will this help curb the losses

WILL THIS CURB THE LOSSES

the life expectancy of white males is dropping
especially in the south
some of that is from obesity and diabetes
the sudden death rate
well its from opiates

opiates are vicodin or hydrocodone oxycontin fentanyl
obtained legally via prescriptions
and
illegally off the streets
also it includes heroin
which is cheaper than the prescription stuff

thus
white folks be dying from this stuff
in maine and new hampshire and well everywhere

is the solution getting rid of heroin and the street narcotics
this stuff has been around a long long time
its still here

now many folks got started legally on this stuff
thanks to the medical community
apparently for susceptible folks it can take 5-30 days
to get hooked

when i ruptured my disk in my back i was given 30 days
of vicodin to take
i took it too since it controlled my pain
but
i can tell you in the back of my brain was this little
opiate devil saying dont get addicted
as soon as i could i got off them

some folks
in those 30 days would have got hooked
its really how their brains got wired

apparently there are lots of nerve pathways in the brain
that get destroyed when some folks use opioids
stopping the opioids leads to an overwhelming desire for
the stuff

so far
theres nothing to use to stop this urge for more
now
methadone replaces the opioids by controlling the dose
naloxone added to pain meds helps also
but
when its stopped
back comes the urge for more
its the urge that doesnt go away

now enter cbd
whats cbd
in marijuana there are two chemicals
thc thats the one that gets you high
cbd thats the one that doesnt get you high
its the one that is used to prevent seizures in those kids
who cant control their seizures any other way

the thc is the component that gives marijuana the symptoms
we all read about

cbd does not

a variation of cbd is about to be approved by the fda for use
in hard to control seizures

now this is important

there will soon be a legal prescription pill for cbd that doctors
can write prescriptions for hard to control seizures

now enter off label use
thats where doctors use drugs for other reasons that what they
are approved for

i did it
all doctors do it
there are a lot of medicines you probably took and your kids took
that were used off label
eg albuterol proventil for asthma wasnt approved for use in folks
under 12 for years
most of my prescriptions for asthma for albuterol were in kids
thats off label use

remember this

last night dr gupta on his cnn report on the use of marijuana
specifically cbd in controlling pain
showed taking cbd decreased or eliminated the use of opioids in folks
who were addicted

remember their brains were changed maybe permanently
something has to be used to cover those receptors
it seems cbd does that
successfully in most cases

you should read this article or watch the cnn video on this
to make your own opinion on this
could this be the answer to our opioid crisis

i suspect most of you who are reading this has used marijuana
in you lifetime
i have
now i havent used cbd by itself yet
but i plan to
why
it appears that cbd may cause the removal of the bad amyloid
from the brain
thats sort of what the infusions i am getting at ucla does
the cbd also acts to decrease the inflammation in the brain also
a big component of the destruction in the brain in alzheimers
i have nothing to lose

i think if i was addicted to narcotics like heroin or other opioids
i would try the cbd program
like with me and my alzheimers disease

they have only one thing to lose if they dont try it
their
lives

the federal government makes it hard to do the research that needs to
be done to show if this really is the answer or not

this transcends your political beliefs
death from opiate overdose doesnt care what your politics are
it affects all of us

i wonder though if this new cbd pill will be used off label
probably

i think ill go buy stock in that cbd  company today

the organicgreen doctor

alzheimers news-taking these increases your risk

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-TAKING THESE INCREASES YOUR RISK

that is according to this article from the british medical journal

acetylcholine is used in the brain nerve cell connection to transport signals
across from cell to cell

if acetylcholine levels drop in these connections
a persons memory will be affected

in alzheimers disease the destruction from beta amyloid and tau
accumulation leads to the brain nerve cells damage and destruction
which leads to a drop in acetycholine
which leads to the short term memory loss you see in alzheimers disease
early on

the drugs like aricept (donepezil) that i have been on for almost
8 years and exelon (rivastigmine) increases the acetylcholine in the
nerve cell connections in the brain so that the nerves fire or work better
leading to an improvement in the alzheimers patients memory

eventually as alzheimers progresses there is so much destruction
in the brain that these meds lose their effects

the earlier in the disease you start these meds the better their effects
eg
i was started much earlier that most folks and its possible that the
aricept (donepezil) may be why i havent deteriorated yet

a couple of years ago a study was published that anticholinergics
which includes allergy antihistamines
increased your risk for developing dementia
this new study showed that these antihistamines many of us take
for allergies may not have that effect

however
those of us who take aricept (donepezil) or exelon (rivastigmine) are told
not to take these allergy meds since they may interfere with
the aricept or exelon by blocking their effects

