Recognizing Grief Grieving for a lost loved one.

Today I have a guest writer, my favorite person in all the world, Kinsey Barnard. She made me say that!!!! I do like this article because it portends nothing but good things for moi. Let's here it for good grief!

I don’t have a lot of experience with grief. I have been fortunate in my life not to have lost very many people close to me. I have lost my parents and that’s it. I have no siblings and my closest and dearest friends are all alive and well. Losing my parents was hard, particularly my mother who was also my best friend. She spent ten long years fading away with Alzheimer’s and passed away August 7, 2002. She was 89. I still grieve for her but in a healthy way. Following her death I made many wonderful changes to my life. Not the least of which was moving to Montana.

I hadn’t lost anyone I loved for over ten years when on February 4, 2013 I lost my best friend and constant companion, Siberian Husky, LAKOTA SUNRISE aka Koty. Koty came to me at eight weeks old and we were constant companions from that time forward. Everything I experienced he experienced. He was by my side for nearly every single photograph I took during his lifetime. To say we were close would not nearly describe it, we were one. LAKOTA SUNRISE OCTOBER 1,1999 - FEBRUARY 4, 2013.

I knew, of course, that losing him would be painful but I was raised on a ranch with animals where life and death is a way of life. People used to tell me “You are really going to be messed up when Koty goes”. I always said “Yes, it will be difficult but I’ll be fine”.

Thirteen months later and I just realized I haven’t been fine at all. I really did get “messed up” and didn’t even recognize it. Sure, I got all teary eyed when I thought of Koty or saw his photograph but that was to be expected. I thought I was coping just fine. What I didn’t see  were lifestyle changes that were not healthy. Before Koty died I was nearly always on an endorphin high. I was so happy all the time I’m sure some people found me quite annoying. I was so bubbly I sometimes annoyed myself.

I just now realized I haven’t been myself at all. For example; I took not one trip in Clementine, the RV, in 2013. Koty and I customarily took several trips each year, a couple of them six months in duration. We hiked nearly every single day unless the weather was too harsh. By my guesstimate, we hiked at least 1,000 miles every year. This past year I am lucky if I hiked 100. That’s probably a bit of an exaggeration but not by much. Since I take the most of my photographs whilst hiking, my photography suffered as well.

This winter I declared the weather too harsh a majority of the time preferring instead to lie on the couch, by the fire, reading a book (Love that Kindle) and eating trail mix. Hey, if I wasn’t on the trail I could at least eat like it.  I think I need not explain how that worked out. To put the cherry on top, I qualified for Medicare in January. There may be a little grieving for my mortality going on as well. I mean, 65?! There must be some mistake. Am I really that close to the end of my runway? Say it isn’t so!

Not long after Lakota crossed over that Rainbow Bridge I did find a replacement companion. I knew there could never be another Siberian for me. Lakota was one in a million. I chose instead a breed I grew up with on the family ranch, an Australian Shepard. Her name is MOLLY MONTANA She is Montana born and bred.

Molly is as bright as a penny and takes the concept of “high energy” dog to a new level. She is also quite sensitive and perceptive. I believe she is aware that she has not been getting the best of me. We’re going to fix that. Lakota was my role model for joie de vivre. The job now falls to Molly. She is the perfect successor and with each passing day we grow closer. The day is sure to  come when we too are one.

I’m a big fan of the idea that you can’t fix a thing until you recognize it’s broken. And, although I don’t see myself as broken, I certainly own up to being in need of some repair. If my runway is getting short, and it is, I’m getting busy. I’m climbing back in the saddle so to speak. I’m working out in the gym doing intense aerobics for 50 minutes four to five times a week and walking 45 minutes to an hour everyday. In addition to the walks Molly is getting twenty minute Frisbee tosses two to three times per day for her aerobics. When the weather breaks we’ll be getting our exercise on the trail again.

