cyclowhatia

CYCLOWHATIA
here at the country n we try to raise as much of our salad stuff
as we can knowing that the fall and the winter are the best
times to raise stuff like lettuce spinach beets carrots cilantro
broccoli asian greens and swiss chard and kale

then the spring comes along with tomatoes peppers green beans
squash cucumbers and basil

then the hot summer hits and all we can produce is malabar spinach
arugula purslane and basil with occasional peppers
but of course it was all attacked by those dang grasshoppers

so

we had to resort to supplementing our salad with produce from
the grocery store
we thats me selected the mixed salad mixes that come prepackaged

so

about 2-3 weeks ago i awoke with a severe headache fever
bad bodyaches that made me forget about my sciatica or made
me delirious enough that i dont remember it
i was down for the count for 2-3 days this was associated with
nausea and watery diarrhea

as it all resolved i felt better then
a few days later it started coming back but not as bad

i had nausea a loss of appetite and diarrhea and felt bloated
all the time
you know like i was on my period

then this went away

then a few days later here it came back again

then i was watching tv and also read a report about this bug
called cyclospora

its a one cell parasite that is found commonly in the latin america
and rarely is found in the united states
until now

its is not spread from person to person but instead is commonly spread
by contaminated food with feces

my wife got it about a week later than i did and she seemed to have a
milder case

it can be diagnosed by obtaining a stool sample and testing it for the
parasite
a 1-3 day test

then i heard it appeared to be from contaminated mixed salad mixes
from some of the latin american countries

so i put 2 and 2 together
diarrhea and nausea that wont go away and comes and goes
i just started adding the salad mix to our diet
so i must have this cyclospora

being a doctor i used the empiric method of treatment
if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it must be a duck

i started on antibiotics and have been symptom free now for a week

cyclowhatia please dont return

lesson learned
wash your fruits and vegetables well including your prewashed salads
to prevent infection
and
try to stick to country n grown veggies as much as possible

the organicgreen doctor

messy blogger

MESSY BLOGGER
every morning when i get up
usually thats early real early
especially since i stared aricept (donepezil) which interferes with my
sleep a lot
now added on to that my sciatica which starts bothering me
again about the time i wake up
i think the effects of the nighttime lyrica starts wearing off
and the leg starts throbbing
and i wake up

i usually make my nicaraguan free trade coffee
then start going through my emails and
articles ive saved or research that ive subscribed to
facebook and yahoo news
during my reading of all this stuff i start formulating my blog for
the day

then i usually eat an organic free range country n egg and a piece
of toast followed later by
a handful of mixed nuts and dried fruits and later by a banana
or an apple

note this is all on the mediterranean diet

well i did eat a round rock donut my wife she brought me
that was left over from a meeting she went to
you cant be a 100% you know on any diet
my reward for eating good was that donut

as i read well sometimes crumbs fall on my computer
so it gets real smuggy sometimes

one of my patients repaired and cleaned computers and he told
me how to clean computers

he uses the blow stuff you know the stuff you are not suppose to
inhale but some kids do it
you have to show your id to buy it

so he cleaned all the debris out by spraying that stuff real good
to remove stuff from between the keys and dust from the fan area

then he used rubbing alcohol swabs to wipe off the keys and the
computer

then you are suppose to use a dust free cloth to clean the screen
but on my screen after i use the cloth there seems to be stuff
behind the screen

thanks to a janet r posting on facebook i now know how to clean
the backside of the computer