they do this by interfering with the uptake of the acetylcholine
in those nerve connections
less acetylcholine less nerve firing
means less memory

so i dont take allergy antihistamines for that reason

for those not on aricept or exelon
you non dementia folks
the drugs that affect these acetycholine levels
eg are used for
bladder control or urinary incontinence eg oxybutynin ditropan
parkinsonism eg procyclidine kemadrin
depression eg amitryptylline elavil

long term use of these can lead to a 30% increase in dementia
other things
eg smoking can increase the risk well over 50%
not controlling diabetes and blood pressure and or cholesterol
and or weight and or lack of exercising  and or proper diet
increase the risk dramatically

in fact
a population as shown in european studies who stop smoking
and do all those healthy things may decrease the risk
of developing dementia by 40%

so
like with all meds
you have to way their side effects vs their benefits

the secret
take real good care of your health

i was recently contacted by someone who has short term
memory issues who is about to undergo memory testing
at a large alzheimers research center
i explained what testing was going to be done and
how it would probably feel to do the testing

after listening to their story
the best thing they can do for their memory is not meds
its
controlling their weight diabetes blood pressure cholesterol
improve their diet stop smoking control their cholesterol
fix sleep issues control their depression

uh 20 years ago would have been nice for them to have
done all that
but its never to late to start

the organicgreen doctor

sb country n news-my third garden

SB COUNTRY N NEWS-MY THIRD GARDEN
each thursday morning i load up my milk crate of
organic garden stuff in case i need to use any of them
also i usually will have a bucket of kitchen scraps
that i donate to the school garden where i volunteer
each week
the kids will either dump the scraps into the worm bin
that sits in the garden or into the black composter
that was donated to them by a fellow alzheimers
committee volunteer

each thursday i with the teacher try to think of something
for the kids to do in the garden

since september they have planted several beds of
veggies fighting off varmints who wanted to eat it
well they did eat it all up several times
before thanks to online research i figured how to
put up a pvc wire cage system that keeps them out
the varmints that is

the kids have free range in the garden
they can eat the veggies whenever they want
in fact
it looks pretty eaten down right now
since they love to make kale or chard or lettuce tacos
using onions sweet peas different herbs in their
tacos
all from the garden

i told someone the other day
if you look at the sweet peas you see a lot of blooms
but no peas
the kids eat the peas as soon as they start growing
as i told the teacher
im ok with that

last week this bed had become overran with weeds
i had let them grow since i wasnt sure if they were
something planted before i started volunteering
some were weeds
some were seeded from other plants

the kids were giving the task of removing at least
10 weeds a piece
the weeds were fed to the worms in the worm composter
some of the kids liked weeding so much they just kept
on weeding
they havent read tom sawyer yet

the kids water the garden on thursday using the rainwater
from their rainwater tanks i installed in the fall thanks to
a tank donation and a grant

today we plan to weed another bed
the herb bed thats overran with weeds
and mint
if you plant mint in your garden
you will eventually have only a mint garden
plant them in pots

im speaking from experience

the other half of the garden area is an outside play area
once they do the garden stuff they can go play there

there are no playground slides or swings or bars
just
stuff
like
the limbs trimmed down from a tree out front
the kids hauled them around to the play area
theyve made a large teepee and a see saw
some made fairy traps
i threw a long black flexible drain tube thats 10 ft long
in there
it sometimes operates as a tunnel or funnel or a conduit
or talking piece or whatever they decide to use it for

i had the yard folks dump a large pile of leaves in
the corner
these leaves are used in the compost
to cover up mud
to jump in
to play in

someone found a tree that was cut down
it was cut in segments that stood on end so the kids
could sit on them in a ring

last week
i told the kids that a gopher had dug a deep hole in front
of the rainwater tanks
could they fill it up
well getting real creative
they packed the hole full of dirt
filled the trench up in front of the tanks
then
proceeded to cover up the area with stuff from the yard
so the gopher would not ever get out

creative
thats what this area allows them to be

sort of
like when we grew up
we played with sticks and limbs and cans
and created stuff

if you ask the kids they will say
coming out to the garden and the play area
is the highlight of the week

the organicgreen doctor

we only have one there wont be another

WE ONLY HAVE ONE THERE WONT BE ANOTHER


my historian brother has this saying
take care of your tools

we need a saying about our mother earth
take care of your earth
there wont be another one

on earth day
my wife she and i didnt go to an earth day celebration
we had planned to attend the one here on sunday in
santa barbara
where the earth day event happened that stirred the
earth day celebration in the late 60s

