Anyone seen anything of Dan (Grunt) lately

[michaeljohnson]

Has anyone seen anything of Dan-(Grunt )lately as he seems to be keeping a low profile for a number of weeks now with no posts or anything -as I always look forward to Dan's input as it is normally so interesting and informative.

Is he ok and in good health??

[grunt]

Michael: I'm doing fine, just sandbagging for a while. Still in harvest mode here, as we are getting a break in the fall weather. I'm babying a few of the beans, hoping to get more matured ones from a couple of scanty (so far) producers. Still no sign of ffffrrr... (Won't say it) in the forecast, so I'm hopeful.
It's been a whacky year here = everything from carrots to tobacco coming to maturity very late.
I planted 230+ tobacco plants, and as soon as I saw they were going to do well = I quit smoking. Totted it up, and I've smoked for 56 years. Never thought I would be able to quit, but it's been easy. I know we aren't supposed to do commercial plugs, but for something like this I will =In Canada the drug is called Champix, in the USA I believe it is called Chantix. There are possible side effects, none serious that I am aware of, but I experienced none of them. And no withdrawal symptoms. I was babysitting two teenaged nieces when I quit, and they didn't even notice I'd quit.
Built a greenhouse, which still needs interior work (shelving on the north wall).
A word to anyone who got Jumbo Pink Banana squash seeds from me = they were likely crossed = I got 3 distinct types from the three plants I had = 126 lbs worth.
I'm going to run on all night here if I don't sign off now. I'll start posting again soon,hopefully. I just have a few things on my plate right now, some of which need seeding.
Later!
Dan

[Penny]

Glad all is well, Dan.

[bluelacedredhead]

Congratulations on quitting smoking Dan. It's only tough if you don't really want to.
We quit Cold Turkey in 2003 and now I find myself wondering why people still smoke? It's expensive, it's stinks, it's terrible for your health and the health of those around you.

And you'll wonder where all this extra money came from that you can spend on seeds or postage or tweaking the new greenhouse!

Can't wait to see pics of your new addition.

Take care!

[michaeljohnson]

So glad you are ok, I quit smoking 25 years ago or more, as I suffered bad health because of it at the time, and the fear of dying overcame the need for smoking, the only problem was i gained weight rather rapidly afterwards, and took ages to get it off again,
here's the various complaints I suffered from smoking starting at seventeen until I was 34 at least,

Heart attack-twice, narrowing of the Arteries, palpitations, violent coughing first thing in the morning after the first couple of puffs, Pleurisy which was very painful with pains in my chest all the time, so that was the final straw all those years ago on my last heart attack-took me seven weeks to recover enough to even walk two or three yards, so that was it-I put down the tobacco and lighter and never smoked a darned cigarette again as I was too scared of dying, I had-had two warnings and survived, most people don't even get that, these days I am fully recovered and live a normal life again-albeit a bit overweight still.

[bluelacedredhead]

Yeah, the weight gain is what kept me smoking for a number of years.
Now I walk every day and exercise in front of the TV at night in pursuit of skinniness...

[ottawagardener]

A long time ago, I smoked. It took me just as long to quit as I the amount of time I smoked. Which wasn't very long compared to most people. I blame pubs in the UK (back when smoking was allowed) and the fact that I lived with smokers for my slow progress.

My mother's story probably is the most interesting though as she was a long time smoker and ER nurse. One day, at work, she suffered a mild heart attack. Instead of telling anyone, she took an anonymous strip (heart reading) to a doctor and asked what he thought. He told her to sit down, she was having a heart attack. I guess there was no fooling this doctor. She 'quit' after this though in reality, I think it took her a number of years to totally stop.

Glad to see you on the board. We are going to get the F word this weekend, looks like.

[bunkie]

hey dan, we're in the same situation. everything's really late, but coming on ike gangbusters! no sign of frrr.... here either! been extraordinarily warm here for fall...in the 80's!

congrats on the quitting smoking. glad it was easy for you. i quit 9 plus years ago and it was a real struggle. did it cold turkey. ed did the same 3 plus years ago. we're a little plumper, but feel much better! ;D

talked to kate yesterday. she hopes to be back on line this weekend. she's trying to quit too.

[michaeljohnson]

Personally-I don't think that pure tobacco on it's own is all that bad, what I think causes most of the health problems is all the additives and things they add whilst curing and preparing it, also any sprays they use on the plants whilst growing them.

There has also been issues with the cigarette hand rolling paper being laced with additives too.

You don't hear of too many people dying from smoking pure hand rolled Havana cigars-even if it smells like fusty cabbage when burning

[galina]

Michael, thankyou for asking.

Grunt, glad all is fine and good on you for giving up smoking. I had bad flu twenty odd years ago and was 'out of it' with high temperature for a week, after that it was just a case of not starting again which was easier, the physical addiction had gone away. But it was still quite difficult to overcome the psychological addiction, the playing with something, doing something with your hands, the joining in when others smoke etc. Initially I loved it when others blew smoke in my direction, but now I hate it and it makes me cough. Good on you, just be prepared for the non-physical addiction.

