Sex and spiders

Sex and spiders. Who would have linked the two together?  It's been found that the venom from a spider can help men have better erections.  Check out some of the postings on this subject.
One of the toxins in the venom of the Brazilian wondering spider (also known as the banana spider) has been found to cause lengthy, and I mean time span length,  penis erections, or a condition called priapism.  Hummmm.....now this is interesting. Venom toxin has an effect on a man's erection. I'd like to know how this finding was discovered.   I can see pharmaceutical companies buying lots of these spiders to study venom so they can alter the chemistry and design a substitute venom so it can be patented as a erectile dysfunction drug.  Sure enough, it will come with side effects, unlike the real stuff. Remember why Viagra was taken off the market? It was the nasty side effects.

A 'banana'

Photo credit: messa from morguefile.com

I'm sorry, I can't think of a better image to go with this posting other than a banana.

But just in case you want a more traditional medical method, here are some tips on how to safely purchase the real little blue pill online.  The best to you

Greater love

I'm mindful of the men and women working at the damaged nuclear reactors in Japan. They are to be commended and honored for putting their well being on the line for the sake of their countrymen and families. They are real heroes.  I can't say enough about this, for it is a real act of love. Love is placing the well being of others ahead of your own. Love is acting with regard for others rather than your own safety and well being. Love is sacrifice. Love is unselfishness. Love is able to do without thinking about what you will get from it. Wow. That's what Jesus did when He hung on the cross. Without love, none of us could live a minute.

Love is the greatest gift to give or receive without question.

Love is the greatest

Photo credit: mzacha from morguefile.com

John 15:13  Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Hobbel pobbel and monkey bread

I don't ever tire being treated to scrupulous meals. Hobbel pobbel is a new breakfast dish for me and let me tell you, I eagerly volunteer to be the guinea pig and try a culinary dish Bonnie's improving upon in the kitchen and then give her my honest, unbiased tasting opinion of it. She entertained a few guests Saturday morning and made a breakfast fitting for a king.  And lucky me, the next day I had the best kind of leftovers because she added cheese to the remaining hobbel pobbel from the morning before, and told me it's better the day after.  She didn't have to tell me that, my well-functioning taste buds were already bursting for joy inside my mouth.  I have to admit  hobbel pobbel is fantastic with cheese.  And, thinking that couldn't be topped, Bonnie outdid that! She brought out her monkey bread with cream cheese inside. She's told me she's already made notes to improve by 'zesting up' the monkey bread adding orange zest and cinnamon. (See her cookbooks for these recipes).  Bonnie mentioned this recipe is actually a healthy recipe. Try either one and impress someone for breakfast or brunch.  She served the monkey bread up in an oblong dish, the perfect presentation for another wonderful meal at Bonnie's '5-star' table. 

I again told her I would rather pay to eat at her table and refuse a free cruise, unless she packed up enough meals I could take to eat on the cruise rather eat what was served on a cruise ship.  Read  how I longed to be eating at Bonnie's while I was dining on a cruise ship to Mexico.

http://tiny.cc/3eycd- here's more on hobbel pobbel. (I like saying it as much as I like eating it.)
And a hobbel pobbel recipe here.

That's it for now.

Update March4, 2011- Bonnie called and said she's making Zesty Monkey Bread this Sunday.  I will make sure to give my unbiased taste test results along with photos. So check  back later and I think I might include recipes.

Life and death-considering what really matters

Two deaths have hit close recently. I don't ever look forward to facing the death of someone I know, or the death of a pet.  I don't like grieving.  The past couple weeks I've noticed one of my pot belly pigs not behaving normally. He's usually up and waiting for me at the gate, especially when he knows it's feeding time. One morning he didn't stir. I was concerned and kept my eye on him as I fed the other pets. Finally he got up and went to his feed dish. He drank a lot of water but not much food. Within my heart I knew I needed to speak to my neighbor and give the heads up of my observations and that I might be calling him soon to take care of things for me. This is the same neighbor whom I call to feed the animals for me if I'm out of town.  We've had the conversation since my pets are getting up in years, and I have an understanding with my neighbor that all I have to do is call him and he will do the 'good neighbor' thing for me. Then yesterday, I called and called and searched for my little pot belly pig and finally located him in the woods. At first I thought he feeling good to be rooting in the woods on a nice warm day. But a few hours later, he hadn't come out of the woods and I saw that he was in the same location, he hadn't moved.  I knew then that he had found the place he wanted to wait out his last hours. I went to him, and told him again how much I loved him. I'd already lovingly spoke to him this earlier this week making sure he knew he was very loved and I was sorry he was not feeling well.  He was set, he wouldn't budge. He was staying.  There was nothing for me to do any more, but make the call my neighbor, and pray again asking God to make Elbin's  transition quick and easy. I went to sleep. Sad, but settled, and thinking that animals seem to know when it's their time. They prepare by not eating, finding a quiet place, and it doesn't seem or appear to bother them being alone. I will remember him from the little runt to being such a loving and gentle little piggy for thirteen years. I will miss Little Elbin.

