If that happened to me, I'd find a partner, commit a crime and then roll on the guy to get into witness protection and be relocated with a new identity.
During one campaign season a few years ago, I got a steady stream of phone calls on my landline from the Republican headquarters over in the state capital. Got a lot of calls from other places from both sides of the aisle as per usual, but these guys were absolutely ridiculously persistent. (I screen my calls with Caller ID and never answer a name or number I don't recognize, or even many that I do, since most of my incoming calls are from people or organizations I have no reason or desire to talk to.)
Tiring of constantly erasing their messages seeking $$ from my voice mail, I called them back one day. Of course, *they* didn't answer and the line went to voice mail. So, I left them a message with my name and phone number stating clearly that if they didn't want to see and hear what a pissed off nonpartisan looked and sounded like in person, they should remove that info from their calling list forthwith. Seemed to do the trick. Never heard from them since.
I have had problems with carbs off and on since high school. A number of years ago, a doctor recommended chromium picolinate to help regulate blood sugar in an attempt improve mood. I discovered that it eliminated my craving for carbs.
I do not take it regularly at this point, but when I find myself devouring cake sliver by sliver or cookies bit by bit, I go back to taking it for a day or to and the craving goes away.
Gah, I have been on various diets every since I hit puberty and gained unexplained weight ( I think Atkins was my first) ...sigh...plus Weight Watchers, Overeteaters Anonymous etc
The one that works the best for me , regardless of what the experts say..is plain calorie ( most nutritionists I have spoken to, say calories are calories, regardless of which source they come from) counting, portion control , and I also cut down on Pepsi...I lost 50 lbs...if I do totally without food I love, especially carbs, all I do it eventually get angry and binge and give up..
Even so, I plateaued and nothing short of starving to death ( like less than 800 calories a day, and even that didn't really work) will work...I will never be a small or even average sized woman, but, I would be happy with just another 20-25 lbs less, which is the weight I have been for most of my adult life.
(My boss is doing Keto, I think it is gross to be honest, lots of stuff I do not like to eat, as food is one of my few physical pleasures, just not going to give it up) as for my health, my BP is normal, my oxygen level is 98, my bad cholesterol is low, good is good, my sugar is fine ( yes, I am the poster child for all those should be bad...lol...it is hereditary)...my health issues are not weight related. More like age most of it now...
Anyway, that set me off, (lol) frankly I am tired of obsessing about weight, it has been going on for over 50 years and I am still not where I would like to be...even if it may possibly lower my dating pool, it is not like I haven't had men interested in me over the years , some men really like my look ( not looking may age is a big gift that helps, also hereditary and not wearing face make up and spending hours in the sun and oily Italian skin....lol)...thank goodness...my problem has been lack of compatibility and lacking the few things I know I need to make a relationship work...
You’re great, Angie. And, I’m so sorry if I come off as thinking being overweight means people are bad, lazy, uncaring, whatever. I know that isn’t so. In all honesty, I’m perplexed, and I think doctors are, too.
Thanks, I probably overreacted, touchy subject for me...
It is very complicated, most of us, don't want to be this way and would fix it if we could...I have been trying for most of my life....sigh, and the drs don't agree which doesn't help
No, you didn’t overreact. And, I’m glad you spoke up.
I think everyone is baffled, especially doctors. My husband said he’s had a problem most of his life, and people really made it miserable for him. I’ve seen pictures, and he was kind of chubby, but I suppose when we were young, that’s all it took. (He was also very cute!)
He did Weight Watchers one year, and lost a lot of weight, but gradually put it back on. And I think that’s the hard part for so many: they lose weight, but it’s difficult to keep it off. Plus, our society is all about food!
We get such mixed messages.
Anyway, one of the things I like so much about this group is we have “conversations.” I’m always learning something (including some bad puns! 😂), and I really appreciate reading what others have to say. ❤️
Thank you Anne...you are a good friend and I never doubted that
Just for context, I suddenly put on weight when I was about 12-13, no explanation, I hadn't changed my eating habits or anything, it was obviously hormonal and maybe somewhat emotional, that age is so insecure for most girls especially, and as I was a bt boy crazy, it mattered what the boys though. I weighed 134 lbs at time, I was not obese...but, I got called names, ( one girl who harassed me all through jr high called me "pork chop"...sigh), plus, I got a lot of teasing for being "smart" and getting my school work done and then reading while everyone else finished...I used words I thought were "normal" as I read them all the time in books...like sarcastic...really? So, they started calling me teach...
My mother who never weighed more than that even when she was pregnant, didn't get it and just kept yelling at me, she took me to a dr, who said that normally he would put me on a diet of 1000 calories a day, but for me and my extreme state, it would be 800...sigh, I cried...
Things did not get better, and I was anemic at the time also and eating iron rich foods. Between my mother and the mean kids ( they weren't all that way, but enough) at school, I did suffer from depression, my parents also sent me to a therapist, because I cried too much...sigh
Anyway, food was a comfort, especially carbs...yet, when I look at pictures of myself in HS, and at graduation, I don't know what I was thinking...I look normal to me, I really thought I was a disgusting fat girl and no boy would want me...( though it turned out I was wrong, it still lingered as because some were mean about it.)
So, there is that component, but, I have really tried to work on it, and I di d lose 50 lbs, so that is something,...
I think food and diet are probably one of the *biggest* problems we face today. We speculate a lot on why so many are overweight, but I’m guessing most of those speculations are pretty accurate. People do not get enough exercise, and serving sizes are ridiculously large.
And, of course, no one likes to diet, but they think there’s a *quick fix,* following diets that no one can stick with for any length of time. I had a friend who was constantly trying different things, and she would lose weight, but over time it seemed like she gained more than she lost (another problem for many people).
Meanwhile, we have an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes, and it’s a problem for children! I know I’ve said it before, but in our town, we see entire families who are obese. It’s scary to think about the future, and it always makes me wonder what will happen if we ever need to recruit more people for our military. Along with that is the extra load on our healthcare system.
Two bits of standard advice meant to help people lose weight have failed for many people. One is calorie counting/calorie restriction. It might help some people for a while, but because their bodies are telling them they’re starving themselves all the time, they tend to binge and regain the weight with a bit extra.
Another is exercise. While exercise is good advice in general for good physical and mental health, for those of us with carb sensitivity, exercise doesn’t help us lose weight, but just makes us hungrier. That’s because our hormone response to the carbs won’t let us burn bodily fat deposits when we exert ourselves. And after a workout we’re famished.
Dr. Westman has helped people with severe obesity lose weight who were in such a physical state that they *couldn’t* exercise. They were physically incapacitated. For most of them, radically changing their diets to restrict carbs allowed them to shed the weight to the point where they *could* exercise again!
But, as the low-carb proponents point out, stories like that don’t get a lot of popular attention because they don’t involve billions of dollars in potential pharmaceutical sales…
Thanks. That’s important information, and obviously, weight management is different for everyone. My frustration is high cholesterol!!! I’m pretty careful with my diet, and it’s still high. 😡
I still wonder what’s in our food. Something has changed because if you look back at old photos, almost no one had a weight problem. I’m honestly curious.
Yeah, there is the billion dollar business around weight loss, which for years was mostly directed at women, and now some men...and was about looks, not health.
I have never taken drugs, when I was at my heaviest, I did consider bariatric surgery, but, cost and everyone I know personally who had it has had complications and gained it back.
I don't actually literally count calories...I just make choices I know are less bad and portion control was a big thing ( though now that I am getting older, I really don't want to eat more at a time, though, again, isn't helping).
Honestly, I don't trust any online weight loss people, and I have gotten conflicted messages from RL drs and nutritionists also
Recently though, in an Atlantic piece I think someone who is an expert in weight loss made the point that for people like me with chronic weight issues , and not just needing to lose a few pounds, it should be treated as a disease with many facets...
