Black Rice will turn everything cooked with it a very dark color.

Also, if you use pickle juice as half the recommended liquid it seems to result in purple rice as seen here.

This is my ‘quick’ lunch yesterday after Grocery shopping. The rice was actually planned to be a part of a bulk preparing of bean burger patties.

This bean burger in the picture was one of the last in the freezer, so time to make more.

This motivation was also urged by the fact that I had harvested two large bags of Collard Greens from my Raised Bed Garden.

I will chop up the Collards really fine, and add them to the mix for the Bean Patties… along with anything else that ‘tickles my fancy’.

(this is a good way to take care of things I need to use like excess amounts of Collard Greens, and other vegetables that ‘need to be used’ asap.)

And then, the thought of the Black Rice came along.

I bought this Black Rice sometime ago and never used up the stuff because, honestly, I didn’t like how the finished product looked, nor tasted.

I ended up mixing several left over rices from packages thinking a rice mix would be nice, but the color was not attractive to me.

So yesterday I decided to just use it in the Burger Mix. There the appearance would not be an issue.

THEN, as I was getting everything ready I noticed the jar of pickle juice waiting to be used.

So, half the liquid called for to make the rice in the IP was now pickle juice.

The end results were delightful!

This batch of Purple Rice might not make it to the Black Bean Refrigerator Clean Out Mix.

Oh well!

The adventure continues!

oldmanskinandbones.com

( I wonder what would happen if I use the liquid from BEETS !??)

#wfpb#wfpbno#wholefoodplantbased#wholefoodsplantbased#eatbetternotless#dairyfree#meatfree#animalfree#cholesterolfree#Heartattackfree#powerofplants#itisthewfpbfood#chinning

I have a confession about these two Movies.

#1. It was over a year before I realized the ‘Fork’ was the CHOICE you can make, to AVOID the Surgeons KNIFE (pictured below the word ‘Knife’ on the cover) It never occurred to me the picture of the Knife was a Surgeons Knife.

(Like the one that left an 8.5 inch scar on my chest, and four various sized scars on my legs, and the one where they tried to insert the Stents)
[THANK GOD THAT FAILED!! I DO NOT WANT STENTS!!]

A ‘side note’ here if you don’t mind…..

Notice those three dark spots at the 10″ mark on the tape measure?

Those are where tubes were inserted for various reasons. The scars are easily.

There is also a Hernia that has developed at the right hand side. It ‘sometimes will ‘protrude’ at certain times.

Personally, I think it is a result of all the ‘activity’ that occurred during and after the surgery. I am fairly sure there are three Hernias in this general area…. all resulting from the Surgery.

But again, that is MY observation, and opinion. And yes, my GP knows about them.

#2. Just today I watched the ‘extra’ parts after the end of the Movie ‘Eating You Alive’ and heard Samuel Jackson explain the TITLE of the Movie…..
I SHAKE MY HEAD!!!

What has it been? three years since I first started buying this DVD, and gave many away, and loaned it to many more, and yet, I never understood the title.

I always thought it referred to the TOXIC Standard American Diet that was eating us, the consumers, alive….

But NO….
As it was EXPLAINED …
WHEN YOU EAT WHOLE FOOD PLANT BASED, you are Eating YOURSELF ALIVE!!

It is a positive thing…..

Well, DUH!

It may take me a while to finally catch on to some things, but I will catch on eventually….

(Mercy)

Oh, IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THESE MOVIES …. watch them as soon as you can!!

They can REALLY save your life!

Your destiny does NOT have to be Chronic Disease…. Chose wisely with your Fork, and Eat Your Self Alive !

That, is my intention!

oldmanskinandbones.com

PS. Since I have started writing this blog, it has come to my attention to view “The Marshall Plan documentary full version” on Youtube.

How did I miss this so long. Marshall Texas is just down the road from my home.

PLEASE WATCH: THE MARSHALL PLAN Solving America’s Health Crisis (CLICK THE LINK)

You, your Loved Ones, your Family, your Friends will be GLAD YOU DID!

#forksoverknives #eatingyourselfalive #bettertocatchonnowthannever #liveresponsible
#wfpb #wfpbno #wholefoodplantbased #wholefoodsplantbased#eatbetternotless #dairyfree #meatfree #animalfree #cholesterolfree#Heartattackfree #powerofplants #chinning #oldmanskinandbones

I have never been in a ‘corral’ for a Run. This was my first time.

