A New Day! A New Year!

A New Day! A New Year!

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Dateline: January 21, 2021

You’re in the right place

for a mix of stories you just won’t find 

anywhere else…

“Here’s to the allure of the obscure!”

Well, 2020 was the weirdest year yet, wasn’t it? We seem to experience chaos at this advanced level at least, well, I was going to say once each century, but that’s not true. 2020 broke all the records and all the rules. Looks like 2021 will share in the weirdness, but wonderfulness too.

Having said that, we can and should gratefully acknowledge our good fortune, as individuals, and as a nation, even though many of us likely have experienced tragedy in some measure.

But we’ve shown a spotlight on important issues, we’re discovering ways to overcome a heinous global pandemic, and for many of us, we are re-thinking our humanity. That’s all good, kids!

For me and mine, Kay and I are blessed. We have a roof over our heads, we are okay financially, we go to bed with full bellies, and we talked with all our kids and grandkids over the holidays. Yes, we did that via Zoom or FaceTime, or just plain old phone calls, and we’re thankful.

Onward!

December 2020 – January 2021 News

So am I late with my December newsletter, or early for end of January? Both, I guess. So be it!

In this issue: 

1. Naked Bus
2. New Book Links
3. Veganversary

1. Naked Bus

Say what? Yeah, we are taking the plunge. You might never see risqué images like this anywhere else, so viewer discretion is advised.

When we bought our motorhome five+ years ago, we intentionally acquired an older higher-end unit. We couldn’t afford a new one with the quality and features we felt we needed for a mostly full-time live-aboard lifestyle (pre-COVID), so we went with a pay-as-you-go strategy.

She had everything we wanted, and more importantly, nothing we didn’t. We’ve been told by several knowledgeable sources that, “they don’t make ’em like that anymore.” That’s a good thing; for us, anyway.

Since we acquired our 2005 Newmar Mountain Aire (we often call her “Ma”), a grand old 43-foot diesel bus, we’ve continually upgraded her. She’s special to us, like a member of the family. But she can now use some new clothes after we traveled with her through forty-plus states since she joined the family. That’s what you do for a family member, right? You feed, clothe, and take her on family outings as you care for each other.

So last month we rode along with her to her birthplace–North Central Indiana–to the Newmar factory, and left her in good Amish hands for the winter. We had been working with folks up there since last June on designing her new wardrobe, deciding on some cosmetic surgery… a complete external makeover. I know she’ll feel like a kid again after all is said and done, and that will make us feel good too. She still possesses her inner beauty, although she’ll also get some new carpeting and a new bed, along with some other maintenance stuff.

By the time we pick her up again in April, she will have recaptured her vibrant youth on the outside. Her mechanical systems will be refreshed, including her roof and drive train, and she’ll be anxious for our next adventure together. For our RV friends, if you’re interested, I’ll post a more detailed article on our RV blog, although it might take a while as I wind down a few other projects (see #2 below).

But first, a few before pics of Ma to set the stage. She wasn’t horrible-looking, but we grew tired of her complaining. You know how it is with fifteen-year-olds, right?

From a distance, she looked good (my doting parental diligence showed, I like to think). But as an example, notice the black bands around her fancy jewelry (mirrors). That covered up some painful cracks (especially when I was waxing her). She’ll get that new jewelry, for sure. And like most her age, she looks better from a distance, but up close? Well, not so much (don’t tell her I shared with you the less-flattering images below)…
See what I mean? Her nose is a mess. She wouldn’t even go out in public anymore. We felt SO bad for her!
Nasty complexion! You’re witnessing the breakdown of a clear film that covers her makeup. Crud gets in the cracks behind that film. No amount of bathing or ex-foliating will help this. Only a complete peel will help at this point. And that usually damages her paint underneath. This is a significant makeover task that requires professional help.
Up close, you can see how a bad batch of fiberglass used in 2005 interacted negatively with dark (sun-beaten) paint–hundreds (thousands?) of tiny cracks that, left unattended, will further degrade rapidly. They’re not real obvious right now unless you’re really looking for them. Still, Newmar offered to replace all that fiberglass (sidewalls) and repaint the entire bus at a fraction of retail! Fifteen years and three owners downrange! That’s the class act we’ve come to expect from Newmar.

