7/30/2023 Bulletproof Knees

       Its about building the muscles up around the knee. Take a 5 pound dumbell and tie a two strand electrical wire around the handle. Use a utility knife and gently bring the knife between the 2 strands. You will now have 2 pigtails 5 inches long. Wrap the 2 around the handle and tie a  square knot with the 2 pigtails. Now do the left side of the dumbell. There is a loop where you will put your foot into. When you pick up the loop with your hand , it should remain affixed to the handle. Now take a used toilet paper sleeve and cut it length wise. I use 2 sleeves and put the wire inside and then tape close. This is the cushion for the top of your foot. Wear a sneaker or a stiff bedroom slipper.  Put your foot in the loop and lift your foot a couple inches off the ground with your knee locked. Lower weight a half inch off the ground and then back up, while sitting in your good office chair. The movement you make is only a couple inches. Bring the weight up and lock your knee then down to floor and back up. When I started I used a 10 pound dumbell and did 25 lifts each leg. I would do 3 sets with long rest times between each. Months later I'm up to 15 pounds and do it 110 times, 2-3 reps per day. Try to do it every day. The muscles got bigger above the knee first then along the outside part of thigh. Now the under side of thigh is getting firmer. The first year was of the 10 pound weight. This year the 15 pound weight. It's the heavier weight that does it. You want to develop your foundation first with the lower weight. It's better. No need to rush it. Nice and easy in 2 years you will feel the difference. Going up and down stairs is easier. Walking is a bit faster and it looks good too. You are making changes for a stronger you. When you stick with it and see the results it builds self confidence. And that is your best reward because you will apply it to other areas of your life.

      You can start with as little as a one pound dumbell. I keep a notepad handy and chart the date and year,  then my poundage and how many times I do it in a row. When the row is done it's called a rep. I use to get charlie horses which are painful, no more though. I do think the leg lifts helped with that. I can also kneel and get up from the kneeling way easier than before. You want results you will need to put in the time and forget the pills for now. If you do have pain with your knees see the appropriate doctor first before doing these exercises.

    Take your time with the exercises. There is no rushing through them.

7/26/2023 Oh ... It's.. Beautiful ..Not!

       Quartz countertops that is. All that pretty, at what cost. Today there are young men waiting for lung transplants because their lungs have been damaged by silicosus. It's like black lung, what coal miners came down with. A painful death awaits. A lot of these guys are in their twenties. They're on waiting lists to get that lung.  For a lot of them they don't survive the wait.  These men wore special masks but it didn't do the job.

      Maybe if your in the hunt for a new counter top, pick something other than quartz. It's the little guy that picks up the tab. Too costly a price to pay for pretty. This comes under the title, are you your brother's keeper.

7/19/2023 And the Tears Spilt Upon the Sea

       A recent event. A gal quit the nursing field and went into marine biology.  During one of her dives, she noticed an animal below her coming in from right to left. It started to circle below her. Uh oh, time to make for the boat. She was hoping she had enough time to get there because the tiger shark stopped circling and was heading for her. Shark now getting too close and still a ways to go. Then an animal comes in from the left a right whale, it uses his big head to cup her and it brought her quicker to the surface. The guys pull her aboard.  She looks down in gratitude at her savior shaking as her tears curled around her lip to drop inconspicuously into the bright blue sea.

Hunt the whale......no more.

7/17/2023 20,000 Pounds

       Or 10 tons.  It doesn't matter what your gender is, or how old you are.  Anyone can start to lift a dumbell. When I was 15 I got a cheap weight bench and weights  spent like 20 bucks. It held my interest for maybe a month. Eh, too much work. Mid twenties roll around join Jack La Lane gym. I used to watch him on tv before the cartoons came on. Him and the farm report. So they have this thing called the circuit that entailed working out on 6 differing machines. The weights were not that heavy. After a short period of time you would move on to the next machine. Well a little over a half hour later, I made it to a bench sitting up. I was ready to pass out. Took me a half hour to get back to normal. 1200 bucks down the drain. It was a lifetime membership but you had to pay like 75 /yr dues. And if you didn't you would lose your lifetime membership. One of my big mistakes with money.

