The Grand Canyon Express 2012

On the Trail, 2004

The only kind of “exercise” I have ever liked is hiking.  Well, hiking and running off at the mouth, jumping to conclusions and flying off the handle…  I’ve done a lot of those other exercises, but I haven’t done any hiking for several years – the last “destination” hike I did was to Phantom Ranch a few years back with my cousin Nelson.  On that one, I didn’t train seriously enough and it hurt me on the hiking days – I struggled, to put it mildly and persevered on will power alone; my body sure was not up to it. Nelson suffered too because he had to wait for me along the trail – it is really hard (both mentally and physically) to hang back with a slower hiker when you are ready to plunge on ahead; I know, because I’ve had to do it myself.

I’ve also been struggling with diabetes for about 20 years.  At times I controlled it, mostly though, I didn’t.  I always had it under control when I was hiking though.  I have been repeatedly informed that as the disease progresses, it becomes harder to control in the normal ways – i.e. diet and exercise.  So over the last few years and months I figured my days of controlling it that way might have been over.  The medical people have been trying to get me to go back on insulin for a couple of years. I’ve resisted.

A few weeks ago, my friend Chad came to visit for his Spring Break – and during his time here we got together and spent the better part of a day.  We had lunch at a Sizzler and dinner at a Mongolian BBQ – and in between we went for a hike (Chad, his Mom Linda and me). We hiked in Cave Creek Regional Park and we were on the trail for about two or two and a half hours – with what I figure was about one hour of actual hiking – about three miles plus a little extra.  I did OK – it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be given my extremely poor condition.  When we stopped by the house afterward to check on things here, I did a quick check on my glucose level – and it was near normal.  Normal!  Since I am absolutely sure it was running about twice or three times the normal level beforehand, I found that to be absolutely amazing.  And it made me think that, once again, I might just be able to get normal and healthier (no diabetes) simply by exercising and being a bit more careful about my diet.  Like this...

My glucose reading after hiking today...

So...

I have begun once again to eat more simply.  I use a diet that counts portions rather than calories, with a mix that gets me about 1500 calories a day.  I find it easier to eat by categories – I start the day with fruits (fresh and canned), three portions, and usually a carb at the same time or close to it.  Maybe hot or cold cereal.  Then I work into the vegetables – four portions.  I eat raw carrots frequently – and right now for example I have a three-bean salad I made, and I’ll likely have tomato juice, or even a serving of diced tomatoes right out of the can.  Then I work in the proteins and the carbs and dairy – usually later in the day as I go along.  I am also eating Zone Perfect energy bars – although I am only eating half of one at a time because they cause my sugars to rocket up if I eat a whole one at once.  I’m also eating mixed nuts, celery with peanut butter and things like that.  My biggest problem is when I get the urge for a burger… or some El Pollo Loco… I did that twice this past weekend… plus at the ballpark I had hotdogs and popcorn.  So I didn’t even check my fasting sugars the next morning; it would have been demoralizing! I did check them after my hike on Monday and I was OK at about 112.

Walking south on the Christensen Trail No. 100

I started the hiking by going every day I can close to home here, but on easier trails.  I go over off of 24^th Street and Cholla and hike along the Christenson Trail – No. 100 in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve.  It is only about ¾ mile away – and I could even ride my bike over there if I wanted to (I DID today...)  There are quite a number of side trails you can take to see something new – and I simply walk basically south for x number of minutes, and then return.  I started with 20 minutes each way – and Monday I walked for 1:10 total – to get the maximum aerobic benefit you don’t need to walk that far, I think all it takes is about 12 or 15 minutes.  But at the same time there are other benefits from walking farther (more calories and muscle building).  

Canyon Training par excellence on Shaw Butte!

In about a month or so, I will graduate back to my “old” favorite training trail – Shaw Butte.  But I like the 100 trail well enough that I think I will continue to use it as well.  It winds in and around the foothills of the mountains west of the house and the views are really great.  It’s up and it’s down, so it is also a good trail for “training.”  I also ride my bicycle whenever I can, usually down to the Basha’s store about a mile away. Between the hike and a bicycle trip, it is a safe bet I’ll have burned off 400 calories.  I will probably lose weight after a little bit of time doing this!

