Brad’s Take

Linn Cohen-Cole writes on OpEdNews.com about H.R. 875 – the proposed new Food Safety Administration. Goodbye farmers markets, CSAs, and roadside stands

So, look again at what has been exciting us – Farmers markets. Local farmers. Real milk. Fresh eggs. Vegetable stands. – and realize that they are not only wonderfully healthy but fun and naturally community building. And more, they are a real economy and deeply democratic – and just at a time we need something that works economically, that supports our democratic rebirth, and that protects food itself and our easy access to it.

And it is all those things that threaten the corporations … which is why we now have these massive “fake food safety” bills in Congress. Everything is going under thanks to these fools, and they wish to be there like vultures to make sure that every drop of blood that can be sucked out of our resources and us, is theirs. To wit, they must get rid of such good and innocent things and yet truly powerful things as:

Farmers markets. Local farmers. Real milk. Fresh eggs. Vegetable stands.

And how will those who contaminate our country’s food with pesticides, hormones, antibiotics and more, do that? Why, by setting standards for “food safety” that are so grotesquely and inappropriately and even cruelly applied to a local, independent farmers and ranchers that there is no way they can manage. Imagine your being faced with a 100 page IRS form and facing a million dollar a day penalty for screwing up. That would be in the ball park of the impossible complexity mixed with threat facing our farmers.

Fertilize your garden of field with Monsanto product, and you get the MSDS (material safety data sheet) for your records. But for compost? Or using a cover crop?

How do you “prove” the seed you plant is “safe”, that is, meets Monsanto-provided specifications? Try getting approval for organic sources.

This is one very scary threat to farming, to gardening, and to local food sources.

Suggestion 1: Micro forestation homesteading.
Goal: provide livelihoods, manage forests, provide food and lumber.
Problem: Threat to Western US forests.

Wired.com reports that many forests are suffering, in the Western US. The extended droughts have stressed trees, and the warm, dry temps (and decline of beetle predators) have encouraged proliveration of dark beetles and other pests and threats to trees.

Proposal: Create micro-forest homesteads. Stipulate that tree population must be maintained, average tree maturity must be maintained, homesteader must reside on the homestead for 10 years to take legal possession – and may *never* allow the tree population nor tree average maturity to decline, or the property reverts to public lands, and the homesteader is guilty of trespass and malicious mischief, and defrauding the US Government.

Sustainable forest as a means of making a living is achievable. One example in Oregon is now in the third generation of the same family, with no decline in the health of the forest. People needing a dependable livelihood can use a low-maintenance, minimum impact pair of oxen or horses for micro-logging efforts – retrieving specific hardwoods that threaten overcrowding, infested trees, and maintaining and replanting the property. Focus on minimum forest impact instead of “efficient” dozer roads and truck roads.

Suggestion 2: Urban gardening and cropping.
Goal: Improve agricultural utilization and food production with reduced transportation cost.
Problem: Increases in food prices, increasing threats to national production of food.

Urban gardens, similar to the WWII “Victory Gardens”, can utilize vacant lots, some of the building roofs that are starting to appear in various cities as ways to reduce heat concentrations, window boxes and patios are all potential garden spots. From raising a few herbs for garnish, to complete food sources for vegetarian diets and low cost protein and vegetable supplements, most people can be encouraged to learn about and practice gardening and small scale crops.

The USDA, rather than it’s historical support for chemical and machinery companies, can best serve America by focusing on increasing the amount of food available to consumers, rather than managing grain markets.

Suggestion 3: Local food sources
Goal: Reduce cost of transportation of foodstuffs
Problem: Relying on single regions of the nation for producing a Nation’s worth of food imposes an enormous burden on food prices, for transportation.

1) Create a shelf-label system for selling food products, to show the distance from producer to the shelf for each brand and type of canned and prepared and fresh food. Make consumers aware that their hamburger was produced 450 miles away, that this broccoli was sent from 1500 miles away, and that pumpkin was grown 4 miles from the store.

2) Establish a voluntary Farmers Market label, for “local” being within 15 miles, “regional” within 50 miles, and “national” greater than 50 miles from the market. Encourage consumers to look for these labels, and Farmers Market operators and vendors to use them for each batch of produce.

3) Encourage restaurants to label “local” and “Regional” preparations.

Suggestion 4) Drop NAIS
Goal: Save money, increase food production.
Problem: NAIS imposes costs, invades provacy, and appears likely to provoke black markets and scofflaws, abuse of office and scapegoat prosecutions. All without benefiting livestock industries or public health.

The National Animal Identification System appears to be a warm, fuzzy, “let’s keep everyone safe” kind of program. The reality is that permanently marking livestock is nearly impossible – just check the Racing industry to find how often a mature identification system can break down. Now imagine tracking wildlife that mingles from one group of livestock to another.

A greater threat to the nation’s health is unregulated people, entering and leaving the US without review of vaccination and health history.

The burden of NAIS regulations will force many small owners out of the business – or force them to conceal their activities. Black market food and reduced production both will raise food prices and diminish supplies.

Surely there are better uses for the people and money and effort NAIS would cost.

Thanks, Rodney, for asking.

Do not see as many posts as last year at this time.

Background

In one form or another, I have been running a “chat” board at DraftResource.com since August of 1998. Rodney is a gentleman from Texas, who owns and uses one of the heavy horse breeds common in America – the Suffolk or Suffolk Punch, as they are know in England. Heavy horse breeds were mainly developed to pull loads (draft), and are often known as draft breeds or draft horses, even though ponies and light horse breeds can be used for draft work, and many enjoy riding heavy horse breeds. The other for common draft breeds in the US are the great English Shire and the best-recognized Clydesdale, the Belgian Draft, the Percheron from France.

