Danger. Fewer snacks

Literally, tonnes of useless snack foods line grocery store shelves in London.

I will eat fewer of them in 2014. However, a bowl of fingerlings (cold and crisp) will not be turned away.

Eat home-made

Photos GH

Danger. "Eat home-made"

I know there is a lot of sugar, salt, fat, other 'hard-to-pronounce' adulterations and foreign objects in North American food.

However, I feel I can't go far wrong when eating my wife's home-made soup.

Yup, I can live on the stuff.

Link to Danger. Sugar.

PS I'm reading Ch. 1 of Sugar Blues (from 1975) and already would recommend it to others. Do you like rummaging through used book stores?

Photos by GH

Danger. Sugar.

I think it's because I've been going to The Centre regularly lately. I think it's because I'm thinking about what I shove into my mouth after a workout.

I'm thinking, the workout was good for me, but is this plate of food? And can I drink this coffee without the sugar, just with a bit of milk?

Sugar is everywhere (it is even in our salt) so if I cut out a bit here and there - exert some control - I bet I'll soon make a habit of positive change.

I think I would be wise to read a bit about refined sugar. SUGAR BLUES by William Dufty is on my list to read. Even the back cover has got me interested.

Photos by GH.

Link to Danger. Sausages.

Danger. Sausages.

I would like sausages and eggs for breakfast, with a side of toast and jam, but I've looked at my schedule for the morning and 'chopping trees' or 'strenuous physical labour' does not appear.

So, I conclude porridge will be better for me than a big breakfast.

Homemade is best, in my humble opinion, sans two scoops of brown sugar as in my deep 'paperboy' past.

Do you make your own? Did you go for a big breakfast this morning?

Photos by GH

More Danger

Danger. Pie.

Pat was out of the house at lunchtime. Red flag.

I'm not teaching Phys. Ed., walking to work, chopping trees, or running marathons regularly now that I'm retired. But I still eat as if I'm a younger, busier man. A simple lunch hour can therefore be dangerous, especially if one of Pat's pies is sitting out in the open... unguarded.

Better get busy, make a healthy lunch, I said. Not rely on pie.

Had leftover soup with extra turnip. I do like my root vegetables, so I should go with that this week. Less meat, sugar, salt, cheese, pie. More roots.

I think I'll make a list with two headings to start. Good choices. Not so good choices. Because I'd like to get back to running weight within two years.

["I'm not over 170, but I feel like it"]

Photos by GH.
Sketch from Gord's iPad

More Gord's Journal

I nailed it!

I remember the moment well. I was holding a few small bits of wood together with one hand and lining up the brad nailer with the other. I pulled the trigger.

 ["Handle with care. Little bits can make a fine birdhouse"]

Stooosh. Compressed air rushed through the nailer. Shtunk. A thin nail, travelling almost at the speed of light, hit another nail inside one of the bits of wood and immediately turned left. Sting. I yelped and jerked my thumb back. Spurt. Bright red blood that I preferred to remain inside my body squirted from a painful thumb wound. (The thin brad nail had penetrated the top of my thumb and hit the back of my thumb nail).

"Stink!!" I cried.

Fortunately, I had a bottle of beer cooling off in a small pail of snow so I removed the bottle and stuck my hand into the pail, then finished nailing the bits together with my good hand. When the thumb stopped bleeding I bandaged the wound with dry wall paper and red duct tape.

["I now keep snowproof adhesive tape in the shop"]

Dr. Kindale, relax. The snow was 95% sterile, the duct tape was 95% waterproof, and now - here it is several days later - the thumb nail is no longer black and works at 95% efficiency. I don't think the medical profession could beat those results.

Photos by GH 

***

Watch out for blood spatter.

Please click here to read 'a contest I could win'

Fun and Fitness: DIY Juice

Old habits die hard, it's true, and some that my wife and I practice fall under the heading of 'don't throw anything out'.

E.g., I rescue odd bits of lumber from the curb and friends' garages and she saves vegetable juice from the steamer. As well, in a self-sustaining, reciprocative fashion that has developed over our 43 years together, she admires the birdhouses I make from scrap wood and I enjoy drinking her veggie juice as a morning tonic.

