L u n a t a l k
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How the Web Saved the Day
What did we ever do without the Interwebs? A promise of fine autumn weather and a very rare unprogrammed Sunday drew us out of the bat cave. We settled on a drive to Mount Rainier National Park and a hike along the Naches Peak Loop Trail - about four miles of surprisingly level walking with spectacu …
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Day 15: Which Way to the Egress?
My two-week liver cleanse is over I think. I feel good. The little nagging problems that led me to the program in the first place while not cured are relieved to a noticeable extent. I lost six pounds and am now three pounds below my scream number. If I die tomorrow theyll have to beat my liver to d …
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Day 13: Juice of Affliction, Chili of Salvation
In the end days of my two-week liver cleanse I finally have the right juice. 100% cranberry and nothing but. Despite my anger at Oceansprays highly misleading labeling, I am now officially relieved I served most of my sentence in blissful ignorance. Actual cranberry juice is not just tart, its viole …
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Day 11: The Wall
Coming into the home stretch of the two-week liver cleanse and things were going so well. I was feeling sassy, rested, energized, smug. But today I hit the wall. The cranberry juice scandal has me snarling, the scale has been stuck at SN -.5 for the past few days despite being perfectly submissive t …
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Week 2: A Keeper Recipe
Its the start of week two of my two-week liver cleanse and I feel like feel like Im developing a close personal relationship with my liver. I name her Livinia. Ive survived the weekend and emerged victorious. Weigh in: SN -1! (My scream number minus 1) Ive lost four pounds in a week. One week to go …
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Fucking Marketeers
A week and a half into a two-week cleanse that requires cranberry juice but prohibits other juices I discover that 100% Juice Cranberry is not the same as 100% Cranberry Juice. Cranberry juice is not even the first thing in the ingredients list. Am now trying to determine how many molecules of actua …
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Saturday: the Indian Mother
Day 6 of the two-week liver cleanse and Ive been stalwart, despite the deep cruelty of it (no starch, sugar, grain, legumes, caffeine, salt, CHOCOLATE, dairy, Diet Coke, alcohol or CHOCOLATE). Ive been strong for nearly a week but today I faced my Waterloo: My dear friend, Latha invited us for her a …
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Friday: The Gauntlet
Day 4 of the two-week liver cleanse I weigh in: SN+1. Damn! How is it possible to GAIN a pound when Im eating nothing but twigs and grass? The weekend begins with a one-two punch: Happy Hour with the girls followed by the annual City of Redmond Boards and Commissions Thank You Dinner. I swept in to …
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Day 3: Eau de Cranberry
Day 3 of the two-week liver cleanse I weigh in: SN! Ive hit my scream number! On the nose! Three pounds in three days? I enjoy a moment of pure gloat before the doubts begin to creep in. Wait. I cut out salt. Its just water. But even that cant completely drain my elation and I announce the stupendou …
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Day 1: I can DO this
At the start of my two-week liver cleanse I weigh in: SN+3 (SN = Scream Number) Im not on this diet to lose weight. Ive never been on a diet (Well thats not entirely true, I did once try Atkins for several hours). I dont even believe in weight loss diets and have droned on tiresomely about how diets …
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Scream Number
Whats your scream number? You know what number I mean - the number that you never, ever want to see on the scale. The number. The line in the sand number. We all have one. I had one and it still lives in my memory, but Ive been on the far side of it for long enough that the screaming has abated some …
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The Horse Summoner
From a conversation with a belly dancing friend: I bought your CD at your last show but didnt have a chance to listen to it until my last trip to Nevada. Ive been driving from here to Nevada for twenty years and every trip I keep hoping to see wild the horses. I know theyre out there, but Ive never …
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Lucky Numbers
Heres an odd story out of Bulgaria. SOFIA (Reuters) - The draw of the same six winning numbers twice in a row in Bulgarias national lottery was a freak coincidence, officials said Thursday. Sports Minister Svilen Neikov ordered an investigation after the numbers 4, 15, 23, 24, 35 and 42 were selecte …
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Running down
My mother has always had an intense fear of walking downhill. I never knew why until recently. In her 70s, shes fit, active and has a joy for life I hope I can match as I go through life. But walking downhill gives her the creeping willies. She clings to my father who holds her upright until they re …
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Bathtub of the Black Lagoon
They swarmed from the blackest depths of their hidden tubular lairs in swirling, foetid masses. Like a scene in a horror movie, the woman floated nude and serene in the water, not suspecting the horror that lurked only inches from her unprotected flesh Ive been a fan of tub soaks ever since we uncov …
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Your Cheatin’ Guitar
I play keys. Not fabulously, but well enough to accompany myself for the most part and I lean on my band for the rest. One particular musical rite that Ive never been able to pull off is jamming. Ive been to jams - generally the lone keyboard in a sea of guitars. They are filled with people who seem …
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Tap…tap…tap… is this thing on?
I was practicing a new piano arrangement of my song Atlanta Nights. Its a song about calling up someone youve fallen out of touch with. You know how it goes. You dont call. Time passes. More time passes. After a while its awkward to call. What would I say? What could be important enough to pick up t …
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CD-O-Matic
Anyone can create an awesome CD with a few simple steps. This comes from a friend on Facebook: Go to wikipedia. Hit “random” or click The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band. Go to Random quotations or click The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page …
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Live and Let Hive?
Wasps have built a rather impressive nest in the eaves near our front door. I know I ought to get rid of it. Wasps are the enemy right? But the thing is, they are keeping to themselves as far as I can tell. I walk right past it several times a day but Ive never encountered a wasp at person-level. No …
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It’s not the heat…
OK, well it is the heat. I really shouldnt be such a wimp about this. I come from a family of lizards (on my fathers side mostly, though moms been pretty adaptable). My dad is the kind of guy who finds 114 degree weather just fine for working on the roof. Im not making this up. When I was a kid my p …
L u n a t a l k
