A Baby Girl Is A Happy Thing

     Baby Girl was back at the vet today. It wasn't planned, but somehow it was. I'll explain. I got a call yesterday confirming my appointment, which I didn't make, but it was a good idea, since I was having a lot of trouble keeping her face clean. I was aggressive with the neosporin, so the wound was good, but there was still some infection in there. They cleaned it up, took a culture and put her on an extra antibiotic. She will still have to go back on Friday to have her drain removed, and then they will reassess how things are going. They do believe that it is all a result of the surgery and that some infectious material was left inside, which is apparently not uncommon, but still kind of rare. All I know is, that this is costing me an arm and a leg, and could bury me financially if there is much more cost to this whole thing. I just want the Baby Girl to be healthy and happy. She has the happy down, and although this doesn't seem to bother her at all, she still isn't healthy. Hopefully, this will finally get her there.

     I picked the last Scotch Bonnet on the plant this morning, preparing for Taco Tuesday. There is a new pod growing though, and I'm hoping for good things. It's only one though, and will probably be the final pod until spring starts. This last one was hot though. I had left it on the plant ripe, for more than a week and probably two weeks, so it had plenty of time to simmer. The color is more orange than yellow, but still beautiful.

     Just look at that beauty. When I cut it up. I took the very tip and ate it right on the spot. I was a little disappointed, because there was no heat at all, but it had that wonderful fruity flavor. I took another small piece, and found the heat, and it was good, but still not too strong. It was more than a habanero, but not a whole lot. It wasn't until I was eating my taco salad, that I really got the heat. I no longer deseed any of these peppers. The seeds don't have any heat, but they collect some of the capsaicin oil, and I don't want any of that heat going to waste, so it all goes in now. When I got a piece of the placenta in my meal, that is when the heat hit. It gave me a real good throat burn, and my lips and tongue remained burning after my meal for about 15-20 minutes. It was wonderful. I do have photos of the taco salad when I put the peppers on, which were the scotch bonnet and the last orange habanero that I had, and then another with the cheese and tomatoes on top. The only heat that was applied to the peppers was the meat itself after I plated it. Cooking takes a little of that heat away, so this was the pure heat of the pepper on there, and I loved it.

     Yeah, Keto is restrictive and not satisfying? LOL. I don't think so. That is a full keto meal and it was delicious. Spring mix bed, with (on this occasion, pork) seasoned meat, with peppers, hand shredded aged cheddar, and sliced grape tomatoes. I know that you are drooling and that is ok. You can eat this way as well. That reminds me, I added cumin to the season mix this time, and I think it was the final piece to the puzzle. I always had it close to this packaged seasoning mixes, but it was always missing something. I thought it was the sugar. Yes, there is sugar in those taco mix packets, but it turns out, it was cumin. Just in case you want to know how to season your meat for tacos and not buy a packet of garbage, this is what I use. Salt, Black Pepper, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Paprika, Turmeric, Chili Powder, and now Cumin. I never measure this out, I just go by eye, and always seem to get it right. I go heavy on the Turmeric, Paprika, and Chili Powder, and the rest are just a healthy serving of them. It tastes just like you want it to, and there is no bad stuff in there. It's amazing.

     Speaking of my diet. I use diet in terms of what I eat and not that I'm on a diet. Remember this is a lifestyle. I was interviewed about my weight loss yesterday. It was a friend of mine that is doing a project. I'm not completely sure what the project is, but I believe it is a study on weight loss and how it affects people. She wanted people that had lost more than 30 lbs recently, and I fit that bill by losing 65 in the last 10 months. It was a great conversation, and I could legitimately talk about my journey for hours. We only spoke for 45 minutes, but it was a very freeing conversation. I've been wondering what to do with the HowUKeto YouTube channel, and this interview gave me more of an idea. I was thinking about doing a video just talking about how my life has changed, the problems that I've healed and how this whole experience has completely changed my life. We even got into some deep stuff in the interview. I'm not sure she knew about my history with depression and anxiety, but I've always been an open book about that, well once I began writing about it. I will freely talk about what I've been through, and how I'm overcoming it. We even went into the 100 Days of Discipline, and how very small changes can have an enormous impact on your life. She seemed legitimately blown away with the changes I've made, in what amounts to a short time, by making small habits into big healthy ones. That reminds me, I forgot to check in last night, so I need to go do that tonight. That is one small habit I haven't mastered. Part of that is because these habits become so routine, that you don't think of them as something you are doing for a reason, you just do them, which is really the whole goal of 100 Days. Pretty amazing how that works out.

     Ok, I'm out of here for the night. I'm discussing an idea for a pretty epic business with my buddy as I'm writing this. More on that later, it is in the dreamer phase right now, but it could be a fun niche market that would involve something we both love. I'm betting you may have figured out what it involves, but my lips are sealed until more comes of this. Peace in and goodnight.