["It's a healthy thing to do, and I'm fitter for it"]   

I occasionally mix a small dash of Cranberry juice to the steamed veggie juice (I love the humble cranberry!), though I can handle it straight from the jar. I'm particularly fond of broccoli juice. 

While I'm sipping it, thoughts run through my mind, some of which may even be true:

I bet a lot of people pour vitamins straight down the drain

Veggie juice has gotta be healthier than many manufactured juices

This will help me reach my goal age - 87

Hmm. Tastes good. After breakfast I'll go for a 30-mile run

Okay, that last one was just for laughs, but a bike ride isn't out of the question. I've already got a good start to the week, exercise-bike-wise, and I've got a good book to read while pedalling.

["I've travelled over 75 miles already this week!"]

Drink your vegetables. Stay healthy.

Photos by GH

***

Please click here for more Fun and Fitness

Fun and Fitness: “I’m in a war against ounces”

I covered 136 miles last week (36 more than my goal), for the most part pedalling hard to win the war against the bulge, against the ounces that are easier to put on than take off - especially at my advanced age. 

By so doing I hit another goal as well, i.e., I didn’t look like the second oldest guy on the ice while playing hockey last Wednesday.

The book entitled ‘The Day We Went to War’ is a very good read and motivated me to hop on the exercise bike four times last week. I turn pages almost unaware I’m turning the my bike’s pedals.

[Photos by G.Harrison] 

***

Do you ride an exercise bike? How far?

Please click here to read more Fun and Fitness

  

Fun and Fitness: Approaching a new New Record

For the last week or two I’ve been reading two good books while riding my exercise bike so the miles have been adding up quite nicely.

Between June 6 - 12 I completed 110 miles, 10 more than my weekly goal, and my extra miles (collected over the last 3 years or more) then totaled 379.


I dropped two miles the following week. I was probably tired after sucking back tons of fresh air after a motorcycle ride on June 19. 15 miles. So sad.


However, I set a new New Record tonight. With 97 miles already behind me this week, I just finished a quick 20 mile ride, bringing my extra mile total to 394. NR. So sweet.

In a million years you’ll never guess what book I was reading while sweating it out tonight. It was a used book re the 200 - year old history of garbage collection in New York City. Fresh Kills Mountain, a pile so big it was visible from space and was the tallest mound on the eastern seaboard for many years, is world famous. And it stunk to high heaven.


[“Fresh Kills - on a good day”: photo link]

On a clear day people living in the Bronx could see the stuff they threw out just the week before.

“Hey, there’s my old shoes. Alice! Who said you could throw them out?”

Fun and fitness and Fresh Kills. They go together? Yup.

***

Please click here for something else with a bad smell.

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Live Small and Prosper: PT 3 London - The Healthier City

[“We are raising the future generation of hospital patients,” he said, referring to alarming childhood obesity trends. “We need to turn our cities into exercise machines.” Avi Friedman, architect and urban thinker, June 2, The Londoner]

I think the culture of big will slow London’s progress toward becoming a healthier city, in more ways than one.
As fuel prices rise, our spread-out city, our mega-malls, our mega-car-lifestyle (“A lifestyle where cars are used to get absolutely everywhere” Friedman) will hang around London’s waist like a dead weight, just as the extra 15 pounds I’ve added since hanging up my long-distance sneakers in 2007 keep me from hopping off my front steps and stepping right into a half- or full-marathon program today.

When Friedman addressed planners, politicians and students at the Coldstream Community Centre in Middlesex Centre in May, he said that “municipalities need to become more walkable,” that neighbouring municipalities need to be logically linked via bike paths “to create healthy, alternative transportation networks.” Green spaces and “beautiful parks in every nook and cranny” were rated highly as well.

What Friedman says is true. Alternative transportation corridors need to be expanded in London to prevent future health care problems and costs.

However, in my mind, the culture of big has extended its grip to shape more than our short-sighted transportation choices and affect more than related health care costs. It affects just about every aspect of our lives.

Our Big Basics include...

Food - mega-agricultural systems and promotion industries affect most components of our food supply. Poor food choices cause heavier weights as well

Clothing - the mega-fashion and apparel (and promotion) industries have encouraged many to grow walk-in closets to the size of dining rooms

Homes - developers have grown the sq.-footage of the average home over the years. Furnishings now cost $35,000 or more per house. Home owner debt is at a record high.

