Got the keys for my new house a couple weeks ago, and then started an extended shut-down at work last week.
After about 9 years of six-day work weeks, I am ready to just chill at the new house for a few months. There is a lot of work to do on the place, but I have plenty of time now to do it.
Life is good, despite the fact that we won't be racing this year.
Everything is going to E36 M3 but we finally got perfect weather. It may sound odd but Manhattan is beautiful this time of year and working outside in it is one of the few things I still get to enjoy.
Told the 3.5 and 2 year old kids that if they helped me pick up all the sticks in the yard on saturday we would roast marshmallows saturday night. (It worked really well).
Today I walked the kids to school in the beautiful weather and ate 3 fried eggs with leftover bacon with a little goat cheese and capers on top for breakfast. Feeling mighty thankful for all I have right now.
Since moving into our house 4 years ago, I've been battling 'carpenter'/wood bees that like to swiss-cheese the beams on our deck & wood fence. I'd had the materials to build a wood bee trap for several years but it had never been enough of a priority to actually build one- so at the end of the summer last year I broke down and just ordered one online and put it up. Unsurprisingly, I didn't catch anything in it last year, and hadn't seen it be very effective this year.
Until I walked out onto the deck on Saturday morning and saw that there were four wood bees angrily buzzing around and alternating attacking each other and trying (unsuccessfully) to get out of the bottle on the trap. By the end of the day, three more of the destructive buggers had ended up in the trap- the instructions had apparently been quite right that it was most effective with a bee (live or dead) already in the bottle to attract others. After dumping all but one of them into another bottle and spraying them with bug spray (leaving one bee in the trap), I moved the trap to the other side of the yard where I knew there were more of them, and yesterday it picked up 3 more bees, meaning it removed 10 wood bees from the yard in one weekend- more than I've managed to take out with sprays/electric tennis racket/shovels in the last 4 years. So, money for once well spent.
My 10 year old son is into cars all of a sudden. He is the middle child and there have been times that is has felt difficult to connect with him but one of the great joys is seeing him be passionate about something we both have in common. This weekend at Mid Ohio was more fun than I imagined being able to share it with him.
I had an old couch in the finished room over my garage. It's been up there for about 12 years and it's time for it to go. It's one of those couches with the two recliners built into the ends. It's enormously heavy and was a nightmare to get up there.
Instead of waiting for my brother to come by after work and help me bring it down, I used a Sawzall to cut it into three pieces and carried it down myself.
School's winding down, classes are over, graduation is this Saturday.
I've had more than a few students stop by to say thank you and/or good bye.
I'm a little sad to see them go.
Note: I started to post this in minor Confessions, but decided it definitely belongs in the "Win" category. 
Finally got the 2.5" exhaust I wanted from MandrexExhaustSystems.com, welded the hangers, welded the A'pexi WS2 muffler including a 2.5 to 3 inch reducer and it hangs how I wanted and sounds so good. My first time "building" an exhaust and I'm still very new at welding so I'm quite proud of myself. Renewed enthusiasm for the MX-6 GT project too!
Spring has finally sprung around here and with that the lawnmower must be brought back to life for the season. My trusty weapon that I have never really taken care of for over 20 years started on the first pull. I feel bad for not being nicer to it but am afraid to change now, it might break it. So I will continue to check the oil and clean the air filter occasionally and see how much lo ger it will survive.
Trying not to count this chicken until it’s hatched but a guy is driving 3 hours tomorrow to trade his ecotec swapped NB for my V8 powered NA. This may not sound like a great thing but the V8 is too much for the current suspension on the NA and it needs more sorting out than I care to give it. This just gives me a nice autocross toy/DD and some cash. Winning.
Delay in the swap, his dads trailer had two flat tires when he went to pick it up. Should be next Saturday.
OTOH, while chilling out and working on the Suzuki (HG replacement), a dude actually showed up and bought an old set of wheels for a VW that i’ve had for a few years and for sale with no interest fo probably half that. Paid me my asking price in hundreds and was excited to have them.
Then got a phone call to give a stump grinding estimate. Started at $140 and they kept adding things till it was a $300 job which I did in 3 hours.
Profitable Saturday.
In reply to Woody :
I fought a couch into my basement once - a lot of work as it was really tight. I used a circular saw to get into smaller pieces to get out the door.
Today I have an old Wurlitzer organ that weighs a LOT and only partially works - it's coming out in pieces too.
Browsing Lowe's while SWMBO was picking out blinds for our new place, came across some push mowers in the returns section. As I was reading the tags the manager came by and marked them all down by 1/2. Picked up a reserviced running 21 inch mower for $25
The momentum on the MX-6 continues. While installing the exhaust I noticed every bushing was well on it's way to returning to the earth so she now has new control arms, trailing arms and sway bushings. Endlink bushings too if I get a longer bolt, a shorter sleeve or both at the hardware store tomorrow.
