My First DBG Roadrunner Spotted in 2011

On Saturday morning, after visiting the Central Phoenix Farmer's Market, I stopped by the Desert Botanical Garden to renew our memberships.  I was delighted to spot my first roadrunner of the year, as he was hunting for lizards in the open prairie on the south east side of the garden.  He was nearly as big as a 2 year old Tom Turkey, but darted rapidly among the cacti, sage, mesquite, rocks, and desert landscape. 

I remained on the walking path and did not venture out into the prairie, as a good DBG visitor always should.  There was a saguaro cactus and a creosote bush blocking my view, so I had to push my camera's zoom to the limits. Look below, and see if you can "find Waldo" hidden in the landscape.  =)

Approaching the weaponized cholla

Darting back to the left.

Above cholla, behind mesquite. Fish-hook barrel cactus in the foreground.

It was wonderful to watch the big bird run, stalk, raise and lower it's tail feathers, dart again... hungrily looking for a lizard or rodent to have for brunch.

I ran into an elderly DBG patron who said he visits the garden every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, and he told me there were "about 5" roadrunners in the garden.  This was the first one I'd seen in the garden since 2007, when Dr Desert Flower and I were eating at the Terrace Cafe, when a roadrunner dove towards the base of a refuse dumpster at the far edge of the terrace, and HOPPED back up, with a rat in it's saws.  I related this story to the older patron, and he said "yes, the roadrunners beat their pray against a rock to kill them, and then swallow them whole!  I looked at him incredulously.  "That rat was at least 1/2 the size of the road runner" I told him.  Not being one to be upstaged by a young whipper snapper like me (I was even wearing dungarees!) he told me he once saw a barn own swallow an entire rabbit, whole, while baby barn owls stood next to their parent (for scale reference).  He said he got a picture of the rabbit 1/2 way down, and then another picture of Just the Feet sticking out of the owl's mouth.  He added "like a heron with a skinny neck that eats large fish, these raptors don't care how big their prey is, they're determined to swallow it regardless." 

DBG in December

I spent the better part of 3 hours walking around the Desert Botanical garden on Saturday - while Dr Desert Flower was busy aloquoting in her lab.  The cacti, succulents, wild flowers, birds, weather, sparsity of garden visitors (they were getting ready for Luminaria and I was one of the last people they let in that morning) were amazing.  I even saw a road runner t one point near the upper hill trail, though the great horned owl who rests in the cotton woods near the riparian area was hiding elsewhere.  This kind of "reset" I find quite tranquil, calming, and helps to reset the stresses that build up through the work week. 

Even without the Chihuly glass exhibit installed this year, the garden is still flourishing.  The curved bill thrashers, mocking birds, and verdins are out in full force.  Occasional hummingbirds fly sorties.  I saw dozens of butterflies as well.  And the bees...  refreshingly, on nearly every flowering plant, there were no shortage of bees. 

Bottle brush plant that was irresistible to the bees.

I did forget to take some water with me, and although the DBG has many water fountains located throughout the various trails, I've found that if it is not in my hand, or strapped to my waist or back, I typically don't partake of the water.  When you come to Phoenix, and we go visit the DBG, we'll take water with us, for the walk around the garden, and in the cooler in the car when the tour is done.

Boyce Thompson Beauty

Dr Desert Flower and I spent last Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum on the farrrrrr east side of Phoenix near Superior AZ (links here and here). 75 degree weather, 10% RH, very light 5 mph intermittent gentle breezes. It's a 2 hour drive out to Superior from the West side of Phoenix, but it was worth the trip.

Boyce Thompson has a wide variety of native and imported plants, and many trails throughout the grounds, similar to the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden that I've mentioned here previously. But unlike the DBG, Boyce Thompson has elevated mountain-side trails, a dynamic riparian area, and a much more varied landscape than the DBG. Paths are wide enough to get around those who are semi-ambulatory. It was a lovely hike, and quite an interesting visit. It's sort of DBG-lite, but a different flavor and much more diverse venue.

If you live on the east side of Phoenix, you should drive the hour trip down US60 to this oasis and soak in the beauty.

Flowering Rosemary, DBG

I stumbled upon this LARGE BUSH of rosemary at the Desert Botanical Garden yesterday, after having lunch with Dr Desert Flower.