It's All A Mess

     It's Super Bowl Sunday. You know what that means to me? Absolutely nothing. I gave up watching the NFL years ago, and it was one of the most time freeing decisions I ever made. I used to spend hours on end watching games each Sunday, and would get nothing done. Not any more. I won't go into all the reasons why I don't watch anymore, but lets just say, that I don't approve of the leagues practices. I'll be watching the new Taylor Swift documentary on Netflix while I'm working out, and be in bed by 10 PM. That's how I roll.

     This post is going to be all over the place but let's start with Baby Girl. I did end up taking her to the vet on Friday and it cost me dearly, but it is all worth it. When we got there her ear was draining fluid (blood and clear fluid), and her face was completely swollen on one side so much, that it was pulling her ear down next to her eye. She looked terrible, but it didn't seem to bother her one bit. That's the tough old yard dog in her.

     That picture was taken in the vet room waiting for the doctor. The thought what I thought it was, which was a hematoma of her ear which had gone errant. Turns out we were both wrong, but it wasn't until they took her back for treatment that they found out what it was.

      It took about 4 hours before they called me to pick her up and when I got there I was told what was really going on. It was all a result of her previous surgery that removed her ear canals. It's called an aberration. What happened was that an infection began inside the removed canal area, and created fistula that protruded from the surgical scare in her ear. She did have some fluid, but it was more swelling from inflammation due to the infection. The doctor also found necrotic tissue around the surgical scare in her ear. He removed what he could see and hoped that he got it all, but you won't know for sure until the swelling goes down. She has two drain tubes, one in her ear and one in her cheek to drain all the fluid.

     If you look close you can see the tube protruding from her cheek. She goes back this Friday to have those removed and they can get a look at how she responded to the treatment. She is doing well, but she doesn't like me going near the drains. I have to put Neosporin around the wound each day, and place a warm compress to help with the swelling. She likes neither of them, but I'm getting it done. She still doesn't really seemed bothered by it other than when I mess with it, so from that stand point, things are going great. I do need to find a way to clean her without her getting too upset. The fluid is draining down her cheek and matting her fur, so there is a metallic blood smell to it. Next warm compress, I'm going to get a little aggressive and try cleaning her cheek for her.

     With all that going on, I got a good laugh and a surprise when I came home, this next picture will tell you everything you need to know.

     Take a good look at Morty. That is how he greeted us at the door. Apparently he got into one o the garbage cans and was caught ring necked. I couldn't stop laughing about it, and he acted like it was just normal behavior for him to be walking around with the ring from the top hanging around his neck. It took some work to get it off too. He is a big ol' butthead.

     I made one last attempt at reaching out to my crush. I messaged her to make sure that she had my number, and she once again saw the message, but no reply what so ever. That's what I get for trying to have a love life. It's really just not meant to be. I get reminded of this every few years, and you think I would learn by now, but the hopeless romantic in me, just won't seem to let it go. Oh well, that is my life, or lack of it.
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     Remember that spicy chocolate I made. I believed that it was too much from most people but I really had no reference for it. My mom is not good for that, because she will try to act tough, since she is supposed to like spicy foods, but she really can't handle things that are too hot. She is good at a low habanero level, and that's not nothing, but it is way below where I am now. Being at the level of tolerance I'm at now, I don't know what is too hot for people anymore. I'm not normal. I was able to get a couple of people with normal taste buds to try it and get their reaction. My buddy stopped by to give me a few more plants (tomatoes, peppers, and herbs), and I gave him a piece. He is like me so the tolerance is way high. His wife was with him and she took a very tiny piece and basically licked it and said, "no way". I asked her if it was the bitterness or the heat, and she said it was the heat. My buddy even mentioned that it was hot. So I feel like I'm on the right track with this spicy chocolate, but I still think my buddies wife has a weird tolerant range, so I couldn't be sure. My nephew was over today, so I gave him a piece, and I know for sure what his heat levels are. One piece of the chocolate brought tears to his eyes, so I'm now full stoked that not only did I get it right, but I can get it hotter. Remember, that was only the dust from the powder that I made. If I make it with the powder, it will be insanely hot.

     That reminds me, since my buddy was stopping by, I had to get his, what I'm calling Death Salt, ready for him. I've only tasted the powder on my finger tip, so I had no idea what the salt was going to be like. This morning I was spooning the powder into the small vile with about 40% salt in it, and the dust was burning my nasal passage like crazy. I had a runny nose for 5 straight minutes and it burned. A little of the powder spilled out onto the paper towel where I had everything so I licked my finger and dabbed it up, and cleaned my finger off. It was insane how fast the burn hit my mouth. My lips were burning for a good 15-20 minutes. I still didn't try the salt. I handed it to my buddy when he got to my house and he was the first to partake. He loved it, and said it was much hotter than the moruga salt that I made and hotter than a specialty scorpion salt that his wife bought him. So, today was a stoked kind of day. The only problem is, that I don't have any more super hot peppers to dry out and experiment more with right now, but the grow season is just beginning and I have several plants out there that are going to bring record level heat. I'm real excited about that.