This was the place where the slower runners were positioned for many reasons, I guess mainly to keep us out of the way of those who would speed past us, and therefore avoiding a traffic jam.

By the way, there is no Corral #9.

Since it was my first time in a Corral, it was quite exciting to see and hear each Corral brought to the Starting Line, and then dispatched.

It was an emotional time for me, but then, since I had started running about a year and a half before this morning, it had been a very emotional ‘thing’ many times. Often there were moments on the Treadmill (Dreadmill), or in the neighborhood, and in some of the Events I had entered, there would be a rush of such emotion, I would begin to sob, and tears would come … and it was this expression of pure joy that I had already experienced a number of times this morning.

And then … we were finally brought to the Starting Line … Corral 8 finally arrived at the Launch Pad.

I felt like an Apollo Rocket ready to break free from the confines of the Earth’s gravity. It was show time!

And then over the loud speakers came a song from the past. One whose Lyrics were so full of meaning to me … a 64 year old … ex-smoker … 1238 days after a Triple By Pass Surgery … 82 pounds lighter …
obviously ‘out of place’ at a Marathon Event … and the bawling started again …

Bob Seger began to sing …

” Just take those old records off the shelf
I’ll sit and listen to ’em by myself
Today’s music ain’t got the same soul
I like that old time rock ‘n’ roll
Don’t try to take me to a disco
You’ll never even get me out on the floor
In ten minutes I’ll be late for the door
I like that old time rock’n’ roll

Still like that old time rock’n’ roll
That kind of music just soothes the soul
I reminisce about the days of old
With that old time rock ‘n’ roll …”

Very few of the songs played up that point were familiar to me, although I notice my ‘pacers’ were singing along with most of the thumping lyrics, but then, I am at least a generation older than they. I am not sure they would even know about old ‘black and white’, analog stuff like AM Radio, LP Albums, or even 8 track tapes.

But there, at the Starting Line, and just for me, was Bob Seger belting out the old mans Old Time Rock and Roll ANTHEM.

Yeah, I started that sobbing again, and wiping tears … again … and it wasn’t the last time.

Fortunately, I was wearing old cotton gloves to protect my fingers from the freezing temperature, and I was able to wipe the tears away as if it were sweat, and no one noticed.

I ran my fastest Half Marathon time that day because every time I starting the sobbing, I had to wipe tears too, and to do that while no one saw this, I had to run ahead of my ‘pacers’, and to appear ‘OK’ to any on lookers …

To the best of my knowledge, I was 100% successful in the ‘cover up’.

( You could say, I ‘wiped out’ that problem … [rimshot])

I have been told by other Runners that they also have had this same manifestation during running events. It doesn’t seem to be that ‘odd’ of an occurrence.

I had registered for this Half Marathon ten months earlier. I had practiced running that distance 17 times before this day. Between my first Half Marathon time and this one, I improved my time by 2 minutes and 3 seconds.

I’m happy with that.

I am signing up for The Cowtown Marathon 2020 as soon as Registration opens.

One MAJOR change for next year is that I am also running Saturday morning in the Adult 5K with, so far, three friends. We may actually be walking part of the time, but we are going to DO the 5K.

I am excited.

Oh yeah … I will advise the folks DOing the 5K to bring cotton gloves …. they are great for ‘wiping sweat’ (wink wink).

( que up Bob here, and turn it UP!)

oldmanskinandbones.com aka ‘Marathon Runner’

#areyouok #doyouneedasaltpill #doweneedanurse #mypacersarenurses #believemeIamfine #yesIamcryingbutIamHAPPY #waittillnextyear #Ilost82poundswithoutexercise #wfpbno #itisthefood #eatplants #chinning #mcrc #todaysmusicaintgotthesamesoul #itsstillrockandrolltome

“… Call me a relic, call me what you will
Say I’m old-fashioned, say I’m over the hill
Today’ music ain’t got the same soul
I like that old time rock ‘n’ roll …”

PS … The only question about The Cowtown Marathon 2020, is will I sign up for the Full Marathon … … I mean …. I have already done the Half….

PS PS … or the ‘Ultra’ ?

( … now the Lyrics ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’ by Bachman-Turner Overdrive are running through my head …)

I was shocked to find out the average bypass lasts, on average, 10 years, and then the mortality rate jumps to 60-80%.

