Resuming Blog Publishing

 I have been dealing with numerous health issues the last few months: COVID, Atrial Fib and Flutter, high blood sugar, fatigue, and mild depression.  These conditions have slowed my progress on writing since January 1st.

My Health Regime after April 13th Includes:
- A Low Carbohydrate Diet (under 90 carbs each day)
- Walking Over 4,000 Steps a Day
- No Smoking or Drinking 
- Cardio Conversion 4/12
- Changed Medication
- Use Insulin if Blood Sugar over 200
- Taijiquan Daily for 40 Minutes
- Plenty of Drinking Water Each Day

Working Now on Various Projects:

At the Edges of the West: Highway 101

Yurt Camping (Pacific Northwest Coast) Preparations

Path to the Faucet

I started this week on placing pavers to create a path to the only faucet on the south side of the house.  Weather permitting, I plan to make progress each day on this project. 

I intent to create a 16' x 8' patio made of pavers in our front yard.  This is the sunny side of our property with full southern exposure.

Garden Project: Greenhouse

As we transition into late autumn and winter, and the temperature drops, we need to protect frost sensitive plants.  Last winter we brought the frost sensitive plants (e.g., succulents, fuschias, lemon, avocado, etc.) indoors.  We had a snow once (12/17), and several times with winter nightime lows in the 30's F. 

We are now busy moving plants around and bringing some temporarily indoors. 

Here is a photo of the current Nursery area, and then a photo of the plants indoors. 



This year, we intend to add a greenhouse in the area of our backyard called the "Nursery." Here is a current photo of the area:

We selected the Palram Harmony 6 foot x 4 foot Polycarbonate Greenhouse from Home Depot.  This greenhouse arrived yesterday.  Here is what the greenhouse looks like:

Summertime Garden and Home Work Projects

Karen and I both work part-time for school districts during the academic school year.  We have been off work for the last two weeks on 'summer vacation.'  We have been very busy with home and garden improvement projects every day for the last two weeks.

Today and yesterday, a storm came in from the south west.  It is been very overcast, cool, and raining.  A half-inch of rain fell last night in Red Bluff.  The weather forecasters predict this storm will pass by tomorrow and then a period of low humidity and high temperatures up to 105F will be coming next week.  Hot and dry are very typical in July where we live in rural Northern California. So, for today, indoor work projects and reading. 

Our orchard and garden are filled with fruits and vegetables.  Right now, we have our choice of four varieties of plums, two types of peaches, and three types of figs.  We are now harvesting squash, eggplant, onions, garlic, and tomatoes from our 'Sunny' vegetable garden.  The photograph of Karen was taken last August when the tomato plants were really producing heavily, but we still pick a few tomatoes in late June. 

As one can see from my recent posts, when not working on home improvement projects, I have been busy reading the Tao Te Ching, Chuang Tzu, and NeoPagan literature on Lithia (Summer Solstice), and developing webpages on related subjects.  

Spring Projects

My research projects for March 21st to May 21st include:

Spring Equinox Neopagan Celebrations

May Day and Beltane Neopagan Celebrations

April: Quotes, Poems, Lore, Celebrations, Garden Chores 

Green Man: Lore, Links, Quotes

Deer Frolic Qigong

Dragon Qigong

In the last month I completed research on:

The Eight Section Brocade Chi Kung

Temple Qigong

March: Quotes, Poems, Lore, Celebrations, Garden Chores

Other projects and objectives include:

Weed, clean and do repairs in the Sacred Circle Garden

Prepare for Beltane  

Extra practice of the Chen Short 18 Taijiquan Form 

Continue with extra weightlifting and walking to improve health.