     Last thing, and this one is way off the rails of anything I've talked about tonight, but here it goes. I have someone that is sending me recipes for food alternatives for Keto. I appreciate it, but I don't desire trying any of these recipes at all. One of the things that I got out of Keto was my appreciation for whole foods, and eating them prepared with only spices and herbs. I have no desire to make foods that are like the old garbage processed foods that I used to eat. Yeah it is probably fantastic tasting, but so was all that fried in vegetable oil poison that I used to eat, and I worry that if I ate something that was like it, I would want to just go out and eat the old garbage, and i definitely don't want to go back to that. This also brings up my disgust in all these fake meats that are out there. I'm sure you've seen the Impossible burger at Burger King, and maybe even all the other fake meat items that are popping up on other fast food menus. I have no problem with vegans or you wanting to be vegan. I do have a huge problem with anyone saying that they are vegan and then eating meat substitutes. If you have a desire to eat something like meat, then what you really want is meat. I wanted to try the Impossible burger, before I figured all of this out, and it was around the time I was trying to figure out how to have a vegan breakfast. I wanted to have to something that was like bacon and eggs, but all that meant was that I wanted bacon and eggs. It wasn't until I began looking at things as they were. Vegetables are vegetables and shouldn't be anything but that. I did find a way to have a keto friendly vegan breakfast, but it wasn't anything that would be traditionally breakfast like.  It was more break fast like. You should know what I call my breakfast salad. It is entirely vegan and entirely keto. I of course add my moruga salt to it now, but that doesn't change what it is. I can eat that salad any time, and I have, but I normally have it as a first meal of the day. If you want to go vegan, do yourself a favor and get rid of the idea that you want to have burgers, or sausage patties, or fake bacon. Have good whole vegetables. With a little seasoning, they are amazing. I eat vegetables with just about every meal I eat now, and a lot of my meals are vegetable only, and I don't want any meat or anything that is made to have the appearance of meat. When I want meat, I eat meat, its that simple. You are only fooling yourself and setting yourself up for failure if you try to make replacements for items you used to have. I get that when you are first starting that these things will help you get over the hump, but you have to be committed to changing those desires as soon as you can, otherwise I don't think you will be able to sustain that way of eating. Take it from me, the guy that used to say that veggies were rabbit food. They are good, and you can eat them and not some processed crap that called itself plant based, but it is really lab based. I eat incredibly healthy now, and it is whole foods that aren't made to look like something they aren't, and it is amazing. Peace in and goodnight.

Then There's Maude

     I really have no idea what to write about tonight. The last couple of days have been nominal at best. Rather boring to be frank. I do have some news about Baby Girl. I'm a little worried about her. She was acting a little strange and clingy last night, and I found out why this morning. Her right ear is swollen like a hematoma, and it's spread down the side of her face. I'm keeping a close eye on it, and hoping the swelling will go down, but there is some slight bleeding going on as well. I've been cleaning it and putting a warm compress on it from time to time, to help it out. I had some left over antibiotics from before, so I gave her half a pill this morning, I'll do that each day until I think it's not improving or getting worse, then it's to the vet. She has been through so much in her life, that I only want her to be healthy. It breaks my heart seeing her this way. She seems pretty comfortable now, which is good. That could be a positive sign. I'll keep you up to date.

     I'm doing a test run for the Pepper in a can contest. I made another can added the soil mix that I plan on using and planted some poblano seeds in it from the poblanos I got for the grocer store last week. This will be awesome on two fronts if it works. I find out that my soil mix is good and ready to go for the 11th, and I get a start on a poblano plant, which will give me fresh poblanos to stuff.

     I'm excited about this contest, cause it's something I've never done before. Listen, my life is real boring now, so I got take what I can and make it exciting.

     I finally got a good picture of a pepper blossom today. I think they are so beautiful for tiny little flowers that produce pods of lethal heat. This is from the Rainforest plant. I can't remember how hot it is, but I think it's in the 100,000 SHU level. I'll have to look it up before I actually eat one. Over the last few days, this plant has exploded with buds and flowers. This one was wide open and in a good position to get a shot of it. They normally hang down, so it's difficult to get a good angle.

   That plant currently has two small pepper pods on it, so it's look like it might be prolific. There are at the very least 15 other buds forming. I'm hoping this is a tasty pepper, cause I'm going to have a bunch of them.

     I don't have any pictures of the Cherokee Purple, but I counted 25 live tomatoes on them today. That doesn't include buds and flowers. I'm going to be up to my knees in tomatoes soon, and I couldn't be happier about that. I might have to finally look up how to make salsa. I'll put my own spin on it, since I don't like cilantro and I know that is an ingredient in most salsas. Never been a fan of salsa, but maybe if I make my own, I'll love it. I'm all up for just eating the tomatoes with a little salt and pepper on them as well.

