have a similar issue.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Fight fire with fire. Take 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in a 6-ounce glass of water  to stop acid reflux.

Baking Soda

Neutralize the acid with baking soda. Mix ½ teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water and drink  twice a day until acid reflux has dissipated. 

Almonds

Chew on natural almonds before or after meal to reduce the likely hood of acid reflux.

Apples

Apples contain the same healthy enzymes as apple cider vinegar. Just snacking on an apple can help remedy the pain of acid reflux.

Aloe Vera

Drink 4 ounces of Aloe Vera juice each morning to prevent acid reflux. To stop heartburn once it has started, drink 8 ounces of Aloe Vera juice.

Royal Jelly

 

Eat 1 teaspoon of fresh or frozen royal jelly to stop the burning sensation of acid reflux within minutes.

Probiotics

Take a daily Probiotics supplement to prevent heartburn

 German Chamomile

The flowers of this natural cure are known to calm the digestive system, as well as reduce inflammation within the digestive tract. Infusions are the best way to use German chamomile as a method of treatment.

Fennel

Fennel seeds can be quite effective in treating the pains associated with cramping. The seeds make effective infusions and tinctures. When adding American cranesbill, acidity in the stomach is reduced. High doses of this natural cure should be avoided during pregnancy.

Lemon Balm

The leaves of lemon balm provide relaxing and sedating results when taken as an infusion or tincture. To create an anti-inflammatory, mix lemon balm with chamomile or meadowsweet.

Peppermint

The aerial parts of peppermint can be used to stimulate the flow of bile, as well as settle a nervous stomach. To create an infusion, you may add 15 grams of dried herb to two cups of water. Breastfeeding mothers should know that this kind of treatment might cause their milk production and flow to slow down .

Meadowsweet Tea

With a cooling and soothing effect, meadowsweet tea can ease inflammation and assist in the reduction of acid in the stomach. Tea using 25 grams of meadowsweet and 500 ml of water will help with heartburn and other symptoms of GERD .

To avoid GERD altogether they recommend the following:

Making changes to lifestyle habits and behaviors is a good way to prevent heartburn from becoming a constant problem. Controlling your weight is a great approach towards easing the onset of heartburn, as being overweight is a strong risk factor associated with GERD. To lessen the pressure on the lower esophageal sphincter, eating smaller meals is suggested.

After a full meal, loosening your belt or pants will help relieve some of the pressure placed on the abdomen and lower esophageal sphincter. After eating, you should refrain from stooping or bending that may come from activities, such as pulling weeds out of the yard. Lying down directly after a meal is known to increase the chances of suffering from heartburn � many people find waiting at least three to four hours before going to bed helps.

Smoking is known to increase stomach acid, which means kicking the habit helps reduce the risk of acid reflux (among other beneficial health results). Others fair well when they eliminate triggers known to cause heartburn, such as reducing their intake of fatty or fried foods, chocolate, alcohol, peppermint, garlic, and onions.

Now you are fully armed against GERD. I know you're happy to know that.

Be very well and more soon....

We'll Add Crystal Peak To The Short List

Pam and I headed out Saturday to hike Crystal Peak just inside Mt Rainier National Park on the HWY 410 side of the park. It was raining good at home and we haven't hiked in the rain except for the first part of the first day on the Inca Trail trek and Mt ST Helens so we weren't sure what the day would be like.

There were no rain drops at the trailhead and we were on the trail and moving at 9:08 after sleeping in and taking our sweet time getting out of the house.We were about .15 mile up the trail when I realized I hadn't locked the car so I went back down and locked it and headed back up to Pam.

This trail is different than any we hike regularly. It has very long reaches without the benefit of switchbacks. Since it also has a good amount of elevation gain it becomes very relentless long uphills without the natural stops that switchbacks provide.

The trail starts and goes steadily uphill to a junction where you choose between Crystal Lake or Crystal Peak. There you head right towards the peak and the trail goes gently downhill to a river crossing. Once across the river the next section is a steady uphill - ring around the mountain - reach that is more than 1.5 miles until the next switchback.

 

Sections of granite dot the trail along the way and this time of year the colors were spectacular.