Eating more happened to me as well. S0mething in my hand and in my mouth... And heavy smoking 'costs' the body about 500 calories a day, that's the same as an hour's brisk exercise or almost a meal less per day. It is a big effect and like others, I am struggling too with excess, despite exercising.

Grunt and others, hope you still get some useful growing time. I still have squashes to ripen. It has been pretty cold here for over a month and my lovely Australian Butter have stayed orange sized for weeks now. We need a bit of sun urgently and a bit of warmth. The c pepo Thelma Sanders seem to cope better and whilst they have slowed down, they are at least still growing. Hope you can get some of these late beans to perform for you Grunt. Please post when you can - what Michael said about your posts is very true.

[grunt]

I would have expected the physical part of the psychological addiction to be stronger than what I have had so far. I don't seem to have the need to have a butt hanging out of my mouth, or anything to replace it. I do find myself getting ready to have a smoke with a cup of coffee on the deck after supper, but it's only a patterned response to a common situation, not a need or even desire. Just takes a second for the mind to kick in with "but I don't do that anymore", and it's gone.
Doing a mental tot up of the squash I have this year, I'll probably come in somewhere around 500 lbs = pie anyone? Just sampled an Oldtime WV Muskmelon = it's "Oh Wow!" good = I will have seeds available for it later. It's very late for here this year, but I think that is a function of the dysfunctional summer we had, and the late plantout. I seem to have 4 or more versions of Melon De Luneville this year = one looks like the correct one, and may have uncontaminated seed, because it was the first one to set fruit (but I'm not sure if the others had male blossoms out at the same time). It has orange flesh, as it should have. Three others do not have the correct appearance = all are an off white/yellow skinned, and shallow ribbed = one has white flesh and no netting, two have orange flesh, but only one of them has netting. I'm still in sample and seed mode, so there may be more variants yet = I had 6 plants, and got 18 fruit. The only one to outproduce Luneville (for numbers at least) was Tigger, with 15 fruit on two plants (that's all that survived my mistreatment). They're only baseball sized, and very late. I do have photos of everything, and will post some photos and the addresses for the rest in the near future. It's late now, and I have the still intact delusion that I may be able to catch up if I keep at it, so I'm going to sign off for the night.
Cheers
Dan

[johno]

I'm seeing my doctor tomorrow. One of my requests will be to get a script for Chantix again. Tried it a year ago and failed, but try, try again, right? It did reduce cravings significantly. Bravo, Dan!

[ozarklady]

Dan, is it possible that part of the reason for your success is: Homegrown tobacco?

I firmly believe that many of us are addicted to the additives in tobacco as much or even more than in the tobacco itself. And those chemicals are more deadly than the tobacco is.

So, stage one of quitting just might be growing your own, and first getting off of the other toxic chemicals in commercial cigarettes.

I once thought of quitting for a moment or two, then it passed.

But, I am in my second year of growing tobacco, and I still smoke commercial, so there has to be a change over time. And I hear of many folks going through a withdrawal while converting to homegrown. I will likely soon know, because converting to homegrown is about to happen.

If Chantix does not work for you, and you really want to quit. I suggest, organic, natural tobacco, either homegrown or bought. Then after you are off the other chemicals, try it again, if you really want to quit.

[grunt]

MaryAnn: I ran out of my homegrown before I quit smoking, and was back on store bought.
Johno: If you fall off the wagon while you are still taking the Chantix, just keep on taking the Chantix, and try to quit again. What it did for me was prevent me from feeling any "rush" from having a cigarette, even after not smoking for a week = which should have made me sit down. I can't say I noticed any difference between the effects of the homegrown and commercial, but the taste was "cleaner" with the homegrown.
And if I can quit, anyone can. Keep on trying. It is so worth the effort!

[wildseed57]

I had tried several times in 45 years to quit, but was under a lot of stress each time so I went back to smoking, but finally in 2004 when I became disabled and was no longer working I was able to quite and I have not picked up one since. I had also been rolling my own and smoking tobacco that was not loaded with chemicals that they add in along with dosing it with more nicotine, so when I quit it was easier and I was able to just stop. Now when I'm around some one thats smoking I have to get away from it, as the smell is just to smelly to be around, I can also smell it from a long way off.
Our garden went quickly down hill, and we haven't had the F word yet, normally we have tomatoes and snap beans up until the last part of October, but the summer was so hot and dry with killer humidity that it just took everything out of the vegetables that they pretty much had had it by the middle of September, I still have hot peppers growing in 5 gallon containers that are doing well and I will be overwintering some of them along with a late blooming eggplant that I will be trying to over winter to see if it will over winter. At the garden there are a few Okra plants that are still producing and a new plant called extra long dancing snake melon (Trichosanthes anguina) to see how well it would do, all summer long it bloomed and grew and even at one point looked like it would die, but it is now producing and it has three one foot long gourds or melons on it, they are used much like summer squash in curries, steamed or stir fried. They are fast running out of time so I plan to pick them tomorrow and do a mild curry stir fry.
Dan I'm glad that you are doing alright, i know it must have been a long summer for you.
George W.