Working from Home - The Clash of Two Wills

Every morning I sit down to work on a blog post, either for this blog, or for my other blog. Because I've been booted out of Starbucks by Covid 19, I've had to make a hasty readjustment to working solely from home.

It's interesting, because as addicted as I was to hot chocolate, I was also equally addicted to going to Starbucks in the morning. It was a way for me to get away from home and have some alone time to work on something without interruptions. I have been mostly self-employed the last few years and working from home was a part of that. But... I would always go to Starbucks for my "fun" work...

Except... going to Starbucks, or any coffee shop, is no longer an option. Sooo... I am making this working from home thing... work. It's required some adjustments. I have told my partner to pretend that I am NOT home... otherwise she wanders into my office and chats... But we've worked that out and she now respects the closed door policy. Or rather... the ajar door policy...

It's not a fully closed door because the cat wants to come and in and out. If the door is closed, then there is a continual crying and meowing and pawing at the door. Sooo... the cat can come in. This used to work just fine in the past with our other two cats. They would come in and be quite happy to sprawl on my desk or in a basket near my keyboard. Close but not too close

Our current cat, however, is very cuddly and likes it when I sit in one spot for longer than 5 minutes. Which... as it happens... is when I am sitting down to write a blog post. She has decided that my lap, narrow as it is when I'm parked in front of my desk is a perfect size... and that my left arm is a perfect cat chaise.

Despite the fact that she gets wiggled around quite a bit by the typing of the left arm, she is quite content. She is lying here as I type, licking her front paws with an occasional swipe at her shoulders. We make eye contact occasionally and it's quite clear that she loves me and loves our together time. Yesterday morning, she fell asleep in my lap, draped over my left arm.

I'm pretty sure this is not going to work long term as she is not a petite cat (15 lbs). I'm probably carrying a good 5 lb weight on my left forearm. I can see it now, a future visit to the doctor or my massage therapist or chiropractor: "And when did this issue with your left arm/shoulder start? Well... my cat would lie on my left forearm while I was typing because I was working from home during Covid19..." Hmmm... something's got to change.

Napping cat

I'm sure there are a few other people out there who have suddenly transitioned to working from home... and it is a definite transition. It's a new routine for all concerned - partners, progeny and pets.

Some tips for working from home:

• get dressed - don't do it in pajamas
• comb/brush your hair - because if you don't... it might be 2 pm and you'll forget you haven't done your hair and go out for a walk and get funny looks from the neighbours
• keep to a schedule without fail - very important - and best to get to work first thing, otherwise the day can slip through your hands like greased sand
• closed door policy - for partners, kids and pets - if you have the luxury of a separate space. If not, have a serious conversation with all concerned (including the pets!) about respecting the work zone/time
• be careful of the distractions - like leaving the workzone to get a cup of coffee or tea - that is prime time to be ambushed by partner, kids or progeny - maybe wear a sign or announce to all and sundry "Pretend I'm NOT here"
• headphones - can't emphasize them enough - they make a huge difference in keeping me focused on what I'm here to do and drowning out the sounds of a crying cat

I'm going to have to make a decision here... because it's pretty clear that this feline-assisted work method is not going to work. But... she's such a cuuuttte cat... and so happy and... I am booting her off my lap now. Have you ever noticed that when you want to move a cat who doesn't want to be moved, they get very, very heavy. Sigh. I am now escorting her to the door and enforcing a strict closed door policy...

And, let's just put on the noise-cancelling headphones and some coffee jazz music. To drown out the complaining cat cries and to allow me the illusion that I am happily ensconced at a Starbucks somewhere.

Going on a Gasoline Diet

I love my 4-Runner. His name is Clifford (Big Red Truck) and we've been together for 26+ years. I bought Clifford new in 1996 and he and I have had many adventures together. He's still a great truck, very useful for hauling all sorts of things around.

I've been good to Clifford, keeping him maintained, and in return, Clifford has been a very reliable truck.

The other Clifford - Big Red Dog

But Clifford's not getting any younger... we just ticked over the 360,000 km mark a few weeks back. That's a pretty impressive milestone but then 4-Runners are kind of like the energizer bunny... they just keep going and going. Clifford is "only" a 4-cylinder which means he's not as big a gas guzzler as some other SUVs. Still... Clifford is a gas-powered vehicle and I am beginning to really question how long we are can justify keeping him around.

Clifford would be easy to sell at this point. I've had guys approach me in the parking lot asking "Do you want to sell that?" Because the 4-Runner, particularly of that era (1990s) are very, very reliable and, apparently, desirable.

I am clear that our next vehicle is not going to be gas-powered... Clifford's days with us are numbered. For the moment, however, we are staying together.

In the meantime... I am trying to think of ways in which we can reduce our gasoline footprint. I try to maximize my errand trips. If I know I'm going to be in a certain area of town because of an appointment, I will try to rejig schedules so that I can accomplish several other errands in the same area.

Right now, the most hard-to-justify trips that I take with Clifford are my early morning visits to Starbucks. Yep... I drive to Starbucks most mornings, whether I have an errand to run or not. I get there early, get some work done, and then drive home and pick up the threads of the rest of the day. It's not a long drive... 3-4 km at most, one way.

Walk

I could walk that in about an hour... but I'm not up for a 2 hour round trip walk in the mornings. So, walking is out. Unless... I were to choose a different hang-out spot. There is a local coffee shop a 30 minute walk away... Or I could go hang out at the university library, also a 30 minute walk... or the aquatic centre... I'd need to shift my routine and habit though... ugh!

Our WalkScore number... not good... not good at all.

Transit
As for public transit... we don't live in Vancouver where that would be a really good option. Here, not so much. Our public transit system is not the most reliable nor the most convenient for timing or routes, so that is out.

Or is that just my own sense of transit snobbery? Nope... I looked up our address on WalkScore and... it's bad.

Kitsilano, Vancouver - WalkScore

Type in your address and they give you a Walk/Transit/Bike score. Our city overall has a poor walk score (35) and is labeled car dependent with a poor transit system. But our address is even worse... a Walk Score of 10! Eesh... And they didn't even give it a Transit or Bike Score... My sister, on the other hand, lives in Kitsilano in Vancouver and... well... her Walk/Transit/Bike score looks verrryyyyy different.

Bike
Soooo... what about my bicycle? If I jump on my bike, I can be at Starbucks in 10-15 minutes (it's mostly downhill). I know this because I've done it before. For a few years, particularly in the spring/summer/fall, I was pretty good with biking to Starbucks but then my life got hectic and... it took too long.

Riding my bike would have several benefits and tick a number of boxes:

• good exercise for me
• good cardiovascular workout for me
• good for the environment
• good for our gas budget
• good for society - setting a good example, less traffic

Bike Seat Butt
So, what stops me? Honestly... it's the first few bike rides of the season after the winter. I haven't been on my bike for months and... my butt is not used to the bicycle seat. So the first ride is usually good... but then, the next day, I have sore butt bones and sitting on the bike is pure agony. So then I try to give my butt a rest for a day... or two... or three... and then a week goes by and... voila... no bike riding routine.