Our Big Wants include a growing thirst for the following, and more...

Transportation - “People now spend an average of five years of their lives driving and installing fridges and televisions in SUVs to enable a lifestyle where cars are used to get absolutely everywhere.” Avi Friedman


["Londoners once travelled to the Crystal Palace by electric tram": photo link]

Communication - connectivity devices abound with endless applications and real and imagined benefits

Recreation - opportunities abound. Entertainment sections of many local papers outweigh world, business and environmental news combined

In just about every aspect of our lives, the culture of big possesses a strong grip, but is also linked to dire consequences for present-day and future generations, and for our natural surroundings or environment, as CO2 emissions rise from excessive industrialization and contribute to global warming.

One might ask, “Are we eating ourselves to death? Are we entertaining ourselves into oblivion?”

Yes, quite possibly. At the very least, the culture of big in all its forms is not necessarily making us, our cities and surroundings any healthier. And it’s more of a progress-buster than 15 pounds of excessive weight around a waist.

What measures can a city take to grow healthier?

Let me think about that.

***

Please click here to read PT 2 London - The Healthier City.

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Live Small and Prosper: London - The Healthier City

[“If we want to mitigate massive health costs that will be incurred by the growing population of long-living seniors, we have to start designing healthier cities and towns.” Architect and urban thinker Avi Friedman, June 2, The Londoner]

London, Ontario is a healthy city.

As well, it’s a low, flat city when viewed from the fifth floor of Victoria Hospital. It is more Deforest City than The Forest City. But it has a basketful of things going for it that project an overall healthy image in the minds of many.


["The mighty Thames flows through London": photo GH]

That it could be healthier, I have no doubt. I could be healthier too - thumbs up at my last physical - if I took up a more rigorous exercise routine, but that’s another story.

London could be a healthier city, and should make an effort to become one, to “mitigate massive health costs” and for a variety of other reasons.

I’m happy to live in a healthy city, just as I’m delighted the family doctor patted me on the head after my last physical examination. (I took it to mean I’m ‘good’ for another 30 years or at least until the next time I have to strip down in cramped quarters).

And I’d be more than happy to see or sense that Deforest City is making the effort to become a healthier city, for the short- and long-term, for this generation and the ones coming after we slip, on gossamer wings, from this mortal coil.

What ideas, ideals, and initiatives would propel us toward ‘healthier’?

More to follow.

***

Ideas, ideals, and initiatives... got any?

Please click here for Deforest City Blues.

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Austerity without Anxiety: Maybe it’s because I’m retired

Two clotheslines stretch across my back deck and if you ever come to visit, remember to duck. Especially if my hockey shin pads are on the line. You’ll get quite the whack on the forehead!


Even in the winter, I hang up my clothes to dry. (I have three lines in the basement for rainy day or cold weather). I don’t ever think about using the electric dryer. Maybe it’s because I’m retired and have the extra 10 minutes it takes to hang up my clothes.

Maybe it’s because ‘hanging up’ is in my genes. My mother’s line stretched from the back door of the house to the barn and, as a teen, I got used to retrieving and thawing out my jeans before school started during winter months.


["Clean, and not frozen.": photo and cartoon by GH]

Whatever the case, using lines is a healthy habit, saves me more than pennies a day (the electric dryer is one of North America’s greediest home hydro users, and one of the easiest to avoid) and by the time my clothes are dry most of the wrinkles are gone.

Iron? What’s an iron?

***

Please click here to read more Austerity without Anxiety.

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Fun and Fitness: “What do you do with the extra miles?”

I used to say, “I want to live until I’m 87.” But I’ve been doing so well riding 100-plus miles per week on my exercise bike and collecting ‘extra’ miles (375 - that’s an NR, new record), I think I can upgrade that comment.


Here goes: I want to live until I’m 90 years old. That gives me 5 years of gravy.

(Definition - gravy: If I live until I’m 85 I will draw my pension for as many years as I contributed to it. Every year past that is ‘gravy.’ : ) Thick beef gravy.)

Recently I was asked, “What do you do with the extra miles?”

Good question. And the answer is... not much. If I’m away for the weekend, don’t get in my last ride or two of the week and complete less than 100 miles, I subtract the difference from the extra miles and remind myself that it’s okay to miss 100 every once in awhile. So, the extra miles act as a bank. When I’m short on miles I make a withdrawal.

