Caloric Equivalents Dogs and Cats vs. Humans

I saw this information in my vet's office the last time I was there.  
I was very surprised at the equivalents and thought I would share.


For a 20 pound dog, 1 small oatmeal cookie is the caloric equivalent of 1 hamburger or 1 entire chocolate bar for a person?

For a 20 pound dog eating just 1 hot dog is the same as a person consuming 3 entire hamburgers or 2 whole chocolate bars?

Only 1 ounce of cheddar cheese for a 20 pound dog has the same number of calories as 2 ½ hamburgers or 1 ½ chocolate bars do for a person?

If a 10 pound cat ate just 1 ounce of cheddar cheese it would be the same as if a person ate 3 ½ hamburgers or 4 whole chocolate bars?

Just 1 potato chip for a 10 pound cat is the caloric equivalent of ½ of a hamburger or ½ of a chocolate bar for a person?

For a 10 pound cat, 1 cup of milk has the same number of calories as 4 ½ hamburgers or 5 chocolate bars do for a person?

Information provided by Hill’s Pet Nutrition, all calories calculated for a 5’4” person.

Sanding Floors

I started another project I have been wanting to do for over a year now.

This floor is in need of a makeover as bad as I am.

I am not sure what this room's original intent was when the house was built.

It is in the front of the house and is about the same size as the living room.  

I am standing in the doorway between this room and the living room.

 I just call this my Southwest room,

as in decor not location. 

Hence the blue door and the terracotta paint color.

I have dreams for this room.  

(It wasn't until just now that I realize it is southwest in location as well.)

Back to the project.

Last year I attempted to sand this floor by hand.

No electric tools and no drum sander.

I quickly learned that was not going to fly.

I decided I would rent a big drum sander, haul it out here

and get the job done.  In the meantime there were a million other projects

and this one got left by the wayside.

A few weeks ago, Farmer's Wyfe did a post on her blog
showing photos of her son's room and what she had done
with the wooden floors there.
 Like me, she also lives in an older farmhouse.
Well, that was all the inspiration I needed to get me
back to work on the floors in my house.

It occurred to me that there are more options to choose from
than a block of wood wrapped in sandpaper,
or a heavy duty, rented drum sander.

I bought an electric disk sander on sale at Menard's for $20.
And a few pkgs of course and medium grit sandpaper for another $5.
The rest of the cost was in sweat and knee work.

Rylee did the honors of taking photos of me working,
rather than vise versa.

I started in one corner and worked my way around the room.

Here's what it looked like less than half the way done with the first pass.

This is where I had to stop.
After all, the girls had to get back to spend another evening
scaring people at the haunted house!

Farmer's Wyfe said to make sure I got all the "shiny" off
so that is what I am working at.  I still have a ways to go.
It helped that the finish was very worn to start with.
I am not sure what I will do after the sanding.
I always need time to research and ponder.
I like how she painted diamonds on her floors, but I am not sure
how that would look here.  Hmmmmmm.

Haunted House (some contents may not be appropriate for all viewers?)

I feel like I should apologize for this post.
This is the haunted house one of our neighbors has every year.
Quite a big deal.  Radio station even comes.
It is horrible. And it isn't even dark yet. My choice of music didn't help.
But the girls begged me to come and take pictures.
So - here it is.

Yoga Injury

I was doing this

and this

and this

and this

and now I look like this

actually more like this

and I want one of these

In My Fantasy World

In My Fantasy World:

Attitude adjustments can be done with a wrench.



Nebraska Cornhusker colors are Blue and White.



The baggy look would never be a fashion.



My dog's opinion of me is the only one that counts.



High fiber diets do not result in flatulence.



Teenagers get a pimple every time they tell a lie.



There exists a pill that puts me to sleep 
and then wakes me up again in 8 hours.



When the moment is perfect, I can take a picture by blinking my eye.



There is another adult in my house who says things like 
"don't talk to your mother that way" and "I'll handle this".

McDonald's 4 Year Old Cheeseburger

GMOs making Americans fat?

Just A Follow Up

I don't intend to keep harping on GMO foods.  But I did want to post something on how to try to limit consumption of GMO foods.

How To Avoid GMO Foods
October 13, 2009 by: Paul Fassa, citizen journalist


Avoid the big four, which has become five now: The highly genetically engineered crops are soy, corn, canola and cottonseed. Add sugar beets, which are now becoming GMO.

Most blended oils in North America contain canola and cottonseed oils. Use extra virgin olive oil instead. Avoid all soy products and oils as well. The healthy alternative is usually not so healthy after all, since most soy is GMO unless it is specifically labeled non-GMO.