Maybe I need a new bike saddle? Or to adjust my handlebars and seat post? Or maybe I just need to power through the sore butt phase. I KNOW that I always feel better once I'm in the bike riding habit. But there's a huge inertia mountain between my tender butt (now) and my saddle hardened butt (2 weeks from now).

I guess the real question is... how committed am I to making a difference for myself, for the planet, for our budget? I can come up with all sorts of excuses as to why biking is too hard, too much work, etc.

• I need to get the tires pumped up and that means I'd have to take it down the hill to the gas station (2 minute walk) and pay $1.50 to pump up the tires.
• It needs a tune-up and that costs $$ and I'd have to make an appointment and get it there and...
• The chain is rusty and needs oil and I don't know if we have any oil
• I'll just have a sore butt after this.
• What if it rains?
• I'm going to be a wheezing slug on it for the first few days/weeks. I hate feeling like an out-of-shape slug.

But there many benefits too...

• I could bike farther afield.
• Go to a different Starbucks or coffee shop.
• Bike to appointments once I'm up and running.
• Try some further afield trails once I'm past the slug state.
• It opens up a lot of possibilities for me.

The pros really do outweigh the cons but the inertia... oh the inertia... it feels insurmountable at this point. Or... is it time to bite the bullet and buy an e-bike ($1500+)? A friend of ours is buying one and I've seen these bikes zipping up our hill with the greatest of ease. It would handle the "slug" business for sure. And maybe even the sore butt bones. Still... before we make that big of an investment into an e-bike, I want to see if I can't give the old-fashion me-bike another chance. One small step at a time.

Victory Gardens - Dusting off an Old Idea

First, let me say this - we grow a garden every year. Our back yard looks like a little urban farm. When we bought this house 7 years ago, the back lawn was a blank canvas. We started with one raised bed, then two, then four, then six. And now we have a greenhouse as well. None of it is necessarily pretty or worthy of Home & Gardens magazine. But... it works.

And now... we seem to be ahead of a growing trend. I went to Country Grocer on Sunday to get a few odds and ends, as well as some tomato and cucumber seeds. They usually have a great selection of West Coast Seeds but... it looked like the locusts had been through the seed rack.

Now... it is seed planting time here on the West Coast (sorry Rest of Canada). And a lot of people do garden here but this... this seems to be more than the normal run on seeds.

We are still waiting for the first arrivals of veggie seedlings (tomatoes and cukes in particular) but... so far nothing. There are cruciferous seedlings (kale, cabbages, brussel sprouts, etc) and herb babies but... none of the other stuff.

Sooo... we have dug out our seedling starter kits and are going to start some tomatoes and cukes. Oh yes, I did find some seeds on Sunday, but not your typical ones. Cukes were limited to lemon cukes, which are seriously yummy but look like little prickly lemons and I imagine your average novice gardener has no idea what they are like. We also got some little orange cherry tomatoes, again, not your typical tomato variant and left behind by the locusts.

I had actually stocked up on seeds over the last two weeks so we are well set for the spring growing season. Let's take a look at what we grow/have grown/will grow/won't grow!

Veggies
Here's what's already growing in our garden:

• Kale - your best leafy green ever - we have some old kale from last year which is just starting to leaf out nicely again. We also put in some new kale seeds.
• Swiss Chard - also a nice leafy green and we have about a dozen plants that over-wintered and starting to bush out again. Haven't planted any new ones yet.
• Garlic - planted last Oct/Nov and ready for harvest in July. Pretty easy to grow as long as you don't over-water in June. We grow hard-necked garlic and it makes pretty big bulbs with massive cloves - only 4 cloves/bulb.
• Leek - I've been nursing my leek population from one year to the next and we now have some two dozen leek teenagers. I had bought leek seedlings about four years ago and they overwinter well and divide underground. It takes some patience to wait for the babies/teens to mature but this year might be the year.
• Onion - we have four stray onion plants that avoided previous pickings. Will see what they develop into. We haven't had great luck with onions though.
• Asparagus - we have about 4 asparagus plants and I have yet to eat one spear of asparagus. This year might be the year though... 
• Radish - have a couple of rows of radishes planted last fall. They are starting to fluff up and hoping they will produce some good radishes for eating. Also started a few rows in the greenhouse this spring.
• Broad Beans - planted some last fall and a few to fill in this spring. We've had moderate luck with broad beans (aka fava beans) and have some in the freezer.
• Corn Salad - has nothing to do with corn. It's known as Rapunzel in Europe and we have it everywhere. We bought a packet a few years ago and then some of the plants went to seed and... well... we don't need to seed again. It is a tiny plant though and takes a lot of effort to pick and wash and...
• Mesclun - baby greens mixes - you can get different variations. We planted some in the greenhouse several weeks ago and have started a short row outside. The trick is to plant in stages otherwise you'll be swamped in a sea of green. Easy to grow, quick to harvest. Just use scissors to cut the baby greens and they'll leaf out again at least another two times.
• Peas - we have some trellises along some of the raised beds where we have planted climbing peas in years past but... this year I found bush peas! Game changer!! Cause they can be planted in any of the raised beds and really help with crop rotation. So we have about 100 bush pea plants seeded.

And here's what's coming onto the horizon soon...

• Parsnip - going into the ground soon. Haven't ever tried them but going to give it a go this year. We roast them in the oven and they are yummy...
• Kohlrabi - going into the ground soon. One of the cruciferous veggies - it looks super weird but we tried it a few years ago. The raw flesh is kind of juicy like an apple but tastes a bit like broccoli stalk - very mild cabbagey flavour. I was surprised at how yummy it was having been fed cooked kohlrabi as a kid and hating it with a passion. Makes a good slaw too. Easy to grow too. 
• Scallions/Green Onions - going into ground soon - we have better luck with these than with regular onions sooo... going to try them again this year.
• Beets - going into the ground in mid April - we've planted them every year and they always do well.
• Bush beans - not planted until July but they don't take up a tonne of room and they produce a lot!
• Tomatoes - as noted, starting them in the seed trays - will then move to greenhouse and maybe some outside pots
• Cukes - also going to start in seed trays inside and then move to greenhouse
• Squash - got some butternut squash seeds this year. Likely need to start indoors and transplant in May. We've had mixed results with squash but haven't really been on top of feeding them well. They are heavy feeders so going to give it a better try this year.
• Potatoes - if we can find the space! We've grown them the last few years and they generally do well although are not huge producers in raised beds. 
• Nasturtiums - technically a flower but the leaves and flowers are edible in salads! And very yummy with a bit of a peppery nip to it.