we were invited to a brunch in montecito
but first we did a short hike
up from the house onto a large hill that overlooks
this whole area
looking out over the ocean
then turning 180 degrees to see the mountains and valleys
you can see the beauty of this place
what makes it so special

looking way off into the distance
there they sit
those oil platforms
that were the cause of the event that triggered earth day

as they were drilling there in the late 60s
something went wrong
and
gallons and gallons and gallons of oil spilled out
into the ocean
thanks to winter storms
the oil worked its way to the beaches
they say the oil was so thick you could hardly hear the waves

the wind carried the oil higher onto the beaches further than
usual even for high tide

killing lots of birds fish seals dolphins and other animals
completely devastating the local economy for months
for years

the public outrage sparked the earth day movement

having lived here during the devastating thomas fire
and the following mudslides
seeing the destruction
seeing how devastating it was to the ecomomy

i cant even imagine what it was like after that oil spill here

the beauty we were looking at
the beauty that makes this place paradise
to think it was wiped out that day
for a long long time

i think back to stories my dad use to tell about the ouachita
river in southern arkansas before the oil boom hit in the
early part of the century
story of the fishing and hunting there
that was destroyed once the oil boom kicked in
completely destroying the beauty of the river for generations
lucky now it is recovering almost a century later

i remember a creek near my grandparents house in lawson arkansas
that flowed eventually into that ouachita river
it never ever had fish in it
it was always covered with this oily sheen from the
oil wells up stream
later in life when i went back there years later
the stream was clear
again a generation maybe two later

then i read this morning that the plastic floating in the pacific ocean
is about 620,000 square miles in size
a smart kid came up with an idea on how to harvest the stuff
bringing it back to shore over time for recycling

we cant keep doing this stuff to our earth
it is resilient
but it has its limits im sure

as has been proven for years
we cant wait on industry to take care of our earth for us
we have to make them take care of it

commonly they wait for some disaster like the above before they
are forced to fix things

lets not let them destroy our earth

its interesting that the hunting and fishing groups are some of the
best conservation folks for the earth
they realize like i do that if they dont take care of mother earth
there wont be much to hunt or fish

there may be another earth out there somewhere in that dark
black sky we see at night
but
we aint ever going to get there

lets take care of this one

the organicgreen doctor

it was willies day

IT WAS WILLIES DAY

variety.com

last friday was willies day
4/20
he is so closely linked to this day
that i think he should just make it his official
birthday

looking at him though
i dont think he has many 4/20s left in him

im sure this year as he celebrated the day
he felt different about this one

the fda is about to or may have already approved
a new cbd product for use in folks especially kids
who have hard to control seizures

now cbd stands for cannabidiol
the ingredient in marijuana that doesnt make you high
but it has effects that are becoming important in treating
neurological diseases
like
seizures
anxiety
maybe some use in things like alzheimers disease
parkinsonism als ms
there is a lot of research going on with these diseases
and cbd

now old willie
he is a walking lifetime experiment of how this stuff
controls anxiety
that boy he aint anxious or uptight at all
proof
the cbd works
they dont need a better experiment than this

the new cbd drug is called epidiolex   
its an extract from marijuana
thats purified
then patented
so they get all the money for selling it
it went through the research and fda approval process

it apparently works
in controlling those childhood seizures that nothing else
will control

if you dont like this being approved
please crawl back under your rock

its a life changer for parents who have to watch their
kids have those seizures

one problem is
a month of the stuff will cost them or the insurance company
or whoever pays for it
a lot of money

$2500-5000 a month for the drug

i see folks figuring out ways around this
like
in states like california and colorado
i see folks figuring out in the medicinal clinics
how to get the cbd at a cheaper price

this stuff will cost more than my aducanumab for alzheimers
durg if it makes it to the market

somehow
this doesnt seem right to me

another thing willie will be happy about is the fact that
california now has legal marijuana in the state
in fact
willie will be selling his own brand here soon

the local cities the local counties the states
are excited for the increase in revenues
now
the feds should be excited also
since folks who grow market transport sell the stuff are all going
to make more money
pay income taxes
even investing folks and banks are starting to handle the money
and
yes they will make money they will be paying taxes
a lot of them

this is all money that before the legalization was not being
paid in taxes
millions and millions of dollars

a $50 purchase of marijuana will cost $61.93
thats $11.93 of taxes
like
7.75% local state and local sales tax
15% state excise tax
$1.15 state cultivation tax

thats all money that goes to taxes that werent paid before
you paid your dealer the 50 bucks
he paid no taxes on it
he paid no income taxes
all lost revenue

plus
some dispensary owners make over a million a year
paying state income taxes at about 6%
paying federal income taxes at about 30%+-