I followed Pam to the Peak where the wind was blowing cold. We took our peak pictures and headed down a little to get our raincoats and pack covers on because it had finally began to rain. We ate some quick snacks and headed down. The rain lasted about 1 mile only and we were treated to the other side of the leaves on the way down. It's funny how different a trail can be on the way down.

 

We were back at the car at about 10 minutes to 1:00 PM - making quick work of Crystal Peak. We drove back into the rain and narrowly avoided being rearended in Bonney Lake. A couple of showers and a post hike meal at The Top Of Tacoma and back home for wine, Athena time and a movie made the perfect end to a perfect day.

Be very well and more soon....

It's Your Choice

Every time you sit down to eat you make choices for your body. Each way you can go leads to unavoidable consequences. There is a lot of folks who will point to their weight or their size or their activity level and say "I can eat whatever I want."

Wrong. You do the same damage to your system and expose yourself to the same risks whether you are a size 2 or 22 and whether you run everyday or only when being chased by someone who is armed.

This is what I mean.

When you eat something that is nutritious your body immediately goes to work using those nutrients to energize, heal and protect your body on a cellular level. I eat these huge salads that are mainly kale and I get what is easiest described as a buzz almost instantly. It's a blast of energy that lasts a long time.

When you eat stuff that is not nutritious your body has an immediate "white cell response." It detects what you have eaten as a bacteria or poison and goes to work to isolate and destroy it. There is little energy produced because of the white cell response. There is no healing and no protection at all.

The sugars and sodium go right to work eroding your blood vessels. The fat finds it's way to you vital organs and builds up - restricting their proper function. That is the essence of what I mean when I say "If you aren't nourishing your body you are punishing it."

The easiest way to make better food choices is to shop better. Don't buy cookies and chips and pop. I can hear the horror - "What are my kids supposed to eat, Paully?" If you shouldn't eat this crap neither should they. Makes sense - right?

Athena drug me 6.7 miles today. We only averaged 4.9 MPH and she was dragging leash by the end.

Be well - in fact be really well and more soon.

Getting Back Up

I figured I've been on the ground long enough. I got back up today and hit the road with the Doggess Athena. She was chomping at the bit and did a good job dragging me 6.7 miles in 1:21 for an average of 4.96 MPH.

That's great, but it's about keeping it up. So I'll report on what we have been doing more regularly and get back to researching stuff that fits here.

I'm on this roll where I think I need to make every effort to never take more than I need. I have come to the conclusion that we become less human when we take more than we need. If you look at the facts that bears out.

We waste nearly 50% of the food that is produced in the US. That is a huge number. I know. It starts at the farm where some crops remain unpicked if the market is low at the time it ripens and it continues through middlemen and speculators before it hits the stores. The stores toss stuff out and the consumers do the rest of the waste.

 All of this is done without anyone at any step of the process thinking about donating the stuff to feed the needy.

Why is it done?  A simple, but not over-simplified answer is that we are used to taking more than we need. On the consumer level we shop in huge quantities to "save money." We get home and do what we do, but we waste something like 20% of what we buy. It's either table scraps we toss or leftovers that spoil, but we waste it.

So I am going to do better. I am going to try to waste as little as I can by thinking about not taking more than I need. That's at least a start.

Be well and more soon....

Kendall Katwalk & On To Ridge & Gravel Lakes

We had a good sized group of 9 hikers on our hike to the Kendall Katwalk off of I-90 near Snoqualmie Pass Saturday. The trail descriptions all say it is 11 miles to the Katwalk, but they need to re-measure this hike. My GPS had 6.64 miles to the beginning of the Katwalk.

All that being said, this is a superbly scenic hike. You get clear of the traffic noise from I-90 fairly quickly as you hike this section of the Pacific Crest Trail. You begin in a nice forest section on a trail with a slight grade.

After a while you break out into some granite sections and eventually around the corner to the Kendall Katwalk which is a narrow walk that was blasted from the granite with a steep drop to your right.

Phyllis was not ready to turn around at the Katwalk end so we headed on to Ridge and Gravel Lakes and an overlook of Alaska Lake. We had our lunch at the lakes and headed back.

In total we hiked 15.7 miles. Pam, Xavi and I decided we could live with our smelliness so we stopped at the Top of Tacoma for some beer and dinner and after we were settling in Rhonda, Gay and Lance also had the same idea and joined us. I guess that proves that great minds think alike or something to that effect.

Be well and more soon....