This is the “successful” bypass.

It seems the operation using the less-than-perfect material from the same arterial system that caused a heart attack in the first place doesn’t last very long as bypass material.

You see, you are replacing blocked arteries with already compromised VEINS.  I guess it is”‘OK” for veins to be used to replace ARTERIES.

Don’t get me wrong.  I am grateful for my successful surgery, surgeon, and team of folks who worked on my bypass.

After I viewed the calcium scan of my heart three years post operation, I was SHAKEN at the blockage still in and around my heart.

BUT FOLKS, for some reason I did not realize the bypass material would soon “wear out.”  

At the “average” time expected for failure, it seems I am approaching the halfway mark.

Well, that is not comforting.  I have plans.  This “possible” scenario does NOT SIT WELL with my agenda.

This link (Click Here)  tells a very surprising forecast about how long these three veins are “expected” to be viable as replacement ARTERIES on the heart in MY CHEST.

For me, this opens a WHOLE NEW ISSUE of Full Disclosure when a person goes into a hospital with a problem.

Sure, when the doctor told me I had had a number of heart attacks and stents were going to be placed the next morning, I joked and said, “That was not what I came in for, I came in for heartburn.” She looked at me and said, “Did you come in here for HELP? Or did you come into the ER to be funny?”

I shut up and became compliant.  I signed what I was given, and obeyed what I was directed to do… no more questions, nor nervous searches for options.  “THEY” did not have time for that, and I didn’t have the “BALLS” to require it either.

So, even before I pay off the money I still owe the hospital, my bypass surgery (ON AVERAGE), will have served its life expectancy and will need to be replaced, or I might just DIE instead. You know how heart failures can be, right?

I don’t know if I am more angry about the failure of FULL DISCLOSURE on the medical provider’s part, or my lack of responsibility to require Full Disclosure for myself.

Maybe both.

I have hope though.  

Hope that the Whole Food Plant-Based Lifestyle will provide the best fuel, and best medicine to not only repair the heart disease but also to REVERSE the heart disease that I gave myself for 60 years eating the Standard American Death Diet.  

Do YOURSELF A FAVOR…

READ THIS BOOK!! Before you have a heart attack. (Click this link)

Please, be informed and make wise decisions.

oldmanskinandbones.com

#wfpbno #eatplantsbehealthy #eatplantsbehappy #nomoreByPass #nomoreHeartAttacks 

This blog has been ‘proofed’ by The Crafty Proofer

 

I was so intimidated by my Instant Pot, that it sat in the box over a year before I opened it, and put it to use.

Now, it is my friend.

HOWEVER…. I just tolerated my results of preparing rice.  Especially Brown Rice.

I love rice, and can eat it as a meal with nothing added.

But  I have found this recipe/method and the results are perfect every time I prepare Brown Rice in the Instant Pot.

Pressure Cooker Brown Rice / Amy+Jacky Pressure Cook Recipes.com CLICK HERE!!

It is so simple!  It works every time!

I am going to look into this web site more, and will share updates!!

Thank you www.pressurecookrecipes.com !!

oldmanskinandbones.com

This blog ‘proofed’ by…. The Crafty Proofer

 

Updated at the end of the original post November 2018.

This is a list of the books I have read after my Heart Attack and Triple By Pass in October 2015.  Before these events, I obviously never gave a thought about Health, Nutrition, and Science … other than the crap I ‘learned’ from TV and Movie Propaganda.

The first purchased book was The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long Term Health.

This was after seeing the Movie ‘FORKS OVER KNIVES’ on Netflix.

After these two events, everything changed.

Changed forever, and for good.

Only seven days later, I bought Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition.

Less than three weeks later I bought How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease.

Eleven days later I bought The Campbell Plan

Then there was a number of books written by Dr. Joel Furhman, first of which was The End of Heart Disease: The Eat to Live Plan to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.

Next was Power Foods for the Brain: An Effective 3 – Step Plan to Protect Your Mind and Strengthen Your Memory.

Then there was The Happy Vegan: A Guide to Living a Long, Healthy, and Successful Life.

Another by Dr Furhman Super Immunity: A Breakthrough Program to Boost the Body’s Defenses and Stay Healthy All Year Round.

As well as Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss.

Then from The Great Courses … Medical Myths, Lies, and Half Truths: What We Think We May Know.

And then Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ.