That lead me to the rear brakes- I remembered I had a bearing press kit so I was able to install the new bearings into the rotors myself and then I found the wheel seals, new pads and caliper hardware... that I ordered in April of 2014. All I need to do is hammer down the axle nuts, reinstall the axle nut caps and install the extended lugs on the front hubs and I can put my new wheels on. The wheels that I completed refinishing back in November 2015.
Also sold the Accord and have that parking space back.
6 month routine follow up on my labs at the dr's this morning.
BP down in the normal-ish range, 132/82, from ~145/95, without meds, just a little bit of diet and exercise. Removed about 90% of the salt from my diet.
Cholesterol way down, with meds, from 300+ to 130.
All the other crap they tested was in the "Healthy" range. I'm good for another 56 years!
Think I'll celebrate with a double bacon cheeseburger and extra fries! Or maybe a grilled chicken breast. It's almost the same.
SaltyDog said:6 month routine follow up on my labs at the dr's this morning.
BP down in the normal-ish range, 132/82, from ~145/95, without meds, just a little bit of diet and exercise. Removed about 90% of the salt from my diet.
Cholesterol way down, with meds, from 300+ to 130.
All the other crap they tested was in the "Healthy" range. I'm good for another 56 years!
Think I'll celebrate with a double bacon cheeseburger and extra fries! Or maybe a grilled chicken breast. It's almost the same.
Remove the red meat, and as much of the other animal products as you can. And take some beet juice daily (there are other cheaper things than the beet juice, but the beet juice is the easy button). You'll be in the normal range, almost guaranteed.
Source: Was a hypertensive 25 year old until I removed animal products from my diet. Been back on them for about 2 months, and I'm back to being hypertensive. If I don't remember to eat nitrate rich foods (beet juice), it jumps higher still. I can provide actual sources instead of my anecdotes if you want.
In reply to mtn :
I believe you!
We've cut WAY back on the red meat for a several reasons, health, #1, cost, #2 and my wife and I both prefer fish, lean white pork or chicken. No way either of us will every be vegetarian, although I do like grilling veggies, but she is very picky, like trying to get a 5 year old to eat her veggies picky. Corn and green beans are about the only vegetables she'll eat without a fight.
I love to cook (as well as eat) and coming up with new and healthy ways to cook, and trying to get her to eat more vegetables are my current challenges. I love a good challenge!
So, I like beets, have never had beet juice though. You say to take some daily. Do you drink it by the glassful or just a shot or two?
SaltyDog said:In reply to mtn :
I believe you!
We've cut WAY back on the red meat for a several reasons, health, #1, cost, #2 and my wife and I both prefer fish, lean white pork or chicken. No way either of us will every be vegetarian, although I do like grilling veggies, but she is very picky, like trying to get a 5 year old to eat her veggies picky. Corn and green beans are about the only vegetables she'll eat without a fight.
I love to cook (as well as eat) and coming up with new and healthy ways to cook, and trying to get her to eat more vegetables are my current challenges. I love a good challenge!
So, I like beets, have never had beet juice though. You say to take some daily. Do you drink it by the glassful or just a shot or two?
I'll post more later, but its basically nitrates that you're after. Beet juice is the fastest and easiest way to get it. I forget what the studies specifically said as to the magic amount, but I feel like it was about 8 ounces. Shoot it down, do it at a time not near brushing your teeth since it requires bacteria in your saliva that is regularly swallowed to work. I try to get at least a serving of beets (whole beet), or arugula, or cilantro a day (I do it in a smoothie).
Beets are actually relatively low on the list of nitrate rich foods, #10 I think--#1 was Arugula by a large margin. Beet juice would be #2, but the whole vegetable is much healthier. But being realistic, drinking a cup of beet juice is easier than eating a plate full of arugula.
On my way to pick up the cheap Buick Reatta today (another story), I ended up accidentally taking a different route than last time I went over.
Side of the road was a snowblower, little bit rusty and sure it had flat tires, but after some research I've turned up that it's a Simplicity 21" (marked 55cm) and, with a new spark plug and gas lines, could be worth selling! It's definitely overkill for the size of my driveway..
mtn said:SaltyDog said:In reply to mtn :
I believe you!
We've cut WAY back on the red meat for a several reasons, health, #1, cost, #2 and my wife and I both prefer fish, lean white pork or chicken. No way either of us will every be vegetarian, although I do like grilling veggies, but she is very picky, like trying to get a 5 year old to eat her veggies picky. Corn and green beans are about the only vegetables she'll eat without a fight.
I love to cook (as well as eat) and coming up with new and healthy ways to cook, and trying to get her to eat more vegetables are my current challenges. I love a good challenge!
So, I like beets, have never had beet juice though. You say to take some daily. Do you drink it by the glassful or just a shot or two?