I’ve been on this new regimen ten days now and already feel one hundred percent better. There are many wonderful things that come from exercise, not the least of which is; the more you do the more you want to do. Bring on those endorphin highs! We’re planning a photo safari for this spring, that is if spring ever gets here, it’s been pretty wonky so far. Just contemplating it is getting me energized. I’m thinking St. Mary’s. It’s a spring favorite.

Molly & me (not grammatically correct but I like the sound of it) are ramping up for a wonderful year. As they say, better late than never. Time’s awastin’.

WARNING: If you should run into us on the trail or around the Flathead Valley be very careful. We could accidentally bowl you right over with our irrational exuberance!

Be sure and check out Kinsey's new blog The Liberated Photographer.

©Kinsey Barnard

So there you have it. Looks like my spring and summer are going to be the bomb! I'm going to make sure she keeps her exercise routine on schedule and up to date. Whee, I can't wait for my first RV trip!

Molly Montana

GET A DOG, YOU'LL LIVE LONGER

Kinsey subscribes to this health letter written by Dr. Marco Micozzi. She thinks he has some valuable ideas about health that are not mainstream. Today she got the below message about the health effects of owning a dog. Wowzer, I knew I was important but I may be more important than I thought. Kinsey and I have an awful lot of fun and she seems very happy most all the time. I think it must be me!

Micozzi doesn't mention it but I'll bet all that adrenaline I get pulsing through Kinsey's veins when I defy her is good too! Keeps her on the ball!

Read Micozzi's message below:

"The American Heart Association (AHA) just reported that dog owners appear to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease. But remember, scientists want to know how this works. Not just that it does work.

Why do dog owners reap such terrific health benefits?

Well, the answer may have to do with how dogs evolved. Dogs have some relatively unique characteristics that helped them become "man's best friend."

As members of the Canis familiaris species, they descended directly from wolves (Canis lupus). And wolves are unique because they are social carnivores at the top of the food chain.

Typically, animals who occupy the top of the food chain--like bears or big cats--are solitary hunters. It takes a lot of territory to provide enough food to support such large animals.

But wolves are different.

They live and hunt in packs. And that kind of cooperative effort makes them closer to humans than any other large, "top-of-the food-chain" animal. And it may help explain why early humans began living and hunting with semi-domesticated wolves. Eventually, some of these wolves evolved into domesticated dogs.

This "familiar" relationship with Canis familiaris--first forged thousands of years ago--continues to this day. Russian research shows that among all animals, only dogs will follow a human's gaze. Or follow where a human is pointing.

Plus, those who work in natural medicine have known of the health benefits of owning dogs for a long time. We even included a chapter on "Animal-Assisted Therapy" in my 2005 textbook on complementary/alternative therapies for cardiovascular disease with Drs. Bill Frishman and Mike Weintraub at New York Medical College.

And as I said earlier, the AHA just issued a report that discovered dog owners appear to benefit from a reduced risk of heart disease.

Of course, you may assume this happens because dog owners go for long walks with their dogs.

Indeed, as I told you yesterday, even short, 15-minute walks after dinner lowers your risk of developing diabetes. But very few people meet their exercising goals. So, it is good health advice to get a dog--for the exercise benefits alone.

But there is more to it than that.

According to the AHA, dog ownership has many psychological and sociological benefits. Just the presence of a dog in your home appears to help lower stress and reduce your heart rate.

Several other studies show that dogs decrease the body's reaction to stress. Dog owners appear have lower heart rates, lower blood pressure, and fewer adrenalin-like hormones. Dog owners also have modestly lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Earlier studies even showed that having a dog increases survival rates in those who actually suffer heart attacks.

In one controlled clinical study, 50 stockbrokers began taking medication to control their high blood pressure. Half of them also adopted a dog. Six months later, the dog owners were markedly calmer under stressful situations.

But stockbrokers and other big city dwellers beware. The researchers found a big difference between dog owners who walked their own dogs versus those who paid others to walk them.

Is it really just the exercise?

