tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67165757887278326622024-03-18T00:51:52.538-07:00The Accidental Farmer (Retired)My journey back to the farm, and now back to town. Yes, I have gone full circle, but with a few changes.The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.comBlogger588125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-82326968585202741662021-05-13T12:06:00.002-07:002021-05-13T12:06:39.520-07:00Yes, There Definitely Was a Reason!<p> I just reread my post There Is A Reason. You know how sometimes you think you have it all figured out, and then when you review what you were thinking a couple of years later, you are thinking, "What was I THINKING?" </p><p>I know, too many "think's" in that sentence. </p><p>Guess what? Project is finished, and it is right on! It is everything I hoped for and more. So lovely to have all of the space. My kitchen is a joy to work in. I'm looking at getting a new stove with steam in the ovens. Right now, my arms are covered with steam burns from pouring hot water into pans to get a nice crust on my loaves. The new stove is EXACTLY like the existing one, except it has water plumbed into both ovens. Push a button and get steam. It's also good for making juicy roasts, but mostly I am excited about even better bread. My little home bakery is now doing between 15 and 20 loaves a week, plus other things lest I get bored with all bread. I made Einkorn muffins last week. Learned to make Welsh cakes a couple of months ago. Did chocolate bunnies (cute little molds!) using a Swedish chocolate sourdough coffeecake batter for Easter. </p><p>I will be 80 in July, still feeling good, loving to bake. Yes, I am slowing down a bit, mowing has become a one day job (two hours to mow, four hours to nap!), the greenhouse is behind. But life is good, and I am definitely not bored.</p><p>My antique desk is set up in the new library, the addition off the living room, where I can watch the river flow by and see the ducks and geese raising cane in the yard down by the river.</p><p>Well, time to close up shop at the market. Slow day. Time for a little reflection, and a blog.</p><p><br /></p>The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-69908512852511986322019-10-16T09:39:00.000-07:002019-10-17T06:32:04.586-07:00There is a reasonI am 78 years old. I love to cook and spend a great deal of time in my kitchen. The addition I am planning will increase my linear counter space from 17.5 feet to 28 feet. That sounds like heaven to me! I went from a 4,000 square foot house on two floors to a 1900 square foot house on THREE floors!<br />
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For five years now I have been trying to squeeze 20 pounds of you-know-what into a 10 pound bag, and frankly I'm tired of that. But really, just because I have to go to the garage, the bookcase where I keep my cookbooks, the drawer in my china cabinet and the front hall closet as well as the normal places for ingredients and cooking gear on baking days, there is no need to make this investment. It appears that on the day I turn 80 I am no longer going to have any desire to bake. Or so I have been told by a couple of people recently. So why spend the money on an extension?</div>
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I was whining to my daughter about it, justifying it by saying it is my money and I'll do as I please. And then she reminded me of what precipitated this building project in the first place. When I had foot surgery two years ago, I found out just how difficult it was to live on three floors. </div>
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I love where I live, my view of the river will still light up my life even when I am too old to hop in my kayak. But it is unreasonable to believe I will be able to navigate three floors when I am 95 years old. So I came up with the idea of adding on to the house so that I could have a full bath, laundry room and bedroom on the first floor. So that's what I am planning. The architect pointed out that I wouldn't need that floor plan for a few years (hopefully), and so the project became a living room extension, and while they are at it, an extension of the kitchen as well. And there will be an extension of my walkout basement underneath the new addition (all above ground), so that means more space for inventory for my ever growing skin care business. Business has doubled in the past year, and I am really feeling the squeeze in the soap room. I will have a workout area, too. Right now my exercise equipment is being used to hold boxes of jars and paper supplies. There is just no room down there!</div>
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Anyway, enough of a long story. The next person who questions why I think I need a bigger kitchen at my age will be told that this is an extension so I can remain in my house when I can't navigate three floors anymore. Spend it on the house now and get some enjoyment out of it -- including a bigger kitchen and a living room extension with a fireplace -- or wait until I can't live here anymore and spend it on assisted living. Easy choice, hey?</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdbe6CzQu5Ph0Sb8sUObln-sD4V3S97zXUP1CHlACSZQ1SPRNfYaKjEZsPVrdiA7uGz6Q09eUqzX9S_bdhhnvYMvwOnqWbcRLA9d62o4BzFzyUJlfVXQICK5H8a2h7wHqA2_UpPvpHCVwo/s1600/WIN_20190501_08_13_20_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdbe6CzQu5Ph0Sb8sUObln-sD4V3S97zXUP1CHlACSZQ1SPRNfYaKjEZsPVrdiA7uGz6Q09eUqzX9S_bdhhnvYMvwOnqWbcRLA9d62o4BzFzyUJlfVXQICK5H8a2h7wHqA2_UpPvpHCVwo/s400/WIN_20190501_08_13_20_Pro.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My view</td></tr>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-70612060683871148982019-09-20T05:04:00.000-07:002019-09-20T05:05:02.398-07:00My first 4-H sewing projectI must have been about 8 years old when I did my first 4-H Club sewing project. We had to do a skirt and a scarf. The skirt is long gone, but I still have the scarf, nestled in my drawer of dishtowels.<br />
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I just bought a huge new bowl (on sale from Amazon, has a big dent but paid $20 for a $100 bowl!). I am now doing many more boules and batons for market, and the dough just doesn't fit in any of my bowls for the crucial initial mixing stage. I have a nice big plastic container with room to spare -- holds 12 quarts -- for my bulk fermentation, but I needed that BIG bowl.<br />
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I used it for the first time this morning, and it was nice to have all that room in the bowl. However, when I went to cover it, a dish towel is too small. Voila! There was the scarf from the 1949 sewing project! I don't know how many washings it will tolerate, so I am handling it like fine China.<br />
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Here is my new bowl with the scarf from my first sewing project! I was so proud of it! Brings back many memories. Where did the years go?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk_HYGDoCkChf-hcdM9-qop4oTe57wfa__gaCKgG5HZZuhBHo_tPneZRF5OvNzEZVOr27A5-qmyEAd5zSXKM3tT3UEqVM1fzTxNuc0IRn31grQ-9OGAbnXj6h0Iir8ZbmFgAygf9fShIXX/s1600/WIN_20190920_07_53_55_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk_HYGDoCkChf-hcdM9-qop4oTe57wfa__gaCKgG5HZZuhBHo_tPneZRF5OvNzEZVOr27A5-qmyEAd5zSXKM3tT3UEqVM1fzTxNuc0IRn31grQ-9OGAbnXj6h0Iir8ZbmFgAygf9fShIXX/s640/WIN_20190920_07_53_55_Pro.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The scarf</td></tr>
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<br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-24929425640991552342019-05-06T05:22:00.002-07:002019-05-06T05:22:59.053-07:00Toby had a visitor!<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">My daughter's carpet cleaner went missing. She tried and tried to reach him, and finally after repeated tries, he answered his phone. He had had a stroke, and his business, being a one-man operation, had closed down.</span></div>
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She asked if he needed anything, and he said no. After pressing him, he agreed to let her stop by for a visit. She did, and she found a man in need. He had two finches living in an entertainment center, and a dog that obviously thought the house was his personal toilet. She checked his larder and asked if she could take him to Trader Joe's to help him stock up. He finally agreed.</div>
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On their trip to the store, she found out that he was about to lose his house. She suspicioned that he needed medical attention, but he said he needed to find someone to watch over his birds and Toby, the dog, before he would go for medical help. </div>
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She found a home for the birds quickly. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">She was unable to take Toby, the dog, as she has a 100 lb. dog that doesn't tolerate other dogs. She tried and tried to find someone who would help out. </span>Who would take a 15 year old dog that wasn't housebroken? "Me, me, I will take him," I said. And I did. We met at the halfway mark, an hour and a half trip for each of us. I took Toby home and introduced him to my dog, cat and birds. He settled in, but left many messes. I took him to the vet the next morning for tests and a rabies shot, which he had to have before I could get him groomed. And oh, my, he needed grooming!</div>
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The vet declared him remarkably healthy for a 15-year-old dog who had had minimal care for some time. My other dog, Fred, got along with him fine. He loved my cat, and would sometimes <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">spend </span>a half hour standing like a statue staring at her. The cat had no issue with him, either. </div>
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Within a few days he was using the dog door and pooping outside. Urination was another issue. However, after three and a half months, I can leave the house for up to eight hours without diapering him. He is very tolerant of the diapers, but I am hoping we are going to get that problem completely resolved. If he is smart enough to use the dog door to poop, then he will catch on to the peeing end of it, right?</div>
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As for Toby's history, his daddy, who had the stroke, bought the dog for his daughter after his marriage broke up. About a month ago, Julie, his ex, asked if she could visit Toby. It was clear that she loved the dog, and he loved her. He showed obvious affection for her while she was here. Unfortunately, after she left he moped for several days. It hurt my heart.</div>
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Julie asked if she could come again, and I hesitated to say yes. She said she wanted to bring her daughter Claire to see him as well. I finally said okay, but actually dreaded it - in part because I didn't want Toby to mope after she left, and I will admit it, I was a bit jealous of his affection for her. I have fallen in love with this dog, even knowing that our time together will not be long. What if she wants to take him home with her? </div>
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Julie showed up this afternoon sans Claire. There were some timing issues, and she asked if she could come again in a month or so with Claire. Here we go again, I thought. I can't take this, and I don't think Toby can either!</div>
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We visited, and she fussed with Toby. She told me he didn't seem as affectionate with her as he had been on her last visit. It was something I had noticed as well, but racked it up to wishful thinking on my part. But maybe not. </div>