No matter what I am just tired of being "yelled" at, and dr's attributing everything I have an issue with as being overweight , and not listening to what I know about my body...as usual ( do they do that to men?)...and very little practical suggestions other then eat less...sigh
In case you’re curious, I think this couple’s hearts are in the right place. Nice descriptions, not selling anything that I can see. I’m not on FB so can’t see their pages—not open to lurkers—but I like their commenting restrictions. They’re facilitating self-help for others trying the diet. Just check out a couple of their videos to see what you think.
They probably do do it to men, but men are generally more likely to avoid going to doctors, I think.
Gary Taubes has written quite a lot about the propensity for medical people to blame patients for failing to lose weight. He has described the illogic of some of the attitude, along with the underlying assumptions.
For instance, medical professionals are taught that weight control is a matter of caloric intake and using exercise to burn off excess calories. Except the science does not support either of those assumptions. So when a patient tries to eat less and exercise more, but still gains weight *because* the advice simply does not work for that individual, the doctor is prone to thinking the patient is lying about compliance rather than considering that the advice itself is faulty.
The physician then goes on to ascribe the patient’s weight problem to faulty psychology, assuming the patient is guilty of the sins of sloth and gluttony. By this assessment, the patient is presumed to lack self control and need psychological treatment to deal with the obesity and its related effects—thereby increasing the patient’s likelihood of suffering at least short-run psychological damage from being judged—falsely, as it turns out—as lazy and gluttonous, not to mention dishonest!
By turning the diet-heart hypothesis into the quasi-official dogma of the entire health system, they’ve wound up causing a lot of harm to people they’re meant to be helping, and probably had every intention of trying to help when they entered the profession.
Do you ever wonder what’s in our food? For instance, I’ve noticed that kids are way taller than their parents. Both of my nephews are over 6 feet tall, and all of us (my parents and my brothers) are under that. I’m 5’4” (my mom was, too), and my brothers are probably around 5’10-11”, as is my husband. I cannot believe how big the kids are now!
Yes they are getting taller, I think there are a few pieces out there discussing why that is...but ,I don't remember who or where...though I remember that the average height for people has changed over many years as we progress
I know people have gotten taller, but this is maybe one or two generations at most. Kids are huge! I think the average shoe size when I was young was 7.5, and now I think it’s 9-11! It looks to me like a lot of girls are around 5’9” average. Again, I think there’s something in our food!
Honestly Anne, I am tired of having my weight issues explained to me by doctors and other people like they actually know what the problem is, it is far more complicated than eat like a chicken and exercise, trust me, that doesn't work either...
There are so many factors, and I was a small child...puberty did me in..it isn't because I am lazy, a pig, and any other bad attributes someone wants to claim
I know it’s not easy for everyone. I know part of it is genetics, too. It’s much easier for me to lose weight than it is for my husband, so I’m not automatically condemning everyone for being overweight. What I worry about most is the morbidly obese (which I know you are far from!).
I definitely don’t think people who are overweight are lazy or pigs!!! I do think we are living in a time that makes it much, much harder for people to stay at a healthy weight. Again, I see how hard my husband works, and he exercises, does not overeat, etc. In order to lose weight, he has to be so regimented.
A lot of my friends have problems with weight, and I do not think any less of them. They are smart, hard working, kind, and I’m fortunate to have them in my life.
In shape for most of my life, I gained weight as a young father of small children (turns out, one is not only an ATM with hair but a garbage disposal, as well)and continued to gain weight for a number of years. Slowly, but inexorably. And I exercised less. Five years ago, I did a medically supervised diet that examined not only the foods I ate, but my genetic predisposition to being able to process or not process certain foods. I lost 40 lbs (and have kept it off---now back to my "fighting weight"), gave up alcohol and exercised every day. Every. Single. Day. Five years. My diet is more the Mediterranean Diet, balancing carbs, fat and protein. It works for me. I keep track of what I eat on an app. I don't feel restricted. And exercise. Every. Single. Day.
I guess I don't get this exercise thing, it has never made a difference for me, and I have been told it is great for your health, but, not so good to lose weight...you have to do too much to actually burn off enough calories, and now arthritis etc keeps me from doing much anymore anyway...sigh
I am trying to find a way to walk...though not in below zero temps...lol..
There are no sidewalks where I live and I am not going to walk along the road side or drive to another neighborhood I don't live in to walk.
Can't do stairs, the pain in my arthritic knee is unbearable, so only do them when I have to ( used to do a stationary bike, but I got rid of it and I don't like the new ones and the knee still kills me) .,...plus, if I am having a bronchitis episode I can't do them either...
That’s an important combination: something that works for you, something that feels right while making you feel good, and something that’s sustainable.
And as keto proponents have pointed out: “Mediterranean” is a category that encompasses many nations, ethnicities, and cultures. It can contain lots of macronutrient proportions depending on the preferences of the observer.
Another point that Taubes has made: Smoking isn’t necessarily harmful occasionally for everyone. But if you smoke a pack a day every day, at some point the cumulative abuse to your system start to make themselves felt. For some of us, carbs work in a similar fashion. You go along with the high-carb diet for years, and then all at once you start having symptoms of their cumulative effects.
I have added a bit more protein over the years and really focused on "good" fat (nuts, etc.) vs "bad" fat and I eschew processed foods wherever possible.
It’s interesting that every expert—whether proponents of low-carb or low-fat, vegan or carnivore—agrees that processed foods are the absolute worst for overall health.
Today's special animal friend is the groundhog, Marmota monax. The groundhog is also known as a woodchuck, chuck, wood-shock, groundpig, whistlepig, whistler, thickwood badger, Canada marmot, monax, moonack, weenusk, red monk, and, among French Canadians in eastern Canada, siffleux. They are rodents (order Rodentia) of the squirrel family (family Sciuridae). The Marmota genus includes 15 species found in Asia, Europe, and North America. The groundhog is an unusual marmot in that it lives in lowland rather than mountainous habitats.
The groundhog is one of the largest marmots, with a length up to 27 inches and weight approaching 14 lbs., about the weight of Jake, the cat who sleeps with me. Males are significantly larger than females. Both sexes gain weight during the fall, when they engage in "autumn hyperphagia," extreme eating, to build up fat reserves for their winter hibernation.
Groundhogs have four large incisors, which grow up to 1.5 mm per week and are worn down about the same amount by gnawing. Unlike the teeth of many rodents, the groundhog's are white to ivory-colored rather than orange with iron. Mainly herbivorous, they eat wild grasses, berries, agricultural crops, and a wide variety of herbs and greens. Their diet also includes some small invertebrates and baby birds, in season.
Like most small mammals, groundhogs have many predators, including wolves, coyotes, foxes, dogs; birds of prey; wild, feral, and domestic cats; mustelids including mink and badgers; and snakes. They are also hunted as a pest in some states. For defense, the woodchuck has long, strong claws, excellent burrowing skills, and the ability to climb trees and to swim. In the wild, their life span averages about three years; in captivity, they can live over ten years.
A groundhog may have more than one burrow, allowing for many avenues of escape and concealment. The burrows can be over four feet below the surface and more than 40 feet in length. They are solitary dwellers, except when breeding, but sometimes live within sight of other individuals. They are aggressive toward their own species and any others that encroach. Females breed in their second (and sometimes third) year, producing up to six young per litter.
The Groundhog Day tradition is believed to have originated in Germany, where the animal was a badger, and to draw on folk beliefs regarding the Christian holiday of Candlemas, the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple forty days after Christmas. The concept was popularized in the United States by the Pennsylvania Dutch. Wikipedia feels it necessary to inform us that there is no scientific evidence of a correlation between sunshine (or not) on February 2 and future weather patterns.
