Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau

Stop Messing With My Clocks

Sunday March 8 and Monday March 9, 2015
Quail Run RV Park
Wesley Chapel, Florida

 

SUNDAY March 8

 

Clock Changes cartoons, Clock Changes cartoon, funny, Clock Changes picture, Clock Changes pictures, Clock Changes image, Clock Changes images, Clock Changes illustration, Clock Changes illustrations

As most of you know I get very grumpy semi-annually when we all, like sheep, jump our clocks forward or backward for no reason anyone can explain to me.   So now it is dark until 7:30 in the morning.  For we morning people that’s a very late start to our day. And for what?   WHY to we do this???  It’s a ridiculous exercise.  I don’t care which one they choose, standard or Daylight.  Just pick one and quit this nonsense.  

With thanks to Kathryn McKinney, the daughter of a friend, who said, “Dear Guvment: Quit it. I don't care that you hand this hour back later in the year. Just stop messing with my clocks”.  

I’m awake at my usual time but of course it is pitch black outside so while I wait for dawn,  I finish reading The Bird Artist.  I’ve tried a couple of times before to read this National Book Award finalist which is over 15 years old now.  This time I was able to just flow right along with this very strange group of people living in Witless Bay, Newfoundland.   I wonder about the name of the town as it seems to describe quite a few of the characters.  But sure enough, it is a town in Newfoundland on the coast.  Can’t say I’d recommend the book but it wasn’t a difficult read.  There’s adultery, murder, two suicides and a mental hospital commitment if you like that sort of thing.

 

Today is a lovely day and we spend it just doing nothing. I read, David does whatever David is doing.   I’m outside; he’s inside.   From my antigravity chair, I watch the birds in the canal enjoy themselves.

 

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I walk and run my 10,000 steps all around the park.  Even with all the streets it takes three times up and down every street.    Other people are also out walking.  These couples seem to have split up into two sets of three.  

On my way I also spot two female mallards in a pond.  I’m so focused on the stunningly beautiful feathers that I cut off the end of her bill.

 

 

 

 

In the evening after dinner I walk down to one of the rec buildings to watch some folks play Mexican Train.  They play from 6 to 8 and when I arrive at 7:00 they invite me to have cake and ice cream to celebrate Ron’s birthday.  Sharon’s birthday is tomorrow so it’s a dual celebration.  I pull up all my will power and decline the sugar overdose but do stay until they begin playing the second half.   The rules they use are a bit different than the ones that came with our game but I like them.   There are 6 people playing at a large round table and they clearly know what they are doing.  There is little hesitation about what to play and lots of table banter going on all the time.   They invite me to come back on Wednesday morning and play with them.   It’s a friendly park.

 

 

 

MONDAY March 9

 

I am wake at my usual time and waiting again for the sun to come up so I can see to go outside.   When I do, I  a cormorant, a pied billed grebe and a little blue heron in the canal.   I love having water right behind the site.  I know Karen does too.  That’s why they moved from their previous site.

 

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We climb up on the roof and tilt the solar panels so Gary and Donna, of Fantasy Car, can clean the roof.   The weather guessers have changed their minds and are now predicting a perfect day for washing and waxing. Cloudy but no rain!   HOORAY!
Panels are tilted for optimal roof exposure, not for the sun.  People walking by seeing us must have thought we were crazy up there.

  

 

Gary and Donna pull up on the dot and get right to work.  They are an amazingly efficient team.   Gary does the roof first of course.  And then they wash the rest of Winnona.

 

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Through the door, I see Donna doing the under side of the mildewed awning which we have cleaned several times ourselves.  But it has never looked this good since it was new.  Well, maybe the last time they did the rig.  This past year was a serious mildew year.  It never stopped raining everywhere we went.   Wish I’d taken a picture of what it looked like before so you could really appreciate how it looks now.  

 

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These two are serious workers.  They are in and out in just over 3 hours.  The whole thing washed and waxed including the roof and a sealant also put on the roof and all the inside windows washed.   Best $190 we spent this year so far.

 

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Look at this.  Doesn’t she look happy???

 

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Very interesting taking a camera picture over my head of the awning.  But no mildew anywhere.