The question got me thinking. Since I’m collecting extra miles so often, perhaps I should raise my goal to 110 miles per week. I’m already doing it now, but can I do it for the next two years?

Or until I’m 90?

***

Please click here for more Fun and Fitness.

http://itstrikesmefunny.blogspot.com/2011/05/fun-and-fitness-playing-on-big-rink-fun.html

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Live Small and Prosper: Gord’s Frontier Stew is a winner PT 2

[Consumers will eventually feel the impact of a 40% rise in basic agricultural commodities in the past year. “That will work its way down to the grocery stores...” Apr. 8, London Free Press]

I pay less than 10 cents for a large mug of coffee.

And that includes milk and sugar and 15 seconds of ‘silly dance’ as the caffeine enters my system whilst I stand at the kitchen counter.

I pay less than 20 cents for a healthy bowl of homemade breakfast cereal.

And that includes diced banana on top. Gotta have my diced banana. It also powers the silly dance.

But what do I pay per serving for my ever-popular Frontier Stew?

I can fairly accurately determine the cost of my latest batch. I bought a few supplies for $13.70 and added supplies I already had at home.


The $13.70 covered a can of peas, can of corn, two cans of maple-flavoured beans, two cans of five-bean medley, one Spanish onion and a boneless pork rib roast ($5.32 @ $4.49/kg; on sale). These supplies were halved ($6.85) in order to make two batches of slow-cooker stew.

From ‘on-hand’ supplies I added half a bottle of dark ale ($0.65), 3/4 cup of red wine ($1.00), seven potatoes ($1.00) and five carrots ($1.00) to each batch. ($3.65)

Total cost of one full, large pot of slow cooker stew (enough to fill two large casserole dishes) - $10.50.


["Delicious stew and photos by GH"]

Cost per serving varies, of course, depending on my appetite, but (and I’ll be honest) I’ll easily get a dozen or more meals from each batch. And when I compare my stew to even the cheapest restaurant or fast food offerings, I have to say (and I’ll be honest), Frontier Stew is cheaper - AWESOMER!

Every other day the media will announce that hard times are coming, grocery-, mortgage-, taxes-, and lifestyle-wise. I also proclaim - regularly - “reduce spending, pay down debt, save money for the tough times ahead” because I know (I’ll be honest here) they are coming.

However, here in North America we are a very capable, creative bunch. We know how to shop for deals (Oh, do we ever know how to shop!), we know our way around a kitchen, which is the most expensive and under-used room in most new houses. A little more self-reliance won’t hurt any of us at all.

If higher grocery prices move us toward (for example) our own kitchens and healthier eating, I say, the sooner the better.

In the same way, if higher fuel costs drive us toward other healthier lifestyle choices (e.g., smaller homes and less furniture, smaller closets and fewer clothing items, smaller cars and fewer driving kilometers and more mass-transit, smaller meals and fewer manufactured individual servings, etc.), I say, the sooner the better.

Okay, where’s the darn spatula?

***

Please click here to read Gord’s Frontier Stew is a winner PT 1

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Bits and Pieces: PT 6 - The NHL has a ‘small’ problem

“Hockey rinks in most of the world follow the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) specifications, which is 61 metres (200 ft) × 30 metres (98 ft) with a corner radius of 4.2 metres (14 ft).” (Ice hockey rink - Wikipedia)

I’m going to come to my main point quickly today. The NHL has a ‘small’ problem related to concussions and other injuries. And the problem is... its ice surface is too small for the size and speed of the modern player.


[Pat LaFontaine: “Early in the ’93 - ’94 season he suffered a serious knee injury that kept him off the ice for a year and a half.” Celebrating the Game, A. Podnieks]

The game of organized hockey was born on the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal in 1875. The ice rink was 204 ft. x 80 ft. It had an area of 16,320 sq. ft. for nine-man teams, each player being no more than 3 ft. 9 in. tall (so I’ve heard).

The game of modern-day NHL hockey is played on an ice surface 200 ft. x 85 ft. (regulation size) with an area of 17,000 sq. ft. (a small 4.2% increase in size from 1875) for six-man teams. However, the players have grown so big and fast over the years that more concussions and injuries will be the order of the day until the puck is dropped on larger ice surfaces.

