Butterfly swimming 3

Yesterday, Keith's butterly drill was to swim straight arm free style with flutter kick and work on the final phase of the arm part of the stroke, "throwing" the hand toward the feet as they finish.  I changed the drill to swimming with dolphin kick to work in the rhythm of the stroke.   I swam 40 minutes, working on drills to figure out how to swim smooth butterfly.  On the way out of the pool, I reconsidered and jumped back in to swim a few more strokes.  A one armed stroke on alternating sides followed by two full butterfly strokes, repeat to the end of the pool.  It felt so strange to bring my arms forward in recover and have them enter the water after my head.  So many details:  straight arm recovery, hip flexion and dolphin kicking, the aggressive push off by hands before beginning the recover, emphasizing forward rather than up/down motion, trying to breath without excessive vertical motion.

The last few strokes felt fluid and smooth, but sadly, I feared that feeling wouldn't persist if I stayed in the pool much longer.

All that exhausted me.  I don't believe that I've caught up on producing red cells after giving two units of red cells 8 days ago.

On Anthony Weiner

A great number of people have gone online to criticize Anthony Weiner, the former NY congressman who resigned for having sent picture messages to chicks, and who now has admitted to sending more after he resigned.

It is apparent that Weiner has been given or has developed the ability to attract chicks online.  If he can be shown to have exercised this power in person, then I want some of that, if just for a little while.  well, maybe I just want to want that power.  He has some kind of charisma that even Bill Clinton didn't have.

Making a self watering planter

Instructions for making a self watering planter which features a water reservoir below, a plant/soil section above, a corner fill pipe and an overflow hole with tube to reduce algae growth.  A column of soil will penetrate to the bottom to wick fluid up.  Prebuilt planters cost $30 and will hold three gallons of water.  If you already have the tools, 3 totes will cost about $35. 6 totes will cost less than $65. These planters will hold about 9 gallons of water.

materials

18 gallon opaque storage tote $5

4” drain pipe, four lengths about 10”  $10 for 10’ section--enough for 3 planters

1 ¼” PVC pipe 18” long  $6 for 10’ section--enough for 6 totes

zip ties

4 inches black tubing ½”

mesh window screen 6x6”

tools

drill with bits

jigsaw with blade for plastic

marking pen

heavy duty scissors

round file or paring knife

measure for platform:  stand the four tubes in the bottom of the tote.  measure across the tops length and width.  

Lid prep--mark the lid of the tote.  mark and cut a 3” hole that will go over one of the support pipes.  This will permit the placement of soil to wick fluid up to the growing medium & plants.  drill ¼” holes in tote cover about 1.5-2” apart.  

Cut out the platform (better a bit large vs small)  Keep the lid frame.

drill two holes across from each other at the ends of each 4” drain pipe length.  zip tie each pipe to the platform.  zip tie one of the pipes under the big hole in the platform.  zip tie the mesh window screen to the bottom of that pipe.

Drop the assembly into the tote box  at the corner with the big hole make a cut out for the fill pipe using heavy duty scissors.  make a cutout in the lid frame for the fill pipe.  Drill ¼” or larger holes in one end of the fill pipe and put that end of the pipe into the cutouts.  

Drill a ½” hole just below the platform on the broad side of the tote.  use the round file or paring knife to widen the hole to fit the black tube.  push about ½” of the tube into the hole.  you’re done with the construction.  Now for how you use it:

fill the tube that goes to the bottom of the tote with peat moss, compressing a bit.  Peat moss is my growing medium.  I add some Perlite to lighten the medium and lime (Soil Sweet) to improve the pH for tomatoes, eggplants etc.  ½ cup of bone meal to push the tomatoes to fruiting.  If planting from seed I let the seed germinate in a different container, then transplant to the planter.  adding fertilizer to the soil mix helps.  The official Earth box instructions say to pour a strip of fertilizer a few inches away from the plant and cover the soil with plastic.  After transplanting, I water with a little B1 added to reduce transplant shock.  I’ve been told that burying banana peel bits near the plant helps reduce aphid infestations, which I've seen esp with eggplant.  Worth a try.

Then add water to the planter using the fill tube.  It will probably take 9 gallons or so.  Covering the growing medium with plastic will reduce evaporation & increase intervals between watering.  

Butterfly swimming 2

I just want to swim a bit better--i.e., a bit better than myself, not anybody else.  I go to masters swim hour at the YMCA where Keith L. gives tips.  Today, I walked 6 miles with a 17 lb pack from 2:40 to 4:15, but didn't hydrate adequately, most likely causing cramps in the pool 3.5 hours later.

I view videos.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLn218BD-lQ
Today: second viewing of this YouTube video.  The clip gets better and makes more sense as I take it to the pool.  I adopted the dry land mimic of the arm/hip motions JimmyDShea shows us here.  Good to watch to burn the rhythm into neurons.  Next, I hope to achieve muscle memory.  I have discovered my error of rushing the stroke, which caused me to nearly drown--I swim a one arm drill and a slow full stroke often, while monitoring my hip motion.

