doing it again

DOING IT AGAIN
we do it every year
my wife she and i
the funky chicken
no
not the dance
but
the tour one
saturday april 4, 2015 10am-4pm in austin


now we have chickens
and
have had them for 14 years
so
we know a lot about chickens
just
feed them provide water and safety
and
they will give you eggs in return
bug control
and
lots of fertilizer
and
in our case they make our compost for us


heres why we go on the tour
we get to talk to other chicken raisers
of course
these are mostly inside the city
we always learn something new

at the start of this tour
it begins at the sunshine community gardens in central austin
there are it seems over a hundred gardens in there
the day of the tour what i like is that the gardeners are there
working in their gardens
i could do the whole tour just in the gardens
asking each gardener questions and seeing what they
are growing
that experience there is worth the price of admission

but
we do go on the tour
this year they have each of the sites labeled as to whether
they have composting or gardening or rainwater collection
or xeriscaping or a pond
many have all of them

it was a tour two years ago where i learned how to do
my beds in my garden that has greatly increased its
production and decreased the amount of water thats used

i also have gotten a lot of ideas for my yard
xeriscaping
rainwater tank ideas
pond ideas
and
yes the way i make my compost using the chickens as
my composters
i got from this tour

so if you think you want
chickens
a compost pile
rainwater collection
a xeric yard
or a pond
this is the tour for you and your family

if you have kids they will absolutely love this tour

come on and do the dance with all of us
the funky chicken one

the organicgreen doctor

we agree

WE AGREE

after the last basketball game was over with last night
i looked at my brackets to see how well i picked
the final four teams
then
i looked at my wife shes bracket
compared the two

now i consider myself a knowledgeable basketball person
having played it in high school on a good team
having coached youth basketball for several years
having watched my youngest son play basketball
having been a razorback and a longhorn fan
now that seems odd doesnt it
a horn and hog fan combo
i will admit that the hogs were more fun to watch
than the horns this year

then having been a spurs fan for years
yes that organization understands how to do things right
year after year
just plodding along the spurs
but winning year after year

so i watch a lot of basketball
i consider myself as i wrote
quite knowledgeable
maybe
more than my wife she

now i must admit she was along for all my sons games
and
most of the games i coached
so she has watched hundreds of games

so in the first two rounds
i got 24 games right
she got 21 games right

so in the next round
i got 11 right
she got 9 right

now for the final dance
the final four
i got two right
kentucky and wisconsin
she got two right
kentucky and duke

we are agreeing on the final winner though
kentucky

like most other folks

the organicgreen doctor

alzheimers news-a game changer

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-A GAME CHANGER
first a few years ago i had an infant that i cared for that
developed seizures that were difficult to control
imagine having a baby having seizures you cant stop
they tried the usual meds
but they didnt work


a new medicine called keppra had just came on the market
since she was at childrens hospital they used it on her
it worked
after 2 years she tapered off it and has been seizure free since

this drug is now available in its generic form levetiracetam
in a study recently low doses were given of 62.5 mg to 125 mgm
twice a day
for seizure control 500 mgm twice a day is given up to
3000 mgm a day

this low dose was given to patients with
mild cognitive impairment amnestic type
thats my official diagnosis

the results were that their memory tests improved significantly
meaning
that patients with this diagnosis could have their memory
improved with this generic drug

bring it on is what i say

now
the game changer

inside the brain of someone that has alzheimers disease
and
even years before symptoms start
the bad stuff beta amyloid starts to accumulate

it is easily seen on a amyvid pet scan like this one
thats all the red stuff on the scans

now
several companies have developed new drugs
that i call the alzheimers vaccines
using antibodies to capture that bad stuff beta amyloid
in the brain and removing it

there are several large studies going on right now
in patients with positive scans with no symptoms
in patients with the dominant gene
in patients with mild cognitive impairment
in patients with mild alzheimers and moderate alzheimers

a company called biogen has one called aducanumab
it was given to 166 patients in a phase 1 study who had early
alzheimers disease and positive amyloid scans

they were followed up to 41/2 years
the higher the dose used the better the results

the placebo group who received fake stuff
had no decrease in the amyloid on the scans or improvement
on memory tests

the treatment groups especially the higher dose
showed a decrease in the beta amyloid in the brain that was
seen on the brain scans
that correlated with
an improvement in the memory tests

this was significant

what this means is
the alzheimers vaccine seems to work by removing the
bad stuff amyloid
thats seen on scans
and
the patients memory improves noticeably at the same time

this is what we want right

so
the company is skipping phase 2 studies and are going
straight to phase 3 studies on a much larger group of folks

phase 3 is the stage that really proves if it works or not
then if it does it gets fda approval for
treatment of alzheimers disease

if it works
these drugs will be given to folks at high risk for alzheimers
years before the disease shows up as symptoms
slowing down the disease process
or
if we are lucky
preventing it

this folks is a real
game changer

i will be first in line for this one for sure

the organicgreen doctor

country n news

COUNTRY N NEWS
this is the official news source for the country n

today is my wife shes birthday
i know better than to publish which one it is

for her birthday i built these double rustic cedar
screen doors to go over our french doors
the french doors open to our patio
there is usually a prevailing breeze that will come
through these new screen doors into our kitchen
down the hall through a bathroom to a back bed room
then out another set of french doors
it actually feels like your are standing on a bow of a ship
like in the titanic
as the breezes whistle past you
sometimes
i just stand in the hallway
close my eyes
and
imagine it