(I suggested earlier than playing with five-man teams would also reduce the risk of injury. Larger rinks would be my primary solution).


[Pat LaFontaine: “A worse injury befell him though, on October 17,1996, another date he won’t soon forget.”]

Yesterday I wrote the following:

“Today, a defenseman is 4.6% taller and 16% heavier than those in the 1960s. The increase, I’m certain, would be far greater if we went even farther back in time, to the very days when the modern size of the rink surface was born.”

Surprisingly, I proved myself wrong when I compared the height and weight of the 1930 - 31 Boston Bruins to that of today’s team. The early Bruins were a tall bunch of boys and today’s defense is only 3.3% taller. However, they are 17.8% heavier. More beef between the buns of the modern burger has something to do with that, I suppose.

Because I had the complete roster in hand for both teams, I decided to look at the overall change in height and weight over the course of 80 years, bearing in mind that the Bruins played at The Boston Gardens in the ‘30s (191 x 83 ft., or 15, 853 sq. ft., one of the smaller NHL ice surfaces) and now play at the Fleet Center on NHL regulation size ice (7.24% bigger in area).


[Pat LaFontaine: “He took an elbow to the head and suffered a serious concussion, so serious that not only did he miss almost another year but the Sabres didn’t want him back for fear of contributing to a more serious injury.”]

The average height and weight of the entire Bruin team (excluding goalies) in 1930 - 31 was 5 ft. 10.6 in. and 172.6 lb. Today’s team stands at (on average, excl. goalies) 6 ft. 1 in. and weighs in at 202.5 lb.

The Fleet Center can certainly accommodate the 3.33% increase in height of players (sure, Zdeno Chara, at 6 ft. 9 in. and 255 lb. has been known to bump into the odd door frame), but, in my opinion, the current ice size cannot easily accommodate the 17.3% increase in their overall weight. (I’m certain other NHL teams have also seen the same increases in growth. What are they eating for supper these days?)

In addition, couple the obvious increase in player size with a clear increase in the speed of the game (shifts have decreased from 2 - 3 minutes to 30 - 45 seconds in length since the 1960s) and a perfect environment has been created to see an increase in aggression, violent contact, concussions and several other injuries.


[Pat Lafontaine: “He started fresh with the New York Rangers, in ’97 - ’98, but just when things looked like everything would be fine, they weren’t.”]

The international rink has an area of 19,600 sq. ft. (15.3% bigger than an NHL regulation pad) and I propose that the NHL adopt the international rink size, as soon as possible, or go one better and build rinks of 220 ft. x 100 ft., producing a playing surface of 22,000 sq. ft., because the way players are growing and shifts are shrinking, the NHL will require the added space by 2020 or 2030.

Players with brainpans take notice. Modern NHL rinks are too small. You’ll live longer on bigger ice!


[Pat LaFontaine: “LaFontaine played 67 games (w the Rangers) and scored 23 goals, but in the 67th game he suffered another concussion. This time he called it quits...]

In my opinion, if player safety is in fact a priority with players, coaches, general managers and the league commissioner, simple tinkering with the rule book or adding a five-point plan will not be enough.

***

Please click here to read PT 5 of the same series - The NHL has a ‘small’ problem.

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Fun and Fitness: “Brilliant. Roddy Doyle is on deck”

Yesterday I played hockey. I’ll write “5 miles” in my log.

Tonight I’ll ride for 25 - 35 miles on my exercise bike. For the most part, I’ll ride with a book in hand, so that fun and fitness come together and I don’t give up on the whole shootin’ match.

(Definition: shootin’ match, noun - the desire to stay fit until I’m 87. After that I’ll let myself go... a bit.)

Ian Frazier’s book is a bit of fun. I paid $5.99 at Chapters, but last time there I saw a few copies on the $2 table.


Tar Sands Showdown is definitely more serious and informs the reader about Canada’s energy policy, i.e., supply the US come Hell or high water.


This book about birds is a quick read. It’s not a picture book (re identifying one bird from another). More of a ‘all you wanted to know’ for two bucks. I’m getting my money’s worth.


I’ll have to ride many a mile to get to the bottom of the book pile (the pile in the closet is deeper), but that’s the point. When one book is done there is another waiting in the on deck circle.