Then Proteinaholic: How Our Obsession With Meat Is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It.

And I will never forget Presto!: How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales  Narrated by the Author Penn Jillette

Also Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness.

Also The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter’s 28 Day Save-Your-Life Plan the Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds.

Yeah, this one too Verbal Judo, Updated Edition: The Gentle Art of Persuasion.

Along with the following Book, I also purchased the Updated Version of Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World’s Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself.

And another by Dr Joel Furhman Fast Food Genocide: How Processed Food Is Killing Us and What We Can DO About It.

By my Hero! Dr John McDougall The Healthiest Diet on the Planet: Why the Foods You Love-Pizza, Pancakes, Potatoes, and More – Are the Solution to Preventing Disease and Looking and Feeling Your Best.

As well as his The Starch Solution:  Eat the Foods You Love, Regain Your Health, and Lose the Weight for Good!

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

North by Scott and Jenny Jurek

Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement

And I have to Include The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living A Good Life.

You must read Walking With Peety: The Dog Who Saved My Life

Eating Animals ( They made a Movie after this book)

The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer.

The Alzheimer’s Solution: A Breakthrough Program to Prevent and Reverse the Symptoms of Cognitive Decline at Every Age.

The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force That Undermines Health & Happiness.

And last on the list, so far…  12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.

All of these books I have listened to at least twice.  Some I have listened to 12, or MORE times, and will listen again.

I have watched endless numbers of videos from these writers. Most from Dr John McDougall Dr, John McDougall Website ( Free Stuff!)

Here is his video site on u tube   Dr McDougalls U TUBE

and Jeff Novick (MUST SEE)  (Full Length) Calorie Density: How To Eat More, Weigh Less and Live Longer

I follow all these writers on Facebook and Instagram.

I subscribe to Nutritionfacts.org !  Also NO CHARGE!  and the videos are SHORT, entertaining and LIFE SAVING!

There is so much to learn….

There is so much power in the PLANTS.

oldmanskinandbones.com

#wfpbno  WHOLE FOOD PLANT BASED NO OIL

**** UPDATED JUNE 2021 ****

UNDO IT: Simple Lifestyle Changes Can Reverse Most Chronic Disease by Dean Ornish  !!!!! A MUST READ !!!!!

DOPE SICK  by Beth Macy  ( Why America depends on Big Pharma) [and why I do not trust them]

THE DORITO EFFECT:  The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor By Mark Schatzker ( why we MUST avoid processed foods)

SPILLOVER  by David Quamman ( I read this one in January 2020 … by accident …)

FIBER FUELED: The Plant Based Gut Health Program For Loosing Weight, Restoring Your Health, and Optimizing Your Micro Biome by Will Bulsiewicz

ON THE SUBJECT of GUT HEALTH ….These next three videos speak to the GUT BIOME and will show why WHAT WE EAT, is SO IMORTANT!  ( and why I grow food IN THE GROUND)… [and make homemade sauerkraut!]

If you REALLY WANT to go deep into the BIOME. watch this video … https://youtu.be/RF9aoLmWJ-A

By the end of that 4th video, you will be …. amazed.

This one IS LONG BUT WORTH EVERY MOMENT!!

OK !! BACK TO BOOKS.

EAT SHIT and DIE: Radical Rehab for Food Junkies and Sugar Addicts be David Clark

The Low-Carb Fraud by T. Collin Campbell

They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer ( A book concerning diet and food? … you will see ) ALSO PROPAGANDA by Edward Bernays [ think about it in relation to what advertisements and social engineering tells us about eating…]

EXCITOTOXINS: The Taste That Kills by Russell L. Blaylock

I am going to stop with these for now. I am sure there will be an update again in the future.

So far I have over 530 books in audio format so I can listen over my hearing aids while I am at work, running, mowing, driving etc. I have not listened to each one, yet some I have listened to (and bought in print) up to 20+ times.

And IF YOU THINK all I read is Non Fiction, well, I am a FAN of SCI FI !!

I highly suggest the entire THE EXPANSE SERIES, and the BOBIVERSE series. I have listened to the first 3 times and the second, 2 times.

Oh, and sometimes on repeat listens, I run the play back speed to a more rapid reading ….

Enjoy!

Any questions and comments are welcome.

#oldmanskinandbones

Yesterday on FB, IG, and the bird site, I posted about SISD which I called #SlowlyInflictedSuicideDiet

Well when I awoke this morning I decided to change that to ….