      Jan 1, 2020 I decided to start with the weights myself. I had a 10 pound dumbell and started to curl it for 20 times then rest then curl 20 times til I did 60 for each arm. When I felt comfortable with that weight,  I added 5 pounds. This is months later. I like the dumbells with the rubber coverings on the fat part of the dumbell. Also it has a good grip. I got it at Wallmart. The standard is a buck a pound. A 15 pound dumbell is around 15 dollars. Used dumbells are also about a dollar a pound. I have a good office chair, it can bend back a little and has wide arm rests. I sit in chair elbow on arm rest and bell in one hand. Lower your arm and back is one rep. Do it slow. There are dumbells 1,2,3 5 pounds. You can start with any weight. And if you don't have a dumbell you can use a soup can, not opened. Always took my time, never push it. Over time you will become stronger. Don't lift if you feel any twinge, take the day off and maybe go to a lighter weight.

        A year ago I went to 20 pounds. Increasing the reps slowly along the way. I have another dumbell that has a screw ends, that allow you to add weights to it. With the bar wt of 3.3 lbs I had a total of 33.3 lbs. I used flat steel plates. So I now lift that weight 34 times then the 20 pounder 50 times, then the 33.3 pounder 33 times and again 30 times. I do each arm separately. So those 4 reps equals 4,000 pounds. I do this each day 5 times for a total of 20,000 pounds( this includes the total for both arms). The definition is showing after 1 month. So I started off real slow and developed a foundation within me. From that solid foundation the pushing off was way easier. When you have total command of the weight and can do it for a month then you can add a little more weight.

      You have to want to do it first. For any progress to be realized. It requires work and determination. Losing weight was my first goal, I set in motion. I started 5 1/2 yrs ago. I hit 260 pounds. I said that does it, diet tomorrow. I'm a foodie so it has been hard but now I'm at 200. I didn't think it would take so long. Glad I did it. 

      When you have success, it builds confidence. You then want to apply it to other areas of your life. It is so so worth it. These dumbells have made me stronger and added to my confidence.

7/15/2023 She Faded

             Two sisters in England. One was in her late 40s thec other early 50s.  Recently the younger one died and it happened fast. So the older one didn't have a chance to say goodbye. The older one while young always was interested in ghosts  her younger sister, not her cup of tea. The older one asked to have some contact with her past sister,  six months later she got it. She awoke due to someone sitting on the bed.  It was her younger sister in a pink tee shirt. She felt the love of her sister come radiating towards her. She said nothing so as not to break the connection. Slowly the apparition left but she felt the love from her sister  contined for the next 2 days.

             When she called her mother and told her what had happened. The mother said she had her buried in a pink tee shirt  and that she was the only one who knew that besides the mortician. The sister knew that it was not a dream but the real deal 

             So the events occurred when the 50+ sister asked to be reunited with her sister. She only had to wait 6mos to get her desire. You too can ask for divine spirit's  help in a matter that concerns you. It may take some patience on your part.

7/13/2023. Social Mores

       I was wondering what to write about, then I read this story out of NYC.  At a JFK Jr fund raising party an ill wind blew through the large room. Two old guys got into a screaming match over the validity of global warming. The denier of global warming was so incensed over the topic that he flatuated with a bang, then bragged about it. The guy has a maturity of a 9 yr old

       Is this what we have devolved into. Each year that goes by, it seems to get worse. Maybe if one would stop and visualize God sitting in the room watching the events. How would you behave then. Any time you get worked up about anything. Think about your God sitting 12 ft from you.... watching and listening to everything.  Eventually you will own your actions. Goes around comes around.

7/9/2023 To Brush or not to

    Brush. If it's your teeth keep on brushing.  If it's your metal bristle grill brush, stop what your doing and do yourself, family and friends a favor and toss that brush in the garbage. 

      I read about a doctor in Oregon who didn't know the dangers of said grill brushes. He experienced severe abdominal pain. It would be there in the morning and get worse in the afternoon. Using differing scans of his abdomen they ruled out a lot of things. When taking pictures at different times, the radiologist picked up something. A very small mass. Operation later they had the culprit, yep, a single centimeter wire from a grill brush. It was his brush, it matched perfectly with his brush. This relief came weeks later.

