I'm an Aunt Again

Tucker Christopher. Eight pounds seven ounces. My brother's first child. The rest of us can't wait to buy the little tyke toys like our children's uncle has been buying for years. You know, like the kind that talk and sing and... I remember a yodeling cow that plagued this household for years. I wonder if I can find a yodeling cow.

Saturday Nine

Here's another Saturday Nine. I don't know why it's nine instead of seven or six, but nine is a nice number. I won't be around this weekend so I'll have to return visits next week.

Saturday 9: Hot Fun in the Summertime

1. Is summer your favorite season? Why?
Yes. It's the only time I'm not cold.

2. Do you exercise more in the summer because you wear less clothing?
I exercise more in the summer because I'm not hiding under a down comforter.

3. Do you enjoy tanning or are you more concerned about the dangers of basking in the sun?
I don't enjoy tanning. I am worried about the dangers and also I can't just lay around in the sun without a book and then I'll get involved in what I'm reading and forget to turn over. Also, I have issues with my body. When it's in good enough shape that they'd want to look at it, I wouldn't be comfortable with strangers looking at it.

4. You are on the beach when a waiter appears for your drink order. What do you ask for?
If I don't have to drive home from the beach and it wouldn't bother anybody I'd like a Pina Colada.

5. Do you camp in the summertime?
Yes. Two weeks in the wilderness with just the stuff my hubby and I carry on our backs.

6. What was your favorite summer vacation as a kid?
Disney Land

7. Do you enjoy sleeping outdoors?
I prefer the tent. I don't really like to be cold. In a warmer place I wouldn't mind sleeping outdoors but it's too cold in the mountains.

8. Do you throw a summer barbecue every year?
No

9. Have you ever been to a nude beach? If yes, what did you think?
No. If I really don't want to wear a swimming suit then you can probably understand that I'd prefer not to be seen without anything. I guess visiting to look around would be okay but I'm probably not mature enough to be adult about it. I'll just stick with regular beaches.

Manic Monday: Shadow

This picture of my honey cooking freshly caught trout has some interesting shadows. I don't really like fish... but this fish is the exception. Trout cooked right after it has been caught tastes wonderful.

Saturday Nine

I'm going to try a meme called Saturday Nine. What happens is that they post nine questions HERE and you cut and paste them into a post and answer them. It's sort of like those memes you get tagged for, and I like those.

Saturday 9: Do You Think I'm Sexy?

1. Who do you think is sexy?
The safe answer here is my husband. It's true too. He's quite athletic and very good-looking. He's into long distance cycling. Not many people look good in spandex, but he does.

2. When does it become love?
When you are willing to do the difficult work of staying together even though it would be much easier to part.

3. Are you a good dancer?
Not really but I love to dance anyway.

4. What magazines do you read?
I don't spend money on magazines but I like old issues of Birds and Bloom, Reminisce, National Geographic, Newsweek... I like to read and I like pretty pictures.

5. If you could have any name, what would you call yourself?
I like my name. I like that I don't share it with too many people. If I had a choice I might have my middle name (Hazel) be my first name, even though it's odd.. mostly because it gets a little old being compared unfavorably with The Marilyn.

6. Have you ever ridden in a limo? If yes, when?
I'm sure I have but I can't remember a single instance right now.

7. What is something you really like to do?
Backpacking in the wilderness. I especially like not running into anybody other than Andy for at least a week at a time.

8. Last chance: Who wins Idol, Kris Allen or Adam Lambert?
I don't watch TV. I am aware that this makes me even stranger that you thought a minute ago. My friends seem to be rooting for Kris... I think.

9. If you had to, what animal would you choose to be?
I'd like to be a bird but a smart one, a raven or a parrot maybe. Wild though.

Dead After Dark vs. Twilight

Dead After Dark Vampires:

1. Are really dead.

2. Must sleep (or be dead in a dark place) during the day.

3. Their blood has healing properties for humans.

Twilight Vampires:

1. Don't ever sleep.

2. Sparkle in the sunlight.

3. Are venomous.

This vampire distinction service is brought to you by my total inability to come up with blogworthy posts.

WW: Soccer field near my house

The view on my afternoon walk. It's much more fun to walk past on Saturday afternoon when it is filled with athletic young men yelling in Spanish, but Mini doesn't like all the people so she's happier when it's just us. (Clicking should enbiggen the picture)

Manic Monday: Swing

I got nothing for swing. Been very busy with work and very happy to be busy too. I guess things are swinging in the sign business.

When I think of swings I think of grade school and running out the the swing set as quick as possible so that I could get the "good" one and spending the whole time pumping my legs and flying. Can't do that any more. The swings seem to have shrunk.