I had no idea rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) flowered, as the large bush of it we have in our front courtyard has never flowered before, but here this 5 foot high, by 8 feet wide shrub was, covered in deliciously fragrant blooms, attracting myriad honey bees and butterflies, right alongside the Native People's trail at the DBG.  I was transfixed for a good 10 minutes, watching this, drinking it in, bathed in the aroma. 

It was a wonderful respite in the middle of a +4 million person metropolis in December.  October through April are really the "tourist brochure" months here, when the temperatures stay below 100F, the humidity remains typically below 20% RH - as it does all year, except during monsoons when it shoots up to 50% or so for a few hours and everyone complains about how "sticky" it is.  Pollinating insects and birds are active all year long, and I'd say the "majority" of plant species appear to flower in the "below 100" months, when they are not fighting for their very survival to keep from being baked in the unrelenting inferno of the 115F summers.

I sure am glad there's no "limit" to the number of times one can visit the DBG after becoming a member there.  'Membership does have it's privileges' =)

Cork & Cactus vs The Big Pour

For those of you with small children, and without baby sitters, stop reading this post now. It will only depress you. If you are like Dr. Desert Flower and I, without small children, and ambulatory enough to get out and enjoy happenings around Phoenix, then please read on.

Last Friday night, was the Annual Cork & Cactus wine tasting at the Desert Botanical Garden here in Phoenix. This was the third consecutive year that Dr. Desert Flower and I attended. Earlier years, it was held in September, when the temperatures were still over 100F. This year, DBG staff decided to move C&C out into the garden itself and combined it with the Chiles & Chocolate tasting as well. At first glance, this sounded like a good idea - however, in reality it was very poorly executed. Consider the following points:
- The DBG paths are not extra wide, not fully paved, and often are gravel
- Having bright temporary installation flood lights elevated to only 8 to 10 feet means they are glaring into pedestrian eyes, making reading the Wine Tasting List impossible.
- Waiting in line for 20 minutes to get a 6 inch diameter plate of appetizers from 2 very small, poorly located buffets, is maddening
- having wait staff wade through a prickly cactus garden to refill the food buffet is a disaster waiting to happen
- reducing the dessert table down from a pool-table sized Mayan pyramid of delicious chocolate and pastry decadence in previous years to one small 3 foot long, one sided table of a few dessert treats this year (with another 10 minute queue to access the poorly lit table) is also frustrating

Once the retired, semi-ambulatory (ie walkers, canes, and low inertia) retirees LEFT after the first hour, and other younger attendees had enough and left in frustration, the garden was actually passable, wine tasting table queues were one or 2 persons deep, and the setup actually flowed better. The tiny dessert buffet was decimated. The Chiles & Chocolate booths were approachable. The Dziuk family had a savory honey stand (Absolutely Delightful Local AZ Honey) where we picked up a 1 lb bottle of Mesquite honey. We met Julia Baker who had amazing chocolate creations that were heavenly. We purchased a bag of organic chocolates from The Wei of Chocolate (Daily Sensual Love, Daily Gratitude, Daily Love mmmmm). The Chiles & Chocolate exhibit exceeded expectations.

The Cork & Cactus wine tasting fell Far Short. The Valley Ho held a NPR sponsored Wine Tasting the same night. Dr Desert Flower and I believe that most of the delicious wines that C&C had last year migrated to Valley Ho this year. The left overs, were a lack-luster motley crew of small distributors who did not know the wines they poured, were unfamiliar with the vineyards, did not know how to pour (stop pressing your bottle to my glass's edge, I don't want Hepatitis or to taste bottle dust thank you!), or were 'filling in for my brother' as several table staffers declared. Some of the local wines (AZ, NM) were grape juice, kool-aid, or just plain nasty. We found none of them worth buying and went home without purchasing a single bottle. In years past, we went home with cases of reds, whites, ports, and bubbly. Not worth the $75 entry fee.

CONTRAST this to Saturday Night:

Saturday night, in Scottsdale, Draft Magazine hosted "The Big Pour". I was initially skeptical of "The Big Pour" as I am not a huge fan of micro-brewed beers, but the band Everclear was playing, and Dr Desert Flower loves their songs, and for $35 you got to hear the concert AND get "10 pours" - basically 4 ounce plastic glasses, that got checked off on your "passport" that you got when entering the "beer garden". It was held on the pedestrian bridge over the Scottsdale Canal (misnomer "Scottsdale Water Front" - it's an agricultural irrigation canal). There were Polish, Czech, Russian, Mexican, Arizonian, Belgian, German, Dutch, Japanese, and various American beers. There were drunken frat boys, mis-guided cougar hunters (Dr Desert Flower was approached when I was busy getting a beer), and beer enthusiasts of various ages there enjoying the festivities. Everclear played a 75 minute set, and a 3 song encore - no one under 30 appeared to be before the stage in the crowd and only those of us born prior to 1980 appeared to be paying attention to the concert after 9am. There was ample cannabis smoke wafting through the crowd as well. A fun time was had, and it was Definitely worth the $35 entry fee.