The CDC says that pet owners are just as likely to be overweight as people without pets.

No matter what, there are always good reasons to have a dog.

As Webb Pierce sang, "I'm walking the dog, and I'm never blue; I'm walking the dog, I ain't thinkin' bout you."

©Marco Micozzi, MD

EXERCISE, THE ELIXIR OF LIFE

As mentioned in my previous post EIGHT DAYS IN THE FLATHEAD Koty and I just returned from eight glorious days in the Flathead. Our summer has been pretty much ruined by my stupid decision to use Home Depot for my kitchen remodel. It was a worse nightmare than I could have ever imagined. Every conceivable thing that could go wrong, went wrong. Things like: 12 of 17 cabinets had to be rejected and re-manufactured; I had no water in my kitchen for two months; a remodel that should have taken a few weeks took four months. I could go on and on and one day I will probably tell the whole bloody tale but that's not what this article is about.

 Because of the above I was in a state of complete flux. I am creature of habit and when my world is turned upside down I get off balance. Unfortunately, what happens to me happens to Koty. Because I was constantly waiting around for people to come about the kitchen I was tied to the house. When I wasn't tied to the house I didn't feel like doing what Koty and I love the most, hiking. Prior to our trip Lakota was really starting to slow down and it pained me greatly to watch. I was worried that he would not even be able to make it in and out of Clementine (our RV). And sure enough when we got set up down in the Flathead he struggled with the steps. It broke my heart.

 My mission for this trip was to get in as much hiking and walking as Koty could handle. So we hiked everyday and took a walk in the evening. Each day I watched as Lakota got seemingly stronger. Until, by the time we left for home, he had actually gotten a little of the spring back in his gait. The effects of getting a good, daily dose of exercise was nothing short of miraculous. I came to realize that I had been literally killing my dog by not keeping to our normal active lifestyle. I hadn't been doing my own health any favors either. I lost weight from the kitchen debacle but it wasn't a healthy loss.

 I continue to give Koty Supraglan and flaxseed hulls daily. I can't say that these remedies are any kind of cure. Koty is still losing his hair. I suspect if he lives long enough he may end up hairless. He still drinks copious amounts of water and piddles in kind. His belly is bloated, his liver enlarged and his appetite insatiable. But, what I think these remedies may be doing is slowing the effects of these symptoms and offering him an extended happy period of time.

The point I would like to make here is how important exercise is not only for your pet but for its owner. Nothing I have tried to help Koty with is Cushing's has had a greater effect on his health than exercise. Whether your dog is sick or not take him/her for a walk everyday. The benefits for your pet as well as for yourself will be immeasurable.  You will most certainly have a longer, happier life together.

Koty will be 13 on October first. The average lifespan of a husky is thought to be 12 to 15 years. Going forward I will consider each day of quality life together as a supreme gift. I will see to it that Koty gets the most effective medicine available every single day, exercise!

Koty exploring Lion Lake Sept. 2012

©Kinsey Barnard

Women With High Cholesterol Live Longer

Today I read with interest this little article about cholesterol and women. It seems now some researchers think high cholesterol might be a good thing in women. I had to laugh. I am not a medical professional but I do have a head on my shoulders and this reminds me of the great egg scare. For a while there they told us eating eggs would kill us, as I recall because they were chock full of cholesterol. They'd rather have you eating Pop Tarts for breakfast! I never quit eating my five or six eggs per week and I'm glad I didn't because, Happy Daze, "they" changed their mind. Now "they" think eggs are a wonderful food.

Twenty five years ago when I was an executive in a high stress job I had a no deductible health plan and I could choose any doctor in San Francisco I wanted. Naturally, I went with the the best money could buy. Hey, it wasn't my money and I hadn't yet become the sceptic that I am today. During one of my annual physicals it was discovered that I had elevated cholesterol. I don't recall exactly what it was but I think it was around 265. They hadn't come up with "good" cholesterol yet so the news was all bad.