watch this short video to see how to do it

the organicgreen doctor

more hope for the future, more rice

MORE HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

when i was in practice i had a family practice that included a lot 

of pediatrics

when i was in training for family practice i did so many rotations 

in pediatrics that the head of the pediatric department approached me 

once about switching over to pediatrics

but i loved family practice as i wanted to take care of the child

his parents his grandparents etc

as my pediatric patients aged i had more and more teenagers and 

young adults and college students

this mixture of young patients was just the right mixture for my practice

i tried to interact with them as much as possible finding out what they 

liked at school and what they wanted to do in the future

i realized despite what you hear in the media we may be in good hands

in the future

this weekend i worked with this group of kids from the key club

at leander high school

they helped my wife she and our friend and the new homeowner lance

do most of the landscape at his new house

they had to dig out 2 inches of soil in a large strip between the curb

and the sidewalk

then after this was dug out we placed black plastic and large rocks so 

that lance wont have to care for this difficult spot in his yard

we also added 4 larger boulders for a more natural look

pictures of the completed landscape will be posted later this week

these kids worked real hard on this area digging and talking all done in 

a misty rain and while being covered with mud and dirt

our version of a mud run

between my wife and i we knew each ones name and what they 

planned to do in life and what college they might be interested in 

what a great group of kids

we also scrapped off the dead grass from the front beds

these workers worked hard but also i think they had a good time

working and visiting with each other

at the end of the day we completed 90% of the landscape but 

ive decided to hold off on planting the shrubs since there is more

outside painting to do this week

when thats completed ill come back and plant them 

when i got home that day i thought about those kids who got all wet

and muddy since we had that misty rain

thought about how hard they worked real hard

it was an all female group i thought at first i wished i had some guys

to help me but this group proved me wrong on that one

thought about all the negative press we see on kids of their generation 

but when you get to work with them like we did this weekend and get 

to actually talk with them about the future

you realize there is much more hope for our future 

than what fox news cnn msnbc cbs nbc abc etc portrays

yes we will be left in good hands

MORE RICE

this weekend after working at the habitat house getting all dirty and 

sweaty and getting real sore i climbed into our hot tub to see if the 

heat and water would help my aching back and sciatica

actually aching all over

as i was catching up on my messages 

i was writing a reply to my sisterinlaw who had a question about 

my younger brothers-who has alzheimers disease-medication

he is not doing well and my thoughts are with him and his family 

in these difficult moments 

as i was typing i noticed i couldnt use the space bar

e ery few- days was all i could write

i looked down and dang if i hadnt dipped my cell phone 1/3 down into

my hot tub

heres your sign

i jumped out of the tub ran to my rice jar

wiped off the phone well after i removed my otter box

the phone was doing crazy things and wouldnt let me 

do anything to it

into the jar in went until the next day

then i charged it up and its working fine again 

i must have a cat iphone and i have used 2 of its 9 lives

the organicgreen doctor

willie may definitely be safe

WILLIE MAY BE SAFE
in the theory of how alzheimers disease develops in the brain
beta amyloid accumulates in the brain and this accumulation
and its residual damage it causes is the cause of this disease

the brain has a blood brain barrier that protects the brain
eg certain drugs and chemicals and hormones cant get through
this barrier to affect the brain

it also works against the brain sometimes
eg
as this beta amyloid accumulates it cant be transported back through
this blood brain barrier so the body can dispose of it
so it just starts accumulating
then alzheimers disease develops


now this is where willie nelson comes in
you notice how old he looks
well he is old hes 80
and he seems sharp to me when he is interviewed
maybe a little laid back

but he is known for smoking the weed on a regular basis
real regular basis
and this may be protecting him from the devastating disease
alzheimers disease

it seems that marijuana may help the body clear this bad beta
amyloid from the brain by helping transport this beta amyloid
back across the blood brain barrier allowing this disposal of
this beta amyloid
thus it may delay the onset of the disease
and possibly actually prevent the disease

of course
these studies right now are all animal studies
excuse me how easy would it be to study humans
theres plenty of weed around
theres im sure plenty of volunteers
heck i would be first in line if it turned out to help

so i think i might just find me some special chocolate bars to eat
for dessert twice a day
and do my own one man study

or like willie says just roll me up and smoke me when i die

the organicgreen doctor

yum yum not

YUM YUM NOT

here at the country n the general upkeep that i have to
do has accumulated over the last two months since i
was down for the count with my ruptured disk

this is the time when i usually do a lot of clean up work
around the property as the spring has caused a lot of
plants and grasses to become overgrown

normally in the heat of july i am not doing much outside
since ive usually done most of the maintenance and clean up
in early june

so now i get up early and as soon as the light is light enough
i go outside to start working
but i am still limited on what i can do
but each week the sciatica improves so ive noticed i can
do more each day and not pay the price at night time when
i try to sleep

my measure of how well im doing is how much vicodin i am
taking
my last one was 10 days ago and i also stopped my
antiinflammatory mobic since it made my blood pressure go up
to 160/90-100 and once i stopped that my pressure is now
back to normal
sure helps to be a doctor sometimes

