Summertime Fruit

 Summertime is fruit time and with all this global warming and the climate change people forget to tell you about one good thing about global warming.  Global warming can cause fruit to be cheap depending on the El Nino or La Nina affect going on.  With the warm winter this year oranges have been so cheap that I have been constantly finding them under a dollar for a pound and for a while they were 30 cents a pound.  When I was a youngster my favorite summertime fruit was always the cantaloupe and not to brag about myself but I can pick out a perfect cantaloupe every time I am at the store.  I just have this sixth sense for looking at the sugar burns on the rind to the right squish of the melon.  Watermelon was always a good summertime fruit, just that my sister tortured me with the story of if you eat a watermelon seed it will grow in your stomach and eventually come out your nose.  Ever since then I love to eat watermelon, I just am always scared of how many plants are currently growing in my stomach.

When I met my wife years ago she turned me onto the greatness of fresh cherries.  My only childhood memories of fresh cherries is one time my mother bought some and I was young and dumb and bit right into a cherry thinking they had small seeds but instead found out that the seed was huge and hurt my teeth really bad in that experience.  Ever since then I never ate them until my wife convinced me to get some one time when we were headed to an Indy Car race at Texas Motor Speedway.  She wanted something besides my fruit chews, diet coke, trail mix, and beef jerky.  So we picked up a huge bag of cherries.  From that day on I look forward to the 4th of July season where our local grocery stores reduce the price of cherries from in the four dollar a pound area to around two bucks a pound.  Over the holiday I picked up two pounds and my wife picked up two pounds and between the two of us we polished them off in three days.  What makes cherries so good in the summer is how they are easy to eat (just always find the seed first) and they are refreshing without the mess of watermelon or the hassle of cleaning a cantaloupe.  The bad side to fresh cherries is they do jack up my blood sugars but if it is a nice 100 degree day and you have a bag of cherries it feels like 80 degrees and the wind is in your face of cherry freshness.  Even if I get a not so sweet bag of cherries they still hit the spot every time.  Now I always pick up a bag of cherries for any summer gathering, watching a baseball game, or simply hanging around the house.  Let me know what your summertime fruit is that cures the 100 degree days.

Wilderness First Aid

 Last weekend I participated in some Wilderness First Aid training with my www.insulindepence.org group in sunny San Diego.  Now, I was looking forward to doing first aid training as much as anyone likes to get kicked in the nuts but, I know no matter how much it will be me needing the medical attention that I need to be fully trained as well.  Above you can see one of our most used items which is the sleeping pad or what I had known all my life as the shorty pad and it was widely used for leg injuries like you see Dino above with a broken leg. 

 Instead of a boring lecture class this actually be a great hands on class that really made me think about what I use in my personal first aid kit and how to use my everyday camping items as medical equipment when someone gets hurt in the backwoods.  Above you can see me tying a sling on Dino and I felt really good that the sling I learned as an eleven year old scout is the same as a modern sling.  One thing you don't see in this picture is a "Sam's splint" which is basically a piece of aluminum sheet covered in a neoprene cushion.  The Sam's splint molds perfectly to any wrist or arm break and it is light.  Our counselor recommended us to have like three of these things but I will probably just get one for my first aid kit.  Same thing with these cravats that I am using to tie the arm sling.  I have never used a cravat because back in the day when I was learning some first aid we just used bandana's which I keep in my first aid kit.  Now I will switch from a traditional bandana to the modern cravat things which are light but are large when opened and can be used for all sorts of issues.

 One thing I had never done before is to make this warm bundle thing for someone suffering from hypothermia.  The thing I learned as a kid was to get naked with the cold person in a  sleeping bag to warm them up.  Our counselor informs us that the two naked people in a sleeping bag endangers both people because when the cold person sucks out the heat from the warm person and both now are cold and could fall into a more severe situation.

The scary thing to cover are the head and neck injuries and we learned some neat ways to check for head and neck issues but not to damage the person any more.  The counselor did a great job on not teaching the A,B,C's and 1,2,3's of first aid but how to identify, address, and fix any situation with the limited gear you have on an outdoor adventure.  Now I feel comfortable in any emergency first aid situation in the backwoods if the victim is not me.  I would reccomend any person that camps to take a weekend camping with a wilderness first aid class.  Who knows you might have to use it some day.

Are all glucose tablets made equal?

 So last week was my diabetes learning week about how to be a team captain for www.insulindependence.org .  One thing that is always fun to get when participating in diabetes seminars and lectures or even the University of "in" is the freebies.  One of those freebies was a giant bottle of the all natural glucose tablets called "Glucolift." 

 Now, we all have had glucose tablets and we all have a flavor or group of flavors that are the least bad tasting over time or sit on your stomach properly without the thoughts of powdered vomit coming to mind.  I personally have always enjoyed the tropical fruit flavors and the white one is usually my favorite.  We all think of glucose tablets as being equals and that there probably is only one factory that makes these things and they just put them in different labelled bottles.  The difference is usually just the price until now.  What we have now is the product Glucolift and let me tell you something.  These are not your grandparents glucose tablets or something similar to those 80's tubes of nasty red stuff.  These tablets actually, wait for it, taste freaking good and do not give me the powdered vomit.  Also if that is not enough for you, they will make you want a low just so you can eat more of them.

So far my favorite is the Orange Cream but the wildberry and cherry are very delicious as well.  So next time you are in the store (not sure if these are sold in stores yet) or you are surfing Amazon, spend a few good dollars and pick yourself up some of these tasty low treats.  You almost will "miss-judge" a carb count so you can have an extra treat (Legal disclaimer: I do not condone anyone eating or drinking anything that affects their diabetes and I am a certified camper not a medical expert so never do much of anything I say without first consulting someone who can type propperly).