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She is truly a lovely person. Perhaps she is also a mind reader. She said, "I want you to know I have no intention of taking Toby. He is yours." She told me her ex said he misses him and would like to have him back. She pointed out that he was in no shape to care for Toby financially or physically, and he finally agreed that Toby needed to stay with me.</div>
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When she left, Toby wanted to go out the door with her. I put both dogs on leashes and we went out to her vehicle with her. Then Toby tugged on the leash to take me on our usual walk down the block. He is not moping this time. Julie and Claire are planning a visit in June. I'm okay with it.</div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-38298193755560653142019-04-07T15:57:00.001-07:002019-04-07T15:57:40.118-07:00Too much on my mind . . .Moving my booth was a big deal. It was also a good deal. My revenues have doubled since the move - in part because of ever increasing CBD product sales, but also everything else ~ skin care, soap, herbals, essential oils. Putting a light above a board with all of my oils on display has certainly helped, and the location, and some advertising I've been doing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrQIY60MitaQxHXWK4PpAffrTiyEvQwJgwP_hFGR4465M_lS51ci0IF82VON8R5qJPwOzcjpxpH4Dtr1spI8I2k92_q8MiZ6Ft1wGKguBL6MiTV4SEzsn-OsB99FRX_nPG2qXbW5Y04wvI/s1600/CBD_Pain_Cream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="919" data-original-width="952" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrQIY60MitaQxHXWK4PpAffrTiyEvQwJgwP_hFGR4465M_lS51ci0IF82VON8R5qJPwOzcjpxpH4Dtr1spI8I2k92_q8MiZ6Ft1wGKguBL6MiTV4SEzsn-OsB99FRX_nPG2qXbW5Y04wvI/s200/CBD_Pain_Cream.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Xrwq7m2cw7qRtvc2BCkT0fKlOYDwAIT4KlKnHcaaXP7VKknY8VLuGqu0PLC9LfM_3HiyQsoluYbI3WTBl_NamlsryLFbnN4yQaqY8HsnDMF3iWrvtb_hLnjSM3K0A6CEbDk_qfoKI6OJ/s1600/essential_oils.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; clear: right; color: #0066cc; float: right; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1600" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Xrwq7m2cw7qRtvc2BCkT0fKlOYDwAIT4KlKnHcaaXP7VKknY8VLuGqu0PLC9LfM_3HiyQsoluYbI3WTBl_NamlsryLFbnN4yQaqY8HsnDMF3iWrvtb_hLnjSM3K0A6CEbDk_qfoKI6OJ/s320/essential_oils.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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When things sell, that is good. But I'm pretty much the manufacturing and purchasing departments, and that is not so good. I'm so far behind in the soap room that I can't even think about it. But I try to take Sundays off, truly completely OFF.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Xrwq7m2cw7qRtvc2BCkT0fKlOYDwAIT4KlKnHcaaXP7VKknY8VLuGqu0PLC9LfM_3HiyQsoluYbI3WTBl_NamlsryLFbnN4yQaqY8HsnDMF3iWrvtb_hLnjSM3K0A6CEbDk_qfoKI6OJ/s1600/essential_oils.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>I went to church this morning, stayed for the potluck, got home and headed out to the yard to clean up after Toby, then headed for the couch and planned to call my kids. Hah! No phone. I have a watch that finds my phone and it said it was out of range. I must have left it at church, but I could have sworn I had tried to call my daughter as I left. Hmmm, guess not.<br />
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My neighbor Nancy very kindly called my number (I no longer have a home phone) so that I could stick my head in my car, then listen upstairs and in the basement - but no ringing. I hopped in the car for the church, hoping a class that was going on when I left would still be in session. It wasn't. Church was locked up tight. So I went home and sent out an email to members of the board, to see if any of them could open the church for me. Then I went to the internet, contacted AT&T, and tried to find out if they could track the phone. They could - they did - it was at an address halfway home, not at the church. I insisted I had driven straight home from church. They said they would black list it, as it must of have been stolen. No, no, not by anyone in MY church!<br />
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Then I saw a bottle of pills sitting on the counter. The address where the phone was could have been my drugstore's address. It was just a couple of numbers off. I was sure I had picked up the scrip the day before, but given my state of mind lately, I checked the receipt. Yup, I picked up those pills at 1:13 this afternoon.<br />
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I headed to the drugstore, and there it was. Maybe I need a new home phone. Really, at my age and with the health problems I have had in the past couple of years, without a phone do I email an ambulance company?<br />
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<br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-56714773533468869832019-04-07T05:44:00.000-07:002019-04-07T05:49:50.231-07:00Einkorn BaguettesPicture of my Einkorn baguettes.<br />
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The crumb -<br />
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<br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-85469620132360780412019-01-23T11:08:00.002-08:002019-01-23T12:41:48.940-08:00My new friend, Toby<br />
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<span data-offset-key="cqpe4-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">My daughter Val has had the same carpet cleaner for years. It was time for his services, but she couldn't reach him. After persistently trying off and on over a month's time, she finally reached him. He had a pretty bad stroke a year ago, couldn't work, lost his business and was about to lose his house. She has a soft heart, went to his place, found him and his house and his dog in shambles. The two finches who were living in an entertainment center seemed in good health. She couldn't find any dog food in the house and suspicioned that the dog, Toby, was eating bird seed.
She took him to Trader Joe's, where he got some food for himself and pet food, and has been keeping an eye on him. He is suicidal, is alienated from his family, and has decided lying down in a snow bank is a pretty painless way to go. She called government agencies, tried to get him some help. He is about to lose his house, he said he has maybe two or three more months and then his savings are totally gone. She suspicions that he is continuing to have some mini strokes.
She tried to find homes for the pets so she could take him to the hospital. She found a home for the birds, but not the dog. She said he was very sweet, but dirty, probably malnourished, not very attractive. I said if she couldn't find a home for him, I would take him until Patrick was on his feet and could take him back. She is also looking into housing for him. So how is she going to find housing that will take in a dog and two finches, along with Patrick, who is very ill?
Last Sunday, Val and her husband Mike went to Patrick's house and convinced him that he should check in to a hospital, that she would take Toby to me, and that I would take excellent care of him. So Mike and Patrick went to hospital, where Val's suspicions were confirmed. Patrick has had several more small strokes. Val and I met halfway between Mishawaka and Zionsville to do the dog exchange. Yup, he was a mess! But a good boy with a sweet personality. I made sure I would have someone at my house when Toby met Fred, my dog, especially with ice and snow on ground and me in a boot from a fractured bone or two in my foot. I didn't need to have two fighting dogs on my hands, so my friend Jim was there to help when I got home.
No need to worry - they got on fine.
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I've been reading up on how to train an adult dog that has peed and pooped wherever he wants for 14 or 15 years. I'm trying the umbilical method. He is now tied to me via a long leash, which Phyllis Panozzo made for one of my dogs many years ago. He is pretty good if I watch him all the time because he heads towards a door before he lets loose, but I don't always pay attention. Now, when he heads for the door, I know it because he is attached to me and will be pulling me along as he heads for the door.
</span></span><span data-offset-key="6nk5i-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Yesterday he must have followed Fred out the automatic door while I was at the vet's picking up some paperwork. Of course, he couldn't get back in because he didn't yet have the magic fob on his collar that operates the dog door. Fortunately I had gotten him his rabies shot the day before, tag on collar with vet's name on it. Someone picked him up on Lincoln Way East, where he almost got hit by a bus. They called my vet's office, got my number and got him back to me. I had been driving around but hadn't gotten that far from home. I had also tramped through the snow by the river worried that he might have gone in.
</span></span><span data-offset-key="6nk5i-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">A friend chided me for getting an old dog a rabies shot. Did you know that you cannot get a dog groomed in Indiana unless you bring in the paperwork that shows the dog has a current vaccine? Of course, when she heard that she understood why I did it. Thank goodness that tag was on his collar. I might never have gotten him back without that tag!</span></span><span data-offset-key="6nk5i-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jenna grooming Toby</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All done!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back home and having dinner</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful Toby!</td></tr>
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<span data-offset-key="1n8t8-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">I am already in love. But he is Patrick's dog, and if Patrick finds a way to take him back, he will go to his owner. All's well that ends well, and I'm not sure walking around with a dog attached to my dog leash "umbilical cord" is the best ending. What will be will be. </span></span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-90680002427757306132019-01-17T11:29:00.000-08:002019-01-17T11:30:28.921-08:00First post surgery CT scanI had a malignant sarcoma known as a GIST (Gastro Intestinal Stromal Tumor). It grows on a stalk and lights somewhere between your throat and your anus. I lovingly refer to it as the "a-hole to appetite" tumor.<br />
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Mine was near the top of my stomach, close to the esophagus, a very bad place. Initial diagnosis from first surgeon was to take the whole stomach and about a fourth of the esophagus, unless we could shrink it enough with chemotherapy to take less.<br />
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The chemo didn't work. In fact, it damned near killed me. My liver enzymes hit 577, and I started having daily (and quite intense) Prinzmetal's angina attacks. Those attacks are caused by spasms in the coronary arteries, which shut off blood supply to the heart - in other words, small heart attacks that can become big ones without immediate attention. I keep nitroglycerin tablets in a locket around my neck. I have three or four of these a year, pop a tablet, sit down for a couple of minutes and all is well again. But while on chemo, during the last six days, I had seven of them, so severe that it took two tablets and 10 or more minutes of lying down and trying not to think about the elephant on my chest.<br />
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So I had no choice but to have surgery, and have it quickly. Dr. Google and I had some long chats, and I got some good information from a GIST board. Dana Farber cancer clinic in Boston was number one on the list of centers of excellence for GISTs. I was there meeting with surgeon and oncologist within 10 days.<br />