One morning when I was staying with my folks, my mom suddenly said, “that’s the biggest groundhog I’ve ever seen.” Immediately my dad said, “where, where?” As she pointed out the kitchen window, I watched my dad squinting towards the driveway as he sidestepped and reached for the gun cabinet.
Once he had his gun he went to the kitchen window, and seemed to debate on whether or not to open it since there was a window air conditioner to get past. I remember saying, “you aren’t going to shoot from in here, are you?!” And just about then, he made the decision, and opened the window.
Immediately the air conditioner crashed to the ground, and all I could see was the cord from the outlet (still plugged in) going over the bottom windowsill and somewhere with the air conditioner, to the ground. “Crap!,” my dad said as he rushed out the side door.
Meanwhile my mom was just standing there, and I looked over at her, kind of laughed, and said, “I can’t believe it.” She looked at me sheepishly, and responded, “I hate to tell you, Anne, but this isn’t all that uncommon.” 🙄
My husband and I were in the process of having a home built just up the hill, and that should have told me something…
(I won’t go into the story of how my husband had helped my dad get the air conditioner installed, but let’s just say, there were two old ones in the barn they tried before my husband said, “Walt, just go to Walmart and get a new one!”)
One good groundhog / firearm / window story deserves another...
When I was 14, I was spending the summer with my father's oldest brother and his wife in NW Pennsylvania where they had a 2nd home / hunting lodge on about 30 acres in the Alleghenies. About 3 or 4 acres were "yard" and the rest were heavily wooded. Groundhogs were plentiful and a bane on my uncle's aesthetic of a well mown and maintained semi-suburban 'yard', due to their propensity for digging it up.
Having spent the previous summer there, my uncle knew I was schooled in safe gun handling / use and gave me a 'standing order' (he was a retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral) to shoot any hog on sight whenever possible, as long as it was safe to do so, whether he was around or not.
Not wishing to disobey orders, when I awoke quite early one sunny morning on my cot in the third floor 'dormer' (where my uncle's hunting friends from the city bunked during fall hunting seasons) and I spied the enemy reconnoitering the hallowed grounds below, I quickly went downstairs and through the living room and kitchen to the dining room, where I retrieved a scoped Winchester M70 rifle and a couple of rounds of ammo from my uncle's gun rack.
I exited the house by the front door, looked around the corner toward the back of the property, and discovered that the enemy had forded the Allegheny River (at this point just a really good-sized creek due to the close proximity to its source) via a small foot bridge, and it was checking out the small island the stream's divergent flow created at the back of my uncle's land. This had now become a particularly egregious assault on the homestead, since that island had, through no small amount of effort by my uncle, been turned into a fairly decent version of a golf green, replete with flag and cup, for the benefit of improving my uncle's game through handy and regular chipping and layup practice.
I dropped to my knees, cradled the M70 in my arms and did my best GI Joe belly crawl down the side of the house, using my aunt's rhubarb patch at the rear for cover. Upon arriving there, I opened the Winchester's bolt, loaded 2 rounds into the magazine, and closed the bolt, chambering the .257 Roberts that would a few seconds after my having rolled into a prone shooting position and parting the rhubarb leaves with the rifle's barrel, dispatch the 100+yard distant enemy to that big semi-suburban lawn in the sky, to burrow unmolested forever after.
At this point I should note that a .257 Roberts is a medium caliber round, fine for varmints like groundhogs and coyotes and the like, but a bit light for large game like deer. However, it's not all that dissimilar in its report from some of its larger caliber hunting brethren when fired, such as a .308 or .30-06. Which is to say it's pretty darned loud.
One would have thought that my uncle would have been well-pleased with my stealthy and successful defense of his most hallowed quarter acre of ground, the fact that he and my aunt were still asleep in their 2nd floor bedroom with the windows open about 20 feet above my head notwithstanding. However, if one would have thought that, one would have been mistaken.
Perhaps one reason I never seriously considered volunteering for the military is that I learned at an early age that one can receive and carry out orders to the best of one's ability, even carry out those orders perfectly, and still get put on KP duty.
As former Army myself, I feel compelled to point out one thing: your aunt' rhubarb patch did not provide you with *cover* but *concealment*. Cover is what would shield you from enemy fire, by stopping bullets or shrapnel. (Not that hogs would fire on you, but describing your approach in military terms and then misusing the word, grated on me like fingernails on a chalkboard. That, and sometimes I indulge in nit-picking. 🙂 )
Sometimes nits are worth picking, since concealment is indeed the proper word here, and I usually try to be accurate in my writing as in my shooting. But I do miss a shot now and then both on the page and in the field, as I did a couple of times over my subsequent summer stays with my uncle, which all were sans KP duty, since I'd learned any 'safe' shot would be one taken after reveille. But I do have to say I was a better shot with that .257 R than my uncle was with a 9 iron.
I've been a Toolmaker and Toolroom Machinist for 5 decades, and at times when I've heard someone mistakenly misuse terms associated with my trade and work, which are now deeply enough engrained in me as to be nearly part of my DNA, it sometimes grates as well. So, I get it. And thanks for serving our country. 👍
I responded to you below. I love animals, too, Angie. One thing I think about is being killed quickly is it’s probably better than what happens to them in the wild. Nature is very cruel by our standards. 😢
I can’t imagine being a farmer. At one point I wanted to get a few chickens for eggs. Then I found out they have a fairly short time as egg layers, and most people butcher them at that point. So, that would mean I’d have a lot of old chickens.
Farmers mostly don’t have pets when it comes to farm animals. Even dairy cows do not die of old age, something I never considered! 😫
What I do care about is that animals are treated humanely. If they are going to be killed for whatever reason, do not let them suffer.
Had there been a ship handy, I expect my uncle would have had me keelhauled. Couldn't blame him, really. My aunt took it a touch better than him...she'd have settled for slapping me in irons for a while, I think. She always was sort of a soft touch.
Not even close. I had mixed feelings about telling my husband after all the effort he put into helping my dad get the air conditioner installed. They had hauled two old ones from the barn, and as my husband said, they weighed a ton, and by then they no longer had any freon. Personally, I would have thought testing first would have been a good idea—my husband said they weighed a ton.
Finally they got the one from Walmart, and part of the instructions said something about leveling it. Richard said my dad looked underneath to see how it was sitting on the windowsill, and promptly announced, “it looks level to me!”
Personally, I couldn’t shoot anything, but they are extremely destructive. If possible, I prefer those humane traps, and then taking them somewhere. However, a lot of times you’re just relocating them to someone else’s place if you aren’t careful.
It’s the same thing with raccoons. They are very destructive, and will go after animal feed, especially cat food, and a lot of farms keep cats because of mice, but still need to supplement the cats.
I think if you talked to farmers you’d probably would get plenty of complaints, and a lot depends on where you live. Mostly, I see them along roadsides, too.
I avoid killing spiders, and most insects that get in our house, except flies! If I could vacuum up all those little Japanese beetles (the ones that look like ladybugs) and had a good way of getting rid of boxelder bugs, they’d be gone, too.
I try to remove them without killingthem, but sometimes I don't have that choice, bees for instance, both my roomie and boss are allergic, I can't screw around if one is in the house or office.
Flies are a nuisance, normally if they get in the house and cats see them, they take care of those...lol..then I don't feel personally guilty...lol
I leave hosue spiders alone bevause they do eat the other bugs
What is a boxelder bug, never heard of them?
I haven't seen those japanese beetles for a while, at one time there were a lot of them
We get loads of those damn beetles because the DNR brought them in to go after aphids (I believe) in soybeans. As soon as the soybeans are harvested, those beetles are all over the place!
Boxelder bugs apparently are associated with boxelder trees, although I’m not sure we have any. It’s just an annoying beetle that comes out in the late summer and fall (along with those other ones), and cover everything! On a sunny day they’ll be all over the side of our house or barn. I think they’re harmless, mostly annoying.