here is some of the bluebonnets that are growing
all over our property
it seems there are blankets of them everywhere
this may be the most beautiful wildflower bloom
in several years
be prepared to tour the hill country this spring

here i am
at my hands on bee class last sunday
with my smoker
i learned how to get it lit
to smoke the bees to calm them down
it much like starting a fire
so i had no problem getting my inaugural lighting
to start right up
smoked those bees is what i did

i thought you just blew and blew that smoke on them
but really its just sort of a puff puff that you blow on them

i also received my new beehive
a top bar hive
when i put it together ill post a picture
yes like our country n eggs we will share the honey

i also moved a bluebird house to a more wooded area
you know the bluebird got wiped out real bad
a few years ago because of the deforesting we have done
everywhere
and
the poison we have put into our environment
they now are making a comeback everywhere
i can hear their songs some when im out working
but they havent found the new house location yet

also the first purple martin sightings happened this week
so i opened up a few of our martin house doors for them

in the garden i will cover up my tomatoes ive planted
since it will dip closer to freezing here tonight
there will be more of these dips
i know
since ive lost all my tomatoes before by not paying attention
to the weather

after this cold snap
i will plant my peppers egg plant squash cukes beans basil
later when its warmer
i will add my okra

we are harvesting asparagus every day
most of it never makes it to the kitchen

this is the time of the year when i let the grass grow in the
one acre around our house
since i want to let the wildflowers to grow without being
mowed down
im afraid that it will all grow up fairly high
i dont mow it again until the wildflowers have all seeded
usually in june
snakes they gonna be real happy
my wife she not so happy
ok so i mow walking paths for her through the yard
as a compromise

the organicgreen doctor

stays here

STAYS HERE
this is the motto my wife she plans to follow
when our new granddaughter arrives in two weeks

ive thought about grand babies for awhile now
knowing that i may be on borrowed time
but
since ive improved some
and
seem to be sailing along
stable
i feel better about the future

i want to be around for this one and maybe more in the
future
spoiling the heck out of them
letting them play in the dirt
heck let them eat some of it if they want
replace those bacteria with those that farm kids have
since it has been shown that farm kids are healthier
than city kids
getting more fresh air maybe
and
with less contamination in the air and ground out in the country

i want to see dirt under those little finger nails
since
when that happens you just know they are having
a great time

ok ill clean em up before mom sees them

now my rainwater brother told me the other day
when grand kids arrive in your life
life as you know it will never be the same

i sure hope thats true
i can handle that

i want them to have an appreciation of nature
gardening bugs butterflies birds
bees
my bees of course
heck ill suit them up in my bee suit if they want to

i just want them to leave this earth in a better shape
than our generation has

i want them to not care about a persons race
their religion their politics their sexual orientation
but to care about them as a person
and
how to make this world a better place

i dont worry about not seeing them grow up
since im more postitive about the future
heck ive got an excuse right

well i dont remember giving her my cookies to eat
as much as she wants
or
letting her go outside and play in the dirt and the
compost garden and dig in the garden
that dirtll wash off
if not it wont hurt none

so
yes i do look forward to grandfatherhood
worried i was going to miss out on all that

the organicgreen doctor

busted

BUSTED
this weekend i decided to not look at my brackets
for the mens ncaa basketball championship
better known as march madness

i thought i would wait until this morning to assess how
much damage had been done to mine

i had picked iowa state to make it to the final four
busted on that one

i did pick dayton to win the play in game
beat providence
then lose to oklahoma
not busted on that one

i did pick stephen f austin to win their first two games
before getting beat by duke
seems sfa got caught up in the texas lose day
texas baylor smu texas southern and sfa all lost that day
sorry sfa fans


the most exciting fun to watch game
i got tired watching this one
got real short of breath
watching the arkansas vs north carolina game
looked like two 40 minutes of hell teams from years ago

the big 12 lost big on the first day
texas baylor iowa state oklahoma state went out day one
kansas got beat by instate lower major team
wichita state
but oklahoma and west virginia are still there

well i guess the georgia state win over baylor was fun to watch
as the coaches son made the final winning shot
the coach on a stool with a casted leg
fell off onto the floor as the buzzer shot went in


now i wanted harvard to win
which they almost won
they got beat in the final minute
since they dont have scholarships
and
run their sports like colleges should
instead of being professional teams like the rest of them

so in review
i picked 12 of the sweet 16 teams
missing on xavier that baylor messed that one up
missing on nc state thought villanova was a sure thing
missing on utah sfa was my dream cinderella team never considered utah
missing on ucla heck they werent even suppose to be in the tourney

so for my final four teams i still have chances with
kentucky and wisconsin

now
i peeked over at my wife shes bracket
now she picks by the coaches or the uniforms or the name
or stories and sometimes on basketball skill

she missed on 7
whats this texas southern uc irvine buffalo lsu
now she missed on baylor like i did
she even had ucla on hers
wait a minute how did she know that

for her final four she still has three teams left
sorry sweetie but lsu didnt make it to the final four


now we do agree on things sometimes
kentucky the nba team
to be the winner of this years
march madness

confession     my wife she bracket was used without her permission

the organicgreen doctor