What we aren't growing this year:

• Carrots - we've not done well with carrots. They will look fat and juicy at ground surface, a good inch in diameter but when you pick them... they are all of an inch long as well. It's a watering thing. We'd need to really perfect our slow and low watering with an irrigation system or a little sprinkler or something. But... our summers always have watering restrictions on sprinklers sooo... we are passing on carrots this year.
• Cabbages - we've grown some from Country Grocer seedlings - green, red and savoy. They did OK but we aren't big cabbage eaters.
• Broccoli - it actually did amazingly well the one year we got Country Grocer seedlings... but we kind of got overwhelmed by broccoli that year. 
• Peppers - we've tried them in the greenhouse in previous years... meh. The hot chili peppers did OK but the bell peppers were a wash.
• Eggplant - we tried that once in the greenhouse and got one eggplant from one plant. Not worth the effort or the square footage! 
• Spinach - ours always bolts... although we may try it again... there is some disagreement about whether to waste square footage on this again...

Herbs
Herbs we have in our garden

• Chives - lots and lots of chives... chives everywhere...
• Oregano - taking over the world
• Thyme - regular and variegated
• Rosemary - after several false starts with baby rosemary's dying due to... something... we finally have a good, strong plant!
• Sage - also several false starts but now have a good, strong plant.
• Tarragon - a bit concerned since it seemed to die over the winter but... is sprouting from the bottom again - yay!
• Parsley - we have it everywhere... and it keeps coming back so that's good!
• Dill - unlike the other herbs, dill isn't a perennial but seeds itself very robustly. We planted dill seeds one year and... like the corn salad, don't need to seed again! It will just start coming up everywhere... 
• Cilantro - we haven't perfected cilantro yet... not sure what the secret is... but we do have some seeds from last year's plants so will try again. 
• Mint - would take over the world if it could - several different types
• Lavender - not an herb for eating per se... although I guess some people do use it that way.

Herbs we are planting this year:

• Summery Savory - tried it a few years ago and it worked in a pot - doing that again this year... it goes nicely with all the bush beans! It's an annual though... but doesn't self-seed as well as the dill.
• Basil - maybe. We still have reams of basil pesto from previous crops. It usually does well for us except last year when it was a failure on all fronts.

Fruits
And... we have some fruit too!

• Pear - tree was here when we bought the house. They are stewing pears and not really eating pears but... they make a darn good pear sauce! 
• Plum - the nice black ones... but the tree is on its last legs and didn't produce anything last year. The black plum tree is grafted onto a wild plum root stock which means we have little wild plum trees trying to pop up all through the year. One that has been allowed to grow produced some tart little oval yellow plums one year. Hasn't done it again though...
• Prune Plum - is technically the neighbour's tree but hangs over the fence... super yummy but the tree needs to be watered consistently... so need to stay on top of that this year.
• Raspberries - hands down the best value for square footage. Given how expensive raspberries are... this is a winning crop. We aren't always on top of the picking though because the crop is a bit much sometimes but... we start our winter with bags and bags of flash frozen raspberries.
• Blueberries - not really a big grower at the moment. We got a bush off of Kijiji a few years ago and split off two rooted babies. So we technically have 3 plants but only the mother plant produces berries. Need to keep the birds away... We only got a small handful of berries last year but have high hopes for this year.
• Strawberries - started with 10 plants purchased for $0.10/plant... now have a LOT of strawberry plants. But we need to weed out the old plants and let the satellite plants have free rein. Old plants don't produce as well... And we just got some ever-bearing strawberries last year...
• Grapes -came with the garden and the neighbour's garden. But then we scavenged a few from an old vacant lot and... we have green grapes in the fall.
• Fig - little baby fig given to us by a colleague a few years ago. Still waiting for the first fig...
• Rhubarb - almost forgot... It's a very forgiving plant. It's been dug up and moved several times and... it's still a happy plant.
• Blackberries - of course... doesn't everyone on the West Coast have some invasive Himalayan Blackberry in their yard? We give the blackberry free rein in our Back 40 corner of the yard. We also go foraging out in the world and usually start our winters with bags and bags of flash frozen blackberries. As well as blackberry liqueur... mmm....
• Apple - we don't have an apple tree but friends of ours do and they always have too many.... so we make apple sauce in the fall and then can/freeze it for the winter. Just core, peel and simmer with a tiny bit of water and cinnamon. No added sugar required. Same with the pear sauce.
• Quince - we don't have a quince tree but the apple tree friends do and one year we made quince jelly... it was a darn tricky process though and didn't turn out great - more like quince rubber... might try again and hope we estimate the "set point" better.

I think that's it. I've probably forgotten something... and lest you think our yard is "huge". It's not. Our whole lot is maybe 8200 square feet and that includes the house footprint and front yard and driveway.

For our veggies we have the following beds:

• raised bed - 8' x 3' - 24 sq ft
• raised bed - 2' x 3' - 6 sq ft
• raised bed - 8' x 3' - 24 sq ft
• raised bed - 2' x 3' - 6 sq ft
• raised bed - 8' x 1.5'  - 12 sq ft
• raised bed - 12' x 2' - 24 sq ft
• raised bed - 12' x 2' - 24 sq ft
• Greenhouse - 9' x 2' - 18 sq ft
• Greenhouse - 9' x 2' - 18 sq ft

That's only 156 sq ft of growing space. Mind you, the herbs are generally planted out and about in the flower beds. Raspberries, strawberries and blueberries also planted in the ground in various locations around the yard.

Now... could we live off of what we grow? Definitely not... but it is a nice supplement to what we buy in the stores. It's also a fair bit of work... and we have to watch out for the pests: slugs (grrrr), birds (hmmmm), rats (ick) and your usual aphids, etc. Still... the veggies always taste better than store bought... and it does a body good to work in the soil and then eat the fruits of their labours.

Oh... and aside from the blackberries out in the world... there are other edibles out there. After much hunting, I found a nice patch of stinging nettles which, when harvested as young plants in the spring, and then blanched, make a great spinach substitute. More on that in another blog post...

Whether your garden is big or small... whether all you have is pots on a balcony or a whole yard... growing your own food is a hugely satisfying process. As someone once said, Gardening is a Revolutionary Act.

Watch a Movie, Change your Life...

Ignorance is bliss.

Once seen, never unseen.

I've been watching a bunch of different documentaries about health and wellness - mostly focused on whole food, plant-based diets. I thought I'd share some of them here because they are eye-opening. Eating animal protein is most definitely NOT good for the planet, for the animals, nor for our own health. I could give you the stats about the links between animal protein and obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer but... that would defeat the whole purpose of watching the movies.

There are seven movies I've watched so far and they all have a different... tolerance level... shall we say. Over the next few weeks, I'll offer a review of each. Most of these can be watched via YouTube, and I've provided the link for that.

