#1. Seven hours after the arrival at this Run location, you will still be able to ‘smell’ the sour aroma from the Beer Making going on at this Run.  And yes, you have been gone from there for over five hours.

(I just opened a canister of Maxwell House INTENSE Blend Coffee and smelled it a while, to remove the SOUR STENCH from my nose hairs).

#2. I learned it feels good to almost cry with JOY when you cross the finish line, look at the results on you FitBit smart watch, and realize you have just beat your previous record by FOUR MINUTES!

#3. I learned while celebrating my new CONQUEST, and feeling like a marauding, wet, victorious BEAST OF THE JUNGLE, my wife, is still going to ‘roll her eyes’, shake her head, smile and think that ‘little boy’ she is married to is ….. so cute….

and that is ok.

Because I am cute.

But I am still a marauding, wet, victorious BEAST of the JUNGLE!

#4. People are so nice at these Run events.

They are nice to you while you run with them

The folks who stand on the sidelines clap, whistle, and cheer you as you go by are nice …. they even wave signs that say !RUN LIKE YOU STOLE SOMETHING!, or ?YOU PAID MONEY TO DO THIS?? and GET A PLASTIC MEDAL?  … they are nice to you …

…so far, the people I have met who are runners are so different….so …. nice.

#5. People in the RUN, pushing buggies with either babies, or doggies, are always smiling and passing me.

What the HECK is that about?  Ok, the Mommies are not smiling if the babies poopie diaper needs changing, but that is rare…. really rare.

#6. There is always a runner who is at the front of the group as they sound the ‘Start’ Gun, or Horn (for the Snow Flakes), who is unknown to any locals, and will run like the Flash, take first place, their Medal, drink the free Beer, and will be gone before I get back to visit with them to see if they can even understand my language of ‘TEXAN’.

Is this what they do every weekend?

#7. All the ‘experienced’ runners have to do is LOOK at me, and they know I am a RUNNING VIRGIN.

Well, that was true UNTIL,  I ‘PIMPED MY RIDE’ with this Bad As_ Collection of OFFICIAL CLUB THREADS I hoist now! YEAH ‘fly the Colors’ of THE MISSING CHINS RUN CLUB testifying like dRock Star I’m THE ONLY John Wayne left in this town! Save a HORSE BAD BOY. RIDE YO RUNNING LEGS kinda thang I’m saying now…. T-Shirt….

I can swag past ‘enlightened’ runners, count to three, take a quick look over my shoulder, and the astonished ones are open mouthed, leaning forward for a better look, and it is not uncommon that a few in the group are looking for a camera, others are drawing back in shock, and they are all saying the same thing….. “… there goes a CHIN!…”.

 Yep, just Eat Plants, and Run Miles.

Yea Ricky Bobby, that just happened.

Your welcome.

#8. Repeat #1.  The ‘aroma’ of soured, rotting stuff is still in my nose.  I am glad Beer does not taste like that smells during manufacturing.

#9.  Always, and I repeat, ALWAYS make an honest attempt to ‘potty’ during the last ten minutes before the Gun, or Horn(Snowflakes).

#10.  Be sure the Porta Pots are relatively close to the starting line.

#10A.  It is not a bad idea to keep a ‘sufficent’ amount of Tissue Paper in your pocket.

#11.  Be sure you always remember to tie your shorts securely after #9.and #10, and 10A.

#12. Do not attempt to appear to be a SUPERSTAR, or STRIPPER when you are doing your warm up stretching.

Just stop it.  There are Grandpas and Grandmas out there, as well as children.

Please.

Either that, or I am going to have to start carrying Dollar Bills in my pocket ….

(If ‘squirrels’ can distract me easily, imagine what a ….. well, you know….)

#13.  You should consider buying a camera with a telephoto lens.

This is not on the list of the  ‘Top Five Items to Buy”, but definitely makes the ‘Top Ten’.

#14. I learned your Support Team is not going to stand in the rain, nor suffer much cold wind to take pictures, hand you water, hold your Hoodie, ‘fix’ your Pony Tail, nor take pictures of you crossing the FINISH LINE…

In fact, Elton never leaves the Car anyway…

#15.  I learned you will begin a collection of interesting items given to you for entering the Runs…

#16. You still have ‘Favorite T-Shirts’ (Other than THE CHINS….)