     Ok, let's talk about a couple of Netflix shows. I watched the first season of AJ and the Queen, and loved it. It was co created by RuPaul, who plays a drag queen that gets conned out of her life savings that she was going to use to open her own club. She goes on a tour to recoup some of the money and pay off the joint credit card that she had with the conman, when she finds AJ stowing away in the back. AJ is a 9 or maybe 10 year old little girl that is running away from her drug addled mom to live with her grandfather. She's foul mouthed and fantastic. You really get caught up in the blossoming relationship between AJ and Ruby Red, that's RuPaul's drag name in the show. If you want a heartwarming story with a lot of laughs, give it a try, you won't regret it.

     I started watching the 3 part of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. I love very installment of this show thus far. It's fun in the language they use since they are centered around being satanists. That means instead of "hell's bells", its "heaven's bells, and "for heaven's sake", is "for hell's sake". It just fun to see a twist in roles. That's kind of like a series of books I've read were the villain is actually the good guy, and vice versa. It's brilliant writing, and not easy to do. You have to forget yourself and write from the point of view of the character, otherwise you will naturally slip up due to your own cultural conceptions. This season, or part, Sabrina becomes the Queen of Hell as the Dark Lords heir. I'm only a couple of episodes in so far, and it's just as good as it has always been. This time it looks like the big baddy is going to be the old gods, but I'm still too early to really know what is going on. I just know that a traveling carnival is in town and they just sacrificed a guy to grow a plant that is more than likely going to end up being some superior being. I should point out, that even though the show is flipped when it comes to a religious stand point. Sabrina and her family and friends are naturally good characters. Good as in morally good. One of Sabrina's tasks as Queen of Hell is to collect damned souls. When she finds out that I kid killer keeps stalling by offering sacrifices, she out foxes him and sends him to hell to be punished in extreme ways. Once again, if you want a fun show with a cultural twist, give CAOS a try.

     Well, I think I did pretty good despite the fact that I had no idea what to write about tonight. I'll keep you updated on Baby Girl on Sunday, and maybe I'll have more to say then. I'm not expecting much to happen between now and then, but life has many unexpected changes. Peace in and goodnight.
 

Peppers, Peppers Everywhere

     I did some crazy stuff today. I really should define crazy for me. It means something unusual but not really exciting to anyone else. Anyway, I still had peppers left over that were beginning to rot, so I too all the good ones left and dried them to make more powder. I'm down to my last half a vile, so I was going to need more anyway, and with winter taking full hold, my chances of getting any more super hots before the spring was pretty slim. I'm hoping this will last hold me over.

     That is a mixture of chocolate and yellow moruga, 7 pot brain strain, and ghost peppers. I dipped my finger in it to try it out, and it's insane. Imagine putting the tip of your index finger in salt, that is how much I had on my fingertip. It burned immediately and for a long time after. I loved it. After I got as much of the powder out as I could and in a small container until I make more pepper salt, I took some cacao nibs that I have and ground those up to combine them with what pepper powder was left. I took a small taste and it was hot, but not what I was hoping for, so I added a little moruga salt as well. I took a 100% cacao dark chocolate Baker's bar and melted it down, added the spicy cacao powder to it with some monk fruit. When it was good and mixed I poured it out onto some foil to cool in the freezer. While I was waiting, I licked the spoon and was once again a little disappointed in the heat. I knew it wouldn't be as strong as the powder alone, but I was really hoping for me. Once again I feel like I need to reiterate how a jalapeño used to be way too hot for me, and now I'm chasing the burn with almost every meal. Take yesterday for example. I made bacon and eggs and almost didn't add a pepper because I was so low on them. I ended up cutting up the last habanero that I had and threw it in, it was to die for. Back to the chocolate bites. after about an hour I took it out of the freezer and cut it into bite sized pieces. While I was cutting it all up I took a small shard that broke off. It was intense. I was no longer disappointed. It hit the sinuses immediately. If I had a stuffy nose, it would have cleared it up completely. This is the time that I remind you that I haven't been sick a day since I began keto. Just saying.

     That chocolate looks innocent, but I guarantee you that most people won't be able to handle it. Despite the monk fruit that I added, it's still biter, but that is ok. Oh, should I mention that chocolate is a fermented food, and actually helps gut bacteria? Dark unsweetened chocolate can be very healthy for you. All the garbage that is sold as chocolate is bastardized so much that it loses all it's health benefits. If you can get past the bitterness, you can enjoy a treat from time to time, and if you throw some pepper powder in there, you can enjoy a treat that will slap you back.

     I made the stuffed poblanos again yesterday with what I had left from the last time. I tweaked them a bit and they came out really good. This time when I roasted them, I went the full 15 minutes. I added salt before the first roast, with a little olive oil to help it stick. Right before adding all the toppings, I salted it again, since baking and cooking cooks off some of the salt. Instead of shredding the cheese, I sliced it and laid it on top. The shreds just got lost since they melted much easier. Oh, and I added two whole, seeds and all, habaneros to the meat mix. They were out of this world good, and I can't wait to make them again.