Most corn is GMO. Items like corn flakes and corn chips are from GM corn. Corn based products, corn starch, corn oil, corn syrup, and high fructose corn syrup appear on the ingredients labels of many processed foods. Corn in various forms is prevalent in the vast fast food supply that dominates our culture.

GMO corn is fed to cattle and other livestock. If you eat beef, pork or fowl, you are probably a second hand consumer of GM corn. So dig a little deeper and buy grass or alfalfa fed or free range livestock meats only.

Sugar beets are added to the big four to make it five. Now more and more sugar beets are GMO. Sugar from sugar beets is less expensive than cane sugar for refined sugar; therefore, it is popular with food processing groups. So if you haven't stopped using sugar or products with refined sugar, you might want to reconsider now. (buy cane sugar)

A handy guide for consumers are PLU codes that are labeled or stamped onto fruits and vegetables. PLU stands for Price Look Up. The PLU codes are for input into electronic cash registers to determine prices for bulk items, such as apples and cabbage. The codes identify exactly what the item is with its current pricing, while giving the consumer a handy tag for identifying GMO produce.

Each PLU code has five digits. If the first digit is a 9, the item is organic. If it is an 8, it is GMO! Conventionally grown produce has a 0 for the first digit, but usually the 0 is dropped. So most conventionally grown produce will actually have only 4 digits on the PLU tag if you don't see a 0 at the beginning. The 8 gives you the worst of two worlds, GMO and heavy chemical spraying!

Those are your three main categories. PLU codes do not usually appear on packaged produce or items such as string beans that are too small to label or stamp.

Obviously, buying organic and from local farmers is ideal. Forget convenience. Buy bulk and eschew packaged foods. So what if you have to soak legumes the night before cooking them. If you buy locally, through a local health food store or at a farmers' market, you can determine by direct communication how the crops were raised.

Need more details? You can download a free, very detailed Non GMO Shopping Guide (pdf) created by The Center for Food Safety here: http://www.responsibletechnology.org/

Finally

Alex has finally accepted Willow

Pumpkin Patch

Lake Walk

Autumn

I choreographed the grasses dance : )

Happy Birthday To My Mom

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM

The most influential person in my life.


A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie
for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.
~Tenneva Jordan


"A mother is not a person to lean on but a person to make leaning unnecessary."
-- Dorothy Canfield Fisher

As I age and I unexpectedly catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror as I pass, 
it is my mother I see first,  myself second. 
And I am okay with that. ~ Michaele

Late October

It's corn harvest time in Nebraska.

All the fields are looking like this.

All the roads are looking like this.

And when they are done,
this is what is left.

I planted garlic last night to over-winter.

I didn't water it, just covered it with dirt and straw (actually hay).
We will see what mother nature will do with it.

This is the garlic I planted in May.  I guess we will see what happens
to it also, as it is not ready to pick.
One way or another I hope to have garlic - some time next year.

It was soulful just to be back in the dirt.
I had my fun.

And they had theirs.

Another perfect evening.

luv  michaele

When A Bean Is Not A Bean

There are two main crops in Nebraska - corn and soybeans.

Ever since I moved to the state, I have had a property that was surrounded by farm ground
and, each year, have had the notion of helping myself to a few ears of field corn
or a pocket full of soybeans that would never be missed.

And, each year, my conscience won out and I did not take what was not mine.

This year, however, there was a different scenario.

After the soybean crop was harvested and placed into storage in my bins, on my property, there was a small pile of spilled beans that were left on the ground.

I made a mental note of this, but still figured I couldn't lay claim to them because the farmers equipment was still parked by the bins and certainly he would shovel them up when he was finished.

After a week passed, the farmer was finished with harvest, moved his equipment home and didn't bother with the small pile of spilled beans.  I figured either I lay claim to it, or my chickens would next spring.

So, feeling rather pleased with myself for finally getting some free soybeans, I sent the girls down to filled up two bread sacks full and bring them to the house (even though I knew that was way more than we would ever need) and leave the rest  for the chickens to discover next spring.

You know, it took me all of about 30 minutes after they brought them into the house, to realize exactly what  had been brought into the house, and what we were intent on consuming.

Why it never dawned on me before I actually had them in my possession baffles me.

I felt bad...or was it sad...or was it mad?

Here was free food, supposedly very healthy food, grown locally, fresh and
ours for the taking - yet - inedible.

Inedible by me, my family, and by any animal I intended to eat.

I still can't get my mind around it.