River at the bottom of time - Colorado
River near Phantom Ranch

Training for what, you might ask?  I am already thinking and planning for another Grand Canyon hike – maybe even this year.  I was thinking by mid-summer I might be up to doing an easy “shake-down” jaunt to Supai – and then by later in the year or winter I could start seriously planning a Grand Canyon rim to rim and think about trying for the permits required.  That would be a “crowning glory” as far as I am concerned – a rim-to-rim is about 26 miles and I would plan it for three days – one night at Phantom Ranch in the dorms, one night at Roaring Springs (camping) and finishing the climb to the North Rim on the third day -- with a shuttle bus ride back to Grand Canyon Village that afternoon.  I can do this.  I’m GONNA do this.  I owe it to myself.

Uncle Bob's Pretty Good Sourdough Bread

Today's Bread

Starter-

111 grams flour

½ cup warm water (100-110f)

¼ cup sourdough

Then-

302 grams (+) bread flour

1½ TB sugar or honey

1¼ tsp kosher or sea salt (or regular works fine)

1⅛ tsp active dry yeast

½ cup milk or water

1 or 2 TB softened butter

In the morning, mix the starter ingredients together, cover and set in a warm place. Once the starter is active (4 or 5 hours in a warm place) and bubbly, you can make the bread.  All ingredients should be brought to room temperature before use, so I set them out a couple of hours ahead.

Once the starter is ready, pour the ½ cup lukewarm water or milk (no more than about 110 degrees, or you will kill the yeast) into a mixing bowl.  Mix in the sugar or honey, and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Let this rest until the yeast proofs (you should see it foam and maybe bubble a little in about 5 to 10 minutes, if the yeast is good).

Once you know the yeast is good (if it is not, start over with fresher yeast), mix about one cup of the 302 grams of flour plus the salt and butter into the yeast liquid, along with the sourdough starter. Mix this with a Big Wooden Spoon as well as you can and then continue adding flour until you get a dough that clings and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Dump this onto a large cookie sheet.  Wash and dry your hands, set the remaining flour near the cookie sheet along with the sack of flour you took it all from.  You will probably need more flour as you knead the dough. Put the mixing bowl into the sink and fill it with hot soapy water.

Start a stop watch or set a timer for about 8 minutes.  Start kneading the remaining flour into the dough, dusting the dough with a little more flour each time it gets sticky in spots.  You will probably need a bit more than the originally measured amount, but don’t overdo it.  Only add a little at a time.  The dough will get smoother as you knead it and eventually will have a smooth satiny feel.  The whole process takes about 8 minutes or so, sometimes a little less.

Let the dough ball rest while you finish washing and drying the mixing bowl.  Pour about 1 TB of good quality oil into the mixing bowl, put the dough ball in the bowl and roll it over once to coat the dough with the oil. Cover and place it in a warm place for at least an hour, or maybe 1:20.  Or so.  In a cold kitchen, you might turn on your oven and set the bowl nearby for the warmth.  Don’t get it too near the heat, or you’ll kill it and it won’t rise.  Drink a glass of root beer (or some good red wine) while you wait. Wash and dry the cookie sheet.

After the dough has about doubled in size, turn it back out onto the cookie sheet.  Knead it briefly and form it into a loaf.  Place it into a large loaf pan which has been greased (or buttered) well.  I usually brush an egg wash (one egg or egg white, whisked with a tsp or so of water) over the top at this point, and slash the top once or twice. (Some recipes suggest the wash after the 2^nd rise – but you have to be real careful about that as you can cause your risen loaf to collapse.) Cover it loosely with a piece of saran wrap and let it rise again for about 50 minutes.  If not already on, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the loaf pan on a cookie sheet and bake him for about 30 minutes. If you have an instant read thermometer, check the loaf at about 25 or 27 minutes and if the center reads 190 F or above, your bread is done.  Turn it out onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely.  Then store it in a nice plastic sack until dinner time. 

Of all the breads I make, this one is my favorite.

If you don't have a sourdough mix, they are very easy to make.  It takes a week or two, but it is simply a process of mixing flour and water and letting it rest.  If you want a recipe and instructions, send me a note at trafficschoolbobfortythree@yahoo.com (only use the numerals for the forty-three) - but instructions are easy to find and follow all over the internet.  Once you have it, then you keep it in the fridge most of the time and feed it twice a month (more water and flour).  I made my "Chuck" about a year ago and he is very delicious!

It is also easy to substitute a small amount of the flour with whole wheat flour -- I wouldn't do more than 1/8 or 1/4 cup though.