     Those are tomatoes on top of the meat and under the cheese. Give it a try some time. Oh, The larger poblano began ripening, and it gave it a slightly sweeter flavor. It had a little heat to it, but once I had all the ingredients on, it would have completely masked it, so that's why I added the habaneros. Once again, chasing the heat. Oh yeah, this is what two whole habaneros look like chopped and ready to go. And yes, I dumped all that in the meat just before spooning it onto the peppers.

     That's the tip of a chef's knife so that you can have sense of scale. They were big habaneros too. I'm so happy that my grocery store sales them by the pound. I usually only get 4 of them and it comes out to $.54. Pretty awesome right. I hit the grocery tomorrow and I'll be getting some more. I might just try and max it out at a dollar, that will be around 8 peppers. While I'm waiting on my scotch bonnets to sprout and grow, this is what I will have to do.

    Speaking of the seedlings and plants. I still have one more scotch bonnet on the plant, with a new flower in bloom. It could grow one more pod before it goes dormant for the rest of the winter. I'm shocked it even produced another bud. That is the last one though, I don't see any others forming.

     I have a bunch of scotch bonnets the sprouted, with 5 of them popping in one peat pod. It's going to kill me to cut 4 of those back. I'll wait until the first one grows it's true leaves to trim them back. That way I know it's the strongest. I had one Plum gum and some 7 pot bubblegum sprout as well. I still have quite a few more. I thought that caramel reaper was beginning, but it was just a trick of the eye. It's only been a week, so there is plenty of time for them to still poke their heads out.

     The plants that are growing peppers are doing good, but I'm a little conference, because my Jemez dropped a tiny pepper yesterday morning. It's doing ok today, so it may just be an odd occurrence. Even my buddy lost a pod the same morning. The Rainforest which had some pods on it before my lawn man blew them off, has two pods, and a whole bunch of buds starting again. My Purple Buquinho has two flowers on it right now, and they are looking strong, while the ghost has a new flower. I'm really hoping this one pollinates and forms a pepper. It dropped all it's other flowers, but it has some new growth going. The tomato plants are going crazy with 14 tomatoes that I can find, and at least that many more flowers and buds. I'm going to have a lot of tomatoes.

     Do you know what those are? If you said strawberries that are supposed to be forming in June, then you are right. Cool right? My grandfather had a strawberry patch when I was a kid, but I was so young, I can only barely remember it, and I definitely have no memory of what they looked like in different stages of maturing. It's pretty fantastic to watch. There are 6 berries forming on it, with a few more buds coming in behind them. I still have no clue as to why it's producing fruit now, but I'm not arguing with it. I'm going to eat those berries as soon as they are ripe.

     As for the other berries, they have kind of stalled. The Blackberry bush hasn't grown in weeks, nor has it had any new foliage growth. The blueberry bush has berries forming, but it is taking forever for them to ripen. I think the strawberries will be ready long before the blueberries are, and the blueberries were forming when I got the plant months ago. The strawberries popped up in the last two weeks. Not really complaint, just perplexed. 

     I said I was going to talk about AJ and the Queen, but I'm already running pretty long, so I'll save that and part 3 of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina for Thursday. Oh, I do have a favorite song of the week. Yes, I own it's been a while since I've done that, but nothing has stood out to me lately.

     Favorite Song of the Week is from a band that got it's start during the grunge era. They are even considered the godfathers of grunge. They have consistently put out albums whether you knew it or not, and their new album which is coming out in March is being heralded as one of their best albums yet, and if they first single form it is any indication, it's going to truly be a great album. This song has brought me back to the fold. I haven't really listened to them since their third album, so it's kind of exciting that I'm enjoying them once again. The band is none other than Pearl Jam, and their new song has an old familiar sound to it, but it's not really theirs. First reviews were throwing around Bowie and Prince, but those people were wrong. It was a David but the wrong David. David Byrne is the David that Eddie is channeling in this song, and the instruments even sound like a Talking Heads song, and a really good Talking Heads song at that. See if you don't hear it when you listen to it. Here is Pearl Jam with their latest single "Dance of the Clairvoyants".

      I've been listening to that song on loop since it came out late last week. I can't get enough of it. I really hope you enjoy it. I'm calling it a night. Peace in and goodnight.

Lessons Have Been Learned

     I'm having a hard time figuring out how to write tonights post. I have a bunch of things I can talk about, but should I talk about some of them in particular. I guess the first thing which ties in with the other thing that I could talk about is well, every once in a while I'm reminded of why I can't trust most people. You know, the people that say they are going to do something and then never follow through. The first thing though is more of a lesson learned about myself, and it's a lesson that I already know, but took the calculated risk, or uncalculated, I guess it's all in how you see it. In the middle of last week I reached out to my crush. I only asked if there was any light on her schedule opening up to have that dinner date. I have yet to hear back from her. This is that lesson about putting myself out there. I knew this was a bad idea, but since it was a new year, and a new decade, I foolishly thought that maybe, just maybe a different result would arise from it. Since I sent the message through the DM of a social media app, I know that she has seen it. I would have been ok with a, "Hey nothing is opening up yet." or, "We are always busy this time of year, but I'll let you know.". The good news is, that the attitude that I took going into this, is still intact. I expected to fail so failure won't effect me. Don't get me wrong, I'm bummed, but this time, it's only on the surface. I can rub it off with a workout or 50. I didn't say it wouldn't take time. Ok, maybe I did, but not like these things have effected me in the past. I'm going to be ok.

