Another missive from Hemphill TX

 

A follow-up e-mail received today, from our go-getter working recovery:

 

Here is an update on the activities down here in Hemphill.

 

I may repeat some information and for that I apologize.  One thing we have learned is that when we see tree tops, just little branches of green pine, on the brown earth and ground, there is likely something in that area that caused the little branches to be knocked off.  We have made several finds using this method.  Yesterday our team found a large piece of the windshield, even though the news media mistakenly reported it was found in Nacodoches.  I am amazed at how wrong the media can be, never had realized how many mistakes are apparently made.

 

We find something almost every day.  Some very small and some quite large.  I understand that there are 250 square miles that have to be searched in our county, seems like it could take a very long time.  We now have National Guard and various Law Enforcement agencies who have joined the search.  The most valuable addition to the search effort, in my opinion, are the Native Americans from Oklahoma, they include men from several tribes and are very good at what they do.  They have found things that one would not expect could ever have been retrieved.

 

It rained hard one day here recently and it was truly one of the most miserable days I have ever spent in the woods.  They called the search off at noon that day and all the searchers, without exception, wanted to keep going even though they were wet and cold.  I was soaked from the waist down and covered in mud.  I had on water proof boots, but had made the mistake of tucking my jeans into my boots, and so the water from my jeans ran down into my boots and my feet were quite wet.

 

On one occasion when we found human remains, I was very impressed that on our way to the end of the search for the day, a group of FBI passed us going into the site of the remains, which was being guarded by a law officer.  The FBI group included a clergy man, who will conduct a site side service before the remains are removed.  At this particular site the trees above were charred and many little branches were on the ground. We understand that some remains from each of the seven have now been recovered in our search area and we will continue to look for more until they are found or the leaders decide that to search further would be futile.

 

I will tell you a little something about our team:  B___ is a construction worker, who works away from home and only get back on the weekends, he has a wife and two boys…  He is a really big guy and knows the East Texas woods very well.  We feel safe when he is with us.  One day W___ saw a snake and she is very afraid of snakes, so she asked B___ what it was, and he replied "it is a copper headed rattler moccasin,"  so you can see we all continue to have a sense of humor out here.

 

Next is E___, he is a construction worker and works for various contractors in our area as they have work.  He is what I think of as a real "cowboy" he wears his beaver cowboy hat, which he explained to me is a 10 x, it has xxxxxxxxxx, in the band.  It hold us to the weather like nothing I have ever seen.  His drawl is thick enough that I have to listen close with my Yankee ears.  He also wears a duster coat like you see the cowboys wear in westerns, it snaps up between his legs like a babies sleeper, so it really protects him well.  He had gone out on his horse some days, but most places are just too thick to get through on horse back.  When we get in an area where it is really thick, E___ climbs a tall tree and scouts out what is up ahead for all of us.  His wife S___ has worked the whole time at the VFW, which is the staging area and where we serve 3 meals a day.  Many times she is there for 24 hours at a time.  She says that when E___ comes home, tired and sore, he still is not too tired to get down on the floor and play with the dogs.

 

M___ is a mechanic by trade and also from here and knows the woods well.  But they tell me if we ever get lost to stick with E___ as he will be the one to get us out.  M___ and his wife A___ have a boy in 2nd grade and a 4 year old girl.  A___ came with us a couple days, but she is unable to get off work to come all the time.

 

T___ is another native, and he is very cute.  I told him I have a single daughter I think he should meet.  T___ works for a house builder and does not receive a very high hourly wage, but has very unselfishly taken many days off work to search.  He is the first one in the picture right before Greg.  He is quite quiet, but once he feels comfortable with you he will open up.  He told how he was taken in by another family when he was 16 and alone and now he feels like they are his family.  He is tireless and never complains.

 

W___, is the wife of the head guy at the VFW, and a really special lady.  She is staying at the VFW 24 hours a day, everyday, and coordinates all the volunteers and delegates volunteers to take care of meals, cleaning, etc.  I have never had the chance to know her before this, but now know is a special, giving woman that I will call friend forever.

 

One day we had a deep creek to cross and someone found a beaver dam to walk across, we sank in some but all made it.  Later when we told B___ what we had done, he informed us that beaver dams are where the water moccasins hide out in cool weather, in fact he says that he has trapped beaver and when skinned they are often so full of snake bites in the hide that he feels sorry for the beaver when the snakes take over their home.

