Pentimento

In Truth, Our Childhood Was Very Dangerous

We Didn't Have Helmets Or Car Seats

You know that email that goes around now and then that says, "We rode in cars with no seatbelts, drank water out of a hose, rode our bikes without helmets", etc.?  If you're my age (60), when you first read it you think back to the "good ol' days" with fondness and nostalgia, but then those clearer memories creep back in and you know what it was really like back then.

Nationwide, Hundreds Would Die On The Roads Each Holiday

In 2011 it seems like a large number of people die on the highways if they say 10 people died over a holiday.  When I was a kid it was about five times that number during Easter, Thanksgiving or any of the major days when families would get in the old jalopy and head for grandma's. Why? Because there were no seatbelts, people drank right in their cars, and forget car seats for kids! That all sounds unbelievable, but it's true.

Lead Paint? It's Still A Problem In Older Houses

And how about that disinformation about kids playing with toys and not getting lead poisoning? They might not have gotten poisoning from the toys, but some of the houses the kids lived in had lead paint on the walls and window trim. No self-respecting teething baby was going to miss a chance to gnaw on a windowsill or two.

 

Before There Were Crossing Guards

When I was in grade school in Tumwater I had to walk a half mile to school and then cross a busy arterial highway (99). Highway 99 was the main road of the west coast before the I-5 freeway went in. The traffic increased when more lanes were added to freeways, but I can tell you, you took your life in your hands at least twice a day to get to and from school! Logging trucks, delivery trucks, and car traffic were all going at least 50 mph on that highway and you looked out for them because it was unlikely they were looking out for you.

 

Still Looking For Child Safety Improvement

It's my opinion that things have gotten much better for kids in the last 60 years. We've learned to protect them in vehicles, we are more aware of perverts who want to harm them, and as consumers we're more aware and questioning when it comes to every aspect of their lives. Looking back, we did live in more simple times, but we were also still doing very unsafe things (smoking in the house and in the car), using DDT and other deadly pesticides that linger in our environment for decades, or changing the oil in our cars and then spreading the old oil in the dirt driveway (yeah, my dad did that).

We'll always have to keep alert and keep improving, but I think we've come a long, long way don't you? Name some of the improvements you've seen.  I can think of one...better built cribs to prevent infant deaths.  

Gates Foundation: What About Our Native Americans?

USA's Overlooked Natives Need Our Help Too

What in the heck is wrong with these billionaires? The Gates Foundation has again pledged 1.5 billion for maternal health....in developing countries. So, because we are perceived as a 'rich' country we supposedly don't have any poor people? Take a look around. Street people on every corner in all sized towns and cities. Some of them Indians, some veterans, some just society's outcasts. We can't even take care of our own who need help and you rush off to help somewhere else!

I'm sorry, I just don't get this generosity of health care when we have a gross lack of health care money available to the tribes. As I have said before, I'm not a member of any tribe, but I know government neglect when I see it.  If the thinking is that if we make well, feed and care for these poor countries that they won't come here and attack us, I'm sorry, that seems backward thinking to me. I'm not without compassion, but I'm also an American first and we need to make our country stronger not be do-gooders while making our country weaker. Look at the Gates Foundation's site and you will see that their main focus in North America is on libraries and education. Look at what else they do around the world though.

Bill and Malinda, as yourselves this:

• Could I have saved an Indian child today?
• Could I have improved my own country as much as I am trying to do so in other countries. 
• We keep our native peoples impoverished. Why?
• Could I have donated money to keep the mentally ill and criminals off the streets of my own nation?
• Could I have helped a veteran or active service member who has protected our country?

I still believe that charity should begin at HOME!

18 Years Old And Still A Frisky Kitty Boy With Cosequin

In February of 1992 we were able to 'save' our kitty boy Rocky from his perilous life in the wilds of our neighborhood. He was just a kitten born the summer before and scared to death of everyone. He's taken refuge under our house out of the winter weather. He was a very loving kitty boy and happy to be part of our family.

That was 17 years ago and he's 18 this month. How time has flown by! When he was about twelve we noticed that he was doing a lot of limping around in the winter time just like an old man in pain. In doing some research I found out that Cosequin for cats was suppose to work very well in alleviating that pain. And, a side benefit was that the medication in the capsules worked to keep cartilage supple too. Since bladders are essentially cartilage, I believe it has helped him not to have any problems in that area too.

While this is an affiliate post, I am a genuine user of the medication and highly recommend it for cats (and dogs) who may be having pain problems. Rocky runs through the house daily. It took just about two weeks for the Cosequin to get in his system and begin working for him. Each animal is different though, so if you use it, give your pet time to absorb the daily dose. 

I order from 1800-Pet-Meds because they always get my order correct and it is sent very quickly. I think many times they fill the order and get it sent the same day. Cosequin doesn't cost $39, but it would be easy to get your flea medicines at the same time and save on shipping. It's that time of year for those little creepy crawlers you know.

