on our way out to the beach these flowers hanging off the fence caught my eye.

the last couple of days of heavy surf have washed tons of little man of wars up on the sand and the beach is covered with seaweeds.

here's a good picture for the conrad family christmas calendar. it's my fault. i made them do it. they left for the airport early this morning to go back home. i guess i'll clean up the apt which i haven't bothered with in the last 2 weeks since they've been here. if i hadn't had to work so much and the weather had been better they probably would have had a better time. oh well... we had a good time anyway.

pop pop likes to fish

tobysue likes to go bridge fishing too. she can't get enough of that good old fish stink. it make her very happy. you can tell by the big smile on her face.

the bridge offered us a view of sailboats constantly passing by on their way south. no fish though, not even a nibble. it was really windy, the kind of wind that turns your hair into a big mess of knots and makes your eyes water.

mom mom sat sheltered from the wind and kept an eye on the bait bucket.

standing on the bridge all day in the wonderful fresh air gives you plenty of time to think. plenty of time to clear your head and think about things you need to do. i think i need to take a vacation, to a place where we can eat fruit and catch fish for dinner. a place we've never been before, somewhere really warm and sunny. too bad i don't have any money to spend on myself. if i did i'd go away for a little while.

ever wonder why some people seem to anger easily? why some people are easily stressed out and treat others really badly? i know a few like that. some of them hide it and seem fairly well adjusted only to take out their meanness on those who are closest to them. some of them just flip out at everything and anything and treat everyone around them badly. i always wonder what makes them that way. they can't be happy and i doubt if they really want to be that way. these people really need help so they can have greater fulfillment and happiness in their lives.

back in the late 50's, a doctor albert ellis developed a program to help people with what is termed "low frustration tolerance". at the heart of his therapy are the concepts of unconditional self-acceptance, unconditional other-acceptance, and unconditional life-acceptance.

there doesn't seem to be a definite cause for "lft" although some say it is genetic and some say it may be due to being raised in a chaotic disorganized home. i might think that it may have something to do with a bio-chemical imbalance in the brain, which is actually easily treatable by replacing what is missing with certain amino acid supplements.

here is a recipe from the "book of stewing."

the meat for the recipe is, "i must be accepted and appreciated by everyone for everything i do." mix it with the batter of, "you must always support me and put me above everyone and everything else. spoil me without expecting anything from me in return." sprinkle it with a seasoning of, "all circumstances must be exactly the way i want them and if they are not, my life is terrible, you're terrible, and this place is terrible." these three ingredients, when mixed, will automatically turn on the "pressure cooker." stew and seethe it all day long. note that stewing and seething will be often accompanied by "internal fire-works" that will heat the produce to a "raging" temperature : a kitchen where this recipe is cooked drives everyone away except the chef. later, the heat gets unbearable even for the chef.

lft people constantly justify their anger and they can't tolerate anything blocking their path. when they meet even the slightest resistance a fuse goes off immediately and automatically. they easily switch on and off between well adjusted and totally irrational. they are whiners and awfulizers who make a habit of exaggerating situations and predicting dire outcomes. they're impatience is way out of proportion to the situation. they overreact to obstacles and are frequent procrastinators. many of them have the symptoms of adult adhd. one minute they're smiling and the next minute they're freaking out over something really ridiculous. many of them try to mask their craziness with alcohol or anxiety meds. as children they were often in some sort of trouble and had difficulty concentrating in school.

people with lft will have alot of difficulty with satisfactory relationships especially if their partners or friends have the same low tolerance levels. they do not seem to care how miserable they make their partners feel and will attack them at the drop of a hat. they are easily provoked into an arguement and can become abusive if provoked enough. only someone with a high frustration tolerance can put up with them even though sooner or later the high frustration tolerance person will eventually just avoid being around them. lft can take the joy out of any relationship, no matter how deep and forgiving that relationship is.

i was thinking about this the other day when i was trying to help someone with their internet problem at work. this person has some real issues getting along with other people. i felt sorry for him. there is a very good reason why he lives alone and can't seem to hold onto any relationship for more than a short time. no one can stand him. i can barely stand to be around him either. i wondered why some people are always so mean, so self important and so hurtful to others. what makes them so angry? did they not get enough love as a child? is there something wrong in their heads?we all have issues with ourselves, things we don't like about ourselves, things we need to work on to be a better person. maybe most of us don't even know what we need to work on. i know i'm too bossy and sometimes arrogant. i say things that i probably shouldn't say. i'm way too opinionated. i'm very stubborn and i have a mind of my own. i get annoyed with people who believe things that make absolutely no sense. i get annoyed with people who don't think. but i can laugh. i can laugh at myself. i can laugh at the stupid things i do and i do alot of stupid things. i don't take myself very seriously. i would not like to be like some of the miserable people i know. they give off a sort of toxic negativity that can make everyone around them either miserable or want to run the other way.

yesterday. the end of the day finally came.


it was a long 12 hr. day but what a great day it was. the phone never stopped ringing, someone was always calling on the radio and by 2pm i officially declared the anchorage full to the brim.. first time since i've worked there. the rest of the day i had to turn people away, actually they can anchor on the other side of the channel and just wait until someone here leaves which is what i told them to do. to celebrate i decided to make a giant pot of bean soup for everyone. one of the guys volunteered to go buy me a little counter top stove to cook on. i had about 5lbs of beans someone brought me and i chopped up some garlic, onion, celery and carrots to saute and add to the veg. broth to cook the beans in. i don't know what i was thinking. somehow i managed to pull it off in between boat trips out to check on new arrivals, answering the phone and radio, checking people in, giving non stop tours of the place to the new people, answering questions, finding lost boats, doing spreadsheets, counting money, running around like a crazy person. it was multi-tasking at it's finest and the soup turned out really really good. in between all this i met some great new people i can't remember where they were from but i hope they stay a while so i can get to talk to them some more. i love people with great positive attitudes, lots of energy, and alot of crazy creative interests other than boats.
today i'm going to go to the y and then to the beach, sit in the sun and soak my weary feet. whew.... then back to work. i only have to work 1/2 day today thankfully.