 

Some other things we have learned is that it is good to put duct tape on your shoe laces, if they are not covered by your pants, that way the briars do not destroy them.  A couple of days ago, something hit my leg and my first thought was a snake, but then I saw a bunny running and realized that I had almost stepped on him.  Barbed wire fences are another hazard we face and I have been stuck on one, but only once.  On a particularly muddy day, I had to conduct a board meeting at the library, bet it was the only time a annual meeting had been conducted by a woman president in mud covered jeans and boots, but no one seemed to mind, in fact they all thanked me for what I am doing.  On another day when they brought lunch out to us they had a little note in them saying, for instance, "made by S___, 3rd grade, Hemphill Elementary."  So as you can see it is a whole community effort.  One of my friends that I have kept updated, has sent me notes from people she has shared my message with, and they are from all over and very supportive.  It makes me very proud to be a citizen of a country with such caring people.  I don't think I will be walking every day now, there are so many government people here and we need a lot more help at the VFW just to keep them fed and housed, so I will be working on that, we have to be there at 3a.m. to start breakfast, which we begin serving at 5a.m., we are now feed 2500 people three meals each day.

 

As I sit here and write this to you, while looking at my daffodils that are starting to bloom, it is a stark contrast to the tragedy.  The Shuttle Crash has been a great tragedy, but out of it has come much good.  People of all races and religions are working together as one, and I have had the good fortune to get to know some really wonderful people, that I, perhaps, would never have known otherwise.

I’m very glad something good comes from this tragedy even now; glad that we didn’t have to wait for years and dozens of studies to obtain positive results.  The sacrifice of our seven astronauts has not been entirely for naught; I hope they know whereever they are that they continue a mission as ambassadors here on earth.

(Excerpted with permission; content has been omitted and names have been changed to protect the privacy and security of those involved and their objectives.)

  8:01:21 PM    comment []

Shortie Sorties:  Today’s fly-by items --

 

Dude, you’re getting a doobie…

 

The Dell dude got busted for alleged buying pot.  Damn.  I guess that explains that relaxed attitude in his “Dude, you’re gettin’ a Dell” ads.

 

 

A reality show I’d actually watch

 

Would be one where India actually had a fair chance at becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council and France felt just a bit more threatened.  India’s huge and possessed of immense wealth, dwarfing France any way you slice it. 

 

Reality shows otherwise aren’t worth my time.

 

 

New kid on the block

 

Iran’s going to mine uranium for development of nuclear energy.  Yeah, right, just like Iraq and North Korea.  Every country is going nu-cu-lar and lying to us about it… Did we f*ck this whole thing up or what?

  5:31:27 PM    comment []

What's for Dinner?:  Ham-something-or-other...

 

I throw in Rule Number 3 as well as the recipe for the ham-thing I'm cooking.

 

What are you having?

 

UPDATE -- 11-FEB-03 3:10 pm EST --

 

Critics response to last night's Ham-Fontina-Spinach Bread Pudding:

 

-- Hubby loved it, ate a second helping, asked if I can make it again;

 

-- 9-year-old ate a few bites, filled up on ham, cauliflower and salad;

 

-- 5-year-old was too tired to eat, screamed about eating the new mystery food and subsequently went to bed.

 

I'd say it was a mixed review. 

 

Add to Cook's Notes: Cut back on milk or add more bread if using a deep casserole; may bake faster without modifying milk/bread ratio if baked in a shallow pan (maybe a 13" x 9" x 2"?).

 

  3:13:56 PM    comment []

What’s for Dinner?:  First, the Rules…

 

One of the people in this household has genetically-dictated health challenges.  This person wouldn’t want me to air it out because they’re rather private by nature, but hey, you’ll figure it out.

 

I am compelled to cook as if someone here had a tendency towards diabetes and towards high cholesterol.  It’s serious – while these tendencies have been managed so far, there have been multiple family members who’ve either suffered for years from these diseases and / or died because they developed full-blown diabetes or heart disease.  I don’t want my kids to end up like their young cousins, in grade school, growing up without their beloved father.  Yeah, I’m not messing around with this.  It’s like having a sniper aiming at your loved one every day, not knowing when the trigger will get pulled; will the sniper take them down with one shot or debilitate your loved one for life.  The stakes are just too damned high to ignore this.  At least I have the questionable luxury of knowing the sniper’s out there and knowing to some degree I can control how target-rich the sniper’s environment will be.  Hence the rules…

 

Rule Number 1 here is that dinner (and all other meals) must be healthy. 

 

Healthy means:

 

-          Fats must be very limited or be those which improve the lipid panel (overall cholesterol) numbers;

-          Fiber, fiber, fiber: there must be adequate amounts of complex carbohydrates providing correspondingly higher amounts of fiber, to help flush cholesterol and toxins while furnishing ample nutrients and filler;

-          Adequate amounts of protein to sustain people between meals and provide the appropriate building blocks that carbohydrates and fat can’t supply;

-          Simple carbohydrates must be kept to a minimum.