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So shiny you can see me taking the picture.  

So shiny you can see the shed in the side yard.

 

 

 

In the afternoon I drive over to Wesley Chapel in the continuing hunt for new throw rugs for the living room.  I love the pattern that we have but they are just getting old and worn.  We need three runners and one small, all matching.  This seems to be an impossible thing to find in any Walmart or Target in a pattern I could live with.  Either the pattern is wonderful but they are out of the runners or they have plenty of the sizes we need but the colors are garish.

 

It’s pizza for dinner again.  It was so good last time David just wants to do it again right away.  I make the dough and braise the kale.  David rolls the dough out, puts on the toppings and sticks it in the oven.   It’s 81 degrees outside, we must be nuts.  But look at this delicious slice.  No oil, no meat, no cheese, but delicious.

 

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Whole

We finish T. Colin Campbell’s book  Whole over tonight’s dishes. This book follows his previous excellent book on his cancer research,  The China Study.  These research findings totally changed his outlook and his life’s work.   Why is this Cornell Professor Emeritus’ work not more well known?  Whole answers that question clearly. 

It takes a serious look at the role of nutrition in human health, why the standard American diet is killing us, why nobody seems to care, why we are being lied to about what is good for us and what we can do. 

I’m very glad we had read both The China Study and Caldwell Esselstyn’s Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease first,  as Whole is the natural sequel to these two explaining clearly why this information is not more widely available.  It does an excellent job of explaining why no one is talking to us about the the problems of meat and dairy for our health.   

 Image result for The China studyImage result for prevent and reverse heart disease

 

 

Not sure what we’ll read next. Any recommendations?

 

 

 

27 comments:

  1. I knew the weather would be fine :) Winonna looks awesome!

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  2. Here in Canada, the province of Saskatchewan refuses to switch over to daylight savings times. There are pockets and places in the provinces and territories that stay on standard as well.

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  3. Winona looks just wonderful. . .I agree. . .a very wise investment. . .worth every penny. . .well done!

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  4. I'm with you, this back and forth clock setting is ridiculous. Maybe I'll just give up and move to Arizona, seems they have a healthy dose of common sense there (and in Indiana, too!).

    Wow did Winnona come out looking spiffy. I swear I see a big smile in the grill! :c)

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  5. The cleaners did a very good job. I should have had my RV done when i owned it, but I kept trying to do it myself. The only answer for changing the clock is that big businesses get something out of it.

    There are plenty of good studies and books about what is a good diet and how fast foods and packaged foods contain a lot of additives. The only anwer is to eat organic foods that don't contain the chemical additives and gross amounts of sugar. But most people don't want to pay a little more for the good stuff - they figure if Walmart is a few cents cheaper on an item, then that is the best buy. it's sad, and you'd think companies like Kraft would be humiliated by selling such crap as they do. But they make money and people buy their products.

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  6. I wondered if you had just slept through the time change this year...Nope! I'm really impressed with the finale...the brand new spanking clean Winnona. Ready for many more travels!

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  7. Wow Winonna looks like a brand new rig!!

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  8. Hmmm. I can't figure out how you wake at your usual time based on a clock or the sun. For whatever reason, DST and Standard time no longer bugs me at all now that I am retired. I live by the light and get up with the light. and usually crash with the dark. Clocks be damned!! Winona looks just super and it is really nice that you two didn't have to get out there and do it yourselves! And you are right....colors in the stores right now are just plain weird.

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  9. That is one sparkling Winona! The books you've read seems interesting, I might just take a peek on both.

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  10. Wow, those guys did a fantastic job on Winona. Wouldn't it be nice if it stayed that way forever?

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  11. Winnona looks wonderful!! You can see her smiling, especially with her clean awning:)

    We are thrilled to be in Arizona and din't have to worry about the time change, unless we call someone who did change their clock:) I'm with you, pick one and leave it alone!

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  12. I agree with John and Pam. Nice to be in AZ where we didn't have to worry about the time.
    Your pizza looks scrumptious!. I load ours up with veggies like that, too. The sad thing is that even with books like those giving us the truth about what the foods we eat can do for our health, most people choose to ignore it.