So here are a few pics of the two most significant projects now that the surgeons have started operating: first, cosmetic surgery (body work) and second new clothes (replacing fiberglass sidewalls, all the exterior lights, new mirrors, re-furbished roof and all new paint):

The bus was not happy. And if Ma (Mountain Aire) ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy! After a nose “peel,” I have it on good authority she looks and feels better already! Also she was sagging a bit (misaligned body parts) in places. All that’s gonna be young and shiny again (thanks to a fiberglass “chiropractor”). You see her here prepped for fresh paint.
Ma would be embarrassed by these “nudies,” but this body work and facelift is on Daddy’s dime, so… Notice the aluminum studs and beams. One of the quality hallmarks of the Newmar brand (no sticks ‘n staples here like some more economical rigs). She has “good bones.” And how about that insulation! Another quality hallmark in RVs. Also note she’s getting a “butt lift” (body work on her rear end), but I drew the line on implants. Hairline stress cracks are typical at her age. Ma prefers we call them “laugh lines.” She’s such a vain teenager.
Here’s progress on her driver’s side makeover. Note her new skin (using the old sidewalls as a pattern) is laying on the floor lower right. She’s gotta be chilly like this! Check out that monster beam on top of the main slide-out room (the one with two large window holes).
New skin in place on her passenger’s side, soon to accept makeup and tattoos (new base paint and four other colors in her–our–chosen graphic design).

There you have it. So far.

Ma is obviously a work in progress. She’d be apoplectic if she knew I was sharing these lurid images with you, so it’ll be our little secret. As far as she’ll know, I’ll only share pictures with you when she agrees she’s presentable (finished); however, she seems to be okay with the two pics that follow:

So here’s what she’ll look like by April (the design center’s rendering of our choices after weeks of considering and rejecting alternatives). A side note: Kay chose that maroon accent (cayenne red metallic) to match the color of our new toad (towed vehicle – the Jeep).
And these are samples of our five chosen colors. Exciting, isn’t it?

2. New Book Links

I have been promising to release my new paranormal science fiction trilogy for a while now. Well, the time has arrived to introduce the Mayhem Trilogy–both paperback and Kindle versions–available by the end of this month, but you can pre-order now for auto-delivery on January 31st (click on the following links), OR you can order either edition of book 1 or the trilogy’s companion guide right now, and you could be reading it within minutes. And if you don’t have a Kindle, no worries. Just download the free Kindle reader app from any of the Amazon page where you find any of these books:

A month late, but wait! 😉 These three books tell an epic tale spanning three transformational decades in Earth’s future history through the eyes of real people who struggle to not only survive, but to serve others selflessly. I’ve also also produced a supplementary resource for you:

The sixty-page companion guide to the Mayhem Trilogy.

This handy little reference includes:

  • An overview of the entire trilogy’s story line in the mythical country of the United Westican Territories, aka Westica, which evolved from Old America,
  • Summarized history of the time between the twentieth and twenty-second centuries where our story of Mayhem is set,
  • Master character list for all three books,
  • Master glossary of the language (colorful terminology and street slang) used in each book during the last half of the twenty-second century,
  • Visual relationship map for each of the three Mayhem manuscripts that portrays the relationships between all of the major characters within each book. Below you see an example of such a map for Mayhem: Underground:
A Glimpse of Mayhem: Companion Guide to the Mayhem Trilogy contains relationship maps for all major characters in each book. This is an example of the map for characters in Mayhem: Underground. These diagrams are fully scalable and zoomable and will add to your understanding of these folks as you get to know them in these epic tales. A god’s eye view. It’s fun!

3. Veganversary

If you’ve ever thought about giving up meat, or are curious what veganism is all about, read on. All will be revealed. Well, the basics, anyway.

Over a year ago, Kay and I experienced an epiphany: we decided to no longer treat our stomachs as either a junkyard or a graveyard.

So what the heck does that mean? Well, we committed to stop eating junk food or to consume anything that once had a parent. Sound extreme? At the time it did, but what did we have to lose… other than a bunch of adipose tissue. That’s fat, folks. All it required was an attitude shift (ya gotta wanna). It was easier than we thought once that shift of our tectonic plates happened.