Manchester style bread

Inspired by the NY times kneadless bread recipe (Mark Bittman, food writer)
My variation for the Manchester race:
225 gm bread flour
225 gm whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon yeast
1.5 teaspoons salt
380 gm water

I started this Thursday morning.  Flour on the bottom, salt and yeast on top.  Filtered water, without chlorine, goes in last.  It all sits for 15 minutes before mixing.  After mixing, it ferments at room temperature 68 deg F (20 deg C) for 3 hours.  I put it into the fridge for ~5 hours, then I used a soft spatula to turn the dough in the bowl a few times, then left at room temp again to sit overnight.  Friday morning, at ~1030 I gave it the spatula again and turned it onto a bran covered towel and let it sit for about three hours.

From a preheated 450 degree oven, I brought out the Dutch oven and carefully laid the risen dough inside, covered it and let it bake for 37 minutes.  I removed the cover and let it bake for 8 more minutes.

Nice chewy bread, unlike anything we could buy at any store.

I took the bread to the Sound Rowers' Manchester race.  Definitely worth the 30 hours of prep time.

Guam again

Food is free?  Yes, Ralph says every day in Guam, someone is having a party of some sort or other, a wedding, a birthday, etc. 

To every Fiesta, everyone is invited, no invitation necessary--it is just assumed.  The word spreads that a party will be held at such & such street and people will show up, blocking the street with their parked cars. Total strangers are welcome.  no one need buy food if one can just stay alert for Fiestas.  The food usually comes from the military base PX where every shopper is buying for eight people and paying prices that one would find on the mainland.  The grocery stores will charge eight to twelve dollars for a gallon of expired milk, while fresh milk will sell for $5 a gallon at the PX.  Ralph estimates that one of three persons in Guam has a military service history and therefore can shop at the PX.

Bigotry in Guam.  The Chuuks are the lowest of the low, the untouchables.  Guamanian employers will pay them substandard wages and lay them off days short of the threshold for providing benefits.  

Dirty bathrooms

This pit stop in Shelton is a grocery store which I perceived as quite ordinary with the standard produce, meat, dairy, dry goods and frozen sections.  Nothing extraordinary on the face of it.

I bought a yogurt as my self-imposed "ticket" to use the bathroom.  I found the unisex bathroom about 20 feet past a doorway in the produce section.  One person stood waiting for it before me waiting just past that doorway.  We could smell the bathroom from there.  When my turn came to use the facility, I found it in seriously dirty if not outright unhealthy condition.  It smelled and appeared that the toilet had not been cleaned for ages--under those conditions, one simply breathes through one's mouth to avoid offending one's nose.  The only saving grace:    once I washed my hands, I could get a paper towel using the motion-sensor activated towel dispenser, and use the towel to open the door to let myself out forever and return, happily never after.

I can't buy food handled by employees using such a bathroom.  Yuk to the fourth power.

Taking care of a business is taking care of the details.  Maybe margins are very low in the grocery business, but if one cannot afford to keep a bathroom clean, why not just rent an outhouse outsource the responsibility?

Facebook

Saw this on Facebook:

Crystal Harris

Today is another victory! Though the damage is done at least those who matter see the truth. Those who believe the rumors, I feel sorry for you. Everything is coming out in the wash. Since October I have learned a valuable lesson about life, politics, who my real friends are, and those who are willing to throw others under the bus for their own personal gain. —

I wrote but didn't enter my reply:
Thumbs up! I don't know your story, but I can empathize b/c I've been run over by the bus going forward and backward.  Now, I like it under the bus b/c no pissed off ogre looks for me there.  

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely in such manner that great men are almost always bad men." --from 19th century British Lord Acton.  And from the 17th century:  Living well is the best revenge (I should know if anybody knows.)  Just too wordy for facebook.

I just wrote:  I can empathize.

Strawberries, etc

slowly, they show up.  one , maybe two three or four, but never so much as a basket full.

Meanwhile, I've spent way too much time surfing the web looking at blenders, because my little 14 oz Ham Beach just doesn't chop well & smells like the motor burning out--not dead yet, but likely soon.   I was  looking because my #13 tooth hurts, or what's left of it above the crown, which was swollen yesterday.  I shoved a gum probe up and relieved some of the pressure--likely an abscess that wants to kill me.  For now, though, I'm going to blend as much as possible into protein rich smoothies.  Some cranberries that'd been in the freezer for 6-8 years are proving handy, as are the bunches of sweet fennel growing on the back deck.  The Vitamix brand comes up often, as does Blendtec.  I bought a Blendtec from Costco.com with an 8 year warranty.  Should be here in about 5 days.

I hiked 5.5 mile (second day in a row).  Nobody else walking at a serious pace.  iPod playing Corelli violin sonatas, very fine.

Socks:  lousy stinking liner socks from ages ago.  I can't get myself to throw them out.  They slide down my feet and make their way to my toes bunching up underneath.  thpt!