The path to your final destination is one you take alone

Photo credit: pef from morguefile.com


And, there were two sisters I greeted early mornings.  The sisters sometimes came to work in the same car, and sometimes in separate vehicles, but I could count of them both being so cheerful in the mornings.  One was buried last week. I got the news last week that Elaine Oliver had a brain aneurysm and died suddenly. I'm certain it was a complete surprise and shock to everyone when they heard the news, as Elaine wasn't at all overweight and probably in her early thirties. Elaine didn't live to see old age.
When a young person dies suddenly, it's a reality jolt that a breath separates us from death. There is no promise we'll see the next minute, or see the next sun set or sun rise.  Every minute of life is a blessing and gift from God and only God knows the number of days of physical life I yet have to go.

Conception and birth are our beginning and physical death is the end of this temporary life housed in flesh.  For those saved by the grace of God, which I am, my next life phase will be in a glorified body. 

I pray when it's my time, it will be an occasion to celebrate the completion of my work here, and, that my life's work will be found to be pleasing to the Lord. I yearn for that, and each day I purpose to make myself a better person where it counts the most than the day before.

Physical death completes this phase, but there is so much more after that to come because Jesus defeated death on the Cross at Calvary. Without Jesus, there's no ounce of hope for anything good after death. I'm so proud to know there's hope through Jesus for the future tomorrows. With Him, the end of this life is the beginning of an even better life.

Death is nothing to fear because of Jesus and that makes me happy.

Death can come at any minute, we never know exactly when

Photo credit: sirdouglas from morguefile.com


This is written in memory of Elaine Oliver.  God bless her soul.

Mr. Jack Lalanne

When I heard the news of the passing of Jack LaLanne, on Jan 23th , 2011, I was stunned for a moment.  I knew he was in his nineties, however, to myself I was thinking he'd be blessed to live to see his 100th birthday.  I know wishing that was just a wish and totally out of my hands, but I was so hoping his life of healthy living, with decades of exercise and juicing, would enable him on his 100th birthday to perform another awesome physical feat of strength and endurance that would be such a marvel to all us mere folks half his age as we can only wish we could just have the gumption to do even one tenth of what he physically does.  I wonder how many sit ups or push ups he did in his life time?  I've not read any of his books, but it's ingrained in my mind's eye him in a dark jumpsuit doing jumping jacks or leg lifts in a chair so easily and gracefully.  When he moved his legs, it looked as if it wasn't an ounce of effort to  him, almost like they were weightless. He was something else.  To me, he's one a national treasure, not only as a motivator for fitness and natural health, but just as a genuine person that wanted all folks to posses something of extreme value, and that's health. I never knew him, but I am going to miss him. His work is done and he did it well. God bless his soul and his wife I can just imagine how she's missing him also.   I'm posting this entry without an image for the reason of a moment of silence to Mr. Jack Lalanne.  

Please, a moment of silence for the forgotten millions

A moment of silence please. This nation is mourning the deaths in Arizona from the senseless shootings of one young man. He cut short the lives of six, wounded thirteen, and scores of people around the country are, and will be affected by his actions for the rest of their lives. Makes no sense. A friend tells me that you can't make sense out of nonsense. Sadly, I have to say I agree with her.

I was thinking about the Oklahoma City bombing, where 168 people, including young  children, and 680 were wounded on April 19, 1995. Another senseless loss of lives. A yearly moment of silence is practiced to remember those souls. The country was in a state of shock for a long time.

