Deck Garden Still Going Strong

The temps have recently cooled a bit so I can tell that fall isn't too terribly far away, but our mint and green pepper plants are still going strong. The tomatoes have a few more flowers/potential tomatoes on the vine but the plants look very tired, kind of like Charlotte after she spun her spectacular messages in her web in order to save Wilbur.

My pot of mint floweth over.

Can't you just taste it? I cut a lot of it and we ate it for dinner (not by itself!)

A fist-sized green pepper. We actually lost two big branches full of peppers when they broke under their own weight. It made me really upset, but lesson learned: more support needed. We also ate them all no matter their size.  :-)

 

 Fortunately there are many peppers still to come on the remaining (and well supported) branches.

And it's fig season. We have a bowl in the fridge that I steal from periodically. See the two in the upper left and lower right corners? Almost ripe. Yum.

It's been a spectacular summer. While the rest of the country suffered drought, we here in the tropics have had rain nearly every afternoon. Everything is lush, green and rich with life. I feel very, very lucky.

Bye Bye Moxie

Remember these guys/gals?

My beloved Moxie

Skittish Callie

Feisty Sherbet

For those who don't know, one of my office mates (actually two, but one hid behind the other) raised opposition to the kitties I was feeding near our office. To make a long story short I stepped up my pressure on the kitty rescuer (Carol) who was supposed to be trapping them to get them vet care and release them on a property bequeathed by a cat lover in her will. Carol has her own life and was not very attentive to my calls (she is very sweet and I am not blaming her AT ALL) until I called in a panic, relaying my office mate's intention to call animal control if the cats didn't "get gone". It was an ugly situation but nearly everyone in my office spoke to me privately in support. I don't deny that they needed to be trapped, neutered, and released, but it was handled in an ugly fashion.

ANYWAY... Carol responded to my desperate call and we set up the trap. It took a while but the first kitty we caught was...

? Who's this?

Carol named this kitten Obie and said he was handleable and would be adoptable. He looks like he could be Sherbet's son. I'm glad he was caught but that still left my three out there.

I spent a few days hanging out with Moxie near the trap. Moxie had gotten to the point of rubbing on me as I put food in his bowl, and even came up under my arm so I could pet him. It had to be from behind and it had to be his idea, but I was able to pet him and scratch his neck quite a number of times. In the nine months I'd been feeding him he had grown to trust me, sort of, in a stray cat kind of way.

Moxie and I would often just sit near each other in the grass. You can see how at first glance he looks black but in the sun or if he stretches there's a lot of tabby under that black.

I wonder if part of the reason I fell in love with Moxie was because he looks a bit like Teddie. He had is own wonderful personality though, so I probably would've loved him no matter what he looked like.

So the day we set the trap for Moxie he walked right in. I was there and called Carol right away. She came within 10 minutes and during this time three women who work in our building but not in my office came up to me to ask what we were doing with Moxie. Apparently I wasn't the only one who loved him and they wanted to be sure we weren't going to take him to the pound. They also said they were happy he'd been hanging around so much because his presence was keeping the snakes away from their back doors. Apparently two copperheads had gotten into the cardiology office. I told them to thank the B in my office who was complaining about the cats. (I didn't actually say it that way; I was much more PC.) I had such mixed feelings as I watched Carol take my Moxie away, but he will certainly have a better life at the cat sanctuary she calls "the farm."

Callie was caught next. She needed to be spayed and I was fairly sure she'd already had one litter of kittens because A) a coworker said they saw her eating out of a bowl with a black and white kitten nursing on her, and B) she was so skinny she just had the look of a recently pregnant and currently nursing mother cat. We saw the black and white kitten one more time and then never again. I wonder if he/she was Oliver's litter mate? (the kitten Shirin took to Athens and found a home for.)

That leaves Sherbet. He is a cautious, clever cat with a torn ear that has healed. A few months ago he was limping badly but whatever happened to him resolved and he looks none the worse for wear... right now. He needs to be neutered and checked out. Shirin said that if he's been in fights he may be positive for FIV or feline leukemia. Unfortunately he saw Moxie get trapped and probably witnessed Callie in the trap the night she got caught. I haven't seen him since, so the saga continues...