Feathers

Most draft horse breeds were developed to pull. Often for farm use, where field work needs to proceed even if the ground is a bit damp – or even wet. So most draft breeds have “feathers”, heavy growths of hair forming a protective brush about the feet and lower legs. Some other breeds of horse also have feathers, while the Suffolk Punch stands out as being clean legged – without the feathers that make such a sharp display of a Clydesdale or Shire hitch stepping out in a parade or around the corner of the barn.

About the chat board

I can think of several factors for the slow down.

I didn’t chase away the saddle folk. That offended a number of folk that know that heavy horse breeds are meant for harness work only. Possibly they believe that saddle work delays and distracts from harness training. And some very good people found other places to visit.

I haven’t been very active lately with draft horses. So I don’t have a lot of new experiences to contribute, I have fallen out of touch with the J R Johnston’s Tack and 4-State Draft Horse Sale (Missouri) and Kingman Sale (Kansas), etc. I try to keep my answers complete while encouraging visitors to double check everything. Ahem. Except the added fats diet, of course. That still makes a lot of sense to me.

Perhaps people are finding many of their questions already answered. There have been a bunch of questions asked, and answered.

I don’t follow the other draft horse sites – if you have some to recommend I would be glad of the information – so I haven’t kept up on trends around the community.

Of all the aspects of owning a draft horse, the one I feel most competent with – is getting started. Getting a reasonable horse, keeping it fit and well, getting started training. Depending on the vet for advice and help. And that is why the emphasis here at Draft Resource is to make it easy for the new owner to get information. You still don’t need to register to post a question.

The respected experienced hands often prefer an environment with more seasoned questions, ignorant questions – and more old friends. It doesn’t surprise me that the more experienced of my regular visitors often move on to another web site, or magazine, or organization – even though I don’t like losing friends.

Draft Horses vs. the economy

One area concerns me greatly – the rapidly rising cost of feed and supplies. In less than a year, vegetable oil and grains have nearly doubled. This is causing a lot of horse owners a lot of pain and anguish, and in some cases means the end of their horse ownership. People are losing jobs even here in north central Oklahoma – which means that money to keep horses often dries up. Where the horses are used for recreational riding I think there could be a lot of sad stories coming out this winter and coming spring.

I am afraid sponsor funds for national hitches, parades, and product promotions may dwindle a bit. The show circuits may feel a pinch as some competitors face mounting costs and dwindling resources. As competing activities dwindle

Opportunity for growth

At the same time, I think the horse loggers need to get really busy, making a case for logging for charcoal and for firewood, as well as for lumber. There is a role for sustainable grove management today, but the story isn’t getting told well.

Thanks, again, for asking!

At least, this is what I think is going on, on the DraftResource.com chat board!

This one is easy. Feed the livestock. Walk to the school bus. Shovel the sidewalk. Scrub the bathroom. But what do you do with the kids when they finish their chores?

Just kidding.

Young or old, winter and other harsh weather keep us away from a brisk walk, a stint in the garden, mowing lawn, etc. Energy peaks and plummets. We re-learn, again, that “sleepy is from lack of exercise” – tired is from need to rest.

Remember back in school, just learning to play the clarinet? Remember how it sounded so horrible, and seemed to take such effort, to get it to sound good? Depending on the reed and instrument – the clarinet is hard work. And the brass, and the percussion, and the other woodwinds. Sitting in a chair, holding still trying to read the silly music – you are working your lungs and back and ribs and abdomen. Working them hard.

Remember chorus? Learning to sing the right notes, and the right words, in tempo, and keep breathing for the whole song?

Music is still a socially acceptable form of exercise. For yourself, there is the piano, the organ, just singing for yourself, and the instruments. Pawnshops might have a student grade or better instrument for a reasonable price, or you might find one at a flea market or Salvation Army. Sheet music and music books are reasonably available. And don’t overlook your church – you may be able to buy a copy of your regular hymnal for a very modest cost, or order one from your church’s publisher.

Hymns have generally stood the tests of time – memorable tunes, and the melody (alto or next-to-top notes in the blue Lutheran Hymnal) line is reasonably easy to play. Or sing.

eBay regularly has listings of sheet music and music books. Local music stores have books, and possibly even lists of instructors to help you get started.

Note: According to Paul Harvey, humming will help opened clogged sinuses. I find that Saline Nasal Mist helps clear sinuses, even when not congested, and soothes dried (frequent nosebleed) sinuses, dry cough, etc. – two *big* sniffs in each side, once an hour, and blow. SNM can help clear up to a sinus infection, and reduce allergies, according to my family doctor.

I wanted an instrument to play. There was this Helen Reddy song (if you don’t remember her, don’t ask. She sang. “No Way To Treat A Lady”, etc.) I tried a harmonica, but after playing B-flat, Alto, and Bass Clarinet in junior high and high school, I was pretty sold on a concert or symphony, read-the-music type instrument. One with “this finger goes here for that note”. Just as I graduated college, I noticed a Zenon brand Recorder on a rack in the university bookstore, for $4.95 or so. On the way to the car, I pulled it out of the plastic tube, and noticed a piece of paper dropped out. When I got home, I figured out – that was the fingering chart. You know, the place where you learn which fingers go where, to play this note and that one.

A few years later I again had time, and interest. And wandered past this music store in San Jose, CA. The owner didn’t have recorder fingering charts – except with this Hohner maple Alto (18 inch, key of F) recorder. I picked up a book, and the recorder. And my room mate went crazy. The first song I memorized, at age 35, was “Go Tell Aunt Rhody”. (“Go tell Aunt Rhody, Go tell Aunt Rhody, Go tell Aunt Rhody, The old gray goose is dead.” I never knew if this was an invitation to goose supper, or the sad duty of reporting the loss of livestock. Or maybe even the celebration of the passing of the terror of the front yard. Whatever.)

