Sunday, September 07, 2008

On the Road Again

Well the little respite after holiday is over and I am back on the road tomorrow morning. Off to Danbury, CT via White Plains, NY for a week of client "tune-up". We try and visit all our clients at least once a year and make sure they are cooking with gas, so to speak. This week I will also be training a newby to do these tune ups. He's probably my replacement.

A good productive weekend though. Got my new compost tumbler assembled and loaded with its first load. I checked it today and it is cooking right along. I should have a load of compost in two weeks or so.That's assuming Madam will turn the crank every day and give it a tumble.

Finally broke down and started the process of replacing all the toilets in the house with water saving ones. A thousand bucks later I am the proud owner of 3 American Standard Champion 4 toilets that will flush an entire bucket of golf balls with only 1.6 gallons of water. To be fair I do get $50 bucks for two of the toilets from the county for installing water saving stuff. We are waiting for the install people to call and set the day...maybe by the time I get back on Friday night I will be "newly toileted". I am not sure the septic tank is up to the golf ball test though.

I also bought a brush trimmer this weekend so that I can get to work on reclaiming my big garden. Got about half the 6 foot weeds whacked today so another day should get me to the point I can till. House guest next weekend (father of the most recent bride in the UK) so no gardening next weekend. The next week I go to Tennessee for another tune-up and then my calender is clear for the rest of the year. Scary huh?

Finally, tomorrow is my birthday and I turn 59. Not doing too bad for an old timer but I do feel the aches and pains now and again. The big thing is losing some weight. Some of the pictures from vacation are shocking to say the least. I have been trying to focus on high fiber and low glycemic index foods for the last couple of weeks and I'm 8 pounds lighter as a result. I did finish "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan over the weekend as well and if I follow his guidance I should live for another 30 or 40 years with no problem. Eat Food, Not Much, Mostly Plants. Food being something your great grandmother would recognize as food and the rest is self explanatory. I've been circling this mind state for a long time but this final tome did the trick. Deadly serious about the food in my life. Not vegetarian but meat(if any) is a side dish and not the featured player. Only organic, preferably local and in season and absolutely nothing processed (i.e great grandma). Any meat will be grass fed beef or pasture raised... no feed lot cows and not industrial chicken or pigs. With my new resolution on food it should make my week in Connecticut interesting. Needless to say I will be looking for a Whole Foods or the equivalent as soon as I arrive. Surely Danbury has something I can eat.

I'll check in with you guys from the hotel tomorrow night and update you on my food adventures.

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