#selfinflictedsuicidediet #SISD

I remember the days after my Triple By Pass ( #triplebypassisnotacure ) when I discovered S.A.D. was the ‘Standard American Diet’.

And yes, it is SAD!

No wonder the country of America is going ‘batsh_t crazy’ since the food intake for generations has been so toxic.

We are such well trained and obedient consumers, that we have willingly turned over our precious HEALTH to Governmental Departments who have sold out to whoever gives them the most money to support anything except the HEALTH of the Taxpayers.

We are such well trained and obedient consumers that we let the ads from TV, Movies, Hollywood, Radio, Music, Newspapers, Magazines, Digital Media, Talk Shows, Daytime TV, etc…. convince us that eating Science Experiments and Frankenstein Lab Results is good for our Health.

We are such well trained and obedient consumers that we believe it is ok to destroy our Health and Future Generations by altering our DNA with Anti-Human Health Toxins that ‘taste’ good, and cause weight loss,  but alter our cellular expression.

(This refers to processed ‘foods’.  As in, most everything you see in a Grocery Store)

We are such well trained and obedient consumers that we don’t give a damn about the embarrassing and shameful Factory Farms teaching our children it is ‘ok’ to not just shamelessly torture fellow creatures, but also viciously destroy the environment, our water supplies, rivers, lakes and streams as well as the Oceans.

We are such well trained and obedient consumers that we tolerate National Debates over which Bathroom to use when at the same time we are willingly IGNORANT and APATHETIC to the thought control that is fed the USEFUL IDIOTS to be distracted with … HELLO! Orwells 1984 ‘Newspeak’.

We are SUCH well trained and obedient citizens.

We are a Nation who is ‘OK’ with living the #SISD , the #selfinflictedsuicidediet

This Comfort Zone way of living and believing is regretfully one of the biggest exports to the rest of the world these days.

Cultures that adopt this manner of #selfinflictedsuicidediet  are following the path to Chronic Diseases that pursue levels held by our ‘fastfood’ addicted society.

And by referring to ‘fastfood’ I do not speak of the Drive Through Window, I speak of the manner the processed ‘crap’ enters the bloodstream once consumed and unnaturally assaults the Human Body, and injures Health.

So, there, I’ve said it…. #selfinflictedsuicidediet

#thinkaboutit

#SAD

oldmanskinandbones.com

The title of this blog is the question my friend Wilene asked after I posted some information about my Cardiac Heart Scan….

Yes, I am better than I was three years ago.

Honestly, I feel better than I have been most of my ‘adult’ life.

I no longer avoid, mowing the yard, running 13 or more miles in one morning, I am not afraid of a STRESS TEST, in fact I may see about scheduling one and check THOSE NUMBERS.

Yesterday in heavy traffic, during heavy rain in the early ‘rush hour’ in the Express Lanes of Hwy 121, I never felt the heaviness and pain in my heart like I did prior to my By Pass in 2015.  In those days, stressful traffic would cause chest pains and difficult breathing as the Heart Disease progressed.

I am not afraid to ‘do’ anything now.  I may try to ‘do’ what ever with a bit of wisdom and judicious care, but I would jump out of a airplane with a parachute and I might even try a bungee jump… or for sure ride a big scary Roller Coaster.

The only thing prohibiting a lot of things these days is finances.

You see, 3 years ago before the Heart  Attack and Surgery, just THINKING about those things would cause a pain, heaviness, and uncomfortable presence in my body…. and my mind.

But the more I do since the Surgery, the MORE I realize HOW MUCH BETTER I AM, than before Surgery and LIFESTYLE Change (Whole Food Plant Based No Oil).

I could go on about how much better I am and on several subjects, but Betty has suggested some things are just not proper subject material for Gentlemen and Ladies so I leave that where it is and move on….

Just a few days ago my Annual Blood Test came back wonderful,   even on the results of B-12, Calcium Levels, Vitamin D, and the other indicators that people ‘like me’ should(?) be  suffering with….

My Cholesterol was improved 31 points over last years results.

My Doctor said he wasn’t even sure the use of Statin Drugs could get those results, or would be of any benefit to me, and could possible cause ME more harm than be of use… and that if I wanted to continue my current Nutritional/Exercise Endeavors, he gives his ‘blessings’ and can’t wait to see me NEXT YEAR.