     The other thing is basically the reason why I don't ask people for anything. They generally fail when it comes to coming through. There are very few people in my life that will actually follow through on a promise, and it is usually something that they offer up without even being asked. I will accept help, I just usually don't ask for it, because of the let down, and that small number of people are simply incredible.

     I got a text yesterday from an old friend of my mother's. They were in town and wanted to know if they could stop by. There was no way I was going to say no. Usually Sunday is wide open and they asked to come and visit on that day, so I told them any time they wanted. As usual, plans didn't go as smoothly as I wanted. Someone took my mom out for lunch today, but I made sure that they had to shorten their time with her, so that she would be back for her visit. They made it back in plenty of time, so although the plans were altered, they worked out wonderfully.

     I wouldn't tell my mom who was coming to visit. I wanted it to be a surprise, but that may have been an error on my part. She would continuously guess who it was and several times asked if it was her mother and father. She has reverted so much at times, that she doesn't know that they passed away decades ago. It's heartbreaking. If I would have thought about it, I would have just not told her someone was coming to visit at all, and just kept everything behind the scenes so that it would all come together. Despite those difficulties, it was a fantastic visit, and the surprise worked out in the end. It lifted my mom up a great deal to see old friends of hers. I could also see the confusion on their faces when my mom would misremember or make up events. Oh and when she would talk about me as her brother or as if I wasn't there. It gets awkward, but they handled it with grace. They each thanked me for taking care of my mom and wanted me to keep them up to date on how things are going with her. I will of course do that. It's always good to see my mom smile like she used to.

     On to the update about me, myself, and I. I can't tell you how great I feel after that 96 hour full body reset. My energy levels are through the roof. I'm feeling beyond healthy, and there are no side affects of my fast. I will weigh in tomorrow to see the total results of the fast. That will let me know exactly how much weight I truly lost and where I go from here. No matter what the weigh in says, I'm over the 145 lbs goal. I'm on to my 15% body fat goal. I hit 145 for 3 days straight and that is good enough for me. I know that water weight will adjust my weight and I'm not worried about that. That is why I'm all about the body fat measurement now. The scale means nothing to me. I will still grab those numbers, but they aren't the penultimate of where I am now. I did check body fat again this morning and I'm still at 16.9%. That is solid. Also, just because I hit goal, that doesn't mean I can just go out and eat anything. I did go to my favorite pizza place on Pizza Friday and had a normal pizza, but that is it. Remember I would go for a normal pizza about once a month before I started the final push to goal. Having that cheat meal won't destroy you. It is just a meal, and as long as you see it that way, you will have no worries. I don't see it as doing anything bad. I don't see it as some triumphant victory, because I ate garbage food and lived to tell about, it is simply one meal out of 14-21 I will have during the week. Does that one meal have repercussions? Absolutely, but if I just eat the way I normally do, those will be overcome in no time. I'm not correcting (punishing) myself by fasting to fix it. I'm not doing extra workouts or cardio, I'm just living. The greatest thing that I learned through this whole process is, how to have a good relationship with food. Me and food get along now, and that means a much healthier me.

     Speaking of food, this was my dinner tonight. All cooked on the grill. It's been a while since the grill has been in play. Yes, those are grass fed/finished hot dogs. I reached out to my buddy and told him I was trying to figure out how to put habaneros in with the meal, and he mentioned cutting the dogs open and stuffing the habaneros in and then melting cheese on top. It was pure genius, and those hot dogs blended beautifully with the habaneros. It was so good. I do think I should have cut the brussel sprouts in half before putting them on the grill. They were good, but a little undercooked. I diced the grape tomatoes and sprinkled moruga salt on them as well as everything else. It was spicy heat goodness all around. I really love the way I eat now, why would I ever go back to eating processed garbage food? The asparagus was perfection. I brushed a little olive oil on near  the end and then salt and pepper. The moruga salt came after plating. If you ever want an outstanding meal, and you are anywhere near me, stop by, I'll make you a meal that will blow your mind.

     Ok, now on to garden news. First picture is of the first Cherokee Purple tomato that began growing. There are 14 total on the plants that I could find, and there are at least that many flowers or buds on the plants that should all turn into more tomatoes. We are going to have a lot of tomatoes soon.

     That's about the size of a baseball right now. I think it may be nearing the end of it's going cycle and will start ripened soon. I can't wait to have a purple and red tomato.

     The next picture is the seed tray. I got some sprouts after only a week, so the top has come off and I'm hoping more and more will sprout. The big germinators are the Scotch Bonnets from my own plant. These are the seeds from that cool shaped pod. So I'm really excited about them. The rest are from the seeds that I planted in the last tray that pretty much failed. I still have 3 seedlings that have survived to this point, but I'm not holding on to hope of them lasting. I'm going to baby this tray so that they are all successful.