 (Run Your Jurassic Off!  That is funny!)

#17.  I learned I had an Angel that ran with me yesterday

I don’t know how else to explain it… It was not 110 degrees out there today, so I wasn’t hallucinating …

I guess she was my pacer.

After a mile into the run, the Leaders already passing me going back to the Finish Line.  That doesn’t bother me.  I try to remember to run MY RACE.  Those runners doing near a 5 minute mile don’t bother me.  Good for them!

It was about this time I began to notice a little girl dressed like a …. flower?  Her outfit was very … happy!  It is not unusual to see little girls dressed like that.

She appeared to be with a group of women in front of my pace.  They were running and then walking, then repeating the same over and over.  They too were having FUN!  And staying ahead of me while intermittently walking…

The little girl would pass them, stay with them and then fall behind me, and sometime run at my side, then repeat the routine.

I paid little attention.

At the half way point, while not breaking my stride, I took a drink, disposed the cup in the provided trash can, removed my Hoodie, and secured it around my waist, and thought about the remainder of the run. I felt I had good strength in my legs.

Breathing has NEVER been a problem for me since the Triple By Pass seems to have been an abnormally SUCCESSFUL procedure, and neither has breathing been a problem since I have started running.

I can take deep, deep breaths, and never fear the ‘smokers reflexive cough’ that always used to accompany an attempt to take a deep breath….

While I noticed the path ahead seemed to appear all uphill (which is confusing since I remembered it being UPHILL when I was going the other direction….)…. there was the little girl…. pacing me… and every few seconds she would turn and just stare into my eyes.

I have a habit, that if someone makes eye contact with me, I try to stare back and make them break contact… not me….

Honestly, I am not sure who won those staring contest between her and I…. I mean, we were running on some Farm to Market Road that was not in the ‘best’ condition…. we had to check the steps ahead for safety reasons…

After a few moments of nothing said, just the stares, she pulled ahead really fast.

It was at this time I noticed the group I perceived she was with, was not there.

She stayed ahead for a while, then she stopped, turned and then ran behind me a bit, and I thought she was going back to be with her people….

But I found, ‘they’ were were not back there either …. I am not sure where they went.

So in a moment she came to my right side, and paced me for a few minutes.  We would look at each other, look at the road, and run.

There was the repeating of the running out front, running behind, running along side for quite some time.

There were still people heading out, as well as the many that had passed me and had already finished the run and were drinking their free beer.

I passed one Distinguished Gentleman who inquired of my thoughts on the seemingly confusing situation of the path going Up while Going AND Coming.

Neither of us decided a better solution other than a fellow named Murphy S. Law had been the designer for the State, and this foolishly built the road that went up hill, in both directions.

Government, what can you say about it?

And my little flowered pacer was still running with me, before me, then behind me…. looking into my eyes as we ran.

I never saw her actually speak with anyone during the run.

I also do not remember her disappearing.

Going uphill, still, on the last left turn, then the last right turn, I could see the finish gate, hear the music, and smell the Brewery.

After reading the life of Ultra Marathon Champion Scott Jurek, I try to finish strong, and as quietly as possible.

Today’s FitBit report shows I peaked a pace in the last yards under a 10 minute mile.

As I went under the Finish Line, and the Chip I wore in my Bib Number registered the Official Chip Time, I looked at me report on my wrist, and ‘Danced A JIG of JoY’!

I still wipe tears remembering that feeling.

I do not plan to forget, nor lose that Joy.

But after the emotion settled back down to a warm ‘GLOW’, I suddenly remembered my Little Pacer all dressed like a Flower…..

When did she fly past me ?  Did she drop back and return to the group she was with?  She was too young to be out there alone?

Or was she?

I don’t know.

I guess it doesn’t matter.

So I had my first ‘Pacer’.

I am grateful for her being with me.

As I neared the last yards, I do remember two thoughts I had….the first was “I have to get a picture of this Little Girl”, and the second was, “I have to ‘leave nothing on the table’  and I knew I would run as hard as possible through the Finish Line.