 

Daunting, hmmm?  when was the last time you evaluated every single thing you ate for these four criteria?

 

Rule Number 2: the people in this house must be willing to eat it. 

 

This is typically not a problem with hubby; we’ve come a long way since we first met.  He’d never eaten Chinese food (ack, a virgin about things like collard greens, too) and hated raw tomatoes.  Now he’s the first person to suggest anything Asian, and he'll actually eat raw tomatoes if served in salads, pizza and sandwiches. 

 

Imagine telling the average five-year-old that he’s going to have lots of fiber, plenty of vegetables for dinner…yeah, right, that’ll fly like a pig.  This is especially true with my five-year-old, the quintessential guy’s guy.  It took us more than 2 years to persuade him to eat anything green, he eats all his meat first, and prefers to fill up on white foods.  White, like bread, potato chips, crackers – white, starchy foods.  Preferably served to him on the couch.  If it’s good for him he will buck and fight it, run screaming in the other direction.  If only Playstation games would lock up until he ate his carrots…

 

The nine-year-old is completely the opposite; her favorite food at 9 months of age was broccoli.  It’s getting her to eat enough that’s a problem; she’s extremely slender, recently went through a growth spurt, and needs extra nutrition to bulk up and ensure proper bone and muscle growth in the teen years ahead.  Her preference for fruits and vegetables isn’t going to help her with the bone and muscle growth objectives.

 

Me?  I have to be the flexible one.  I work in small amounts of chocolate and plenty of coffee to satisfy my urge to splurge.  I do draw the line at some foods – like beef liver.  I’ve never been a fan of it.  Enjoy chicken livers, but not beef liver.  Fortunately, it doesn’t make the cut on our healthy diet plan, being too high in cholesterol.  (Yes, I admit it, every once in a while I indulge in braunschweiger, too...)

 

That’s it, two rules.  Two BIG rules.  If I can thread my way through these two obstacles, stick a fork in it, dinner is served.

 

Now, on guidance: there are some resources I rely on heavily to help me, which I highly recommend to you.

 

The New 8-Week Cholesterol Cure (2002 edition) by Robert Kowalski

 

The author had a heart attack and two by-passes before he was 41 years old; he researched and found answers to heart disease and documents them in this book.  If he didn’t get it, he’d have been dead a decade ago – that’s quite a testimonial.  (But then, he had one hell of a lot of incentive, too.  Try or die.)

 

My own father has had problems with cholesterol, having a 330 count back in the late 70’s.  He took up running and cutting down on animal fats, which got his cholesterol level down by 100 points.  The lingering 40 points stuck like glue until he got the 8-Week Cholesterol Cure (first edition) and tried it.  Bingo, his cholesterol went to 160 points.  Dad still runs 5 days a week; he’s had to add salt to his diet because his blood pressure is so low.  He runs circles around men 30 years younger.  Your results (and my spouse’s) may not be as good, but Dad’s one heckuva lab rat to point at as an example.

 

Until now, Dad’s been using the first edition of this book, BTW; I recommend highly that you get the 2002 edition since it contains many more new pointers on lowering your cholesterol based on science that didn’t exist at the time the first edition was published.  Dad’s been working on the 2002 edition only over the last couple of months, working to get his cholesterol to 140.  I’ll let you know if he makes it.

 

Nutripoints: The Breakthrough Point System for Optimal Nutrition by Dr. Roy Vartabedian and Kathy Matthews

 

This book stresses nutritional value in food, not just fat and sugar reduction.  By choosing foods that are healthy, one can eat more and better food while losing weight, improving cholesterol and blood sugar levels. 

 

If I’m in doubt about which food to use, I use Nutripoints to guide me.  For instance, if I’m buying lettuce for a salad, do I buy leaf or Romaine?  Hands down, Romaine wins; it’s got more nutritional value than all other lettuces.  I also add baby spinach, shredded red cabbage, julienned carrots and red peppers to salads – all add a lot of nutritional bang for the buck, as well as flavor and appetizing appearance.  I didn’t do this as religiously prior to reading this book.  Guess who gave me my copy?  Yup, my dad – worked for him, too.

 

There are a handful of other books I use, but we’ll get to them eventually.  These are the two most important resources in this household.

 

Oh yeah, both books have recipes in them for healthy foods.  They don’t just throw information at you and leave you hanging; they actually give you a good selection of foods you can prepare which meet the authors’ criteria.  I haven’t used all the recipes, but they have been good references as starting points for meals.

 

Whew, all this and I haven’t even started thinking about tonight’s dinner!

 

Damn, where is that Dinner Muse?  I suppose she’ll wait until 4:30 pm to arrive today.  She's big on dramatic entrances...

  12:44:27 PM    comment []