we've got lots of boats now.


from all over the place

i love to ride around and look at them all. they seem to each have their own personality.

it was almost 80 degrees today.

nice.

yesterday it was madhouse at work. everyone is coming back now. 9 boats showed up for a mooring withing 2 hrs. i guided them all in by vhf radio to the mooring i wanted them to take but half of them decided to take the 1st one they found so everyone was in the wrong place or so it seemed.

i finally went out in the skiff and figured out where everyone was and while doing that i found several other boats who just picked up a mooring and never bothered to call me so i didn't even know they were out there. it seemed like people wanted or needed something every minute of the day and i worked 11.5 hrs. actually it's kind of fun when it's that busy. all the guys i remember from last year are coming back from wherever they come from, up north somewhere. they like to come into the office and chat about stuff. they ask me if i'm married. sometimes the new guys offer to take me out for a drink. i need to wear a label that says "i'm married and i don't drink anymore". the offers are nice but they get old. sadly most of these guys are about my age. i feel bad for them out there kind of lonely always looking for a friend or a date. well.. i try to be friendly but there's a fine line there.

the best thing is that everyone is so appreciative of every little thing so at the end of the day when i'm sort of weary i still feel ok knowing that i'm appreciated. that's a good feeling. i guess it's a feeling that sort of selfish though. really you should do things for others without expecting anything in return.

thanksgiving. thankful for the people in my life.


they finally moved over to the sunnyside. last thanksgiving we went to the beach to swim. this year it is 20 degrees colder but soon to warm back up in a few days. i haven't been to the beach in over a week and i'm missing it.

john put my dinghy "ellie" in the water. i thought we could take a little trip but i got too busy with the food prep and then the wind picked up making it a little too choppy to be pleasant.

i set the tables on donna's side of the deck, the leeward side, where it was blocked from the n.w. wind. it was actually sort of hot over there and made you feel like taking a nap in the swing.

my turkey turned out really good. i thought so anyway. it was certainly fresh & juicy and chemical and hormone free.

the organic veggies

the cranberry applesauce in orange cups
i forgot to take a picture of my pies.

the 7 grain organic stuffing with fresh herbs that got a bit crispy waiting for some of the guests. we were supposed to eat around 2pm. i cooked enough food for 12 people. 4 of the people showed up at 1pm, dropped off their dinner contribution and left. around 2pm we wondered where they went and if they were coming back. i drove down to town and found them all at the local outside bar and they said they'd be back in 30 min. we waited and waited and finally decided to serve the dinner. these people never showed up again. let me say i didn't know that kind of rudeness still existed. anyway we had plenty of food leftover and i think it was delicious, if i do say so myself. i'm sort glad they didn't show up anyway. i went to alot of trouble to make this meal special and i now know i wouldn't feel like wasting it on people who could give a crap whether they ate a homemade organic meal or not. actually i don't think anyone even cared or noticed what they ate or really tasted what they put in their mouths. i think most people are like children when it comes to eating. as long as it tasted good and looks ok then they'll eat it. the fresh whole foods, the freshly picked herbs, the super dense nutrients really went unnoticed but it's a good feeling knowing that you did your best to feed people well and something that was actually very beneficial to them.

garlic smashed potatoes with fresh parsley and chives.

it was good day. the guy in the front is a local artist. i went to a gallery last month where he was the featured artist. they are nice people.

we talked about how lucky we were to be able to enjoy a good dinner while watching pelicans, seagulls and flocks of various birds fly over our heads. i did miss having josh and laura here though. they are alot of fun and alot more lively.

freshly made organic cranberry applesauce
it's a beautiful thing.

i've finally finished my shopping quest for the ingredients to make my organic locally farmed thanksgiving dinner.

turkey

garlic smashed potatoes

roasted summer & winter vegetables

cranberry applesauce (ok the cranberries aren't local but they are organic)

bread stuffing (organic but i couldn't find locally grown wheat)

pumpkin pies

it was an interesting and educational experience. i met alot of new people along the way. i made some new friends. i learned alot about local farming. i think of and look at food differently now. i'll never go back to my old sloppy lazy ways of consumerism.

we drove out to the organic farm and were greeted by the resident farm dog. he was a very happy fellow.

i bought some fruit and vegetables and of course the turkey bird.

i also got some fresh eggs from these nice chickens.

this farm is a part of a co-op of 5 local farmers who pool their produce and meats together and then one is designated to take orders and deliver them up and down the coast. each steady customer has 2 big coolers with their names on them. when a delivery is made the customer picks up the full cooler at the delivery drop off and returns the empty one to the driver. the driver takes the empty one back to the farm where they are kept in the barn until the next week's order. they had a mountain of empty coolers in the barn waiting to be packed with next weeks order so i guess they have alot of steady customers. they drive down the interstate and stop at various exits. there they meet the customers who are called ahead of time to come pick up their food order for the week. it's pretty cool. i think i will start ordering from this co-op. they told me that they sort of fly under the radar so everything is cash only. that's fine with me. whaterver it takes to keep them in business in worth the extra effort. i get the feeling that they aren't real happy with the usda nonsense/crap and would rather just do their thing like it was done back in the day when real farmers grew food for their community. he said they don't advertise or have a website. it's all word of mouth. they don't even have a sign out at the end of their road so it was a little hard to find. they've got plenty of regular customers to feed and that is enough. he also explained how to measure the nutrients in plants and how fresh organically grown plants have a much higher level of nutrients than anything you can buy in the conventional markets. i knew that but i was always curious about how you measure the nutrient levels. they use the "brix" index and measure with a refractometer. that's all i know for now. i'll have to read more about it.