So with my ‘camera’ in hand, and my decision to give all I had to the Finish… I sat off…. and there was one last disappointment that I had waited too long to take her picture.

Then I ran with all I had.

As I am typing this morning, all I have left of her, is ‘those eyes’, and the memory of that CraZY Flower Outfit she wore.

I know, that will be enough.

Learning, is good.

oldmanskinandbones.com

( The ‘Featured Image’ is a Mango Tree that sprouted in our Compost Barrel last year….. much to our surprise.  I believe there are ‘surprises’ everywhere for us.  I believe they are in many places waiting to please us with their discovery.  Magic is everywhere.)

I live in the hope that ‘ah ha” moments will always visit my life and bless the ‘ever loving daylights’ out of me, or knock some sense into my thinking.

Today has been one of those days.

I have many people to thank for that …

As I have boasted a few times in the last weeks, I am now a member of a ‘Secret Group’ on FB and am quite honored to wear a T-Shirt and Cap with these fellows who were former SAD Fatties, dying slowly and Obese….who, now are eating Plants and getting off the sofa, and in some cases walking around the block, while others are RUNNING multiple Ultra Marathons (those are events where you pay a lot of money to enter, and run till your toenails tear themselves off your feet, and run as far away from you as possible to end their suffering… or so I hear…)

I have been eating Plants for almost three years now, and just a few months ago started working out, and in January this year (2018), RUNNING!

Yeah! A 63 year old lazy guy who has not broke a sweat working out since the end of High School Football in 1972….WAIT! there were those years in College playing Full Contact Flag Football during four years of College…. 1978-1982….

Yeah, I played College Football on a undefeated Team ( we DO NOT count that mistake with Dallas Baptist Seminary and their Super Bowl wearing Super Stars)

Ok, so this morning one of the Running Club Guys was lamenting the pain and sorry he felt for friends and family members who, even some at the advice of their Doctors, were on the KETO DIET to lose weight…. (To a follower of Whole Food Plant Based Life Style  [ as I] , KETO is no different than Atkins to lose weight and ONLY a little better than CHEMOTHERAPY for weight loss….) (( and it is SO cruel and senseless for the animals that are slaughtered to provide animal products for greed, meanness, and pollution))

One of the other Members of the Group simply stated the following statement….

“Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.” 

I thought that was the most profound statement of truth I had ever heard.

In reference to the guys in the Running Group…. or ANYONE ANYWHERE!!

So I could not forget about it, and I looked it up on the internet….

The first result came back saying it was from a person named ANNE LAMOTT.

I am going to buy some of her books!

MY GOSH!  Just click on the link to see some of her quotes!!

ANNE LAMOTT> QUOTES

I checked on my audio book dealer, and they have eleven of her publications….

OMG !!

So far, out of the dozens of quotes I have seen just on page one of the link I provided above, this is my 2nd most favorite….

“Forgiveness is giving up all hope of having had a better past.”

Here is my 3rd favorite…. so far ….

“I thought such awful thoughts that I cannot even say them out loud because they would make Jesus want to drink gin straight out of the cat dish.” 

The implications are teeming with significance for me….

Anyway, I am buying some of her work….

OMG, I am so excited!

oldmanskinandbones.com

PS: I am going to try and remember to be SHINNING ……..

I prefer the discounted bananas because they are sweeter, and cheaper.

That is how I roll …

 And yes, I peal the bananas from the top, not the part next to the stem…. and all the peal goes to the Compost Pile.  That is how I roll.

Slice them so they will fit into the Food Processor easier, or they can be snatched for a quick snack after they are frozen…  Yep…. that is how I roll …

Not all these will make it to the NICE CREAM …

 Here are the ingredients…

Shredded UNSWEETENED Coconut on top of the Frozen Bananas in the Food Processor.  A dash of Almond Milk, a dash of Vanilla Extract, 3 table spoons of Cocoa Powder, and 3 table spoons of CRUNCHY Peanut Butter.  Do not put the Peanuts in till later… Go ahead and secure the Lid and turn it on high Speed.

By this time, I am hungry so tonight I had a No Tuna Salad Sandwich on LOW SODIUM Ezekiel 4:6 Bread, with extra Dill Pickels.  Yes, I did say NO TUNA Salad.  (It is a great recipe!)  No animals or toxins consumed.