someone is making a killing off this
it seems to be the government is doing quite well for itself

so
i know willie celebrated on friday last week
4/20
hes stoked for sure

i will add
i know a lot of folks who use this stuff for medical reasons
like
anxiety chronic pain chemo side effects sleep nausea
appetite improvement neurological diseases like
ms als alzheimers parkinsonism seizures
just to name a few

yep
its time we all get on willies team
there is good to be had in all this

the organicgreen doctor

alzheimers news-the answer to your question is

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION IS

well
its according to what the definition of is is

the most common question i get asked about alzheimers is
i get asked at least once a week is

should i get tested

this last week a former nurse stopped me
you know my mom died from alzheimers disease
im worried i will get it too

i knew what was coming out of her mouth next

should i get tested

first
ill answer this for this date 4/20/18
an important date each year

soon
though the question will be answered differently

so
on this day
should you get tested

if you are having memory issues you should go to your doctor
make an appointment only for memory issues
make a list of what you have noticed
dont let them ignore your complaints
dont bring up other health issues just the memory problems

you should be given a history and exam looking for causes
this history and exam may find the source of memory issues
like poor control of health things like blood pressure diabetes
sleep issues mental issues medications cholesterol etc

you should have a memory test
the clock test or the mini cog test are not good enough
i recommend trumps test he took the moca test
please dont take it online as if you are exposed to it too much
its not as accurate

if you flunk the moca test you should have a neuropsychological exam

you should have lab tests
cbc blood count   metabolic profile   thyroid level
maybe a vit b12 and vit d3 levels

then based on these results
you may need an mri
looking for brain shrinkage and or strokes and or masses etc

you may get your answer when all this is done

in private offices thats the workup thats done

now some doctors will do more
but insurance doesnt pay for them

genetic tests for apoe 4 status and early onset alzheimers genes
spinal fluid analysis for beta amyloid and tau proteins
amyvid pet scan for beta amyloid

if you have or are going to have alzheimers disease
those last two tests will be positive

most folks dont go this far
the noncovered tests cost close to $10,000

i have had them done
i know the answer to the question
do i have it
i do

now 8 years ago those spinal fluid tests and amyvid scan
were not usually done in the private doctors office
they were done mostly in research settings
like in the adni 2 study i did
its the study that actually led to my diagnosis

now its common for private doctors to do these tests
if the patient wants to pay for them

now
in the research world only
how and when you make the diagnosis of alzheimers disease
is about to change

in the research world
the diagnosis of alzheimers disease will not be based
on symptoms like memory loss
yes
thats right
i repeat
the diagnosis of alzheimers disease will not be based
on symptoms like memory loss

it will be done by diagnostic testing
genetic tests
spinal fluid analysis
amyvid pet scans for amyloid
tau protein pet scans for tau

thats how it will be diagnosed

think about this
its not based on memory issues

so
lets say when i was 55 years old
i would go to the doctor
should i be tested to see if i have it
yes
why
strong real strong family history of alzheimers disease

so
beside a history and exam
they would do the labs
then
draw blood for genetic tests
mine would be positive for apoe 4 apoe 4 gene the late onset gene
a spinal tap for amyloid and tau would be done
my levels would be starting to become abnormal
an amyvid pet scan would be done
it would be positive for amyloid plaques
a tau pet scan would be done
it would be positive most likely

now at 55 years old i had no memory issues
in fact at 58 years old i had memory screening for my long term care
similar to the moca test that was normal

my diagnosis at 55 years old
based on these 4 diagnostic tests
would be
alzheimers disease

now this is in the research world
what happens there eventually gets into the private medical world

its explained this is like coronary artery disease early on
its not based on symptoms like chest pain or heart attack
its based on diagnostic testing like cholesterol stress testing
heart ct scans
you can be told you have coronary artery disease before symptoms
start

so
it will be with alzheimers disease

ive had all my tests done
so
i know my diagnosis

what this means is
many of you reading this right now have alzheimers disease
that could be diagnosed before symptoms start

unlike coronary artery disease
which can be treated
alzheimers disease cant be treated yet
yet
but the thinking is
within 10 years there will be treatment
so then
you want to know as soon as you can that you have it
so you can start treatment

so
nurse i met
this is the reason i hesitated to answer that question

should i be tested


a new research study using these tests is available across the us
its the 3rd one of the adni studies
i did the adni 2
its called the
adni 3 study
you can click on the link for more information

you can also go to clinicaltrials.gov or to trial match at www.alz.org
to find more information on research studies

the lack of research volunteers is the biggest obstacle to doing
alzheimers research
to find a cure for this awful disease