     Here is the new thing I'm excited about, and it involves peppers. My buddy turned me onto a new Facebook group that is a growing contest. It's called Pepper in a can. You simply grow a pepper plant in a 12 oz. can. You can grow as many as you like, but at the end of the season you can only submit one for judging. I've decide to grow 4 plants. The Berry Cream BBG, which has black leaves, The Caramel Reaper, Orange Habanero, and Scotch Bonnet. I really like the flavor the Scotch Bonnets ok. The more plants I have the better. Anyway, you have to cut the top off the cans so you can grow, so that's what I've done over the last few days. This is the result.

































     The Berry Cream is going in the black can, the Dr. Pepper gets the Caramel Reaper, the Virgils Orange soda gets the Orange Habanero, and the Pepsi gets the Bonnet. I can't plant until Feb. 11th, so I have plenty of time. I have my seeds ready, I just need to mix some soil, but I'm going to wait until it gets closer to the sowing date. This is going to be fun. I'll be growing them mostly indoors, but I'll take them outside for natural sun during sunny days. These are going to be glamour plants that will produce fruit but more than likely on a smaller scale. Kind of like a bonsai, but not really. There is a practice called bonchi, that is miniaturizing chili plants. I may do that next winter with some of the yearlings for fun. It looks really neat and it's a way to keep your plants alive during harsh winters. Not really an issue here in Florida, but it will still be fun.

     Ok, I feel like I've gone on way to long tonight, so I better cut things off here. Peace in and goodnight.

The Results Are In

     I still have about an hour and half to go before I hit 96 hours, which will be 4 solid days without food. Yeah, I went over the 84 hour mark and straight through to a full 96. Here are the results. I weighed in this morning, and I'll weigh in tomorrow morning, but I can't give you that number until Sunday. Today's weigh in, was 144 on the dot. I lost a total of 5.2 pounds this fast, and although I'm definitely hungry now, I'm feeling really good. I did measure the waist, since that will disappear when I eat, but the last measurement was at 32.5 inches. That is the measurement around the circumference of my belly botton, not down below where I wear my pants. I only took one GKI measurement and was at 1.12 yesterday evening, that put me at high therapeutic ketosis. I'm sure that I'm lower at this point, but It really isn't necessary to measure at this point. Today was a bit of a rest day, so I only did my cardio this morning.

     In a little over an hour, I'm braking my fast with my Sun Warrior Warrior Blend shake mixed with the Collagen powder. I haven't broken a fast this way, so I'm curious to see how it goes. I'll let you know how it goes on Sunday. An hour after that, I'm going to make a good meal of chicken, asparagus, cauliflower, and cherry tomatoes. It's going to be outstanding.  Oh yeah, I have pictures. The first one is the standard shot.

    I should mention that I took these just before writing this, so they are as fresh as you can get. Now the rest are the shirtless variety. A couple of shots like all those other shirtless ones, and then a few cheesy shots showing that fasting does not deplete you of muscle.

     I may look a little flat, since my body is depleted of food, but you can tell that I'm healthy and not weak and feeble like those against fasting will tell you. Ok, now for the cheesy shots. I couldn't resist.

     Yes, I'm flexing in all of them, but that is only so you can see that muscle is still there. Yes, I also have along way to go before I'm happy, but I'm very proud of the body that I now have. It took 10 months of hard work and will take many more months of that same hard work to get where I truly want to be, but I'm on the way, and these photos are proof of it. The bottom line, is Keto works, and works really well. If those photos aren't proof, I don't know what is.

     Now on to some other non sense. It was really cold today, and I may have lost a couple of seedlings because the feels like fell below freezing this morning. I won't know for sure until tomorrow, but it's not looking good. All other plants did really well, and I'm pretty happy about that.

     I decided last night, that I might want to start growing poblano peppers. I don't know why, it just struck me as something that I may want to do. I went to the grocery store today and bought 4 good sized poblanos, so that I can make stuffed poblanos for dinner tomorrow. This will help me decide if it's a good idea to grow them or not. They have a very mild heat, that is jalapeño level or less, so it might just be a nice little slightly spicy meal. Of course, I'm going to punch it up a bit. I also bought a few orange habaneros to add to the meat mix. The idea is to take ground pork, spice it up taco style, slice some tomatoes up, and then throw them in the poblanos with some grated cheese on top. I'm expecting it to be really good. Once again, I'll let you know on Sunday

    Oh, I am very aware that I'm writing this on Wednesday, and I could just update you with the normal post tomorrow, but I'm doing this one in place of the normal post and calling it a week early. You're just going to have to suck it up and enjoy what you get.

     My shoulder is killing me today, and I'm pretty sure it is the cold weather that is doing it. It was feeling 100% for a couple of days, and then over night it began hurting. It actually woke me up at one point in the night as I was rolling over. I've been doing exercises to try and strengthen the area without overdoing it, but it's hard to figure out what is going to spring it into painful action. I'll just keep dealing with it.