Ok, for the last part of the No Tuna Salad, I added my first leaf of Swiss Chard grown in the Garden….ymm!  Actually I harvested it yesterday because the wind storm last night broke the stem and I brought it in earlier than I planned, but, I didn’t want to lose this first leaf….

Ok, when you start blending the items, if the bananas are fresh out of the freezer, it will take a while to get all the ingredients mixed and the end product smooth.  You will need to mash the items not blended well (because they are almost frozen solid…), into the bottom mix… this may need to be repeated a few times.  NOW AT THE END of the mixing, you throw in the peanuts in and blend a few seconds more.  I really like BIG CRUNCHES so I don’t blend long

If I could, I would lick the bowl the processor, the spoons clean…. but of course, I have never tried that … you can get hurt on the processor blade ya know…

The best thing I can say about this, is that Betty loves it like CRAZY.

That is a ‘vote’ of approval’ with out exception.

I am a HERO.

Don’t count calories, don’t measure protein, and do not fear carbs…. and make this Nice Cream, and you can be a cool as I am.

That is how I roll …

oldmanskinandbones.com

Yeah, my ‘latest squirrel’ is running.

It is a ‘drug’. It is a testimony. It is a FIST shaken at ‘old age’, and being told ‘you should just be careful!!’

Do what?!?

You said, I SHOULD be careful?

Maybe you SHOULD hold my Fruits and Vegetables and WATCH THIS!

I reject OLD AGE.

I will not accept ‘IT’.

****

Meeting other runners, via Social Media mainly, I have found they are a peculiar people.  Often they are hilarious!  Runners are definitely different.

Especially if they used to be FAT, OBESE, and SAD. ( A BIG shout out to all the Members and BROTHERS of the Missing Chins Run Club … of which I am honored to be one of them crazy guys!)  yes, EAT PLANTS & RUN MILES.  That is what a Chin does.

But here is a story that just had me wiping tears….

A YOUNG RUNNER’S STORY INSPIRES MANY

****

Running is strange…

I have tried running…. and I like it …

I am writing this Blog at 5:47 am April 14, 2018.

Yesterday I paid about $100 to enter a Half Marathon at The Cowtown Marathon next FEBRUARY 2019.  I will begin to ‘train’ for that event this morning.

I have 45 weeks to be ready to run 13.1 miles in less than 4.5 hours.

This morning, I plan to be into miles of running before the sun comes up.  And, I plan to continue my routine of running one day, and resting the next, and then repeat, and run that Half Marathon next February “… like I stole something …”.

****

I know I will die someday. Duh…

But I will not ‘be dying’ till that time arrives.

I will live each moment till death comes for me, but I refuse to be dying any time before that…

When death comes for me, It will have to rip me from my stinky old tennis shoes to get me.

But this morning, as I look at the picture of this young boy, and his Daddy, in the rain, running together in an event ‘THEY’ said couldn’t happen …

I wipe tears from my face again …

Who is ‘THEY’?

I have decided ‘They’ are a Voice I hear quite well in my head.

‘They’ are ‘me’,  when I am dying, and Death is not here …

When I listen to that voice of ‘They’… I hear,  “… I am crazy, I am foolish, I am too old, I should be careful, I should eat animals, I should eat fried everything, I should ‘enjoy’ the Standard American Death Diet/Fast Foods, I should … … walk, not run … … … accept my old age … …”.

What I purpose TO DO though, when I hear that voice in my head, is to say “no”…

Then, I purpose to think of this picture…

 .

I am not sure if I will ‘be’ the boy, or his Dad, or just be a RUNNER …

I think I will ‘be’ each, and that will be fine.

oldmanskinandbones.com

All of this blog started this morning with another listening of the wonderful work by Dr Michael Greger, “HOW NOT TO DIE”.

I have listened to this book so many times I have forgotten HOW MANY times.  I also have a hardback copy next to me as I type.  I have bought and given many print and digital copies.

I was surprised a few days ago to find a favorite writer of Survivalist Publications, publish in his opinion, that this book is a MUST HAVE, and YOU MUST follow NOW, or else all your ‘survival training’ will be useless because you will die from ill heath quickly anyway.