1. Vegucated - 2011 - comic/documentary - this one is a nice overall introduction to the costs of an animal protein diet versus the benefits of a plant-based diet. It covers a bit of the human health aspects, a bit of the environmental aspects and a bit of the ethical aspects. It does it with a fairly light tone as it follows three individuals during their 6 week immersion into a vegan diet. It's a great intro movie.
2. Forks over Knives - 2011 - documentary - despite the name, this movie doesn't really touch on the ethical aspects of an animal protein diet. It focuses more on the human health aspects. This is the movie you want to watch if you want to learn about the staggering effects of the typical western diet on human health. The movie presents the stark links between eating animal protein and obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. If you have any questions about the human health aspects, this is the movie to watch.
3. The Game Changers - 2018 - documentary - this one is the one you want your men to watch - your boyfriend, your husband. It totally debunks the myth that you need to eat animal protein in order to be muscular and/or manly. There are some serious athletes and muscle people in this movie. They also touch on some of the health benefits and environmental costs. I have to say, after watching this movie, I went straight to our freezer and ditched all of the processed meat products (sausages, bacon, etc).
4. What the Health - 2017 - investigative documentary - Kip Anderson delves into the world of Big Business (Big Food) and government. It's eye-opening if you want to learn how the US government is putting the interests of Big Business ahead of everyday people. No surprise there really, but this movie lays it all out for you.
5. Food Inc. (Trailer only on YouTube - film is on Netflix) - 2008 - documentary - This movie takes a look at how Big Industry has taken over the production of food. Gone are the small family farms where farmer knew the names of each dairy cow. The name of the game now is producing as much meat as fast as possible in factory farms. Profit trumps all. If you think that Big Business cares about the welfare of animals... think again. And if you think they care about the health of consumers... think again.
6. Cowspiracy - 2014 - investigate documentary - Another one by Kip Anderson, in fact it came out a few years before What the Health. This is the movie to watch if you want to learn about the devastating environmental aspects of the animal protein industry on the earth. Soil degradation, erosion, fertilizer overuse, groundwater pollution, greenhouse gases, etc. etc.  
7. Earthlings (10th Anniversary Edition) - 2015 - horror/documentary - I wasn't quite sure how a movie could be a horror and a documentary but... after watching this movie, I am clear on that. This is the movie to watch if you want to learn about the ethical aspects of how humans use animals. It expands beyond using animals for food to encompass Pets, Clothing, Entertainment and Laborartory Testing. This movie is for everyone who wants to know how "humane" humans are... or are not. Even if you don't watch it... know that the choices you make each and everyday fuel the Demand that supports the Supply of these industries. It's not called Supply/Demand for nothing. We demand more... and they supply more. And it ain't pretty.

Vegucated

Let's start with the easiest one... Vegucated

This was the fifth movie I watched, right after Earthlings. Sooo... in light of that, it was a relief to have a bit of comedic relief. This move follows three individuals as they take on a 6 week challenge to eat vegan. Along the way, the three people are introduced to the facts around the health, environmental and ethical costs of eating animal protein. It's a wake-up call for all of them and they make various statements throughout the 6 weeks that they will never eat animal products again. But how well does that hold up after the 6 weeks? Because as shocking as it is to be woken up to what the animal industry is really like... it's also very easy to fall asleep again and slip back into old habits. And eating animal protein is a habit, for our senses, for our culture, for our economy. At the end of the movie, the producers give a status update on all three and they are either vegan or vegetarian. Which is good.

This movie gives a few snippets of information about the health, environmental and ethical aspects of the animal protein industry. There are a few stomach churning scenes, but nothing too shocking. At least not compared to Earthlings.

If I had to over one caveat it is this: processed food, be it vegan or not, is not healthy. This movie encourages the participants to try all sorts of process vegan foods - vegan cheese, vegan hot dogs, vegan margarine, etc etc. None of these are really going have health benefits. Processed food is bad. Period. So, in that respect, this movie needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Just because something is vegan, does not mean it is healthy. We have moved in the direction of a whole food, plant based diet... and are limiting processed food as much as possible.

Disease, Distance & Disposability

How times have changed. In just a few short weeks!

Gone are the days when I could:

• bring my own mug to Starbucks or order my tea in one of their ceramic mugs. Covid19 has made that too risky. Disposable cups are back in.
• get my water bottle filled by a friendly Starbucks barista. Instead they gave me water in a disposable plastic cup.
• bring my own reusable containers to Bulk Barn - too risky now. Disposable plastic bags are back in.
• bring reusable bags to the grocery store
• recycle bottles and cans at the grocery store

It's clear that the risk of disease transmission is first and foremost. Which is as it should be. This virus is highly contagious and we need to adapt. Quickly.

In the meantime, disposable wipes, masks and gloves are in hot demand. It's a good reminder that sometimes there is a reason why we have disposable items. Like kleenexes. The idea of a reusable handkerchief right now is icky!

And keeping our distance. Covid19 is now circulating in the community, by individuals who have no idea they are infected. Heck... with an incubation period of 3 to 14 days... any one of us could be infected and not know it. There's a wave coming... As one news commentator said "Act as if you have the virus."

We're practicing social distancing. Staying home as much as possible. Working from home. With only very brief forays to the grocery store for additional supplies. Who knew we would need a turnip when I did the big shop last week? Argh...

Stay safe.

Breaking up with my To-Do List

"I'm breaking up with you!"

That's my biannual scream at my To-Do List. It happens like clockwork. I start sinking under the weight of incomplete tasks and upcoming To-Do's and inevitably think that there's something wrong with my current To-Do List.

If only I had the "right" To-Do List app or method or system or something.

I stomp off in a huff, troll through different to-do list apps and methodologies before I discover a sparkly new one that looks like the answer to my prayers. Harps play, angels hum, lights dazzle and I fall head over heels for my new To-Do List love. I then storm into my current To-Do List and move everything over to the new app/tool/method and slam an invisible door. "I am so DONE with you!" Hmph.

All goes well for a week or two. My new To-Do List and I are in the honeymoon phase after all. I am the energizer bunny of productivity! Things are going swimmingly and then... inevitably... the shiny newness wears off and... I realize that the new app is not cutting it. In fact, it's worse than my old method!

And so I go crawling back to Remember the Milk (my long-term app) and repopulate my To-Do List and swear that I'll always be true. We're good for a few weeks/months and then... it begins again.

This cycle of disillusionment/cheating/switching/reconciliation takes a lot of time and energy and it would be soooo much easier to not have to go through this every few months.

It's not You, It's Me

The thing is... the problem is not with my To-Do List... it's with me. Much as I would love to get rid of my To-Do List... there are way too many moving parts in my life for me to abandon it completely. I need to be able to keep track of upcoming tasks otherwise bills don't get paid, calls don't get made and things don't get done. My To-Do List is my catch-all for everything that I need to remember... in the short-term and long-term.

While I keep coming back to RTM, I've also tried innumerable productivity systems and apps: Kanban, Trello, Todoist, Toodledo, RTM, OneNote, Asana, Bullet Journal (paper-based), Pomodoro, Getting Things Done, Eat the Frog, 1-3-5, the One Thing, Google Keep, Google Tasks, Evernote, Notion, Wunderlist and many, many more. I am a To-Do List junkie.

On top of that, I seem to need to keep a foot in both the analog and digital worlds. A purely digital system doesn't work so well for me. I need something on paper to jot things down, to take notes, whatever. On top of that, my email inbox sometimes functions as a To-Do List. While I aspire to Inbox Zero, sometimes it's easier to leave an email in my Inbox to remind me... "right... need to handle that"... or... "right, waiting for a response on that".

