What's the square root of hemoglobin?

In honor of Square Root Day, I donated blood today.

My blog is good for something, because I looked up the last time I donated. July 17, 2008. I'm up to 35 donations or 4.375 gallons, now. It will be YEARS before I hit 5 at this rate.

I would donate far more frequently if they wouldn't keep deferring me because they say I don't have enough iron. Although, no, they didn't defer me all seven months. I've managed to donate 35 times in spite of low hematocrit and other things. Other things such as: (Kia will remember this, and thanks Mr Farty for reminding me) The second or third time I donated, the needle hurt a lot. Then my mouth went very, very dry and I started feeling queasy. I could feel the blood draining out of my body.

"Does anyone ever throw up while doing this?"

Every phlebotomist in the place was suddenly looming over me holding a waste paper basket. I leaned over and threw up, managing to miss every single one. The needle was immediately whipped out of my arm, my chair was tipped back so my head was lower than my feet, and a cold compress placed on my head while I croaked, "I'm sorry." over and over. They wouldn't let me finish donating, even though I asked....

I've made sure I'm completely hydrated before going in ever since.

My father was the one who got me into it, and took me to the Indiana Blood Center the first few times about 13 years ago. He's donated gallons and gallons over the years, but he is now ineligible. His cumulative visits to England between 1980 and 1999 added up to more than three months, so his blood isn't considered "safe" anymore. Those darn mad cows over there. (Photo poached from Mr Farty)

It's definitely worth doing, though. There is never enough blood. Depending on the phlebotomist, most of the time the needle doesn't really hurt at all. And don't let one or two bad experiences stop you. It took three before my mother finally gave up!

First harvest

My excuse for not posting for a couple of weeks? I've just started a new job.

Warning: Boring garden post. These were taken a couple of weeks ago, and I just got up the energy to download them. Bill and I grow three tomato plants in pots each year. This year we are growing Jetsetter and two heirlooms - Bull's Heart, and Tangerine. The Jetsetters are the smaller round red ones. They didn't jetset very well this year and were beaten by the Bull's Heart by several days. The Tangerine ones are a big orange (surprise!) beefsteak tomato, and hadn't ripened yet. Called Bull's Heart for obvious reasons:

Even when you get my hand in the photo it doesn't really show how big this Bull's Heart really was. I could barely hold it with one hand - big tomato, small hand.These were all either eaten or canned.

Our basil plant bolted and tried to take over the garden this year, too. Luckily it's planted in a pot That's a tomato plant behind it.The flowers do attract a lot of bees to the patio, which makes me nervous whenever I barbecue. For the bees' sakes, not mine....

Heilan Coos

My brother has a new herd of these near him in Virginia.

He says either they're Highland cows or someone has taken some giant brown sheepdogs and glued horns on their heads.

When we were in SCOTLAND last October, I kept my eye out, but never saw ANY Heilan coos. I thought I saw a herd way in the distance once, but then I thought I saw one in Devon, too, which isn't really known for Highland cattle. South Devon and Devon cattle, yes, which are brown, but not shaggy and much bigger. Of course, the farthest we got into the Scottish Highlands was Stirling, which could have been part of the problem. And I was concentrating on driving. Normally I don't concentrate quite that hard when I'm driving (aren't you glad you don't live near me?), but driving on the other side of the road takes a lot of concentration.

Interestingly, this isn't the only herd of Highland cattle near him.