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The oncologist there insisted that it was a rather terrible tumor (the oncologist here in Indiana disagreed). The surgeons disagreed as well. The Indy surgeon recommended a total gastrectomy, the surgeon in Boston said he could remove a small bit of stomach wall and leave the esophagus completely alone.<br />
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Again, Dr. Google and I did some consulting, and I decided to go to Boston for the surgery. The surgeon removed only 10% of the stomach wall, and I was eating fried chicken within two weeks!<br />
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I love food. I couldn't think of anything more horrible than losing my stomach. I was quite sure I had made the right decision. However, over time if I had any kind of distress in the gastrointestinal tract, I was sure I had made the wrong one, and that I was filling up with tumors. My fears became more frequent and more irrational as I got close to the six-month mark, date for first CT scan. In fact, I asked the oncologist to move up the date of the scan. He did, and five months and one week after the surgery, I had my first scan. It was clean as a whistle!<br />
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In another six months, another scan, and then another and another, every six months. If they are all clear (and today I am sure they will be), I go to a scan every 10 years.<br />
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I am very thankful for my good health, and for a healthy GI tract. :)<br />
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<br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-44417178648726714332019-01-11T12:36:00.001-08:002019-01-11T12:36:28.171-08:00Yeast in my kitchen, hard at work!Tomorrow I take in baked goods to my booth at the market. The work started last night, when I fed my sourdough a little extra for Tartine's recipe for country boules. This morning when I got up for my workout at Crossfit, I tested it, and it wasn't at the float stage. If the starter sinks to the bottom of a bowl of water, it doesn't yet have enough gas in it to make bread rise. By the time I got home from working out, it was perfect!<br />
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I also started my poolish, which is sort of a sourdough, because you mix flour, water and a tiny bit of yeast and let it sit on the counter for 12 hours before making the dough for French baguettes. It enriches the flavor, and allows me to use only half as much yeast in the finished dough.<br />
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I then fed my rye sourdough, filled the jar nearly to the top, so that I would have the 15 ounces of active sourdough to make two loaves of sourdough rye. This morning, I ground the rye berries, caramelized the onions and mixed the sourdough with water and the freshly ground rye flour.<br />
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The coffee beans on the counter by the new ferments are there to attract yeast that like coffee - or so one of my bread baking books says they will do. Left to right, the poolish for nine baguettes (will bake in the morning), the rising rye dough with a new jar of starter in front, and rising dough for boules with new starter in square bowl in front.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poolish for baguettes, sourdough rye rising, country boule on first rise. </td></tr>
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By 3 this afternoon, I set the rye bread and boules to rise. The baguette dough will be made this evening, refrigerated for a slow rise, then in the morning, loaves are formed, set to rise, and baked. They are always still warm when I leave for market.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD9ExsySJXekdSvVDNxk5XgyZ62tJhMYpXCjt4h0Lb2cut_rJFt-zZppwGs_5F2SnCi9UzVAiVUv1T96HJyd-bUmQl5rfM7YRFGJS5ul7vSZ_T9OskW5n4XT4nV7YBn_T8t2VxHZUkqSRI/s1600/WIN_20190111_15_21_02_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD9ExsySJXekdSvVDNxk5XgyZ62tJhMYpXCjt4h0Lb2cut_rJFt-zZppwGs_5F2SnCi9UzVAiVUv1T96HJyd-bUmQl5rfM7YRFGJS5ul7vSZ_T9OskW5n4XT4nV7YBn_T8t2VxHZUkqSRI/s400/WIN_20190111_15_21_02_Pro.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two loaves of rye rising, two boules rising (one round, one oblong)</td></tr>
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Buzzer just went off. Time to turn on oven and get ready to bake bread!<br />
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<br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-81137159505343286212018-12-20T03:03:00.000-08:002018-12-20T10:24:45.797-08:00Go big or go home.Sometimes we need our friends to tell us what we don't want to hear. I have had a web page, with varying degrees of success, for at least a dozen years. The latest is okay, but the friend said it - if you don't have a viable, usable, attractive website, better not have one at all.<br />
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I have hired a media firm - TJ21 Media Group in South Bend - to spiff up my site. TJ told me it wasn't bad, but needed updating, better pictures, a blog that gets updated frequently instead of when I get a minute. You see, I would much rather blog here about this and that than to have some discipline about updating my blog for product stories on my site. Time to get to work.<br />
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The journey started Tuesday night, when Liz, my assistant at the market who just happens to be a photographer for her "real" job, came over and we did pics of all of my essential oils. They will be going up on my web page shortly. I have good prices, nice variety and a source of excellent oils. So why have I been keeping them under a bushel? I'm gonna let them shine!<br />
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I've also started carrying CBD products, so they too will be featured on my page. I learned the value of CBD oil when I was on chemo. It had failed to register that while I was taking it for nausea, I no longer had to take Celebrex for tendonitis in my hip. After chemo, no more CBD oil and I was back on Celebrex -- and then the nickel dropped. CBD oil is great for inflammatory disease. There will be a new section for CBD products. I have a story to tell and a product to sell.<br />
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Fortunately my web site bones are good. The firm is prettying it up and making it more comprehensive, and providing those good old meta tags that will get me more viewers. Liz and I will be doing all of the photos, and I'm doing the pricing and product descriptions.<br />
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Stay tuned for what's happening. Here's a link to the current clunky site. Watch the progress while we work!! <a href="http://ceresandco.com/">Ceres & Co.'s current web site</a>/<br />
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<br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-57835863809420309862018-12-10T13:31:00.001-08:002018-12-10T13:42:57.005-08:00Some days everything turns out right!<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I got in a hurry making my last batch of moisturizer and it broke - retail value about $350. I made more and put the broken stuff in the fridge rather than throw it away. Usually that is a fatal error. Today I put it into an ice bath and went at it with my stick blender. Success!! Saved, and in fridge for when I need another batch.</span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></li>
<li>I balanced my checkbook and found nearly $800 in errors - IN MY FAVOR!</li>
<li>The marina quoted me $300 for a new boot to cover the bimini top - just got the bill in the mail and it was for $197. Smiling, smiling, smiling!</li>
<li>When I got my new computer, my formatting was hosed on all of my essential oil labels. I discovered the culprit - hadn't carried over Abadi MT Condensed. Found it on a free font website, downloaded. Just opened up computer and the file is fixed. :)</li>
<li>Fred hasn't peed in the house for four days now.</li>
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Like I said, some days everything turns out right.</div>
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Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A big chunk of my family - something else to be happy about!!</td></tr>
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The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-21389862971068588252018-12-07T07:24:00.000-08:002018-12-07T07:25:29.326-08:00Day with my daughter at Jungle Jim's<br />
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My daughter Valerie and I went to Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati - a grocery store that is five acres under one roof! She had been there once, assured me that two hours was about all you could take in one visit. She had a meeting in Zionsville that night (a little over two hours from Jungle Jim's) so we had about three and a half hours max for shopping.<br />
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We wandered about a bit, then I found housewares and wandered in awe. My daughter went for groceries, came back to find me, tugged on my arm and informed me that I had been in that department for about two and a half hours. If I wanted any groceries, I had better get out of there stat!<br />
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So I reluctantly left. There were some real finds there. I got a new set of dishes last year, and I had broken one plate. I found one that looked pretty much like what I had. And it was! When I got it home, it was exactly the same make! I like my martinis in the old fashioned martini glasses. Had two, broke one, then recently broke the other. They cost a small fortune, but there were the exact glasses that I once had. Two martini glasses into my cart and at a very reasonable price. I found all sorts of tools but left most of them there, realizing how much of the things I was looking at already resided in my cupboards, drawers and china cabinets at home. I did buy a lovely red coffee mug, and I use it every day. I didn't have a RED coffee mug, so I convinced myself I really needed it.<br />
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Of course I checked out the sales. I had a Lodge braising pot, very old, very stained as those porcelain lined pots all seem to be with age and hard use, but still worked fine. But be still, my heart, there was a whole rack of Le Creuset ON SALE! And right in the middle of one shelf was a bright yellow braising pan, a little shallower and wider than the one I had at home. I didn't need it, and where would I put it? Aha! I would offer up my old pan for $10 on Facebook. I had three buyers in a flash!! Amy bought it, is using it and loves it. And I am braising in my bright yellow Le Creuset braising pan. It says it is dishwasher safe but having used many cast iron pans with porcelain finish, I beg to differ. My new girl is getting the best treatment. She is hand washed like fine china.<br />
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We had such a lovely time. Val got home for her meeting in time. I love every last thing I got. We were going to try to make another trip before the holidays with my son's fiancée Christine in tow, but time has slipped away. It will have to be a trip for another time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOnOmuBa5pyHk4VnDwoTYXH4a4a29JtMMf33e9_f_Wf8Y1THlpOg6P4JH5t2kVvCd8yJMnM4HzxellXs1ZyHz7KX_l7ftBbR1GyhUHC1iwXpT4CkWVfedf3acaaw2bRb0ikIZzBKK5UPj9/s1600/WIN_20181207_10_06_44_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOnOmuBa5pyHk4VnDwoTYXH4a4a29JtMMf33e9_f_Wf8Y1THlpOg6P4JH5t2kVvCd8yJMnM4HzxellXs1ZyHz7KX_l7ftBbR1GyhUHC1iwXpT4CkWVfedf3acaaw2bRb0ikIZzBKK5UPj9/s640/WIN_20181207_10_06_44_Pro.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My new braising pan</td></tr>