A Shift in Attitude
A few weeks ago, I could feel the frustration/overwhelm/disillusionment building within me. There was soooo much to get done! Every day, I would review my modified BuJo To-Do List at the end of the day and push forward a bunch of incomplete tasks. I'd review my Remember the Milk app and see so many snowplowed To-Dos... And yes, I have tried the Eisenhower Matrix of urgency/importance... doesn't work for me. At this point, everything is Urgent AND Important! Or at least... it feels that way.

I get to the point where I want someone else to just say: "OK, here's your next to-do... and when you're done with that... I'll give you the next one." I don't want to have to make the decisions... to scan a list with dozens of items and try and figure out what is next. Argh!!

A few weeks ago, I could feel a To-Do List break-up coming and thought... "this is ridiculous - there must be a better way". Right now, I'm staying with Remember the Milk for my overall catch-all of information that I can review on a weekly basis. For my day-to-day and week-ahead planning, however, I'm considering several tweaks.

1. Make each task an actual "task", not a project! I have this annoying tendency to write "redo garden beds" on my To-Do List. It is not an actionable task and so my goal is to break each project down into small, actionable items. One of my big issues is that I overestimate how long something will take. But breaking down a task/project into sub-tasks, the entropy hurdle is less. Or so thinks my rational brain.
   
   This would require a shift in attitude and execution on my part. To recognize that I am a bit of an over-achiever and approach my To-Do list with some compassion for myself. I don't have to climb the mountain... I just have to take the next step.
2. Write the reason for a to-do list item - not just what it is. For a slightly ridiculous example: Normally I would write "windshield wipers" on my to-do list, knowing that the current ones are leaving horrible streaks. But that might sit on my to-do list for weeks for any number or reasons. My new strategy, beyond breaking the task down into sub-tasks (buy windshield wipers, install windshield wipers) is to write it thusly: "install new windshield wipers so we can drive to Victoria safely tomorrow".
   
   I came across the idea of writing the To-Do List as if I were writing it for someone else. It made sense and it adds a certain clarity around priority and urgency. Again, this requires a shift in both attitude and execution. At first glance, I'm thinking this might help me prioritize things better... rather than seeing everything as Urgent AND Important.
3. Write a DONE list in my notebook. I used to have a running To-Do List in Remember the Milk and out of that would write a daily To-Do List into my notebook. The same To-Do List that was only half-done at the end of the day. Shifting away from that... and instead writing a Done List in my notebook, because there are a lot of things that I get done that never even make it on to the To-Do List.
   
   I've always been a person who looks ahead. I don't rest on my laurels, but am always jumping ahead, looking at what is still to come. The DONE list is a way for me to appreciate what I have done in a day and focus on the complete rather than the incomplete.
4. Schedule tasks into my day. Apparently, many millionaires (and probably billionaires) do NOT have a To-Do List... they just have a calendar. Huh. I have tried blocking time before but... actually scheduling things... in a realistic way? Not so much.
   
   I think part of my reluctance to look at a calendar-based system is a left-over twitch effect from when I was care-giving for my Dad. All of my careful time-block schedules went out the window during a very unpredictable time. My life is slightly more predictable now... perhaps it is time to try calendars again.

A Balancing Act
Part of my fixation with time and to-do lists right now is this... I have noticed that I will go for a walk with my partner when she is home. But when she is not home, I won't go for a walk. I know that a walk is good for me. I know this... and yet... when I am home alone, there is always something "more important" to do. This is perplexing to me...

I've tried adding "walk" to my to-do list. I can't tell you how often it gets postponed or ignored. Apparently I have no trouble prioritizing others... just myself.

Right now, I am trying to rejig by life by scheduling tasks into my calendar. And the first things to go on the calendar are self-care activities - like walks, reading and eating healthy meals (which always takes longer so my temptation is to take short-cuts and skip the healthy bits). Once my self-care items are blocked into my day, I have a better sense of how much time I actually have for other tasks. And it then becomes easier to prioritize what absolutely needs to get done today and in the coming days.

I've known about the rocks and the mason jar for a while now and have tried various ways of implementing it. Important things first... then smaller things. When I look at the picture here though... I can see how the left mason jar would result in my current sense of overwhelm... "OMG!!! I don't have enough time for these things!!" Tis very true... So this time, I'm putting my intentionality behind creating the right mason jar...

I'm planning a week ahead and I really have to watch myself or this little over-achiever will try and schedule too much into a day. I am trying to build in some white/flex/blank/down/transition time. If I find that I have some flex time in the day because things went quicker than anticipated, I can regroup, see where I'm at and maybe tackle a few of the smaller tasks that always need to be done - cleaning the toilet, doing dishes, flipping a load of laundry into the dryer, etc. It always amazes me what I can get done in 15 minutes, if I just put my head down and do it.

The idea is that my self-care activities are inviolable. If my schedule said "Walk with friend", I would make that appointment. I would never blow off my friend and not show up for the walk, barring a legitimate emergency. But if my schedule says "Walk [for me]", I somehow see that as optional and an appointment that I can keep... or not.

Sooo... my Small Step this week is to keep my appointments with myself. Treat myself with the same courtesty that I treat others. Wish me luck.

Goldilocks meets the Tortoise and the Hare

"I don't have enough time to get anything done."
"I have more than enough time to get that done... and that... and that."
"I have just the right amount of time to get it all done."

Sounds kind of like Goldilocks... except around time!

Those are the conversations that run through the heads of myself and two of my friends, Violet and Leo. The difference in those three conversations is vast in terms of what our lives look like. Let's unpack them a bit.

My Time Conversation
"I don't have enough time to get anything done."

That's me. I'll be sitting there, looking at the clock thinking, "I've got 30 minutes before I have to leave for that appointment." I'll then review my to-do list and think:

"Hmmm... 30 minutes... what can I get done in half an hour? Well, I don't really have enough time to start writing a blog post or working on that project. Hmmm... what else could I do? I could tidy my desk..."
***5 minutes later***
"... Huh... now what. I thought that would take longer. But now I only have 15 minutes (5 minutes were lost in the initial mulling over...)... that really isn't enough time to tackle anything else. Or is it? Hmmm... Do I have time to scan those tax documents? ... Nah... Hmmm..."

And somehow, during that process of mulling, while I am "thinking"... I will "inadvertently" open a news site tab or Facebook and... whoosh... I'm sucked into an infinity pool. But I'll get twitchy because I know I have to watch the clock because of the looming appointment and after 5 minutes of hectic scrolling, I will throw up my hands and head off early because... well... you never know. Traffic might be slow. So I'll get to my appointment with 12 minutes to spare and sit there scrolling through more news sites.

All this mulling leaves me completely exhausted... which is not good! I get back from my appointment and I have a solid two hour chunk and I'll sit there, pooped, and just do busy work stuff and STILL not work on anything significant. And then get stressed because I'm not getting anything done on my every lengthening to-do list...