they also make their own cheese and yogurt. yummm.

good trip.

yesterday at work the segway guy came around.
he's trying to promote his "segway tours of historic stuart". i think the whole idea is sort of stupid. you pay $40 to ride this thing around town with him as the tour guide. first of all, it would be embarrasing for me to ride around town when i'm perfectly capable of walking and actually i would rather walk than stand on this thing for several hours. it doesn't make any sense. if i wanted to ride something then i want to sit down not stand up. this thing needs a little seat on it and then it would make sense. anyway i doubt if i see many tour groups riding these segways around town this season especially since they make you wear little ugly hardhats and orange caution vests.
i don't think so.





i took the 3 amigos out in the skiff for a ride around the anchorage to look at all the boats. they're coming in fast now, we're up to 76 boats. alot of canadians and germans. one couple just came yesterday from maine. it took them 21 days to sail down the coast. they're going to make the anchorage their new home and look for jobs. really nice people too.








mrs. conrad sr. & mrs. conrad jr.

it was a beautiful day indeed. i have a sign on my computer that says "i love my job". hehe.

saturday morning breakfast.

we all drove up to the green market. i bought some locally grown tomatoes and squash and 2 bags of tangerines that were hand picked yesterday by the lady who was selling them. it's really nice to spend time talking with the people who grew your dinner. i could tell that they're a proud bunch. i talked to the tomato guy about locally grown food. he is still looking for a bigger market for his tomatoes. whole food market in west palm said they will buy his tomatoes for $1 lb. that's all. he said he can't sell his tomatoes that cheap, he rather sell them at the little markets and make at least some profit. whole foods is likely to run all the locals out of business since they are now buying all their organic produce from big commercial farms somewhere many many miles away. the giant commercial farms can afford have lower wholesale prices.

after lunch the three of them spent the rest of the day and evening sitting on the sofa watching tv and reading.

i need to come up with some more fun things for them to do that don't involve too much physical exertion. maybe i'll take them to see "fast food nation". i bet that would be an eye opener. i really want to go find where the manatees are hiding these days but i have to work all day sunday and afternoons on mon, tues then all day wednesday. that only leaves me enough time to get the food for thanksgiving and try to make some of the stuff ahead of time. maybe next weekend we'll have more time to go out in the boat. the weather is supposed to warm up to 80 or so by then so it should be nice and warm.

the latest deception

tv commercials from taco bell & kfc stating that they're getting rid of the trans fats.... fading off... "in the spring of 2007, hopefully". no on hears that part and so the thought has been planted. this is very tricky advertising and borderline deception.

of course they don't mention that the changes to low or no trans fats will mean that monsanto will be selling it's herbicide/pesticide soaked frankenfood seed product to kfc and dow agrosciences will be profiting from it's gmo mutant "mycogen" seeds which will produce the trans fat free canola oil sold to taco bell.

this will be the new trend now for these mega corps to grasp hold of what they call the "healthy trend market". can't let them go unnoticed.

while everyone is looking for a healthier way no one is telling them that in their attempts they are being secretly fed frankenfoods grown from the mutant seeds of the big boys. the plants from these gmo seeds have been soaked in far more weed killing, insect killing, hormone disrupting, cancer causing toxins than any non gmo plant and no one has a clue since there is no labeling law for frankenfoods.

latest anti trans fat trend is just another joke and dow & monsanto are probably chuckling all the way to the bank.

if anyone wants another reason to buy organic it would to avoid and boycott all this gmo crap that is in everything in the grocery store.

the in-laws are here!

have you ever been talking on your cell phone for quite some time just to realize that there's no one there? that happens to me all the time with laura. i'll be telling her this really long story about something and at the end i realize that we got disconnected. anyway, mom mom is the only person i know who can be in the middle of a conversation and the next minute she's sound asleep. i always feel like laying her down on a pillow so she's more comfortable but i don't want to wake her up.
i have alot of little things planned for us to do but we probably won't be able to do too much. i guess short trips here and there are probably the easiest thing to try and do everyday. my energy level is way too high for my own sanity so i get itchy if i'm not doing something productive most of the time, well until after dinner at which time i turn into a zombie on the sofa.

we didn't do much today except a couple of trips to the store for things forgotten. i've gone an organic baking frenzy in the last 3 days and have made oatmeal raisin cookies, blueberry cake, banana muffins and some kind of brownies.... all made with this sugar replacement that is approved for people with diabetes, like pop-pop. i was told about it a few days ago so i bought some at the health food store. it is a sweet liquid called agave nectar made from the agave cactus. i'm surprised it's not more well known as a healthy substitute for refined sugar, maybe it will take more time for people to find out about it.

so far, everything tastes pretty good and not excessively sweet like the premade overly processed store bought junk.

this baking madness must have something to do with the fact that i have been cigarette free for 3 days now. i guess eating has replaced smoking temporarily since i am constantly craving something to eat even though i know i'm not hungry. yesterday i ate so much i got a stomachache. i'll let this go on for a few days more before i put a stop to it. there's no way i'm going to let myself gain back all the weight i lost 2 yrs ago.

tomorrow we'll take an early morning trip up to the saturday green market in ft. pierce. saturday afternoon we might take eleanor rigby out for a little trip down the river.

the deck was looking a little shabby so i repainted it. i love this color. everything looks nice for thanksgiving.
all the chair cushions have blown away though. they just disappear sometimes when it gets really windy. one time my entire table just disappeared. i found parts of it down the street. i bought a cushion for the lounge chair at goodwill for $3. it doesn't really fit but that's just too bad. that's all i'm going to pay for something that will disappear sooner or later.