I'll post more later, but its basically nitrates that you're after. Beet juice is the fastest and easiest way to get it. I forget what the studies specifically said as to the magic amount, but I feel like it was about 8 ounces. Shoot it down, do it at a time not near brushing your teeth since it requires bacteria in your saliva that is regularly swallowed to work. I try to get at least a serving of beets (whole beet), or arugula, or cilantro a day (I do it in a smoothie).
Beets are actually relatively low on the list of nitrate rich foods, #10 I think--#1 was Arugula by a large margin. Beet juice would be #2, but the whole vegetable is much healthier. But being realistic, drinking a cup of beet juice is easier than eating a plate full of arugula.
Ok, a little more time now. Let me preface this with the fact that my wife is a Dietitian (actually, she did the clinical portions of her internship at OSF St. Francis and Methodist, and her first job out of college was as a Clinical Dietitian at OSF), and I am a 28 year old who struggles with high blood pressure despite my relative fitness and eating much less animal product than the general population. This is a huge struggle for me as my favorite foods are various forms of sausage and other red meat.
The healthiest diet, period, is one that has little to no animal product. (You don't need the protein--this fallacy was started in the 1950's by a Dr. who spent the latter part of her life debunking the very condition that she first described.) But even going vegetarian is extremely difficult (and I'm no better--especially now that my wife is pregnant and craving meat). So the recommended diet for the general public is the Dash Diet. The thinking was that diets never work unless you actually follow it. So the American Heart Association softened the blow, and compromised. But, if you really want to lower your blood pressure, permanently and effectively, eliminate meat. It works so well that in just 7 days blood pressure is significantly lowered, and most people have to stop their blood pressure medications. The opposite is also true (give vegetarians meat, and BP goes up)
NOW FOR WHAT YOU ACTUALLY ASKED FOR! BEETS!
This study is about the best one that I've seen (there aren't a ton out there, as the beet lobby is, to my knowledge, non-existent so it is hard to get them funded). You can read through it yourself, but here is the juicy bit that you want:
"Our data support the thesis that dietary nitrate is likely to have been a major contributor to the BP lowering effects of the fruit- and vegetable-rich diets in previous studies, and demonstrate that nitrate is likely to underlie the cardioprotective effect of vegetables. In addition, it is also of interest to consider that the BP response to a high fruit and vegetable diet was considerably greater in hypertensives compared to normotensives in the DASH study,1 and therefore it is possible that the BP effect of dietary nitrate, evidenced in our study of normotensives, will be heightened in hypertensives. Therefore, we advocate consumption of a diet high in nitrate (ie, a “natural” strategy) to treat (pre-) hypertension and to protect individuals at risk of adverse vascular events."
There is a whole video series done by Dr. Michael Greger on this. Here is the one where he ranks the vegetables by nitrate. Obviously it is better to eat the whole vegetable, and it is better to eat a plate of arugula than to take a shot of beet juice, but beet juice is the easy button for most folks in this world. Just make sure that you have some OJ too (you need vitamin C to block the toxic properties of nitrates--but literally looking at an orange slice would get you enough). In this video, he explains how beetroot juice has improved athletic performance. Basically what happens is that with 2 cups of beet juice, people could do the same amount of work using 19% less oxygen--or it made their bodies energy production more efficient. Small sample size in this one, so grain of salt (but don't eat said salt). This one gets into the science of why it happens.
In reply to mtn :
are pickled beets OK? or do they have to be non-pickled? because i love the former and hate the latter.
AngryCorvair said:In reply to mtn :
are pickled beets OK? or do they have to be non-pickled? because i love the former and hate the latter.
I’m not sure about pickled beets, but I know that the canned beets (no vinegar) showed a decrease in 5K times compared to a placebo, at the same or lower heart rate. Can’t find the study on my phone though. I’d assume it’s ok, because they did a similar study with beet-infused bread and it had similar results.
Minor win: scored the gun i wanted, with 100 rounds of ammo, brand new in the box. After tax, it was still LESS than the cheapest online price i could find.
In reply to mtn :.
That's a lot of info to digest. Pun intended.
When I get a chance to sit down at the computer, I'll check out the links, been tied up all day and just checking in on my phone.
Thank you for all of your help. The doctor didn't give me anywhere near this much info.
I bought a bag of spinach and arugula mix to try. Love spinach, never had arugula, so I figured this would be the way to ease into it. Not a big fan of greens in general, so I hope I can handle the arugula.
Looked all over Kroger for beet juice, no luck. Is it generally a grocery store item?
Grilling some chicken and eggplant to go along with it.
Thanks again and I'll have an update on the arugula mix salad tomorrow.
Try HyVee. It is a regular grocery store item, but not all regular grocery stores will have it. It won’t be refrigerated. HyVee has a dietitian on staff (rotates around the area), they’ll help if they’re there at the same time.
Not to bad mouth Dr’s, but they take like one seminar on Nutrition. It isn’t their forte.
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