I’ve exercised most every single day of my adult life including during pregnancy up until due date, took a few weeks off post partum. I’ve never had a weight problem, I really credit it to exercise more than diet. I’ve never restricted myself but I do eat a big salad every day and stay away from fast food. The head greenskeeper of our golf course was a chubster and decided to do something about it. He went on the all meat diet. He has eaten 3 pounds of meat every day for the past two years. He looks amazing and says his cholesterol levels are good. I cannot imagine eating like that. You’d have to pry the bread out of my cold dead hands. I love carbs.
Exercise is great for your health, it is not very helpful for losing weight , especially for people who have a lot of weight to lose, you have to run like 5 miles for instance to burn off one candy bar of 535 calories. Walking and aerobic stuff helps a little, but, for people with chronic weight issues, it does boil down to how much you eat, not so much what it is, but portions and calories...( not to mention, hereditary and metabolism factors)
If you run 5 miles and don't eat that candy bar, you are net -535 calories and it will take you 6.5 days of net negative calories to burn one pound of fat. It's simple math. The best way to lose weight is eating less, exercising more. It's really quite simple and effective.
I completely agree with you about bread! I’m afraid I love carbs, including rice and some pasta. But, I do think it’s a combination of exercise and some self restraint. Also, genetics probably have something to do with it, but people are not good at taking care of themselves.
I hear ya on the carbs. I’m a total junky. I’m actually gearing up for a hard beef, bacon, butter, and eggs cleanse. :-) I’ve had a hard time cutting out the holiday carb binge…
Some of us are very sensitive to carbs, others aren’t. My sensitivity didn’t really set in until I was in my 30s I think.
Carbs have always been my favorite—even though I never really had much of a sweet tooth. I would always have an extra helping of mashed potatoes, crusty bread, corn—never mind the chip forms of all those. Beer, too, of course, which has carbs in the form of maltose.
I never really bothered trying to take care of myself, for one thing, because male. For another, Gen-X snarkitude. And then somewhere in my late 30s, early 40s, I started getting heavier, having other issues like joint pain, sleep apnea, GERD symptoms. I needed glasses.
I tried paying more attention. I remembered eggs were supposed to be bad at one point. I’d heard the Atkins diet was about as healthy as taking up Russian roulette as a sport. Ah, the level-headed media science reporting!
Somewhere in there I heard about Taubes’s writing, read it, tried a simplified version of Atkins just by cutting back carbs radically. I lost weight, had more energy, GERD and sleep apnea resolved. Joint pains were less intense. (Vision did *not* change back, but may have stopped getting worse.) Simplified: it really worked for me over the course of weeks to months.
But it was difficult to implement. I was used to lots and lots of convenience foods. Just about every snack food out there (in my case, the salty rather than sweet ones) has a long shelf-life and is ready to go. I was used to eating chips a half a bag at a sitting! A sandwich for lunch or supper was the norm. But instead I had to start cooking: meats and green vegetables. Bacon and eggs for breakfast.
I noticed that I no longer felt the need to eat all day. The late morning energy crash didn’t happen any more. A bacon and eggs breakfast was enough to make it through lunchtime without wanting anything to eat. And I never counted a single carb.
It definitely worked for me. If I start dipping into the carbs again, though, it’s like an alkie falling off the wagon. ;-)
Yeah, you have to tailor make what works for you, we are not all the same, women have more body fat and tend to gain weight all over, men usually just in their guts...regardless of gender our biology's and metabolisms are different too
I eat a bannna or a dry bowl ( no milk and I don't put sugar in/on anything but my coffee in the morning) of cheerios for breakfast. I have a varied lunch, somewhat limited by short on funds for a bit more healthier stuff...and then dinner. I use an air fryer or George Forman grill for any kind of frying, ( except eggs and sauteed mushrooms, and actual sliced potatoes fried, though I don't have them often...lol) I might have some low calorie snack sometimes later after dinner.
I don't eat fast food except when it is necessary due to funds or where I am...I am not a big junk food eater, I have a weakness for chocolate and ice cream but limit their intake. I try to stay away from processed foods with some exceptions.
I don't know what else to do...I don't overeat anymore, smaller portions ( an occasional cheat with a second mashed potato serving...lol) . I sometimes can't finish lunch or dinner ..
And yet, I can't seem to lose any more weight....sigh
I can’t recall off the top of my head the researchers who found this out, but it resulted from studying other animals, initially (iirc) cicadas, of all things: We animals are in constant search of a nitrogen. It is an essential element. In fact, cicadas and other animals including us will receive signals from our bodies that make us hungry—or prevent us from feeling satiety—until we’ve consumed enough nitrogen.
The main source of nitrogen that our human biology is capable of digesting and using at the cellular level is animal protein. And for a variety of reasons proven and hypothetical, lean animal protein is the densest source of nitrogen that our biology lets us access efficiently.
I’ve found that if I have some poached chicken breast or (even better) tender, pink filet mignon, I quickly reach satiety—and that full feeling lasts for a while. It’s not one of those things I daydream about eating like chips or gummy bears, but if I start eating it, it just hits the spot.
I’ve read other researchers and theoreticians explain that we need more protein as a share of our diet as we age, because our bodies become less efficient in general. (Plant proteins are harder for us to access for a variety of reasons, too. The detail of consuming meats is important in this line of research.)
Sir Walter Wally, the Raleigh groundhog, had his people announce his retirement from weather forecasting only a couple of days before his annual appearance. I thought that was rather odd.
Virals.
How in the hell did I get on Kevin McCarthy's email list?...roflmao
I guess it is possible I subscribed to keep an eye on him, but, I have never donated to him or any other congressperson on the right...
:0
Kevin in your inbox?? YIKES!!
If that happened to me, I'd find a partner, commit a crime and then roll on the guy to get into witness protection and be relocated with a new identity.
ha ha ha
He obviously thinks I am a Republican of his kind...lol..just weird, but, then weird things happen to me all the time
During one campaign season a few years ago, I got a steady stream of phone calls on my landline from the Republican headquarters over in the state capital. Got a lot of calls from other places from both sides of the aisle as per usual, but these guys were absolutely ridiculously persistent. (I screen my calls with Caller ID and never answer a name or number I don't recognize, or even many that I do, since most of my incoming calls are from people or organizations I have no reason or desire to talk to.)
Tiring of constantly erasing their messages seeking $$ from my voice mail, I called them back one day. Of course, *they* didn't answer and the line went to voice mail. So, I left them a message with my name and phone number stating clearly that if they didn't want to see and hear what a pissed off nonpartisan looked and sounded like in person, they should remove that info from their calling list forthwith. Seemed to do the trick. Never heard from them since.
Can you unsubscribe?😬😬😬
Block sender
Yeah, I did and hit the unsubscribe
I ma going to try, sometimes it doesn't work...lol
Regarding carbs:
I have had problems with carbs off and on since high school. A number of years ago, a doctor recommended chromium picolinate to help regulate blood sugar in an attempt improve mood. I discovered that it eliminated my craving for carbs.
I do not take it regularly at this point, but when I find myself devouring cake sliver by sliver or cookies bit by bit, I go back to taking it for a day or to and the craving goes away.
FWIW.
Thank you , Lucy, that is good to know
Interesting. Had never heard of that.
Good Morning Peeps...
Gah, I have been on various diets every since I hit puberty and gained unexplained weight ( I think Atkins was my first) ...sigh...plus Weight Watchers, Overeteaters Anonymous etc
The one that works the best for me , regardless of what the experts say..is plain calorie ( most nutritionists I have spoken to, say calories are calories, regardless of which source they come from) counting, portion control , and I also cut down on Pepsi...I lost 50 lbs...if I do totally without food I love, especially carbs, all I do it eventually get angry and binge and give up..