John Lyons tells us that horses have excellent retention, about 95% over five (5) years. But the horse takes 50 successful repetitions, after learning the lesson, to “master” the lesson. I am convinced the “master” part takes about 50 reps for me, and for most of the kids I have seen. I consider 50 successful repetitions about right, for “mastering” a skill or technique.

So, while learning Go Tell Aunt Rhody – we all got to know the tune. And still that short nursery rhyme ditty, again, and again, as I worked to remember the tune, to hit the fingerings accurately time after time, to maintain breathing and tone. “Go tell Aunt Rhody..”

Beatles for Recorder. Hymns for Recorder. I have two different collections of Paul Simon for Recorder. Piano music, like the hymnals, just pick out the melody line. Choral music, pick the melody line, or share with a companion if you have someone to play another recorder or other instrument. Or to sing along.

Recorders, like clarinets, are available in several ‘voices’ or sound range. The Sopranino recorder is usually described as “nine inches”, the Soprano (the one the elementary schools often use) is 12 inches, the Alto is 18 inches, the Tenor is 24 inches, the bass is 36 I believe. Actual dimensions vary a bit, between instruments, makers, and product lines. Soprano and Alto are concert key of F, Soprano and Tenor are concert key of C, Bass is E-flat or F, I have seen both. Alto and Tenor are an octave lower than the Sopranino and Soprano, respectively.

Some recorders are hard to play, others hard to play well. The cheapest, the ones schools often hand the 3rd-5th graders, are often the worst. But they might also be very playable. I recall an Aulos 803s soprano recorder I picked up in a music store outside Sierra Vista, NM, for $3.50. Nice enough tone, really easy to get the fingerings right, and played pretty well. I have a Hohner Pearwood recorder I paid $27 for, that plays almost as nicely, but has a better tone. I have another Hohner Soprano recorder, Maple, that cost more. It’s sound is brighter, better suited to classical chamber music. And there is the imported Kung symphony-grade recorder. Another wood soprano doesn’t do well in the upper registers. But for popular music, it is fun to play and sounds just fine. Donovan’s “Jennifer, Juniper”, Beatles’ “Little Girl”, J.S. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”.

For fun and music, the recorder and singing pass the time, keep spirits up, exercise the body, and, together with others, can bolster family and community with shared efforts. Shared music preserves culture, improves memory, concentration, and connection of self to culture. Learning to perform – to intentionally select pieces to set, to transform, to sustain, and to change moods and experiences – creates a craft. Having a song to share can improve the self esteem. And the gift of music can be given again and again. “Go tell Aunt Rhody..” loL! Instead of “Stop chasing around the kitchen!” how about “Go practice that second hymn from last Sunday!”

Little money need be invested to get started, and it can be done by candle light if need be. Pick up some blank sheet music staff paper, and copy interesting song melody lines (with words, and songwriter and publisher and year – you may want to track the song down again later. Don’t ask.) from song books from friends and from the library. Copying the music can be a good way to learn a new song. With practice, even most of my copied songs are readable enough to play!

For a more strenuous workout, there is dancing. Or the Clarinet, or brass, or percussion.

I never learned to fiddle.

A while back I discovered the term “turtling”.  One reference can be found at the TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY SURVIVAL GUIDE, By Dr. Glen Johnson, Clinical Neuropsychologist:

Sleep has an indirect role with headaches. When it’s too warm in the house or you have too many covers on the bed, the body heats up and you’ll have less restful sleep, which in turn increases headaches. A lot of people do something called “turtling,” in which they pull the covers over their face if it’s too cold in the house (like a turtle hiding in a shell). If you do this, you’re breathing the same air over and over. The problem is that you’re breathing carbon dioxide. There is less oxygen going into your brain, which may trigger a headache.

Not just headaches. Turtling, re-breathing the air under the covers all night, can result it mild carbon dioxide poisoning/oxygen deprivation. Oxygen deprivation – the problem with suffocation – destroys brain cells. Can result, over time, in diminished capacity. Can result in personality changes.

I had to learn to *not* pull the covers over my head. Bundle the covers around shoulders and ears? Check. Keep those ears warm! I also had to learn to *not* sleep on my stomach – though that keeps the abdomen warmer.

I have GERD, and the extra pressure on my stomach forced acids and undigested food up into my throat and sinuses (reflux). GERD (gastro-esophageal reflux disease, or variously Acid Reflux Disease, depending on which drug company commercial is trying to create a new disease for their drug-of-the-day) is thought to be the single most common cause of chronic *sinus* infection, due to acid burns in the sinuses from reflux, often happening at night. GERD, not the often-hypothesized “allergies”, is usually mechanical to avoid – strengthen the abdominal muscles, avoid foods that relax the sphincter muscle at the top of the stomach (onions, caffeine, alcohol), avoid interrupting digestion with cold foods or chilling the abdomen – wear a warmer pyjama top to bed if needed, or warmer clothes or undershirt(s).

GERD is also responsible for some tooth decay – the acids of reflux tend to erode the enamel off teeth, especially back teeth (molars).

Sleeping on the stomach, using a pillow, cranks back on the neck. Some of the stresses can be long-lasting, even life-long. Twisting the head to the side in a face-down position, with a pillow, can also obstruct breathing. Especially if also battling chronic sinus infection and sinusitis.