So I go yesterday get a Cardiac Calcium CT Scan Score Exam.  I paid out of pocket $49 through a Groupon offer.

Oh I had to drive 98 miles one way to get it done, but i am glad I did.  I plan to have another one in a year.  Even with out a Groupon deal. ( Currently, the test can cost between $100- $250)

But the numbers startled me !  It showed a level of Calcium blocking the arteries around my Heart at a level GREATER than 98% the average person in my ‘group’ (age and gender).

Like the Doctor told me when I was handed the test results, “… what did you expect?  You already KNEW you had Heart Disease!”

So, nothing new.

It was shocking though to see the amount of blockage.

I am pretty sure these are the arteries that came on the Heart, and this level of blockage is not an indication of the condition of the 3 by passes grafted onto the clogged arteries during the surgery.

I need to know more.

One result for certain, I have a ‘new’ perspective on life since yesterday.

My limited time on this earth has been brought back before my eyes for sure.

Crap y’all, that is some MAJOR BLOCKAGE around that Heart!  How close did I come to just dropping dead when ‘ the attack’ began October 1, 2015?

Wow!

I assure you, dear reader, that I feel like Superman since the Surgery.  I enjoy eating the Whole Food Plant Based NO OIL Delights I have been eating since coming home from the hospital.  It is a pleasure to average 20-25 miles a week running in the beauty of a morning. (Something I HAVE NEVER DONE till my 63rd year of life).

It is a joy to mow the yard (almost a 2 mile walk when completed pushing a NON SELF PROPELLED MOWER ) and never having to stop because of chest pains and shortness of breath.

It is a joy to take the deepest breath, hold it, and slowly release it and never go into spasms of coughing like I did when I was a DUMBASS SMOKER of almost two packs a day, taking away 7 minutes of my life with each Cancer Stick I smoked.

What a fool I was.

Your a FOOL, if you are doing it now…. but, you already know that don’t you?

I now know, that NOTHING FEELS AS GOOD, as HEALTHY FEELS.

Damn Y’all …. this scan shows a massive amount of damage and injury I did to my self for 60 years.

This Scan has performed it’s intended purpose.  I have concrete evidence to use from here out, to compare a baseline to future “… progression or REGRESSION of disease, and effectiveness of treatment administered “.

Sure, I had hoped the results would have shown no damage, but it is what it is.

I intend to learn everything I can about all this, and share it with anyone who cares to follow this journey in my life.

I hope someone will be encouraged to stop injuring their self, and chose to follow a wiser lifestyle.

Every bite you take will give health to your body, or it will cause injury.  There is just no in between.

Am I ‘in trouble’ because of what I see in this report?

Well, YEAH!

But, no more than I have been for these days since the Surgery.

I am more acutely aware of that danger than I was though.

Here is the ‘PLAN’ ….

Live life, like I was dying.   But hey, we all are dying, right?  Live in the moment.

Take responsibility for my Health.  I do not need to delegate that to a pill or anyone else.

Learn more about my situation/condition, and the realistic expectations of all involving the By Pass, and possibilities of life after this Surgery.  Then redefine possibilities.

Be grateful.

Tame my impulse to ‘react’ to the situations I encounter everyday, and instead, respond with consideration of the facts at hand.

I could go on… …

One of the most profitable events in my life is a relationship I have had about 21 years with Betty.

She is totally opposite from me in many areas.  It is a miracle we have not killed each other these last 21 years.

A couple of weeks ago she said something to me that has changed me and my way of dealing with things in life ….. like a awful calcium deposit scan report.

After I had been reacting to a situation I didn’t ‘like’ … ranting, raging, pontificating … she waited for a break in the DRAMA I was performing …. and said…..

” Ray, we are doing the best we can.  At this time, that is all we can do, and we can be happy with that…”.

Later that morning while on a run, I considered what she had said, and the validity of what she said finally hit me like a brick.

These last three years since my Surgery, I have been doing the best I can, and can be happy with that.

When ‘the facts’ change, and I ‘hear’ them, then I will do different.

After reading the report from start to finish, and hearing from someone who stated there is the possibility these numbers are the current status of the arteries that were BY PASSED, then don’t get all crazy with the awful numbers.

Yea, I still need to talk to a trained professional to explain what this report means to me.

