Teaching ... myself

So I've been putting off going to Dr. Morgan because 1) I am lazy and 2) Dave had an A1C of 5.5 the last time and I knew that there was no way I'd ever get my A1C down that far.   For those who don't know, the A1C is a blood test that looks at glucose attachment to red blood cells - this happens when blood cells are made - and since blood cells live around 120 days, you get basically a 3 month shot at your blood sugar control.  Normal (I guess I should say Non-diabetic) levels are 3.9-6.5.   Before Triabetes, I had never broken 7... in 25 years.  Not that 7 isn't pretty good.  Then while training for Ironman, I got down to 6.2.  I thought that would be the low point.  Since the 7 months since Ironman, I haven't swam one time.... I've only run a few times... and there have been very few bike rides.  Everything I gained through training, I have lost:) Actually, its not everything apparently.  My A1C yesterday was 5.2 - on the lower half of normal!  It looks like I...

Ok, its spring and my friend Jon and I have 3 hives... had 3 hives.  Now we have 2 dead hives and 1 strong hive.  I have a couple of questions for beekeepers here.  I am pretty much a novice and I tend toward a hands-off approach to beekeeping.  The yellow hive on the left is dead (bees still there), the top bar hive in the middle is dead (no bees), and the white hive on the right is strong. Here is the entrance to the yellow hive - it was never strong - captured from a swarm from the white hive. Inside the super of the yellow hive. There are a bunch of bees still here (dead).  There is very little honey left and that honey is on the outside frames. Inside the brood chamber - no bees on the brood frames.  I assume these guys fell from the top.   Question #1:  Did this hive starve? Inside the yellow hive brood frame - small white flakes in the comb.   Question #2:  Any ideas on what those are? Top bar hive.  Inside are top bars that had only a small spline coated in wax.  Caught a swarm...

So spring is coming and there is nothing I can do about it.  Zoe and I went to Damascus the other day and planted a bunch of potatoes (German Butterball and Yukon Gold).  I had never planted potatoes before, so we'll see.  Homer (our neighbor) had plowed up the garden plot down by the road (and river) but hadn't tilled it yet - so Zoe and I worked pretty hard to get out the sod - but the soil under it was pretty nice.  Then we planted 30 asparagus crowns.  Getting a bit hungry just thinking about it.  Then the next day we used Jon's idea of  folding newspaper seed pots and planted our seed beds.  It was a neat little origami trick to make a plantable pot for free.  These pictures are all backwards... as usual - you would think I would figure it out someday.  Anyway, this is Easter night - we were invited to Rosa's house for a little impromptu get together.  Easter egg hunt, dinner, bonfire (I think that is Aidan with sparklers)... it was a pretty wonderful time - thank...

Whew. Trip number 6 (I think) is in the books. Well, there are still a few bills to be paid that total around 10 thousand dollars... but for all practicality, the trip is over. We had a great week at Duke University Marine Lab . It started out a bit rainy and cold but quickly turned sunny, windy, and cold:) The kids seemed to love it and Zoe had a HUGE time. It was shocking to see your beloved 5 year old suddenly not need you – but it was also wonderful. Food was wonderful as usual (thank you Gilbert, Sly, and Sandy). Here is a quick rundown: Day 1: Left the school at 7am and got there by dinner. Got settled in and then went for a walk to radio island. I totally remembered a gate preventing us from getting to the water – I was only wanting them to burn off some energy before bed – but the gate was no more and there by headlamp, a few brave souls plunged into the still sound water. As they squealed and splashed, I did inform them that this was prime shark feeding time... Day 2: We split...

36 kids, 6 chaperones, 1 crazy triabetic group leader, dolphins bubble fishing next to our kayaks, mating horseshoe crabs, rain, seine netting, horse poop, bones, living lettered olives, great food, rain, flounder, mud snails, wading waist deep across tidal ponds, swimming, cold, sharks, rays, crabs, tired, day 1.... almost done.