I'm not a complete schlepp though. There are days when I can get a truck load of stuff done. If I don't have to check the clock (no appointments), I can be the little energizer bunny of productivity and just keep going and going. But as soon as there is a meeting or an appointment or something on the clock... I'm hooped.

Violet's Time Conversation
"I have more than enough time to get this done... and that... and that..."

My friend Violet is a lovely person, kind and generous with her energy and time, but she does have one annoying habit... she is chronically late... for everything. She is also not the most productive kitten in the litter. We've had many conversations about what goes on in her head when she's trying to get out the door. She knows she has to leave in 30 minutes for an appointment and she thinks:

"Oh, I'll go pick some flowers from the garden and gather together some fresh-baked cookies to bring... The flowers out here are so nice. Let's see, which ones should I pick? These are nice... and I'll take some of those."
***and maybe chat with the neighbour***
"And maybe some of these... Now, I know I have some old spaghetti jars somewhere to use as a vase. Somewhere here in the basement. Where are they? ... Ah, found one... And now... the cookies... Hmmm... where did I put that Tupperware that is perfect for bringing the cookies? ... I know it's in here somewhere. Wow... this plastics cupboard is really a mess... Oh, there's the container!! Now... where's the lid? Huh... I know it's in here somewhere... I'm just going to pull everything out cause none of these lids match any of these containers. I've been meaning to organize this cupboard for a while...
***phone rings***
... Oh, Hi Sis! ... Well, I do have to leave soon but I have time for a wee chat...
***15 minutes later***
OK, was great talking to you!! ...
***hangs up***
Shoot!! Now where was that lid!"

Followed by more rummaging, finding the lid eventually. And maybe putting the plastics back, or maybe leaving it as a project for later. And then needing time to find the car keys, purse... put on shoes and coat and finally leave the house... a good 30 minutes late.

Leo's Time Conversation
"I have just the right amount of time to get it all done."

Leo is one of the most productive people I know. He gets stuff done like nobody's business. Procrastination is not in his vocabulary, at least not that I can see. He doesn't dither. He just does. On top of that, Leo is never late... nor ridiculously early. He is right on time. Leo's relationship to time is an enigma to me. I've had a few conversations with him and this is what I've gleaned so far. Leo has 30 minutes between appointments and his conversation looks something like this:

"I've got 30 minutes, I'm going to get as much done as I can"

That's it... that's all I've been able to figure out from Leo. He just... does it. To me... looks like magic.

Relationship to Time
The question I've been pondering is... what is the difference between the three of us. Because the difference in outcome is huge.

Tortoise and Hare

Leo is kind of like Aesop's Tortoise, steadily moving things forward, one step after another. Violet is kind of like Aesop's Hare who thinks she has all the time in the world and is then easily distracted by things, which means she is always late. As for me... I sit there and look at the race and think... I don't have enough time to do this... so I go off and look for a shorter race that I know I can complete! But... sometimes... I can be like a Tortoise/Hare hybrid... a Haretoise... and speed through a race in record time and with record focus. I just wish I could be a Haretoise with some consistency!

It's clear to me that the difference lies inside of each of us. We each have 24 hours in a day. We each have 30 minutes before an appointment. We each seem to have a very different relationship to time and a very different conversation about it.

I tend to over-estimate how long something is going to take and so I won't start something because I figure I don't have enough time to complete it. And I hate incomplete things... they nag at me. I won't start writing a blog post because I feel that I need to write it in a continuous stream and that it won't turn out as well if I start, stop and then restart it. So, instead of just getting started... I won't even take the tiniest step towards beginning because well, I won't be able to complete it before I have to go... so what's the point? There are a few things going on here...

First, I am a really bad estimator of time and how long something will take. I always err on the side of caution. And even if I do know how long something takes... I automatically build in buffer time. I always round up, rather than down. I know it takes 15 minutes to drive to the airport, but I will automatically leave 30 minutes ahead of time... just to be on the safe side.

The second thing is this... I tend to view a task as a unified whole so my to-do list is full of things like "write blog post, install shelves in laundry room, update monthly finances, build new garden beds". I have a really hard time breaking things down into bite-sized chunks. As it turns out, any of those tasks is really a small project and composed of a bunch of small steps or smaller, easily winnable races!

Take this one, for example, "install shelves in laundry room". I can break that down into:

• measure the space
• check my supply of screws/nails
• buy supplies
• gather tools
• find the studs
• cut the shelf supports
• put up shelf supports
• measure shelf length (twice)
• cut shelf
• install shelf
• tidy up.

Rinse and repeat for further shelves.

So... having "install shelves in laundry room" on my to-do list is really setting me up for chronic procrastination. It's too big... and while I know it is made up of smaller, much more doable tasks... those somehow don't end up on my to-do list with any sort of consistency.

And then... there's this mind-blowing notion of... just get started... or as Nike likes to say... just do it. Because, honestly, once I get started, I can get a tonne of stuff done in 30 minutes, way more than I would ever think. It would require me to shift my conversation from one of:

"I don't have enough time"

to one of...

"I'm going to get as much done as I can..."

A soother

Whaaatttt is that? That idea just does not compute. It bounces off my brain matter and I stare at it on the screen and think... "how is that even possible - do as much as I can"? My brain skitters away from this unknown concept and scrolls through Facebook desperately searching for an emotional soother to suck on.

The Source of Time
I came across this quote whilst researching this blog and it kind of rocked my world.

“You are time, you are where time comes from... and... since you are the producer of time, you can make as much of it as you need.” (from The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks)

***sound of brain circuits frying***

Nnnnhhh... what? Time isn't out there? Time is... in me??

Hendricks apparently calls this "Living in Einstein Time" and bases the theory on Einstein's science:

"An hour with your beloved feels like a minute; a minute on a hot stove feels like an hour. Depending on what we do, space seems to narrow or to expand, time seems to slow down or accelerate..."

***Let me just add that book to my to-read list and put in a request via the public library (I am now #13 in line for two copies of the book).***

I admit that I already know some of this.

I too have noticed that time can race like the wind or drag its little butt as the clock slows down to a crawl.

The cause of time's random shifts in velocity doesn't lie with "time"... the cause lies with "me". It's really about the attitude with which I approach a day or an hour or 30 minutes. I understand the idea that I can shape my experience of time... I'll give you that... but the idea that I am the source of time... well... that needs some incubation.

Stress and Time
I'm going to end with a quote by John O’Donohue:

Stress is a perverted relationship to time,
so rather than being a subject of your own time,
you have become its target and victim."

Again... time isn't the issue... me is the issue... me and my relationship to time. Which means I am the creator, not only of time... but also of my own stress.

I get that. I have very (very) high expectations of myself. But I'm not a sprightly 20-year old anymore with no cares, concerns or responsibilities. I have a lot of balls in the air and my tendency is to see everything as Important AND Urgent... which is really a recipe for burnout.

My To-Do List is a monster with dozens of items on it every day and I vacillate between days of incredible productivity (energizer bunny) and days of stressful dithering (which task, which task... oh dear... which task... how much time... oh shit... an hour has gone by... and I've gotten nothing done!).