DBG Monarchs - Fall 2011

This last weekend marked the end of the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden's Monarch exhibit.  I was blessed to be able to visit it on the 17th of November, at 9:32am.   Why 9:32am?  Well, the exhibit opened at 9:30, and by 10, there were dozens of people in the small greenhouse-like enclosure where they house the butterflies.  At 9:32am, the guides outnumbered the photographers (myself included in the latter).  Below, are several of the better shots I was able to capture.

The monarchs taste with their feet, while both smelling and balancing / flight navigation with their antennae.  If an antennae gets broken / damaged, they fly around in circles, until they starve.

The males have more prominent spots"on the hind wings near the abdomen.

I've got lantana growing in my backyard as well. Irresistible stuff for my flighted friends.

The DBG guides told me that the monarchs mark the milkweed plants on which they are born, and 4 or 5 generations later (after a Canadian migration), if they are the migrating variety, their descendants will return to the exact same milkweed plant to feast and lay their eggs as well.  Pretty remarkable stuff.  I am glad I have a milk weed in my front yard.

Disappointing Spanish Chorizo Stuffed Quail

Last week, I took dinner in downtown Greenville SC with my manager while I was in town visiting the corporate mother ship.  The restaurant was called "Green", locally in what used to be the Paris Cafe on Main Street, had a "special" that wasn't on the menu:  Spanish Chorizo Stuffed Quail.  This had both the word Chorizo and Quail, and I was instantly sold.  30 minutes later, the waitress brought out a plate of rice with two tiny quail that had been cooked to a dryness that bordered on tasteless.  These quail were so tiny, that they each could have easily fit INSIDE a tennis ball without much effort.  Would there be a golf ball sized chunk of chorizo inside, to dilute my disappointment and spice up these otherwise over-baked birds?  Sadly, I was only able to locate a small chunk of chorizo, about the size of a thumb nail inside of each bird, which rapidly got lost in the plate of wild rice - we took dinner out on a sidewalk table during the setting sun with diminished light. 

After having guinea fowl (pintarde - a member of the pheasant family) on Air France back in March, and seeing many a quail in Arizona running around wild in the DBG and in parks, I was looking forward to a tasty bird the size of my fist, stuffed with some of the worlds tastiest sausage.  Instead, I had to fight with what were the "Buffalo Wing" equivalent sized, tiny little infant quail (or maybe they were sparrows?) with nearly absentee chorizo.  Oh well.  I miss Paris Cafe more and more.

Use The Dumpster For Support

If you have to lop off a droopy Mexican fence post cactus arm that has started an inexorable slow-motion downward trajectory (that takes weeks or months to droop), it is best to use your rolling 96 gallon city dumpster for support, underneath the arm, before you lop it off with a sharp Colombian Inconel machete.

Have the foresight to place newspapers under the cactus arm, and you'll find it easier to pick up the amputated arm, and transplant it (note the black 5 gallon bucket in the lower right hand corner of the photo).  In the case of this arm, it was about 4 inches (100 mm or so) lower than the top of the dumpster's lid, but I used the newspaper to lift up the arm, and gently roll the dumpster just beneath it.   

After this recent amputation, I DID NOT take the extra step of drying out the arms before planting, as the DBG had previously advised.  I did that in years past, and it proved futile in avoiding bacterial infections that turn the cactus arms black at the tip and then slowly destroy the transplant.  I had to bury 4 of my children the week before, that were nearly 2 years old, when I found all 4 of their tips rotted with the black ooze.  We'll see if this 4 foot long arm thrives and sprouts new children, or if it rots from within as the other children have.

Thanks again to Dr.Claudia for the awesome machete she gave to me dozens of years ago.  It remains one of the most handy and frequently used tools in my garage.  I do hope I don't have to use it in a Zombie Apocalypse any time soon. 

