Time to Make the Donuts.

I've said it before: some days are diamonds; some days are rocks. My bride, the lovely Lady Di, starts grim-looking days by rolling up her sleeves (figuratively speaking. I've actually never seen her literally roll up her sleeves), setting her jaw, and quoting an old Duncan Donuts commercial, "It's time to make the donuts". Not a bad routine, actually. 'Course, the Boro just got a new Duncan Donuts, and I'm glad someone's making the donuts.

An Ode to Sugar Breath.

I was talking to Lady Di last night about a cool app on our semi-new i-Phones: a free sample of Discover Magazine in the i-NewsStand. The issue is "Vital Signs" and it included a little vignette where symptoms are given, and you follow along as they figure out what's wrong. The one I read had to do with subtle changes in the smell of one dude's breath. Lady Di, ever the health educator, offered that it was probably ketoacidosis. One of the things that can cause ketoacidosis is diabetes. You can read up on it in Wikipedia (you can try the link, but ever since Blogspot changed the format, it's kinda hit or miss...  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketoacidosis Anyway, the name of the ailment sounded familiar to me... Ah, Mary Poppins! Remember her and Bert dancing on roof tops? At one point or another they sang Supercalifragisticexpialodicious, which sound like the perfect place to plant ketoacidosis. Anyway, first, my take, then, for the purists, you can listen to Mary and Bert.

An Ode to Sugar Breath (sung to the tune of Supercalifragilisticexpialodicious)

It’s too bad we have to smell that ketoacidosis,
Even though a whiff of it is worse than halitosis,
If we complain too loud, they’ll say we have neurosis...
Super stinky sugar breath, it’s ketoacidosis.

Because I was afraid to speak,
When the big guy reeked too bad,
The odor gave me nose a tweak,
Enough to drive me mad.
But then again it can’t be helped,
The situation’s sad,
The super stinky sugar breath, It’s ketoacidosis.

Triple Crown Me!

Miguel Cabrera has done something that hasn't been done since the Sox' Yaz did it in 1967: he had a better batting average, had more home runs and more runs batted in than anybody else in the American League.I'm a Johnny-come-lately to baseball. My brother, the Amazing AndyMan, was always a baseball fan. I wasn't a great fan, largely because I wasn't a very good baseball player. Football? No problem. A guy might outweigh me by fifty pounds, but I knew I had lots of gear on, and I could hit him back. In baseball, you're just wearing regular clothes. A guy would throw a ball right at you, and if you couldn't hit it- which I could do only rarely- you'd just have to let him. I didn't play it well, and I didn't originally enjoy watching it, because baseball games moved too slowly to suit me. Andy tried to inform me about the rhythm of the season, about streaks and back stories, but for years I remained indifferent to America's pastime. Prior to the advent of the Tampa Bay Ray's, Tampa's "local" team was the Atlanta Braves. The Braves were useless for years, but got good in the 1990's, and I jumped on the Braves bandwagon. I've enjoyed watching baseball ever since. My bride, on the other hand, grew up in Dearborn, Michigan, as an avid Detroit Tigers fan. We struck a deal early on: she'd root for my Florida State Seminoles and the Braves, if I'd root for her Tigers and the Michigan State Spartans. As a bonus, I get to root for the Detroit Red Wings in hockey, if there ever is hockey again. We're free-lancers in professional Football: I can root for the Bucs, and she can root for the Lions as we please. But I digress... It's been a pleasure to root for the Tigers. I even caught a Tigers game in Comerica Park this year. Imagine my thrill to be rooting for a team that has produced the first Triple Crown batter in 45 years!

Sisters Doing It For Themselves.