One alternative to keep the stomach warm is to wear an undershirt with the pyjamas, or warmer pyjamas. Keeping the face warm – may take a breath mask, such as an inexpensive “panda nose” dust mask.

The dust mask has the advantage of warming the breath (easing stress on the lungs), and retaining moisture from previous breaths. Retaining the moisture can ease sinus discomfort and sinus drainage, too. The point is that the volume of air in each breath purges the air retained in the mask – so the oxygen is refreshed with each breath. Another “trick” for cold nose (a comfort issue, not a health issue), is a dry washcloth laid over the face.

Just as wearing a muffler – a long scarf covering the lower face – outside warms and moistens air when outside in seriously cold weather (below 15 degrees Fahrenheit, especially with wind), an impromptu washcloth “breath mask” performs a similar function. Only the wash cloth or handkerchief isn’t tied on (safety reasons – you want to manage and limit chances of tangling things around the face and neck in your sleep).

I also heard a research report (on Paul Harvey news) that wearing light cotton socks to bed is good.

• Keeps the toes and feet warmer
• Which improves circulation in the legs at night
• Which reduces stress on the heart, and improves overall circulation.

So, please, when you turn down that thermostat to reduce your carbon footprint, or just save on utility bills, bundle up. And leave the turtling to those with shells.

I have back pain, most days.  Or tension, or ache, or sometimes I feel quite comfortable.  I have a Homedics Percussion Massager that works wonders on tense and tender spots.  I keep a bottle of Absorbine Veterinary Mint Gel Liniment at my bedside, a little dab can help warm and relieve a bit of tension and maybe even take a bit of discomfort off a spasmed muscle.

Massage

The healing touch – laying on of hands – makes massage a pleasure and a comfort in need.  One book I have enjoyed is The Complete Book of Massage, available from Amazon.com.  Their are many benefits, from spiritual to emotional connection – to experienced attention  to tender and sore muscles and problems with warming hands and manipulation.

Stretch

A lot of tension and stress and hurt can be avoided, or carefully gentled toward healing, by a considered and systematic series of stretches.  I learned a few in grade school and in high school sports, and again in Navy boot camp.  These are relatively brutal, apply mostly to people already physically fit and very active, and prone to make things worse – often permanently, if there are any musculature or skeletal imbalances.

A book that introduces a sequence of graduated general and specific stretches – a mild tension applied to a muscle or muscle group to encourage flexibility, gentle warming and function of the muscle, and either prepare a muscle for exercise or gently restore flexibility and comfort after exercise – is “Stretching: 20th Anniversary (Stretching)“.

Exercise

When I hurt my back (mild spasms) while in the US Navy, one of the base doctors gave me a half-sheet list of four exercises for back ache.  Each exercise featured a silhouette to illustrate the exercise.  They were all pregnant lady silhouettes.  Being Navy-type exercises, they are uncomfortable,  they repeat a boring and irritating number of times, they are often uncomfortable (I said that once, didn’t I?) and I find them annoying.  And they can work wonders once spasms and tightness and soreness appears.  Dang it.  They are also, apparently, wonderful “backache preventative”.

I don’t know about whether they work the same for pregnant ladies.  I imagine they are just as annoying and uncomfortable.  Or maybe pregnant ladies are more resigned and thoughtful and wise.

- Pregnant Lady Back Exercises

Each of the four exercises starts in the same position.  Lie on the floor (a rug can make the floor warmer and more comfortable).  Flex your knees and lie flat on your back.  Your knees should be pretty much together, drawn up so the feet lie flat on the floor.  The knees being drawn up is crucial.  If you lie flat with the knees flat to the floor, there is a tremendous amount of leverage applied to the lower back as the hips rotate with any attempt to raise or lower the torso or legs.  So – Knees bent.

1) Pelvic tilt.  From the starting position, rotate hips and chest, to press the small of your back firmly down to the floor.  Hold a count of five.  Relax.  Repeat 25 times.

2) Leg hug.  From the starting position, raise one leg toward your chest.  Grab the knee with both hands, and gently hug it upward toward your chest.  Hold for a count of five.  Release.  Raise the other knee/leg toward your chest, holding with your arms.  Hold for a count of five.  Release.  Repeat 25 times. Keep back lying loosely and flat the whole time, to encourage loosening and to increase flexibility in the lower back.  Pull with the arms.

3) Double leg hug.  Raise both legs at the same time, hug toward your chest.  Hold for a count of five.  Release. Repeat 25 times.  Keep back lying loosely and flat the whole time, to encourage loosening and to increase flexibility in the lower back.  Pull with the arms.

4) Half-situp. From the starting position, feet flat on the floor with knees bent, raise the arms, reach to the knees, and lightly touch the tops of the knees with the bottoms of the extended fingers.  Hold for a count of 5.  Release.  Repeat 25 times.  Yes, this one is intended to strengthen – through brute exercise – the stomach muscles.  This turns out to be critical for reducing lower back problems.

- Yoga

Yoga is an exercise system that originated from India, and has had a tremendous impact on the concept of exercise on many cultures over the centuries.  Hatha Yoga, or beginning yoga, prepares the body for later study, increases strength and agility and flexibility.  Many in the first class I took, to my surprise, were there on traditional medical doctor’s prescription or recommendation – to manage pain.  Yoga is mostly mild to moderate system of movement and stretches to release tension and stress.

The Asanas, or poses, in yoga are often deceptively active.  My experience was the same as for many others – a good instructor in a class is much more effective, and much safer, than trying to learn from a book or 20 minute video. I was particularly disappointed by the  rushed pacing and incomplete explanation of the Jane Fonda Yoga Workout – in particular, too little emphasis was allowed for relaxation and recovery between movements.  A book can be wonderful  in learning Yoga, to explain, refresh the instructor’s guidance, to discover variations.  My instructor recommended Yoga the Iyengar Way and Light on Yoga: The Bible of Modern Yoga.