do your part
i am

the organicgreen doctor

youll be missed ms b

YOULL BE MISSED MS B
no not my granddaughter ms b
ms b the former first lady
barbara bush
the grey headed one
that when you saw her in a crowd you could spot her
because of that silver hair


dallasnews.com
nice article on her final decision

i always noticed her eyes
they being easily identified in someone who has
had graves disease
thats where the body gets tricked into overproducing
thyroid hormone
the eyes look that wide open look since the antibodies
cause inflammation and swelling around the eyes
causing them to have that wide eyed look
even when its treated

i dont know that the disease ever caused her long term problems
must not since she lived to be 92
its easily controlled with radioactive ablation of the thyroid
or surgical removal of the thyroid or with use of medication
to slow the overproduction down to normal
i see no scar on her neck so she probably had one of the other two
methods

i always liked her
i didnt always like or agree with her husband or son
but her
i liked and respected a lot

she was witty
she was a strong willed person from what i can tell from reading
about her
she was nice to people unless they attacked her family
i dont think she liked trump much

this week as i lay on the bed getting my infusion at ucla
i have two hours downtime
so
i sat and filled out my living will using the 5 wishes booklet
i read through all the options of what you want to have done
when your time comes

you can have them go all out
with all that modern medicine stuff to save you
but
the end result will be the same
maybe not sooner with all that help

i chose
like ms bush
to say when its time
its time

she made that decision
not someone else

she said
i lived a good one
im ready
its time
she went her way

thats how she lived her life
may
she rest in peace

the organicgreen doctor

did you pay too much tax

DID YOU PAY TOO MUCH TAX

this is the first year that i have done our taxes myself
in almost 30 years
while in practice my taxes were always too complicated
when we moved to the country that were a lot of tax
deductions for the property that were just too complicated
for me to do
after i had to retire in 2010 and i was no longer associated
with the clinic my taxes gradually got less and less complicated

when we sold our country n last year
all those deductions from the property went away

now with the new law we really dont have enough
deductions to claim that would exceed the exemption
that is new and higher

so i decided to do them myself this year

it also for me was a test of my cognition
i decided if i could do my taxes
both the federal and state ones
then i was in good standing with my memory

the federal tax form was easy breezy
i zoomed right through all that

however
since i moved into the state in august
the form the long one i had to do for california taxes
well that one did test my memory and cognitive
abilities an awful lot
but
i manged to do it after several attempts
i had a sense of accomplishment when i finished
plus
i feel good about my status now with my brain

8 years ago if you told me i was going to be able to
do these taxes
i would have said no way
i was expecting to not to be able to do these things
by now

i also used a hr block program where i estimated my
taxes for 2018 based on our present financial situation

when i saw what we would owe next year
i got to wondering
what difference in folks paychecks did this new tax law really
make in peoples checks in 2018

here is the link to the article where i go these numbers

i picked several occupations of folks i know that read this blog
then i listed their wages
im not sure where these wages came from
this one below is definitely not from oklahoma
eg
the schoolteachers wage was 60k
the increased two week paycheck was $64,69
or
$1682.94 per year
a 2.8% increase in pay

the paycheck increases were from paying less taxes
these are for a single person non homeowner getting paid every
2 weeks
so thats 26 paychecks a year

so its
annual salary
every two week savings
annual savings
% increase in check

waitperson
25k
$12.94
$335.34
1.3%

clerk
22 k
$9,76
$253.76
1.2%

pharmacist
120k
$133.50
$3471
2.9%

construction worker
38k
$28.50
$741
1.9%

electrician
57k
$59.17
$1538.42
2.6%

firefighter
51k
$51.50
$1339
2.6%

family doctor
200k
$161.08
$4188.08
2.1%

oh my
that would have been a good saving in taxes for me
if i was still in practice

something doesnt see right about all this
as i look at this
i think of all of the tax cuts that were given
where did it all go
it doesnt seem to have gone much to any of these folks in this article
or
to many of you who read this blog
unless they were on the higher end of the salaries

why do the lower wages get less of a % increase

i think its that 1% group thing again
their tax savings numbers are well obscene

we need to remember that these increased incomes we are
all getting from the tax cuts
well its coming off the backs of our kids and our future generations
they will be paying for them

the organicgreen doctor

my favorite color is blue

MY FAVORITE COLOR IS BLUE

as she was setting up all her stuff on the bedside table
to draw my blood and start my iv for my
#15 infusion for the aducanumab study at ucla
i noticed the blue wrap thats used to wrap the arm
after the iv is in place

sometimes its purple
i always think how appropriate since this is an
alzheimers study
purple being the color for the alzheimers association