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  13. WOW! Winona really looks great! I wish there were a diet that would combat aging and dementia. A fellow blogger just wrote that she has been diagnosed with a rapid developing dementia. Where is the recipe for the pizza????

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  14. Wow, look at that shine. Both my RVs need a good cleaning like that. I try to eat relatively healthy and stay away from GMOs, but I'm weak when it comes to pizza with lots of cheese and vegies.

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  15. Winona looks so beautiful! I'd say that was money well spent. The time change seems silly to me, too. I'm just happy I don't have any trains to catch. :-)

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  16. As a fellow morning person, I have three things to say about the time change... Let It Be, Let It Be, Let It Be:o((

    Campbell's books are wonderful. He really explains how good nutrition is the foundation of good health. Unfortunately, his findings are ignored for a couple reasons. First, change is difficult...people do not want to change. The second is political and financial greed...there is no money to be made on healthy people and healthcare is BIG business:o(((

    Winnona looks MARVELOUS!!! That was money well spent:o)))

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  17. Winnona is beautiful! And the pizza looks delicious.

    More and more people are opening their eyes and realizing that the standard American diet (SAD) is poisoning them. The lies can't go on forever.

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  18. The time change doesn't bother me either. I wake up when I wake up. It's a lot easier being retired.

    I also loved The China Study, although I don't think I've read the entire book yet.

    I don't have a health related book suggestion, but I'm reading Memoirs of a Geisha. It's a very good book and one that I found at the library. Your recent blog post about the book Shanghai Girls, reminded me how much I enjoyed that type of book. I'd forgotten about Shanghai Girls. I loved it. If you haven't read Memoirs of a Geisha, and would like to, I'll send it to you when I finish. I got it from the library. They had several bins of $1 and $2 books, so I bought it. I had been wanting to read it and I'm enjoying it.

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  19. Winnona is a happy girl all shiny and clean! Pizza looks yum!
    xxxooo

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  20. Being a morning person is new for me - literally since I retired two years ago! I think the late sunrise may bother me when we're some place I want to get out and enjoy. Since I'm ready to sit down and put my feet up by 3, the longer day doesn't really offer me a viable alternative....... We shall see :-) Winnona looks beautiful! I'm hoping we can finally get ours washed and the permacoat on in two weeks. I have been a fan of Dr Andrew Weil's books for years, and I'm listening to his Healthy Aging again on my IPhone when I go for my walk. There's a lot of science and research studies and it is not a "do this and you'll live forever" book. He's all about living well, not living long :-) I've gotten so lazy about my food choices that if I had to hunt and garden I'd starve to death :-( Gotta get past that!!

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  21. If your body is awakening at the same time as usual, wasn't it dark out before Sunday? Maybe you should just not look at the clock.

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  22. I remember that the clock changes had something to do with farming? Does not effect us much as we run on retired time always:)

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  23. The clock change is difficult in the mornings - I definitely don't see why it's necessary anymore, but, having it be lighter later is nice for us working folk, I suppose. Wow! Winnona looks SHINNY! I'm so glad the weather cooperated and that you had such efficient folks to clean her up so nicely! I read the China Study - I need to put those other two on my list!

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  24. When I exclaimed over the price for the detailing Wayne told me it is a good deal. I have much to learn.

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  25. I would live to be parked by that canal. I've been reading the books about a plant based diet for several years but have fallen off the wagon several times. I've been doing better now in 2015.

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  26. I try not to be be stressed out by things out of my control like the time change game, but it seems a foolish waste of time and a confusion to many these days. Those who make hay (money) on the time change merry-so-round are clever enough to make money on the don't change game as well I am sure. The Fantasy Car wash & wax was a Fantastic Deal and I am very happy to support this young, hardworking couple and hope they are stashing away their earnings for an early retirement - they are certainly earning it! Can't say enough about the diet changes and effects for us. Weight loss, lower cholesterol and extra energy prime among them. Will likely never know how it is affecting my cancer battle but from what we have read it is well in my favor for both cardiovascular and hematologic influences - fewer drugs too.

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