Ian Frazier out. Roddy Doyle in.


I can hardly wait.

***

Please click here for more Fun and Fitness.

No, I haven’t forgotten about the ‘Funeral’ sign.

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The long road back (Pt 2) to long-distance running

I know how earn at least 100 points per week and meet my fun and fitness goals at the same time.

For example, two weeks ago I rode my exercise bike 85 miles (without even leaving the basement), played hockey (what a blast) and completed two runs (aka shuffles) and compiled 110 miles or total points.

And last week I combined riding, hockey (incl. scoring a nifty goal on a really good goalie) and running to earn 106 points.


["Anything over 100 pts. is gravy": photo GH]

I know how to keep track of my extra points over 100 as well. Yeah, I just add them up and keep a running total (I call it gravy) and over the last two years I’ve accumulated 184.5 gravy mi./pts., so I can take a day off here and there if I really want.

But I can’t always control my weekly schedule. And I missed a run last week.

Stuff comes up. People drop by. I get busy or sleepy or distracted or all three at the same time.

So, I’ve got to complete an extra run this week. I did 6 miles on Saturday so maybe I’ll follow the same route this afternoon after I spend a couple of hours in the workshop.


["I've been running a long time. The Swede can't fool me"]

Three runs in one week will give me confidence regarding my bet with The Swede.

Don’t tell him I’m doing pretty well at this stage in the long, long game.

***

And, to The Swede: Though I recently heard you’re not training and have put on a little weight, I feel you may be spreading misinformation and hiding in the bushes - getting ready to strike.

Yup, I’m onto you.

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Zoom w a View: My Morning Walk Pt 2

I was a little late getting out the door this morning for my fitness walk - I had to finish a section of yesterday’s crossword. Yes, I had to - but once I got moving on the tree-lined streets of Wortley Village all pistons fired smoothly.


I cycled 30 miles last night on the exercise bike, and play hockey this afternoon, so my exercise routine for the week is off to a good start.


Will I have extra energy on the ice and pop in a goal or two? We’ll see. If I score a good one, you’ll be the first to know.


Because of the recent rain, neighbourhood trees and flowers are looking good and healthy.


The hugging trees are two blocks from home and I always look to see if they are still fond of one another.

.

Would you be happy working in a giant garden?

As more people start shopping local for food, more people will think about becoming gardeners on organic farms or small plots of their own.

A good idea?

I think so, if the words of Daniel Hoffman’s (May 17 issue of Biz Monday) can be believed.

And I think they can. He shares his personal beliefs in a convincing manner and could easily inspire others to take a step back from eating industrial food products in order to eat better food.

“Hoffman believes organic agriculture has the ability to enrich a community on many levels, i.e., personally, socially, environmentally and economically.”

(More young people thinking about or searching for a job may like the sounds of that).

He also said, “Being able to do what I love - growing food and being outdoors while enriching the community - is what motivated me to launch my company (The Cutting Veg).”


["Put me in charge of beet greens. I'd be a happy camper"]

Okay, I really like what I do (I’m retired. How’s that for a satisfying career?), but if you don’t, maybe think about gardening or farming.

That kind of career or hobby sounds healthy to me.

***

Are you putting in a garden this year? Enjoy working outdoors?

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How can Muffets make you feel older?

I visited The Red Roaster again this morning (no surprise there, right?) and while enjoying coffee I noticed that Kendra, the owner of the cafe, was eating half of a huge cinnamon roll at a nearby table with her husband and a friend.

The KFC DD, and its affects, came to mind so I said, “Kendra is enjoying a very nutritious meal, I see.”

I was soon asked what I had had for breakfast since I seemed to be the expert around them parts.

“Muffets,” I said.

“Muffins?” asked Kendra.

“Muffets,” I said again.


["How do people not know about Muffets?": photo GAH]

By the blank stares that followed, I realized I was talking to folks who were too young to know that Muffets is the name of a breakfast cereal - a whole grain cereal made by Quaker and packed with sunny goodness.

“What’s it like?” I was asked.

Well, I mentioned a few words about shredded wheat and how Muffets taste a bit like how they look - like small round bales of hay.

More blank stares.

Gosh, I felt old.

***

Does anyone remember the best kind of all - malt-flavoured Muffets (in the brown box)?

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