Monarchs at the DBG

On this chilly Tuesday morning here in the desert, thought it would be nice to share some warmth and beauty.

Chihuly installation at DBG, is remarkable

In addition to the FSM sighting, there were a myriad of beautiful Chihuly glass art installations at the Desert Botanical Garden. Here are a few we captured at night.

We'll probably go back during the day, after the rain stops here this week, with a tripod. (these were taken while I held my breath, and stood very, very still)

First Frost For Phoenix this Winter

Alliteration - heh heh.  It's going to get cold tomorrow night, and have a hard frost here for the first time this winter.  All of the blossoms on my lemon tree will be wiped out, as there is no way to cover a 15 foot tall thorny tree (oh ya, lemon trees are the only citrus that have Christ-Crown-Of-Thorns-Like spikes on the branches, go figure).  I spotted by the helpful Elgin Nursery yesterday to get some frost cloth and discuss plant hardiness.  They staff there is VERY knowledgeable, friendly, and customer centric.  The lavender we have was purchased there as well.  We discussed strategies for protecting desert plants against a hard frost, here in zone 9 & 10. (Also see links here and here and here [9B] and here [AZ] for more zone information, and here for surprisingly balmy Euro zones, thanks to the Gulf Stream).


I was very focused on "hardy down to ____ temperature" and the fine people at Elgin were nice to say "Yes, But....".  As in, "Yes, they will survive, they will live, down to such and such a temperature, but your plants WILL Burn and be damaged by the cold temperatures."  Elgin was also clear to point out that even though the Glendale or Goodyear or Sky Harbor airports might report one temperature, locally on your property the temperature might be 5 or 10 degrees colder, depending on sun exposure, wind speeds and directions, residual latent heat, etc.  So to be proactive (or perhaps slightly over-reactive) I purchased a box of 32 ounce insulated cups - sadly Costco was the only place to get them, and I had to get 500.  The cups will go on the tops of each cactus arm, as well as groups of aloe blossoms and lantana blossoms.  I may try to cover the honeysuckle as well, but with it now taller than the 6 foot fence, seeking the sun, I doubt the cups will really work.  I have several rolls of blue painter's tape to secure groups of cups together as well.  The 2 frost cloths will cover 2 of my dwarf palms, and many old queen sized & twin sized bed sheets, as well as landscaping tarps to cover other plants.  Of course, all of this will have to be put on in a 40-to-50F rain storm with 20 mph gusts (NOAA link here), so that'll be alot of fun!

My girl friend Anna will be very confused by all the cups and tarps - AND I will have to take the hummingbird feeders down so they don't freeze - but on Saturday everything will come back off, and hopefully most of the blossoms will have survived.

I was saving up links in a notepad file, but to make them more available and useful for others, here's a list of what I dug up on the interwebs yesterday.  If you have only one of these in your yard, you might want to take precautions.  I'm going to go all out, and try everything possible to preserve the growth I've worked so hard to nurture.  It helps me to forget how far underwater my home mortgage is, when I see all the green and blossoms around the yard. 

Sago Palm -15 to 110 (here) and 10F (here) [Many thanks to Dave's Garden, The DBG, and the City of Scottsdale for the helpful links!]

Dwarf (Pigmy) Date Palm Phoenix Roebelenii, hardy to 25F (link here and here) for short periods

Milkweed, down to 25F (here)

Aloe Vera, 21-30F (here)

Hildmann's Cereus (Botanical Name: Cereus hildmannianus) 21-30F (here)
AKA - Mexican Fence Post Cactus

Lantana, 21-30F (here)

Honeysuckle, 10F (here)

Jasmine, 20F (here)

Rosemary, 20F (here)

How To Trim & Transplant Mexican Fence Post Cacti

Dominating our front yard is a 20 foot tall Mexican Fence Post Cactus (MFPC). It was planted in 2004, and the previous owner - according to my neighbor's observations - 'used to be out there every morning spraying something on it'. My observant neighbor has MFPC planted at the same time, within a week of mine, and his is 6 feet tall with arms no bigger than a human's. My MFPC is bigger than Barry Bonds, or Toruk. Problem is, the tallest arm, has started to Lean towards my garage.
Cacti are heavy, and I don't want it to come crashing down on my domicile in a strong storm. The roofs here are tile, and I don't want to think about how much fun that would be to repair.

So I assembled my Cactus specific gardening tools 2 weeks ago, just before the massive January rains arrived.