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<br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-70858734146405751782018-11-04T05:56:00.000-08:002018-11-04T05:56:25.134-08:00Making brioche feuilletesOne of the things I learned to bake when I went to Paris a couple of years ago was a very unique pastry called a brioche feuillete. It starts with rich brioche dough, full of eggs and butter, and then after chilling for 12 hours, it is rolled out and a sheet of cold butter is laid across the center of the dough, and the dough is folded over the butter. Then roll, turn, roll, fold again, and on and on as if you were making puff pastry. However, the base for puff pastry is just flour, salt and water. By starting with brioche dough you end up with a dough that is unbelievably rich, tender and flaky.<br />
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I have found that making a pan of cinnamon rolls out of the same dough takes a lot less time, and my customers seem to like them just as well. Here are pictures of Friday's baking, starting with the poolish, which sat in my counter last night and was the base of the dough I made this morning, all the way through taking the finished product out of the oven.<br />
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I teach classes on making French baguettes, and have been asked to teach making feuilletes as well, but I'm not sure how I would pull that off. Maybe someday.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4u6QDlW6uOGAiqtprK5KFkfk3CKpb1Z5nEeTVr6jJ8mY86GzUA25EDw00tlvjzZvK3H7mbBS-slMPQZlNwV4Q28mC13CMh99BfA5oE7UVYIYdGzimrcUyhOOByW3ddaWTJqUp-NjtVhhD/s1600/WIN_20181102_07_35_41_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4u6QDlW6uOGAiqtprK5KFkfk3CKpb1Z5nEeTVr6jJ8mY86GzUA25EDw00tlvjzZvK3H7mbBS-slMPQZlNwV4Q28mC13CMh99BfA5oE7UVYIYdGzimrcUyhOOByW3ddaWTJqUp-NjtVhhD/s320/WIN_20181102_07_35_41_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poolish</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlzNMRoxId6he7JaVZfm_NHzWQkwn21fJ48V8pU7S9gmwv1mSGUzyF4vaO8V2LICCPVuS2m17KHGratSxyxR9FC5WDyE3DyHq7zfiv4HE9VdMSaIgp3zFsKPsN6_xbg9yuhTwUj0fCzL7T/s1600/WIN_20181102_07_49_19_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlzNMRoxId6he7JaVZfm_NHzWQkwn21fJ48V8pU7S9gmwv1mSGUzyF4vaO8V2LICCPVuS2m17KHGratSxyxR9FC5WDyE3DyHq7zfiv4HE9VdMSaIgp3zFsKPsN6_xbg9yuhTwUj0fCzL7T/s320/WIN_20181102_07_49_19_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Next morning, eggs and milk in bowl</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZS60EtsEDV-j8UOJZK-uHoVRNva_oIQPN7M62fRbHoJ-7oDLQfWPdlMKxg36REp3dH31RF7yI6KQbi0z_Ivrc4_WhTfWMhj5YNo1vOneSY6kiYezCUe0WQ8YvYjbKltB5ok_JJW82gucH/s1600/WIN_20181102_07_56_41_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZS60EtsEDV-j8UOJZK-uHoVRNva_oIQPN7M62fRbHoJ-7oDLQfWPdlMKxg36REp3dH31RF7yI6KQbi0z_Ivrc4_WhTfWMhj5YNo1vOneSY6kiYezCUe0WQ8YvYjbKltB5ok_JJW82gucH/s320/WIN_20181102_07_56_41_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Add flour, sugar, poolish, salt, yeast and mix well</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxQP1jLNpVfjPG66QO-4TlVHHNqtI0PwBEQiQjjIrjKAku4mJKq8nAB-Xjd7v5dteFfchoDVARILY5ahEAvaHcw439l8CPeHOlY6ROM0AGcMb8PTKzUTTo0zZNEs5yV3XfK74t_ndYCk6x/s1600/WIN_20181102_08_01_00_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxQP1jLNpVfjPG66QO-4TlVHHNqtI0PwBEQiQjjIrjKAku4mJKq8nAB-Xjd7v5dteFfchoDVARILY5ahEAvaHcw439l8CPeHOlY6ROM0AGcMb8PTKzUTTo0zZNEs5yV3XfK74t_ndYCk6x/s320/WIN_20181102_08_01_00_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Add 250 grams (a little over 2 sticks) soft butter to dough</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7hsgA3JW52GTZaDUGsxfyg4eAkVmIOkiA7Ot4C4E9AudIaBqPC2lXD8-14PlknkVTevbjUgDdfoDzzfNQLh_aXE5Fqz8XsD_KpcMUpmjeZFsBHTD9QzI4ywt7qf0RQ4LOQQ6hT5iwqO2x/s1600/WIN_20181102_08_02_49_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7hsgA3JW52GTZaDUGsxfyg4eAkVmIOkiA7Ot4C4E9AudIaBqPC2lXD8-14PlknkVTevbjUgDdfoDzzfNQLh_aXE5Fqz8XsD_KpcMUpmjeZFsBHTD9QzI4ywt7qf0RQ4LOQQ6hT5iwqO2x/s320/WIN_20181102_08_02_49_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mash butter and add a piece at a time</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd3CcA6gBslZmLzp8_e1mb40REU2R5-SCZiQ-Nc4AkAET0f4ifLd4kQsvEhg7KxNnXV2dOuMQ4g5HRL3g8KAg9iZ2GnrOVqpBBdIOSBnlBBQ9pJhe2Po3z35w5MV4pJ99wQnPlpZkEshnW/s1600/WIN_20181102_08_09_46_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd3CcA6gBslZmLzp8_e1mb40REU2R5-SCZiQ-Nc4AkAET0f4ifLd4kQsvEhg7KxNnXV2dOuMQ4g5HRL3g8KAg9iZ2GnrOVqpBBdIOSBnlBBQ9pJhe2Po3z35w5MV4pJ99wQnPlpZkEshnW/s320/WIN_20181102_08_09_46_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxwsksjEaEzsTtWurqXOgHKC_fgf9-EqT4MrxnsNh8jXRpoIOwQEfedWs8-1Nww4aQTuRxBFwN_f4N9FAkEWxRReyYJ8xcJ_jh1KaZxSOlCS5lvipY3mNDD6Khg73hLYuuig2k5HrPSVqi/s1600/WIN_20181102_08_17_07_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxwsksjEaEzsTtWurqXOgHKC_fgf9-EqT4MrxnsNh8jXRpoIOwQEfedWs8-1Nww4aQTuRxBFwN_f4N9FAkEWxRReyYJ8xcJ_jh1KaZxSOlCS5lvipY3mNDD6Khg73hLYuuig2k5HrPSVqi/s320/WIN_20181102_08_17_07_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Pazl8vTEd0Qf5xJbzBwE4_V4RctzqTTy1etJppLwM2ic_nlRga4m4DOWwznRKkeqMl0mDhRpZlyWWu-pWaa9-xgaTAUdXnY0MI-ToAZoVkwNi2151xMN_5iowzKyFkWsTDTKQ_LJB2aO/s1600/WIN_20181102_08_21_09_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Pazl8vTEd0Qf5xJbzBwE4_V4RctzqTTy1etJppLwM2ic_nlRga4m4DOWwznRKkeqMl0mDhRpZlyWWu-pWaa9-xgaTAUdXnY0MI-ToAZoVkwNi2151xMN_5iowzKyFkWsTDTKQ_LJB2aO/s320/WIN_20181102_08_21_09_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju30Iw9qLHhFkMB7Hn7SnxnxrAyjJf0IZ2IIprDikGG2pDACEAowSgXOFSemC3tT-DLQMeq_2jPA8AOeRfkgLpNEHDILSkV0RVthGkI1at5zqjtisntudgB0e7d7P2zcxHLoB6NmV3yvY4/s1600/WIN_20181102_08_21_14_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju30Iw9qLHhFkMB7Hn7SnxnxrAyjJf0IZ2IIprDikGG2pDACEAowSgXOFSemC3tT-DLQMeq_2jPA8AOeRfkgLpNEHDILSkV0RVthGkI1at5zqjtisntudgB0e7d7P2zcxHLoB6NmV3yvY4/s320/WIN_20181102_08_21_14_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All butter added, now chill for 12 hours.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCXUYQhgNqQQjD1J8r2iRPwsv6F9ecidcKEODMsqnUSvrUMznNGTg5UboJ7jX-bV8eXD1Nk_95cTmCXI13L3LnrWzRA40tke_5kXUxyUjuoYCr5UjCBcUBOj1ZYSOXKtinZtCXgJ_rhlZR/s1600/WIN_20181102_20_01_12_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCXUYQhgNqQQjD1J8r2iRPwsv6F9ecidcKEODMsqnUSvrUMznNGTg5UboJ7jX-bV8eXD1Nk_95cTmCXI13L3LnrWzRA40tke_5kXUxyUjuoYCr5UjCBcUBOj1ZYSOXKtinZtCXgJ_rhlZR/s320/WIN_20181102_20_01_12_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flatten chilled dough by beating with rolling pin</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_yQti_BtDyIwYbcbIdMLOxJGC7EFCwmxRju6e7iJfHW0T0OMAMPmLSMyqM-QAgXbanOKKKbSojaTYhywML-HfcXMUiGjFKpUdBLAPJAnj1tFXv104m5oVZP9-jVdEQVmRdNdEf14WJbC/s1600/WIN_20181102_20_04_53_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_yQti_BtDyIwYbcbIdMLOxJGC7EFCwmxRju6e7iJfHW0T0OMAMPmLSMyqM-QAgXbanOKKKbSojaTYhywML-HfcXMUiGjFKpUdBLAPJAnj1tFXv104m5oVZP9-jVdEQVmRdNdEf14WJbC/s320/WIN_20181102_20_04_53_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flatten 125 g of very cold, hard butter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSUSuQJL2srOWIDvN-g0yr3A73Fzr2-1yTcsYHd3sW4YYw-XMjNGo12ffnUqFfwdpKrkBHixD5C1bHi1GfUqt8AXHTeHT-DZ1wBiE7yRt8eCzu_MqBLLZ-h0R5ndcaao7ETtlZtBbWxwaZ/s1600/WIN_20181102_20_06_00_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSUSuQJL2srOWIDvN-g0yr3A73Fzr2-1yTcsYHd3sW4YYw-XMjNGo12ffnUqFfwdpKrkBHixD5C1bHi1GfUqt8AXHTeHT-DZ1wBiE7yRt8eCzu_MqBLLZ-h0R5ndcaao7ETtlZtBbWxwaZ/s320/WIN_20181102_20_06_00_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is messy! Flour flies everywhere</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis0dKcIlppQfOKKPK-RLmpTnKtsjJ-tkOJwjvGt1p1WSqywu-Ubt75ZfkbqyDalPaVPo4qvnlUh9tSZGUEBbG-RmBoVSiJ-NHitQ4l7SyGFbDABm_u74QSHC-1-KwaFsPkL5igoCNxgbEF/s1600/WIN_20181102_20_07_42_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis0dKcIlppQfOKKPK-RLmpTnKtsjJ-tkOJwjvGt1p1WSqywu-Ubt75ZfkbqyDalPaVPo4qvnlUh9tSZGUEBbG-RmBoVSiJ-NHitQ4l7SyGFbDABm_u74QSHC-1-KwaFsPkL5igoCNxgbEF/s320/WIN_20181102_20_07_42_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Butter on middle third of dough</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFfqLLSjtS8s65K-0RixlOtEhPG4FDKTDCpU28b0VpruSTOr-ah2bEFZnCnPVXhuNi6Elws9ayQrbmjrt4oTH6JJhhtxOjN2M01Re9y4DAlb1CYpJXIn-7-ECe60WePYjdY-ntfWhW2NYi/s1600/WIN_20181102_20_08_27_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFfqLLSjtS8s65K-0RixlOtEhPG4FDKTDCpU28b0VpruSTOr-ah2bEFZnCnPVXhuNi6Elws9ayQrbmjrt4oTH6JJhhtxOjN2M01Re9y4DAlb1CYpJXIn-7-ECe60WePYjdY-ntfWhW2NYi/s320/WIN_20181102_20_08_27_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Make a package with butter inside</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDrEGZTrCbYeCXgS8uH9HM0-8kHacEIh17fdpMaPSuyngHSsgQJGPr9LTTT8vl6Eov97vnTaDhkb12yavifz1_NczhTRw_KYGfDYucmHQ1TtXyJIh4XF9aJeK8-2twUCHbvGqsQBWbhSSg/s1600/WIN_20181102_20_09_07_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDrEGZTrCbYeCXgS8uH9HM0-8kHacEIh17fdpMaPSuyngHSsgQJGPr9LTTT8vl6Eov97vnTaDhkb12yavifz1_NczhTRw_KYGfDYucmHQ1TtXyJIh4XF9aJeK8-2twUCHbvGqsQBWbhSSg/s320/WIN_20181102_20_09_07_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roll and fold - hard work!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHDlWizNSR2ugBNtP7yYs6Gf8rznHTLQycruStzd7o528cqUQJlnThACWUbuHRbpyxh263qhc_CSOvZ7nXVBRHSGnRCU7fuC_GtNWrGO7p_dq2qGqfCKgtxQiBCLDPs6mAryoFUWLZpiFy/s1600/WIN_20181102_20_11_25_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHDlWizNSR2ugBNtP7yYs6Gf8rznHTLQycruStzd7o528cqUQJlnThACWUbuHRbpyxh263qhc_CSOvZ7nXVBRHSGnRCU7fuC_GtNWrGO7p_dq2qGqfCKgtxQiBCLDPs6mAryoFUWLZpiFy/s320/WIN_20181102_20_11_25_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do it again - two folds each time</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiUeHw4mlNUetCSkkgIyABijqXSKg3Tbjl0lMlWzZaHemnWmCumeFzbYg_IJzdYju2HXvJiV2NCDFjTlP8spun_QnZ3iKaIKYlpPl0xMcpQ80wwEAiEP5hyvM_P5H3kBY4ejKW4oCkWP4Y/s1600/WIN_20181102_20_38_27_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiUeHw4mlNUetCSkkgIyABijqXSKg3Tbjl0lMlWzZaHemnWmCumeFzbYg_IJzdYju2HXvJiV2NCDFjTlP8spun_QnZ3iKaIKYlpPl0xMcpQ80wwEAiEP5hyvM_P5H3kBY4ejKW4oCkWP4Y/s320/WIN_20181102_20_38_27_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chill for a half hour</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUyN2Th3B9P3w6MRGR6FsXuyicSo3xj0vTCiRKF8bYAYV1RkwPaawkPVMMvNwsFnrk0XFPqUPeWBZYaaY6ehkamfpMdpoWEFyH9Ps2oTjjDFslYIXTB5LenyU7HN2rx0DdoUaw4COfdedJ/s1600/WIN_20181102_20_42_54_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUyN2Th3B9P3w6MRGR6FsXuyicSo3xj0vTCiRKF8bYAYV1RkwPaawkPVMMvNwsFnrk0XFPqUPeWBZYaaY6ehkamfpMdpoWEFyH9Ps2oTjjDFslYIXTB5LenyU7HN2rx0DdoUaw4COfdedJ/s320/WIN_20181102_20_42_54_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roll out to form pastries - cut for feuilletes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX2hLQ9h3F3FCIWKveghZkLeIT3vt3YSXopOZ2R6HwdKMzaWl_TxAOqjRzArSThncFi9gcnic-a1O1A-vMQS4Ta6dUCuSEO16OJzB9bnlLOOfONdxNjgvfPvRpvQN9n-BnNAylNEBR2lnG/s1600/WIN_20181102_20_43_34_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX2hLQ9h3F3FCIWKveghZkLeIT3vt3YSXopOZ2R6HwdKMzaWl_TxAOqjRzArSThncFi9gcnic-a1O1A-vMQS4Ta6dUCuSEO16OJzB9bnlLOOfONdxNjgvfPvRpvQN9n-BnNAylNEBR2lnG/s320/WIN_20181102_20_43_34_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These are about 125 g each</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhPa62IhEuUMY0oBOiiVzX5pYF7hc7qyzPVcurRTT1j38SMkuDIEK86pdIKc2hlX6vWDBo2E00eyWCUg-xFvtoB6c5eyPUhfA8yb08ivMXnE0Zz62WtbbuBHTQRekLb5Ah6DLovmGhyBmI/s1600/WIN_20181102_20_43_59_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhPa62IhEuUMY0oBOiiVzX5pYF7hc7qyzPVcurRTT1j38SMkuDIEK86pdIKc2hlX6vWDBo2E00eyWCUg-xFvtoB6c5eyPUhfA8yb08ivMXnE0Zz62WtbbuBHTQRekLb5Ah6DLovmGhyBmI/s320/WIN_20181102_20_43_59_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Braid them, then curl them up</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOLhzvUzBYIGrqzVukmp0KUSxqyNER77WUYlj62fEDSY3l4YKGLyMVLsh8Lqbougccw83MQzFb9J4KBqEF2MvyapU7RFRTDChcUwiy87-OF5BZHGwlMLjM174hKeGi7I4Ge3qECmr2wIMu/s1600/WIN_20181102_20_44_25_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOLhzvUzBYIGrqzVukmp0KUSxqyNER77WUYlj62fEDSY3l4YKGLyMVLsh8Lqbougccw83MQzFb9J4KBqEF2MvyapU7RFRTDChcUwiy87-OF5BZHGwlMLjM174hKeGi7I4Ge3qECmr2wIMu/s320/WIN_20181102_20_44_25_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and