But as much as I am dying today, I have so much more ability to enjoy life than I have ever had before.

I plan to do just that!

I am not going to change the crazy idea of hosting The 110 and Beyond Marathon 2065 for my 110th Birthday Celebration.

Don’t just DO something ‘impossible’ y’all, redefine impossible.

(more later)

oldmanskinandbones.com

[ this blog is going to be published now, and I am not sending it to my Proofer , www.TheCraftyProofer   Consider using her services if you need a work ‘proofed’.  She does great work, and can save you from appearing as a abuser of the English language.]

 

 

 

Friday (10-12-2018) I went for an eye examination because I am breaking up with the “readers” I have worn for 15 years.

Looked like a goofball wearing those $6 throwaways from the Dollar Store.

Why did I tolerate that for so long?

Sometime around 2003, I had Lasik surgery, and about a week later I started carrying readers.

A few months later I started using the strap around my neck to hold the readers so I wouldn’t have to fumble for them in my pocket or wonder where I left them.

I have been looking goofy with those around my neck ever since.

Just the other day, my youngest son was giving me some pointers on grooming a beard, and he commented mine may be getting roughed up on the sides because of the strap holding the readers.

I can recall the interview I did with Fatmanrants.com CLICK HERE to see my interview on EXCUSE SMASHERS with Fatmanrants.com

Those readers were more obnoxious than me slapping the table throughout the interview.

Ray! Ray! Ray!  Toss the READERS! OMG!!

At least I wasn’t “wind sucking.”

Point is… while getting the exam, the doctor showed me how I probably should have had a prescription 14 years ago.

But you know what?

I was content in thinking I would never need prescription glasses again, so I “blindly” wore those ugly things and always had a spare pair of $6 readers in the glove box or locker at work.

In fact, the last straps I bought were a bulk supply of 36.

Why did I accept this insanity for so long?

Well, yesterday I decided as soon as I completed my run of 13.13 miles, (new PR!)

 (yeah, I’m bragging)

that I would drive to Fort Worth and get prescription glasses.

I giggled like a little child seeing correctly for the first time after all these years.

I wonder what are the other areas where I continue to enslave myself with misinformed thoughts, or “half-truths”?

I am so careful to not consume newspapers, network news shows (Newspeak!), or popular culture.  I have not watched the local “news” for years… it is all CRAP!

Yet I still find myself a slave to thoughts and beliefs that are not true nor healthy on many levels.

I mean, it has not been that long since I believed eating a Snickers candy bar and having a Diet Coke was a way to “get protein” and be healthy at the same time…

Really.

(Insert facepalm here.)

My desire is to seek truth, and bask in the confidence that I am not dwelling in lies, deceptions, and half-truths.

I want to SEE TRUTH correctly.

Looks like when I pick up the new glasses this afternoon, at least I can see this physical world much better than it has been seen for the last 15 years.

Now, if I can just keep a “corrected” view of everything else, that will be a good thing!

oldmanskinandbones.com

[This blog has been proofread by www.thecraftyproofer.com  Check out her work!  She can save lots of embarrassing errors in your writings… !!]

I have never had Military Training, but I have read the Book ” ON COMBAT: The Psychology on Deadly Conflict in War and In Peace” by Dave Grossman.

In the book, he describes two types of people….

#1. SHEEP

#2. Sheep Dog

I am a Sheep Dog.

Really, not bragging, nor grandstanding.

I have run ‘into the fire’ to save some dogs chained to a building on fire.

Really, it is no big deal…. it is just the way I am made.

I will without thinking run towards the gun fire, into the building on fire, or the scene of a crash.

Someone needs help.

I can help.

If there are cuts or blood, I will pass out, or throw up after the event is over, but I will be there in the ‘heat of the battle’.

October 6, 2018 at 6 am, I and my son Joshua began participating in a 100 Mile 6 Man Relay in the Children of the Cane Ultra Event in Port Allen Louisiana.

This event completed almost 24 hours later for our 6 Man Team.

The youngest Team Member was 24 years old.

A couple of the fellows were maybe 35-39 ish…. ( I think that may be a little young for them, but I want to be ‘kind’ here…)

The others were 25-29 ish.

I am 63.

