Posted on 04/04/2014 12:54:31 PM PDT by greeneyes
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All went quickly this morning getting my wife’s cataract removed. We were out the door just before 7am. Gotta do the same again in 2 weeks on the other eye.
That's just sad. The next time you go shopping, go to the over-the-counter shelves and start reading the ingredient labels. I can't remember the product name, but there is an OTC allergy medication that contains phenergan.
I would say, "Tell me about it", but I won't. All my problems seemed to come on post-military retirement. The ortho issues are a verifiable pain-in-the-***.
I recently submitted to being put on a CPAP for night time breathing issues which seems to have helped. The Mrs tells me that she can sleep now.....of course, I have crazy dreams when I wear it. They're real vivid.
I basically just sprouted the sunflowers. When they had broken the shell, and showed they were making a root, into the big garden they went, since they need that initial root growth to support the tall flowers.
But if I direct planted them, the ants and the birds would be picketing for more free seed.
/johnny
I have researched “Healing Spices” by the doctor at M.D. Anderson cancer center. The book says, “How to use 50 everyday and exotic spices to boost health and beat disease.”
None of the plants you listed are in this book. For insomnia, however, the below are listed with reasons why these are used for sleep. There is page after page about all these three and the research done to indicate they work. There is a scientific explanation about all the medical conditions listed for these individual spices
1. Lemongrass - (Lemongrass appears to me the easiest to prepare and use and maybe the best to use for sleep. Make a tea of the lemongrass and drink that before trying to sleep.) From the book:
Lemongrass may help prevent and/or treat:
Anxiety
Cancer
Cholesterol problems
(high total cholesterol, high “bad” LDL cholesterol, low “good” HDL cholesterol)
Diabetes, type 2
Epilepsy
Insomnia - the lemongrass extract works as a sedative drug - use the leaves to make tea.
Thrush (oral candida infection)
Triglycerides, high
vaginal yeast infection
Anxiety and insomnia description: Noting that lemongrass tea is used in Brazilian folk medicine to reduce anxiety, Brazilian researches tested an extract of lemongrass in mice. Using a standard maze device to measure the animals’ level of anxiety, they found the tea significantly calmed the mice. They also found that lemongrass extract reduced physical activity and induced sleep in mice as effectively as a sedative drug.
2. Coriander may help prevent and/or treat:
Bloating
Cholesterol problems
(high “bad” LDL cholesterol, low “good” HDL cholesterol)
Colic
Colon cancer
Constipation
Diabetes, type 2
Diarrhea
Eczema (atopic dermatitis
Flatulence
High Blood Pressure
Indigestion
Insomnia
Irritable bowel syndrome
Lead poisoning
Liver disease
Psoriasis
Stomachache
Ulcer
Vaginal yeast infection
Insomnia description: Coriander has been recommended for relief of anxiety and insomnia in folk medicine. A team of researches in the Journal of American Medical Directors did a study on laboratory animals and found the spice was a potent sedative and muscle relaxant. (The seeds stay fresh for a year or more but the ground seeds are only good for a few months).
3. Saffron may help prevent and/or treat:
Alzheimer's disease
Anxiety
Atherosclerosis
Cancer
Depression
Erectile dysfunction
Fatigue
High Blood Pressure
Infertility, male
Insomnia
Macular degeneration, age-related
Memory loss (age-related, mild cognitive decline)
Menstrual cramps
Multiple sclerosis
Parkinson's disease
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
About anxiety and insomnia description: Saffron is used for insomnia and anxiety in traditional medicine noted a team of scientists in Psychotherapy Research. In an animal experiment, they found saffron extracts reduced anxiety-like activity and increased total sleep time.
What about aloe vera? Because I officially have a butt-load of aloe vera now. These 13 plants (not all are shown) in half-gallon containers are from ONE of the mother pots that I finally divided and re-potted.
I wonder how much a 1/2 gallon aloe vera plant sells for these days?
/johnny
What I do have is, MY BIG POTS CAME!. Before the day is over, I'm transplanting those tobacco plants. Then, tomorrow, I'll have lots of transplanting to do and I did get some more potting soil mix but still not sure I have enough. I got 27 large pots for tobacco and tomatoes and T squash and numerous others out there in pots that are too small now for the plant.
greeneyes, I just read what you said about peas and planting them. I started mine in paper cups under the grow lamp. I think all the kinds I have, however, are hybrids for containers, not in the ground kind, or they said “bush” peas - could have some of those. It's a good thing I have the plant tags stuck in the pots.