Right away they wanted me to go on some drug. I wasn't quite as leery of establishment medicine in those days but I was already not a fan of pharmaceuticals. I declined the offer of drugs and went on my way. It was not long after the high cholesterol discovery that I concluded, despite the money and perks, I wasn't cut out to be a shark. As they say at the ranch "The juice wasn't worth the squeeze". I had always told my colleague's what I really wanted to do was live in the wood on roots and berries. They laughed. They thought I was kidding and were in complete disbelief when I simply up and quit.

I didn't get to the woods right away. I started a little boutique produce company near Monterey. It was something I had always wanted to do. It was great fun and much less stressful. Then I had to take care of both my parents as they transitioned from this mortal plain. I finally achieved my roots and berries goal around ten years ago.

Throughout these years I have wondered about my cholesterol levels but not enough to have it checked. I haven't been to a doctor in over twenty years. Actually, I have to amend that statement. I do get tested for glaucoma every year or two because my mother had it and I do believe that genetics can cause a tendency. My cholesterol level may be high or it may not be. It doesn't matter one way or another to me. I am much more afraid of the statin drugs physicians and pharmaceutical companies have been pushing down peoples gullets. I wouldn't be surprised if statin drugs like Lipitor haven't made more people sick than cholesterol.

For what it's worth I believe your best defense against disease is adopting a "moderation in all things" approach. I don't deny myself anything but I don't make a pig of myself either. I prefer to take responsibility for my health. It takes a little more effort than chasing after some magic bullet pharmaceutical. But I really think those magic bullets are more likely to make you sick or even kill you.

My prescription for good health is to get regular exercise, eat sensibly, get at least eight hours of sleep and above all else reduce stress in your life. Of those four things reducing stress is probably the most difficult to achieve but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that if you can master your mind you will be happier and healthier for it.


Join me on Facebook. No lectures just photography.

©Kinsey Barnard

My Deductions About Cancer

Since Steve Jobs death due to pancreatic cancer there has been much written about his choice of treatment. It seems he eschewed all traditional therapies including surgery. He later said he had made a mistake not having surgery earlier.  I think it was a mistake too.

All the talk got me to thinking about cancer. My father was the poster boy for cancer. He had his first cancer in 1959 at the age of forty-six. He was diagnosed with a sarcoma in his upper thigh. There were not a lot of therapies available in 1959 so the consensus of medical opinion was to chop his leg off. That was not an acceptable option for my father so he told the doctors to just cut out the cancer and he would take whatever came with that decision. Over the next thirty-seven years he had two more rounds with cancer, prostate and lung, before he finally died of liver cancer in 1996. In no case did he have chemotherapy or radiation. He did have surgery where surgery was viable.

The observation that I make is that he lived thirty-seven years as a happy and seemingly healthy man. When the end came it came swiftly. He was diagnosed with liver cancer and given six months to live. In exactly six months he was gone having suffered only a couple of weeks at the end.

My father’s choices were intuitive. He acted on instinct. He didn’t let so-called “experts” tell him what to do. He listened to their recommendations and made his own decisions. He didn’t know anything about alternative therapies. Had he, he might have done even better. Still I think eighty-three would be considered by most a pretty long life. He was certainly happy with it.

When one is genetically linked to another with such a history you can’t help but wonder how it might manifest in your life. I concluded that I may well get cancer but that I have absolutely no expectation that I ever will.

The one thing my father couldn’t do was get control of his mind. My father was a very stressed out fellow. It didn’t have to do with the cancer. As near as I could tell he was just an angry man. Why I couldn’t say but he was given to blowing his top over the silliest things and I remember as a child thinking he was going to give himself a heart attack. Instead I think he gave himself cancer.

Over my life I have come to believe that stress is the root cause of ALL disease. It compromises the immune system and lets all kinds of attackers have their sway. If you watched the docudrama Pirates of the Silicon Valley, and it bears any resemblance to reality, you can quickly determine that Steve Jobs was a very uptight and driven man.