I mean to say, WOW! who would have ever thought, the most important thing you need to DO, to prepare for a End Of The World As We Know It (TEOTWAWKI) Event would be get healthy first and foremost.

Mercy.

But, the reason I write today is WHY I DO NOT EAT CHICKEN, and why I prefer CHICKEN DOES NOT EVEN ENTER THE CAR I DRIVE, nor THE HOUSE In Which I LIVE.

Are you ready?

Fecal Contamination.

There.

That is the NICE way to put it…. OH BUT REMEMBER!

I do not feel like playing ‘NICE’ today.

So, here it is…

SHIT ! THAT IS WHY, IT IS COVERED IN SHIT!

It was slaughtered in SHIT, Boiled in SHIT, plucked in SHIT, packaged in SHIT, delivered to your Grocery and displayed in packages containing SHIT, carried to your car in shit, dripping in shit, leaving shit on your hands, on the cabinets, on your cutting board, your knife, your sink, your wash rag, and also in your Garbage Disposal growing along with NO TELLING WHAT ELSE….

“OH calm down Ray, (you crazy oldmanskinandbones.com), I clean my kitchen with Bleach water….”

Well, they studied that,  and found out even cleaning with BLEACH water  could not remove all the SHIT Contamination you brought into your Supper Plate…

It is in the book somewhere before 58 minutes into the audio reading of the book.

Read it and enjoy that SHIT all over the place when you bring that SHIT soaked dead poultry into your home….

And for all the ‘Butt Bacon Boys’…. pork ain’t much better.

Well there ya go…. if this blog upsets you because I said SHIT multiple time, then get over it….

I am not in the mood to make nice today…

(When I go to the Grocery and pass near the ‘SEAFOOD SECTION’ … well, isn’t that aroma enticing…?

It will probably upset some because I ‘used’ the words ‘make nice’ and if your from Texas or know who Toby K. is, or ‘W’, then you will catch the significance my choice of the words ‘make nice’ …

BUT! Be nice to yourself … Eat Whole Food Plant Based NO OIL….

Stop being mean to yourself by counting calories, measuring protein, and Please, stop being afraid of CARBS……

Mercy.

oldmanskinandbones.com

I just made the decision between life and death.

I got serious about the choice of what goes into the mouth and into the body.

Food vs Medicine, Health vs Sickness, Foolishness vs Wisdom.

(Yes, I wanted to write ‘Stupid Choices vs Wise Choices’ but changed my mind since this Blog is so ‘High Society’, right?)

I am currently watching the Netflix Series called ROTTEN.

In the 2nd episode they address the subject of Food Allergies, and to say I am better informed about the seriousness of that issue… well, a increasing number of people are just dying from exposure to foods that will kill them.

Personally, I have had a few ‘attacks’ of the Panic Attack type …. as well as allergic reactions to certain perfumes… and that is a terrifying experience in case you have never had one.

Granted, I have never had to carry the Emergency Pen to inject myself at any given moment, but I have lost the ability to breath, stand up, or stop the feeling that I need to tear the skin off my body to stop the un-describable reaction to some perfume worn by co workers on two occasions.

If you have had such an event in your life, then you know the issue.  If you have seen such an event occur in person, then again, you know what it is like.

IF you think those type of people who are affected by such things are weaklings or sissies, then you are sorely misinformed… and so … ignorant.

What would even be worse than having the experience is watching a child or loved one have such an event.

I hope I never again have, nor see such an attack.

But on the subject of ” Ray, HOW can you eat that way?”,  I only need to recall the picture Betty took for me October 5, 2015.

 (Later that evening I would climb back from the anesthesia, and for what seemed hours, struggle to say anything, but only be able to toss my head back and forth.  You see, as I returned from the drugs, I ‘found myself’ in a submarine, and no one would listen to me… and there was a huge hose going down my throat. )

I did THAT to myself once, I chose to NOT do it to myself again.

I REPEAT…. I did THAT to myself ONCE.  I DAMN SURE do not plan to do it to myself again.

I got emotional about it, and stay that way.

I chose to return to that submarine often …

Our society seems to be nervous about such subjects as favorite foods, weaknesses and the such.