- Tai Chi

OK, here I am dumb-as-dirt ignorant.  I am told that Tai Chi, among Karate people, is regarded as terribly hard on knees.  I guess I can see that.  What follows is not Tai Chi – it is something I made up that came from seeing something that might have been Tai Chi.

I watched a couple of people practicing Tai Chi one summer, and snippets in movies (like Saving Face).  I found Tai-Chi-like movements to be very interesting isotonic movements.   I keep my knees slightly bent, balanced on each foot with the foot flat on the floor or ground.  I keep my lower back slightly flexed and relaxed.

I start one movement with the hands flat and extended straight from the elbows a bit below waist level, in a slight curve, hands held a few inches apart, fingers aimed somewhere between forward and the opposite hand.  Breathing out, in a fluid movement, roll the palms from facing down to facing up,  draw the arms down near the legs with the arms extended and palms facing forward.  Continuing the arm motion, breathe in and rotate the palms up and the arms extended to the sides, pivot the forearms at the elbow bring the hands, palm down and nearly touching about mid-chest – and push down with the hands held flat, palm toward the ground, until the arms are extended down and the wrists bent flat.  Use the hand, arm, chest, and shoulder muscles to both resist and to complete the movement through a fluidly moving muscular tension.

Another motion is to place the hands, palm down, one atop the other, about waist high.    Breathe in, while raising the hands, with tension, to mid-chest, breathe out and push hands palm out to one side, about shoulder height.  Try the other side, too.

With hands bent at he wrist and palm down, level with the ground and arms extended down, breathe in while raising the hands to mid-chest.  Rotate hands so palms face up (thumb side of palm rotates above the palm to the outside), breathe out, and push the backs of the hand, level with the ground, down until the arms are extended again.

What I like?  Keeping tension – both pushing the hands and arms and shoulders through the movement, while at the same time resisting that motion – while moving releases a lot of stress and tension.  On a cold day I notice that the first arm-circles thing releases a *lot* of warmth.

- Pushed Heels

I made this one up.

While military and other exercises all focus on keeping the hands straight and blade-like, an extension of the forearm, I wanted to get more movement in my back.  So, in three parts, I keep the hand flat but rotated at the wrist, so the palm faces in line with the forearm.  For the most part the fingers point up, with a distinct pull on the back of the hand to keep the heel of the palm “pushing” forward in the direction of the movement.

Stand straight but reasonable relaxed, the feet flat on the floor, the knees bent so the knee cap stays just about the toes.  The feet should be shoulder width apart.  The hips should stay straight, in line with the line between the feet, and should *not* rotate to the side.  Pushing with the heel of the palm – where the palm meets the wrist – seems to engage the back muscles more. If the wist and hand were extended straight, the drive and movement seems to tension the shoulders instead.  Push with the heel of the hand.  Loosen the back muscles.  I repeat each step 20 times.  The first two are fairly simple to time – I like a pace about 1 1/2 seconds per each side including a slight pause while extended, about 3 seconds per repetition – one minute for the 20 repetitions.  This pacing is important, because the – I can’t call it touching the floor, because the wrist is cocked back out of the way, so the odds of actually laying your palm flat on the floor is remote, and not at all the point of the exercise – call it the heel-to-toe part, you want the same sense of pacing for the bending forward and across, then back up.  The fluid, unhurried and unjerked motion is important to avoid stressing anything.

1) 45-up.  With wrist fully cocked back, hold one hand between mid-chest and the near arm pit, palm perpendicular the center of the chest and fingers pointed toward the ceiling.  Push the heel of the hand from the starting position at the chest, in a straight line forward past the opposite shoulder until that arm is fully extended in line with the line between the feet and raised at a 45 degree angle.  Keep the hips still for this movement – they will not rotate to the side.  Don’t overdo – there is no need to push farther than when things stop moving, there is no reason to push further when something hurts.  Keep that wrist cocked back – you are pushing the heel of the hand, not the fingers or palm – toward that target point to the side.  Don’t turn the shoulders, either.  You start with the elbow bent, and straighten the elbow as the heel of your hand nears full arm extension.  The intent is to draw a light tension of motion across the back muscles, not a movement of shoulders or hips.  This step loosens the muscles for the next part of the exercise. Repeat with the other hand.  Repeat 20 times.

2) Straight across.  Same starting position, same movement,  same hold-the-position for shoulders and hips, similar drawing on back muscles to loosen them for the next movement.  Same focus on pushing with the heel of the hand.  But the target point is cross-body (as before), with the arm level with the floor.  This is a slightly more severe loosening of the back muscles.  Repeat with the other hand.  Repeat 20 times.

3)  With legs still at shoulder width, hips still not turning, knees still bent over toes, bend forward.  In a gentle, fluid motion, push the heel of one hand down.  Rotate between the hips and ribs, to bring the arm pushing down, across the front of the opposite foot.  Gently straighten.  Keep the hips aligned with the line between the feet, don’t move the feet, keep the movement gentle.  Remember you are pushing with the heel of the hand, not the fingers.  I find this one to be .. enlightening.  Interesting.  Because often the first repetition I barely get the shoulders to begin to move.  The other hand and then next repetition gets a bit further or not.  By the 20th repetition I am usually getting the heel of my hand lower than the knees, still pushing at the opposite foot.  The point of this movement is to relax the back, not to touch the floor.  Keep the shoulders level with the floor, keep the knees slightly bent, keep the motion down, across, and up again gentle and fluid.  Move down to a natural stopping point, and no lower, on that repetition.  Push down with the heel of the down hand so you feel the pull on the shoulder – don’t push down with the back.  Breathe out on the way down, in on the way up.  Don’t hyperventilate – take shallow breathes if you need to.

