An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

Want to improve memory, endurance or weight loss? Eat an apple. How about boosting physical health? Threatening diseases like diabetes, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's asthma and cancer are also deminished by this seemingly ordinary fruit. Apples can help you cross the finish line slim and trim with energy to spare. Apples assist the body in burning more calories while increasing muscle fat. I enjoy an apple after dinner for my sweet treat. It satisfys. Autumn is a terific season to explore all the wonders of this humble fruit. Now is the time when apples are fresh off the tree, bursting with flavor and nutrition, so seize the moment and reap all the benefits.

Bee-Havior

The queen bee, only one to a colony, must perform effectively or the colony will collapse and die. A good queen lays 2000 eggs per day, a poor queen just can't lay enough eggs. If there are signs that the queen is not doing her job, the worker bees, some 50,000 of them communicate by pheromones and take immediate action to assure sustainability of the colony. Pretending that the queen is an elected official, she really needs to be responsible for the welfare of the colony. The workers, acting as voting citizens, recogonize the threat to survival and immediately start to raise a half a dozen new queens, as if they are nominating a new slate of competing queeen candidates. Worker bees take 21 days to hatch from egg to adult bee, but as they are in a hurry to get a new queen, they feed the queen larva, plenty of royal jelly and hatch them out in 18 days. Ruthless as politicians, the first new queen that hatches kills all her competitors and soon takes over and begins laying eggs.
With our form of government we elect some officials that are better than others but we are sometimes stuck with our choice for four years! The bees are smarter, they throw out promply those that don't do their job. We could learn from the honeybee society as they have perfected their succession methods over 40 million years.

To Run Or Not To Run

I love running on the treadmill. It is something you can do by yourself, and under your own power. I go to our local gym, and believe me I am the only one I see in my age group that runs on the treadmill. What is the problem? People it is good for you. Everyone says it is much better to run outside. Not for me! I enjoy the comfort of the indoors. No sun beating down on me. No wind or cold weather to deal with. Running teaches us to challenge ourselves. It teaches us to push beyond where we thought we could go. It helps us to find out what we are made of. Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today? Ask yourself; Can I give more? The answer is usually; Yes!

http://youtu.be/ZhflzGDiDIM

Laughter Really Is The Best Medicine

A young child can laugh over 300 times a day whereas an adult will chuckle a fraction of this amount, often much less, if at all. It's no joke. When life is taken too seriously, we are missing one of the greatest health boosting habits around. You just feel good when you laugh, it seems to lift the spirts. As it turns out, a good sense of humor is essential for thriving health. Not only is it pleasurable to laught it stimulates the heart and lungs, relieves stress and strengthens the immune system. Spark a little laughter! If all else fails tickle or be tickled.

 My Cannons are still blooming

 Just picked these carrots yesterday

Pumpkin pie cake

Can you believe these roses are still blooming! 

 Foreman hears my voice on the screened in porch

Getting ready for Halloween

Indian summer has arrived in South Central KY. I love being outside when the air has a bite to it , but the sun manages to highlight the warm colors on our trees and shrubs. This month's gardening activities include cleaning up beds and cutting back perennials that have started looking tired.

Every beekeeper has to make beekeeping decisions based on who they are according to their knowledge, life experiences, intentions, ultimate goal, why they keep bees, or just plain because I want to. I have put my bees to bed for the winter. I have taken off the supers and now they have to survive the winter with what is stored in those 3 hives. I'm a natural beekeeper, meaning I treat bees with the image of them living in a tree. Natural beekeeping is less expensive, and less labor intensive. I do not buy queens, but allow my girls to make their own , because each hive knows its needs better than I. The honeybee has to survive and I feel they are trying to, and evolving in spite of man.

How To Improve Physical Appearance And Eliminate Disease

First, let it be said, that attitude is everthing. Whether you are looking to improve your physical appearance or overcome chronic health problems your personal belief system can be your greatest asset or worse enemy. Simply put, we all have the ability to create the life of our dreams, but it takes effort. Great health is a product of healthy thoughts, fellings and actions done on a constant basis period. Sometimes as we get older we have aches and pains. I try to dismiss that from my mind and go on. My grandmother who raised 10 children virtually by herself said" When I feel bad I get out the old wash board and scrub. I do the same thing. I just keep on going on. Try to eliminate chronic stress from your life. Thats a hard one for me. I was born wired. Remember, "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve". Author Napoleon Hill.

Soft And Scrumptious Pumpkin Cookies

I have been craving pumpkin something for weeks now! Pumpkin pie, pumpkin rolls, pumpkin donuts I don't care, I just need the taste of fall! I finally made up my mind and went with pumpkin cookies.These cookies are perfect!

