I Found Them!

I mentioned the pumpkin seeds we used to get when we were kids--we often got them in our multiple full pillowcases of Halloween candy, too. I just remembered the red package and the Indian head with full headdress. Out of curiosity I thought I'd do a Google search. You can find just about anything these days. They apparently still make these things. They come from a company called Zenobia and are called Indian Pumpkin Seeds (I wonder how they came up with that name?).

If you feel compelled to try the most addictive pumpkin seeds ever made, try this link for Indian Brand Pumpkin Seeds. 

Pumpkin Seeds!

After carving up our Halloween pumpkin I gathered up and rinsed the seeds and prepared them for roasting. Since we were having spaghetti squash for dinner, I gathered those up, too. Rinsed and seasoned with King of the Q Bonedust Barbecue seasoning powder, I spread them on a baking sheet and popped them into a 250 degree oven. Bake for a while, flip 'em around a bit with a spatula, bake, flip 'em around, bake, etc. Delicious!

As a kid pumpkin seeds were one of my favorite treats. I remember buying small red boxes with an indian head logo of very salty, very white pumpkin seeds. Each Halloween my dad would scoop out the seeds from our pumpkin and put them into a bowl of salty water, working the seeds between his fingers to wash away the pith of pumpkin. Back then the seeds were simply salted, but they were delicious enough to stick in my memory.

If you've never done this, you should give it a whirl. It's simple to do and the payoff is a very tasty (and healthful) snack.

New SPAM

I received a new kind of SPAM yesterday. Well, new for me. I received a text alert on my cell phone telling me that my credit card beginning 476390 has been deactivated and I had to call 888.222.8983 to reactivate my card. Of course, I don't have a card beginning with those numbers so I called Joan to make sure none of her cards started with those numbers or to see if she had a secret credit card starting with those numbers, just in case. But no. I certainly didn't call the number.

Last night I popped the phone number into Google and did a search. The number came up in a fraud reporting site. Someone received the same text on the same day from the same number; only the credit card numbers were different. I assume that when you call the number they "verify" enough of your information to end up issuing you a brand new high interest rate credit card that is chock full of fees and other money-draining "options" to "keep you safe from fraud."

The sad part is that there are probably people out there who will call the number and some of those people will foolishly give out their information and end up falling for the scam.

Can you imagine if the people who come with these scams actually used their time and skills for good?

Pepper

We have two dogs, Pepper and Bunny. They are almost 14 and 13 years old, respectively. All in all, they have been very healthy and happy pups their whole lives. Along the way, Pepper has had a few bizarre medical issues, however. There was the time, as a puppy, when she (we assume) was stung by a scorpion and her foot swelled up and caused her a lot pain. Ever since then she has had oddly positioned toe on that foot (I can't explain it either). Then there was the time she obsessively and savagely tried to get a lizard that had run into an agave plant to hide. Pepper all but shredded that plant and in the process covered her face with the caustic sap. Her faced swelled as though she had tangled with a rattlesnake, the fur came out in tufts and patches, and she had a raw and scabby face for a few weeks. Then, several months ago she suddenly dropped six or seven pounds (that's a lot for a forty-five pound animal!), started losing her hair, and had red and raw spots on her skin. No one was ever able to assign a cause to that one. She took some antibiotics, ate some special canned food for a while, and had a few baths using expensive medicated shampoo and it all suddenly cleared up and she was the same old Pepper, maybe even healthier than she had been in a while. But the other night she really scared me.

I had dozed on the couch (nothing new) and awoke to the mad scrambling sound of a dog's toenails crazily scattering along the laminate floor of Joan's office. Pepper looked just like Bambi when he first stepped onto that frozen pond. I went down the hall to see what was going on and it was immediately obvious that something was very wrong. Pepper was twitching and her head was swinging back and forth, clearly disoriented. But then I got really scared because I saw her eyes--they were rolling around in her head like marbles in a roulette wheel and just about as fast. I got her onto a small piece of carpet and she simply stood unsteadily staring at the small dresser that was about six inches from her face with her head slowly swinging side to side. She was so scared that her entire body was tense and shaking, her belly like a drum.