What I'm Up To These Days

Other than work and exercise, every free minute has been taken up by obtaining 60 CEUs for recertification. The organization through which I initially certified is the AAMA, the top national program. In years past I recertified by taking the exam every five years. It was painful and lengthy, not unlike the SAT. We are required to know general knowledge about healthcare and the field of medicine as well as the part I'm weakest in, coding, insurance, and financial matters. The test is broken into three parts: general (no problem though it includes legal stuff like compliance with HIPPA and medicare laws), clinical (SO no problem), and what I mentioned before - coding, billing, and insurance (aargh) and you must pass each part separately. So I can't pass by getting 100% on clinical and 50% on coding, and wrong answers count against you. I have always managed to pass with flying colors but it is so stressful that I have never left the testing center without a migraine. Additionally, the coding and insurance parts have changed so much in the last five years with all the changes in the healthcare industry that muddling through it may not be advisable.

I decided to try recertifying with CEUs this time to see which way I like better. Here are the three books I'm working on now which will provide me with 30 CEUs when I send in the examination page which is in the back of each book.

It is no surprise I chose the area of nutrition and because I am in OB/GYN all three are very applicable to my job. Nevertheless, it amazes me how difficult the material is. I feel like I'm back at NIU with the pre-med students who were in all my pre-P.T. courses. I don't have that much respect for my own profession since many MOAs can't figure out how to do their time cards, so I was so surprised to find these mini-courses not only challenging but the tests fairly difficult. Only two other MOAs in our practice are certified through the AAMA and this may be why (there are other organizations through which one can become 'registered'.) In fact two others had to leave our practice because after three attempts they could not pass the exam. (I probably need to explain that they had never passed the exam but only recently has CHS required certification for employment. This should warn you against offices who do not require their assistants to be certified - that's probably where those two employees now work.)

So my apologies to my family who has heard me say more often than they'd like, "No, sorry, I can't do that this weekend. I'm still working on my CEUs." Thanks for putting up with a boring, unavailable student again. And I've got 30 more CEUs to go...

Banu Is Fat And Sassy Once Again

It's hard to believe it was only seven months ago that we were dealing with Banu's illness when she is SO back to her normal self! She is exclusively eating her favorite old dry food although twice I have seen her lick a bit of the canned food I put out for Lupe and Obi.

Banu AKA Precious :-)

 I love to bury my face in that soft fat tummy and schmoozle.

Here she is hoarding her favorite puffy balls.

And when I was going through her pictures I found this old video taken in January. You can still see where she had been shaven for the ultrasound. She is sitting on my computer desk watching herself on the video I posted of her twirling around her cat post. This video was important to me then as a sign that she was feeling better. If it looks like she's rocking a bit that just a whole body purr!

Isabel's Daughter

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This was our June book club book, one of my selections meaning I am the leader of the discussion. I've already forgotten the other two titles I offered along with this one, but this one received the most votes.

Before I reprint the synopsis from the author's website I want to reproduce the first sentence from the first chapter since that's what attracted me to the book in the first place.

"The first time I saw my mother was the night she died. The second time was at a party in Santa Fe."

Yikes! Does that do to you what it does to me? Ok, here's the synopsis:

After a childhood spent in an institution and a series of foster homes, Avery James has trained herself not to yearn for the mother who gave her up. But her safe, predictable life changes one night at a party in the home of a wealthy Santa Fe art dealer, when she stumbles upon the portrait of a woman who is the mirror image of herself.

Avery has found her mother, Isabel Colinas, an artist who died eight years earlier in a tragic accident. Slowly but inevitably, she is compelled to discover all she can about the woman.

Searching for Isabel—in her work, in the stories of friends, rivals and lovers, and what’s left of Querencia, the old miner’s cabin that was her haven—Avery is drawn into complex relationships with the people who knew her mother, and into an unexpected love.

As she weaves together the threads of her mother’s artistic heritage, her grandmother’s skills as a curandera or healer, and her own talent for cooking, Avery learns that, while discovering Isabel provides a certain resolution in her life, it’s discovering herself that brings lasting happiness.

This is a fair summary of what happens but the joy of the book is in the details. There's a lot of cooking in this story and we (the book club) decided to meet for our discussion at a Mexican restaurant to get in the spirit! (We went to Pacos Tacos in South Park and my meal was really scrumptious.) The author included a lot about the art Isabel did and I could totally visualize it. She also focused on the earth and her characters' relationship with and dependance on it. At low point in her life Avery ends up staying with an old woman named Carrie who was the local curandera and learns what herbs can be used for healing. As an adult she befriends another woman who owns a shop who sells similar natural healing items, which leads me to the next point.

The relationships Avery forms with the women in her life are what gives her the necessary ingredients that were so sorely missing in her early life. Through each of these women she develops a part of herself and at the end, when she begins to understand who her mother was, she finally becomes complete. My book club gave it a two thumbs up and so do I.