put in buttered ring mold</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_sbm3kyjizIIGCjQMVeJuT5rWqNZFAamawtq6LHn8gyuVemuWFuxLpc2u5lW3UEKN95HQeP6lfhtrg7h8jI6wXGCDyB49aTmzbe_Se4b91XKijZ5ekrY2CIrKxM6oJU2GFDsgu2royRAH/s1600/WIN_20181102_20_51_58_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_sbm3kyjizIIGCjQMVeJuT5rWqNZFAamawtq6LHn8gyuVemuWFuxLpc2u5lW3UEKN95HQeP6lfhtrg7h8jI6wXGCDyB49aTmzbe_Se4b91XKijZ5ekrY2CIrKxM6oJU2GFDsgu2royRAH/s320/WIN_20181102_20_51_58_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roll out dough for cinnamon rolls, sprinkle with sugar & cinnamon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu3DFtZePPbOeCvePQmoa65dPewezE4X1ifbZfHq1j-mxQQVN_yuNLTT2PfdJehDV6Zu4YeZ5rOrAXCZUzG3UTiwi10M0QWaYHLib8akjWRPfJ_MuL_Nok18XQfsqDAwyZq1HMItpA93rC/s1600/WIN_20181102_20_52_17_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu3DFtZePPbOeCvePQmoa65dPewezE4X1ifbZfHq1j-mxQQVN_yuNLTT2PfdJehDV6Zu4YeZ5rOrAXCZUzG3UTiwi10M0QWaYHLib8akjWRPfJ_MuL_Nok18XQfsqDAwyZq1HMItpA93rC/s320/WIN_20181102_20_52_17_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggV4OU2nCrKt2U4Gj7TaFLCaERl0zXAxhyphenhyphenqRqGt5uHBSJYs1PYEBPkzF2gWjulOeXdi-HfldVKLmj5gFVkblMjUyGDnbrpOBpdU7iuVt5JgPv0Yl5eWzNZXlqMn_fPXBFa7bMH6lMcvYl-/s1600/WIN_20181102_20_56_16_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggV4OU2nCrKt2U4Gj7TaFLCaERl0zXAxhyphenhyphenqRqGt5uHBSJYs1PYEBPkzF2gWjulOeXdi-HfldVKLmj5gFVkblMjUyGDnbrpOBpdU7iuVt5JgPv0Yl5eWzNZXlqMn_fPXBFa7bMH6lMcvYl-/s320/WIN_20181102_20_56_16_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready to proof</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Into the oven</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baked!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid2k7xo9yW_Qqu4Hs9tU5X2n6iSxI2v5IhwuwoTJ3d6vBdYrmOHXIhMFosW1ZBafUQUTw58G46NKjnGkn7bez9JD6AP9neNJ9AM9TflT8IGWq4wT_fCJa_j6gFI6643Q2dua4lPTLBCO6M/s1600/WIN_20181102_22_03_07_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid2k7xo9yW_Qqu4Hs9tU5X2n6iSxI2v5IhwuwoTJ3d6vBdYrmOHXIhMFosW1ZBafUQUTw58G46NKjnGkn7bez9JD6AP9neNJ9AM9TflT8IGWq4wT_fCJa_j6gFI6643Q2dua4lPTLBCO6M/s320/WIN_20181102_22_03_07_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Voila! Brioche feuilletes</td></tr>
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<br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-60968850107172378002018-09-30T06:00:00.002-07:002018-09-30T06:01:50.443-07:00Getting ready for A Few of My Favorite Things<div>
Our church, <a href="http://firstunitarian.us/">First Unitarian Church of South Bend, Indiana, </a>has a fund raiser each fall. We call it a service auction, and it is our largest single source of funds outside of pledges. </div>
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We all try to be inventive, and I love to go through the catalog, and I always buy too much. I get a little carried away with giving too. Last fall I offered a new dinner, which I called These Are A Few of My Favorite Things. </div>
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There are recipes I make over and over and over again, because they taste so, so, so good, and because they are not terribly time consuming to make. Well, I guess a couple of them are, but I make them so often that they are pretty easy for me now. </div>
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So what is the menu? Starters will have to be liver <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.28px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">pâté</span></span>, recipe from a Chicago restaurant no longer there called The Bakery. When the owner Louis Szathmary retired, he closed it. I heard he didn't even try to sell, probably because he thought nobody could do it well enough. I have two of his cookbooks, autographed by him, of course, and once when we were in there, I ended up getting a tour of his kitchen. When one had dinner at the bakery, there was no choice about starters. A small plate with a dollop of this exquisite <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.28px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">pâté </span></span>was brought to each guest with some fresh sour pickle slices and a crusty slice of baguette. There was plenty of unsalted butter available too. But now I have a new favorite starter, so there will be two. This one is so simple that I will give you the recipe right now.<br />
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<li>Slice some garden fresh tomatoes, pretty thick. Heat some unsalted butter in a cast iron or carbon steel pan. When the butter is browned, put in the tomato slices, flip once (just to get them warm), put them on the plate and pour the browned butter (now with fresh tomato juice in it, of course) over the warm tomato slices. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, and serve. You will definitely need a slice of baguette to mop up the juice. Elixir! </li>
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The salad is one I have made for years. It's from an old Gourmet magazine. It's a happy marriage of Napa cabbage, crispy pancetta and Gorgonzola cheese (I like that better than the blue cheese that is called for in the recipe), topped with a warm salad dressing of Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar, garlic, vegetable oil (not olive oil) and the fat rendered from the pancetta. Yum!!<br />
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On to the main course. It's green beans, tossed with light olive oil, salt and pepper, then sautéed on a grill pan until there are some brown bits, and into the serving bowl. And of course red potatoes coarsely chopped, lightly salted and boiled until tender, drained, then back in the pot with lots of butter, where they will stay warm until ready to serve. And the piece de resistance is lemon chicken. It's a pain, and I'm not going to go into details here, except to tell you it is really lemony, and served with a lemon butter sauce. It's a little tough to make, but well worth it.<br />
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My apple pie recipe has morphed over the years. You can go to allrecipes.com and find it more than once, slightly different names, but look for Grandma Ople's apple pie. You'll find it, and they are all virtually the same. I've messed with a bit, including adding some cider vinegar to the filling, a touch of my mom's apple pie spice, and a hefty dose of vanilla. I also bake it in a cast iron skillet, which I saw done on American's Test Kitchen. Choice of New York white cheddar or homemade vanilla bean ice cream on top.<br />
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So those are a few of MY favorite things!! Hope my guests like them as well.<br />
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The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-24218444595563324192018-09-12T07:34:00.000-07:002018-09-14T10:08:02.801-07:00Is diet's relation to cancer really a myth? I'm struggling with thoughts that all of the years of careful eating really meant nothing so far as cancer is concerned. In fact, my oncologist said that a low carb diet helping to prevent cancer is just a myth that sells books. And when he said it, I agreed with him given that I had just been diagnosed with the dread disease. I have been in ketosis for eight years (VERY low carb) - and still I got cancer.<br />
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The outcome was pretty good though, since I am part of the 20% who survive the particular malignancy I had (a GIST, if you want to read up on it) without going onto a prophylactic dose of chemo for the rest of my life. So maybe my diet had something to do with that. I don't know. Life is a crapshoot.<br />
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I'm cleaning cupboards this morning - a long overdue job, but one that is indicative of just how good I am feeling now that I'm through the surgery and not on chemo. So what does that have to do with diets and cancer? Well, in addition to finding out I don't need to shop for three months, and coming up with great recipe ideas as I find things hidden away that I forgot I had, I found a cupboard where I had a cache of baking supplies.<br />
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And so I have <u>A tale of two coconuts</u> - I had two bags of unsweetened shredded coconut in my cupboard, one organic and one not. The non-organic bag was intact. There was a hole chewed in the side of the organic bag. Unbiased mice prefer organic over non-organic!<br />
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Think I'll keep eating my old way. I'm throwing out the non-organic, too. The mice know what's good for them and what's not, and so do I. Now back to cleaning cupboards!<br />
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Bon appetit!<br />
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<br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-86991416377443111422018-09-10T06:58:00.000-07:002018-09-15T11:08:14.953-07:00I am feeling soooooooooooo good!At last, my stomach doesn't hurt when Fred decides to crawl onto it. My energy level is almost up to pre-cancer treatment levels. Three weeks from Wednesday, I get to go back to Crossfit. Yesterday afternoon, I mowed the whole lawn (first time since foot and ankle surgery).<br />
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I am on a ketogenic diet for health reasons. It has gotten me off a nasty scrip, and has enabled me to lower my dosage for blood pressure meds. Lately I have been taking Celebrex every other day, sometimes I can quit altogether, depending on activity level AND how well I have been eating.<br />
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How well have I been eating? Not very. Did you know a Klondike bar has 28 grams of carbs? Cut in half, that's only 14, and I can have 22 a day. That's okay if I haven't had a tiny (or not so tiny) bite of bread, haven't eaten some of my favorite keto recipes that still have 10 grams per serving (so why not have TWO servings?). It had to stop.<br />
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Now that I am back in the groove with the keto diet, I am hoping to ditch the Celebrex altogether. Besides, a healthy dropperful of CBD oil works<i> almost</i> as well as Celebrex, especially if I have been in ketosis. I'm happy with 5, but this morning my reading was 15, and I can feel the difference. It's almost like taking speed.<br />
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It has been a long road since I had surgery for torn ligament in ankle and torn tendon in foot the day after Christmas. That one was worse than I imagined it would be. I had barely gotten back on my feet when I noticed severe stomach cramps and black, tarry stools. That eventually led to a diagnosis of a malignant sarcoma, known as a GIST (Gastro Intestinal Stromal Tumor), planted in my stomach near my esophagus, a particularly bad spot. I was back at Crossfit for only six weeks when I had to go on chemo, which sapped my strength to the point where I didn't go anymore.<br />
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In the midst of all of this, I lost my beloved Tashi, 14 years old, pretty ill for the last five years of her life, but we hung in there together. Still miss her so much.<br />
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Maybe when so much goes wrong in such a short time, one finally becomes immune to shock. However, I experienced shock when the oncologist told me that I would not need anymore chemo after my surgery. In the hospital after its removal, the surgeon told me three years of chemo! Seems like it was just more bad news to deal with, another challenge I really didn't want to face.<br />