as i walk around my property this week as i am really getting
a close look at everything as i mow weed eat and move brush
i am devastated by the destruction that those damn grasshoppers
have done to our property
plum trees maple trees peach trees pecan trees citrus trees
honeysuckle vines trumpet vines oregano asparagus
lady banks rose persimmon pear
wonder why they wont eat those hackberries that seem to
pop up everywhere

i do not notice that there arent many if any true native plants
that these things eat
like native grapes salvia greggii oaks mesquite cedar elm
youpon holly definitely not cactus morning glory cedar
texas plum texas persimmon

as i walk around i think i wonder how i can get rid of these
guys
my guineas and chickens get so full of grasshoppers sometimes
that a grasshopper could land on their beaks and they
wouldnt eat them
except of course in the morning when we let them out
they are like a sewing machine going after those hoppers

i wonder could i eat those guys
i know in some countries they do
80% of the people in the world do
ive seen them on those food shows you know the one where
those guys will eat and drink anything

i think i would like mine if i ate them real crispy maybe like a
over cooked fired okra or a real burned french fry so
you could close your eyes and pretend it was one of those things
just overdone
bet the crunch would be the same

one of our friends knew of our plight or should i say plaque
and sent me a recipe for cooking those hoppers

from the book


well we do have a lot of onions and our neighbor just gave
us a lot of tomatoes
maybe use that lime that the hoppers didnt eat
and my wife she just bought some new kabob tools
and i did just redo my grill so we have
just what we need here at the country n to cook those hoppers

everyone is invited over for a kaboob at the country n
especially our friend who sent us the recipes
come as you are
bring a container to take some hoppers home with you
so you can cook some at home

oh and i like the last picture on the cover since i love
chocolate

the organicgreen doctor

square foot garden

SQUARE FOOT GARDEN

i have made several of these 4 foot square gardens for friends
for the habitat houses and for my wife shes school

this year i decided to build a 4 foot square garden and donate
it to a silent auction to raise monies for our team organicgreendoctor
in the williamson county walk to end alzheimers
the silent auction will be at the reunion grille in cedar park
a nice venue for this
it will be the first week of september the exact date is being finalized

my friend has just finished the alzheimers quilt she made for the auction
she is a plastic surgeon who does quilting and does a blog for a hobby
when i receive it next week ill take pictures and will post more details
on it

heres the recipe for the 4 foot square garden that the
organicgreendoctor himself will personally build
help site the garden at the winners place
help chose the fall veggies to be planted
prep the site
and assist in planting the veggies in the fall garden

ingredients
love for organic gardening and the wish to inspire others to
do this type of gardening

32 feet of 2in x 6in x 8ft cedar boards
8 feet of 2in x 4in x 8ft cedar board

1/2 cubic yard of hill country soil from the natural gardener

4  2 cubic feet bags of lady bug brand square foot gardening blend
wire to separate garden into 1 foot squares
nails

instructions on what to plant in the garden in the fall and in
the spring
instructions on caring for the garden

on the site assessment i will look at sun exposure
you must have 6 hours or sun or you can not have veggies
growing in the garden

i will look for compass alignment looking for the best sun
exposure

i will look for light exposure for the summer and the winter
looking at trees shrubs etc that may affect the gardens
placement

then
i we since i want the new owner to get involved and get their
hands dirty and put in some sweat equity
will scrape out a square that is 8 ft x 8 ft
then a 4 ft square hole will be dug down to 12 inches
removing the soil to be used somewhere else or if its
good soil replace it in the hole
the bottom will be filled with newspapers and maybe
cardboard as this kills weeds and hold moisture in the soil
also worms love to eat newspapers

then the square foot garden frame will be placed on the new soil
a 1 foot wide layer of cardboard will be placed around the
new frame to help keep weeds and grass from growing
into the new garden

















it would look something like this without the central composter
and the frame would be 6 inches higher than this one

then the hill country soil and the square foot garden soil will be
placed in the frame

you now have a 4 foot square garden with a soil depth of 2 feet
that will work much better in this hot dry climate

this picture is on the square foot garden we planted at my wife shes
school which has concrete blocks instead of cedar but it gives
you a better idea of the height of this new square foot garden
that we will build

you also have 16 one foot squares to plant fall veggies
which i we will plant together

suggested fall plantings are
spinach
lettuce
beets
carrots
swiss chard
cilantro
kale and more kale
broccoli
snap peas
cabbage
asian greens
radish
cauliflower
brussel sprouts
chinese cabbage
onion
garlic
turnips
arugula
etc

