The Suburban Jungle

In America, the whitetail deer is ubiquitous in cities and countrysides. It's part of our heritage. Many people like to watch deer, feed them, and decorate with them.

We are no exception. Ever since we became home owners, we have been involved with deer. Mostly because they jump into our garden and eat all of our trees. But...despite their tree chomping ways, they are still gorgeous to look at. They are powerful, silent, and graceful.
There is something wonderful about bringing nature into your home. We decorate with plants and flowers, but started branching out into more natural and rustic items. Birch branches, petrified wood, antler sheds, rocks and stones, and even fossils. 
Something about incorporating nature just makes us feel more c alm. Not as calm as spending time in the forest or walking through garden trails, but calmer.  It's also unique. It's not often you find pieces of nature at the store. You have to hunt for them, or find them from someone else who collected …

Once upon a time, my children were in swimming lessons. Many times per week, I would take them to the pool, watch their lessons, wash them off in the communal showers, help them get dressed, then race back home to make dinner. This went on for years until they could wash and dress themselves.
Why the stupid intro? Because I am convinced that walking barefoot around that pool (as was required) and into those wet community showers caused a wart to grow on the bottom of my foot. It was a hard, flat plantar wart.

Sadly, I never photographed that wart. It was humongous. Big, ugly, and painful. I treated it for years with over the counter wart medicines. I tried to freeze it off, burn it off, cut it off.

Nothing.

This went on for years. I kind of just gave up and realized I would have this wart forever. I was greatful it wasn't spreading and new ones weren't popping up. I became leary of public pools/showers - having wet feet.

One of our cats had really dry beans. That's not the …

How can I prevent Alzheimer's Disease  Alzheimer's disease destroys lives. My father was taken by the disease at the age of 55. He died from the disease at 62. For a long time, we didn't know what was happening to him. The doctor's said he was fine, but they were wrong We were never fully sure until the autopsy, which confirmed he had Alzheimer's disease. Because of our experience, we are motivated to get to the bottom of Alzheimer's. Why does it happen? How can we prevent it? 
The medical community was of limited help. They knew how to keep our dad from harming himself and how to keep him comfortable when he was dying - but that's it. They could not stop it. They could not make his life better. They could only keep him alive and sedated. 
We started researching. There is a lot of information out there, but none of it is concise. None of it is written for regular people (with the exception of alzforum.org) and a lot of it is biased toward drug discovery.
Ever si…