Welcome To Fibro Talk @Gather

You might be newly diagnosed with fibromyalgia and really just need to talk about it. Or, like so many, you have the symptoms but you aren't sure of the cause. Either way, I invite you to join the free group on Gather - Fibromyalgia: When you just need to talk about it.

 All I ask (as the group owner) is that you stay on topic for the most part. That means, don't talk about the flooding where you live, your new pet, or your pet died. Yes, stress from all those things does affect you if you have fibro, but if you are just posting to the group without alluding to a fibro/chronic pain connection you're not contributing or being helpful.

How are you feeling today? Come share your thoughts with us. We do care!

The Catch 22 of Chronic Illness is Clutter

I get emails from Care2 now and then that I just have to respond to because they hit a nerve with me, and some days I only have one left. No, I haven't lost my sense of humor, but I have lost my energy to keep things de-cluttered around here. It's not a sty or anything, but there are piles of things like incoming mail and boxes of files and pictures right here by my desk that really need to be taken care of soon.

This article 3 Ways to Simplify Life with Chronic Illness doesn't really address the real issues in my opinion.

#1 If I had the energy to scurry around each day and keep ahead of that clutter it wouldn't be there, would it?

#2 I can't pay someone to come in and clear the clutter because that's expensive and only something you see on home improvement shows, not in real life. Not my life anyway. I make my extra income writing which is not always that lucrative.

#3 Keeping the clutter cleared away will improve my sense of well being. Hmmm...yeah. I need everyone in the household to contribute to that endeavor. I can clean up after me, but another person...not so much.  That's not to say he doesn't do anything around here, he does things I could never do (yard work, getting up on the roof, etc.) but a certain amount of his own stuff needs to be attended to. Especially as I get older and so does he.

While I agree with the premise of the article, its feasibility is questionable. I've always liked the old House Rules sayings, don't you?

Square Foot Gardening - Part Deux: Trellises and Roses

As promised, here is the follow up post to Square Foot Gardening Using Recycled Decking And Ingenuity showing the raised beds as they look right now. This is their "morning" look . Can you see the trellises on the left sides of bed one and three? Jim drove rebar into the ground about a foot at the corners of the bed, and then slipped wire tubing over the rebar to give it stability. Esthetically, the beds look not too bad near the house and new deck which is just about the same color. 

Yesterday I tried getting the wire covers off on my own, but the first attempt only resulted in me banging one into my shins. :::ouch::: Plan B is to leverage it up and then let it come out of the frame and land on the ground. Comment: I do things less clumsily if no one is watching my every move. 

  
Click on the images to see them full size

Here's a couple pictures of my rose bushes that are getting ready to bloom too. Many of them are English roses, but I also have some floribundas. I prefer the fragrant roses so that is what I plant. These have been in the ground about sixteen years. I have neglected feeding them sometimes but the little darlings keep rewarding me with flowers. 

The rose bush at the far end by the big gates is going to be transplanted over to a new extended bed Jim is working on today. the name of the rose is Intrigue and I bought it from Jackson Perkins. It's a very pretty purple floribunda that obviously is very hardy!  In its place we are going to amend the soil and put in some giant garlic bulbs a friend gave us some time ago. We'll either have some humongous plants, or lots of protection from Dracula.  Jim plans to put a soaker hose from the faucet to the end of the bed to provide water for the roses on that side too; bark will then be put in so it all looks uniform and 'new'. 

Square Foot Gardening Using Recycled Decking And Ingenuity

Last year our old decking failed and so poor ol' Jim had to unscrew all of the 30+ boards and then install in their place the 30+ new ones.  The old decking (Trex) was still somewhat usable in a smaller application, so we talked over the pros and cons of using manufactured wood/plastic boards and decided that in the long run it would be worth it to eat our own fresh veggies, and if the boards leach something into them we would take that chance. (Please don't tell me if there is a negative to this. It's too late and I want to enjoy the "fruits" of our labors. Pun intended).  And, yes, before you say it, we hope we can grow vegetables better than we grow grass.

Our plan for the beds came from out of Jim's brain, but the ideas on what to put in the beds came from the book All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space! Way back in the 1970's we had a garden when we lived in Iowa and so it was easy to choose the horticultural candidates to include just from memory. This is our first year, so we're not going to get too fancy. If they grow, they grow.

As you can see above, Jim put wire mesh in the bottom of the bed frame and that's to keep out critters like moles or other burrowing vermin.

The one problem we potentially could have is cats. Jim took down all the bird feeders and that slows down the squirrels a bit since they can't feast on the dropped seeds the messy birds fling all over. Our solution was to put together chicken wire 'cages' with wooden framed bases that sit inside the metal corner brackets of the beds.

