Health

Healthy is good. If you haven’t tried it, you ought to.

For a long time, I didn’t. For a long time before that I did. It’s sort of like the old saw about "I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Rich is better."

In my 35th year, I was a distance runner. It was a very good year for big city girls who lived up the stairs…. Sorry, got to channeling Sinatra for a minute.

All through my 30’s, I ran. I averaged 50-60 miles per week, ran races mile to marathon, ran up mountains, through deserts, through cow pastures and chicken pens, through big cities, everywhere. Sometimes up to 100 miles per week. Ran to work, ran home, ran downtown to do errands, ran everywhere. Got my weight down to 142 lbs., same as high school graduation, and was a pretty fair amateur runner. I finished races ahead of all but the elite college runners. Pretty healthy, except when I exhausted myself to the point of catching colds and things.

In 1984, I moved to the farm and took a job in outside sales. Never totally quit exercising, but it became sporadic. I sat and drove for many miles per day, ate burgers and fries, donuts, Ding Dongs, Snickers bars, etc. Gained 25 pounds, loaded up on cholesterol, and got away with it until last fall. Then in rapid succession, chest pains, sonogram, blocked arteries, and a relatively easy decision. Leave it alone and 90% chance of a fatal heart attack, cut things up and reassemble with a 1% chance of being killed in the process. I liked the 1% deal better.

So, substantial expense, massive inconvenience, some pain (not much, the hospitals are where they keep the really good dope), and a new start.

I have been convinced for years that almost all of the things that folks suffer from, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, Alzheimers, depression, etc. etc. are either completely caused or greatly exacerbated by sitting on our butts and eating crap. And I don’t even want to talk about smoking. A whole bunch of people are getting rich dosing us with medicines and slicing us up so that we can more or less survive while continuing to sit and eat as noted. If anybody wants to disagree with that, gather your information and statistics and start writing, but I don’t think you will prevail. Of course the dosing and slicing are expensive, so then we have to wail and gnash our teeth about the cost of "health care" and how we will pay for it, and how those who waste their money on the crap that causes their sickness are going to pay for it. What passes for modern "health care" is mostly the medical profession feverishly trying to keep alive people who are feverishly trying to kill themselves.

That's not a blanket statement. Of course people are sometimes afflicted with things over which they have no control, and of course people have accidents. I suppose at least 10% of sickness is not self caused.

I have known intellectually for most of my adult life that I was mostly in control of my own health. Paying attention and behaving accordingly is where the trick comes in. There’s nothing quite like having your chest cut open and the contents re-arranged to drive home a point, so I’m now paying attention and having reasonable success in changing my actions.

It’s really not all that hard to drink water only with a bit of coffee, alcohol once a week or so, eat mostly fruits and vegetables with an occasional egg white or bit of meat, and put stuff back on the shelf if the list of contents shows its soaked in fat. It doesn’t make that much difference what food tastes like anyway once you are finished eating and not hungry any more. Think of it as fuel and building material. There are plenty of decent foods that taste good anyway, and you can always find a trick or two. KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce has 0 fat and it’s amazing how good it makes a big pile of steamed broccoli and cauliflower taste.

Also, it’s not that hard to do something that will make you sweat for 30 minutes a day. (I can foresee some totally disgusting responses to that one, spare me please.) I’ve finally gotten back to being able to run and am now up to 25 miles per week.

So I’ve lost 20 pounds since my operation, feeling good, and fully expecting to continue to do so for another 30 or 40, or until I die or am maimed by accident or killed by biological terrorism or something. (No reason to get overly optimistic here.)

Which brings me to the point. I am not writing this to indulge in the irritating gloating of the recently converted. I am hoping that anyone who reads it will take a bit of it to heart and do a few things to reduce self-inflicted damage to whatever is left of your physical machinery. A wise human learns from the stupid mistakes of others. I just finished up making some major ones, so take advantage of the opportunity. I won’t get much enjoyment out of going to Winfield when I am 100 if you all are too sick or dead to come out and jam a bit.

Fall gardening and beyond

I failed fall gardening, didn’t do the fall plowing, didn’t plant those fall potatoes that are supposed to mature before frost as I’ve been told for so many years, didn’t clean things up properly or finish all the harvesting that could have been done. Just flat wore down late in the summer, will do better this coming season, or not.

Last year was satisfactory all things considered. Had all the tomatoes, carrots, spinach, peppers, potatoes, onions, okra, eggplant, yams, cucumbers, and squash anybody could want. Also a few melons, broccoli, beans, a bit of corn, a few strawberries, a bit of misc. Groundhog ate most of the peas, but the dog ate the groundhog, so it was a wash.

Will probably use about the same amount of ground this year as last and try to be more efficient in planting and harvesting. That alone would double the harvest. Plenty of work for anyone who can tolerate the long drive to get here, and likely plenty of produce for said workers. Odds of another tornado or similar interruption two years running seem low, so should get a lot more done this year.

I’m still motivated largely by wanting to eat the best food that I can get, raising it seems the best option. I know I can go to the local grocery store and buy all that stuff, but I don’t really know what has been done to it before it gets there. I have evolved into a food fanatic, an avid reader of labels, and a semi-vegetarian health nut. (A semi-vegetarian eats no meat except road kill. Stuff run over by semis. That’s a joke. Pretty funny, huh?) The best stuff from the grocery store is pretty lame, and the stuff that people actually buy and eat is mind boggling. I’m amazed that anybody is actually alive.

Not that I am preaching or anything. I ate a lot of that debris and came pretty close to dying I suppose.

My other motivation/problem is that I am a farmer. Folks who grow up on actual working farms, of which there aren’t any left, seem to have one of two reactions.
Some recoil in horror at what they perceive as drudgery, boredom, isolation, and misery. They will go anywhere and do anything to escape, including working at what are called "jobs". I haven’t really had one of those for 20 years or so, but from what I recall it was a nasty and demeaning experience.

Others come to think that any economic activity other than farming is perverted and un-natural and will seek out any possible way to be a farmer. That often involves marrying a patient woman and sending her out to get a "job", living in poverty, or engaging in petty crime to generate actual cash income. I chose the final option, thus my activity selling air compressors. Also, I scaled the farming way down to what I can afford (read gardening) and hope to build it back up from there. (Farming isn’t my only vice, I also carry the "musician/entertainer" virus which causes those infected to engage in non-income producing activity to the dismay of all relatives. That is another topic.)

So I will soon buy seed. I still fantasize about a greenhouse, root cellar, harvest kitchen, well house, shop, orchard, chicken house, etc., etc., etc. One or more will likely materialize this summer and we shall see after that. If anyone has suggestions for the coming season, I’m all ears. Well, partly ears, actually mostly not ears, but what the hell.

Why

Well, I want to write some stuff. My mind is cluttered with ideas, opinions, thoughts, memories, and fantasies that need purged and or organized. I've found that the best way to figure out what I know or think about something is to put it in writing. It is not sufficient to write it for myself, because there is no motivation to get it right or to properly express things. Knowing that someone else might read this stuff will impose a bit of discipline that would otherwise not exist. In addition, maybe somebody will tell me something that will clear up some of my confused and puzzled opinions.

Second reason, I read today that there are now about 8 million bloggers. With that many out there, I am bound to not be the dumbest SOB in the group.

Third, I have reached the age and level of experience that allows me to indulge in the fantasy that I am qualified to express opinions or give advice. That same level of age and experience allows me to understand that nobody will respect my opinions or take my advice, which removes any concern about actually knowing anything.

Another (yawn) blog