I am not used to looking at a pile of soybeans and not seeing healthy food.

I am not used to looking at a dried bean and not seeing chicken food.

I am not used to having to worry about eggs from my chickens if they consume soybeans.

I am used to worrying about saturated fats, nitrates, msg, food dyes, the list goes on.
But a simple bean?  A bean made inedible, so that there could be less weeds and more (inedible) beans.

I work with farmers everyday and have nothing against them.  That is not what this is about.
This is just about how I am disappointed, disheartened, deeply concerned and admittedly confused.

Here are a few things I found to add in case you aren't familiar with
genetically modified (GM)  or, as it is sometimes termed, "Biotechnology"
varieties of soybeans.

This is not news.

I think the first GM soybeans were planted in Nebraska in 1996.

But to me, it is news, because it hit too close to home and because I was naive.

_______________________________________________________________

Nebraska farmers planted record acreage of soybeans

By Robert Pore robert.pore@theindependent.com Published: Sunday, July 4, 2010 12:20 AM CDT

Nebraska soybean producers planted 5.4 million acres, up 13 percent from the previous year and a record high, according to the USDA. Biotechnology varieties resistant to herbicides accounted for 94 percent of the planted acreage, down from 96 percent last year.

________________________________________________________

Don’t Eat These Beans If You’re Thinking of Having Children  Posted By Dr. Mercola | October 05 2010

Genetically modified soybeans are called Roundup Ready. They are inserted with a bacterial gene, which allows the plants to survive a normally deadly dose of Roundup herbicide. Although the spray doesn’t kill the plant, its active ingredient called glyphosate does accumulate in the beans themselves, which are consumed by rats, livestock, and humans.

There is so much glyphosate in GM soybeans, when they were introduced Europe had to increase their allowable residue levels by 200 fold.

Although there is only a handful of studies on the safety of GM soybeans, there is considerable evidence that glyphosate—especially in conjunction with the other ingredients in Roundup—wreaks havoc with the endocrine and reproductive systems.

How To Peel Garlic - Quick & Easy!

Smile Sasha

Smile Sasha Smile

You Made My Life Worthwhile

Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes

Happy Birthday to my first born.

I was 18 and a child myself when you came into my life.

It was the 70's and I made all the mistakes.

But you never gave up on me.

You were literally my life line.

I find it hard to think of you as my baby.

Moreover, you were my friend, my pal, my mom,

my partner, and my right arm.

We shared clothes in the 90's.

We share recipes today.

You are such a beautiful person inside and out

and I have been in awe of you from the day you were born.

You truly have made my life worthwhile.

Tess's Post

I took mom for a walk today

on the Cowboy Trail.

I wanted to go to Broken Bridge -
but she said no way was I dragging her for 7 miles!

I said it was all right if these two came along but they better not 

try to get in front of me.  I am the leader of this pack!  The captain

of this ship!  The trailblazer!
I have dibs on all sniffing piles - understand Short Stuff?
  

And don't go getting tangled up in my leash either.
Stay behind like I tell ya.

One of you grab a bag and let's get this posse on the move!

Now, like I told her, there are going to be times a dog's gotta see
what's over the ridge and not to worry,

I will always be right back.

I am a well trained dog and am never a problem.

I fearlessly navigated us through the darkness,

and around daring curves.

I led them to water to cool their burning feet,

and stood guard while they had their two minute rest.

When we were all done they were sure to thank me proper.

Get in the car Short Stuff, it's time to go home.

Homecoming Halftime

Funny Foto Friday

When The Frost Is On The Punkin - Poem

James Whitcomb Riley. 1853–1916


When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock,
And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,
And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it's then the time a feller is a-feelin' at his best, 
With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is here
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossoms on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees;
But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin' of the tangled leaves as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the furries kindo' lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin' sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;
The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr stalls below, the clover overhead!
O, it sets my hart a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps
Is poured around the cellar-floor in red and yaller heaps;
And your cider-makin's over, and your wimmern-folks is through
With theyr mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and sausage too!...
I don't know how to tell it but ef such a thing could be
As the angels wantin' boardin', and they'd call around on me
I'd want to 'commodate 'em all the whole-indurin' flock
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

Hopeful

“Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.”

George Iles

Our house (in town)  has been listed for sale for about 6 months and has had,
at the most, 4 showings.
Too few to actually remember.
For some reason, it is being shown twice this week.
Happy, happy, joy, joy.  At least there is activity!

Nerd Day

It's Spirit Week at Norfolk High School.
Tomorrow is Nerd Day.
I think they have it nailed.