sometimes its red
not my favorite color
but
it would be ok to use since its my wife shes favorite color

but me
its always been blue
i guess cuz thats my eye color

i noticed they never have burnt orange color at ucla
in texas they had the green color
i guess for baylor

the blue
thats ucla blue
ive never been a ucla fan
but i dont dislike them
maybe cuz their color is blue

so
blue
im ok with it
ive noticed that when i have a blue wrap
i just feel better afterwards
they have you leave it on for awhile after
the infusion
to apply pressure to the puncture site
ok
yesterday
they needed extra pressure when they removed the iv
i was ok
since the extra wrap was that pretty blue color
thats my favorite

its so pretty i really dont want to remove it
maybe i could keep it on as one of those forearm
bracelet things

the blue color made me think a lot yesterday
maybe because the nurse i had asked me a lot
of questions
well i asked her a lot also

i realize i have 5 more left before i finish this study
its then that all the info gets analyzed
it will be a year or two before we know if this stuff
works
or
doesnt work

in october i will elect to continue the infusions for at least
another 2+ years
in this long term extension of the aducanumab study
all of us will get the real drug
there will be no one on the placebo

so
my favorite color is blue
it sort of brightens my day
yesterday and today as i look down at my wrapped arm

i dont feel blue
i feel hopeful

yesterday i drove by myself to my infusion
and
drove home all the way
a 90 + mile trip each way
i noticed while driving  i seemed to pay more attention
to details of the surrounding terrain buildings etc
maybe
its the burst of infusion i got yesterday
making me more alert
more aware of things

somehow i feel different today

it must be the blue wrap

the organicgreen doctor

sb country n news-my gardens

SB COUNTRY N NEWS-MY THREE GARDENS
i garden in three places now here in sb

the first is our front patio or porch as we call it
in the south

i started out putting a lot of stuff on the porch
but now have whittled plants down to

some herbs
lavender rosemary basil thyme mint oregano

a jalapeno pepper which we use fresh in margaritas
and in cooking
a dinosaur kale
a sweet 100 tomato

a citrus called dwarf satsuma

ive moved everything else to my garden at the community
garden where i have my two plots

at the community garden it was so great to be able to grow
things in the winter and not have to worry about things freezing

i still have some dinosaur kale and curly leaf kale
and beets and sweet peas and carrots and onions and garlic
and lettuce and a strawberry

looking out how well things did this last winter here
i plan to plant more broccoli and more cabbage next winter
i didnt plant cabbage this year since i was limited on space
but now with my two plots i plan on adding those

i will grow the sweet peas again since ms b and my wife she
love to pick and eat them
the lettuce and arugula and spinach and bok choi all do well
here so i will do a better job of doing serial planting of those
using the cut and go method of harvesting
the beets and the carrots can almost be planted all year here

i had a strawberry that was being thrown away by another
gardener so i just stuck it in the ground
it has done well so i plan on planting more of those
plus ms b loves them also

since i got my second plot i amended the soil
well with compost and organic fertilizer and liquid
molasses
as it warms up i will add a thick layer of pine straw on the
beds if the weather gets hot like it did last summer
hot doesnt mean like hotter than hell texas
but
we did have a lot of 90+ days and a few over 100 degree days

the climate here is mediterannean
in austin the average rainfall is 35+- inches a year
here the average rainfall is 13+- inches a year
with it being more -inches in the last few years
as there has been a drought here for several years also

so the veggies that i grew at the texas country n
are about what i can grow here
so i planted

10 tomatoes
almost the same i planted in texas
sweet 100s celebrity early girl black krim brandywine
a black heirloom cherry tomato a mexican heirloom cherry
and a russian one
i know trump will like that one

3 peppers bell jalapeno poblano
bush and pole green beans
basil
malabar spinach

zucchini squash which was hard to grow in texas because of
the squash vine borer
enough that i quit growing them
okra
japanese egg plant
armenian cucumbers
cantelope
ms bs big pumpkin

christmas lima beans
purple hull peas they grew well here last summer
a few leeks that were given to me by another gardener

my one garden plot butts up to the work area for the garden
so i put up a rustic looking structure from ole poles and
twine to remind folks there was a garden bed there
on the structure i planted my pole beans
and my malabar spinach

i also planted some cover crops oats and hairy vetch and some
unknown bean and some unknown pea
folks can crush those and i dont care if they do

in those white pots in front of the beds i planted rosemary
lavender and borage since they would grow too big if
planted in the ground

i try to water at least once a week real deeply only by hand
i dont use a drip system
it makes me come by frequently to keep an eye on the garden
when i plant new transplants or seeds i come by daily to water