I tried to guide her into the bedroom so I could wake Joan up to help me figure it out. She was bouncing off the wall like a drunk, tracking to the right and stumbling, her eyes swiveling the whole time with nystagmus.

While Joan tried to calm Pepper down, I got on the internet and searched for her symptoms. I know, you should never self-diagnose. I'm sure the internet is the bane of doctors and vets the world over. But I found several websites that clearly described her symptoms to the letter: vestibular syndrome. Every site said there's really nothing to be done for it and that almost all dogs simply recover with few after effects. Some are worse than others. Pepper seemed to be getting better even as she rested in her bed once Joan got her to lie down there. I decided it was okay to wait till morning to call the vet. That may or may not be the right call, but it's the call we made this time.

When I took Pepper to the vet in the morning they agreed that it was indeed idiopathic peripheral vestibular syndrome. A big, fancy, complicated name for "we have no idea." By yesterday afternoon it looked like Pepper was about 80%. She seemed fine, energetic, and only very slightly tracking to the right with the occasional sign of unsteadiness. The vet had told me that if her symptoms persisted I could give her some Dramamine to help with the vertigo but other than that there was really nothing to be done. Fortunately, she seemed like she was going to be fine.

But then this morning she had a relapse. There was no nystagmis, but she was very unsteady, nauseous, etc. She obviously didn't feel well. I went to the store and bought the Dramamine and gave her one pill along with a Rimadyl to help with any inflammation (a potential cause is inflammation of the nerves in the inner ear). So far, four hours later, she still feels poorly. All I can do is keep an eye on her and hope for the best. It can take a few weeks for a dog to recover from this health issue and it's frustrating because there's not really anything you can do in the meantime. So we'll cross our fingers and baby her for the time being.

Yep. That's Cold

Thirty-five degrees is cold. It's colder on a bike. This morning's ride wasn't too bad at all, really. Except, you know, for my frozen eyeballs and the loss of my fingertips. And my big toes. But other than that I was pretty comfortable. There was a moment when I was going about twenty-five miles an hour and crossed over a large wash and it suddenly got really, really cold; it took a while to warm back up after that.

It's a good thing to dress appropriately. That whole thing about layers is fine and dandy if you're going on a really long ride, but if you're only going out for an hour or so who's going to stop to remove clothing? Settle on a compromise. I usually err on the side of warmth because it is long-established fact that I am a wuss when it comes to the cold. For instance, this morning, three degrees from freezing, I wore long socks, shorts, winter tights, a long sleeved under shirt, a long sleeved jersey (with hood!), a jacket, full-fingered gloves with a windstopper liner over them, and a balaclava. Sounds like overkill, but I didn't get too warm and I still had painful cold in my fingertips and toes (an issue I have, by the way).

I also have exercise induced asthma that sometimes bothers not at all and other times all but puts the kaibash on an activity. It is definitely worse when it is cold out--cold air and my lungs just don't get along. Thus the balaclava. Having that polypropylene layer over my mouth warmed my breath enough that I didn't have this issue.

I got my arse out of bet at 5:30 this morning and hit the road about 6:00. It was 35 degrees outside and I road my bike and I'm none the worse for wear. Proper clothing and a little masochism make all the difference. So get out and ride!

Cold as Hell (or What the Hell Am I Thinking?)

It's already in the 30s at midnight and I'm heading off to bed with plans of waking up at 5:30 to be on the road at 6:00 for a morning ride. I might be nuts. It's going to be very cold on a bicycle and when I go over the washes it'll be freezing.

It's a funny thing about washes. Even though they look dry they are, in reality, water ways. Sometimes water is flowing not too far below the surface. What does that have to do with anything? When you're on a bike you feel the cold. Due to the moisture found in the washes, the temperature around the wash can drop a good ten degrees or more. You feel it.

I laid out some winter riding clothes and I'll go dig out my full-finger gloves before bed. I'm already wondering what the heck I'm thinking but I suppose this actually holds true to form--I'm a glutton for punishment.