Little Kids On Potties

I'm not sure why but one of my favorite category of pictures is little kids on their training potties. They're just so darn cute! One of my all time favorite pics of the girls is of them sitting next to each other on their training potties, Shirin feeding a white baby doll a bottle and Tita feeding a brown baby doll a bottle. One day I'll find that and post it.

Last time we were in Athens Kai was in the midst of potty training so of course I had to snap a few pics. It all started with a pile of pillows and great leaps from the bed...

Notice the little white kitty in his left hand and the golden curls.

All weekend Kai sang, "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More!" (actually we mostly heard him singing "no more no more no more no more")

Cutie patootie.

Better Late Than Never

We planted a green pepper plant not long after we planted the tomatoes, mint and basil. It grew and grew to the height of my shoulder but no fruit appeared. We decided to enjoy it as a big beautiful plant. About a week ago we noticed some flowers and look at it now:

 This pepper and the next are about 1 1/2 inches long...

... so they have a ways to go.

Catching the peppers in all stages of development. My camera didn't know where to focus.

Five little babies. Needless to say we're excited by the prospect of organic fresh green peppers. Hope they taste as good as our tomatoes have!

Get Rid Of The Tuft Or I'll Cut It Off

This is going to be a very un-PC post but I just have to say that I HATE the little beards that hang down off a man's chin. Goatees are fine, and full beards are fine, but those 25 hairs at the tip of the chin that men grow to lengths beyond the rest of the facial hair just do me in. We have a patient whose husband has a spike of chin hair that must have 18 strands that grow straight down about six inches. It's all I can do not to put the blood pressure cuff on his wife's arm and then when he least expects it whip around with a pair of surgical scissors and CUT IT OFF! Ahhh... that would feel so good.

Here's a guy with a Mary Tyler Moore flip in his. I saw him at WalMart and secretly snapped his pic. I'd like to snap that little tuft right off his chin. As you can see I'm not totally out of control -- I've protected Mr. Billy Goat's identity, but he knows who he is and better watch out.

Healthy Food Experiments

As I mentioned in a recent post Saeed and I have been fine tuning out diets in order to, as Thich Nhat Hanh says, "Eat only that which nourishes the body." It's not that we want to live as long as the redwoods; it's that we want to be fit and enjoy whatever years we have left. We are doing this in a way that meets both the scientific criteria and our taste bud criteria. For the former we are using primarily the information found in the most up to date research articles as put forth by Dr. Neal Barnard at PCRM, by Dr. David Servan-Schreiber (may he rest in peace) in his book Anti-Cancer, and by my current favorite Dr. Michael Greger at NutritionFacts.org. We are interested not only in nutrient dense foods but also those that seem to be most helpful in delaying/repelling the chronic diseases that seem to be afflicting most Americans our age. As for the taste bud criteria? We just grab our forks and dive in.

Saeed in particular has been cooking up a storm. I never know what I may find simmering on the stove when I come home at the end of the day! He is a genius at putting foods together in strange and wonderful ways. When I said that to our friend Darren he said, "You mean an idiot savant?" Ha ha Darren, but you ain't gettin' the good eats I am so call him what you like. Each time Saeed cooks a new dish we discuss whether it's good enough to record. It's always a "yes".

I came home to this one day: a tofu curry and a kale/cabbage/chickpea dish. Both were super yummy.

And although he's been doing nearly all of the cooking and I am the primary researcher in Drs. Greger/Barnard/Servan-Schreiber information, every once in a while I put something together myself. Here is my version of the Middle Eastern dish Tabouleh. I used pearled barley instead of the usual bulgar wheat because its glycemic index is much lower - 25 vs 45 - so this dish has been named Tabarley!

Dr. Greger has a video that describes the current American trend. We are living longer than before but we are sicker than before, so we are living long, sick lives. No thanks, not if I can help it.

Finding Asali A Home

As everyone knows she just showed up on our deck, skinny and hungry. We took her in to protect her from the elements, took her to the vet to be tested, vaccinated, and spayed, and then we put her in Shirin's old bedroom to recover. After two weeks of not being able to find her a home we took her to Shirin's to foster and use her status as a vet with connections to hopefully find her a home.

Home from the vet.

Out of the bathroom and into the more spacious bedroom.

In her new bedroom (the boys' bedroom) at Shirin and Gabriel's house.

Lucky Asali in the hands of a pro.

I cried a lot that weekend knowing that I was going to say goodbye to a kitty that I'd fallen in love with. I absolutely CANNOT be a kitty foster mother. Although I knew there was no way we could keep her I couldn't bear the thought of leaving her. I'm certifiably insane.

So here are a couple of cute videos of her while still living at our house. I hope Shirin can find her a home soon. She's not particularly nice to Earl and Satin so she needs to find her forever home.