To Lose Weight

How often do you hear the expression, "I'm on a diet to lose weight?" We all know the answer to that question and that expression is rarely true. The answer is so obvious, "eat less."
However there has to be a state of mind that most who verbally say they are on a diet don't really mean it. First, leading up to one real answer I am reminded of years ago in my veterinary practice when asked how to reduce an over weight dog or cat or any animal. I would ask the client to add up all the food the animal is eating and then to restrict the diet to just half that amount and to return in a week and weigh the creature on our large platform scale to see the results. For some time I thought someone was feeding the animals, "under the table" or that some food must have been available not accounted for as all the reweighed overweight animals had not lost a pound or an ounce. Why? I answered that by the fact that the overweight animals had been eating over twice as much food as was needed for the energy expended. That means that the overweight animal was passing half of the food eaten as unadsorbed nourishment. That meant to reduce the fat pet it was necessary to reduce the food eaten by more than 50%. When I know that everybody knows the answer to the statement, "I'm on a diet to lose weight" when about 95% of them have to know in spite of the statement they are not serious about it. I did not plan it but when at 80 years of age I became a runner the weight situation became important to me. At 5 feet 10 inches the charts indicated I was in a healthy weight bracket with my 183 pounds. In running I began to think of my running with a 10 pound bag of say potatoes on my back. I decided to reduce the 10 pounds and did. Then having improved my running times I wondered about another 10 pounds and leveled off at 150 pounds. After the expected age related slowing in 5 years I began to seriously consider losing another 10 pounds.I'll tell all about how I lose weight whenever I want to shortly. At age 85 began an unplanned for experiment. When about 10 years of age my father brought home a house guest who was visiting Yale University from England. J. B. S. Haldane was famous for many discoveries in science and often had used himself as an experimental animal. With my reducing I decided to do the same. The experiment seemed interesting because I can find no evidence that anybody has ever reported about it. How much weight can I lose and still be healthy? If any reader of this has an answer for me please let me know. Perhaps it was unfortunate that I realized what I had in mind when I told my four children about my experiment because it was like something hit the fan. Were they ever upset! Enough said and now how to lose weight by taking in less energy than required for a days need. I believe a breakfast of bacon and eggs, toast and coffee with a little marmolade on the toast and every couch potaato has taken in all the calories needed for a day. For me a day consists of a 5k run around town and reading and writing. I decided for the most important meal of the day, breakfast, one glass of orange juice starts my day before a 5k organized race or training. For lunch I eat one small yogurt of 100 calories and for supper I eat most anything and as much as I want. Being my own chef since my love died I find I over due the amount of foods I prepare and put the excess in my freezer for a long hard winter here in Brattleboro. I do enjoy chocolate and ice cream so, as far as chocolate and cookies and chips and other finger food I eat it all and savor it before I spit it out thereby enjoying the flavors and consistency of each goodie. I swallow the ice cream. However if my scale does not indicate the loss of weight I desire I do an extra 5k that day and watch the weight fade away and I still feel great. I hope I will be able to report when I pass the tipping point but I must confess I feel so great you may have to read about the results in the Obits.

Anecdote 57

Animal Anecdote 57

Sometimes it takes time to define just what a friend is. That was the case with Glover. He would do anything for me or so he said. He was remarkable in his contacts. When my station needed new tires at a time when it was difficult for me to get away he offered to get the tires as a gift- someone owed him a favor. In an hour he was back with the car newly shod. He had told mutual friends that I would do anything for him. That’s how thick our friendship was. He would bring animals to me from owners that no way could afford the necessary services such as inoculations and even minor surgery that I was pleased to perform for needy. Later I found most were not needy.
We were landscaping our new house and he could get just the young white pine and blue spruce we needed. When did we want them? He arrived with a flat bed trailer load with a dozen of each species that were shoulder high young trees. I had expected 10 inch tall trees. He even helped dig holes and plant them.
Then one day I had a question as to his ethics. Would I give him a statement that his pet snakes were harmless as someone had reported him as having some dangerous snakes? He had mentioned to me that he had permission to keep his venomous specimens several of which I had treated and they were deadly species. I asked who had given him permission and he said, never mind and it was forgotten.
One day he came in unannounced with of all things a young male African Lion and asked me if I would keep it for him for a few days until he returned. I was pleased to care for a species I had never had as a patient before. The poor animal had rickets I presumed from feeding the likes of hamburger with no calcium. I had some dead rodents in my freezer for snake food and bought some chickens to feed bones and feathers. A day after his arrival the papers reported the theft of a young African Lion from an auto agency where one had been illegally displayed as an ad stunt and a legal arm of the state of Conn. was investigating the animal’s whereabouts.
Glover was nowhere to be found and I phoned the authorities who arrived promptly.
Having no idea how to care for the Lion they asked if I would care for him until they could resolve the case. That Lion was the size of a beagle dog and had a huge appetite and we could almost see it growing from day to day. A week passed when one day I returned from lunch and there was a van with the logo and letters of our local TV station and Glover hugging the critter and giving a lecture about how he had become the owner.
So I was left with a hot lion as it was announced the creature may have been the one that disappeared from a roadside nature center shortly before it came to me. That was the last contact I had with Glover but not with some of his kindness. A year later a tire salesman arrived to ask his whereabouts as he owed $200 for a set of tires for a station wagon.
Then came a horticulturist who was looking for Glover to collect $300 for trees Glover had purchased from him. As far as the lion, my help called Tiger, a friendly client checked around and convinced the Bush Gardens in Florida to adopt him and a large wire crate arrived to send Tiger there. By thwen he was the size of a Great Dane. So ended my adventure with a “friend” I have not heard of since.