El Tour de Tucson

El Tour de Tucson is coming soon--it's less than a month away. I rode my first El Tour in 2002. That was the year after I had major neck surgery. I was cycling a lot at the time and even though my time was nothing to brag about (just shy of seven hours), it was good for me: I'm notoriously slow in just about any activity I do, always have been. I set a goal at that time that I would ride at least twenty El Tours de Tucson. I have ridden every year since then except for last year. I was underprepared and dilly dallied until it was too late to register without going bankrupt. There were also two years that I only rode the thirty-five mile event. The first year I did that it was because my two daughters rode with me. They did a great job. I was very proud of them both but maybe especially proud of Stephanie who bonked herself silly to the point where her legs were twitching like mad but still finished the ride along with her sister and me. She even made a mad dash at the end that forced Tina and I to catch up with her! I decided that year that only the full tour route would count toward my goal of twenty El Tours. The other time I rode the short route was when Joan agreed to ride with me as part of a company team--her company was one of the sponsors and several of her co-workers rode the tour as well.

Since my "retirement" I have not ridden as much as in the past. A lot of my miles came from my commute which was a minimum of thirty miles round trip. I say minimum because I had various routes that I would take and could make my daily commute as long as seventy-six miles round trip! Now I make due with weekend rides and the occasional early morning ride. I lack discipline, though, and those early morning rides are rare--I have a hard time getting out of bed at five in the morning (and it's only going to get harder as the weather gets colder).

But I'm signed up for the Tour this year and am looking forward to it. I am sure it will take me a very long time given my lack of preparation. And, unfortunately, Joan will be out of town for her mother's eightieth birthday so I won't get my mid-ride meet and greet with her. I'll also be riding my touring bike, so that's not going to make me any faster, either. But I did eighty miles a couple of Sundays ago and hope to do a hundred this Sunday. Cross your fingers,

Choke!

I just finished choking after inhaling a few drops of tea. That's what happens sometimes when a straw decides to slip from your lips before you really get the liquid flowing. I hate that feeling because it sticks around so long. I'll have this tickle in my throat for hours, I suppose. It probably doesn't help that I brewed the tea in an old sock.

An old sock?!?! Yes. An old sock.

Last night I brewed the tea for my current batch of Kmobucha. I have two jugs going so I need to brew two large batches of strong, concentrated tea. I use a half cup of loose leaf tea in about two liters of water for each batch. I have one tea "bag" that will hold that much tea. I usually put the tea in and use a rubber band to keep the cloth bag closed. I've made due with other methods in the past for the other jug but decided last night that I should have bag for it. So I grabbed an old pair of socks from the draw, cut off the foot of the sock below the heel and had a perfectly sized bag. I put the tea in, rubber banded the bag closed, and off we went. It worked like a charm. Yet another use for an old cotton sock.

For this round of Kmobucha I brewed a special blend of rooibos and pu erh teas. I like the flavor of both even though they are so different. The rooibos is light and almost fruity. The pu erh is dark and smoky and strong. Rooibos is free of caffeine and pu erh is chock full of caffeinated goodness. Sounds like a good pairing, right? Well, fortunately, it turned out to be a tasty brew and I believe it will make a delicious Kmobucha.

Today I threw both tea bags into a glass pitcher and filled it with water and brewed up a pitcher of this tea blend. For Kmobucha each pot of tea gets one cup of sugar. The little critters that make Kmobucha eat the sugar and thus the conversion process from extremely sweet tea to a more sour almost vinegary Kmobucha goodness. Well, the tea bags had some residual sugar permeated through them so this pitcher of tea is just slightly sweet. I don't normally sweeten my tea (why would you?), but this is quite tasty. 

If you're a kombucha brewer I recommend this combination!

Cold!

Yesterday it was very windy. Today the wind continues but not quite with the gusto with which it blew last night. It's 12:30pm right now and it's still in the 50s. There is actually a freeze warning for tonight. I don't like the cold. Never have. That's one of the main reasons I moved to Arizona from the bone-deep cold of northern Michigan.

I will have to cover some plants tonight, especially the small moro blood orange tree I recently planted. It is small, a few years from fruit, I suspect, but a promise there in my yard that I don't want to give up just yet. Last winter saw the demise of my photinia, which I'm still surprised by--it was a few years old, established, large, and had been doing well. At one point a tortoise had burrowed down into the roots and perhaps that exposure is what did it in. I don't know. Either way, it's gone. I have some honeysuckles that are still pretty small. I hope they make it through the winter. They should. Other than that, most things are in pots on the patio and will probably be okay. Everything else is on its own.