i should be cleaning but i got sidetracked looking for new music to listen to.
http://www.mergerecords.com/
here's an interesting mix of folks that are new to me..except for yola and the shins.
http://www.sweetjuniper.org/Fall-Mix/Fall-Mix.html

and as always there's wfuv.org, which is constantly playing in the apt and at on my computer at work.

here i am admiring my pillow. i bought it. actually i bought 2 of them.

it's bad when you see something you like and you know you could make it but you buy it anyway. i couldn't help myself though and i really need some pillows for the boat. i mean you have to have something to lay your head on. well.. it's so simple that i've decided to make some more myself. i like stitching colorful things anyway.
great lakes swimmers

http://www.misrarecords.com/MP3s/Great_Lake_Swimmers_Various_Stages.mp3
http://www.misrarecords.com/MP3s/Great_Lake_Swimmers_BodiesandMinds.mp3
huma

http://www.cult-hero.com/huma/huma_feelslikeimwalking.mp3

good music to stitch by.

another reason to kick the nasty meat habit.

heterocyclic amines (hca's) in cooked meat especially well done meat and meat cooked on the bbq.. generally any meat cooked at high temp./ long time. the trouble is if you don't cook the stuff until it's really well done you risk the chance of not killing all the pathogens, such as ecoli and salmonella, that are all over these industrially farmed animals due to the fact that they are forced to in their wastes for their entire lives.

hca's are carcinogenic and are linked to breast and stomach cancer. that's what the biggies in research, such as johns hopkins, are saying now. what they won't do just yet is actually point the finger at factory farmed meat. that would be one of those very "inconvenient truths" and would step on way too many toes.

yesterday was a beautiful sunday at work. some guys played music on the porch while i tried to keep track of all the new boats that kept coming in all day. john worked on eleanor out in the anchorage. he ripped out the old floor and the toilet in one of the bathrooms. they need to be replaced. that's just one thing on his list of projects.

i miss highland orchards. i just realized that i haven't been to a working farm in a long time. highland orchards was right behind our house in pennsyvania, literally right next to our backyard. at least twice a week i would take josh and laura down to the farm store to buy some great fresh vegetables and fruits. on sunday morning we would go down there for some fresh hot apple cider donuts right out of the cooker. their orchards backed up to our backyard and often we would take a walk down the path past the big scary tree to the fields to pick peaches, corn and just play around. josh and laura would run through the orchards in and out of the rows of corn. sometimes we would take a picnic and sit by the big pond. what a great place for kids and me too. we picked strawberries in the spring and apples in the fall. we would watch apple cider being made in the big packing house. we always had fresh cider in the fridge and frozen berries and peaches in the freezer.

i realize now that i took that place for granted. there were no farm stores in atlanta, just urban sprawl. i guess if i had driven out about 50 miles i could have found a farm somewhere. here in florida the farms are all out in the middle of the state at least 50 miles from us now. well, that's the way it goes.. there are no farms on the beach.

anyway........

the owner/farmer of the organic farm called me back yesterday. he said they are too busy to take their turkeys and produce to the green market right now so i have to come out to the farm to pick up the food for thanksgiving. that's even better i thought. i really miss the farms and haven't been to one in quite some time. this farm is only about 25 miles away but it will be well worth the trip. he said i can come out to pick up the turkey on the tuesday before thanksgiving but to call ahead first. he also said they will have alot of vegetables and herbs all ready to harvest.

this will be my first time to an organic farm. very cool.

"fast food nation" will be in theaters on november 17.

i can see now how things have changed over the past 25-30 yrs. i guess people have just gotten too busy/greedy to take care of their families and so there became a very cheap supply of ready to eat convienence foods available. the profiteers saw the need and took advantage of it. as this way living became the normal and so the children learned from their parents.... no need to bother... let's eat whatever is in that box, whatever is easy, whatever takes the least amount of time, whatever is at that drive thru window. it was a habit that was learned. everyone should work so they can pay for all that stuff and all that square footage, no need to stay home with the children anymore, there's daycare for that. too tired to fix dinner... there's always the pizza guy. no reason to question where all this mass produced food is coming from... our government will keep us safe and healthy.

it has backfired.

today i went to walmart to get toilet paper and some other things. walmart is always the same. too much stuff and lots of everyday people.

the electric cart people whose knees are too weak to support them anymore.

here's a young couple out

saturday shopping together. there was a super sized bag of in-house mcdonald's fries in this guy's cart. he was eating them out of the cart while his wife was going over her list. they'll probably be riding the electric carts together when they get a little older.

this electronic inflatable superman suit looked pretty interesting. i wanted to try it on, maybe next trip...

only at the walmart parking lot will you see a jesus loving pick up truck with a full sized ready to use cross in the back.

i don't know...i wanted to ask but it was just too weird.

someday i would like to be able to parallel park eleanor along side of the dock without breaking a sweat. when i watch other people pull up to the dock everyday it seems like no big deal until i'm at the wheel of this boat. i would like to be able to practice somewhere else besides the dock, which is not very forgiving if you misjudge just about anything. i guess i can hang every single fender i have on the side like a giant bumper car to protect eleanor from the crazy woman at the helm.

driving this boat in a crowded area like the anchorage is a bit of a challenge unless you've been doing it for years. there's alot of variables to consider like the tide, which way the wind is blowing and those damn currents and oh those big power boats in the channel who won't slow down and throw giant wakes out just as you're reaching the dock. blah blah. just stuff to remember. it will take some time before i feel comfortable driving around other boats and docks.

i love these tiny houses

http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/about.htm

we almost had a real disaster.

i was out on the deck and i saw baby floating away. i made toby go get her. baby really stinks now.

then we went to the beach. i finished one book and started another.

toby chased some old people who were trying to collect shells so i tied her up. sometimes she can be a real brat.