     Well, that's all I have for you. Oh, with my final weight goal having been obliterated, I'm moving on to my new goal of body fat percentage. That will be 15% and when I get there I'll reevaluate everything from there. I did take a body fat percentage over the last few days, and I'm getting a 16.9% reading. If that holds up, then I only have 1.9% to go. I'm pretty sure that is a much bigger number than it looks, so I have my work cut out for me. Peace in and goodnight.

There's Some Good News For A Change

     Day 3 of the fast, and I decided to go for 4 full days. That will come out to 96 hours. I woke up this morning feeling great, and during that new thing I was talking about doing, but not telling you what it is (still holding back that info for now), I extended that portion of my workout far beyond anything I've ever done, so I figured why not extend the fast for another full day. This will give me that stem cell production that I was looking for, and do it in spades. I don't feel hungry, but I do want to eat, just for the sake of eating, and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. Probably bad, since it's only a desire to eat, and not really feed myself.

     I did weigh in, and measure myself this morning. I don't expect any of these numbers to stay after I break the fast though, but one will have me at goal. I weighed in at 145.6 lbs, this morning. I expect to lose at least another pound by tomorrow. That will have me surpassing goal, which equals as a hit. That will have me moving on to the next goal, which is lean mass vs. body fat. That goal is 15% body fat. I did take a body fat measurement as well, and I pulled a 16.9% body fat reading. Getting closer every day. The last measurement was my waist, and I really don't expect this one to last due to the fact that this measurement me be skewed because my stomach is completely empty. I lost another half inch. in my waist. I'm using that measurement as more of a guide though. The WtoH ratio at that measurement is .485. That gives me a real good idea of just how much I still have to take off my waist to hit a solid .48. That probably means I need another full inch from my waist. I'm hoping to do this will gaining lean mass, which means I will lower my waist while gaining weight. I fully expect that my ideal weight and body appearance will be in the 160 lbs range. I'm going to do the so called impossible, by gaining muscle and losing fat. It can be done. I've been doing it already, I just have to take it to the next level.

     I forgot to show you this picture of the new seed pods I planted. My other tray was annihilated. Only two seedlings have survived, and they are both the Morgulah. I'm happy about that, but disappointed about losing the rest.

     The left is the plan, while the right is the finished product. I'm going to be extra cautious this time around and ladle these pods with kid gloves. I want them all to germinate and grow true leaves before I do anything with them. I may even keep them inside the whole winter, to make sure they are hearty before I put them outside. I know we have some cold days in front of us.

     This morning was the coldest day of the year so far (43 degrees here) and I was outside at 4:45 in the morning with no shirt on doing that portion of my workout that I'm not talking about. A couple of reasons for this. The first is, that's how I've been doing it since the beginning and see no reason to really change that, and second, there are incredible benefits to working out in the cold. You know how you see people doing those cryogenic pods? Well they are doing that because cold activates your brown fat. It makes it start it's shiver affect and you actually burn fat, so when I'm doing my workout in 43 degree weather with a windchill that makes it feel like 35 degrees, I'm all in on the fat burning. This is on top of the massive fat burning effort the my body is already going through by feeding off my fat while fasting. It's a good old fashioned double whammy.

     The moms had a doctor appointment this morning. It was her quarterly check up and it went really well. The doctor does want her to eat more, which I want as well. Sometimes she can get distracted while eating and decide that she is done. There is also the fact that she eats like a little kid now, and gets grumpy if there are vegetables on the plate. With that, let's get to the negative part of the visit. The doctor informed me that medicine is not an option for her dementia. She is too far along the medication won't do anything for her. He mentioned that her mental activity is that of a 5 year old, which is probably right based on what I see. She does have her moments, but her comprehension level is far below what she used to be. We had this discussion in front of her (which I hate), and she didn't understand a single thing we were talking about. She asked me to explain it to her as we were walking out of the doctors office. I did in a way that was positive. I told her that she has dementia which means that she forgets things from time to time. She was ok with that, and even agreed with it. Now for the good. Despite him wanting her to eat more, because her weight was down to 114.6 which was 20 lbs less than two years ago, he said everything was great. Her BP was outstanding, and he mentioned something that blew me away. My mom has A-Fib. If you don't know, it means he has a leaking heart valve. He said today when he was listening to her heart, that she had normal rhythm and the swoosh of the A-Fib was barely noticeable. That shocked me, like you wouldn't believe. I'm really looking forward to her going back to her heart doctor in April now, so I can hear what he has to say. How great would it be if the diet she is on, is actually healing her heart? Wouldn't that be crazy?

     That is all I have for tonight. My body is starting to wind down, due to lack of sustenance, so I'm going to take it easy, and get ready for my last day of the fast which is tomorrow. I'll be breaking fast at 6:33 tomorrow which will make it a full 96 hours. That will set my PR for fasting, and I'm pretty excited about that. Peace in and goodnight.