Looking At The Sky On Friday

More Sky Pictures at Crazy Working Mom.

Manic Monday: Pine

This is my favorite pine picture. I think that's a blue spruce and if you look on the bottom right hand, that's a wild strawberry plant. We spent a very warm day hiking uphill in heavy packs but Mini probably burned more calories than we did that day because she ran, full tilt, the whole time in a circle around us. When we stopped for a break she must have been tired. As we were getting ready to leave I looked around and didn't see her. After a moment of panic we discovered her hiding place in the only shade immediately available, a stunted little pine tree.

Pines smell nice and if you can find one with the branches high enough to get under, it's all the shelter you need from a short-lived afternoon rain shower. If you ever find yourself in an emergency situation the branches at the bottom are often stunted little things with dried out brown needles and can be broken off and used as kindling. They stay dry even when it rains so they are handy to know about. If you are cold enough that you need a fire that bad then it's probably raining or snowing and finding dry kindling could save your life.

Sourdough Pancakes

I am not a fancy cook. I have no clue how to "plate" anything and any time I see a recipe I immediately start adjusting its ingredients in ways that reduce its cost. I do like to cook though and I seem to do a lot of it. This last week there was a huge hole in my life because I cooked very little and ate nothing (I was on a juice fast and lost 10 pounds). My days tend to be filled with cooking eating and cleaning up afterward. This week I plan on making some of the recipes from NPRs "How Low Can You Go" series and on Friday I'm making Mags' bacon apple pizza. Rather than trying to ignore food I am going to try really hard to eat reasonable amounts of really good food. Good but cheap. (I did the whole week's shopping for less than $50.) Then I'll blog about it.

Here's how I broke my fast. I love these and have been looking forward to them for a week. They are thicker and fluffier than most of my pancakes and they seem to be easier to cook all the way through but you can't decide to make them on the spur of the moment. They require a bit of planning ahead. You must forgive me for not taking pictures. I was a little eager to actually eat my breakfast.

Starter
Ingredients:
1 tsp yeast
2 cups white flour
2 tblsp sugar
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 a peeled onion

Mix everything together and put into a large glass jar or similar container. Don't chop the onion. Just drop it in there. If you don't like sourdough then leave the onion out. It adds the sourdough flavor. Mags taught me that. Poke some holes in the lid or cover with a clean cloth held on with a rubber band and forget about it for a couple of days. You can then fish the onion out and throw it away.
The night before you want pancakes
Mix together the following in a bowl and cover with a cloth. Leave at room temperature overnight.
1 cup of starter
2 cups of milk
2 cups white flour (you can use some whole wheat if you like)
1 tsp salt

To make the cakes
Remove one cup of the mixture you made the night before and stir it back into the starter.
Add this to the remaining mixture:

2 eggs
3 tblsp oil
2 tsp baking soda
2 tblsp sugar

Mix. The texture will be sort of like really soggy bread dough. Scoop big spoonfuls onto a hot griddle and cook like you would regular pancakes. Serve with butter and syrup.

Detox Diets: My take

I don't know if anybody is interested but that never stopped me from posting about a topic before. You might remember, or maybe I never mentioned, that the main subject of my study as a grad student was environmental toxicology. Also, my thesis was about the way a particular toxin, B(a)P, moves through pregnant mice. Not only did that give me a very good grounding in the anatomy of the placenta but it also gave me some knowledge of the way things move around in the body.

There are two kinds of toxins; the water soluble and the lipophylic (or fat loving). The water soluble toxins are secreted in urine, or if they are really big molecules they are broken down by the liver and then secreted in the urine. That leaves the fat loving kind to stick around for a while. The liver can usually break this kind down into water soluble chemicals but often these chemicals move into the fatty tissues before the liver gets a crack at them. Excess fat soluble vitamins may hang out there too.

So, do detox diets like the Master Cleanser work? Sure they do. Any diet that causes you to lose fat will cause the stored toxins in your body to enter your blood stream where your liver can get at them and you cat get rid of them, but this isn't always the desirable outcome.

There are a lot of reasons to lose weight but those toxins hanging out in your fat tissue are not one of them. As long as the pesticides and carcinogens are trapped in your fat they aren't causing reactions in your tissues. In fact, if you aren't dangerously overweight and you're constitution is otherwise delicate, you might be better off not losing weight. I don't know what the recommendations are now but when I was a student authorities were recommending that elderly people that weren't obese not lose weight. Letting loose all those pesticides and other nasty things that had been accumulating for decades didn't sound like a good idea.

I know that lots of people will disagree with me and I am losing weight myself right now so I do agree that most of the time excess weight is more evil that the toxins. I just wanted to share my take on this.