The National Susan G. Komen Foundation has taken some heat lately because of mis-steps that have taken some attention away from the wonderful job that they do both nationally and locally to fight breast cancer in America. Let me tell you, they are still out there making a huge difference in women's lives. Lady Di, a breast cancer survivor since 1993, is very active in the Lowcountry Komen Foundation. I was lucky enough to be her date to a banquette where the local affiliate awarded several Hundred-Thousand dollars worth of grants to local health care and social providers to help them inform women about breast cancer, to detect it through mammograms for indigent, uninsured, and underinsured women, and to provide treatment and support for women in whom breast cancer has been detected. One Orangeburg provider noted that she provided about 150 mammograms to women who would not have gotten them without Komen's aid, and that 10 of them were diagnosed with breast cancer. Those women would probably not have been timely diagnosed without Komen's aid. In addition to helping to save a few women's lives, Komen's assistance helped provide peace of mind to those that did not have cancer because of the negative mammogram test. It was an honor to be with Diane, and the many other women from the Lowcountry Susan G. Komen Foundation who are donating their time and talent to help beat breast cancer. Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin could've been singing about this crowd.

Cream Puff.

Okay, my Seminoles got bounced in the second round of the NCAA basketball tournament. Sad, true; fortunately, there are salves for these sorts of things. One of them is a nice meal. Sunday night, Lady Di whipped up her fabulous pork_tenderloin with thinly sliced potatoes, Summer squash and zucchini, grilled in foil with Spring onions, olive oil and a little salt and pepper, and a dessert to die for: homemade cream puffs. The ingredient list is not long, but attention must be paid. Add butter to boiling water, stir in some flour and a little salt until it makes a nice ball, add a couple of eggs (one at a time, carefully), and then bake until the pastry is golden brown and fluffy. Like this, see?


Cut them in half, and... mmm, look at that. Light, but eggy in the middle. When I was a lad, I used to go to Alessi Bakery in Tampa to buy an eclair whenever I had a few extra shekels, and they were wonderful. A fond memory, but Chef Alessi's got nothing on Lady Di.

Scoop some vanilla bean ice cream in between then halves, and top with some Sander's Chocolate sauce (If I get up to Michigan to buy some, I'll blog it. Tastes like a cross between chocolate sauce and caramel. It's really, really good). And whadya got?

Now that's what I'm talking about. Tyler's review? "That was frickin' AWESOME!" Well said, son.

Performing Death Defying Acts.

I stopped defending the public long enough on Tuesday morning to get my CPR card. Actually, Lady Di, whose Lowcountry Area Health Education Center (AHEC) in partnership with Eat Smart/Move More, sponsored the class, points out that the certification is "Heartsaver, CPR and AED". C.P.R., as you may know, stands for Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation. AED means Automated External Defibrillator. Heartsaver... well, you know what that means.


Our instructor, Richard Harvey, did his best to lighten his load as Colleton County's Coroner. Rich did a fine job, and has begun his quest to have Colleton County approach Seattle's ratio of one CPR certified citizen in three. Lofty, but today's turnout was encouraging.

It was Valentine's Day, and my lovely Lady Di was mouth-to-mouth with this dummy. I'd've torn him limb from limb, but he (or she. You really can't tell), didn't have any.

I got some measure of revenge by compressing the life back into the bum...

We also got to learn how to use an A.E.D. Dana Cheney seemed to take way too much glee in pressing the "Shock" button. Sorry, Dana, these one's aren't live.

More classes are promised for the future. Shoot, if I can do it, you can, too!

Out to Lunch.

I was briefly- very briefly- in Marine Officer Candidates School. Attention to detail, they hollered, could be the difference between life and death. Fortunately, daily life rarely offers such dire consequences for inattention.


Lady Di just spoke in Charleston to a national gathering of Health Administration professors.

Looks like a fair amount of work went into her name tag (and the "It's all about ME" is pretty funny). Sadly, they got her name and degree wrong: The name was accurate a year ago, but not currently, and her degree is a Master of Science, not of Arts (though I think she got an upgrade, she strongly disagrees).


Here's a lovely sentiment, beautifully painted, but... Well, all things are possible on a painted license tag, except spell-check.

What's the Big Dill?