2 cups of oat bran
3 cups of flax seed meal
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
1 cup stevia
1 cup butter
1 can pumpkin
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease baking sheet. Combine first 7 ingredients. Beat sugar and softened butter in large mixer bowl until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Drop by rounded tab. onto baking sheet. Bake 15 to 18 minutes. Icing is optional. Makes 72 cookies   

Once When We Were Free 

We're so much more sensible now. We don't live our lives as much as we arrange them and organize them. B follows A. D follows C. We take our medicne and our shots, because the doctor says so. We're careful, because accidents happen.
We don't say what is on our minds a lot of the time, because other people might pass that on, and who knows? We might get into trouble. But once upon a time, when we were young, we were free. We didn't take any shots and when we got sick we recovered. We were stronger than kids now. We didn't ask for much protection and we weren't given much, and we survived. There was no talk about the needs of the group. When we went to school, we weren't told about ways we could help others. That was something we learned at home. We wern't taught about The Planet. Instead, we learned to mind our own business, and it wasn't considered a crime. When we played games, adults weren't hovering or coaching every move we made. We found places to play on our own, and we figured it all out. There were winners and losers. There were no plastic trophys. We played one game, then another. We lost, we won. We competed. Losing wasn't a tragedy. There were no childhood conditions like ADHD or Bipolar, and we certainly didn't take any brain drugs. The idea of a kid going to a psychiatrist would have beeen absurd. People were who they were. They had lives. They had personalities. They had eccentricities, and we lived with that. There was far less whispering and gossip. There were fewer cliques. Kids didn't display their posssessions like signs of their idenity. A kid who did was ignored, even shunned. Our parents didn't consult us about what we wanted. We weren't part of the decision making process. They didn't need us for that. No one asked us about our feelings. I remember one Christmas when my mom and dad got me a Dale Evans cow girl suit. I hated it. I put up such a fuss and said "I didn't ask for that". I found myself in bed all day Christmas with a spanking to boot. That was the last time I pulled a trick like that. If two candidates are running for office, and we don't like either one, we don't vote. We don't need to think about that very hard. It's obvious. Two idiots, two criminals? Forget it. Walk away. We don't think children are the future. Every generation is a new generation. It always has been.
When we were young, we had incredible dreams. We imagined the dreams and imagined accomplishments then. Some of us still do. Some of us still work in that direction. We haven't given up the ghost just because the world is mad.
THE WORLD NEEDS TO LEARN WHAT WE KNOW. WE DON"T NEED TO LEARN WHAT THE WORLD HAS BEEN BRAINWASHED INTO BELIEVING.     

Green Monster Smoothie

It's that time of year when kids look forward to eating and drinking the wrong rainbow colors. From lolipops to gummy ghouls, they are surrounded by artificially colored and chemically flavored treats intended to make Halloween FUN of course. Most of these treats contain a toxic load of corn syrup, hydrogenated oils and other food additives, the long term effects of which are not so fun. This Halloween, celebrate with a fun Green Monster Smoothie.

1 cup of fresh baby spinach
2 cups of ripe fresh pineapple chunksfrozen
2 medium ripe bananas cut into chunks frozen
1 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice

Freezing the pineapples and bananas ahead of time will ensure that the smoothie is cold after it is blended.

 A stroll on the beach

 Fisherman's Wharf catch of the day

 

Lighthouse Cafe at Fisherman's Wharf

Show at Airforce base close by

Night view from our balcony

A crane on our beach

Foreman keeping guard

Jerry feeding Forman raisins

 Tour boat

Letter to Santa on what I want for Christmas

I love our vacation time. We have found the most wonderful hideaway in Destin. It has snow white beaches with sand dunes. Pretty much all to ourselves. I would tell you where, but then it wouldn't be our little hideaway. David and I said it was a perfect holiday. Although it is always good to get away, but it was wonderful to come home.

Beekeeping Naturally

 

I suppose you would have to be living under a rock these days to have not heard that the honey bees and beekeepers are in trouble. The problems are complex, far reaching and mostly recent. They are certainly a threat to the survival of the beekeeping industry but, even more so, to the survival of many plants which we need or want for food and many other plants that are a necessary part of the environment.

"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it." George Bernard Shaw

It seems like there is some controversy over whether it is even possible to keep bees without treatments. But there are many of us who are doing this and succeeding. I basically leave my bees to fend for themselves. They do it in the wild, so why not. I do feed them sugar water in October to get a strong brood going, but that is the extent of it. I have gotten honey this year and all of the hives seem healthy. I have my fingers crossed they will make it through the winter and be stronger than ever in the Spring.  

Begin To Train Your Chickens

Naturally, chickens are apprehensive of humans. They have every right to be, don't you think? They are fearful. They are cautious. They are skittish. It takes time for them to become accustomed to their caretakers and human family. They need to develop a bond with you and trust that they are safe in your presence. It also takes time for them to accept you into their flock. Chickens, just like humans have their own personalities. Some enjoy being handled, others prefer to sit near you and others are entirely aloof to any handling.
Be sure you are in the coop during quietier times. Not first thing in the morning, when the chickens find they need to frantically inspect the run for any new bugs that have arrived since they went to bed. Talk to them like they are newborn babies. Let them get used to your voice. Repeat certain phrases and words to them. This helps their brains conect your words with their feeling safe and getting treats.
We will talk later about what treats to give your chickens. It does take time and dedication on your part, but yes, you can train chickens.

Pet Rooster

While we were out of town the Johnson's were in charge of the chickens. Foreman who roams the property enjoys a treat from Alex. This rooster is so friendly he eats out of everyones hand. Benjamin in the chicken yard should take a clue from Foreman. It is better to be be sweet than ugly. You get treats that way. Foreman and Alex are the babies of the family. They get pretty much what they want.

 Burger Joint in Cincinnati

 Whats inside the Burger Joint

 The best burgers and signs

 Wouldn't you just love these signs.

 I love this place!

I guess that is what I miss mostly about a big city. There are sooo many places to go. But David and I are happy with our country slow pace of life. It is always fun to go to the city, but coming home is even more fun.