You could also let the dough rise the last time in an oven-proof med bowl, or free form on the cookie sheet.  Some folks make it as a round loaf with the slash done in the form of an "X" across the top.  I usually just make a standard-shaped loaf.   Another possible addition is 1 TB of wheat gluten when you are mixing the dough.  I don't always do this but the texture is a bit more store-like when I do.


Happy Trails!  boB's your unclE...

How it worked out… (Christmas)

I got some Christmas lights hung; I stretched blue ones around the eaves and put strings of clear lamps on four shrubs.  The overall effect is very pleasing – to me anyway.  I have been leaving them on all night or at least until two or three am.

Christmas dinner wasn’t a total success.  Mom couldn’t eat anything so it was just Mandy and me – and my Cornish hens weren’t quite done.  There was a little bloo-oood around the bones where the ribs attach to the spines.  The corn pudding turned out very nice – it is sweet and very light like egg-custard (which of course, is what it is).  The pumpkin pie(s) took me all day to bake – it was a “high-maintenance” recipe…  Very good though, in the end. The recipe was for one, but the leftover filling caused me to prepare and fill another smaller pie (in a tart pan).  The vegetables were overdone (easy to do with zucchini).  I know how to "fix" all of this -- and have ideas on how I would do the same meal again and improve the results. So maybe again another time.

I have de-boned the left-over hens, and one I made Chicken a la King with (see recipe on blog) and the other, today, I simply sauteed for a few minutes and prepared a batch of barbecue sauce for it.  This all was designed to finish the cooking process as no one really likes underdone poultry, do they.

I didn’t go anywhere in the end – I did a tiny bit of visiting with Dave and his family last night but that was it.  My other friends I will try to catch up with later.  It was just too difficult to get away when Mom is so dependent on us right now.  She is virtually house-bound, and while she is moving around a little bit now, she hasn’t been outside since she came home from the hospital.  If you know my Mom, you know how uncharacteristic that is.  She has been unable to eat much – and she has no strength.

Mandy and I went to a Presbyterian candlelight service on Christmas Eve – my first choice (Christ the King Ev. Lutheran) had an earlier version this year – early evening.  So we went to Emmanuel Presbyterian on Shea Blvd at 11 pm.  Mandy enjoyed the service – but I don’t think that is a congregation I would attend habitually.  They do have a nice pipe organ though…  If I ever decide to attend a church, I might try some of the others around here – maybe Orangewood Presbyterian.  Or I always thought CTK Lutheran would be OK – although I prefer the colder austerity of the Presbyterians!  Any of them would likely throw me out on the curb when they found out what I believe – and what I don’t. 

New Year’s is a non-holiday for me, so that’s it for the holidays 2011.  I can’t say they were “bad,” but they weren’t “glowing.”  But we take them as they come and appreciate what we have.  No regrets. 

Recipe - Chicken a la King

Uncle Bob’s Chicken a la King

This ain’t a bad way to use up some left-over roast chicken (or turkey)…

1# diced chicken (about)

3 or 4 lg mushrooms, sliced

1/8 cup or so diced red pepper

2 or 3 green onions (make a slice lengthwise then chop)

Splash of sherry

Butter/flour  4 TB each

Salt/pepper or chicken seasoning, garlic, 1 TB minced dried onion.  You might try others like thyme, etc.

1 can chicken broth or equivalent

¼ cup green peas (fresh if ya got ‘em).

Toast points

Put a splash of olive oil in a non-stick skillet.  Heat over med.  Add the mushrooms and cook for 1 minute.  Add the diced pepper.  Cook another minute.  Add the green onion, cook another minute.  Add the chicken and a splash of sherry.  Saute all for 2 or 3 minutes.

Add the seasonings and the butter and flour (I used chicken seasoning and garlic, along with pepper and a chicken bouillon cube for the flavor and the salt, and the minced onion).  Continue cooking for a few seconds and then add the broth all at once (along with the peas – I just tossed them in frozen).  Heat on med until the mixture is thickened and bubbly.  Simmer for an additional 3 to 5 minutes.

Serve over hot biscuits or toast points.  I think it would serve about 4 normal people from the looks of it...

My Simple, Opinionated Christmas

Not doing too much for Christmas this year.  I usually attend a performance of Messiah done by Phoenix Symphony, but I chose not to this year.  I didn’t go to the electric parade like I sometimes do.  I haven’t even played any Christmas music yet. 