Of course 9/11 was a fateful day in 2001, when nearly 3,000 people died by the hands of 19 terrorist plane hijackers in New York City, Arlington, and rural Pennsylvania, and many more were injured.  Again, this entire country remembers this senseless, tragic loss of lives every year. Since that day, just about every facet of living in this country has been altered. 

 I was thinking this nation has a moment of silence to remember the 13 people who were shot and killed at Fort Hood, Texas in 2009. 13 precious lives were ended by the senseless mass shooting, which also injured others, of one man who wanted to shoot innocent people.

 Then I got to thinking, why doesn't this nation have a moment of silence to remember the unborn baby's lives senselessly terminated by induced abortions every day in this country? Since abortions have been legal in all 50 states since 1973, there have been not thousands, not a million, but approximately 39 million innocent, little lives prematurely ended.  Don't they deserve a moment of silence?  To get a grasp of this, I've calculated and rounded 35 years of legal induced abortions, and that number comes to one million, one-hundred fourteen thousand little lives ripped apart per year, which means approximately 3,000 little lives are ended every day of the year. They never had a chance. Why isn't this country grieving about that?  

Moment of silence for millions of lives senselessly ended or missing

Photo credit: anitapatterson from morguefile.com

And, thinking about missing persons and missing children who fail to be reunited with their families again, leaving no answers or clues of what happened.  Whole families, communities, neighborhoods, and towns are left to go on with somber, broken, bleeding hearts. We're all changed. Those persons not heard from again deserve a moment of silence for being stolen away.

I could go on, but still, you can't make sense out of nonsense.

In our National day of Prayer, do you remember and pray for these young souls and the families dealing daily with their loss? Let's respect all the lives senselessly ended or missing each year. What do you say? 


Visit my other posts at FaceForwardFaith.blogspot.com, natural2bhealthy.com and
naturaltobehealthy.blogspot.com

Fire Fire Fire

It's always tragic to hear of a home destroyed by fire. Especially terrible in the Winter and awfully terrible around Christmas time.  A fire is something you never can prepare for or even ever expect to will happen to you.   I've never personally known anyone have their home destroyed by fire, until last week.  I can't imagine being in bed and being suddenly awaken with commotion and smell smoke and have to think fast, get out safely in your pajamas, with your loved ones in the dead of night knowing the danger of smoke and or fire flaring. And quickly, consider if there's time to salvage some precious items. Your adrenaline is pumping. Of course lives are what's important.  Things are just things, and can be replaced. Lives can't. A fire can change your life. You'll never forget it.

House fire

Photo credit: Schick from morguefile.com

In 1999 the building I had my practice in caught on fire one night.  I was there just  a couple hours before I got a call at home that the building was on fire.  Other businesses were in the building. My suite didn't sustain fire damage, but the smoke from the fire traveled through the building vents and every surface had black cooked on soot that wouldn't rub off. It was all black and the smell never left and made my eyes water when we were later allowed to enter the premises. It was strange to see firefighters working at containing the huge flames coming from the building I worked in. It must be so much worse seeing flames coming from the place you live with all your clothes and personal belonging being burned up.

I had another incident with fire, but it was an outside fire. Flames got away from some wood I was burning outside. It happened so fast and the wind took the grass fire away from the reach of the water hose. Wind can carry flames so fast, spreading and fanning the flames quickly. I ran inside to call 911, then back out to hook up other water hoses to see what I could do until help arrived. Adrenaline was flowing in me. I was tired, but kept going until help arrived. In the end, I learned an important lesson. Wet down the grass first around any wood I burn outside and make sure I have plenty of hose length right at hand.  Fire is nothing to play with. It can get out of hand very fast even if you've burned outside many times before. The wind can make it unpredictable, so just think of everything and be well prepared is what I learned from that scary experience. Fortunately, the only thing I lost was my green lawn for a while and the grove of small pine trees regrew after being burned to a crisp.

Had a neighbor not happen to notice smoke coming from my coworkers home and awakened them so they could all get out in time,  I dare think that family could have perished of smoke inhalation in their sleep.  All their belongings can be replaced. They have each other, friends, church family and most important of all, their Lord.  I wonder what lessons they will learn from their fire?  God protected them that night.

Update: My co-worker has returned to work. He and his family are in another house and when I mentioned that I was happy to hear that no one was hurt, his immediate reply was, "God is good."