• The hat not only guards against too much UV exposure, but it also warns the wearer when the head is getting too close to a spine covered arm is in close proximity just-behind the head.
• The news paper is essential for wrapping around the arms, to making holding them less painful. Double gloving is recommended, cloth under leather, to protect the digits.
• The inconel machete will get it's own post later this weekend - it's essential to have such a useful tool here in the desert.
  
• Safety glasses keep any splatter from accidentally getting in the trimmer's eyes.
• 10:1 diluted water to bleach solution (normal laundry hypochlorite) in a spray bottle is the universal cacti disinfectant recommended by the Desert Botanical Garden, post chopping.
• Not pictured above are 10 and 6 foot ladders, a long sleeved shirt, trousers, and large sheets of left over card board.

I originally theorized that if I lopped off the top of the tallest arm, it would relieve the most stress, torsional load, and prevent a toppling. I did a free body diagram in my head, and decided where the best lopping off points would be. However, there were several larger arms preventing my access to the top, so I lopped them off first.
One hand on the machete. The other hand holding the arm that is about to come down via gravity once it is severed from the main plant. Newspaper wrapped around the spiny arm to help reduce the pain of being stabbed by MFPC needles. A Strong Downward Chopping motion with a sharp machete, and you should be able to hack through the arm.
After all the arms are chopped off, use the spray bottle of diluted bleach solution to disinfect the open wound and prevent infection. 10% is just enough to kill bacteria but not to damage the soft cactus tissue. Apply liberally.

















Now, the main plant is safe, but what to do with the arms you just chopped off?

Well, you can try to compost them, but they are covered in sharp needles. Not a good idea. You Could throw them away, and my City of Phoenix curbside dumpster IS large enough to contain them, but that is such a waste. So transplanting these newest arms, planting them next to the previously truncated arms (from frost damage in early 2008) was the option chosen.

DBG recommends to let the amputated arms dry for a day or 2 in the shade, to discourage infection at the open wound. I used my garage and the card board to rest them upon. Transferred to the card board using newspaper wrapped around the arm, and double gloved.

A week later, a rack, pick, spade shovel, garden trowel, and cushion to kneel upon were in order. Rake away the rocks, trowel carefully, closely to the existing arms, dig gently with pick and spade so as not to severe the network of established roots that has webbed out just below the surface of the soil.


Set the arms into the carefully dug hole, with space between them. Use clods of clay to brace them. MAKE SURE to orient the arms so that the sides that were southerly facing on the main plant previously, are still southerly face in the new location. Also make sure on the arms that have had the tops lopped off, that the UP side is pointed up, and the plant side, is in the ground. the MFPC telomeres will have a hard time doing a 180 when they start to sprout new children off the arms in a few months. For a belt-and-suspenders approach, I tie a loose nylon support line around some established stakes and loop it around the new transplants just in case they begin to lean once the ground settles. The transplants will never be larger than the original parent - I don't know what the previous owner used to spray on them - but I feel better not throwing these arms out. And the whole amputation & transplant process actually took longer to blog about, than it took out in the front yard to execute!

Maynard Believes God Enriches?

Maynard James Keenan, the creative force behind Tool, Perfect Circle, and Puscifer, is also striving to be a world class wine maker here in Arizona.  Originally from Ohio and Michigan, after he served in the Army, Maynard moved to LA and formed the band Tool.  After he made millions of dollars in Tool and Perfect Circle, he caught the wine making virus that others rich and famous people have succumb to, like Francis Ford Coppola, Gerard Depardieu, Greg Norman, Mick Fleetwood, Dave Matthews, and Antonio Banderas, to name a few. 

The Comedic Documentary "Blood Into Wine" details Maynard's efforts, in great detail.  I have enjoyed several Arizona Stronghold wines, but I find them to cost about 2X as much as similar quality wines I can find from France, Italy and Spain.  Many local-vore restaurants here in Arizona carry Maynard's wines in their cave, and it's a good standard "Go To" wine when faced with a list full of over-priced Californians, Oregonians, Washingtonians, or super-sicky-sweet southern Arizona candy wines, I go with the AZ Stronghold, and it has not failed to deliver - though my buddy Ryan (also a Tool fanatic) in Atlanta has had at least one terrible bottle of Stronghold that "tasted like dirt" as he described it - so no wine maker is perfect.

