Something About Mary (and Lake Ice)

Before we discuss "Mary" a couple of Fitness/Health issues.

1) US FDA Advisory Panel URGES:

a) Banning VICODIN & PERCOCET – both are prescription pain meds that combine opiates with acetaminophen.

b) Maximum Dose of Acetaminophen for OTC drugs should be reduced from 1,000 mg to 650 mg. 1,000 mg or more will require a prescription.

Why? Acetaminophen remains the leading cause of acute liver failure. I think everyone knows by now that it is not good for you but I didn't know it was the leading cause of acute liver failure...

There have been too many reports of liver damage due to over dosing on acetaminophen. The main culprit they believe in the overdosing, taking multiple meds that have the drug. They include Tylenol, Nyquil, Theraflu and Excedrin.

2) 7 benefits of regular physical activity--Mayo Clinic

Need motivation to exercise? Here are seven ways exercise can improve your life — starting today!

NOW...Something About Mary (and Lake Ice)

First off, this isn’t about the movie, “Something About Mary”. In a previous post, yellow snow came up and it reminded me of this story...hope you enjoy. This post is about a lady that I used to work with many years ago.

Mary who truly was quite contrary, was a transplant from Utica, NY. She was a good soul but she loved aggravating me. Mary would often give me a hard time about Southerners eating "yellow snow". She would go on and on about the poor dumb southerners eating snow cream made from yellow snow.

“You never know when dogs have peed in it.”, she’d say. I’d reply, “Yes we do Mary…we don’t eat yellow snow”. Her reply would be, “oh yea, what about when they dribble?” Then I would say, “we don’t use snow if there are footprints around it…” etc etc,

I am giving you a much abbreviated version…she’d go on and on about this. Mary would claim that, “northerners had more sense than to eat snow cream, they ate lake ice”.

Yes that’s correct, “Lake Ice”. One day Mary was going on and on about the lake ice vs snow cream. She claimed that her family would eat lake ice right from the lake or use a blender and add flavoring to make a slushy out of it. She'd go on and on about how much better it was than snow cream made from yellow snow, etc, etc.

I finally thought of something that stopped her in her tracks. I said, “Mary, first, we check to make sure the snow is not yellow…but what about you? Do you have fish in the lakes up there?”

Mary said, “yeah”.

I asked,“ So.... fish pee and dodo in the lake water, then the water freezes and then you eat it?”

YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN HER FACE…MARY WAS SPEECHLESS, APPARENTLY SHE’D NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT.

Hope you enjoyed the story…as for the health angle…DON’T EAT YELLOW SNOW AND DON'T EAT LAKE ICE!

Steve

Save the Planet...Eat weed? (no not that kind of weed)

For the record, I KNOW how to maintain a nice looking lawn…I just choose not to. Why spend all that time and money to make it grow....just so you can spend more time and more money on cutting it….it just doesn’t make sense to me.

Earlier in my life, I played the game. I'd work hard in my yard so I could “show off” my lawn…so others would ask me “Steve, how do you do it?”. But now, that just isn’t an important enough reason. These days, I’m GOING GREEN by lowering my carbon footprint (and expenses) by not attempting to grow a beautiful weed free lawn. My wife would say it’s because I’m just too lazy…and she has a point. I am conserving my energy for the P90X workouts. :)

While I was taking some pictures of my yard, I noticed that I had more weeds than grass. This wasn't a surprise, just an observation that reminded me of an article I read some time ago about edible weeds. Then it hit me...you, me, we all can eat edible weeds from our yards!

This would reduce our carbon foot print, save money, save time and save our planet!

YES!!!

How would this reduce our carbon footprint you ask?

1) We would not use herbicides (Herb for one will appreciate this)
2) We will not need fertilizers, lime etc, weeds don't need them to grow.
3) Reduce gas & oil useage, less mowing.

There are many varieties of weeds that are edible.

• Purslane
• Dandelion (picture)
• Honeysuckle
• Shotweed
• Many, many more.
  

Eating WEEDS, what a great money and planet saving idea!!!!

(the appreciation and accolades will surely come pouring in now).

I am going outside as soon as I finish this sentence to pick some w…

Oh, what’s that? Ok, a few things to keep in mind….in Red.

1) Don’t eat weeds near animal droppings.

I place this right up there with the sage advice of...

“don’t eat yellow snow”. LOL!

But seriously …what is the minimum distance from droppings…you know, to be safe??? Also, you can see droppings…but what about animal urine??

On to #2 (no pun intended)

2) Only eat the edible parts of the plant.

….some plants have edible parts but the rest of the plant can be toxic? I am starting to have large concerns about eating edible weeds at this point.

3) Don’t eat poisonous plants, some look similar to the non-toxic varieties.

Ok that’s it…..so if this isn’t difficult enough….some poisonous plants look like non-poisonous plants…whose cruel joke was this!! I bet it was Cheney…no not even Cheney has that kind of pull….I bet it was….Satan?

After reading #3, I called Al Gore and had him cancel the “Save the Planet, Eat Your Yard” campaign blitz we were planning. WHEW, that was close. That could have been as bad as the “Save the Planet, Eat Your Shorts” campaign….

Lastly, if you didn't see the Al Gore and the Man-Bear-Pig episode on SouthPark...YOU MUST SEE IT...I am serial. (not that's not a typo...watch the episode).

L8r t8r,

Steve

PS - These websites had some good info and pics if you are interested. I am interested and will eat a weed salad soon. Many weeds are related to their garden cousins and are high in vitamins and minerals. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

http://www.wisebread.com/free-food-in-your-yard-edible-weeds

http://weblogs.newsday.com/features/home/gardendetective_blog/2007/05/weeds_if_you_cant_beat_em_eat.html