"thinking waaayyy too much" is what started all this rambling and posting.
i asked "why are there so many sick people in our country today? just look at all our high technology. it doesn't make any sense to me. "
maybe if you're young you don't think about this very much or maybe you just accept this national problem and don't really care. i was just becoming increasingly curious. what the hell? what's going on with all the people around me, many are my age, some older, some younger. what the hell is wrong with them? they seem to all have something wrong with them and they just accept it, keep on going to the doctor, getting more prescription drugs, keep on doing what they're doing.

leading causes of death in americans over the age of 35 in just one year.
heart disease 685,089
cancer 556,902
stroke 157,689
chronic lower respiratory diseases
126,382
alzheimer's disease 45,122
diabetes mellitus 74,219

people should not be sick and dying from these diseases. there is something very wrong here.
there is something very very wrong with a society that has so many sick and obese people.
what has happened in the last 30 yrs to cause a national epidemic of disease in america?

according to cdc 2004 statistics: (% of americans who have diagnosed)
heart disease - 12% of americans
high blood pressure - 22%
cancer - 7%
diabetes - 7%
arthritis - 22%
chronic joint diseases - 27%
chronic migraine - 15%
chronic lower back disorders - 27%

62% of americans do not get any cardio or strengthening exercise at all.
39% are overweight
24% are obese

68% have seen a doctor in the last 6 months.
1.6 billion prescriptions were written in doctor's offices in 2004.
377 million prescriptions were written in hospitals in 2004.

answer: corporations have turned our food supply into mass produced industrialized chemically altered groceries made soley for profit and taste. the one thing, the main thing they forgot about: is it healthy for us to eat? the answer is obvious. ok, the answer is no. the massive pharmaceutical profits can attest to that. the cruel wastelands they call factory farms, the polluted lands they call crops have not only caused the death of millions but have also heavily contributed to environmental pollution and our tremendous waste of fossil fuel.


i now wonder how long it will take before we clean this mess up. we certainly have the knowledge to do so. is the organic movement possibly the beginning of a new enlightenment? how long will it take our government to realize just how important this really is? when will they finally put their foot down, stop allowing the profiteers to run this country?
our food supply is our lifeline. what could possibly be more important in our country than a healthy, natural, life sustaining food supply???
they say "survival of the fittest" is the law of nature. i guess all those people who either don't care or can't think for themselves will just waste away in front of the television and die an early unnatural death. the others will take care of themselves and their families and look for a better food source, a better way of living and this they will pass onto their children and their grandchildren. these people will grow up strong and healthy, both physically and mentally. they will care about this earth and all it's problems. they will keep this country from running itself into ruins.

good news. i finally located a local organic farm near jensen beach and they bring their foods to a saturday green market that's not too far. i'm so happy.
i found the info on eatwild.com. i love the internet. they sell grassfed humanely raised turkey so i will get one for the gang. hopefully they'll have a good variety of produce too. i would like to go visit their farm in the next couple of days.

Sea Breeze Organic Farm offers organic grassfed dairy, beef, lamb, buffalo, goat, chicken, turkey, pork, eggs, and dairy cheese (cow and goat), as well as vegetables, herbs, fruits, and citrus. We also make our own certified organic orange and grapefruit juice from the world-renowned Indian River. We also have fermented foods.
The mentor for our farm is a third generation homeopath/naturopath doctor in his 70s with plenty of mileage under his belt. After his help with my own health issues I discovered the benefits of highly nutritious grassfed food. Our farm is dedicated to him for his help. Now we want to share our grassfed farming practices for your consumption as well. E-mail us for a products and price list. We also offer various workshops pertaining to nutrition and farming practices by professionals in their given fields.

this is an interesting article if you feel like reading about how refined sugar can ruin your health. http://www.ghchealth.com/refined-sugar-the-sweetest-poison-of-all.html

meet your thanksgiving meal
http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/video.asp?video=t_giving&Player=wm&speed=_med

my thanksgiving plans have gone a little sour. i offered to make everything from scratch so we would know exactly what we were all eating and where it came from. i thought it would be really cool to go to the trouble of finding local produce and even a local small farmer who raised turkeys humanely (for the must have turkey eaters). now my neighbors all want to bring something, which is great and fine and all that. they are all very kind. in addition they are bringing a friend so we will have maybe 12 people and those people are bringing something. well the something isn't exactly healthy or even homemade, just the standard fare of saturated fat, sugar and chemicals. oh well.... i had hoped this would be a little different and sort of enlightening. i'll just do the best i can and make sure there is plenty of better choices just in case anyone is interested. jerry just told me (as he was making his lunchmeat/mayo sandwich) that his doctor told him he has borderline diabetes to go along with his other food related health problems. i predicted that a couple of months ago.
i like to get together with people but i don't understand why sitting around eating tons and tons of really bad food is any different than if we all sat around and smoked cigarettes and snorted coke. it's really no different yet most of these same people wouldn't dare stick a cigarette in their mouth or huff paint thinner yet they are perfectly ok with the damage they are doing to themselves from the contaminated unhealthy food they pile on their plates. they even laugh about how they know it's bad for them. i'm never going to understand this mentality. i really need to stop thinking about it all together.
by the way, today is the 2nd day of "my stop smoking program". i started taking the mind altering drug yesterday, 1/2 dose first week, then next week up it to full strength and next tuesday is my designated "no more cigarettes" day. i haven't had any side effects yet. i hope i don't start feeling vomity. i am planning on this being very successful and one month from now i will have no desire for nicotene. that will be cool.
then john can't pick on me anymore when i fuss at him for eating restaurant food crap.