Sooo... in some ways... I really sabotage myself. On the one hand, I overestimate how long a specific task will take and spend my days dithering about whether I have enough time to complete a task. At the same time, I overestimate how many tasks I can get done in a day and cram my daily To-Do List full of dozens of tasks. This sounds kind of like my friend Violet - "I have more than enough time to get this done... and that... and that".

Huh... go figure. No wonder I'm a dithering wreck some days! This requires some thought... as I hadn't realized what I've been doing to myself until right now... More later!

The ABC's of Feline Manure

Before you go, "EWWWW!!!"... hear me out. I've researched this six ways from Sunday and we've been composting our cat waste for the last six (almost seven) years. So far, no one's gotten sick... but then none of us is/was/will be pregnant. Women who are pregnant should not handle cat litter, period. But for the rest of us... read on!

Back in 2001, we added two little feline bundles of joy to our lives. Over the years, they have added a lot to our household... joy, laughter, cuddles and, as indoor cats, poop, peep and cat litter.

We started off by using your regular, run-of-the-mill clay-based cat litter. It clumped well which was important when you're trying to scoop poop and peep. It also made an unholy mess - clay dust everywhere, but that's the price you pay for having cats. At some point, I read an article which said that clay dust was exceedingly bad for kitten lungs... and presumably not great for cat and human lungs either.

Not our cat - but a typical cat poop position

I looked at different options - compressed pellets, be they newspaper or pine, didn't really satisfy the feline need for digging. I don't know about your cats, but our two were always scratching and digging... turning... and then scratching and digging some more. Apparently it helps to get the bowels moving. After sufficient scratching and digging, they assume "the poop position". Anyone with a cat will know what I'm talking about. This is not a simple squat... oh no... this is a serious standing-as-tall-as-possible squat... but I digress.

I then came across wheat-based cat litter. It looked like cat litter and was very scratchable. We made the switch and the cats barely blinked at the transition. We used that for many years and then made another switch to walnut shell cat litter.

As for disposing of our cat waste - it had always gone into plastic bags and into the garbage. We didn't really think about it too much... until we moved to the Island in 2013.

Walnut shell cat litter

At the time, the city in which we chose to live had a very explicit policy which prohibited any pet waste from being placed in the garbage bin. Apparently the bags of waste would get squished by the compactor and explode and there would be toxic cat litter bio-waste everywhere.

We had ourselves a problem. The city recommended paying a disposal company to collect the pet waste but that seemed expensive and ridiculous. I did some research. If the manure from chickens, rabbits, cows and horses was good for the garden... what about cat manure?

Turns out, there's a big difference. The above are mostly herbivores or insectivores, while cats are mostly carnivores (rats, mice, birds, etc). As such, cats can pick up all sorts of nasty diseases, bacteria and parasites, particularly if they are outdoor cats. However, if certain precautions were taken... people HAD successfully composted cat waste into feline manure. Our cats were indoor cats and didn't eat parasite carriers like mice, rats or birds sooo... I decided to give it a shot!

Turning cat waste into manure is a multi-stage process and requires patience and several different bins. When we moved into our house, there was an old 50-gallon metal drum at the back of the yard filled with leaf sludge. I emptied it out, added a few more holes to the rust-generated ones and moved it behind our shed. I also got a standard black compost bin, one of the rectangular ones because the round ones are useless, in my opinion. I was ready to begin.

Requirements

• Cat waste
• Cat litter - must be biodegradable - wheat, walnut, newspaper, wood - no clay, mineral or weird things
• Carbon/Nitrogen balancing agent - straw for carbon, coffee grounds for nitrogen

The Process

Stage 1 - 50 Gallon Drum

The thing to remember for successful composting is that you want a nice mix of carbon and nitrogen. If you get too much carbon, the process stalls. If you get too much nitrogen, the whole thing stinks to high heaven.

In a regular compost pile, brown material is the carbon (dry leaves, straw) while green material is the nitrogen (kitchen waste, fresh leaves).

In a feline manure pile... the poop and peep are definitely nitrogen while the actual cat litter is carbon. In amending the pile, I have used straw (carbon) and horse manure or coffee grounds (both nitrogen).

Our process for cleaning cat litter is to scoop the poop/peep every day or so until the plastic bag was full (about once a week). We then dump the plastic bag into the drum. This material is mostly just cat waste with some litter mixed in so is quite high in nitrogen. Every month or so, we'd refresh the cat litter in the litter box by dumping the old stuff, which would be quite carbon rich.

Stockpiling cat waste bags

I initially felt that the process had too much carbon and added horse manure and, later, coffee grounds from Starbucks. Horse manure is hard to come by... Starbucks coffee grounds are easy peasy, "take as much as you want!" This, however, tended to make the whole thing stink.

After a while, I eased up on the coffee grounds... and finally stopped them altogether. It seemed carbon might be the missing link...

Nowadays, I'll wait until I have four or five bags of cat waste, dump them all into the drum and then add a sprinkling of straw on top. That seems to do the trick. No stink and yet the decomposition process continues.

The drum has a partial lid on it... but still gets water when it rains heavily. You don't want a dry compost heap otherwise that stops the entire process as well.

Sooo... the drum slowly fills up... with two cats... it took about nine months to fill the drum. One cat is much slower...

Once the drum was full... I got out the shovel and garden fork and transferred the entire pile to the compost bin. During this process, everything gets loosened up a bit which is good... we need air in a compost pile. We want aerobic decomposition (in the presence of oxygen)... not anaerobic decomposition (which makes methane). The contents of the drum fit perfectly into the compost bin with a bit of room to spare. At this point, I could still see discrete cat waste material (mostly chunks of poop) and quite a bit of straw...

While the big drum had a few holes in the bottom, it generally did not get any worms into it. Maybe a few spiders building webs at the top... but no real compost-munching critters. Part of the problem is that cat waste is quite "hot" (ammonia and mineral salts) and regular earthworms struggle to survive in that environment.

I had read that earthworms will eventually adapt to survive and even thrive in a cat manure pile so I made sure that the black compost bin was sitting flush on the ground. We later had a problem with rats burrowing underneath the bin and into the manure (sigh)... so a few years ago, I installed metal mesh under the bin. Let's the worms in... keeps the vermin out.

Stage 2 - Compost Bin

I'd then walk away and let the stuff percolate in the compost bin... until the 50-gallon drum was full again. At which point... the material in the compost bin had shrunk down by about 40-50%. I would then excavate the material out of the compost bin and put it into a regular green garbage bin.

The first time I did this... I was enthralled to see that there were worms in the compost bin! They were huge and a funny pink colour (not regular wormy colour)... but they were worms! I made sure that some went into the garbage can and some were left behind at the bottom of the compost bin. Starter stock for the next batch of manure-in-the-making.

The stuff that went into the garbage can had a much more consistent appearance with the occasional poop-shaped fragment still decomposing. But at this point... it was almost ready to go. I let the stuff in the garbage can sit for another couple of months and then declared it "ready".