Even so, I plateaued and nothing short of starving to death ( like less than 800 calories a day, and even that didn't really work) will work...I will never be a small or even average sized woman, but, I would be happy with just another 20-25 lbs less, which is the weight I have been for most of my adult life.
(My boss is doing Keto, I think it is gross to be honest, lots of stuff I do not like to eat, as food is one of my few physical pleasures, just not going to give it up) as for my health, my BP is normal, my oxygen level is 98, my bad cholesterol is low, good is good, my sugar is fine ( yes, I am the poster child for all those should be bad...lol...it is hereditary)...my health issues are not weight related. More like age most of it now...
Anyway, that set me off, (lol) frankly I am tired of obsessing about weight, it has been going on for over 50 years and I am still not where I would like to be...even if it may possibly lower my dating pool, it is not like I haven't had men interested in me over the years , some men really like my look ( not looking may age is a big gift that helps, also hereditary and not wearing face make up and spending hours in the sun and oily Italian skin....lol)...thank goodness...my problem has been lack of compatibility and lacking the few things I know I need to make a relationship work...
Ok, rant over...
You happen to be very pretty! And, your weight doesn’t seem that bad either.
Thanks Anne, yeah I have that going for me, and I carry it well for the most part...so I look smaller than I actually am..which helps
You’re great, Angie. And, I’m so sorry if I come off as thinking being overweight means people are bad, lazy, uncaring, whatever. I know that isn’t so. In all honesty, I’m perplexed, and I think doctors are, too.
Thanks, I probably overreacted, touchy subject for me...
It is very complicated, most of us, don't want to be this way and would fix it if we could...I have been trying for most of my life....sigh, and the drs don't agree which doesn't help
No, you didn’t overreact. And, I’m glad you spoke up.
I think everyone is baffled, especially doctors. My husband said he’s had a problem most of his life, and people really made it miserable for him. I’ve seen pictures, and he was kind of chubby, but I suppose when we were young, that’s all it took. (He was also very cute!)
He did Weight Watchers one year, and lost a lot of weight, but gradually put it back on. And I think that’s the hard part for so many: they lose weight, but it’s difficult to keep it off. Plus, our society is all about food!
We get such mixed messages.
Anyway, one of the things I like so much about this group is we have “conversations.” I’m always learning something (including some bad puns! 😂), and I really appreciate reading what others have to say. ❤️
Thank you Anne...you are a good friend and I never doubted that
Just for context, I suddenly put on weight when I was about 12-13, no explanation, I hadn't changed my eating habits or anything, it was obviously hormonal and maybe somewhat emotional, that age is so insecure for most girls especially, and as I was a bt boy crazy, it mattered what the boys though. I weighed 134 lbs at time, I was not obese...but, I got called names, ( one girl who harassed me all through jr high called me "pork chop"...sigh), plus, I got a lot of teasing for being "smart" and getting my school work done and then reading while everyone else finished...I used words I thought were "normal" as I read them all the time in books...like sarcastic...really? So, they started calling me teach...
My mother who never weighed more than that even when she was pregnant, didn't get it and just kept yelling at me, she took me to a dr, who said that normally he would put me on a diet of 1000 calories a day, but for me and my extreme state, it would be 800...sigh, I cried...
Things did not get better, and I was anemic at the time also and eating iron rich foods. Between my mother and the mean kids ( they weren't all that way, but enough) at school, I did suffer from depression, my parents also sent me to a therapist, because I cried too much...sigh
Anyway, food was a comfort, especially carbs...yet, when I look at pictures of myself in HS, and at graduation, I don't know what I was thinking...I look normal to me, I really thought I was a disgusting fat girl and no boy would want me...( though it turned out I was wrong, it still lingered as because some were mean about it.)
So, there is that component, but, I have really tried to work on it, and I di d lose 50 lbs, so that is something,...
Anyway, enough of my history...lol
I think food and diet are probably one of the *biggest* problems we face today. We speculate a lot on why so many are overweight, but I’m guessing most of those speculations are pretty accurate. People do not get enough exercise, and serving sizes are ridiculously large.
And, of course, no one likes to diet, but they think there’s a *quick fix,* following diets that no one can stick with for any length of time. I had a friend who was constantly trying different things, and she would lose weight, but over time it seemed like she gained more than she lost (another problem for many people).
Meanwhile, we have an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes, and it’s a problem for children! I know I’ve said it before, but in our town, we see entire families who are obese. It’s scary to think about the future, and it always makes me wonder what will happen if we ever need to recruit more people for our military. Along with that is the extra load on our healthcare system.
Two bits of standard advice meant to help people lose weight have failed for many people. One is calorie counting/calorie restriction. It might help some people for a while, but because their bodies are telling them they’re starving themselves all the time, they tend to binge and regain the weight with a bit extra.
Another is exercise. While exercise is good advice in general for good physical and mental health, for those of us with carb sensitivity, exercise doesn’t help us lose weight, but just makes us hungrier. That’s because our hormone response to the carbs won’t let us burn bodily fat deposits when we exert ourselves. And after a workout we’re famished.
Dr. Westman has helped people with severe obesity lose weight who were in such a physical state that they *couldn’t* exercise. They were physically incapacitated. For most of them, radically changing their diets to restrict carbs allowed them to shed the weight to the point where they *could* exercise again!
But, as the low-carb proponents point out, stories like that don’t get a lot of popular attention because they don’t involve billions of dollars in potential pharmaceutical sales…
Thanks. That’s important information, and obviously, weight management is different for everyone. My frustration is high cholesterol!!! I’m pretty careful with my diet, and it’s still high. 😡
The general consensus now is that some people just have a hereditary pre disposition to it , and what you eat doesn't fix it one way or the other...
I still wonder what’s in our food. Something has changed because if you look back at old photos, almost no one had a weight problem. I’m honestly curious.
Well, processed foods are bad for health and weight.
And we have more income, more fast food and it is eaiser
I don't think any chemical is the problem..just lifestyles, and changes in how we live and eat
Yeah, there is the billion dollar business around weight loss, which for years was mostly directed at women, and now some men...and was about looks, not health.
I have never taken drugs, when I was at my heaviest, I did consider bariatric surgery, but, cost and everyone I know personally who had it has had complications and gained it back.
I don't actually literally count calories...I just make choices I know are less bad and portion control was a big thing ( though now that I am getting older, I really don't want to eat more at a time, though, again, isn't helping).
Honestly, I don't trust any online weight loss people, and I have gotten conflicted messages from RL drs and nutritionists also
Recently though, in an Atlantic piece I think someone who is an expert in weight loss made the point that for people like me with chronic weight issues , and not just needing to lose a few pounds, it should be treated as a disease with many facets...
No matter what I am just tired of being "yelled" at, and dr's attributing everything I have an issue with as being overweight , and not listening to what I know about my body...as usual ( do they do that to men?)...and very little practical suggestions other then eat less...sigh
In case you’re curious, I think this couple’s hearts are in the right place. Nice descriptions, not selling anything that I can see. I’m not on FB so can’t see their pages—not open to lurkers—but I like their commenting restrictions. They’re facilitating self-help for others trying the diet. Just check out a couple of their videos to see what you think.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=QczOQbf-yTY&feature=share
Thanks, I shall check it out when I have a minute.
They probably do do it to men, but men are generally more likely to avoid going to doctors, I think.
Gary Taubes has written quite a lot about the propensity for medical people to blame patients for failing to lose weight. He has described the illogic of some of the attitude, along with the underlying assumptions.
For instance, medical professionals are taught that weight control is a matter of caloric intake and using exercise to burn off excess calories. Except the science does not support either of those assumptions. So when a patient tries to eat less and exercise more, but still gains weight *because* the advice simply does not work for that individual, the doctor is prone to thinking the patient is lying about compliance rather than considering that the advice itself is faulty.
