Day 341

Well, the new juicer arrived today – not a big day for most people, but hey, it is for us. Never did find the old juicer, which is an entirely different type. This is one of Jack LaLane’s and like I said earlier, he is something like 105-106, and still looks good, so juicing might really work. We washed it – got to do that, right? And then we tried it out. Wow. Tons of juice out of everything we put through it. I’ve never seen so much juice from carrots and when we did some Clementine’s (kind of like little oranges, but sweeter), it was superb. Added some apples to the carrot and it was the best I’ve ever had. Not bitter, not “carrot weird” – actually good. Amazing. And this thing shreds the pulp, so it should be great in the compost pile (what we don’t use for carrot cake or whatever). We plan to see if we can use it to get a lot more veggies and fruit into both of us.

If you’ve been reading – and who am I kidding, no one has but me – but if you have, and you haven’t become an official Average Joe follower, then you know I am not the biggest veggie or fruit eating guy around. I am a regular guy, a regular Joe. I like the guy staples – corn, potatoes, peas, and the guy staple fruits – apples, bananas. Want to try some combos. KL does a great job of hiding broccoli (which I hate) in potato or other soups, and does it with other veggies. With this thing, we need to think of ways to add both fruits and vegetables to other dishes. Could be fun and sure should contribute to better health overall. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Weather here sucks. It has gone from cold (for us) in the teens to the mid sixties and back to the mid thirties again. Rains, doesn’t, rains again. Trying to get the hole dug for the tower and it keeps filling up with water between assaults with the jackhammer. The ground here is rock. Not some rocks. Rocks all over the place. Nothing but rock. Almost everywhere, and so far, definitely anywhere I would like a hole of any kind to be. The cost of having them done professionally (with a tractor and a hole-drilling rig) is $20 per hole for the first ten, and then $15 a hole after that. At prices in that range, you have to be really sure where you want one. A local ham I helping with the tower base (ham tower/antenna) and it is all about the jackhammer. Seventy-five pounds this animal weighs, so it is a workout to use. Heck, just moving the damn thing is a workout, without the pounding. Anyway, it was foggy today and drizzly, and it’s supposed to get really bad tonight and tomorrow. Again. Crummy until maybe Friday or so, then it’ll be sunny all over again. I have the jackhammer borrowed form a neighbor, and I’m hoping I can keep it until the hole is another two feet deep. That will take a while.

Breakfast here today was cereal, which it tends to be most days. I like cereal okay, but it does get a tad old every day. I’ll have to look into alternatives, but with my current class schedule (And the major hassle of parking on campus) I have to leave about 8:00 each morning and I’m up at 7:00 and don’t want up any earlier if I can help it. Been a long time since I could sleep that late – I tend to have to be up at 6:00 most semesters, so sleeping until 7:00 is a treat and lets me work later (writing most of the time).

Lunch is here, when I get back from classes. It is around 3:00 or so, which is a bit late for lunch, but it is now a vanilla shake from something that Deepak Chopra sells. KL found it and decided we needed to try it, so what the heck. Anything that works, works for me. We’ll see, but a shake is high fiber, high vitamin and low calories, so should be okay. Seems filling too and the taste is so much better than stuff like that used to taste.

Dinner tonight was some roasted chicken (half of one, split between KL and me) with some oddball Mediterranean pasta that is smaller than spaghetti. We both like it – it’s made with a little olive oil (good for you) and a spice pack (hopefully also good for you), and the little chicken goes a long way with it. Not the best meal, but relatively low cal, good taste, and filling. What I need sometimes when the day is a little challenging.

The Deepak stuff includes a reddish drink that is done twice daily, and I think (without getting up to look) that it’s full of some supposed-to-be-good-for-you-stuff. Make you not hungry, give you energy, you know, the same stuff we’ve all heard a thousand times. Hope this one is true, because while not real expensive, it ain’t cheap either. Again, we’ll see.

I teach at two different places – a major university and a community college, and there is a lot of difference in the students. The CC guys are often needing a lot more from me because they aren’t nearly so well prepared for my classes. Sometimes it’s frustrating, as I really want to help them. I did the community college thing first, then went to university. Then did a masters, blah, blah, blah. Many of them really want to learn, but they lack a lot. It seems only those willing to put aside any arrogance about what they don’t know really gain all they can. It was one of those days when I reached most of them, but feel like I could have reached a couple I don’t think I really did.

There’s always tomorrow, I guess. And, speaking of tomorrow, I still have papers to grade, so see you then.

-Average Joe
Somewhere, USA