- Hand weights

Hand weights can be a tremendous preparation – allow you to build strength and agility to work better, more smoothly, and with less hurt. The exercise itself can help reduce muscle soreness.  I use a set of small weights, three (3), five (5), and ten (10) pounds each, one of the same size for each hand.  Because most of my focus is on my back, I often do these exercises sitting on the edge  of my bed.  Standing or sitting on a straight chair should work fine.  I understand words like “curl” have agreed upon meanings.  I don’t know what those meanings are.  I don’t care.

1) Forward curl. I describe one weight, but both hands are moving similarly at the same time. Sitting straight, with my feet flat on the floor and my butt near the edge, I let the weight hang down, palms forward.  Bend the elbows while keeping the elbow steady next to my side, I raise the weight until my forearm stops against my upper arm.  Release, keeping the elbow in the same place, and moving at the same rate as I picked the weight up.

2) Inward curl. Similar to step 2, sit straight, weight hanging down at end of arms.  Rotate palm to face in toward body.  Lift weight straight up to arm pit, letting elbow move away from the body in line with the shoulders.  Release to the starting position, keeping motion pace and control similar to the lifting motion.

3) Reach.  Lay the weight on the shoulder, palm down, elbows straight out to the side in line with the shoulders.  Raise the weight straight up until the arm is extended all the way.  Return to the starting position.

4) Wing out.  Start as in step 3, with the weight touching the shoulder.  Keeping the elbow and upper arm steady, straighten the elbow to pull the weight up over the elbow, and continue to the fully extended position with the arms outstretched in straight line with each other and the shoulders.  Return to the starting position.

5) Inverted wing out.  This is an advanced step – deceptively simple for a couple of repetitions, it quickly builds into a tough effort.  Start with the weight tucked under the arm pit, elbow and upper arm extended straight out to the side.  Straighten the elbow to pull the weight down under the elbow and through to fully extend the arm and elbow, so the arms are in a straight line with each other and the shoulders, the upper arm and elbows never having moved position.  Return to starting position.

I do five repetitions of steps 1 through 4 when I haven’t been exercising, using the lightest (two or three pound) weight.  As I continue exercises from day to day, I move to 10 reps, then 15, then 20.  The next step is to do 20 reps with the light weight, then 5 with the next size.  Then up to 20 with the light, 20 with the next, then 5 more more with the light again.  After 20 light, 20 second, 20 light, comes 20 light, 20 second, 5 third size weight, 20 second size, and finish with 20 of the light.  From 20 L, 20 2, 20 3, 20 2, 20 L: I often drop the 20 light repetitions, and start with the second weight.

After the light weight repetitions I insert a neck roll, letting the neck relax, head tilt over to the right shoulder as far as it will go, and slowly roll my head all the way around three (3) times, then back the other direction of rotation another three (3) times.

After the exercise, or after the second weight repetitions, I insert a shoulder roll. Lift the shoulders as high as possible, roll forward and down and around to the starting point, for five (5) rotations.  Then back the other direction five (5) rolls.

I use light weights for this, similar to this32-pound  3, 5, and 8 pound set, or this 20 pound 2, 3, and 5 pound set. Pick a lighter set than you think you need. Weights this small (the 2, 3, and 5 pound weights) are suitable for my neighbor, an eight-six (86) year old lady with breathing and heart trouble, with her doctor’s blessing.  I carry cement bags and feed sacks (30-80 pounds) and use a 3, 5, and 10 pound set.  The exercises are intended to strengthen breathing muscles, shoulders, and back, to improve circulation and respiratory efficiency.  Any strength improvement is secondary – but as the number of repetitions increase (about a week each step of increase, this is a long term plan) and the weights add up, there will be some slight improvement in strength as well as the expected increase in stamina and improved breathing.  Keeping your breath better while walking is one of the observed benefits.  Also this makes a moderately aggressive upper body stretch.

- Ankle weights

This is almost more stretch than exercise.  I got a set of five (5) pound ankle weights, with removable weight inserts.  I tried about half, maybe 2-3 pounds each.  Hardly more weight than sturdy shoes.  And yet ..

I sit up straight on the bed, scooted back so my knees are at the edge.  With the ankle weights on my ankles, lift one foot at a time to straight out so the upper and lower leg are in a line, level with the floor.  Gently release to the starting position.  Repeat with the other foot.  Repeat twenty (20) times.

Next I lay face down on the bed, a pillow under my hips,  with the ankle weights on.  Lift one foot up over the knee and continue as close to my hips as possible.  Repeat with the other foot.  Repeat twenty (20) times.

Keep moving

There are many books and videos and instructors and classes and schools for massage, yoga, tai chi, martial arts.  Medicine and healers have access to many forms of therapeutic and supportive movements and exercises.  The books I mentioned, and the Pregnant Lady exercises, are my own experiences and references in a life time not as active as I should be, with scoliosis and dessicated and partially herniated disks, and at times too long spent in restricted positions – such as sitting at the computer (scientific programming for 17 years, before being laid off and finding the Internet) or driving a tractor or car.

Start with warmups, gently move and stretch before making big efforts.  Warm down.  Be sure to alternate effort and strain with release.  And keep moving.

The Navy had a safety poster, “Knob turning is a bad habit.”  Picture a cartoon sailor standing in a line of sailors, leaning on a nest of pipes, twiddling with some valve or other.  Standing knee deep in some liquid – might be water, diesel fuel, etc.