On Mother's Day the beds were all ready for planting, and our sets and seeds were popped in the ground.  We planted cucumbers (3), bush beans (three rows) and plum tomatoes (2) in bed one (foreground); bed two has in the middle green peppers (4) of the California Wonder variety, and around the perimeter are planted radishes and scallions. In the upper right corner of bed two is a small area where I put in some garlic chive seeds. Furthest away in the picture is bed three and it has zucchini (3) squash (God help us!), three rows of kohlrabi (seeds) and we left one area open for later seeding of any other veggie we might want to have later in the fall.

Since these pictures were taken, Jim has added two trellises to the left sides of beds one and three so the cucumbers and zucchini can be grown like vines vertically. We didn't want to be hunting through the zucchini plants to find the kohlrabies, or picking cukes out of our bush beans. I'll take more pictures tomorrow and show you all the progress of the plants too. We've been very lucky the last few days and had sunny days so the radishes and kohlrabies have already poked out of the soil. The tomatoes need to get a move on though...I'm ready to graze through the garden!

More to come, come back soon!

You Gotta See This Now Video Contest Winners Have Creative Vision

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Incendia Health. All opinions are 100% mine.

Two of my family members just had eye surgery and the results were exceptional for them. They were thrilled to be able to see once again, and their experiences with their surgeries was equally as positive.  both ladies went to their respective doctors and the surgeons were quick, efficient and they were on their way home in good time.

My own mother had macular degeneration in one eye, and a cataract in the other. She was afraid to have her cataract removed, so instead she suffered through years of basically being legally blind.  I really feel that Mom could have benefited from having the surgery, but she had some vision and didn't want to take the chance on not being able to see at all.

I just finished watching the winning videos for the "You Gotta See This" iLASIK Video Contest where the grand prize winner Alex of Seattle, Washington and I can see why he won. It was creative, imaginative and fun to watch. Oh, and the singing was pretty good too!

There were several entries for the iLASIK Video Contest in various categories. The prizes were all pretty awesome too! It may come to pass that I will someday need Lasik surgery too.  By entering my zip code and distance I would choose to travel, I found six surgeons close by, and one right here in the city in which I live.  It's good to know I have plenty of choices! I'd like to thank AMO (Abbot Medical Optics, Inc) for letting me write about this valuable surgical procedure than can really change lives.

Taking The Drudge Out Of Sludge With N-Viro

What if you had a very sound idea to protect the environment and reduce pollution?  N-Viro is a company that's doing just that.  Not many people are yet aware of the service they provide, but I predict more of you will hear of them in the future.

Already, many municipalities are using N-Viro's technology that uses lime and/or other mineral rich combustion byproducts in order to pasteurize, immobilize and treat wastewater sludge that otherwise would have to be dealt with.  Their technology allows cities to then reuse or sell this safe waste to energy material, essentially eliminating the added expense of disposal. I believe that this is happening even in Kitsap county.

Since 1993 the company has generated sales in excess of $40 million and is underwritten by such well-known entities as Robertson Stephens, Raymond James, Oppenheimer & Co., and Paine Webber.  They have been at the forefront of businesses providing us with alternative energy by converting waste to renewable energy.  

In layman's terms, N-Viro takes our wastewater and manufacturing's other unusable byproducts, sanitizes them and makes them safe for every day use. Our communities need to get on board with this technology today.  If your city isn't already using it, find out why and ask them to get more information about N-Viro. 

Compensated

10 under-appreciated things about a rear end collision

There are some days that can really be improved by having a rear end collision to your car:

1. It can make you forget that you were on your way back to the doctor to see if you swallowed enough iodine to lodge in your thyroid.

2. You are no longer concentrating on how you're going to buy a new washing machine. (Our's 'died' yesterday)

3. That little kink in your neck will either get better or worse.

4. The $216 you just spent to change your cell phones from contract to prepaid doesn't seem as important as the fact that you have survived a crash with a couple small scrapes to your backside, er, back bumper.

5. It may have shaken loose some of the built up winter moss and mold on the car and it will be easier to wash now.

6. You didn't wet your pants.

7. The air bags didn't pop out and scare you so much you did more than wet your pants.

8. There were no Jesus statues and hula girls in the back window that might have come forward and embedded themselves in your head. (Can you say "projectile" people?)

9. We have now endured two rear end collisions with no whiplash. I can now turn my head around 360 degrees though. Linda Blair is my soul sister.

10. The car that hit us was not a Toyota, it was just driven by an inattentive twit. If it was a Toyota we might still be being pushed down the road at 100 mph.

And, so you have it. Another adventure on The Ides of March. Jim didn't have any adverse reaction to the two iodine pills he took.  We (luckily) weren't hurt when the guy hit us. He was probably standing on his brakes too, like the guy in CA.  Now we can go back to worrying about how we're going to buy a new washer (those suckers are 'spensive!); fly to Iowa to celebrate Dad's 85th birthday; have the money to see our kids and grandkids in CA that we haven't seen in almost 3 years; and most of all, hoping praying Jim doesn't have cancer from the radiation treatments he had when he was a kid.

Yup, we're just looking forward to March 16^_th. Gotta be better than today, huh?