Pitiful

The garden is winding down and dead flower stalks need cutting. But some things are still blooming, like the sunflowers, butterfly bush and nasturtiums. I think a conversation my nephews had about it while they were over here sums it up nicely:

Younger nephew: Why do they have that fountain in the garden?

Older nephew: It makes it look not so pitiful.

Younger nephew: It's not so pitiful!

Sunflower power

Nasturtiums and hydrangea The wild areas are just as pretty, no, maybe prettier, with their fall colors.

Gorgeous day

I've never seen so many honey bees here. Maybe they haven't disappeared, they've just moved north?
Coconut would love to spend all day outside, he got four bugs in minutes today when I took him out. Here he is back on his Ficus, giving me that sad look.
The beans are still going in September! We cover them up each night, along with the rest of the greenhouse. If I forget one of these nights I will kick myself.

One of the last summer days... it's sunny with a light breeze, 75 degrees at 1:15pm.

Good News, in a way

Health update:
Not much of a surprise, but the blood tests show that my thyroid antibodies are off the charts, so my elevated TSH is due to my body attacking my thyroid. Yes, it's all my fault, I'm trying to do myself in.
The good news is that my N.D. said that this problem often originates in the gut and the blood type diet is a good way to deal with it. If only I knew bread was poison a long time ago, I coulda been a contender...
Yeah right.
Well, something must be working, because I've already lost 6 pounds of Idaho weight. Yipee!

Weather news:
We're having a little heatwave, it's s'posed to be in the 90s tomorrow, and I say, bring it on. But could we please have a side of rain?

A Diet Without Donuts?

I'm reading a book that's been out since 1996 called Eat Right for Your Type, by Peter J. D'Adamo. It's fascinating! It's all about blood types and how they determine what you should eat.

I'm willing to give it a go because it says, as a type O, I should eat red meat, fish, vegetables and fruits, and no lentils! I know I've talked them up before, but they aren't very good, are they? Sadly, no donuts, no wheat flour, no dairy, no pork, no potatoes. But I already knew those were bad for me. And apparently the Ezekial sprouted grain bread is ok. I tried it and it's actually very tasty.

So now we have to get everyone in the family tested to see what blood types we have, (so I can torture them with this new diet). I really hope the Js are not type As, because As are supposed to be vegetarians. Maybe that's why that book The China Study found meat protein to be detrimental, because in China most people are type A or B! Not me, I'm a carnivore, grrrrr.

I was amazed at how many of the foods I don't like are on my do not eat list. You know those things you have to kind of force down? And your mouth is like, uh, do I have to? No surprise that papayas are good for Os, but not for some other types, you either love 'em or hate 'em.

Peter D'Adamo, a Naturopathic doctor, has a blog too. In one of his posts he talks about Dr. Andrew Weil trying to discredit him. I never liked Dr. Weil, or his advice. He's a "holistic doctor." But usually he sounds like a regular old doctor with some new tricks. Anyway, I go to a Naturopath for my healthcare and I trust them. Their guiding principle is "First, do no harm." Regular doctors don't try to get at root causes, they just try to get rid of symptoms with drugs. I'm going to see my N.D. tomorrow and hear the results of my blood tests. Oh dear...

I'll ask the doc what she thinks of my new pet book.

This 'n' that

What a life the bees have.

Mid September gardening news:

Even though we've had several freezing nights, the garden is still alive, (yay!!!) The house protects the flowers and the greenhouse is doing a good job for the vegetables. This is the first time ever I've had red full size tomatoes, it's a great joy. I'm almost persuaded that this isn't such a bad place to live after all, for a gardener that is.

Idaho organic:

It's a bit behind the times and ultra-conservative here, but there are some changes happening that look promising. The local health food store is expanding for the second time, taking over other buildings next door. I just wish I could afford to shop there more often. Most other grocery stores have organic produce and products now. There must be an increasing demand. My taste tests have confirmed that organic produce does taste better, maybe others are starting to notice that too. Not to mention that eating food without chemicals can only be better for you, especially when some of those foods are from other countries where they spray who knows what on them. Which brings me to my next topic.

Made in China:

The past few years, we've noticed that nearly every new product we buy (we're obviously shopping at the wrong stores) smells terrible for a long time. Chemical fumes emanate from these things, and we can't figure out what is going on. It didn't used to happen, did it? Well, for one thing, many of these things are made in China or Indonesia or some other place churning out cheap products. There doesn't seem to be much oversight on what kind of junk gets shipped over here. So from now on, I'll try to lay off the cheap stuff, although that's hard when funds are limited. I'll have to scour the countryside for wholesome products made in this country, or better yet, have the mechanical genius make it for me.

Politics:

Oh, the utter nonsense of it all. My eye twitch is back.

Global warming update:

Did everyone see Sarah Palin say that there may be some human causes to global warming? Holy Al Gore! Some of the doubters are pretending to change their minds! If that's not progress, I don't know what is. Meanwhile, the chanting gets louder: drill baby drill! Those are some real forward looking people right there. And the politicians cave and approve new drilling. So encouraging. I'm going to do what I can to end this slow motion train wreck by asking the kids to become scientists so they can invent new energy sources. I know they'll just ignore me, but it's worth a try. After all, they're a lot smarter than I was at their age, and they're even good at math, gasp! If I had been good at math I could've studied physics and maybe I'd be working on a new energy source this very moment. But instead I'm writing a blog which two people read. Two very very important people.

Jack's back

Poor, poor zucchini. Frost got it the morning of September 1, as usual.

But look at the one in the greenhouse, still going strong. Yay! I love my greenhouse, thanks J and J.

It's 68 degrees at 2:00 pm.