My first ‘leg’ to run was 10 Miles in the heat of the day, and had a Thunderstorm about half way through that stung with sideways rain that blew under the Metal Gazebo while accompanied with Lightening strikes all around. ( this ‘map’ is the entire course…)

After that Storm passed, I shared the narrow mud packed road with Sugar Cane Harvesting Monster Equipment ‘fishtailing’ and throwing mud as they continued with the gathering of the Sugar Cane.

I deferred to their passing back and forth at ‘high speeds’ because in spite of being a pedestrian, I was also an unwelcome distraction to their employment.

 ( the wheels were almost as tall as I was…)

I was probably a issue with their companies Insurance Policy.  I am not sure.

I did not want to become a ‘part of the harvest’.

 (this is a ‘clump’ of mud thrown off the wheels of the Harvesting Vehicles as they passed to and fro after the Storm.  It reached almost my knee ‘in height’, but remember, I am only 5’8”…)

I did return to the starting point, and ‘hand the baton’ as it were, to Joshua my youngest son.

Later that night, no, early the next morning at about 2 am, Joshua and I met on a Levee on the Mississippi River, after he completed 8.5 miles with the River on one side of the route going out, and coming back, where he ‘handed the baton’ to me, and I completed my last 6 mile ‘leg’ of the Relay, and then ‘pass the baton’ to Brandon to complete the 13th and final ‘leg’ of the 100 Mile Relay.

 ( look close… that is me on the left in an orange shirt, and Josh is on the right in a white shirt.  This picture was taken at waters edge on the RIVER SIDE of the Levee.  The ‘black bottom’ of the picture is the actual Levee, the gray ‘top’ of the picture is the night sky….)

I made my last ‘leg’ ok…

Even though I was met on top of the levee ‘one way’ path by a vehicle coming at me,

… got lost as soon as I was down the side of the levee,

recovered to get ON the Rail Road Tracks for a number of miles and not find a Train coming at, nor behind me,

run through totally dark Sugar Cane Fields …

… on dirt/mud path ways while trying to find direction flags the size of a book of Matches, that were not driven over during the day by the Monster Harvesting Machines during the day,

I was glad the reminders that I was in a Sugar Cane Field, or else, I might have forgotten….

go onto another set of ‘LIVE’ Train Tracks that included this stretch two bridges with a stream running under the tracks…

  (see my foot on the bottom of the pic?)

… then see my direction flags tell me to enter a pathway that looked like a entrance to a HORROR MOVIE set so short, I had to bend over to go through.

That was to spookiest yardage of the entire event.

The entire time, i was ‘hearing’  Jim Stafford’s song ‘I DON’T LIKE SPIDERS and SNAKES’ in my mind….

Some have shook their head and said I am too old to have done this, and that am crazy for putting myself into these ‘several’ CRAZY situations.

They may have reason to be justified on the issue of CRAZY, but I take Issue with the ‘too old’ thing.

Old is something in the thoughts that ‘run’ through the mind.

I dispel those thoughts.

Since my ‘wake up call’ in September/October 2015 with the Heart Attack I have studied these and other issues like ‘NUTRITION’ and a lot of Science surrounding this expanding field of Human Knowledge.

It has been, and continues to be a game changer.

I will not do anything to myself to contribute to ‘getting old’.

I may be CRAZY, but I am not STUPID.

I do not want to be ignorant either.

When the day comes, that I do die, I DO NOT want to look back, and discover that…WOW!!  I COULD HAVE DONE ALL THOSE THINGS!!??

I want to look back and grin, and say WOW!! Look at all that neat stuff I DID in these last years of my physical life on this earth!!  MAN was it FUN!!

Was COTC 2018 dangerous, was it crazy, was it off the charts??!!

Yep, it was. I hope it will be next year.

 (waiting for Josh to come back, and hand me the race)

I will be back to Children of the Cane Ultra in 2019.

At this time I am looking at the FIFTY K Run… and I hear some voice saying, ”Ray, what about that other event…”.

Did I hear …. ‘that’?

Hang on folks, cause we gonna find out!

Peace out Brothers!

Run Bold, and You Don’t EVER have tocount calories, nor ever have to measure protein, and DAMNED SURE NEVER FEAR a CARB!

I burn CArbs … i DON’T fear them.

Carbs are MY BITCHES.

oldmanskinandbones.com

(This Blog was not proofed by www.thecraftyproofer …. I am publishing without her gracious ‘proofing’ of my errors….

…. but if you need PROOFING work done for your things, CHECK OUT HER SERVICES !  She is the best!)