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And then three weeks later, after all of the path reports were in, the oncologist gave me the lovely news - NOT an aggressive tumor, although definitely malignant. SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOW growing tumor, in spite of a spurt of growth when I was taken off Gleevec due to liver and heart problems. But it's gone!<br />
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So yes, I am shocked! GOOD shock!! I was considering how to deal with having to go back on chemo, which was like poison to my body. I seriously considered just saying no, and letting the chips fall where they may. Better a few years of feeling good than 20 years of the hell of dealing with Gleevec and all of its side effects. I was on a support board, and many of the people on the board have been on Gleevec for 18 years!! Bothering your liver? Then just get on steroids - with all of their side effects - in order to tolerate the chemo. I was the only one on the board with heart issues, so I had no one from whom to get info on that.<br />
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CT scan in six months, every six months for two years, then every TEN YEARS! I choose to look at the situation as a cure. If I get bad news in six months, I will deal with it then. In the meantime, living with the firm belief that I am cured has helped me to get back on the wagon and "just say no" to Klondike bars, a small (well, maybe this time a medium) order of well done French fries, and one too many tastes from my samples of the French baguettes I take to market on Saturdays. I am back on the keto train and feeling wonderful!<br />
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<br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-26418865948447140062018-09-02T06:50:00.002-07:002018-09-02T11:21:51.298-07:00Here's the scoop - WITH FOLLOWUP!Jump to the bottom for the update to this post if you want to cut to the chase. I was waiting to post this until after my appointment in Boston on Thursday. I wrote this during the three weeks that I was waiting for results of path reports, and it was not a good time for me.<br />
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The good news was that they were able to remove the whole tumor by laparoscopy. I have five slices in my abdomen. The surgeon had to take about 10% of my stomach, and he felt good about the margins being clean. Pathology reports will be available next Wednesday - five days out.<br />
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I felt my tumor. It felt like the baby's first few kicks during your first pregnancy. I could sometimes feel it under my hand, a couple of times actually saw the movement under the skin on my abdomen. These things grow on a stalk, and ordinarily it would have been floating outside my stomach, but it was floating on the INSIDE of the stomach. That's why I felt the "baby kicking." The surgeon explained to my daughter how he had to make a hole and push it through so that he could get to it from the correct side. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I am not sure, but I think Val said he pushed it from the stomach into the abdomen. </span>Or maybe I have it backwards. Doesn't matter - it's gone! I am waiting anxiously for the video. I'll get to see the whole thing.<br />
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So often, things are not as bad as one fears, but not as good as one hopes. This experience falls into that category. I was hoping that they would find the tumor was completely free of malignancy, even though everything I read (and what my oncologists told me) is that these are NEVER classified as benign. But four needle biopsies showed no sign of malignancy, and I had hoped . . .<br />
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So since the tumor is completely gone and the margins appeared to be clean, why should I care that the tumor was most definitely malignant? Here's the bad news. It is follow-up treatment that is the issue. Dr. M. from Harvard appears to have been right - this was a very aggressive tumor. Follow-up will be three YEARS of chemo, or anyway, that is the initial prognosis from my surgeon. More from Dr. M. the oncologist on August 30. My body cannot handle Gleevec, the drug of choice for these. Both my liver and my heart were rather severely affected by the chemo. It didn't really work that great anyway. The growth in the last four weeks (sans Gleevec) was pretty intense, recovering the whole loss during the 2-1/2 months of chemo, plus another 0.3 cm. So by the day of removal, it was actually 0.3 cm larger than when it was initially diagnosed.<br />
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I can thank my lucky stars that it must have bled while I was recovering from foot and ankle surgery, because in my boredom, I was well aware of some severe abdominal pain, and there were signs of blood in the stomach when I went to the bathroom. Without those signs, this could have grown quite a while longer. In fact, by the time I got to the gastroenterologist's office, the pain was gone, and I actually said, "Why bother? It must be a bleeding ulcer that is healing on its own." The doctor told me that her mother didn't want the test, but they convinced her and the test revealed that she had cancer. So she said, "Let's just do the test and then you will KNOW that you don't have cancer." Hah! When I woke up and they said no ulcer, I didn't have to hear more to know I was in trouble. Within three weeks, I was diagnosed with GIST, a sarcoma. Never benign.<br />
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I have felt so good since going off chemo, more energy, lost the chemo weight, no more Prinzmetal's angina attacks. The thought of going back on is depressing, and even more depressing is the thought that they will not be able to find anything that I can tolerate, hence leaving the door wide open for a recurrence. Sort of like having sex without protection. Only a 20% survival rate if it shows up again. I know, one day at a time, but I'm struggling right now with the uncertainty of my future.<br />
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I don't know if anything they find on the path reports will have any effect on the post-op treatment, but I'm leaving this in the draft folder until after my appointments back in Boston on August 30. Maybe there will be some good news then. In the meantime, I am trying not to think about it, staying busy, enjoying the boat and the pets, hoping the appetite comes back. I can eat just so much and the body says, "No more!" I'm there now. Four more bites of salad, but I just cannot do it. The door has closed yet again.<br />
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UPDATE: Oncologist in Boston told me on August 30 appointment that it was in fact low risk, not high risk. No Gleevec. Just CT scans every six months for two years, then every ten years. I am cancer free! NO FOLLOWUP CHEMO!!<br />
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<br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-80569082182250048322018-08-07T13:48:00.000-07:002018-08-08T03:01:42.817-07:00Tomorrow's the day!I spent the day cleaning out the system in my hotel room. Ugh! My daughter arrived this afternoon. She went out to find me some broth, Jell-O and ginger ale for supper. Not quite like last night's supper!!<br />
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Surgery is taking place tomorrow morning at 9:30 am. I met with the surgeon, Dr. Wang, this morning. He thinks he will be able to do laparoscopy. In spite of the size and placement, laparoscopy will be possible because he will be looking at it in two ways - he will do an endoscopic ultra sound so that he is viewing the tumor with an internal camera AND he will be going into the stomach using laparoscopic technique, going through my abdomen.<br />
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He told me that this technique is a bit tricky, but it would enable him to take the least part of my stomach because he will be viewing it from two different angles and he can be more precise. He said better to have to go back in later than to take too much since quality of life is important. Sort of like my oncologist, Dr. Rushing, telling me that I needed to be happy and make t-cells, so he cut back my meds. The doctors I chose both have that great attitude - quality of life is so important. I am lucky to have found both of them.<br />
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Dr. Wang said that residents often do part of the surgery, but he will be doing it all himself, and if I give permission, it will be filmed so that he can teach this technique to other doctors. I said of course, that I always wanted to be a movie star!!<br />
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My daughter will do a post on my Facebook page tomorrow once I am out of surgery, and I will be back with more blogging in a few days.<br />
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Onward and upward!<br />
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<br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-60774959974537074992018-07-30T16:51:00.002-07:002018-07-31T08:03:18.932-07:00All the nuts and bolts of getting ready for surgeryI had my ticket out to Boston purchased - one way. And I've arranged for boarding my dog, Fred. That was about it. So I got in gear today.<br />
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The Resource Center at Dana Farber helps cancer patients get discounted rooms at the Hampton Inn. There is only one night with a discounted room available, but the woman who helped me said to book for the whole time any of the three of us are there, and if a discounted room becomes available, you don't even have to move. So when my son checks out on Monday, they will charge us the hospital medical rate, which is helpful, when no discounted rooms are available, but if any rooms became available during our stay, then we will be charged that low price, which is a fraction of the hospital medical rate. I am very thankful. It is pretty costly for all of us to fly out there. Would have been much easier in Indianapolis, but I know I made the right decision, and my kids are standing behind me.<br />
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Dr. Wang's nurse told me that she is ninety-five percent sure it will be five days, but it could be as few as three (I don't think they will be able to do laparoscopy, so that is probably unreasonable), or as many as seven. So how do I schedule a ticket back home? Pay the extra $20 for trip insurance, that's how. I also upgraded on trip home to a seat with more leg room and early boarding. At $56, that seems like a bargain, and I got one for my son, too.<br />
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Fred will be going to Sue's Small Stuff for a visit there. He shouldn't be home alone, even though the neighbors have offered to care for him. Dogs need company. A neighbor girl is coming over to go over daily tasks here, care and feeding of the parakeets Pumpkin and Sweetie Pie who will have each other for company, and my crazy cat Holly Berry who will enjoy having the whole house to herself so long as the food bowl is filled regularly. Tomato plants will have to be soaked daily. There has been too much work put into them to have them shrivel up and die while I am gone.<br />
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My son is coming up Wednesday for the last of the yard work that Valerie and I didn't get to last week. It's his birthday present to me - edging, trimming, another mowing with the repaired lawnmower (sharpened blades, bad wheel fixed), giving the bushes in front of the house a haircut, and MAYBE power washing the north wall of the house. It's getting pretty green! It's only the wall by the kitchen that is bad, not sure why only that area. I think I cook too much!!<br />