Next time poison ivy anyone? 652 words

Who are Our Federal Regulators?

Recently a call for those who want the end of the nuclear generator in our area met in town where authorities and concerned citizens lectured. For me it was such a hopeless venture because the Federal Regulators involved come from the Government in Washington where corporations corrupt appointed regulators as part of the normal scene. The gathering did have a hidden positive side that I must refer to for the good of all. It is what I call The Brattleboro Initiative in a previous Blog. The gathering should be the people who must gather to further the aim of cleaning out the rat's nest of corruption that Washington has become. There is a strange situation that seems so unlikely that it is a small wonder that the principal I have suggested has not been attempted before. Strange also becaule I have written about it to over 150 contacts and not one can think of a single reason for my plan not to work. Moreover most say it's worth a try but no one has suggested a reason for it to fail. In my 92 years with so many issues to consider on tvery subject immaginable I do not recall an issue that everybody agrees with. It's a no lose situation other than not spreading the existance of the Brattleboro Initive.SUABC. Stand up and be counted and the corporation corruption will be a thing af the past.

A Continuence of Mike Lofgren's 9/3/11 Essay on the two Political Parties

You and I are continually drenched with statements of the problems of the day but one statement of 9/3/11 is so scholarly and significant that it virtually screams for help for the survival of our Republic. The public recognizes the corruption, worse than sleezyness but dishonesty among our elected legislators with the evidence all but being crammed down the throats of those of us who still appreciate our democracy. The cries of HELP ring out from the excellent dissertation by an ex GOP 30 year operative, Mike Lofgren. I am here to tell all there is an answer to the call for help if you as a concerned if not disgusted voter care to join the action of the Brattleboro Initiative. Oh yes, I can note more than a bit of skepticism gathering between your ears but it's American to hear all sides out in our society so listen on. You must accept that the voters are concerned that the corruption in Washington must be stopped and that is impossible isn't it? Try this on. Have a Senator such as Bernie Sanders of Vermont present a bill making a conflict of interest of for profit corporations and their representatives and any Government employee punishable by a mandated 10 year jail sentence and a million dollar fine if found guilty. Of course that bill will be soundly defeated BUT with all the millions of members of groups agreeing with the bill's idea any candidate running for office will have to support the Initiative to stay in office. There will be a veritable tsunami of voters challenging legislators who will have to choose between the corporations and our government. Submitted a second time the bill will pass. This does present an interesting situation as after asking numerous individuals the negatives with my reasoning there are none. Everybody is against the Washington Government dishonesty problems and everybody I talk with agrees with me that even if my suggestion can not work It is a worthy plan of action. I ask only that all voters who agree to STAND UP AND BE COUNTED. After your name place the letters, SUABC and you are automatically part of the action. The group has no President, no membership list, no Board of Directors, no dues or other costs. Imagine being able to tell you're family members and coming generations that YOU were part of the movement that cleaned up Washington and perhaps even saved the Republic. Remember it was President Lincoln who said that with the advent of corporations would be the end of the republic.

