Day 82... Pesto control.

Hi. A few nights ago I had the coolest dream. I dreamt that I stumbled upon several baby rattler snakes, curled up in neat little bundles everywhere on a sandy and gravely drive. They had a patterning of various greens and yellows with a small rattle at the end of their tails. I wanted to catch some of them if I could, and I was afraid about not being able to choose which one to catch, or not being able to catch enough of them, or not having the traditional snake handlers stick because they were so small. A lot of thoughts went through my head. I thought they looked so beautiful, they looked like fine jewelry, and I wanted to have at least one. Finally I picked one to catch but before I had a chance it came after me quickly, and I suddenly found myself jumping in bed and pulling the covers over my body for safety. The snake, lost now, had somehow entered the bed and placed a bite on the inside of my left upper thigh and though the pain was less than a mosquito bite I was very much afraid of the venom I may have received. I had trouble finding the bite. Then I found it. It was a tiny wound that produced a yellow crust. I felt it wasn't a good situation to be in, but it was more manageable than I thought. I had some trouble getting the help I needed and I was beginning to feel like doing nothing about it until the problem went away. Then I woke up. What a weird dream.

The snake over to my left is a fat old copperhead seen at the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach. That snake did strike at me, but at a safe distance. He was aggressive. He was on the path and I wanted to make sure I could go around it without being bitten, so I dismounted from my bike and approached it with a stick to see if he could move a little out of the way. Well, he took a strike at me and then went into the tall grass. Pretty exciting. They have a lot of snakes there -- mostly venomous. I wanted to go there this weekend, but I was too busy, and I stayed at home. Maybe that is why I had the dream. I made up for it by being an overzealous cook this weekend and dispatched with a huge bundle of basil and made cheese-free pesto, which I proceeded to eat with slices of cocktail bread (which was up for clearance at the supermarket). I had two loaves of the stuff, a head of garlic, at least a full cup of olive oil and basil. Lots and lots of basil. I nearly killed myself the all natural way -- using organic all natural ingredients. I even had a loaf of olive bread too, with about two pounds of tomatoes. I was really submersed in my addiction.

The basil started to go bad almost immediately which is why I ate it inthe first place. It started to go bad just after I brought it home from an organic farmer's market. I also had about five pounds of tomatoes, and some sweet red peppers too. All this and about a head of garlic. Needless to say I skipped the Mongolian barbecue this weekend. But I did have awful Indian food. I expected them to have lentils on the buffet and they did not. I ate a lot of potatoes that day. Potatoes, olive oil and bread. Not good.

Yesterday at the health club I nearly died trying to do my step intervals class. And then I did step aerobics too! Nearly died out there. I attribute it to eating badly. I wanted to get rid of the remaining stuff I had in my cupboards -- just like I did last week. Well, it's all gone. I just have a half quart of soy milk. Today I am physically sore and beat. But here's something I found on the web that was interesting. The other day I made a reference to Bear Grylls on this blog, and it's interesting to note that he has posted some information about his personal health and nutrition on his website. If you look Bear Grylls up on the web you can find it. Eventually I would like to be more like him, and I'd like to follow his strategy for health and fitness as well. He is not exactly a vegetarian, but does promote eating as little of animal products as possible. And he exercises regularly.

Got to go for now. Talk to you soon.