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I have been so worried about my pickle juice! Was planning to pour into seven 3-oz. plastic bottles since it is the only thing that relieves my nightly leg cramps. Well, guess what? Amazon has concentrated pickle juice shots in 2.5 ounce bottles, which meets airline requirements.<br />
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I'll be taking my CBD oil, and my frankincense, and my Deluxe Sleep Oil. I will have a veritable pharmacy of my special "Susie scrips." That ought to go over really well with the hospital staff! LOL<br />
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My last blood test to check liver function is Wednesday. Then nothing more until I get to Boston, where there will be one more round of blood tests, plus the clean-out routine. Ugh!<br />
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One week from Wednesday, with my alimentary canal spotless, it will be slice, snip, chop-chop, stitch, and all will be well! I will know just how much was (or wasn't) going on in that thing by the time I wake up. My daughter will be there, and insists in staying all night at the hospital the first night. My thought is, "What are the hospital staff for?" Hers is, "I've been through this with my husband (islet cell tumor in pancreas) and one of my daughters (ruptured appendix). I need to be there the first night - things go wrong!!"<br />
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Well, I have been at this all day. Time to hang it up! I'm done for now. The rest can wait.<br />
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Love my kids and all of my friends and family members who have been holding me in their thoughts and prayers. Thanks to all!!<br />
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<br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-42360180462652292832018-07-20T11:32:00.001-07:002018-07-20T11:47:00.201-07:00Decisions, decisions!I<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> have been struggling with contradictory input from doctors. My preferred oncologist is at IU Health in Indianapolis. No doubt. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">His analysis differs from the doctor at Dana Farber in Boston (part of Harvard). Maybe it is the fact that my undergrad degree is in statistics, and he goes to the white board at some point during every appointment, laying out information in graphs and charts that make sense to me. Or maybe it is that he cares about my happiness. And he made a chart about the importance of happiness in increasing our life spans. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When I told him I was going to quit baking because I was too exhausted, one would have thought I had told him I was going to jump off a bridge! He said that I needed to be happy to make t-cells, and those t-cells were just as important to my healing as Gleevec, the kinase inhibitor a.k.a. chemo-by-pill that I was taking every day. I was taking a very high dose. So he cut the dose back.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The next day, I bought a pontoon boat. I live on the river, getting a boat was on my list, and I thought, "What am I waiting for?" I named her T-Cell. If happiness makes t-cells, then I am definitely making them when I am on the river. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the river with T-Cell</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The oncologist at Boston was terse, insisted that the tumor was aggressive in spite of tests that said otherwise. I called his office later and he was good enough to call back. I questioned his diagnosis about how bad my tumor was. He said it was "high risk." I told him that I had looked at a chart that says, by size, 1 to 4 cm tumors are low risk, 4 to 8 cm are medium risk, and more than 8 are high risk. Before the Gleevec, mine measured a little under 6 cm. I asked, "Doesn't this mean mine is medium risk?" Paraphrasing, his answer was basically, "No, because I said so. That was just one chart." Chart was from a reliable source, by the way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I don't think he liked the little old lady questioning him. Ego.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My oncologist at IU was willing to listen to how the Boston doc thought my dosage should be changed. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">He had me taking half a pill one day (200 mg.), a whole pill the next (400 mg.). </span>The Boston doc said that the half pill days would allow the malignancy to get a toe hold. He said I should take 300 mg. per day. My oncologist changed my scrip. </span>No ego cropping up there -- although he did make a chart on half life of my medicine, and showed why he didn't think the change in dosage was going to make all that much difference - in fact, probably none. But at least he didn't just reject it out of hand. And his explanation made a lot of sense to me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On to the surgeons. Wow! From the first surgeon at IU telling me it would require a complete gastrectomy (that is, total removal of the stomach) plus the removal of the bottom quarter of my esophagus to the Boston doctor telling me he would do a resection (i.e. take out a triangle of stomach wall), not touch the esophagus, and I would be lifting weights in four weeks. These two diagnoses were based on both doctors looking at exactly the same test results. The IU doc said that if the chemo shrunk it a good amount, perhaps he could take just half the stomach and a smaller part of the esophagus. But he never discussed resection.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When I questioned the IU doctor about why his diagnosis was so different from Boston and asked if he would call the doc in Boston for some conversation, he told me two things. An emphatic NO that he wasn't going to call the Boston doc to argue with him (would it have to be an argument?), and that the Boston doc was just marketing to me, was telling me the story I would like the best in order to get my business. Wow again!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My inclination was to go to Boston, but the IU surgeon saved my son-in-law's life (removed an islet cell tumor from his pancreas over five years ago, and he is still doing fine). Eight hours on the table. Tricky business. And he is at the same hospital as the oncologist whom I dearly love. However, his specialty is pancreatic issues, not GISTs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What to do? I am not a prayer person, but my daughter is. I told her I thought I was going to have to pray. I just didn't really know what to do, and the Boston surgeon had yet to call me back to talk about next steps should I decide to go out there for the surgery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I called on Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom and War. Who else should I call on? Here were these warring doctors, and I needed some help. Then I forgot about it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Later I suddenly thought, "If Dr. Wang hasn't returned my call, why not Google some Dr. Jiping Wang reviews on the internet?" Duh. Thanks for reminding me I have a brain, Athena! That was the "wisdom" part of her input.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wow yet again! Dr. Wang is highly regarded in this specific field, and he does a lot of these. In reading through his creds, one of them mentioned that he specializes in performing least invasive surgery. That would explain why he is so sure that he can do this without removing my stomach - or even half of it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have made my decision. Now to make sure that I am not setting up any road blocks by using an oncologist from IU Health and a surgeon at Dana Farber Cancer Clinic at Harvard. Here goes - ONWARD AND UPWARD!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thanks, Athena. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-15220353075871189142018-07-12T16:11:00.001-07:002018-07-13T11:57:23.236-07:00Much confusion yesterday, but all in all good newsI had a CT scan at IU Health in Indy yesterday, first one since I have been on Gleevec. The tumor was very minimally smaller, which was a bit of a disappointment to me. However, the oncologist, Dr. Rushing, said that sarcomas are different than, say, a breast tumor. There, lack of shrinkage would be cause for alarm, but with sarcomas, if it stays the same, celebrate! Or so he says.<br />
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He was quite concerned that the oncologist in Boston at the Dana Farber Cancer Clinic told me it was aggressive. He immediately left the room to get my report, muttering, brought the report back underlining the things that he said proved it was slow growing, and certainly <b><i>NOT</i></b> aggressive.<br />
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All of my records were in the hands of the oncologist (I'll just call him Dr M) in Boston when I went there a few weeks ago for a second opinion. I called ahead to make sure he had them. I had never read the report, only got a two-minute phone call from the doctor here in town who did the biopsies. Following is what the written report said. See that word "benign"? The reason that they are treating it like a malignancy is that they always are or will be given enough time. So they are treated as if they already are. Far too many people on the board I participate in got a "no malignancy" initial diagnosis and did nothing, then a year later it was in their liver! So I fully agree with the course of treatment at IU Health. Here is the pathology report, verbatim. Oh, and by the way, that phrase (2 per 50 high-power fields) means it is very, VERY slow growing!! Nothing aggressive about that.<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">"A bland spindled cell neoplasm is identified with
rare mitotic figures (2 per 50 high-power fields). High grade features are not
present. Immunohistochemical stains are performed and are positive for CD117
and vimentin. They are negative for S100, S0X10 and CKAE1/3. Controls are
adequate. While a benign GIST is favored, this is based on a
limited sampling of the lesion. Clinical correlation is recommended." In other words, it needs to be sliced and diced to see where the little suckers might be hiding.</span><br />
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So what in this report would have prompted Dr. M to say it was aggressive? The only thing that Dr. Rushing attributes it to was that he just looked at three pictures, all taken from different types of tests, and one of them not even at the same lab, and took the largest measurement of each. Based on dates of tests, each one happened to be bigger than the previous one. According to Dr. Rushing, it did not indicate a rapidly growing tumor. Dr. Rushing used a tissue box that he moved around on the table to show how looking at it straight on towards an end will give a very different measurement than looking at it from the side. He said depending on the direction from which the camera took its shot, these things can vary 2 or more centimeters. Mine went from 3 cm to 6 cm. In fact, the 6 cm was rounded up - it was actually only 5.7 cm, and he believes it was probably a side shot being compared to a head-on shot earlier that might have led Dr. M to use the term "aggressive.".<br />
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Dr. M said it was a mistake that I didn't get on Gleevec just as soon as I knew it was a GIST. I didn't want to spend the $3,500 co-pay if I was going to get into the Novartis program (which I did), even if I had to wait three weeks. After all, the pathologist I spoke with here said it was slow growing. What's another three weeks?<br />
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I have been sick with worry since my visit to Dr. M. But one bit of comfort was that he said that Gleevec worked the best on aggressive tumors, so it should be shrinking pretty fast.<br />