the other day at work we were having some sort of conversation about something and someone said to me "ruth, you think about things waayyy too much about things". the conversation had nothing to do with animals or food.










factory "farming" really bothers me. everytime i see a carton of eggs or a jug of milk i see these animals crammed into cages.








these chickens spend their entire egg laying career, up to 1 year, crammed into these cages, 8-10 in each cage on top of each other, on top of the dead ones underneath, eggs falling down onto a conveyor belt, no room to stand up or turn around, no sun, just constant artificial light which encourages more egg laying. once they're worn out from egg laying they are yanked out and if they're still alive they are taken to the slaughterhouse/processing plant to be made into chicken by-products. they are hung up by their legs, dipped into electrified water, throats slit, bled out and chopped up.
why on earth are there no laws to protect these animals from this cruelty?
why do we think it is ok to to torture one animal and not the pet dog or bird?
dairy cows suffer beyond belief and no one cares as long as they get their milk.
there's something really wrong with a society that condones animal cruelty, ignores it, thinks it's amusing, jokes about it, justifies it in the name of profit, justifies it the name of a tasty meal.
there's something really wrong with a society that really doesn't care what they eat, where it came from or if it was tortured.
using animals as commondities without any regard for their nature or their pain is a serious moral issue. anyone who considers themselves to have high morality knows the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. anyone who practices what they say they believe in, morality, would not just blindly accept this insane cruelty so they can go about buying and preparing their tasty daily meals.
this system of industrialized food production has gone terribly wrong.
i have an idea for an appropriate label that should be put on every carton of eggs, every jug of milk, every package of beef, bacon, chicken breast, honey baked ham, every piece of nasty lunchmeat.

"this animal suffered it's entire life and died just for you to enjoy"

moving day.

the boatyard guys came to move eleanor back into the water.

you could hear her moan when they lifted her up on the straps.

i know john is proud of all his hard work.. and so am i.

there she goes.

eleanor says "ahh.. that feels much better".

half way through the 5 hr trip home we approached the locks. we waited almost an hour for it to open on our side and then we went in, tied up along the lock walls and were lowered down 11'.

we got to the anchorage around 5pm. home at last on ball #6. i had been saving this ball for the last week so no one else would take it. it's surrounded by the boats of my liveaboard friends and it's close to the dinghy dock, just a short ride to work for me. how cool is that. toby was anxious. i think she could hear some dogs barking. alot of people at the anchorage have dogs.

the yellow building in the background is the marina where i work. everyone was glad to see us pull in.

toby was ready to go to shore to see her friends.

it was a good trip. eleanor rigby did her job well and she didn't leak! she's so glad to be back in the anchorage. over the course of the next 2 months we will continue to work on a couple of problems such as the toilet system, the refrigeration, some electrical and power problems and whatever else there is so we can move aboard. i figure that should be in january. so.. after christmas is over i'll gradually start moving our stuff onboard, seeing how everything fits and what stuff will have to go in the storage unit. as requested by my personal interior designer, laura, i will try to dress up eleanor's interior with a colorful tropical /island theme. i'm not that fond of all that boring boaty/yachty decor stuff anyway. her interior is almost all teakwood so she needs some bright citrusy colors, lots of colorful pillows and throw rugs, maybe some parrots and shells, fish paintings... oh yeah.. i already have most of it in my apt.

she has a name!!

i'm not sure how many hours john spent drawing up a name template on autocad but it was alot. we ordered the green letters from some company online and with them he designed a perfect template marking exactly where each hole should be drilled. once we got to the boat all he had to do was tape on the template, predrill the holes, put the letters on and screw them in. he had already predrilled the holes in the letters so it went really quick.

i painted on the green curlycues on each side of the lettering.
isn't she beautiful!

today is the last day to finish up. tomorrow we go back in the water. yeah.. making lists, double and triple check everything. pay our final boatyard bill ($$$), one more trip to west marine, get diesel fuel....

we've been waiting for this all summer. if they put us in the water early enough we'll head home to the anchorage. if it's later in the day then we'll have to stay the night on the boat and leave early the next morning since it's a 5 hr. trip along the okeechobee waterway to the anchorage and we'd rather get there before sunset.

final workdays 2 days left.

the last coats of black bottom paint are on now.

today we'll put the new name on and finish up all the odds and ends. i'm going to finish scrubbing and polishing the huge deck on this boat and clean up the mess we made inside.
alot of boats are leaving now. our boat will be on this lift on tuesday....finally. out of all the sailboats in this boatyard, i think eleanor rigby is by far the most beautiful of all. there's something odd about owning a boat like this that i have come to realize in the last several months. everything about it is such a piece of work, a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, not like a car or a house, it seems to have a soul as crazy as that may sound and the better you treat it the better it will treat you. a "labor of love" as they say... well, you had better love it or all this work wouldn't be much fun. working on something you love is a beautiful thing.

consumer group brings european farmers to united states dairies
Washington, D.C. – Food & Water Watch welcomed farmers from France, Spain, and Germany this week for a first hand look at the environmental and public health consequences of factory farm dairies in three states – Michigan, Oregon and Washington. “U.S. factory dairy farms are so bad they’re a tourist attraction,” said Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Watch Executive Director. “European farmers touring U.S. factory dairies and communities will take home a snapshot of what European agriculture could become if farmers and their governments aren’t careful.”