Well, Arizona is celebrating its centennial next year.  Yes, it's hard to believe it's only been 100 years since the 48th state entered the union and stopped killing its indigenous peoples and actively participating in robber-baronism - States grow up so fast!  Remember when they were cute little territories or colonies?  After becoming a state, Arizona certainly did not stop robbing the Indians of their resources (water, mineral, scenic, etc), but it did adopt the state motto:  Ditat Deus, which means in Latin "God Enriches".  Not the Earth Mother God of the native Hopi or Navajos...  no, that Christian[TM] God, imported from Europe... or maybe that LDS uniquely American Jesus, imported from Upstate New York & Missouri.  Either way, "Ditat Deus" is emblazoned on state seals and state documents.  Even my PE stamp has it in teeny tiny letters.

So when Arizona ran a competition for who would be named the official centennial wine maker, Arizona Stronghold won, and they're cranking out many fine bottles (priced between $15 and $25, depending on where you buy it retail, or about $40 to $60 in restaurants).  The other Arizona wines I've tasted at the DBG and elsewhere has been too sweet, or too nasty to stomach, so I am not surprised Stronghold won.  What I AM surprised by, is that Maynard James Keenan agreed to put "God Enriches" on his hand crafted, passionately developed product with his name on it.  Maynard has no love of God (links here, here, and especially here, as Judith was his mother who died after being in a semi vegetative & incapacitated state for many years following an aneurysm).

So is Maynard James Keenan now embracing a belief in God, promoting a positive image of deism?  Or is he selling out his values to put on a state motto onto his own wine in order to sell 10s of thousands of bottles of centennial wine?  I don't know.

I do know that the "Rose table Wine" variety we purchased was good quality, drinkable, and went well while chilled with brie, gouda, and dried fruit on a hot (99F) Arizona October afternoon a few weekends ago.  I've not tried the red and white varieties Stronghold is making, but they're probably good as well.  After all, I hear that "God Enriches"  =)

Acupuncture & Knee Injuries

Last Friday, I had my third and final acupuncture appointment for the knee injury I sustained at the beginning of July, and I'm pleased (and quite surprised) to report that my knee is now fully healed. No surgery. No prescription pharmaceuticals. No painful physical therapy.

No, instead Muki Ramsey (B.A., M.S.O.M., L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.) at Zen Medicinals did some (in his own words) "really masterful work" on my left knee, inserting 38 gauge needles, thinner than human hairs. The needles were painless. I've had glucose meter sticks that have elicited MUCH more of a sting. As Muki adjusted each one to stimulate my Chi, I'd feel a SURGE - sometimes surged DOWN the leg, sometimes ran up it, sometimes it felt like a pair of pliers was pull UP on the skin even though I could SEE there were no pliers and nothing was being pulled. First visit made me 85% better - as I walked out. 2nd visit made me 95% better 4 days later. The third visit last Friday, 99.997% better (a 3 sigma confidence level).

For 2 weeks, I hobbled around popping Naproxin Sodium and applying cold packs, and it wasn't getting better. 3 acupuncture visits, and I am pain free, able to swim, ride the stationary bike, do difficult yoga poses... so in celebration, and because Zen Medicinals is not far from the Desert Botanical Garden (DBG), I walked all around the garden for my "lunch hour" on Friday before driving back home to the West side. This photo is my new "favorite spot" in the garden. I sat reading a dozen pages of "Stones Into Schools" there, in the shade, next to the bubbling fountain. Last year I sat at a similar bubbling fountain in the garden before they remodeled it, and watched a hummingbird hover and drink from the stream. No hummingbirds drinking from the fountain last Friday, but a great respite nevertheless.

Muki told me that "knees and shoulders are easy, elbows are alot harder, I think we can get your knee back into shape in probably 3 visits." He was right.

Later this year, I am going to let Muki make an attempt to "cure me" of my cat allergies. He's mentioned a electromagnetic diagnostic machine that proven to have a P value less than 0.005 (link here) ... and it can help to fine tune allergy therapy when combined with acupuncture.
"90% of all patients received some degree of remission (18% full remission, 72% partial) and only 10% reported no improvement" ... after a year of getting traditional cat & mold allergy injections into my triceps in 2008 from a local allergist, all it did was make me itchy, reducing none of my symptoms, and in fact, when I ceased getting them 2009, my upper arms erupted in red hives for about a month. Let's see what my acupuncturist & herbal medicine practitioner can do - especially now that I've met my deductible for the year! =)