      He learned a lot. Also he learned what his patients complained about in their illnesses, first hand. Now he knows what real pain is. When the other doctors couldn't find his problem, he worried that they were thinking he was crazy. So a lot of times the patient is Not  Crazy. You have to think for yourself as well and maybe keep a journal in trying to unravel a mystery. You can also invite divine spirit in to help you solve it.

7/4/2023 Flap the Bird Karma

       Last week, looked in the backyard due to a kerfuffle 20  ft up in the air. A flock of blue jays swept in and alighted on 2 trees in backyard. One dead tree and the other alive. One Jay alone is loud but 50 of them are just crazy loud. Never seen so many together. And I've  been here since 2004. I looked but didn't see what they were protesting about. They stayed for a good 10 minutes. Since I've been here I've been feeding the birds. The blue jay numbers were about 12 equal to the amount of cardinals.  It was the blue jay feathers I would find around the feeder but not the bodies. I guess the hawk would carry it away. When a hawk comes every body goes crazy, all the birds, chip monks and squirrels. The dove is well camouflaged. The cardinal flees horizontal to the ground looking for cover. The jay freaks and launches vertical, easy pickins for Mr hawk.

      Today, I hear the jays they're back at least 50 of them. What a racket. I look out the window with a bird's eye view. The hawk is on the outer limb of the live tree, he retreats closer to the trunk. The birds are harassing him pretty good. Eventually he has enough and glides off with 4 jays chasing him. Wow! Never seen that before. Jays turned the table on Mr hawk.

      So the blue jay got smart in almost 20 years. On their own they were dead meat. As an army the hawk had to retreat. That's a metaphor for us who inhabit this earth. As I said before it is when we are united that makes us a beacon to the world. Let's never ever extinguish that flame no matter how hard it becomes to keep it lit.

7/4/2023 We the People

       A system of government where it's inhabitants have a say so in the how the country is run. To possess this document say about 25,000 colonial dead ( future Americans) and 7,000 wounded. These colonists put their lives in jeopardy for an ideal. To be governed not by King George the third but by their own elected representatives. Some say they revolted due to England's taxing of the colonies. No taxation without representation. But in life someone has to pay in one form or another. The English footed the bill during the French and Indian War. They also protected villages from Indian attacks. Who benefitted? The colonists did. So England needed money for all this warfare. Only way to get it was via a tax. Eventually the US forms and they institute a tax eventually. So to me the war was fought for an ideal. A place where there would be no kings and queens. A country that was going to give democracy a chance.

      They wanted George Washington to run again after 8 years. See they slip backed into that king mentality. George said no. 8 years is enough. They stayed the course till FDR. After FDR they went back to 8 years and your done.

      Was there perfection... nope. Blacks had no say, women had no say and men without land had no say. These things had to be tinkered with way down the line. 

      The war of 1812 saw England return to the US. This time burning down the Whitehouse and torching the capitol building. The states endured. They had a bad army then. So they started to assemble a more proficient one. All was calm for the next 45 years. A division was always lingering in the heart of the US. The industrial North and the agricultural South worked by slaves taken from their homes back in Africa. It was a power and a moral issue. It was settled after the deaths of 620,000 Americans. Millions of people suffered during this 4 year period. And more suffering for the south the next 10 or more years. But the US persevered. 1900 rolled around. Back then some people believed the end times would happen  as the calendar dropped the 8 and put in a 9. Some people even got rid of all their stuff. The next 101 years would be something.  The industrial revolution saw the introduction of the mass produced car and the aeroplane  in quick succession. Fossil fuels and electricity. Everything got accelerated. 50 years after the Civil War. America found itself at war again. Repaying a favor to the French. They helped us during the revolution and we did the same for them during WW1.We were there a year and a half. It was enough to turn the tide of the war in the allies favor. The US was slowly becoming a world power. And when the world needed us most, we were ready. WW 2 came around in 23 years. Our industrial might came down upon the axis powers and blocked their evil ambitions.  If the south won during the Civil War, we probably wouldn't  have defeated the axis powers. All our greatness came because we were united. We must do the same for the next 100 years. To have any chance for hope, we must stay united. We did it after 9/11. Stay the course.

      Our money says In God we trust. It is not just a slogan, it's a way of life. Each of us must work with God to become even better. And a better you will lead to a better world. God helped with the framework, let's not muck it up now.

      Happy July 4th, America  247 years young.