The physician then goes on to ascribe the patient’s weight problem to faulty psychology, assuming the patient is guilty of the sins of sloth and gluttony. By this assessment, the patient is presumed to lack self control and need psychological treatment to deal with the obesity and its related effects—thereby increasing the patient’s likelihood of suffering at least short-run psychological damage from being judged—falsely, as it turns out—as lazy and gluttonous, not to mention dishonest!
By turning the diet-heart hypothesis into the quasi-official dogma of the entire health system, they’ve wound up causing a lot of harm to people they’re meant to be helping, and probably had every intention of trying to help when they entered the profession.
Do you ever wonder what’s in our food? For instance, I’ve noticed that kids are way taller than their parents. Both of my nephews are over 6 feet tall, and all of us (my parents and my brothers) are under that. I’m 5’4” (my mom was, too), and my brothers are probably around 5’10-11”, as is my husband. I cannot believe how big the kids are now!
Yes they are getting taller, I think there are a few pieces out there discussing why that is...but ,I don't remember who or where...though I remember that the average height for people has changed over many years as we progress
I know people have gotten taller, but this is maybe one or two generations at most. Kids are huge! I think the average shoe size when I was young was 7.5, and now I think it’s 9-11! It looks to me like a lot of girls are around 5’9” average. Again, I think there’s something in our food!
Thanks, that helps a lot, I am beginning to think, now that I have insurance I need to talk to a nutritionist or some other weight loss person?
Honestly Anne, I am tired of having my weight issues explained to me by doctors and other people like they actually know what the problem is, it is far more complicated than eat like a chicken and exercise, trust me, that doesn't work either...
There are so many factors, and I was a small child...puberty did me in..it isn't because I am lazy, a pig, and any other bad attributes someone wants to claim
I know it’s not easy for everyone. I know part of it is genetics, too. It’s much easier for me to lose weight than it is for my husband, so I’m not automatically condemning everyone for being overweight. What I worry about most is the morbidly obese (which I know you are far from!).
I definitely don’t think people who are overweight are lazy or pigs!!! I do think we are living in a time that makes it much, much harder for people to stay at a healthy weight. Again, I see how hard my husband works, and he exercises, does not overeat, etc. In order to lose weight, he has to be so regimented.
A lot of my friends have problems with weight, and I do not think any less of them. They are smart, hard working, kind, and I’m fortunate to have them in my life.
My wife got angry with me when she said she wanted to try a low fat diet. So I took the legs off the table and chairs.
I was in the dog house 🏡 for a week! 🥶
Read this to my wife. She often struggles a bit with her weight and 'diet.'
Her reply through her laughs...Just go ahead and try something like that.
My reply...I like a good laugh, but nope. Not stupid.
In shape for most of my life, I gained weight as a young father of small children (turns out, one is not only an ATM with hair but a garbage disposal, as well)and continued to gain weight for a number of years. Slowly, but inexorably. And I exercised less. Five years ago, I did a medically supervised diet that examined not only the foods I ate, but my genetic predisposition to being able to process or not process certain foods. I lost 40 lbs (and have kept it off---now back to my "fighting weight"), gave up alcohol and exercised every day. Every. Single. Day. Five years. My diet is more the Mediterranean Diet, balancing carbs, fat and protein. It works for me. I keep track of what I eat on an app. I don't feel restricted. And exercise. Every. Single. Day.
I guess I don't get this exercise thing, it has never made a difference for me, and I have been told it is great for your health, but, not so good to lose weight...you have to do too much to actually burn off enough calories, and now arthritis etc keeps me from doing much anymore anyway...sigh
Just walk every day. Take the stairs. It doesn’t have to be rigorous, just regular.
I am trying to find a way to walk...though not in below zero temps...lol..
There are no sidewalks where I live and I am not going to walk along the road side or drive to another neighborhood I don't live in to walk.
Can't do stairs, the pain in my arthritic knee is unbearable, so only do them when I have to ( used to do a stationary bike, but I got rid of it and I don't like the new ones and the knee still kills me) .,...plus, if I am having a bronchitis episode I can't do them either...
Mall? Home Depot? Walk up and down the aisles. We did it in winter after Kim had double knee replacement and it was too cold to walk outside.
Did you wear a velvet track suit?
Seriously, this is an excellent idea.
Ha! Never owned one. The trick to it is to walk, not shop. We don't like malls so it worked for us.
Understand
That’s an important combination: something that works for you, something that feels right while making you feel good, and something that’s sustainable.
And as keto proponents have pointed out: “Mediterranean” is a category that encompasses many nations, ethnicities, and cultures. It can contain lots of macronutrient proportions depending on the preferences of the observer.
Another point that Taubes has made: Smoking isn’t necessarily harmful occasionally for everyone. But if you smoke a pack a day every day, at some point the cumulative abuse to your system start to make themselves felt. For some of us, carbs work in a similar fashion. You go along with the high-carb diet for years, and then all at once you start having symptoms of their cumulative effects.
I have added a bit more protein over the years and really focused on "good" fat (nuts, etc.) vs "bad" fat and I eschew processed foods wherever possible.
It’s interesting that every expert—whether proponents of low-carb or low-fat, vegan or carnivore—agrees that processed foods are the absolute worst for overall health.
You mean like blue-colored "maple" syrup?
They probably put some food coloring in most things, but that one was too weird!
We Vermonters certainly agree.
MG, you know some of us read this before breakfast.
😊
Today's special animal friend is the groundhog, Marmota monax. The groundhog is also known as a woodchuck, chuck, wood-shock, groundpig, whistlepig, whistler, thickwood badger, Canada marmot, monax, moonack, weenusk, red monk, and, among French Canadians in eastern Canada, siffleux. They are rodents (order Rodentia) of the squirrel family (family Sciuridae). The Marmota genus includes 15 species found in Asia, Europe, and North America. The groundhog is an unusual marmot in that it lives in lowland rather than mountainous habitats.
The groundhog is one of the largest marmots, with a length up to 27 inches and weight approaching 14 lbs., about the weight of Jake, the cat who sleeps with me. Males are significantly larger than females. Both sexes gain weight during the fall, when they engage in "autumn hyperphagia," extreme eating, to build up fat reserves for their winter hibernation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK3pcIIsmfo
Groundhogs have four large incisors, which grow up to 1.5 mm per week and are worn down about the same amount by gnawing. Unlike the teeth of many rodents, the groundhog's are white to ivory-colored rather than orange with iron. Mainly herbivorous, they eat wild grasses, berries, agricultural crops, and a wide variety of herbs and greens. Their diet also includes some small invertebrates and baby birds, in season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNdts2P-djg
Like most small mammals, groundhogs have many predators, including wolves, coyotes, foxes, dogs; birds of prey; wild, feral, and domestic cats; mustelids including mink and badgers; and snakes. They are also hunted as a pest in some states. For defense, the woodchuck has long, strong claws, excellent burrowing skills, and the ability to climb trees and to swim. In the wild, their life span averages about three years; in captivity, they can live over ten years.
A groundhog may have more than one burrow, allowing for many avenues of escape and concealment. The burrows can be over four feet below the surface and more than 40 feet in length. They are solitary dwellers, except when breeding, but sometimes live within sight of other individuals. They are aggressive toward their own species and any others that encroach. Females breed in their second (and sometimes third) year, producing up to six young per litter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuX251iG4lA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txemQA4NE9g
The Groundhog Day tradition is believed to have originated in Germany, where the animal was a badger, and to draw on folk beliefs regarding the Christian holiday of Candlemas, the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple forty days after Christmas. The concept was popularized in the United States by the Pennsylvania Dutch. Wikipedia feels it necessary to inform us that there is no scientific evidence of a correlation between sunshine (or not) on February 2 and future weather patterns.
Groundhogs are a species of Least Concern.
I watched the movie last night, as one does.
It made me cry in three places.
Wait, at home and where else?