I can remember being critical about ‘Food Allergies’ and getting Pretzels on a Plane Trip in place of the Famous Peanuts…  But then I never had a child stop breathing on an aircraft cruising at 30,000 feet and wonder how fast we could get an ambulance to the door of the plane.

… or an undertaker.

Have you ever looked in the eyes of someone feeling like they were dying from not being able to take a breath?

How can that be funny?

How can the concept concerning a Whole Food Plant Based Life Style vs a Cholesterol filled Life Style be so cool, so macho, so funny?

BUT BACON huh!?  ha ha ha , that is so funny!  That shuts down that weird guy who doesn’t eat meat !!  HA HA HA ! we showed him!!

Damned right skippy,  I don’t eat meat.  You want to be ‘funny’?  I’ll dance a jig at your funeral.  That will be funny.

Not really.

Neither is your BullShit reply to avoiding Animal Products for health reasons.  “BUT BACON!”   “God Gave Me Canine Teeth”…. “I have teeth like a Lion” … “I’m a REAL MAN! I chase down my prey and rip its skin off with my teeth, and drink the warm blood while the heart beats its last beats…”

Honestly?  You are not a carnivore.  Your a dumbass.

You want to some Steak Sauce on that fresh meat you are getting all ‘manly’ about?

How’s that ED standing up these days there ‘Big Boy’?  Are you better now than you were when you were 20 years old?

(With out saying ‘more’ at this point, I ask, “… Do you get get the implication I am making here?…”.)

But Bacon my ass.

Yeah, this Blog just might need to join the ranks of the ever increasing number that I work on, and then decide not to publish, because it is just not ‘nice’, nor a ‘proper’ subject.  Maybe because my emotions come out way too strong, and it shows who I really am, and how I think about mainstream ‘merica.

Actually I am grooming my youngest son to finish my memoirs … he just doesn’t know it yet… or then, maybe he does ….

How do I eat this way?  How can I eat this way?

How can you eat that way ‘merica does, and not be concerned, or emotional …

It is no longer funny to think about how my Daddy died.  He died a very long time… for years in fact.  He was always skinny, but when he started being SKINNY from DYING from the cancer, that was ugly… and got worse.

Sorry, ‘Just Bacon Boy’ … death is JUST NOT FUNNY.

It is no longer FUNNY to remember Mom dying for all that time.  Watching her leg BLOW UP is just not cute ‘JUST BACON BOY’, it is just not FUNNY.

Sure we all die, but we do not have to die for a long time… we can live, WE CAN LIVE, till we die.  We are not CALLED, CREATED, nor DESTINED, to DIE a long time.

Yes, we will die, BUT we do not have to die for a long time …. get it?

We choose the consequences of living or dying, till we die.

Choices.

We make the choices of lifestyle and moment by moment decisions.  We make choices concerning what fuel or toxin we put in our mouth, and that, determines whether we live till we die, or die a long time till the moment of death.

But of course, when a human is addicted to sugar, salts, fried foods, animal products, pharmaceuticals, and other DRUGS, the thinking and processes of logical decisions are fogged over, or nullified all together.

I am not controlled by meat, raw or cooked, sugar filled stuff like donuts and pop tarts, anything fried, or the myriad of other toxins sold as fast foods ….

Oh please understand, I am still addicted to these things, it is just that they do not control my passions any longer… it has been almost three years since I have had any…

… just like I am still addicted to the cancer sticks called Cigarettes, but I have not had one for over 10 years now….

Ok, enough….

Please stop with the insults to me as I take it personally that you ‘Just Bacon Boys’ think it is funny to refer to the long dying of my Parents, and friends …

they were LIVES robbed of living till they died.

And that is just not funny, cute, or Carnivore….

Please, just stop.

You make a fool of yourself, and you are better than that.

Ray Martin

There was a day I would have killed the snake with out even thinking about doing so.

These days, I would do everything I could to avoid killing one of God Creatures.

Ha!  There was a day when i would have considered eating it after I killed it too….

Mercy, not any more…

After all, we are not living in a End of the World As We Know it Situation….  and I am sure, should I find myself in that situation, I would more than likely, out live 95% of the population surrounding me anyway…

Which leads me to the reason I am posting this Blog this morning….