as it gets warmer or hotter i change that to twice a week
half of the stuff is watered via buried black 10 inch pots
with holes in the bottom
this provides water deep into the soil so the plants can run
their roots deep also
this allows me to water less often
then
i have a 1 foot trench around both beds and crosswise through
the beds that is filled with mulch
this provides a large moisture holding capacity for the garden

this year i planted a russian tomato ive never heard of
into this trench to see how it will do since
the mulch i put there last summer has decomposed a lot

i also separated a 4 ft square section of my new bed
for ms b
she planted with my help all her stuff
she likes sun gold the yellow cherry tomato
juliette a pear shaped cherry tomato
french green beans
later we will plant carrots when the tomatoes
and beans get larger and provides some shady areas

i also set up her a little bench and she has her
garden tools and her purple watering can there also

the central part of the community garden has a kids section
and a large section for growing food for local food kitchens
a large food harvest including ms bs chicken eggs
are made each week

they really arent hers but she thinks they are

i volunteer to work in this section one half day a week

eg
i built this structure in the kids section using old mulberry
limbs so the foot long green beans can grow up them
the kids apparently love the long long green beans

recently i planted a long bed of basil on either side
of a long bed of tomatilloes

we also have 8 bins of compost that we maintain
each gardener has access to this compost

so these are two of my gardens
my front porch garden
the community garden

the other is the school garden i will write about later

the organicgreen doctor

alzheimers news-can they fix it

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-CAN THEY FIX IT

new atlas.com

we all have an apoe gene
its either apoe 2
its the lucky one is what i call it
it tends to protect you against alzheimers

it could be apoe 3
you may get alzheimers but it may be a mild case
whatever a mild case of alzheimers means

or
it could be apoe 4
apoe 4 is known as the late onset alzheimers gene
if you get one apoe 4 you risk increases over 5 x youll get alzheimers
if you get two of them your risk increases over 15-20 x

we all have two apoe genes
the possibilities are

apoe 2 apoe 2
apoe 3 apoe 2
apoe 4 apoe 2

apoe 3 apoe 3
apoe 3 apoe 4

apoe 4 apoe4

the best one is apoe 2 apoe 2

the worst one is apoe 4 apoe 4
less than 5% of us have this one

around 25% of you have the single gene apoe 4
apoe 4 apoe 2 or apoe 4 apoe3

here is a link to a recent research study where researchers
in the lab in growing human brain cells
were able to alter the apoe 4 protein so that it became
an apoe 3 protein which would carry with it the decreased
risk of getting alzheimers disease if it could be done in
human brains

they used a chemical on these brain cells programmed to make apoe 4
apoe 4 has a deformed protein that causes the bad beta amyloid
to accumulate in the brain cells causing them to die
the apoe 3 protein does not

this chemical changed the apoe 4 protein into an apoe 3 protein
since they differ only at one tiny location
this new apoe 3 protein works more normal in the brain

now
researchers are working to develop a chemical that could be
given to patients to change the apoe 4 protein to apoe 3 protein
which decreases remarkably the risk of developing
alzheimers disease

all i can say is
im game
they can give this new stuff to me when it comes along
i got first dibs

the organicgreen doctor

facebooking

FACEBOOKING

wikepedia.com

when i was in practice i never was on facebook
but when i retired
i realized it was a good way to stay in contact
with former patients and friends
not having to worry about medicolegal issues anymore

it was nice to keep up with a lot of the families i had
cared for over the years
some for up to 20 years or so

i also had started writing this blog earlier in the year
before i had to retire
once i retired i used facebook as a way to promote my blog
setting up a facebook blog page
so folks could follow me on facebook and or follow my
facebook blog page

it boosted my readership of my blog so that today
over half of the readers of my blog are someway
connected via facebook

the other half gets my blog via email feeds direct emails
tweeter or other feeds or just by going to it directly

so facebook is 50% of my readership

so
i can see the effect facebook can have on a topic
so
if i write on a topic that stimulates facebook interest
via sharing of the blog liking it etc
you can see the effect it has on that days readership

once
facebook sent me a coupon for $10 to use on facebook
they for $10 send it to folks not on my friends list
or not linked to my facebook blog page
it went out to several thousand folks
i could see the effect it had on my readership that day

those unsuspecting folks
got my blog on their feeds
they clicked on it
i got a reader for the day

but
i never did it again
it sort of felt creepy to do that

after reading all this facebook stuff thats going on
i thought
mine just went out to a few thousand
theirs went out to millions
even stealing all that information on each individual persons data