so if youve always wanted a square foot garden at your place
come make a bid on this one at our silent auction
the garden will be built with love and hopes for years of
enjoyment of growing your own veggies

also the monies will be going to a good cause

the organicgreen doctor

left was good

LEFT WAS GOOD
i hardly ever watch golf unless tiger is playing and now
only if he is in the run for winning
so this weekend i noticed he was close enough so
i turned on the tv to see the end of the british open


there before my eyes was the best feel good story occurring
this year in sports as i watched
old lefty phil mickelson
who has come in second a lot and
whom ive watched several times just
decompensate before your eyes
i mean really just playing awful when he had he lead
hitting the ball everywhere

such a nice guy you just want him to win


then this weekend he was in a zone
that final shot on the 18th green
the hands go up in the air
the crowd getting so loud with its cheering
abruptly occurring as the ball went in the cup


the tearful hug with his caddy
then

the long hug with his wife and  kids

that felt so good to watch this all
over and over again

you dont get to see this happen that often
where the win just feels so good to watch and to be a part
of the audience

its something thats missing from sports now a days


then i watched phils interviews on tv

yes what a classy guy

we need more of him

the organicgreen doctor

rice is nice

RICE IS NICE
since my cell phone took a high dive off the window ledge
into our swirling hot tub
it was a 9.5 score on that dive
it was a single somersault with the bottom of the phone going
in first

luckily i didnt allow it to hit the bottom of the hot tub
but instead caught it within a foot of hitting the water

i instantly jumped out of the tub and took in into the kitchen
instantly wiped it off
removed the otter cover
wiped it off again
then plunged into a jar of rice so that no parts of the
phone were visible
it did ring once that i heard
since i couldnt turn the phone off

(turns out it was my surfer brotherinlaw letting us know
he got stuck in houston over night but was on his way
back to nicaragua)

then i had to wait
that was the hardest to do was wait
and had to use an old flip phone
how did i ever use that thing before

phonededcallhomephne

was my message since i coulnt figure out how to do the space
bar on that old flipper

so after 24 hours
well it was 11 hours 45 minutes i took the phone out of the rice
wiped it off of rice dust
mashed the on button
there it was working
put in my password
everything seemed to be working well
except
i cant turn it off
ive decided i could deal with that since ive never turned it off
anyway
just set the timer to 1 min so it turns its self off if not used

saw a funny commercial where the guy dropped his phone
in the toilet then immersed it in rice
when he removed it from the rice his phone was working ok
so
he called his mom
his friend reminded him while he was talking to his mom
you know you dropped that in the toilet
dont you

tough choice on what to do then

at least my phone was dropped in cleaner water

the organicgreen doctor

i think that..., rice it is

I THINK THAT...
if you think that there is a problem
well maybe there is a problem

its called subjective cognitive decline
it may be the first clinical indicator of
alzheimers disease
ie
its the first sign of alzheimers disease

its the self reported perception of memory or
cognitive problems

at the alzheimers association international conference
in boston this week this was one of the topics discussed
with special interest to clinicians

if you can find ways to identify people early real early
get aggressive with treatment early maybe you can make
a difference in whether the disease progresses at all or
maybe make it less severe

right now you have aricept (donepezil) and namenda that can
be used initially or later on in the case of namenda
then
get aggressive with treatment of the blood pressure cholesterol
diabetes obesity sleep disturbances depression anxiety
and improve exercise diet and mental activity

this early subjective cognitive decline combined with new
testing with blood test and amyvid pet scan allows for an
early diagnosis to be made
then
new treatments can be started early on these patients

also these patients can be used for some of the research studies
on new drugs that will probably work better if started early on
the disease

there are a lot of social and psychological factors to consider
of course in this early detection

the study im in the alzheimers disease neuroimaging initiative
has started a study of patients who have subjective cognitive
decline and are following them with the same tests that im having
done in the mild cognitive group

im glad to see this research on subjective cognitive decline
because if i didnt have some changes on my neuropsych exam
and spinal fluid protens i probably would be in that group

here is a link to a nbc story on alzheimers disease with
maria shriver and dr nancy snyderman
this video talks about why early detection to this patient is
important
click here to watch the video