I have to transplant one more Tromboncino squash out of a cup into a larger container and was waiting until one with tobacco was available when I transplanted the tobacco.
But, I found a problem yesterday with this paper cup with the squash. I saw something on the side of the cup. Another T squash is in that cup and it grew through the side of the cup. It's stuck there as its leaf cannot unfold as it's being held back by that little hole in the cup. I think surgery is called for to get that squash out of that cup. How in the world did it manage to get through the side of the paper cup? I'll get it out today when I transplant the other one in the cup.
I started peanuts in egg cartons today, with the nitrogen fixing bacteria. I also started some lettuce, chard, and cukes at my daughter's request. I'm attempting to clone some thyme, since I had such good luck with the rosemary.
I've been busy as a one-armed paper-hanger today. Got lots of little tasks taken care of, and some fairly major tasks, too.
I'm taking a little break, and then back out to the garden.
/johnny
Now my wife wants more of these benches so she can paint and decorate them.
I have one almost just like that from a Country Peddler Show years ago, but mine has heart cut outs across the front. I set potted impatiens on it.
a little about passionflower:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/871.html
Re: Saffron, I doubt with the price of Saffron I could afford enought to be efficacious for any malady.
Does the MD Anderson Doc have vervain (verbena) listed?
You are so fine a wood artist. Plus, you have a big heart, caring about your wife and your pups.
I read this yesterday: “St. Thomas Aquinas defined love as willing the good of the other.” That’s what you do.
I just finished repotting the tobacco and watering then and everything else out there - now the tobacco have a big pot each to spread out their roots. Prissy tried to get to one tobacco leaf reaching the side of a pot - damn, I had to put empty pots around those tobacco so she can’t get to them. Appears I have a nicotine addicted 5 lb. dog.
I also transplanted the T squash out of the little cup and did do surgery to get the one out trying to grow through the side of the cup. Now, we’ll see if it can straighten up and live - it’s very small but seems healthy.
I have other transplanting to do tomorrow, mainly Tromboncino squash out of smaller pots into these new big pots. I have other tobacco plants not large enough yet for a big pot.
I have maybe six sunflowers (two or three kinds) in smaller pots that need to be in big pots.
I’ve had it for today.
I don't have a dog now, but I've had one most of my life, and I can't ever remember any of them fixating on tobacco.
/johnny
There must be something about the leaf that attracts her attention. I’ve watched her around other plants and she will smell them but hasn’t tried to eat them.
The cat food... he had to be warned off of.
/johnny
It shouldn’t take that much muscle to tighten the lids, just enough that they stay shut, but can still vent excess steam.
And, with my pickles, I put the jars somewhere I can see them for the first 2 weeks, and give them a light shake twice a day. It doesn’t take much shaking, just enough to joggle things around. The air bubbles that formed during the canning process slowly work their way to the top, and after 2 weeks all the pickles will have sunk down instead of floating.
One way to kick-start peas is to soak them in room-temperature water for an hour, then keep them damp overnight before planting. That gets them past the germination stage, and they can handle the cooler soil temps after that.
I’ve had T squash occasionally try to grow upside-down. If you can get a leaf into the light while keeping the root in the soil, it will figure things out from there.
On my list of “Someday” projects is going to be testing to see if that variety of squash is less responsive to geotropism, or if those occasional upside-downers could be bred to be less responsive to it. If so, it might do well as a food plant on the space station.
The 5 board bench,, in slight variations, is an old time basic entry level woodworking project. I had one growing up that someone unknown had built, and my wife did too. They are common, but adored by many that furnish in Kountry Kabin motif. Easily built buy carpenters with few tools. I used a skilsaw, a 1” drill bit, a well used piece of sandpaper, and a few brad nails from an air powered brad nailer, plus two pieces of leftover wood. I have a selection of cheap paints that were $5 ga. mis-tinted by Lowes. My wife will do the finish and make it Gurlie with Daisies and leafy vines or some such, maybe even put her name on it.
These would be simple to produce in small quantities for craft fairs or such. My wife is quilting now, so who knows where that will lead.
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