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Well, I had another CT scan from SEVERAL directions yesterday, and every picture showed it had shrunk. Not by much, but it had shrunk and Dr. Rushing said that he could say with 100% certainty that it had not grown. So the three weeks without Gleevec, if it had grown, was already offset by the Gleevec - and then some. Very good news indeed.<br />
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Some liver numbers are off. Tests for Hep B and Hep C were negative (phew!), so I am taking three weeks off from Gleevic on the assumption that it is the problem. I'll be getting blood tests weekly, then back on Gleevec at a lower dose on weeks four, five and six, then another round of CT scans and a visit with Dr. Rushing. We'll be discussing dates for surgery. This is all very exhausting!<br />
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One thing that is running through my mind is that if Gleevec loves to go to work on aggressive tumors and will shrink them faster (I see notes from people on my GIST support board who say their tumors are half the size in just a few weeks), then the fact that mine barely shrunk at all means it is NOT an aggressive tumor, but in fact a pretty timid one.<br />
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Yay for timid tumors!!! I'm going to be fine.<br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span>The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-72465538326011638652018-07-05T09:55:00.000-07:002018-07-05T09:57:23.037-07:00A life well lived . . .Natasha Marie, or Tashi for short, joined the family on the farm in the fall of 2007. The vet guessed her age at about two years old, maybe a bit older. She loved that farm. She never quite forgave me for leaving it.<br />
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Tashi crossed the rainbow bridge today, July 5, 2018 at noon. I am taking her ashes to the farm so that she will be back in her beloved home, her Summerland, for eternity.<br />
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<br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-16326019587862524482018-07-03T13:37:00.000-07:002018-07-03T13:38:23.916-07:00T-Cell is in the river at my dock!Ahoy, Mateys!<br />
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We spent Sunday on the river, came ashore for a cookout, then back out for one more ride. We got pretty good at popping the Bimini sun shade up and down. The river is so high that we couldn't get under the bridges with it up.<br />
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Then back to the dock and since we were supposed to get rain, we put the cover on for the first time. That is definitely not a one person job! But we got it done. It's all tucked in. The rain didn't happen, but it's good to have it covered at least part of the time.<br />
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Sheesh! I'm going to have to get a carpet sweeper to get the flooring clean. Well, it's worth it.<br />
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Here are a bunch of pics of our day.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYATrWksJwqGyVPdEconXLo0vbz9P7sFvE1YSOAFFPL7_Fo33kFYdyPcsIdN3cOopBP_ni4ndEiSH3YkAgi97S9DQ7wPeoP0pjBLdbkxB1_vbX8USfY8QRD0VhC9XSXHP4QIblxMM1C7fP/s1600/20180627_175631.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYATrWksJwqGyVPdEconXLo0vbz9P7sFvE1YSOAFFPL7_Fo33kFYdyPcsIdN3cOopBP_ni4ndEiSH3YkAgi97S9DQ7wPeoP0pjBLdbkxB1_vbX8USfY8QRD0VhC9XSXHP4QIblxMM1C7fP/s400/20180627_175631.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View back towards house</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheCaE4TzXcp03jxGSgE1o-0llciXLqV-fxJDQJSOyvKpeoqwn7gk90SWKKKxPTvO-QIcNbWa0GZoT0W9FPoT0wEXiRReNgUHsCciCtjE3BAt1Sga3SPBG0oaQA0Vz4lGAwuZOYhOk21acc/s1600/20180701_122800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheCaE4TzXcp03jxGSgE1o-0llciXLqV-fxJDQJSOyvKpeoqwn7gk90SWKKKxPTvO-QIcNbWa0GZoT0W9FPoT0wEXiRReNgUHsCciCtjE3BAt1Sga3SPBG0oaQA0Vz4lGAwuZOYhOk21acc/s400/20180701_122800.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah driving with a little help from her mom</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mike is in this one.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkXAeVOVlIUbFTxvy_jMork0ZiDaYLbHzhyt_BS7EsD1yAMg6RPQgxGTjhBxsCMJxU5uLXQG8l-3za9Ax8Iu61YdIavKc3tK89nD9pIOiBCN1oEWh3fui60pW7nP2ZEpwdZQk1DwTGA1fl/s1600/20180701_155738.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkXAeVOVlIUbFTxvy_jMork0ZiDaYLbHzhyt_BS7EsD1yAMg6RPQgxGTjhBxsCMJxU5uLXQG8l-3za9Ax8Iu61YdIavKc3tK89nD9pIOiBCN1oEWh3fui60pW7nP2ZEpwdZQk1DwTGA1fl/s400/20180701_155738.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See the babies paddling furiously behind mama?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT2hvEocO9lB9WAh8NeJen5rvt0cOsbyLONSeveBeCDzwQitoC9JQZOJfrQ9PAE9uxADxt2P989UKlb2bEYOmlZaiLPsojP6ZPe8vgZYJAwVfscQNNR5npRxsV29N3473URZuJcaHx2hxB/s1600/20180701_164720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT2hvEocO9lB9WAh8NeJen5rvt0cOsbyLONSeveBeCDzwQitoC9JQZOJfrQ9PAE9uxADxt2P989UKlb2bEYOmlZaiLPsojP6ZPe8vgZYJAwVfscQNNR5npRxsV29N3473URZuJcaHx2hxB/s400/20180701_164720.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Val did a great job getting the cover on the back of boat.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCm-_j1BbXY9Xy1Er-RsTVweHhN2bujrfWUEC9rbpejA8VxB4jCQjtu7LrtUNLf2vVsP9_9nIrqX74BRpArFeuG9K0TBq7MfVtyJyyPn6vZLCGN13hMemuUmzUyJNVbTaFl9ptNEqiSRqQ/s1600/20180701_164733.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCm-_j1BbXY9Xy1Er-RsTVweHhN2bujrfWUEC9rbpejA8VxB4jCQjtu7LrtUNLf2vVsP9_9nIrqX74BRpArFeuG9K0TBq7MfVtyJyyPn6vZLCGN13hMemuUmzUyJNVbTaFl9ptNEqiSRqQ/s400/20180701_164733.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Things weren't lining up right - we missed one snap! Oops!</td></tr>
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<br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-46239626372068600372018-06-25T06:17:00.000-07:002018-06-26T11:31:04.414-07:00I know you are trying to help, but . . .<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1d2129; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 0px;">I get a lot of advice from people who have the answer, people who tell me that cancer is a modern disease borne of the way we live and eat now (it's not, cancer was found in dinosaur bones), that sugar feeds cancer (that's one I believed but given my ketogenic diet, I should not have been confronted with this if sugar really is the culprit), and much more.
I know that people mean well, but before you send me your magic cure, please take the time to read this article. These are well documented.
While my oncologist in Indy believes that T-cells boost our own immune system and can help to heal us, he is not advocating T-cell production (yoga, hobbies, meditation, family & friends, etc.) IN PLACE OF Gleevec, since he understands Gleevec's importance. He is not pooh-poohing every alternative - but does believe those things are adjuncts, not alternatives.
Anyway, here is the article. Please read carefully for a good education on what cancer is and how we can (or cannot) heal. And BTW, I am still rubbing frankincense essential oil over my belly and eating a very low carb diet. And I bought a boat, being delivered today, and named her T-Cell!
Please take the time to read this <a href="http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2014/03/24/dont-believe-the-hype-10-persistent-cancer-myths-debunked/">Don't Believe the Hype - 10 cancer myths debunked</a>.
</span>The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716575788727832662.post-69428096124873984642018-06-23T12:36:00.001-07:002018-07-21T17:03:11.753-07:00Good news, not so good news, a little of each.I went to Dana Farber Cancer Clinic in Boston on Thursday. It was a grueling day - up at 2 am, Vinny, my friend who is an Uber driver, was there to pick me up at 3:30 and take me to O'Hare, where the fare was less than a fourth of the fare out of South Bend. I got back at 3:30 am, 24 hours later. Long day!<br />
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I arrived at the clinic right on time and got through the check-in process pretty quickly. My appointment with the surgeon was what interested me the most, since the surgeon I had talked to in Indy said surgery would be drastic, that about the best I could hope for was to have half my stomach removed as well as the bottom of my esophagus, and that was only IF the chemo reduced the size. No size reduction, then the whole stomach and bottom quarter of esophagus would have to go.<br />
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I live to eat, not the other way around. I live alone, often spend an hour or more fixing my dinner in the evening because of the pure pleasure of going through recipes, preparing the food, and then enjoying the fruits of my labor. No stomach? I was distraught. Half a stomach? Not much of a consolation prize.<br />
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I started on Gleevec, which isn't actually chemo, but rather a kinase inhibitor. But it has the same purpose - to shrink the tumor.<br />
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The good news - Dr. Wang (pronounced Wong), the surgeon at Dana Farber, said no to removing the whole stomach, and said even if he did it now, he would just take a triangle out and wouldn't touch the esophagus (that part was really worrying me, Google junkie that I am). I asked about eating afterwards. He said I probably wouldn't even notice the difference. Probably not eligible for laparoscopy unless the shrinkage from the meds far exceeded expectations. So if there is an incision, how long until I can go back to Crossfit? "Four weeks," he said! I said, "You're hired!"<br />
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Meeting with the oncologist in the afternoon was not so uplifting. I was told in South Bend that it was a slow growing tumor. I was hoping to get into a study. It was $3,000 co-pay for 30 pills vs. free. I opted to wait for the free stuff so I started the pills three weeks later. The oncologist looked at my pictures and said it was extremely fast growing, had in fact doubled in size between April 2 and April 24. I said, "I should have paid the $3,000 to get on Gleevec right away." He said, "Yes, you should have, but since you were told it was slow growing, you made what at the time seemed to be the right decision." No more pics were done before I started Gleevec, so who knows how large it got before it was finally treated. I know I have gone from size 10 pants to size 14, and I'm wearing smock type blouses. Oh, well, what is done is done, and I can just cross my fingers that I didn't cross any lines by waiting.<br />
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On July 11, they will do another CT scan, but of course it will not take into account any growth that happened between April 24 and May 15. The important thing now is to assess it often to check for rate of shrinkage. As soon as the rate begins to slow, or anyway this is the word I am getting from Dr. Morgan, the oncologist at Dana Farber, it comes out! I will continue seeing my oncologist in Indy, but the surgeon will be Dr. Wang, and it will be done at Dana Farber in Boston. Not convenient, but it's my health and my life, and I want to walk away from all of this with a functioning stomach, malignancy free.<br />
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So that's what's happening in my life. And by the way, the oysters on the half shell that I had for lunch in Boston were fabulous! Best ever, with shaved frozen horseradish atop each luscious plump bivalve.<br />
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Like I said, I live to eat.<br />
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<br />The Accidental Farmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09939230112226415887noreply@blogger.com0