How's your Head?

 Recently I told you all about my wilderness first aid class where the instructor brought me up to speed by educating me about how a bandanna is not a first aid item and that I need to get 3 cravats for my personal first aid kit.  I went looking online for different cravats because to me it seemed that someone has made a dual purpose cravat and of course they have as you can tell by the picture above of a digital camo cravat a guy is using to rob a bank and if he gets shot or something his cravat face mask will be used to save his life.  This must be an outdoors man bank robber but, I also thought that it would help people like my son who rarely know where their first aid kit is or what is even in their kit.  If the kit is cool like the digital camo bank robbers mask above he would love to have them in his pack for all sorts of bad reasons and maybe one time it might help him get out alive.

 Here are some pictures of how to make an arm sling.  The reason I put this on here is because everyone who tries to make a proper sling the first time runs into the issue of how do I go around the neck.  It is like the age old toilet paper question of does it go over or under, and we all know the toilet roll goes over not under.  The arm sling is weird because the underside of the sling goes to the far side of the neck and the outside part of the sling goes straight up.  See these are the things I teach all of you that others don't tell you about and also you see how they are folding over the elbow piece.  Well don't do that and instead fold an overhand knot with the small corner of the cravat which will create a well for the elbow to rest nicely in.

 These are more pictures of things to make with a cravat that are almost always overlooked and under used.  The eye patch works great and the hand and head bandages are awesome as well if you tie them properly.  One bandage I learned at wilderness first aid was the hip sling thingy.  It is the one above that looks like someone is making a bad bikini out of a cravat.  This bandage was surprisingly good at how if you had a wound on your hip like falling off a bike and getting road rash it would hold you nicely till you got to safety.  The big one the chart is missing above is the sprained ankle bandage which is worth its weight in gold if you tie it correct as well.  I personally have had to use the sprained ankle bandage and it is almost as good as those sprained ankle boot thingies.  Then the one that cracks me up the most is the sore tooth looking head wrap thing.  What this is used for I don't know but somehow it should be used.

 Here is what happens when you have cravats but no knowledge of how to properly use them.  You wind up with the mummy affect and that usually just creates more issues than actually solving anything.  So know your proper bandages and don't make your person a mummy.

My good friend Ken gave me a cravat recently that he acquired from his work.  The big thing about cravats is that they are large enough to be useful but pack very small.  With that they are also sewn in a manner to where they do not unravel which is not the case with a bandanna.  They are small and unravel if you try to cut them up for large wounds.  These packages also come with a couple of safety pins as well so see even the single use cravats come with multiple items.  What it all boils down to is a little practice and prep now creates a best possible scenario if any situation ever arises.  We never want anything to go wrong but how many times have we read a story of something small happening to a person and it gets out of control and they die from it.  Prepare for the worst and expect the best.  I think that generally goes for everything with diabetes right?

If that aint country...

 I am not sure if all of you have every taken the country drive over the weekend but last weekend while visiting my family in Oklahoma we were driving out to a pool party at one of my brothers life long friends and came across this farm out in the country.  I tried to snap a bunch of pictures of what this guy has decorated his property with but if you zoom in and read the signs it is quite funny.  The picture above is of a bulldozer scoop and it says: "I used to push fat @SS b.s. around."  The road frontage was full of funny signs like this.

 Apparently the gentleman has a beef with the city council about some sort of business he wanted to have on his land but they did not approve his request to have his property reclassed so now he puts his feelings on funny signs that are all over his property.  The sign above said something that my brother said was funny but I did not get a good picture of it so just enjoy the recycle old electronics and appliances sign.

Here is the corner of the property and the guy went so far as to make a fake headstone that says something about R.I.P. the people that wronged him and that they are cheap. 

Lets say you are adventuresome and want to move to the country.  I always say there are a few "types" of country living. There are the huge open farms with agriculture going on them, then there are the small farms with a bit of agriculture and livestock, then there are the places like the pictures above where people live in the country so that nobody can complain about the trash in their front yard, and last there are the meth trailers in the country where they all have a four wheeler or two out front with tons of burnt trash on the side and a falling down front porch and maybe an electrical cord connecting a few other trailers near by.  Now I am not saying any of these are bad just this is how it is when you look for land in the country.  The reason I know all this great advice is because when my wife and I decided to purchase some land for weekend use our real estate agent was good about telling us which category all the properties we were thinking about lied in and then he would take us to one of them to show us about each type.  With that knowledge we found a perfect ranch that we love and use regularly with a minimal amount of meth and trashy neighbors.

I still love this video!

I came across an old email today from my wife that had this video clip in it and every time no matter what it makes me laugh.

 Last night while sorting out the real mail from the junk mail I came across this volleyball magazine for my wife.  She is a coach and so every now and the she gets these buy our stuff sort of magazines so I decided to flip through it and see what the latest and greatest knee pads and nets were this season.

Then halfway through the magazine I came across this advertisement for PR Bar which is a product we all got to try out at my San Diego trip to the U of "in."  We had case after case of these bars and let me tell you something, they might not be the best tasting bar on the planet, nor are they the best meal supplement bar, but they are probably the best diabetes bar on the planet.  What makes these so good for diabetes you are asking yourself?  Well friend they only have 22g's of carbs and just like in the advertisement above they get your body to burn your fat as fuel, so this is a win-win situation.  Now they aren't bad either, but I wouldn't put them down as the best tasting and they do give you substance in your belly but I have had other meal replacement bars that filled me up better.  Now those two things should not be taken as criticism or anything I am just stating how they worked on me and I have had tastier and more filling bars but they either had a gazillion carbs or were pumped full of sugar and there is no perfect bar for every situation.  These bars are not what you are going to grab when you blood sugars are low (because they only have 22 carbs people!  I know I tried) but when you are hungry and your blood sugars are in your target zone these bars will hold you down and not get your sugars out of the target workout zone.  Now one bar I did try that was always pretty darn good (all the bars were good just some are chocolate coated and were a bit messy in the heat) was the peanut butter berry bar.  Now this bar says it is a granola bar but think of it as a soft bar made out of peanut butter and other stuff.  The next question you are going to ask me is where do I get these PR Bars?  Currently you can only order them over the phone or online through their website but if you are diabetic and want something that does not spike your blood sugars or if you are a person that likes to have an energy/meal bar then order a couple of cases of these guys now and in about six months when these bars hit the local shelves you will already be apart of the "in" crowd and be able to brag about how you knew about these bars through your favorite blog (OK so maybe my blog is not your favorite but work with me I need lots of attention) and you have been eating these awesome bars for a while now.  If you zoom in on my picture above there is a 12 dollar off coupon.  Now let me give you a disclaimer so you don't think my house is made of PR bars.  I have only received sample PR Bars through U of "in" which is a part of www.insulindependence.org and they nor did anybody promise me anything or pay me anything (trust me I would love to get something in return from this blog) to write about this product.  I just wanted to help my other type 1's and the rest of you normal people out there.  Enjoy!