At her last trip to the Farmer's Market, Lady Di picked up some zucchini squash, mild red onions, cucumbers, local potatoes, and a bunch of fresh dill. The dill was sort of an impulse buy, but she decided to center a meal around the tangy herb. First there was a cold cucumber and onion salad marinated in sour cream and dill. The entre was grilled steelhead trout with a marinade/sauce of freshly squeezed lemon juice, olive oil and two pressed garlic cloves, and a healthy portion of dill. She grilled the fish in foil, then poured off the marinade and set it aside as a sauce after crisping the fish over direct heat. Potato pancakes (her mother, Leona's, recipe), with grilled zucchini and feta cheese, and a glass of pleasant white table wine round out a delightful meal.

I'm Almost 50...

What? Fifty-one is almost fifty, right? My darling daughter, Caroline, and her boyfriend, Jay, joined us for dinner last night. In addition to the lovely strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting pictured at left, we had grilled Omaha Filet Mignon, garlicky mashed potatoes, zucchini and summer squash with feta cheese, and a fine bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. I'd say it went off with a bang.

A Chard Experience.

Lady Di's big on the Boro's Farmer's Market. That leafy bouquet she's holding is actually Swiss chard. The stalks are tasty and colorful, and leaves are a nice stand-in for fresh spinach in the weekly stir-fry. The carrots and red onions that are plopped down next to her also made the cut, together with some aromatic rice cooked with chicken broth and a little olive oil, four pressed garlic cloves, and chunks of sauteed chicken breast all coated with a lovely sauce of rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, crushed red pepper and just a bit of sugar.

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!

This was the view from my front porch in the morning. Lady Di and I sitting in our red rockers. 63 Degrees. Freshly ground and brewed 8 O' Clock Hazelnut coffee in my favorite mug in one hand; the newspaper in my other. It ain't always like this, but it sure is nice when it is.

Bikes, Bikes, Baby.

It's been awhile since I've been on a bike. I used to bicycle quite a bit, but somewhere along the line my bike came up missing. Lady Di remedied that by buying a bike for my birthday. Now, technically my birthday's still more than a month off, but, well, the weather's been really pretty, and late May's hot... Anyhow, Walterboro's "Eat Smart, Move More" project featured a "Let's Bike" day today.
We got up too late for the festivities, but we decided to take a ride down to the Great Swamp Sanctuary on our own. I bragged about Greenville's lovely park last post, but I do love our own little park (and it's a couple hundred miles closer to home).

Gotta be careful where we ride; there're critters everywhere.

Most of 'em won't bug you, though. This shy little fella could hardly wait to get away from us.

This dude was a good bit less shy, and we beat a hasty retreat after I snapped his pic.

Bye, bye, gator.

Jump!

Saturday's Eat Smart, Move more "Let's Go! EXPO" was a blast. Who knew that an expo extolling the benefits of healthier eating and exercise would be such a success- and so much fun! More than 200 people showed up for the one-mile fun walk. Not too shabby for the first year (and more than they'd anticipated: they only procured 200 finishers medals!).




Walterboro Police Department Chief Otis Rhodes was on hand to make sure things were orderly, and to dispatch his troops to make sure the walkers were safe. There were plenty of local dignitaries in the crowd. Mayor Bill Young gave a speech. Council Members Randy Peters and Tom Lohr were also in attendance. Shoot, Town Council might've had a quorum.
Representatives from County Government were there as well: There's Diane with our lovely Clerk of Court, Pat Grant.

There's Lady Di with Chamber of Commerce Director David Smalls, and always effervescent Queen of Colleton County, Alta Mae Marvin.

We assembled downtown at about eight in the morning for the walk.


Local running legend Pat Rhodes was there to make sure the walkers stayed on the right path.


Looky there! We walked right past my church. A mile may not be much of a challenge for my brother or his ultra-marathon mates, but a lot of the folks out there have been flirting with diabetes and other health problems because of inactivity and bad diets. The men, women and children who got up early to walk through the Boro deserve a smile and a pat on the back.


Success!

