Cooking for more

My pit isn't doing so well lately, those good and bad days. I'm not cooking food for him every night so he will actually eat something and not starve to death. The chemo treatment had to be changed, and now he is on antibiotics and heart medication as well. Last night he had sirloin, green beans and eggs, all jumble cooked in a frying pan. I had a couple slices of pizza, he's eating better than me!
I think it's worth it, I don't want to feel like I didn't make the effort and just let him slip away. His glands are not as swollen this morning, but I can only imagine trying to eat dry dog food must be horrible something like swallowing hard cookie crumbs when you have a sore throat. My fresh grocery bill is going to double but I get a lot of satisfaction cooking for my little guy.

Went wheeling yesterday, had 7 rigs and a bunch of friends. The people I wheel with are actually friends, strangers I can't rely on when something happens to break. We actually had one of the smaller Jeeps get stuck on a rock and completely crush the oil pan in, but not enough to cause it to leak or cause the incorrect amount of oil to get into the system. Another smaller Jeep wasn't so lucky and toasted his rear ring gear and needed some assistance in the harder spots with a tow strap. The gears broke enough to make a smooth section so he drove home in 4high, front wheel drive, without any issues. I had some horrible squeaking and discovered a bolt for my transfer case bracket was working it's way out and had stripped so I couldn't get it tight enough. .50 cal ammo can full of spare nuts and bolts saved the day as usual and it was business as normal.

Shot of the 3 big rigs after a dusty road and before 5 hour trail time.

Parking was at a premium so I found a rock to perch on for lunch

I canned some apples, the honey-crisp are finally in stock and I took advantage. Spend $100 and get $10 off coupon plus 10% off if you have a football shirt on, bonus. I stocked up on pumpkin since it was on sale and lasts a long time PLUS I managed to get out of Costco under $70 for the first time ever. I'm not panicked nor really worried, but when I find things on sale I try to get a lot while I can afford it, just in case the price for groceries triples next year. Farm produce is expensive since many states don't allow illegal labor anymore and it seems most 'Americans' don't want to do that kind of work. I think that people want jobs but hardly anyone wants to work. Same old story.

I've got some freeze dried cans I'm waiting to get shipped, but it's been delayed and now I have to call and have it delayed more so it's not sitting on the curb for a week while I'm away. Supposed to get snow and high of 30 on Wednesday, I can't wait, so tonight I'll put away the hose and I'm ready for winter.

Permanent frowny face time?

When I read and skim over the dozens of blogs, I seriously feel like I'm the only one who is having fun and enjoying myself. It's good to be prepared, it's good to stay current on events and happenings, it's good to have a plan.

I ordered Battlefield 3, gonna lay the smack down online.

It's also really good to enjoy yourself and not have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Maybe I'm the only one who doesn't wake up wondering if the world will collapse today. The people I talk to about such things outside of the web are all just waiting for it to happen and concern themselves with just that and really nothing else. Can't anyone live this kind of lifestyle and not be worried 24/7, or am I really so far out of it that I'm more of a yuppie with some food in a storage bin.

Yuck.
I don't really take myself too seriously, maybe it's a fault but I still keep going at it. We did add some SHTF booze into storage yesterday. Since I don't drink it's going to last a while or get me so drunk I won't be able to do anything but vomit while the world is torn asunder by the occupy whatthefuckever crowd (occupy the barn over at Zydeco ranch! lol that was awesome). I also inventoried my get home bag before I went to Denver yesterday. I mentally had forgotten some of the stuff in it, and I need to change it over to cold weather orientation this month.

I got a call from my friend who is looking at doing a 1000 mile run next year, over 20 days, and I got an invite to run the last 50. It's sooner than I had mentally planned for a 50 miler, so I've got some work to do. At least it's winter and my running won't get in the way of doing other fun outdoor things, it's too dark and cold for much of anything else in the evenings.

Overindulgence, did you get some?

As usual the news was depressing, many of the blogs I read were doom and gloom, some vendors jacked up everything at work this weekend, the project I needed done didn't complete so my schedule is screwed up for another weekend. Instead of sitting around in misery or going to join a protest without a focus, I got up early. Hopefully everyone worked some fun in this weekend.
3 of my favorite activities:

Bright and early rock climbing lead.

 It's always exciting when you are pulling the rope, especially on granite with cold fingers.

Followed by a few hours in my little Jeep.

 I'm going to put the bikini top on, I got hit in the head with a lot of mud chunks. I met a nice couple on the trail who joined us for the day. Not only did the guy have good driving skills but he climbs and runs. Hopefully we didn't scare them off with our brand of humor, I can't find anyone who climbs on Saturday that I trust to belay me on a lead climb and/or fall.

Rounding out the evening.

I was overheating on this run but was worried it would get dark and a lot colder than it did. Being prepared is fine, sometimes I think I'm a little overboard but that's hindsight.

Big carb loading dinner and it was time for the much anticipated season 2:

I don't want to put up any spoilers but when you have your pick of vehicles, why would you drive a hunk of crap RV. Why don't you have more guns, why don't you practice a little better security, why didn't the zombie in the bathroom scene attract more zombies with all the noise, how much money did Gerber pay for that big plug, why does the guy only have 2 bolts for the crossbow.... I could go on, I'm hoping it's not like Terra Nova, I'm really tired of lame piled on top of lame. I'm glad I have books.

Let it snow!

Spent about 6 hours working in the yard today getting the final touches done before winter. I'm in the need of a new leaf blower now, but the leaves are clinging to life and just clogging up the gutters. Each year I pay some random kid of someone I know to do the yard cleanup but I still end up doing about the same amount of work. Lazy ass teenagers, I'm doing them a favor I really don't mid the work. I will take the rain barrels down next weekend so I don't have to worry about them freezing when I'm out of town. The yard and the house plants really enjoy the rainwater, and I have a large supply of water hanging out, it's a win.