now
i thought to myself
thats creepy

another time
i was using a counter on my blog that would tell me when
folks looked at my blog
to get a real time look at how well it was doing
the problem was that it gave me feedback on all those folks
like who they were and where in what city they lived
it also felt creepy
even though it was a free service
i discontinued using it
since it just didnt feel right

so
i decided to let my blog grow on its on
without the use of these data and internet tools
relying mostly on word of mouth and sharing to make
it grow

i feel better about it

the organicgreen doctor

death is calling

DEATH IS CALLING

wikipedia

we all know what the grim reaper is
when it comes calling
well
you are done for

recently when a friend was visiting from texas
he showed us a posting from his son
who had just started some raised beds for his
first ever veggie garden

he decided to use water troughs filled with good garden soil
and drilled holes in the bottom for drainage

now ive used these metal troughs for my gardens
at the country n
in fact
this one shows up on pinterest all the time
i get notified when its used
sometimes i even find it when i look at garden
stories on raised beds or keyhole gardens

so
in his list of plants
like the standard tomatoes and peppers
he has listed a pepper called

the carolina reaper

i thought to myself
now the grim reaper is a bad thing to have calling on you

i suspect the carolina reaper
could be the second cousin once removed
of the grim reaper

i think i would die if i ate it

you see
i love peppers
but
i eat bell peppers and sweet banana peppers
and poblano peppers
they are on the other low real low side of the
scoville scale for hotness

for my hot pepper
i have chosen the tam jalapeno
tam stands for texas a&m
its a mild pepper with a low scoville reading
like their football team :)

i can eat it
feel a little warmth
just enough to make you feel warm
both inside and outside
just right for me
but
this carolina reaper pepper
i dont know about this one

i worry cause this guy has a young child with one on the way
so
ive suggested to him that he get these things before he eats
his first one
long term disability
a big ole life insurance policy
long term care insurance
a real good health insurance policy
a couple of gallons of fresh whole milk real cold
a quart or two of orange juice
real orange juice not the fake stuff
organic would be good

apparently orange juice or citrus acid is better to
make your tongue and stomach quit burning
plus usually you only vomit the milk not the citrus acid

his family are always doing crazy things
like tricks on each other
i can see them having a hot pepper eating contest
for their family reunion
it would be sad to see a family lose two generations
at one setting

so i read about this guy who got carolina reaped
2 million scoville units worth
habenero only has 500,000
he vomited a lot
he weeped a lot
he had a lot of pain
he burned his mouth and his stomach
it was like a burning lump of coal
then it got these god awful worse than migraine headaches
called thunderclap headaches
the kind folks get right before a blood vessel ruptures in
the brain

i sincerely hope my friends son reads this today
before that garden of his produces that first pepper

i can think of better ways to leave this earth
getting reaped by a carolina reaper is not one of them

jalapeno dip anyone

the organicgreen doctor

new words

NEW WORDS

every year new words get formed
we my wife she and i notice new words just pop into
our use

the latest one we learned when friends were visiting
recently
i asked what does that mean
they said
just gts it
gts it
what do you mean gts
you know
google that stuff

so
my wife she and i
well especially her
says to me when i ask what that means
she says
gts it
with a smirk i might add

so
i looked at this website that listed words that were new
by the year they were introduced
you know
like
google it

i remember when i first heard that on my garden show
i heard the gardener guru say
just have them google it
so
i went to see what google meant
but
there was no google to google it
to see what it meant

we have come a long way havent we
why
just yesterday our screen door on our condo
wouldnt close good
so
i just googled how to adjust a screen door that wont close
there was a picture and explanation
on how to do it

that google
best word ever developed
besides
maybe
amazon

where did you get that
oh i amazoned it yesterday
it was on my porch when i got up this morning

heck
i wanted this particular liquid fertilizer i used in texas
since i couldnt find it here
so
i amazoned it
yep
it was on our steps the next day
how do that do that i asked someone last night

ok
google it they said

merriam webster dictionary folks have a site
you can type in the year to see what words
were developed that year
so
i picked out
the year i was born 1950
the year i graduated from high school 1968
the last year listed 2016

here are some examples

in 2016
there was just one word
utility token whatever that is

in 1950
action figure antimatter baby oil beautiful people
boobaby cardiac arrest charge card dwi dry wall
fold out mccarthyism pap smear shopping mall
sweat equity tank top
wonder what words they used for these things
before 1950

in 1968
alt key blind carbon copy better known now as bcc
car seat correction fluid chairbroil do rag m16
peace sign peace symbol talk radio travelers diarrhea
yippie

so i would say the most important word that has
come around since 1950
google
google it
gts it

ok ill add amazon

these have changed things  a lot
ok
ill add
facebook
smartphones

the organicgreen doctor