To ye who are lurking

I am happy for you that you find some satisfaction in the blog, but I
would like to know who is watching anonymously, yet knows me.

Say HI.

A day of fun

I just got back from a day of helping my dad hang sheet rock in his
garage.

I missed Brian more today then I have in a very long time. Of we
three boys, he was the one who became the best at sheet rock hanging
and taping. We did the ceiling of his two car garage at near nine
feet then we did the walls. After over seven hours we were done. And
I was done in big time. Came home and jumped in the hot tub in the
back yard and just soaked and cooked for awhile before I felt human
again. Brian and Dad could sure hang rock back in the day. Both of
them preferred to tape rather then hang but they were good. Dad
admits he does not have the strength that he used to have, but he can
still work me under the table. I spend to many days in front of a
computer and not nearly enough time walking or exercising.

I had taken up a caserrole (Special K loaf) for our lunch and Mom
sure appreciated that. I keep giving Dad cooking hints that work for
us in our house but he is always happy when he does not have to cook.
My hints to him are mostly encouraging him to buy slightly more
expensive, but easier foods that are semi prepared when he buys them,
hoping he will cook with some variety and not get bored.

Mom wandered in and out while we worked and when we sat down to lunch
she told me about all her conversations with a lady from 3ABN, with
Linda and with Mark. She said she had had a lengthy conversation with
each of these people about family and parents and life. Except each
of these people is only a picture either on the fridge or in a
magazine. She is so loving and sweet and then she will ask me how
Craig is doing and how are my two sons, which probably means she
thinks I am Brian. But she is still Mom.

Alzheimer's disease and caffeine

Below is an excerpt from an article on the website of the Alzheimer's Society. 

But first some comments of my own:

As many of you know my mother is slipping in Alzheimer's haze. She is 70 and the gentle fade to black has been progressing for more then five years. Her father had exactly the same experience and the possibility that I am the third in line for this tragedy has been something I have been aware of for many years. Both of my brothers have their own, mostly unknown, genetic pools to wonder about, but it seems I may be seeing the future in my mothers increasingly vacant eyes. 

So, several months ago I was discussing these things with a biology professor here at PUC. His immediate, lengthy and heartfelt response was, " Craig, you need to catch up with current research. Caffeine is being shown to have a very positive effect on the brain in the same areas of the brain affected by Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. " I began what has become lengthy and rather thorough research on the relationship between tea/coffee consumption and disease. 

I started out reviewing the medical evidence for harm/benefit from caffeine and then moved deeply into the history of "why are Adventist opposed to tea and coffee"? It has been a very interesting journey which has ended with me changing my caffeine view. 

I am committed to doing "almost anything" to reduce my chance for early dementia. I am consuming at least 200 mg of caffeine each and every day. This seems to be the minimum, over years and years of use, to show a positive benefit on the brain. I am primarily using home brewed tea. Usually cheap stuff like Lipton tea. I drink either tea or coffee, always sugar free, from about 8AM until about 2PM, total consumption is 20-24 oz each day. This should equal about 200 mg caffeine if it is tea and about 300 mg plus if it is coffee. 

Since I started, I have lost over ten pounds of body weight and I have spent many weeks adjusting to caffeine, balancing caffeine and the clock, and learning that the body does adjust to caffeine and over time the "buzz" response of the body is lowered due to increased tolerance. 

Will it save me? Will it change the world? 

I would certainly love to hear feedback from the list. I particularly interested in learning of possible negative effects. I have not been able to find much genuine evidence regarding negative effects of caffeine. And I do place credence in pictures of spider webs after giving the spider caffeine. All that shows is that spiders can not handle their coffee. Neither can slugs and snails by the way, pour coffee and coffee grounds around your precious roses and slugs and snails will vanish. 

So here is an excerpt:

http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/Mind_your_head/Common_questions/Lifestyle/diet/coffee.htm

Can drinking coffee/tea affect your risk of dementia?

There have been suggestions that caffeine might delay or prevent Alzheimer’s disease. However, research has involved only small numbers of people and often relied on their memory of how much coffee they drank much earlier in their lives. It is hoped that current research will yield a clearer picture of the impact of known caffeine consumption on dementia risk.

What the research tells us

There are three effects of caffeine that might enable it to protect against or reverse brain changes related to dementia. Firstly, it can stimulate brain cells to take in choline. This is the building block they need to make acetylcholine, the brain chemical, or neurotransmitter, that is reduced in dementia.

Secondly, caffeine interferes with the action of another neurotransmitter called adenosine. It has been suggested that this action, or the 'knock-on' effect on other neurotransmitters, might be beneficial in Alzheimer’s disease.

Finally, chemicals related to caffeine seem to be able to damp down the activity of 'housekeeping' cells in the brain, called glia. A recent review of one such chemical, propentofylline, concluded that it might benefit cognition, global function and activities of daily living in people with Alzheimer's disease and/or vascular dementia, but further information is awaited.
While glia are important in keeping the brain free of dead and injured cells, their activity can sometimes be too thorough, and can damage surrounding brain areas. Whether caffeine can keep glial activity in check in such a way that it could prevent dementia is not known.

Should I start drinking more coffee/tea?

It is certainly too soon to say that our morning coffee or afternoon cup of tea is more than a pleasant pick-me-up.

Halleluia for Power

Dad just called and told me that the power is on in his house.
I know he called each of you in TN but this is for my blog.

I can hardly believe the level of incompetence shown by the trailer
installing company that was used for Dad's house install. Contractors
not showing up to the job was the least of the problems. Concrete
poured and cracking within days (Dad had them pull it out and redo
his sidewalk), concrete drive not poured for weeks, permit papers not
turned in to the county, documents at the county not reviewed, papers
not turned in from county to PG&E, electrical main panel installed
wrong ( you would think this crew had never done a modular before),
Dad and I dug the ditches for phone and TV ourselves, we dug the
foundation drains ourselves, we chipped the street curb for drainage
ourselves, Dad finally leveled and graded all the sand for his own
driveway pour.... it just has seemed to go on and on and on.

And I am not complaining. It has been genuine fun to work with Dad on
many of these projects. Mom has been a different deal completely. She
never did understand the issues involved in getting power but she
complained over and over "we have paid these people money for years
and look what they do to us... you, Craig, go over and try that wall
switch, see, it does not work, I have tried all the switches in this
house and none of them work... why is that?"

I just bought a filter cartridge for Dad's whole house chlorine
filter to help get his water tasting better. I need to go up and help
him start hanging the lid in the garage so he can get some wall
shelves installed and sort the rest of the stuff. Now that lights are
on Linda and I need to go up and help get the computer and TV and
stereo set up and finish the kitchen and install the mirror on the
bureau in the bedroom and finish the house.

It is good to have them just 45 miles away.