Sidebar: COVID frightened us. Still does. We’re in our seventies, so they told us we were at high risk. No reason to doubt that. We’d rather over-react than the alternative. So our best preventative measure (yeah, we’re proactive as hell) was to boost the strength of our immune systems. That was our motivator.

How are we doing on our first veganversary, other than coming up with a corny term to describe the one-year anniversary of committing to this vegan lifestyle (more on what that means to us in a moment)?

  • We both feel great,
  • Our doctors are amazed at our blood work,
  • Eating “vegan” ain’t cheap, but what’s great health worth?
  • Takes more food prep time (I’ve developed wonderful chopping/slicing skills), but we have time, and we’re learning shortcuts,
  • We’re also exercising at least 4-5 days a week (at or around home), and that’s important mentally since we’re self-isolating (other than “safaris” for groceries and gas).
So here’s what “eating vegan” means to us:
  • No animal or dairy products,
  • No seafood ,
  • No processed foods (like sugar),
  • Learning to love new foods (a year ago, I’d have said, “Avocado? Yuck!” No more! A great source of good fat),
  • All or mostly organic foodstuffs (whenever we can find it, that is, no pesticides used or GMO–genetically modified food),
  • Our protein and other essential nutrients come mostly from G-BOMBS:
    • Greens,
    • Beans,
    • Onions,
    • Mushrooms,
    • Berries,
    • Seeds and nuts.
  • Augment our G-BOMBS with lots of fruit every day,
  • Focus on those nutrient-dense foods along with a few daily supplements:
    • A good multivitamin,
    • DHA (short-chain fatty acid that’s hard to source outside of animal protein),
    • A few other anti-inflammation supplements like tart cherry extract, selenium, etc.). We both are managing some arthritis.
  • Oh, in addition to both of us giving up all alcohol nine years ago now, I quit all caffeine over a year ago too. Kay never used that particular drug (and if you disagree on that term as an avid coffee or high-test soda drinker, try quitting cold turkey for a month – brutal!).
  • A few cheats: While we’re very disciplined about our eating habits, we’re not fanatics:
    • Dairy cheats: Between the two of us, we may consume 2-4 eggs per month. Kay likes easy-overs, and I’m still a sucker for corn bread once in a while (recipe uses an egg). We might also very occasionally make veggie burgers that uses an egg for a binder to hold the darn things together.
    • Processed food cheats: Kay still will buy the occasional bag of shredded cheese (for topping a veggie pizza, for example). We’ll have a few unsalted baked veggie chips instead of carrots with our black bean hummus as an appetizer.

Someone once famously said, “You spend the first half of your life acquiring vices, and the last half giving them up.”

But while we could look at these culinary changes as just a bunch of takeaways, we view them as an adventurous new way of living better and feeling really good about it. So how does this translate into daily reality:

Pretty standard daily breakfast for us. A smoothie plus maybe a small bowl of fruit topped with wheat germ, maybe ground flax seed or some sunflower seeds (unsalted, unroasted) and a dusting of Saigon Cinnamon. We throw in some plant-based protein powder into the shake too and blend.
Anti-cancer soup prep. Looks like a lot, and it is, but this’ll whip up a delicious nutrient-dense pot of soup that’ll last us for a week’s worth of lunches.
Okay, so it looks like purple puke, but it’s my favorite breakfast. Saturday mornings only. Raw oatmeal soaked in pomegranate juice with sunflower seeds, ground flax seed and frozen wild blueberries, all warmed in microwave (oatmeal is still chewy). Add plant-based protein powder, diced apple, pear, pineapple, nuts, and drown it all in cold almond milk. Oh, baby!
  • Daily Basics: We measure out our nuts/seeds for the day’s protein booster (1.5 oz for me; 1.0 oz for Kay – eaten at mealtimes only), we each take supplements twice a day, and other than meals or a pre-meal snack (see below), no snacks between meals! Period!
  • Breakfast: Giant smoothies of veggie protein powder, frozen mixed fruit, wild blueberries, banana, fresh pineapple, ground flax seed, wheat germ, maybe half of a Bosch Pear or a half apple…
  • Lunch: Once a week (Saturday mornings) we make a huge pot of soup or chili with lots of veggies and beans. We’ll freeze part of it. This will feed us lunches for a week. For variety, each day we might add something to that day’s lunch (more or different types of beans, fresh kale, etc.).
  • I’ve been at my goal weight for six months (at six feet, I’m at 158-160 pounds with a decent muscle mass), so I also choose to have a small glass of almond milk and a Wasa cracker with organic almond or peanut butter so I don’t lose more weight. Kay just drinks lots of (triple-filtered) water
  • Pre-dinner snack together: homemade black bean hummus on carrot sticks or baby carrots has become a nightly tradition together.
  • Dinner: a huge salad with romaine hearts, baby spinach, radishes, cukes, avocado (essential healthy fats), one medjool date, walnuts, brazil nuts, almonds, a few cashews, sunflower seeds, apple, pear, pineapple… Or we’ll share a big salad like this with a hot side dish. But the salad is always in the center ring under the big top.