The checkout line at Walgreens and the parking lot at Walgreens.
I watched a British murder program and went to bed at 9.
Sounds nice.
One morning when I was staying with my folks, my mom suddenly said, “that’s the biggest groundhog I’ve ever seen.” Immediately my dad said, “where, where?” As she pointed out the kitchen window, I watched my dad squinting towards the driveway as he sidestepped and reached for the gun cabinet.
Once he had his gun he went to the kitchen window, and seemed to debate on whether or not to open it since there was a window air conditioner to get past. I remember saying, “you aren’t going to shoot from in here, are you?!” And just about then, he made the decision, and opened the window.
Immediately the air conditioner crashed to the ground, and all I could see was the cord from the outlet (still plugged in) going over the bottom windowsill and somewhere with the air conditioner, to the ground. “Crap!,” my dad said as he rushed out the side door.
Meanwhile my mom was just standing there, and I looked over at her, kind of laughed, and said, “I can’t believe it.” She looked at me sheepishly, and responded, “I hate to tell you, Anne, but this isn’t all that uncommon.” 🙄
My husband and I were in the process of having a home built just up the hill, and that should have told me something…
(I won’t go into the story of how my husband had helped my dad get the air conditioner installed, but let’s just say, there were two old ones in the barn they tried before my husband said, “Walt, just go to Walmart and get a new one!”)
One good groundhog / firearm / window story deserves another...
When I was 14, I was spending the summer with my father's oldest brother and his wife in NW Pennsylvania where they had a 2nd home / hunting lodge on about 30 acres in the Alleghenies. About 3 or 4 acres were "yard" and the rest were heavily wooded. Groundhogs were plentiful and a bane on my uncle's aesthetic of a well mown and maintained semi-suburban 'yard', due to their propensity for digging it up.
Having spent the previous summer there, my uncle knew I was schooled in safe gun handling / use and gave me a 'standing order' (he was a retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral) to shoot any hog on sight whenever possible, as long as it was safe to do so, whether he was around or not.
Not wishing to disobey orders, when I awoke quite early one sunny morning on my cot in the third floor 'dormer' (where my uncle's hunting friends from the city bunked during fall hunting seasons) and I spied the enemy reconnoitering the hallowed grounds below, I quickly went downstairs and through the living room and kitchen to the dining room, where I retrieved a scoped Winchester M70 rifle and a couple of rounds of ammo from my uncle's gun rack.
I exited the house by the front door, looked around the corner toward the back of the property, and discovered that the enemy had forded the Allegheny River (at this point just a really good-sized creek due to the close proximity to its source) via a small foot bridge, and it was checking out the small island the stream's divergent flow created at the back of my uncle's land. This had now become a particularly egregious assault on the homestead, since that island had, through no small amount of effort by my uncle, been turned into a fairly decent version of a golf green, replete with flag and cup, for the benefit of improving my uncle's game through handy and regular chipping and layup practice.
I dropped to my knees, cradled the M70 in my arms and did my best GI Joe belly crawl down the side of the house, using my aunt's rhubarb patch at the rear for cover. Upon arriving there, I opened the Winchester's bolt, loaded 2 rounds into the magazine, and closed the bolt, chambering the .257 Roberts that would a few seconds after my having rolled into a prone shooting position and parting the rhubarb leaves with the rifle's barrel, dispatch the 100+yard distant enemy to that big semi-suburban lawn in the sky, to burrow unmolested forever after.
At this point I should note that a .257 Roberts is a medium caliber round, fine for varmints like groundhogs and coyotes and the like, but a bit light for large game like deer. However, it's not all that dissimilar in its report from some of its larger caliber hunting brethren when fired, such as a .308 or .30-06. Which is to say it's pretty darned loud.
One would have thought that my uncle would have been well-pleased with my stealthy and successful defense of his most hallowed quarter acre of ground, the fact that he and my aunt were still asleep in their 2nd floor bedroom with the windows open about 20 feet above my head notwithstanding. However, if one would have thought that, one would have been mistaken.
Perhaps one reason I never seriously considered volunteering for the military is that I learned at an early age that one can receive and carry out orders to the best of one's ability, even carry out those orders perfectly, and still get put on KP duty.
As former Army myself, I feel compelled to point out one thing: your aunt' rhubarb patch did not provide you with *cover* but *concealment*. Cover is what would shield you from enemy fire, by stopping bullets or shrapnel. (Not that hogs would fire on you, but describing your approach in military terms and then misusing the word, grated on me like fingernails on a chalkboard. That, and sometimes I indulge in nit-picking. 🙂 )
Sometimes nits are worth picking, since concealment is indeed the proper word here, and I usually try to be accurate in my writing as in my shooting. But I do miss a shot now and then both on the page and in the field, as I did a couple of times over my subsequent summer stays with my uncle, which all were sans KP duty, since I'd learned any 'safe' shot would be one taken after reveille. But I do have to say I was a better shot with that .257 R than my uncle was with a 9 iron.
I've been a Toolmaker and Toolroom Machinist for 5 decades, and at times when I've heard someone mistakenly misuse terms associated with my trade and work, which are now deeply enough engrained in me as to be nearly part of my DNA, it sometimes grates as well. So, I get it. And thanks for serving our country. 👍
Great story and so well told!
Sigh, I would suck on a farm or place like that, it makes me cry when animals are killed for any reasons...sigh
I responded to you below. I love animals, too, Angie. One thing I think about is being killed quickly is it’s probably better than what happens to them in the wild. Nature is very cruel by our standards. 😢
Yeah, I intellectually get it....just emotionally it pains me
I could never hunt for sure...lol
I can’t imagine being a farmer. At one point I wanted to get a few chickens for eggs. Then I found out they have a fairly short time as egg layers, and most people butcher them at that point. So, that would mean I’d have a lot of old chickens.
Farmers mostly don’t have pets when it comes to farm animals. Even dairy cows do not die of old age, something I never considered! 😫
What I do care about is that animals are treated humanely. If they are going to be killed for whatever reason, do not let them suffer.
😂 That definitely would have been a rude awakening!
Had there been a ship handy, I expect my uncle would have had me keelhauled. Couldn't blame him, really. My aunt took it a touch better than him...she'd have settled for slapping me in irons for a while, I think. She always was sort of a soft touch.
I take it the A/C didn't crush the groundhog.
Not even close. I had mixed feelings about telling my husband after all the effort he put into helping my dad get the air conditioner installed. They had hauled two old ones from the barn, and as my husband said, they weighed a ton, and by then they no longer had any freon. Personally, I would have thought testing first would have been a good idea—my husband said they weighed a ton.
Finally they got the one from Walmart, and part of the instructions said something about leveling it. Richard said my dad looked underneath to see how it was sitting on the windowsill, and promptly announced, “it looks level to me!”
Why did he want to shoot him? Are they pest there? I don't know about here, I see them all the time and haven't known anyone to complain about them
Personally, I couldn’t shoot anything, but they are extremely destructive. If possible, I prefer those humane traps, and then taking them somewhere. However, a lot of times you’re just relocating them to someone else’s place if you aren’t careful.
It’s the same thing with raccoons. They are very destructive, and will go after animal feed, especially cat food, and a lot of farms keep cats because of mice, but still need to supplement the cats.
I think if you talked to farmers you’d probably would get plenty of complaints, and a lot depends on where you live. Mostly, I see them along roadsides, too.
I avoid killing spiders, and most insects that get in our house, except flies! If I could vacuum up all those little Japanese beetles (the ones that look like ladybugs) and had a good way of getting rid of boxelder bugs, they’d be gone, too.
I try to remove them without killingthem, but sometimes I don't have that choice, bees for instance, both my roomie and boss are allergic, I can't screw around if one is in the house or office.
Flies are a nuisance, normally if they get in the house and cats see them, they take care of those...lol..then I don't feel personally guilty...lol
I leave hosue spiders alone bevause they do eat the other bugs
What is a boxelder bug, never heard of them?