I will eventually find my Christmas music collection and I’ll listen to my own favorite songs – “The Gift” (written by Stephanie Davis and also performed by Garth Brooks), and “Little Toy Trains” sung by Roger Miller.  There are others I love as well, but I get weary of some of the ones that are played over and over ad nauseum. Like “Jingle Bell Rock.” In that I guess I am like everyone else I know – we have our favorites and we have those we’d like to forget.  I could listen to Suzy Boggus sing “O Holy Night” over and over to the end of eternity. She has the voice of an angel.  Yep, her and Andra Suchy.

I have no travel plans at all.  Not that I might not go – I just have not planned anything.  I always think I should go north to find a good “snow” picture to put on next year’s Christmas card.

*They weren't cheap, but here they are...

I haven’t even hung Christmas lights yet.  I guess I will work on that today, but I shall keep them very simple – which is my usual choice anyway.  I think simple in Christmas lights is often the most beautiful.  My aim will be to use the lights to elicit and represent some of the hope and mystery of Christmas, a kind of quiet glory, rather than the all-out “glitz and dazzle” that some go for.  Each to his own, I don’t resent that option but it’s not me.  I might use all blue lights if I can find some and they are cheap enough.*

I might go drive around at some point and gawk at all the glitzier lights others have done though…

I don’t begin to celebrate the approach of Christmas until December 15^th – I resent the cheapening of Christmas as enacted earlier and earlier each year by Corporate America as they seek to increase their profits at the expense of everything that is holy.  It’s calculated and crass – and I will resist it and resent it as long as I live.  Standing in line to get into a retail establishment to get a “bargain” on Thanksgiving Day (or night) is asinine – and we ought not to do it if only so that more of our neighbors can eventually stay home with their families at those times.  I can sometimes agree with our nation's critics that we seem, some of us, to have lost our souls.

My Christmas shopping is done, virtually all of it right from my desk here and on the internet.  I designed some little gifts for my closest family and a few friends will get something I’ve made in the kitchen as a token of our friendship. 

On Christmas Eve, which for me is the most mysterious and magical time of Christmas, I plan to attend a midnight service at a Lutheran Church nearby which I have found friendly in the past.  While I am not a Christian,  I think that Christmas can also represent that act of our God reaching down to us, and showing us or reminding us that the love we give to each other, in whatever way we can do that, is the best and truest part of our well-lived lives. At Christmas, some of the everyday hatreds can recede into the darkness for just a few moments – in our part of the world anyway.

Here in Paradise Valley, it will be a good Christmas if all goes as planned. I wish the same for you.

Uncle Bob makes flapjacks...

Good Old Fashioned Flapjacks

1 cup flour                                       ½ cup flour

2 eggs                                               1 egg

1 TB butter (melt)                          1 TB butter (melt)

⅔ cup milk                                        ⅓ cup milk

1½ tsp baking powder                  ¾ tsp baking powder

2 TB buttermilk powder               1 TB buttermilk powder

2 TB sugar (or less)                        1 TB sugar

¼ tsp salt                                           ⅛ tsp salt

6 large pancakes (7 in)                 3 large pancakes

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Add the egg and milk, whisk until almost smooth.  Melt the recipe butter and whisk into the batter.  Bake on med to med-low greased griddle for about 3 to 3½ minutes, turning once.  They should be golden brown.

Could substitute buttermilk for milk and BM powder.

Serve with smoked beef sausage, melted butter and Log Cabin syrup, or drizzle with melted butter and serve with strawberries and syrup and whipped cream or powdered sugar.

Adapted from: http://recipeland.com/recipe/v/American-Style-Flapjacks-Pancakes-1142

The Fallen

We should remember that the blood of our children is priceless.

I was watching a film tonight called "Taking Chance." It was the story of the homeward journey of a fallen Marine -- killed in Iraq and written by the officer who escorted him back to his family.

I've been looking at the names, faces and stories of many of the others -- over 6,000 now since this all started. My thoughts are simple -- we each have a duty to serve -- but it would be my wish that our leaders (and our nation) would invest our precious capital much more thoughtfully.

I am offended by the many who are so arrogant - and ignorant - that they think the only solution to national or international problems is to crush the life out of those who disagree with us.  We should look out for our safety and our legitimate interests, we have that right and obligation; but others have their rights as well.

Please take a moment today to think of those whose duty has taken them far away from their loved ones and families, and a quiet moment in memory of all who have served and didn't come home alive - men and women like Chance Phelps, Sam W. Huff, Lori Piestewa and all of the others.  I am.

There are so many.