When Mother Nature talks, I listen!

I’ve been keeping a close eye on this storm, Sandy, even though it’s a very good distance from my neck of the woods.  One reason is because one of my friends may be in harm’s way. Another is…because when Mother Nature talks, I listen.  I, all too well, know the fear when a storm is approaching.  I know that they don’t exactly know what’s going to happen so you don’t know whether to stay or run.  I know the misery of having your life disrupted if the devastating reality that they predict does come to be.  Those with means may have a leg up but these storms can be the great equalizer.  They can make those with more means feel a little like those who have a lot less.  May want to pay attention to that lesson.  Learn a little empathy.

I think Mother Nature tries to teach us something with some of these events and like my mom, if I didn't listen, she found a way to get my attention.  Mom was like that.  Once she used an ice cooler up against the side of my head when I was ignoring her.  She got my attention.

   

This storm is a phenomenon.  Not something that is in Mother Nature’s usual bag of tricks.   She might want to use something a bit unusual this time to get our attention.  There are several other coincidences that I find interesting. Too much time to ponder these days. This phenomenon is at an unusual time and place.  The time is right before a big ugly election and it is headed toward a place that represents a good bit of the greed and excess in this country and greed and excess seems to be at an all time high these days.  I do realize that I have some crazy ponders.  Really can’t prove that I’m wrong. 

All disasters have one positive outcome. They give us the opportunity to help our fellow man/woman.  You probably won’t ask if they are Republican, Democrat or Independent or who they plan to vote for or how much money they make or whether they are in this country legally, before offering that help.  Disasters bring out the best of our humanity.  Maybe that is what Mother Nature has in mind.  Unfortunately, that lesson doesn't seem to stick for long. 

Now if you want to think that my trying to find meaning in life’s events is nuts, that’s OK with me.  One of the pluses of getting old is that I just don’t care that much what other people think of me anymore.  I do to try to find some advantages of getting older because they aren't many.  There is one other advantage, I got a cheaper fishing license.  

God help us old folk! We need to stop financial abuse of the elderly!

I have another serious ponder. It is a serious problem and it involves the financial abuse of the elderly. 

There must be something that tells these foreign lotteries when a person gets to a certain age. Not sure what age that actually begins or how these entities know. These old people are sent boat loads of these scam letters promising these old people lots of money but they have to send money in to get it. These old people are not people who would ever fall for this crap when they were in their right mind but for some reason they do now. 

I had that problem with my SF and I have a good friend who is having the same problem with her mom. It is a devastating problem and there is no help available. The post office won't help. The banks won't help. If the family can't personally, totally control their elderly relative's finances, they can lose everything the have. 

It's not always possible for families to monitor their elderly family members all the time and for some reason many of these elderly people are very secretive about participating in this activity. Can't explain that. 

Many of these elderly are not ready for a nursing home. It seems that one of the first things to go is financial management. Even if a nursing home is the only option a family sees...the monetary robbery just changes from one entity to another. 

It seems to me that some government agency should help with this problem. With more and more people living longer it will just become an even more serious epidemic. If you think..mom or dad would never do anything like that...think again.

And if you think that adding your name to your parent's bank accounts might help...NOT. You become responsible for any and all over drafts. The banks don't consider these elderly people victims either, they consider them accomplices in this fraud. 

When we took SF's vehicle, his check books and credit cards and post office key away..he just hitched a ride to the bank and used a counter check and he hitched a ride to the post office to picked up his mail. The post office had a big sign that read..YOU CAN NOT GET YOUR MAIL WITHOUT YOUR KEY. Even without a key, they refused to withhold his mail when he came in for it. IMHO, the banks and post office are accomplices in this fraud!

The banks say they are aware of this scam and can't do anything about it. If this is true, why do they allow elderly people to either deposit or cash these checks??

My friend is having to drive over 1000 miles to deal with her elderly mom and this mail/bank fraud issue. She talked with someone from the bank who admitted that they were aware of this kind of scam but also told her that her mom was considered an accomplice in it. If they are aware, why would they willingly cash/deposit those checks that are fraudulent?? 

I'm going to suggest to my friend, and I have a little dictation recorder, that when she goes to the bank, she records all the interaction. I checked and it is legal in this state where she's going to make a recording if at least one person involved is aware that the conversation is being recorded. Hopefully she can use this if that bank tries to pull anything. Someone needs to fight this crap! 

The problem is...that all of us will eventually get to that age when our switch snaps from being reasonable to being easily conned. Maybe not, but both of the people I'm talking about would have, and up until the end with SF, insisted that they were no fools and knew exactly what they were doing. If you now insist that you can't ever be conned, then your switch may have already snapped. 

Some of us will have people who can watch over us but some of us won't. As I've found out, even trying to protect your elderly loved one is almost impossible.

Fresh Vitamin C

Main functions of Vitamin C:

• Immune stimulation
• Anti-allergic
• Antioxidant
• “Cement” for connective tissues
• Wound healing
• Teeth and gum health
• Aids iron absorption
• Eye health

The problem with Vitamin C is that it is a very unstable vitamin.  Vitamin C is sensitive to heat, light and oxygen. In food it can be partly or completely destroyed by long storage or overcooking. Refrigeration can substantially diminish vitamin C loss in food.

Vitamin C is in most of the multivitamins or can be purchased by itself but what are the standards for those vitamins?  There aren't many.  When it comes to selecting a good source of vitamin C, only in God I trust.  I have bushes full of the vitamin.  These are satsuma bushes.  I pick fresh fruit in the morning, juice it and drink it immediately.  That way I know it hasn't had time to degrade.  If you don't grow your own, go to the local farmer's market and get fruits and veggies the local people grow.     

My fruit this year is much smaller than usual.  I think that was the result of the drought we had for most of the summer.  I still have more than enough for myself and to give away.

 This is a pic of my Spring greens I use for my salads.  I shot a pic of them a while back when they were just sprouting.  Now I can go out and cut leaves for my evening salad.  I have several planters with mixed salad greens growing.

The bell pepper I had in the summer died from too much rain even though for most of the summer we had a drought.  It grew well when I could control the amount of water it got but when we had three weeks of rain, it died.   I bought and planted another one. I just picked my first pepper and there are several news one growing.  I should be able to keep this one all winter long if I bring it in when and if we have a freeze.