I also got my Jeep checked up and ready for a trip tomorrow, it has been sitting for a while. 5 vehicles and all in top running condition with spare parts and the knowledge to use those parts. Stockpiling stuff doesn't do anyone a bit of good if you don't know how to change an axle shaft, pull out a differential or swap a drive shaft. I think most of the spare parts for my Jeep end up being used on other vehicles I come upon in the mountains. I never charge and just hope it's good karma for when something happens to me. I never go alone and so far anything that has broken I've been able to fix on the trail. 4 bags of tools, spare parts, a bin for everything else, fluids, spare tire, nuts and bolts, etc.

Made a big batch of spaghetti sauce for the weekend and just pulled some more bread out of the oven. It's pumpkin season so I'm going to get a pie or 2 made tomorrow night. I need to hit Penzy's spices and use my gift card so I can get some holiday spices I will run low on soon. I did manage to score some deals at Albertsons this afternoon, they are having a sale on cereal, paper towels and toilet paper.

Eureka!

Friday, overload at work day, vendors jacking all kinds of stuff up. I'm going to put in some time tomorrow to get a few things resolved, after my neighbor and I hit the trails in the morning.

I got all the travel stuff for Rome finally. I'm glad it's going to be in the 60's/40's there, $75 for a 2nd checked bag just won't work for me. I'm going to have to carry on my running clothes. I'm getting super excited, but I digress.

For all my years of running my body hasn't been able to deal with the lactic acid my poor legs produced, causing massive muscle fatigue and many hundreds of sleepless nights. No matter what I did, I just couldn't get over the issue and just dealt with it as best I could, lumbering along in serious discomfort.
 My legs felt like they weighed 150 pounds each and were very sore even before I'm done running an hour. It's a big reason why I'm a lot slower than most runners, my legs just didn't seem to be able to do anything after a while besides a zombie shuffle.
I tried a supplement called sport legs and I am happy to find out that whatever the hell it does, it works great and it's really a calcium/magnesium and lactate mix.. that's all. Now I'm only sore from the actual activity of running 2+ hours a night, no more burning or heavy feeling and no more elevating my legs after a run in hopes I would be able to sleep later. I've gotten several run in after taking this and the results were the same, I'm wicked pleased.

I'm going to tear the trails up. I've already knocked 5 minutes off some of my record times on a couple of different trails, and I didn't even fuel up correctly for the attempt. A breakthrough, and just in time for me to start pulling my sled with 40-80 pounds of sand in it, pain and suffering at it's best.

Paqlites and peaches!

On my camping trip I had the opportunity to try out the paqlites I picked up last month for more than just hanging on a chair in the dining room or stuffed into my get home bag:

I have a medium and a large. They never need batteries and just need a few minutes of light to "recharge". You can't read a book but you can find your way around a house, tent, or campsite once your eyes adjust to the dark. I used the smaller one under the canopy so people wouldn't run into the stuff at night, and the large one was in the tent providing light there. It ended up being brighter than I liked at around 3am (good light 6 hours later), so I had to put it under the sleeping bag. They won't light up a room for a game of cards, but for the price and near zero weight I think it was a good investment, something I would recommend to a friend. I would suggest rounding the corners of the plastic, it's a little pokey otherwise. If you want chem-light brightness, these won't work for you.

I try and use the storage food I purchase, rotating it in and replacing it. I don't want to find stuff I can't stand/stomach in case I have to rely on it alone. So I broke into some freeze dried peach slices (good vitamin c and fiber as a bonus) before this trip and took a large amount with me for driving snacks:

I've had this #10 can open for almost a month now and it's still about 30% full. The texture wasn't too 'styrofoam' (didn't give me goosebumps when I bit into them) and they were not so dry I had to drink water with each mouthful. 42 servings in the can @ 1/4 cup equals about 25 peaches, 25 year shelf life, 1 year opened shelf life. Cost is around $28 and you can rehydrate them. There are many vendors out there for freeze dried fruit, I get mine from Shelf Reliance, they are available in smaller container sizes.

I would recommend to a friend who wants fruit for long term storage. Not so long term I would use home canned or home dehydrated as it's much more cost effective but with an obviously short shelf life (comparably).

Dinner

I was sort of hungry, and then I went for another 2 hour run on another new route that was pretty hard. My legs were tired and sore, but the only way to learn to just accept the pain and suffering is to keep at it and your body will adjust. This is true for most things in life, the more you do it the more you get comfortable with it even if it's not comfortable for your body.
I got an invitation to go back home for the holidays, and I was amazed the airfare was so cheap. I have a huge project at work so I might not be able to go, but I will attempt to swing it. The time off isn't a big deal, it's being away from home for another week doing something that's not really that exciting. Only 1 person in the family tries to stay in touch, even with social media and email making it ultra easy.

When it comes to dinner, I prefer to cook instead of eat out. It was a special night so I bit the bullet.

The plan was to have a ton of sushi, but we both got some dinners and these rolls, who can pass up chicken and rice. I'm sure it was a lot cheaper that way and I know what it costs to make food. Lot's of crab and avocado with some spicy tuna and such. Yum. I barely made it home, my stomach was so full I had to waddle to the car.

Tonight some friends are taking me to dinner and a movie, but there isn't anything playing I want to see so it will end up being dinner. They refuse to not get me a birthday gift, and I already guessed what it's going to be. It's going to be a nice dress shirt that costs around $180.... I choke when I spend $50 on a nice shirt so maybe I'll just frame this one.

Tomorrow I will cook my own dinner, pork loin with salad and rice. Cheap and good!