El Tour de Tucson is only a few weeks away and I have been hoping for decent weather. I hope this is not a sign of what's to come and rather simply a freak dip in temperatures caused by a storm in another part of the world. I hope.

Pickled Purslane

I'm sitting on the couch eating some pickled purslane. Purslane to most of us, especially my wife, is a noxious weed that persistently grows just about everywhere. Back lots, empty lots, East Coast, Midwest, right here in Arizona, and very likely your own back yard.

Purslane is quite possibly the most nutritious of the "greens" you can eat. They have the most Omega-3 fatty acids and have high levels of calcium, potassium, protein, and loads of vitamin A. It's good cooked like spinach or raw in salads. It's quite tasty.

The last couple of years have been apparently exceptional growing seasons for this plant, at least if my yard is any indicator. My back yard has been just carpeted with this plant. I ate quite a bit of it this summer even though my wife won't. I'd have to cook it separately or add it to my salads "on the side." Of course, I snuck it in a few places here and there. I put a bag of it in my freezer and I also decided to do a very simple pickling. Since I didn't know how it would turn out, I only did one jar, but I suspect I'll have a few more jars in next year's refrigerator stores.

Some people make purslane "pickles" by pickling the stems. I figured I'd just do the whole thing, leaves and all. I simply cleaned it and chopped it into reasonable sized pieces and filled the jar with it and then filled the jar with Bragg organic, raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar (enough to cover the purslane completely) and then sealed it up and stuck it in the fridge. All you need to do is leave it a couple of weeks and it's ready to much on.

I think in my next batch I will add either a little bit of sugar or some agave nectar to give it just a little more sweetness but doing so is by no means a requirement.

Next summer you should look for some purslane in the yard and give it a try. I shouldn't have to say this, but if you spray poisons everywhere for no comprehensible reason then you might want to rethink your grazing strategies, but if not, give it a try. You'll discover a delicious, nutritious surprise.

Kmobucha

I should be making the tea for my next round of Kmobucha but I didn't buy any distilled water. I'll have to go to the store today because I can't let it sit too much longer or it will get more sour than I would like. I try to always use distilled water for the initial tea brewing so that I don't have to worry about chlorine or anything else in the water affecting the SCOBY.

I have really liked the rooibos Kmobucha. The only downside to the rooibos is no caffeine!!! So I'll probably do what I did last brewing cycle, one rooibos and one pu erh. Or, thinking about it now, maybe I'll do a mix of half rooibos and half pu erh. I bet that would be good! That's what I'll do.

I would like to brew the tea this morning because it takes so long for it to cool down to room temperature and my fridge is too crowded to fit large containers of hot tea inside--besides, that would probably kick the fridge into hyperdrive and I'm not sure the old gal could handle the extra load.

There are a couple of reasons I call it Kmobucha. One, well, it's kind of cute, don't you think? Kombucha/Kmobucha, the play on my name and all. But, more practically, I simply type it that way automatically because whenever my fingers need to type the letters K, M, and O they just automatically type in that order. Again, it's that whole name thingy.

Breakfast!

Today Stephy brought a couple of nice eggs and some cheese, broccoli, and chicken diced up for a nice scramble. I had some corn tortillas so I thought I'd make the kids some small breakfast burritos--they usually like to eat those on their own.

So what's the first thing Julian does when Steph walks out the door? He, of course, reaches up to the counter and grabs the cooler bag with the eggs and stuff in it and proceeds to drop the eggs on the floor. And, of course, they both broke.

Fortunately, I just bought some eggs and was still able to make them their special breakfast--which they ate half-heartedly. But at least they ate some of it, even if I had to clap for them every time they took a bite. I also had to wash Layla's little fork several times because she kept throwing it on the floor.

I often wonder how these kids keep growing bigger and stronger when they seemingly exist on about ten calories a day. They must be getting more calories from the dirt and other things they put in their mouths they're not supposed to eat.