I think Jobs was on the right track with alternative therapies and it would appear that he lived much longer than the norm for one with pancreatic cancer. I bet he would have lived even longer had he had the surgery straight away. I don’t know much about what the alternatives are because I don’t really pay any attention. It seems a waste of time if you don’t have any particular need to know and may never need to know. I do believe that alternative remedies are more likely to help and less likely to harm than pharmaceuticals. And I would certainly educate myself should the need arise.

I’m fairly certain if I ever do need to confront cancer I’ll opt for surgery if it’s an option and then seek out alternative panaceas. I will never ever let anyone abuse my body with chemotherapy. I believe chemotherapy kills more people than cancer. And, worse, completely ruins whatever time the person has left. Cancer is a very big moneymaker for establishment medical practitioners and big pharmaceuticals. So, if you want to help line their pockets let them do your thinking for you. Keep in mind, however,  there is a big price to be paid for not taking responsibility for your self.

But, I think there is way too much attention given to cures and not nearly enough to prevention. On the ranch we would say it is liken to closing the barn door after the horse has got loose. Wouldn’t it be much better not to get the damned stuff in the first place? I truly believe everyone has the power to choose health over sickness. It all starts with your mind and your thoughts. If you can find ways to reduce stress in your life you will be taking a huge step. If you can become aware of your thoughts and choose to rid yourself of the non-productive ones you it will be making your body happier and healthier. Happy and healthy cannot co-exist with sickness.

Of course diet and exercises are very important for good health but I think reducing stress should be your number one mission. I know reducing stress isn’t easy. I myself took the cowards’ way out. I bought a ranch in the middle of the Montana wilderness and live happy as a clam with just my pal Lakota. Simply looking out the window at the gorgeous views can reduce any stress that finds its way into my sanctuary. But, for those of you who can’t do what I did I suggest you forget studying about alternative therapies, unless you already have something, and put your energies into studying and practicing ways to reduce stress in your life. The mind is a powerful thing and it will manifest that which it ponders. It’s your choice.


If you already have cancer reducing stress can still be a major help.  I strongly recommend you get this rubbish about "fighting" cancer right out of your head. The very word is chock full of stressors. Don't fight cancer work with it. Accept it is with you and invite it to leave.

“As you think, so your shall be” ---   Kinsey Barnard

If you have a minute head over to my Facebook Page  I'm focusing on Fall colors in Montana and the colors are brilliant. Turning your attention to things of beauty is a great way to reduce stress. 

©Kinsey Barnard

Just Playing Around

Sunday July 24, 2011

Been out chopping wood all morning. Quite the aerobic workout that. And, I'm so very far behind because of the solar project having taken up much time. The other problem is most of my wood is spruce and it is the nastiest wood in the world to split and I do it with a maul. Whack! Whack! Whack! When I get a chance to split some fir or larch it's like heaven.

Right now the solar array is putting out a great amount of power so I'm washing and drying. Dryers take an inordinate amount of watts, around 4,500. When I hooked the system up my local electric co-op didn't have the correct meter necessary for me to switch over to net metering so their getting my watts for free! I'm gonna use all the power Mother Nature can give me until they get that meter on! Buggers!

I'm really beyond pleased with what the system is putting out. But, there is so much to learn and it will take time.

Meanwhile, I BBQ a lovely New York steak and play. Yes, I eat meat. No, I don't like what has happened to the slaughter system.  I do believe it has become mercenary and inhumane. But, I believe we evolved as meat eaters. I crave meat. I eat meat because that's what my body asks for. I only eat it when it is asked for. I always listen to my body. Maybe that's why I have never been in a hospital and have never taken any pharmaceutical drugs?

And, BTW, if you are interested in really good beef, try Costco. Since it's tough to find a butcher anymore they are they best alternative. The trick is to let it age in your refrigerator before cooking or freezing.

Hope your day is as good as mine!

©Kinsey Barnard