I haven't seen those japanese beetles for a while, at one time there were a lot of them
We get loads of those damn beetles because the DNR brought them in to go after aphids (I believe) in soybeans. As soon as the soybeans are harvested, those beetles are all over the place!
Boxelder bugs apparently are associated with boxelder trees, although I’m not sure we have any. It’s just an annoying beetle that comes out in the late summer and fall (along with those other ones), and cover everything! On a sunny day they’ll be all over the side of our house or barn. I think they’re harmless, mostly annoying.
That'll teach him!
😂
Cynthia, you sleep with a cat -- and it's not Shannon?
Jake. Shannon prefers the brothers.
I’ve exercised most every single day of my adult life including during pregnancy up until due date, took a few weeks off post partum. I’ve never had a weight problem, I really credit it to exercise more than diet. I’ve never restricted myself but I do eat a big salad every day and stay away from fast food. The head greenskeeper of our golf course was a chubster and decided to do something about it. He went on the all meat diet. He has eaten 3 pounds of meat every day for the past two years. He looks amazing and says his cholesterol levels are good. I cannot imagine eating like that. You’d have to pry the bread out of my cold dead hands. I love carbs.
Yeah, carbs are awesome
Exercise is great for your health, it is not very helpful for losing weight , especially for people who have a lot of weight to lose, you have to run like 5 miles for instance to burn off one candy bar of 535 calories. Walking and aerobic stuff helps a little, but, for people with chronic weight issues, it does boil down to how much you eat, not so much what it is, but portions and calories...( not to mention, hereditary and metabolism factors)
If you run 5 miles and don't eat that candy bar, you are net -535 calories and it will take you 6.5 days of net negative calories to burn one pound of fat. It's simple math. The best way to lose weight is eating less, exercising more. It's really quite simple and effective.
I completely agree with you about bread! I’m afraid I love carbs, including rice and some pasta. But, I do think it’s a combination of exercise and some self restraint. Also, genetics probably have something to do with it, but people are not good at taking care of themselves.
I hear ya on the carbs. I’m a total junky. I’m actually gearing up for a hard beef, bacon, butter, and eggs cleanse. :-) I’ve had a hard time cutting out the holiday carb binge…
Some of us are very sensitive to carbs, others aren’t. My sensitivity didn’t really set in until I was in my 30s I think.
I have a friend who can drop weight so fast if she goes on the keto diet but if she dares glance at a carb, it comes right back. She is such a yo-yo.
I was always into carbs as far as I can remember, mashed potatoes and real fresh bread being a pleasure when I was young...
Carbs have always been my favorite—even though I never really had much of a sweet tooth. I would always have an extra helping of mashed potatoes, crusty bread, corn—never mind the chip forms of all those. Beer, too, of course, which has carbs in the form of maltose.
I never really bothered trying to take care of myself, for one thing, because male. For another, Gen-X snarkitude. And then somewhere in my late 30s, early 40s, I started getting heavier, having other issues like joint pain, sleep apnea, GERD symptoms. I needed glasses.
I tried paying more attention. I remembered eggs were supposed to be bad at one point. I’d heard the Atkins diet was about as healthy as taking up Russian roulette as a sport. Ah, the level-headed media science reporting!
Somewhere in there I heard about Taubes’s writing, read it, tried a simplified version of Atkins just by cutting back carbs radically. I lost weight, had more energy, GERD and sleep apnea resolved. Joint pains were less intense. (Vision did *not* change back, but may have stopped getting worse.) Simplified: it really worked for me over the course of weeks to months.
But it was difficult to implement. I was used to lots and lots of convenience foods. Just about every snack food out there (in my case, the salty rather than sweet ones) has a long shelf-life and is ready to go. I was used to eating chips a half a bag at a sitting! A sandwich for lunch or supper was the norm. But instead I had to start cooking: meats and green vegetables. Bacon and eggs for breakfast.
I noticed that I no longer felt the need to eat all day. The late morning energy crash didn’t happen any more. A bacon and eggs breakfast was enough to make it through lunchtime without wanting anything to eat. And I never counted a single carb.
It definitely worked for me. If I start dipping into the carbs again, though, it’s like an alkie falling off the wagon. ;-)
Yeah, you have to tailor make what works for you, we are not all the same, women have more body fat and tend to gain weight all over, men usually just in their guts...regardless of gender our biology's and metabolisms are different too
I eat a bannna or a dry bowl ( no milk and I don't put sugar in/on anything but my coffee in the morning) of cheerios for breakfast. I have a varied lunch, somewhat limited by short on funds for a bit more healthier stuff...and then dinner. I use an air fryer or George Forman grill for any kind of frying, ( except eggs and sauteed mushrooms, and actual sliced potatoes fried, though I don't have them often...lol) I might have some low calorie snack sometimes later after dinner.
I don't eat fast food except when it is necessary due to funds or where I am...I am not a big junk food eater, I have a weakness for chocolate and ice cream but limit their intake. I try to stay away from processed foods with some exceptions.
I don't know what else to do...I don't overeat anymore, smaller portions ( an occasional cheat with a second mashed potato serving...lol) . I sometimes can't finish lunch or dinner ..
And yet, I can't seem to lose any more weight....sigh
I can’t recall off the top of my head the researchers who found this out, but it resulted from studying other animals, initially (iirc) cicadas, of all things: We animals are in constant search of a nitrogen. It is an essential element. In fact, cicadas and other animals including us will receive signals from our bodies that make us hungry—or prevent us from feeling satiety—until we’ve consumed enough nitrogen.
The main source of nitrogen that our human biology is capable of digesting and using at the cellular level is animal protein. And for a variety of reasons proven and hypothetical, lean animal protein is the densest source of nitrogen that our biology lets us access efficiently.
I’ve found that if I have some poached chicken breast or (even better) tender, pink filet mignon, I quickly reach satiety—and that full feeling lasts for a while. It’s not one of those things I daydream about eating like chips or gummy bears, but if I start eating it, it just hits the spot.
I’ve read other researchers and theoreticians explain that we need more protein as a share of our diet as we age, because our bodies become less efficient in general. (Plant proteins are harder for us to access for a variety of reasons, too. The detail of consuming meats is important in this line of research.)
Too bad Victor didn't come over from the mothership. This is where he would say, "It's a fat squirrel."
Speaking fo the mothership, TSAF is not posted there today.
Victor! 😂
It is. You have to use the Oldest to Newest function.
Saw it.
Groundhogs are not a species of least concern when they invade your yard and feast on your garden, I can assure you.
They can be hard on foundations, too.
when referring to a TSAF, the phrase "Least Concern" is frequently ironic.
I have to quarrel with your phraseology. If you mean SAF I agree with you. However, around here TSAF is no small concern -- and I'm no animal person.
Mineral or vegetable?
Is he on his couch?
IUCN often has a different viewpoint from actual people.
True dat! The IUCN label was of little comfort to the family of the Quebec groundhog who died trying to forecast the weather yesterday.
Will his family get a pension since he died on the job? Trudeau said it’ll be a cold day in Ottawa before that happens! 🤬.
Sir Walter Wally, the Raleigh groundhog, had his people announce his retirement from weather forecasting only a couple of days before his annual appearance. I thought that was rather odd.
Maybe he was undecided about spring and, rather than risk being seen as unable to decide, made the retirement at that point.
Self-awareness and wisdom. Wow. Could be....
Why did he die?
Maybe he couldn't stand Justin Trudeau? It would explain Canada's "excess death" increases the past two years!
Ha
he said gravely.
Ah, the big question. Why does anyone die?
Don’t get existential on me.
Trudat
Well played.
It’s like the Fat Albert of squirrels. They’re funny-looking when they run—and fast!
They’re amazingly fast!