the manner in which we inhumanely use our animals as production machines and the manner in which we mass produce the food we eat... after months of research i think i have finally figured out the answer to the problem that has puzzled me for some time. why so many americans are sick. i questioned this a while back wondering why no one seems to wonder "why" they have this and that disease or illness or why so so many people in this country just accept the fact that illnesses and diseases are just a part of our lives and even more so as we age. that didn't seem right to me and i didn't feel like accepting that attitude. i've researched different diets in america and different diets throughout the rest of the world. there are many countries where the standard diet is not exactly what we would consider to be optimal yet these people are far healthier and live longer than americans. since the 70's americans have been going through some serious health issues, many of which have been labeled "genetic". that didn't make sense to me. it seemed like a poor excuse for such a big problem. in the past 30 years americans have been fed a steady diet of factory farmed food products that the government calls "safe and healthy". other countries do not mass produce their foods. they shop local, they eat local. they eat a varied diet of whole foods not even close to what we eat and they actually prepare and chop and cook everyday which is something americans have either
forgotten how to do or just don't realize the importance of it.
so, that's the answer for me. all the low carb, low sugar, low this, low that, vegan this, vegetarian that isn't going to make a bit of difference in our health as long as we continue to eat mass produced factory farmed food. it's that simple.

these things i have learned:
1. although we are omnivores we can sustain our health quite well on plant foods only. unless we are willing to look for alternative ways of obtaining our meats, eggs and dairy products we are risking our health by eating factory farmed products and contributing to massive cruelty.
our desire to have meat on the table does not justify a lifetime of cruelty and suffering for a non-human animal. the factory farming of animals for food and profit is immoral. we do not have the right to torture and imprison animals just so we can have eggs, cheese, bacon, milk, steak, ham or chicken. the industry's food producing animals, especially the battery chickens and the dairy cows, suffer beyond belief and no one is looking or caring. in addition, the "products" coming from these animals are seriously unhealthy due to their unnatural diet and the chemicals they are fed.
the only humane and healthy way to justify eating meat, eggs and dairy products is to purchase them from local organic farms or through co-ops. they are out there if you look.

2. industrially farmed plant foods are a far cry from what nature intended for us to eat. they are nutrient deficient and covered with known carcinogenic toxins... all deemed safe by the government in small amounts(?). a wiser choice would be to look for locally grown organic plant food and avoid all convienence foods. the "organic whole grain" craze that line the grocery stores now is just another attempt at pushing poor quality overly processed foods.

3. everytime we buy these products we are our voting with our dollars in supporting the waste of fossil fuels, the pollution of our environment, animal cruelty, big food corporations whose only interest is profit.

4. i have a choice. i can either take easy cheap way out and contribute to issues and problems that not only affect my health but the health of our environment. or.. i can choose to not contribute by taking the time to understand the big picture of sustainability and doing something about it.

eating has taken on a whole different meaning. it's the most important thing i can do for myself every single day. getting "something to eat" is now carefully thought out and done is such a way that is healthy, enjoyable, does not involve cruelty and causes as little environmental wastefulness as possible.

actually there is a deeper meaning to all this. it's not just some sort of weird obsession with food or health. searching for a better way to live was what got me started and that snowballed... why we are all here and what we are doing to ourselves and our planet... the absurdity of what many people think is important and how they struggle with their lives day in and day out... never taking a deep breath, never thinking about the consequences, never being really healthy, never feeling really good, always running here and there trying to get things done, trying to live in a society that takes so much for granted.. especially their own bodies, arguing about this and that, worrying, complaining about daily problems and on and on. it seems as if the busy life, the tired life or the not interested life takes much precedence over a healthy life. this is even more evident as you watch the cars pass through town filled with people on their way to here and there pulling into a quickie food joint to stop the hunger pangs giving no thought to it's contents only thinking about the next thing on their to do list.
if there is a meaning it might be that we are all a part of nature just like the insects, the trees and the soil and so it goes... each supporting the other in harmony. ALL THE REST IS JUST FLUFF.

new food pyramid

old food pyramid

in the spring of 2005, the usda announced their new food guideline for a healthy diet. seriously no one is paying it any mind since they are all set in their ways by now, after all these years. in the past, before last spring, the usda recommended that we eat 2-3 servings of meat and 2-3 servings of dairy products everyday. in other words they said it was perfectly ok to eat say... 2 eggs and a 8oz. glass of whole milk, some bacon maybe, and even a big 16oz. steak for dinner everyday. remember now this is all coming from cafo animals which are overly saturated with fat, hormones and chemicals.

now they are saying that wasn't such a good idea after all.

now they are saying that we should not eat meat, butter, sugar or processed foods (the "use sparingly" is necessary as to not offend big foods) and we should take calcium supplements instead of consuming so much dairy.

so what happens to all the people now who are sick from their past 30 years of eating like the government told them to eat.

why couldn't these 100's of 1000's of people get together and file a class action suit against the government for recommending that they eat themselves into an early grave?

it's just an idea i had.

other groups, such as the center for science in the public interest have files suits against big foods like kelloggs and also nickelodeon for advertising junk sugar foods to children. interestingly enough those commercials have disappeared. many of the big food companies have quietly stopped the blatant advertising of their processed junk on tv.

i predict that there's going to be alot of changes in the near future and possibly many lawsuits filed. these agencies and corporations need to be held accountable for the mess they have created.

polyface farm

no bar codes here

no chemicals, no steel and wire cages.

no disease, no waste

this farm actually gives back to the earth.

this farmer is just too brilliant for words.

this is way beyond the typical organic farm.. way beyond.

this is sustainability at it's most finest.

http://www.polyfacefarms.com/

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/05/no_bar_code.html

http://www.ecofriendly.com/index.cfm?section=4&page=39

the usda now owns the word "organic". beware... it's not what you might think anymore. it's not what albert howard or j. i. rodale had in mind at all.