We finished the walk to sign up for mini-seminars, visit the booths, listen to speakers (including Lady Di, who also got an interview with the local radio station (which was broadcasting live from the site)), and music and watch demonstrations on dancing, competitive jumping (the Lowcountry Jumpers were announce as "the third best competitive jump-rope jumpers" in the Country. I posted a short video of one of them jumping around below). Some of Diane's AHEC students donned fruit and veggie suits to press the point of health snacks. These gals coulda whooped the Fruit of the Loom guys, no problem!



Here they are without their super-suits, and with Kelli, another successful former AHEC student.


You couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a health care professional, docs included.


I meant no offense with the "dead cat" reference, Smart Cat, honest!








The sound guy left early, and I had to work the knobs and stuff for the speakers and music. I wasn't very good at it. I guess my knowledge isn't sound. Anyway, the dude with the cables, here, came to help me. The cable guy's name? Larry. Larry, the cable guy. Honest.

I got tons more pictures, a few of which I already posted on FaceBook.

Walk This Way.

As the Director of the Lowcountry Area Health and Education Center, Lady Di is a health educator. She helps health care workers to learn stuff. She helps folks to teach communities about healthy habits, including behaviors that reduce the risk of diseases like diabetes. The Boro is hosting the "Let's Go Expo" this weekend, to encourage people to "Eat Smart, Move More". There'll be outdoor exhibits and mini-classes on various little things- fun things- for folks to do to live healthier. Shag lessons and Zumba. Vegetable gardening. Even a special appearance by SCETV's Smart Cat. There'll also be a one mile fun walk, which is a big deal for a lot of folks. I get to help, and I'm pumped about it. Shoot, maybe I'll even post some pix.

Happy Birthday, Baby.

Today was Diane's Birthday (well, actually, it was the anniversary of her birthday. You only get one actual birthday). I took her to the Indigo Girls concert in North Charleston last night. It was a lot of fun. Today I made us a right respectable meal of: meatloaf (94% lean ground beef, a couple of eggs, some bread crumbs, ketchup, onions, Worcheshire sauce, and a glaze of ketchup, brown sugar and honey (and a dash more W-sauce); some red-potato mashed potatoes with five cloves of garlic and a bit of butter and milk; a steamed vegetable medley of broccoli, carrots and red onions with pepper; and a decent bottle of Cianti. It was pretty good, I think. Not in Lady Di's league, of course, but not bad. A middling from-the-box yellow cake (Duncan Hines, I think), with some raspberry compote in between the layers, and topped with home-made butter chocolate frosting (butter, cocoa, vanilla, milk and confectioner's sugar) that tasted better than it looked completed the meal. A pretty paltry gift for my wonderful wife, but I think she liked it anyhow. Happy Birthday, Baby.

Doggette Determination.

Lady Di and I are gearing up for another Thanksgiving in the Boro. Last year I got on board a figurative train that Di has ridden already for several years: St. Jude's Church Thanksgiving feast. I posted the feast Last Year, and mentioned what a great guy I was for helping out, but my contribution is pretty small compared to a few others'. I've watched Lady Di separate lots of index cards, which she puts onto spreadsheets, so she, or someone else can contact other volunteers about donating, buying, or cooking turkeys or ham, dressing or yams, or dishing out the food in the serving line or delivering it to shut-ins. I've watched her and her "team piety" (pictured at left from last year) cook ninety pumpkin pies to be sliced and served tomorrow. Lots of folks have already worked hard, and lots more will work plenty hard tomorrow, but without some Chiefs, the Indians wouldn't be able to get the feast to the pilgrims. In military terms, Diane would be a Lieutenant (In cartoon-military terms, I'd be, like, Beetle Bailey). Our leaders are the Doggettes.
There's the Colonel. In Jim Doggette's case, that is not just an analogy: he was a full-bird Colonel in the USAF. He was a test-pilot, flying fast, fast planes for our Country, just like Chuck Yeager. Jim had "the Right Stuff", too, but not as good a press agent.

His boss is his bride, Gale (pictured to the left, next to Lady Di). Talk about a powerful "one-two punch"!

Anyway, lots of folks from St. Jude's Church (and some other kind souls from the Boro), bust their butts to help the community, but it wouldn't've happened this year without "Doggette" determination.