10 miles ….. yep, Ten Miles.

That is so NOT a BIG DEAL….

Not many WEEKS ago, ten miles would have been the ‘shock’ effect intended by this MEME posted above….

I would have considered the challenge of that distance… outrageous …

And now, I have a goal of running that distance …. for sure February 2019….. and MAYBE this October….

These days, FIVE MILES is only an issue because it takes more or less One Hour and Forty Five Minutes to run that distance …  I am gently headed toward running that distance in half that time…

… or to put it this way, I plan to improve to running less than 10 minute mile… consistently…

Oh, and to put it this way…

… I will run ten miles, at a speed less than a 10 minute mile, powered only by PLANTS, and never counting CALORIES, never measuring PROTEIN, and NEVER FEARING CARBS!

I will HOWEVER, be keeping a wary eye out for snakes, dogs, drivers, and pot holes … gotta be smart ya know!

oldmanskinandbones.com

‘Runners’ have a ‘sweet spot’ of running close to 180 beats a minute….( that is 90 steps for each foot).

From what I understand, you have to shorten your stride, and this lessens injury, increases speed in the long run, and makes you wiser or something like that….

So, I am on a new adventure to make myself a playlist of songs I LIKE, and find motivation,  Also, I have discovered I can change the tempo of songs I like to 180 bpm, and also have a metronome playing quietly in the back ground.

Click HERE to see the first attempt !

More on that later …

Today was a early start, at 2am, and then I had a 3.11 mile run on the Treadmill since it was 32 degrees and very windy out side….. and then we went to the weekly trip to the Grocery Store.

After the items were brought into the house, and lunch came and went, and I had a little nap… I went back into the kitchen making Black Bean Veggie Patties and the Awesome Cauliflower Taco Stuff.  Earlier I had started the BEST VEGAN NACHO CHEESE SAUCE which has cashews NO DAIRY!   This stuff is sooooo good!

I always stay really close to the recipe on this one.

Not so much on the other items I made ….

 The recipe called for three cloves of Garlic.  I always add more.

 I always add more Cumin in the Cauliflower Taco Stuff too, and I have stopped measuring the ingredients…. I just go until it feels right.

These patties freeze well, and are ready for a burger in moments!  We love them.  ( I also put any left overs on hand and a big handful of chopped Leafy Green Veggies in the mix … which I also mix in the Food Processor)…. out of this world!

Remember, when you stop using the Processed Death Diet crap sold at Stores and Fast (and miserable to the grave)Food? Drive Thru ‘do you want to Super Size Your Misery and Suffering longer ?life?…. you can add REAL SPICES to your Real Food, till you enjoy it!

Also, remember that real Spices are the richest sources of antioxidants in the world.

Also remember that animal products are not healthy in spite of all the money spent on advertising to convince you otherwise….  Remember the government loves you too and you can trust everything they do … and say …

Remember that Meat and Dairy are a learned taste, and no, you are not a K9, a Lion, nor a Baby Calf who needs to grow 600 pounds in a mater of weeks.

Moo.

Also remember you do not need to count calories, measure protein, nor FEAR CARBS….

Well, as long as your eating WFPB …

oldmanskinandbones.com

I just figured out why I have never been able to spell correctly, the word ‘EXERCISE’ …

God Bless my sweet Mother, and God Rest Her Soul!  I miss her dearly, as she passed in August 2016.

She was such a cutie.

In fact, there is no doubt she is my Mom, because if you dress me up like a Cowgirl, and get a ‘make over’ by a Mary Kay Makeover Artist, I look an awful lot like her… in a strange sorta way…

She did the look so much better than I though … no doubt.

Can you guess which one is Mom, and which one is me…..?

Give up?

Ok, I’ll help… Dad took the picture on the right, and Mom actually added the color to it with little bottles of paint and toothpicks and other tools I wish I had paid more attention.

Betty and I created that picture on the left as part of a fund raising event for a Real Estate Political Group.  That is as close to Politics I have gotten other than posting MEMEs on Face Book, and studying American History on my own since November 2012.

But this Blog is about ‘spelling’.  LORD KNOWS I do not need to get started on Politics….