How is this sustainable, you might ask?

Dinner is where we shake things up. Here’s a pasta dish… spinach-pesto pasta made with almond flour. The “meat” is TVP (textured vegetable protein) crumbles. This was a spicy dish with lots of other veggies (ala primavera).

First, I have not felt hungry since October 2019! We eat a LOT, but only good stuff, so it’s ok. Kay never complains about hunger (only irrational urges even though she’s “full”). She’s always suffered from this. A little nutritional yeast sprinkled on a salad helps.

Second, there are enough variations within this food plan to keep it very interesting. For example, we don’t just eat one type of beans as a source protein. We rotate between dark and light red kidney, garbanzo, pinto, black, great northern, lentils and tri-color beans. Each has a different flavor and texture. Plus it feeds the mind’s need for variety.

And we’ll also change it up with occasional bread (pre-sprouted whole grain = minimal “processing”: Ezekiel Bread!), or a gluten-free pizza crust made with almond or soy flour, or we whip up a monster Chinese stir-fry, but instead of meat, we’ll use TVP (textured veggie protein).

One of our faves: veggie tacos with organic almond flour tortillas. Lots of beans (both whole and fried, and a cornucopia of other veggies. Natural spices has us spitting fire (low flame). Note the cheat with a few sprinkles of non-fat cheese (this may have been a non-dairy cheese knockoff – I don’t recall).

This is definitely a thinking person’s lifestyle. We use Dr. Joel Furhman’s book, “Eat to Live” as our culinary bible, and so far, so good.

I’ve lost sixty-five pounds (and have kept it off for six months and counting). Kay has lost a lot more than that (her story to tell). We’re staying active, and feeling chipper, skipper!

Bottom line? Eating vegan is every bit as enjoyable as the way we used to eat. Just requires an attitude adjustment. We ain’t just talkin’ rabbit food here, folks! This is the good stuff.

Last night we conjured our customary salad with homemade cashew dressing made with a flavored vinegar (like pear, balsamic white or dark, strawberry, rasberry, fig, or whatever we can find), mustard, water and dates. The hot side dish: portobello spears with a quinoa/lentil/bean topping and a light Italian sauce. Some broccoli for added texture (stuff to chew!). Awesome.

Yes, we spend a LOT of money on organic non-GMO veggies, but we spend nothing on beef, pork, chicken, seafood or buffalo. We shop more frequently (twice a week) to score fresh produce (LOTs of it), and it takes more refrigerator space, but it is SO worth it. Once a week to buy bulk nuts from a store called “Earth Origins.”

Honestly, I can’t imagine eating anything else right now. I guess the transformation is complete. Kay still longs for a steak once in a while, but she’s loving her weight loss and her doctor’s report card!

Food for thought, eh?

A few mor pics below, but only if you’re interested.

With pen in hand,

Gene

We have veggie burgers once or twice a month. This batch will use just two eggs as a binder.
So when we splurge on veggie burgers (because of the eggs), we go hog wild and hit the starch too (baked potato rubbed with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) with some sea salt. Asparagus is one of our staples. This is about the smallest volume meal we have because it’s not very nutrient dense.
Another favorite: veggie fajitas. The tortillas seem superfluous with all this flavor. We use a lot of Mrs. Dash (salt-free seasoning) to spice things up.
This is the ONLY “flourless” bread I eat (toasted), and I’m careful not to overdo it (maybe one slice every day or two). Tastes awesome and satisfies my carb craves.

Not so bad, huh?

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