We take for granted that our lawyers make Wal-Mart and city streets safe for us and for our kids.   Motorcycle riders often wear close-fitting, leather or denim clothes – in case they end up sliding on a road surface, leather slides without grabbing, denim offers a bit more protection before wearing away to grind skin against road surface.

Kira lamented today  about “Control your kids” on 20-forty.com, about parents that fail to discipline their kids.  Kids run amuck, misbehave, and ignore directions.  Once you get away from the nice, safe central heating and air conditioning – a bit of mischief or inattention can cause a fire, an accident, and cause injuries or death.

As times get harder, kids (and adult kids, too!) have to learn where to take chances – and that unless you choose to take a chance, you leave things alone.  Gags and pranks can easily turn deadly with hand tools, and  when working hard.  We don’t have many farming still today, but the farmer is still about the second most hazardous civilian occupation, after fire-fighter.  And that is keeping safety in mind, working carefully around machinery and livestock and farm buildings.

As I mentioned to Kira, imagine your kid wanders into the street.  You notice a car coming, and are too far away to reach the kid in time – so you holler.  Does the kid react quickly and correctly?  Does the kid clear the street in time?  A lot of kids I see in grocery stores and restaurants are so used to ignoring adults, especially their parents, they would never hear, much less obey, that fateful yell.

Robert Heinlein sets a wonderful illustration.  A guy is marooned in a fallout shelter with others in “Farnam’s Freehold”.  He has carefully stocked the shelter, and finds after a few days that all the boullion cubes are gone (dried cubes of soup stock if you didn’t already know, sort of like the seasoning packet stuck in with the Ramen Noodles).  The kid in the story (a useful literary invention to exhibit an inordinate amount of stupidity.  Reminds me of 7th grade English class.) has each them – they were salty and he enjoyed the ‘snack’ – that should have provided last-recourse minerals and protein for nearly a month per bottle.

Would your kid appreciate restraint, and preserving food to last into the future?

We know that dogs can get us in trouble if we don’t teach them obedience – to come when called, obey basic (safety) commands, don’t chew or piddle or dump inappropriately.  The saying used to be that you could tell a man’s character by his dog and his horse.  This was useful when you had to deal with someone that your folks didn’t know his/her folks.  Kids fill that role, too, for families.  Discipline, respect, and honor are real easy to  find – or to miss when they aren’t there.  Courtesy and polite behavior are often reflections  of good character – in parents and kids.

Ever notice in the grocery store, the parents walking around with a kid hanging on their coat, or their pants, or their shopping cart?  The gimmick here is to tell the kid, “Your job is to hang onto me/the cart.”  Which simplifies the kid’s job immensely.  Instead of ‘stay close’ (how close feels close to the kid?) or ‘stay out of trouble’, now the kid has a task.  Kid isn’t hanging on?  Easy.  Remind, then reprimand for failing their task.  Much easier than, when you are unhappy with their behavior, define, this time, what is wrong.  When I hear a complaint about kids running around a store, I think of the quiet families where the kids are out from underfoot, under control, and parents and kids are disciplined, courteous – and getting the shopping done with less  stress.

When resources get scarcer, the rough edges of people tend to get rougher, and the out-and-out uncivilized tend to  operate more widely.

Will your kids, your family, react correctly to a warning shout?

“Walk this way!” the attractive sales lady tells Groucho Marx, sauntering down the store aisle.

“If I could walk that way, I wouldn’t need talcum powder, now would I?”

At least, that is how I recall the story being told of a Marx Brothers comedy skit.  But it brought to mind some of the in-jokes of the black and white depression era comedies.  When people might have one suit of clothes, could carry all of their possessions in a single case or box.  When washing was an important part of hospitality – and not always available.

The old Beverly Hillbillies series was funny mostly because the characters were engaging.  But the story line was about how different the affluent lived from the poor.

The Ma and Pa Kettle stories showed some of the rural cabin lifestyle – not what everyone had, by all means, but not that uncommon either.  If you are contemplating how dark the days must be if you have to live off the grid,  check out the nearly modern “Witness” with Harrison Ford – set in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County Amish community.  Look at the Lapp house – you have to look to see there is no electricity,  that there are ways of dealing with washing, cooking, and enjoying life.

How do you deal with vacuuming your carpet, when the electricity goes?  Watch the Three Stooges and other films to see carpet beaters in action, and sometimes cleaning the carpet, too – while the carpet is draped over the  porch rail or clothes line.  There are manual ‘carpet sweepers’ with brush and pan that sweeps across the carpet – OK for a low-nap carpet. And a broom will help dress the fibers, and stir some of the dirt.  You might want to consider putting a hard floor under your carpet, and going for a moveable pad or giving up the pad.  A carpet uncleaned for too long accumulates a *lot* of dirt, and mold, and ..

Right now the oil companies are conspiring to support Republican election campaigns by holding prices down for the  next week or two, maybe as long as until election day.  But the artificial relief from inflation, rising prices, will be biting us again all too soon.  If the Peak Oil people are to be believed, we are embarked on a series of  alternating tumbles and almost-recoveries, each time losing a bit of ability to buy necessities, each time seeing the cost of energy rise above previous levels.

We can haunt Grandma’s attic, and Uncle John’s basement, and we can also look at those old movies to pick up pointers on ‘getting by’.

The US used to have a vast-ish library of music that related a variety of cultural and spiritual (mostly Christian) popular music. Music that can be played on keyboard (like a piano) or dulcimer – or recorder. Harmonica, penny whistle, guitar, fiddle, ukulele, whistle, voice – these and other instruments preserved culture, values, and feelings down through the years and generations.