RICE IT IS
im anxiously awaiting day break today
as yesterday at about 700 am i was in the hot tub
enjoying the morning coolness and a moment of quiet
and relaxation before my day took off

i had my iphone in its otter box protector setting on a ledge
in a window by the hot tub
that otter box has been a life saver for the iphone as i get
a lot of dust compost mulch grass clipping feathers fertilizer
and a lot of other foreign materials on it on a regular basis
it really seems to help a lot in protecting it
money well spent
i hope

as i was getting out of the tub i was talking to my wife
and i guess not paying attention
oops
there the phone went into the hot tub water

i quickly hopped out of the tub
remembering from kim komando to dunk it in rice
i quickly removed the otter box so far so good
some moisture was on the outside
i quickly wiped it off
as i removed the otter box i noticed the cover to the
charger hole was not closed
not good i thought

i tried to turn it off and it wouldnt turn off
not good i thought

but into the rice i plunged it
later in the morning i heard it ring
not good i thought

its been quiet since then

now my timer is on and has two hours left

i am anxiously awaiting the results of the rice immersion

if its dead its back to the pos phone i had before
the verizon stratisphere until november

i sure love my iphone

lesson learned

the organicgreen doctor

graying greying greening

GRAYING GREYING GREENING
is it gray or grey
i never can remember which is correct
do i gray or grey as i get older
is it greying or graying in america
well in america its graying
but
in england its greying
but
either way is acceptable

i do have readers from england south africa new zealand
and australia so i think they would be pleased with the use of
grey

im glad to know that so now it can just write whichever i want
and its ok

gray water is the water sometimes soapy that is tap water thats
used in bathing or in the washing machine
here at the country n grey water see its ok to switch the spelling
also includes the water used to wash dishes and the water used
to rinse the dishes

so here the gray water is shower or bath water washing machine
water and the dish waters

now our washing machine water line goes underground to a
a catch basin that eventually waters a couple of our oak
trees
you can tell the one has had extra water since i planted it
as a little scrawny 1 gallon monterey oak and the same time
i planted a 10 gallon 10 ft tall monterey oak
the little one thats been getting the grey water is much bigger
that the 1010 oak tree

at aggie land agrilife thats the new name for ag extention office
research looked at whether it was safe to use gray water
for irrigation
i hope so since weve been doing it now for 12 years
its kept several of our trees and shrubs alive during the drought
time

they did their studies in the greenhouse for now but the next phase
will be eventually be on a landscape outside

this study is important as using grey water in our landscapes can
decrease our use of our shrinking water sources
50% of the average household water consumption is from use
in the landscape

using grey water in the landscape could save 10-25% of our water
consumption for landscaping

in this study the only washing component that made a difference was
the use of gray water and bleach which caused some yellowing of the
leaves on certain plants but not all

bleach is not a problem here at the country n since we dont use it
in our grey water at all

we also are careful what detergents soaps conditioners etc
we use

all the plants in the study were native plants and included shrubs
flowering plants and some succulents

so heres our gray use here at the country n
i guess you have to really believe this is important to do it
as it takes some effort
thank you my wife she for your persistence in all this

so if you come to visit us and you take a shower youll find
a color coordinating bucket 2 or 5 gallon in the shower
which will fill up as you shower and on yes youll notice the
water flow of the shower is reduced
sorry about that one

that water will be carried outside and left in a spot where i
will later decide where to use it
i dont use it in the veggie garden unless i know it just tap water
which at the country n is rainwater

right now i leave the bucket there for a few days as those damn
grasshoppers for some good reason try to swim in the water
but dont make it
then i pour it in the landscape

after washing dishes in the sink as my wife she didnt want a dish
washer since she had one already-me
the water is scooped out and placed in a five gallon bucket and
placed outside to provide a swimming pool for the hoppers
also i figured they would decompose or compost down to
some nutrients for the soil

usually ill use the rinse water in the veggie garden or inside plants
since its mostly just rainwater

then the washing machine gray water goes to the oak trees as
mentioned before

so when you get your water bill this month and its high from
all the landscape watering think about using your grey water
in the landscape
unless you use bleach then dont use it
we do fine without the bleach
the sun bleaches our clothes as they hang on our outside
clothes line

i expect i if we lived in town my yard would have no grass or
very little grass and i would be doing all this there
including rainwater collection and we would have a low
water bill
which means a low sewage bill also
and yes we would have a hidden clothes line somewhere

so think about using gray water or grey water in your landscape
and be green while your doing it

the organicgreen doctor