Somehow, since I have approached and past, the official ‘retirement age’, I have become aware that I have become a ‘grammar nazi’  and before you get upset by that term, here is a explanation in common terms…

“1. A grammar nazi knows the difference between “there,” “their” and “they’re.”

I know the difference.  I cringe in my soul when I hear those misused.

I think that may have started when I discovered a Rogets Thesaurus.

This compendium of multitudes of ways to say something many ways, captured my interest, and became the first book I can remember taking to read in the bathroom.

Later I discovered there was more to life than remembering that you had been a Friday Night Football Hero at a AA ranked High School in a tiny community.  Part of this transformation was in part due to the fact that I studied Brazilian Portuguese for a good while in Manaus, Brazil, and then in Sao Paulo Brazil … and the teachers were wonderful.

I realized Language was beautiful, as well as powerful.

However….

But with ME as a student, any Language and, or Professor had their work cut out for them.  I was still the son of Parents who were my first ‘teachers’ of speaking my Native Tongue, TEXAN.  ( I am a Native Texan)

I developed a use of words that still has a peculiar … flavor …

Now lets stir this mix a little more… my wife Betty… ‘The Wordsmith’.  Her hair was the first physical thing I noticed about her, followed closely by the Rocky Jeans she wore …  But, the thing that confounded me the most was the fact that she was the first ‘Wordsmith’ I remember encountering.  We still have some unbelievable conversations, and after 20 + years, I am still tantalized by her construction and use of words.

… and I digress from the point I sat out to make …

Today, I have been alive 23,067 days according to my friend Siri.  Until yesterday, the 23,066 th day, I could never spell the word ‘EXERCISE’.  I found out, I was saying the word incorrectly.

Even ‘Spell Check’ would look at me a just moan in reply.

Betty was being my faithful LIVE SPELL CHECK last evening when I exclaimed in great frustration how I could not remember the correct spelling of the word ‘exercise’.

With her enlightening, I realized I had made up a word that didn’t exist…. I was saying in my mind …’ex-sir-cize’.  It is actually ‘ex-er-cize’.

I guess I am hooked on a phonics that is a unknown language.  One made up from the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, the Dust Filled Cotton Fields of the High Plains of Texas, and the travels of this my soul in this physical world, and all the travels taken in innumerable books and fantasizes of a rabid mind.

If you had ever seen a letter written by my Mom, you would understand the ground work for the way I learned to talk… spell … and see the words in my mind.  This the way I say them, and attempt to spell them.

I just want Mom to know, I am still learning how to speak.  I am still learning to spell.  I am still learning to … learn.

Mom, I am still bewitched, bothered, and bewildered, with the endless adventures and discoveries that are ‘out there’ …

I am the traveler I am today because of you.  Somewhere that part of you as an adventurer found a fertile ground in my passion.  But boy, we sure do say some things really weird, and we can’t always spell it correctly…. huh!?

oldmanskinandbones.com

(I normally close each blog with the usual ”I don’t count calories, I don’t measure protein, I don’t fear carbs” but I am going to close this bog with out bragging about being FREE from those misinformed bondage’s of foolish unhealthy diets)

I am just going to celebrate this milestone in my life and ONE MORE TIME, spell, with out asking Betty for help……

‘exercise’

If you only knew how much fun ‘that’ was …… !!

The No Tuna Salad Sandwich recipe is a repeat blog.

But after making it again tonight, and Betty saying how good it was, AND that it should be made, and kept in the frig ALL THE TIME…..

Well, you get the picture.

I have the links posted below.

I love the Mayo, and put it on my Bread after it comes out of the toaster!

BEST Homemade Vegan Mayonnaise

Now is the link for the No Tuna Salad.

Just get the things on the recipe and follow the instructions.  You will be glad you did!

No Tuna Salad !

Click the link, make the recipe, and enjoy.

Consider doubling the batch…

Gosh this stuff is really good!

NEVER COUNT CALORIES, NEVER MEASURE PROTEIN, NEVER FEAR CARBS!

LIVE FREE !

oldmanskinandbones.com

By the way, If you have not seen the Movie, “Forks Over Knives”, do it as soon as possible!