Don't Let a 55 Year Old White Guy Beat You

While running recently an event in a race long ago came to mind. I think it was a race from the Yale tennis courts around a 5k route and back. A shapely female runner was having trouble with the heat and her jacket that she was in the process of removing as I passed her. At that moment I blurted out what was on my mind. It was one of those thoughts you would never mention but under the strain of having half the race behind us I said, "Don't let an 85 year old white guy beat you." Toward the end of that race as most runners do I attempted to expend the last little energy in my last minute sprint. For a few moments it seemed as if I was really flying when the women I had made my remark to went sprinting by me as if I were standing still. I saw her disappear in the crowd where friends were complementing me when out of that group stepped the fleet passer. She placed a hand on my shoulder and with a laugh in her throat she said, "Thank you for your remark back there. It was exactly what I needed."
I still, 6 or so years later smile when I think about that incident.

Cub Scout Olympic Games an Animal Annecdote

Three community active men asked to meet with me about a community affair. It was to replace the Town Cub scout Master who was leaving Town. There were six dens set up each with a den mother and my job would be to work up a schedule of themes for each of nine meetings in the year. Scout headquarters would give me the suggestions for the themes.All I had to do was to attend the meetings and enjoy the results of how the boys interpreted the monthly theme. My wife had been a booster and active in the Girl scout movement. I innocently accepted the challenge. I studied the themes for the upcoming year and decided I did not like the subjects of the store-bought list.In place of King Arthur's Court that I could imagine the swards and shields and jousts etc I listed the Yale Brown opening game of football for both teams that Yale offered free for Scout groups. On my Theme List group was a hike in the woods, just the word "birds" and other nature subjects and a trip to NYC to visit the famous Bronx Zoo. Apparently the list was parent friendly as more and more boys showed an interest. We increased from the six dens to eleven that pretty well covered our Town and the original twelve to eighteen Cubs increased by the second year to almost fifty Cubs. I planned the International Amature Orange Olympic Games for residents only that was a smashing culmination of the nine months activity. Realizing the athletically developed boys would shine during the events I included a turtle race and such as the standing broad grin as events. The discus throw was using a flimsy paper plate that a small cub could, with a little training throw with a flick of his wrist where as the strong Cubs with a mighty heave found the plate dropping at their feet. On hearing about the contests for the games one father claimed his son never won anything. Could I suggest a way the boy might have a chance. I suggested he and his Cub son try to find a local mud turtle often called a stink pot and that turtle would be a good addition to the turtle race event of the Olympics. I hadn't limited the number of turtles each den could enter so there were about 25 brought to the event. I made a circle about four feet across for the starting point and fifteen feet or so outside the inner one the larger circle for the finish line. As the Cubs were removing turtles from boxes the father I had advises winked at me. I had the count down and when my cap pistol gun went off each turtle was released. Most of the turtles were the painted pond variety but there were many box and a few wood turtles but only stink pot. That stink pot turtle was across the finish line before all the others had passed the starting line. Of course the There was an agreement that all contestants would be released after the event in the area where they were found. The father of the cub winner of that race told me later he had a terrible time convincing his son to release his stink pot. At the annual meeting six years later I announced my resignation at which time there were almost a hundred registered Cub Scouts and not sufficient parents to maintain order.

Animal Anecdote 29

Animal Anecdote 29.

Poor oldest daughter, Carolyn had more than her share of encounters with skunks and hear is one of them. It was at a time when I had descenting of skunks as one of my surgical procedures. The patient was an adult that I was not usually asked to deodorize but this one was for a zoo where the director wanted to display it.
For that procedure I had my help set up an operating table with all the instruments and anesthetics etc. necessary outside my Clinic. The surgery was well underway with a few curious visitors watching. Among them was 7 year old Carolyn who was no stranger to viewing any of my surgery looking over my shoulder. I should mention that the scent glands, two of them are located on either side of the animal’s anus and are almost the size of the yolk of a chicken egg
in a large polecat.
The surgery involves the careful dissection of the glands to be removed and as I proceeded I ruptured the sack of one and the yellow contents were projected right over my shoulder and into poor Carolyn’s eyes. She screamed and clutched her face. I quickly grabbed a handful of cotton, wet with water but could not pry her hands away from her face and ran into the building and phoned a close friend Dr. Bill Lattanzi who was head of pediatrics of a human hospital. He told me to get Carolyn down to the hospital immediately. “She could be blinded by it.”
I rushed back and there was Carolyn playing by a pile of sand with a toy shovel. “How are your eyes, Carolyn?” I asked to which she said, “They’re OK Daddy, they stung for only a little.”As a reader I am sure you know why I recall that incident and I am glad to recount it for no other reason than to dispel any fear of blindness from such an encounter. I should have recalled the numbers of dogs that had challenged a skunk including many of my own and never was the thought of blindness considered.

Next time: Chiropractics for a nominal fee. 362 words