Worms

Where to Use Feline Manure
Now the big caveat - given that our little felines are carnivores and despite the fact that they are indoor cats... we followed advice and erred on the side of caution. Our feline manure does not go on any of our vegetable or fruit beds. It is reserved solely for flower beds.

Do the plants like it? Heck YES! The first time we spread it in a flower bed, that bed went berserk and we were amazed to see how lush and vibrant the growth was. Success!

Now... this process is not for the impatient. It takes a good 1.5 to 2 years from start to finish. This is essential in order to allow any bacteria in the cat waste to die off. The longer it sits, the better it is. And it's important to ONLY use this stuff on flower beds, not near anything edible.

Stage 3 - Almost ready to go

Our city now permits a small amount of double-bagged pet waste in garbage bins but still bans "large amounts". I'm thinking the occasional doggie doo-doo bag is fine... and maybe our cat litter would be acceptable but... at this point, our feline manure benefits our garden far too much to give it up.

I can't really articulate how much this process warms the cockles of my little environmentalist's heart. For starters we are keeping organic waste out of the landfill where it would normally decompose anaerobically and contribute methane to climate change.

At the same time, we are generating rich compost for our flower beds, which benefits not only our pocket book (don't have to buy compost) but also the bees and humming birds (who love all the flowers in our garden).

And... our cats get to play an active role in supporting our little urban homestead. Now... the next SmallStep is to figure out a way to eliminate the plastic bags from the whole process. Still working on that...

Fumes from Legumes

Tooting Broadway

There's a Tube station in London called Tooting Broadway. While I think this is insanely funny, my British friends are a bit perplexed. Apparently "tooting" in Britain does not mean the same as "tooting" in Canada. A rose by any other name... We could call it farting, trumping (oh, good one!), passing gas, breaking wind... you name it... we all do it... even (gasp) on planes!

It's a completely natural process and, as we all know, the quality and quantity of our gas discharges is shaped, to a large extent, by what we eat. Chinese food, for example, produces some really toxic discharges. At least for me. Apparently my little gut microbiome critters have a field day with chow mein and MSG!

Ah yes, our gut microbiome. Studies are beginning to show that it plays a  bigger role in our overall health than we ever imagined. The health of our little gut bacteria could even influence our mood and  mental health. Fascinating stuff. We really are what we eat.

Pretty tooting

Making the shift from a carnivorous eating plan to a whole-foods, plant-based eating plan has had its moments. As we eased animal proteins out of our diet and upped our intake of plant-based foods, we naturally increased our fiber intake. Now, while we can't digest fiber in our stomachs and small intestines... fiber does feed bacteria in our colon... which has all sorts of beneficial implications for our health. Most of us only eat about 15 grams of fiber a day when we should be eating double, triple or even quadruple that (but that's another blog post).

Sooo... we made a pretty abrupt transition from being happy meat eaters to happy plant eaters and... in that process... we went through the Bacteria Wars. My nutritionist warned me that this might happen, but that it would be temporary... "only a couple of weeks". She said that my gut microbiome would be shifting from one in which animal-protein processing bacteria held the upper hand to one in which fiber-processing bacteria took over. As we increased the fiber and cut off the animal protein... well... it got nasty.

I experienced some really bad bloating and tooting. Like... bad. Fiber munching bacteria produce gas as a by-product and with LOTS of fiber to eat... my gut bacteria had a field day. I had bad gas pain as the bubbles tried to work their way through my system, followed by not-so-pretty farting. It seemed that every time I introduced some new item to my diet, I'd go through a spate of it. One day it was broccoli that triggered bloating and trumping... but then, two days later, broccoli would be fine. Then I'd have cauliflower and... go through it all over again. Two days later cauliflower was fine.

It was definitely a transition period but drinking copious amounts of water definitely helped. And, several weeks into it now, I can safely say that the painful bloating and trumping is behind me. So far. Fingers crossed.

I do have to admit that... for a while there, I was almost ready to toss in the towel and scream "I'm not meant to eat legumes!". I stuck with it though and now my happy fiber munching bacteria are working with me, instead of against me. I honestly didn't know that it would be a temporary problem... I just thought that eating legumes would always lead to breaking wind... but such is not the case. Anyone else find that they avoid legumes because of the trumping issue?

I Saved a Life Today

I saved a life today. Maybe even three lives. Not sure who but... that doesn't matter... what matters is that I took time out of my busy day to step up, roll up my sleeves and bleed.

Yep, I'm a blood donor.

I'm not the coveted O- blood type though. That's the universal donor, whose blood can be infused into anyone in an emergency situation when a patient needs blood NOW.

I'm just an A+ blood type, the second most common after O-, but my blood is still useful for surgeries, etc.

My 50-Donation card

I've been donating blood since university but not consistently. Depending on where I was living, a blood donor clinic might not be all that accessible or even present.

 For a while, in Calgary, I was even a plasma donor. To be honest, I was trying to rack up my donation numbers. You see, blood donors could only donate every two months (now every three months), while plasma donors could donate once a week! Those plasma donations definitely helped boost me closer towards the 50 donations mark. Although... some older plasma donors in Calgary were pushing 1000 donations. I don't think I'm going to hit that benchmark in this lifetime.

Free snacks!!

Anyhow... Canadian Blood Services tries to make the donation process as smooth and efficient as possible. They really try to take care of you because you're not just donating your blood, you're donating your time. There's nothing worse than expecting to be in and out in one hour and walking out of there two hours later. Last year, they made several changes to their process.

I hadn't donated for almost a year and when I went in November last year, I was a bit surprised to find some pre-donation snacks! When you arrive, you are given a 500 ml bottle of water to drink as well as a selection of salty snacks - chips, pretzels, etc. The water and salt help the donation process go smoothly - less dizziness and fainting. Nice.

Pre-donation snack offerings for blood donors

The post-donation process was still the same. After the donation, you get to sit down, relax and be waited on by a gaggle of eager volunteers who offer you fruit juice and package cookies. Both help you recuperate from the donation process.

All of these treats, were individually wrapped: plastic water bottles, chips, tetra-pack juice boxes, cookie packet... and it got me thinking.

If I were to plan ahead... and bring my own... could I skip all of their offerings?

My blood donation
preparation kit

Today, I gave it a shot. I had a blood donation at 9 am and I did some planning and preparation:

• 500 ml metal water bottle - check!
• three pickles (more sodium than a small bag of chips) - check!
• juicy mandarin orange - check!
• handful of grapes - check!

I wasn't sure if these were going to be met with the Blood Services stamp of approval but it was totally fine. The post-donation volunteers were a bit deflated when I said I had water and my own treats, but they took it in good stride.

It didn't take a lot of time or effort for me to pull the stuff together. It might not make a huge difference in the massive blood donation operation but it's one Small Step... and it made a difference for me.

And my donation made a difference for someone out there... someone having heart surgery, or getting cancer treatment or a car crash victim.

50% of Canadian will need blood or know someone who will need blood. But... only 5% of eligible Canadians actually donate. Do you donate?