Monday, May 8, 2017

What's With the Wrinkled Egg?

I shouldn't've complained about 54°F being chilly because temperatures plunged down into the 30s last night. I have flowers on my lone blueberry bush, and the milkweeds have sprouted 5" so I was a bit worried. They look fine this morning, but I had my down coat on to walk the dog. I find a wrinkled egg in the refrigerator. I've never seen one before, where the shell is not just ridged, but wrinkled. The eggs from the store are also extremely thin-shelled, and prone to breaking if you look at them wrong. Quite different from the exorbitantly priced free-range eggs sometimes available from the honey truck parked near the interstate. Those eggs have shells that must be broken with intent and some sizeable amount of force.

Online research suggests that the egg-layer is suffering from a calcium deficient diet. I like to buy the jumbo or extra-large eggs. Apparently those come from older chickens. My husband would like us to raise chickens, but our town just raised the required plot size from 1/2 acre to one whole acre just to have a few measly chickens. Plus, like the dog, I'm sure I'd be the one to care for the critters, like I don't have enough to do... Still the best tasting eggs I ever ate came from someone who used to let her birds free-range in her vegetable garden. The egg yolks were an amazing marigold yellow. I know other people who feed their chickens from the feed store, and the eggs don't taste any different from the super market variety.

It takes me longer than I like to get to the gym, but luckily, the gym's not horribly crowded. Still, I'm worried about getting on the Smith, especially since I can't get in the Stretch Cage because 20-minute Guy is back to his old habits of staring at his phone while barely bending a knee. So, I only do Knee-Ins and one quick set of push ups before claiming the Smith machine. The fellow at physical therapy told me to try flat benching every week. I'm a bit reluctant, but what the heck. Plus, I've cut down to one ibuprofen caplet before bed. I'm too lazy to drag the shorter flat bench over, so I just use the taller adjustable Matrix bench. It means I can't get my feet flat on the floor because they don't reach. Instead, I keep my knees bent and my feet flat on the bench itself.

I'm actually surprised that I can bench all the way up to 100 lbs. Only then does my right shoulder twinge slightly. I don't chance injury by pushing heavier. But I definitely need to up the weight on the high-rep set at the end. Then I do Inclined Presses. Those are a bit harder because I'm actually a little tired. So I'm surprised that the DB Laterals superset with Reverse Inclined Flyes feel so much easier than they have been. I do more reps. The Mayor is so loud that I click the volume up twice. Good grief, I guess asshats think that talking louder makes them... what? More obnoxious?

Even the Rip Skulls don't feel awful, although my right shoulder does feel a bit of a pull as the bar goes overhead and down. It's the stretch. The left elbow isn't really happy either. And later, at pull ups, it's the left elbow that shuts down the last rep. Oh well... I'm feeling a lot better these days. But stress is having its way with me. Now that the shingles is mostly gone, a spot on my lip is tingling with a slight burn. Uh oh, I can't see anything but I know what that means... cold sore. Ugh! I put Abreva on it, and take lysine with my vitamins.

Monday
6.38 miles

30 min x-trainer
Calories 142
Miles 3.84
Average Heart Rate 167

Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 50

T, Y & I raises
15 reps x 3lbs
15 reps x 5lbs

Smith high flat bench
Bar (30) x 15
50lbs x 15
70lbs x 15
80lbs x 16
90lbs x 13
100 x 13 slight twinge rt shldr
60 x 25 (up this 10 next time)

Smith Inclined Bench
Bar x 15
50 x 13
70 x 12
80 x 12
60 x 25

DB Laterals s/s Rev Incl Flyes
20/25lbs x 15/20reps x 3

Rip Skulls
40lbs x 12 reps x 3

30 min elliptical
Program 1
Calories 286
Miles 2.54

Shoulder a bit achy

HGPU 26 left elbow twinges

2 comments:

  1. Thin shelled eggs do tend to indicate lower calcium, though one of our hens is always thin shelled, no matter what she eats. As for size, yes, age of the hen can account for size differences, though our hens are all the same age, and lay a variety of sizes of eggs. The Sex Links lay the biggest eggs, and the Buff Orps lay large eggs too. The RI Reds lay little eggs, and our lone Brown Leghorn lays white eggs of varying size.

    The wrinkled egg must've slipped through QC at the processing plant. Once in a while, we will get an oddly shaped or funny looking egg. Sometimes even a shell-less one, though that has nearly stopped as the hens matured.

    Yolk color is highly dependent on their feed. Typically the more they free range, the darker the yolk. Also, if fed better quality pellet feed, they will darken up too.

    Our hens get some totally free range time, and also get pellet feed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like the idea of having chickens. Just not sure I can do them justice with our mostly wetlands property, neighbors free-ranging cats (that make my dog crazy), and onerous town ordinances.

      Delete

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