the author of "omnivore's dilemma" spent several weeks living at polyface farm and learning about this "grass farmer" who raises chickens, pigs, turkeys and cattle in a most sustainable, organic humane way just as it was done before the industrial revolution. his methods include pasture rotation, composting and keeping the farmed animals healthy, content and their natural environment, each of them sustaining the other just as in nature. his farm makes every factory farm in this country seem like disease ridden concentration camps that do nothing but pollute and sicken for profit.

check this out: http://www.slowfood.com/

a most interesting discovery has been scientifically documented but has not been acknowedged by the mainstream probably due to the fact that it would cause a major uproar.

the saying "you are what you eat" also applies to what the animals we eat are eating. it also applies to the plants we eat, what they are being fed and how they are harvested.

naturally grown plants have nutrients that are lacking in industrial farmed and shipped plant foods. pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers inhibit a plants natural production of vital nutrients. premature harvesting and long distance shipping are also responsible for the lack of nutrients normally found in naturally grown freshly harvested plants.

when industially raised animals are prematurely weaned they are put into concentrated animal feeding operations (cafo), aka factory feedlots, where they are forced to eat an unnatural but cheap grain diet of corn, chemicals, antibiotics and rendered animal fat (sometimes from their own specie). this disgusting diet forces them to gain as much weight as possible in the shortest amount of time. while on this diet most of them succumb to illness and disease thus the need for antibiotics. the steel and wire confinment prisons allow them no room to even turn around. without exercise and proper nutrition they grow abnormally fast and fat. the meat produced bears little resemblance to the meat found in animals that are allowed to graze in pastures or roam at large. the fat ratio, omega 3 to omega 6, and the cholesterol level is unbalanced and inappropriate for human consumption. even the eggs produced by factory farmed chickens who are fed an unnatural corn grain diet and confined in their own waste to a space half their size are inappropriate and unhealthy for humans as opposed to chicken eggs from free roaming chickens eating what nature intended them to eat.

this unnatural confinement and feeding of animals for profit is the root of the problem. the inhumaness of it is unspeakably immoral.

the unnatural poor quality plant foods, the altered state of animal meat and meat by products, the overconsumption of refined processed foods

all add up to a nation of malnourishment and disease.

if there is a food revolution in our future it will be to get back to what nature intended for us to eat.

i'm looking forward to thanksgiving. john's parents will be here and i hope it is the same kind of beautiful day that it was last year when laura and mark were here. we ate on the deck and our neighbors joined us. this year i intend on making this meal alot more healthy. thanksgiving dinner is normally really disturbingly disgusting. i wonder how many people wind up in the hospital the day after. anyway i'm going to try and locate a local organically and humanely raised bird for the family and friends to eat. i know they want their turkey. i can't bring myself around to buying one from the grocery store anymore. that's just too sick.
we can have a great day with great fresh homemade healthy food without all the "crap". hopefully we can eat out on the deck again. maybe we'll go surf fishing early that morning and catch us one of those big bluefish that should be running down the coast in late november.
that would be nice.

lunch is packed ready for another day at the boatyard. i actually take my blender with me so we can have fruit smoothies. they've become my favorite lunch. i made a big salad for john. we also have some kind of nutty oatmeal muffins that i made yesterday.

i finally got my drugs after waiting for my doctor to go over all the tests he had me take to make sure there's nothing wrong with me. after reading and rereading the directions and the precautions i've decided to start them next tuesday after we get the boat home. apparently the side effects will most probably be fairly severe, such as nausea and vomiting. i certainly can't be feeling like shit while we continue to work on the boat so i'll wait til tues. anybody in their right mind who hasn't smoked for the past ?? 35 yrs. would probably think this is crazy but i have to have something to help me get over this really bad habit so i'm willing to suffer through the side effects. maybe i'll just go to the beach and watch the ocean while i spin and vomit. i think it will work. let's hope so. i'm tired these nasty things.

here's something so ridiculous that it left me speechless at the pharmacy. my medical insurance won't cover these drugs. i guess they consider it to be not necessary to sustain health or treat a disease. they pay for every other ridiculous drug on the market that are prescribed to people who are eating themselves into an early grave. they even pay for viagra. how does that make any sense, i don't know. well, i paid for it even though i know full well that it should be covered by insurance if they didn't have their head up their butt.

workday 10? i've lost count.

we have scheduled the boat to be put back in the water next tuesday. things are progressing ok. my job is basically as the "assistant" so i just do whatever john's tells me since he knows what he's doing and i don't or so it seems. yesterday, one of the jobs i was given to do was to remove the old 6' sewer hose, which is stuck back in behind a wall, so we can replace it with a new one. i had decided that it would be a good idea if i wrapped a hefty bag all around the hose so when i disconnected it whatever was in the hose would go in the bag. well... the bag broke or leaked or something went wrong and a whole hose full of "old smelly shit water" poured/sprayed out all over me, down my arms and legs, and down onto the floor and then it ran into the bilge. i almost vomited from the smell and the thought of it. john decided it would be really helpful and appropriate to just stand and yell at me the whole time telling me that i should have used a bucket instead. i had to get in the car and drive to buy some bleach so i could clean up the mess and the smell and believe me i smelled really really bad. so i cleaned up and moved on to the next project which i knew by this time would no doubt involve some sort of negative feedback or something about how it wasn't good enough. i did get the hose out though. it's not a whole lot of fun working with someone with a really short and irritable fuse all day long. i'm glad no one at work treats me like that. if they did i would quit in a heartbeat. negativity and anger is a waste of time and it serves no purpose other than to make every challenge even more difficult.

i'll be glad when this is all over.

i have no desire to spend the second half of my life constantly surrounded by obsessive negativity.

there's work to be done, goals to be accomplished, places to go, people to meet and i intend on doing them with a positive attitude and a smile on my face.