Mass media music used to be sheet music, then record companies began adding their reproduced music to society. This began a switch from people participating in the singing to selecting songs based on availability of records, which depended on who bought the records – and which records the record company chose to make. Which began selecting artists and genres that fit marketing goals. The commercialization of music focused on sales of music, not the message or theme of the song, or of how sharing songs and stories binds a family and a community together.

Churches balance this estrangement, a bit. The Protestant congregations I grew up in sang three or four hymns together, with added music for various parts of the ritual worship, often an instrumental solo, often a choir song or two. The music was selected to support the theme of the worship, the message of the day. And sharing the music, sharing the experience together bound the congregation together, helped each to remember and relive and relearn the messages and values that defined the congregation.

I have noticed in used book stores, flea markets, and even the Friends of The Library Ongoing Book Sale (FOLOBS) in Ponca City, OK, that there are old school or church or community song books from the War years, from the beginning of the 20th century, and older. Many are quite usable.

And usually these song books are fairly small. Today at the Ponca City FOLOBS bag sale – through October 17, 2008 – there was a stack of maybe 20 community song books that had been donated. A mix of spirituals and folk tunes, paperback, dating to the 1950′s, they probably aren’t 100 pages long, maybe 125 songs.

Song books, especially hymnals, are very good sources of music for the recorder player, the penny whistle, the guitar and other instruments. Pick out the melody line, you have an often easy-to-learn melody. One you can use to entertain yourself or others. Join together with others and split the parts for larger groups or to accompany singers or an audience.

But it starts with latching onto the treasures of the past – the inexpensive instruments, the printed music for inspiration and learning.

Musicians know about ‘fake’ books. Fake books condense the music of an artist or genre to a single melody line, an indication of guitar chords, and may include the lyrics (words). The Ultimate Country Fake Book covers, I think, about 700 songs in a few hundred pages. And decades of music history. I have the Beatles Fake Book – I find many of the songs obscure or difficult. But a lot of very nice recorder music. I also have the Beatles for Recorder, Hymns for Recorder, two separate collections of Paul Simon for Recorder — the amount of music available, when you look, is amazing.

When you have a player, and an audience of one or more, you have a chance to influence the musical presentation. To bring people together in a live performance audience. To form, for a few minutes or a lifetime, a community.

Parents wail and gnash their teeth and contend with the school board about whether the schools should teach sex education. What parents should be teaching – once they learn themselves – is music. Schools get into the recorder or flutophone about age eight (8) or so. The local schools are strapped for music budget – the program is often the cheapest recorders available, some simple (school board approved) culturally neutral music. The music teacher I talked to seemed to believe that the recorder is a teaching, elementary instrument. My mother discovered Michala Petri, a Belgian player that has made a modest name for herself in symphony circles – playing various recorders. I understand that early symphonies were written for recorder (blockflote) but later re-written for transverse flute when it became popular.

I have maybe six (6) or eight (8) cheap classroom recorders, of different makes and styles. There is a lot of difference in how easy they are to play, from difficulty to finger to difficulty to blow consistently – to air leaks and poorly fit together. The Aulos 803s is a bit peculiar looking and a delight to play, and only a bit more expensive than the cheap Chinese knockoffs. Yamaha makes an ivory colored plastic recorder, quite a lot have been made. Their intermediate concert brown with ivory trim line is more expensive and a lot easier to play. The Angel recorder in my car is pretty good, but the lowest finger hole isn’t in an adjustable foot (bottom flare piece) so the hole cannot be placed for my adult finger. The other recorder in the car does have the adjustable foot – I bought that one in the East Tennessee State University school book store for $4.95 in 1982 – is easy to play in the lower and upper registers, except the highest notes are a bit unstable. My Hohner wood recorder is a delight to play, but you don’t want to saturate a wood recorder with too much moisture (about 45 min-1 hour) playing time. Etc. There are different voices – the elementary instrument is usually the 12 inch soprano voice, in Concert C key. The 9 inch sopranino, and the 18 inch alto are Concert F key, the 24 inch Tenor is key of C, an octave below the soprano. The bass recorders vary, and also get expensive. Check out the Kung European brands for symphony grade instruments, maybe $100 to $500 for a fine instrument – soprano. Because the fine instruments are generally exquisite wood craftsmanship in impeccable hardwoods – pearwood, maple, ebony and other exotic varieties – the larger the instrument the more demanding the workmanship and time to create – and the higher the price.

For individual, family, and community needs, start with the better inexpensive instruments. A symphony instrument can be quite demanding to play, and may require an individual chart of note fingerings for each instrument. Other instruments may have a less precise sound, perhaps sweeter or softer-edged – better for ballads.

But keep music in the family, and for a personal solace and comfort and inspiration. And exercise. Managing the breathing, concentration, correct fingerings, these add to exercise, hand strength and agility, attention to sounds. And discipline and attention span and accomplishment. Producing music can be an endless gift of comfort, joy, and amusement.

Pick the music that develops and maintains skills. And lyrics and themes that define and grow a community.

As I heard one Mormon quip, with respect, “Bring ‘em fat, or bring ‘em thin, but Brigham Young.” Start the music early, recognize that playing or singing or whistling to learn and perform is a chore as demanding and valuable as any yard chore.

And bring the selection of music into the home and into the community. Don’t depend on what the radio station selects of what recording companies decide to distribute.

Sharon Astyk posted an unusually angry message today about how to handle the currently eroding economy. Her point is that with intelligence, we can use our resources to preserve lives and options – but the bailout seems awfully short sighted, self-serving, and inept – and squanders resources uselessly.