Harry, the Great Blue Heron is waiting for one you guys to have a new post ready. We are almost out of room on the last post. I really enjoyed our conversation there.
198 comments was making me nervous. You know what happens when we get to that witching number of 200. We get lost in the ozone.
I did manage to find an old pic and make it work on this laptop. Don't keep old Harry from keeping you from putting up a new post. Harry can't wait too long. He's got places to go and things to do.
When you get back Renee, just email me your pics and what you want to say and I'll put up a new post in your name. We can teach you later how to do that yourself. The Swamp has inspired some great work from the girl here.
Harry drops onto my wharf often to check things out. My worker guys came across him one day. They said they got so close that they could almost touch him.
Did anyone like that Youtube I posted this morning. No comments.
"Morning Has Broken" is a popular and well-known Christian hymn first published in 1931. It has words by English author Eleanor Farjeon and is set to a traditional Gaelic tune known as "Bunessan" (it shares this tune with the 19th century Christmas Carol "Child in the Manger"[1]). It is often sung in children's services. English pop musician and folk singer Cat Stevens included a version on his 1971 album Teaser and the Firecat. The song became identified with Stevens when it reached number six on the US pop chart and number one on the US easy listening chart in 1972.[2]
Let's put it this way, if it came on the radio in the car I would change it...not a fav, then or now...
but then again along with country & western, not big on folk songs...exception would be "Puff the Magic Dragon" & not sure that even qualifies as folk, but think it was...I think one of the peter,paul mary lives not to far here in CT...he was on local tv & in westport pushing a children's book/song about a big blue frog...
motown, classic R&B, girl/guy groups of the 60s, do wap & of course Elvis my favorite music...
Something to keep the Downon spirit alive...some pics...do like the vintage cars...
P.S. there is a bit about one of the downstairs characters (Mrs. Obrien) too, but not sure if you want to know (nothing bad) Downton Abbey begins filming
LOVE that picture, Carol. I really love Great Blues.
I also loved Cat Stevens and that song. I think I'm a bit younger than the rest here. I'm 58... I came of age with the Beatles. I adore folk music. I used to go to Cambridge Massachusetts with a boyfriend to hear folk music live at a little, but famous, club called Passeums.
Saw Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk, Arlo Guthrie, and many others. I've seen Arlo Guthrie the most play live.... I've seen him at least 10 times. I LOVE me my Arlo!
Coreen... I also love motown (especially The Supremes), do wap, and R&B too. My father loved Elvis. He took us to see every Elvis movie at the drive-in. He also took us to see all the beach movies with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello.
Guess they could flat out fire her, she is such a nasty, unhappy person...but then how does that leave the door open for future appearances...maybe she has to leave to care for relatives & she just goes...that would be too easy though...who knows...only 11 months to go, unless you go to england!...
Old Harry has been around here as long as I have. He has a ugly singing voice. Go to songs and sounds and listen. I can hear him when he flying by. Sounds like he has a sinus drip.
Well, Renee...Diana Ross is my absolute all time ever, ever favorite...still is, we saw her in 2011 here in Stamford...
she was fantastic, she still can sing & her gowns (she changed maybe 6 times, just exquisite)would go see her again in a heartbeat...I just love her...pretty sure I put some pics of her up here then...
And Elvis...my mom took me to see him when I was like 10 in Miami Beach when he just started...the theatre was packed with screaming women/girls...my mother was screaming! & I was looking at her like are you nuts...Then in 1975 saw him at the Colliseum New Haven, he was fat in the white suit, but still could sing, but we were far away from the stage, women were going up to the stage tossing whatever & he was throwing out the scarves...he was without doubt the king...no one else...my big disappointment, never got to see him in las vegas...
Frankie Avalon, again saw him here when I was a teenager & in 2008 saw him with Bobby Rydell & Fabian (the golden boys) here in Bpt & at the Mohegan Sun Casino...
Just saw Jay & the Americans last year & Felix Cavilliere (only him from the original rascals) 2 years ago locally...
Coreen, it's kinda just you and me now. Ya gotta keep me company. I know that may be a tough assignment but you have been playing a little longer lately and I like it. I think that Coreen and I have a lot more in common than she thinks. Just one problem with Coreen's hanging out at the Swamp...
It's burrzini here outside. 39 degrees and the sun has been out a bit. I'm warming up the truck to go feed the cats. Yesterday, Maggie didn't want to go. Made me worry. She was a little sluggish but was OK. She ate and did all her business.
Now she's dancing around waiting to go. It's rare that she would pass up a road trip.
Not to worry Carol..always close by sooner or later...
It's chilly here, not much sun, but more & more ground is free of snowcover...still throwing lots of bird seed & the deer still coming, but think they may be starting to find more food in the woods...
We have to get through another week with a potential snowstorm mid week...but if the pattern holds it will stay south & out to sea...
And next weekend daylight savings returns...more daylight...yeah...
Just got out of a hot shower and put on some one feather long johns. I feel much warmer. It's not bad in my camp like it used to be but with the long johns, I can keep the heat low and be comfortable outside. It's 49 but there's a pretty good wind coming off the river which makes it feel colder. Remember, I'm not acclimated like y'all are. I'm not sure I could ever be either.
Well, it's been a good day. Cold but bright and sunny. Feeling groovy. Truck danced to Staying Alive by the BeeGees to Wally World. Cruised in and got a primo parking spot. They had some really pretty fresh asparagus that was on sale at Market Basket for a 1.99/lb and I price matched it. It was almost 4 bucks at Wally World. Showed the checker the sale ad on iPhony. Got some chicky wings for almost half price because their sale by date is tomorrow. Love a bargain. I'm a frugal shopper. It's in my DNA.
Spicy lemon/butter chicken wings will be for dinner tonight with some sauted asparagus.
Well Renee, if you check in, let us know how your first day was. Do they have good food there?
The ski resort where Jan and I went when we skied together was in Colorado, Steamboat Springs. I went to that resort about 3 times and each time stayed at the Scandinavian Lodge. The package included meals. We were grouped with other people at a table. I don't know if Jan remembers but we sat at a table with a sports producer from NBC.
The food was Scandinavian and very good. We had a cheaper room that time that had bunk beds. That lodge trained olympic skiers at that time. I guess we were in the training area. One night we had a mouse that came in the room. We had some cookies in the room and we woke up to a noise. A little mouse was trying to drag a cookie through a hole that was not big enough to pull it through. I think we broke it up for the little fellow. I don't remember any of us being frightened.
I had mice as a kid and I know Jan's youngest did. I remember a cute story about little Steve, her youngest boy, and his mouse. One day his mouse bit the dust. Jan was all distressed about having to tell him. He was in school but pretty young. I was with her for moral support when she picked him up from school.
He got in the car and Jan was all serious and gently told him that his little mouse had died. She was prepared for the worst. After a short pause, he yelled out the window to one of his little friend's, "hey Mike, my mouse died. It was like it was exciting news. Jan and I just looked at each other and tried hard not to break out laughing.
Renee, hope you are having a good time on your trip. Look forward to hearing about it.
Everyone here at the retreat center went to a barbeque down the road and a dance with some live music. I feel like I am coming down with a cold so John and I drove into town and got me some throat lozenges and went out to eat. We are back. Nice to turn in a little early. I am going to do some reading in a bit.
I'm watching There's Something About Mary. At the beginning of that movie, the lead character gets his junk caught in his zipper.
My first NP job was in ER. It wasn't where I wanted to work but there weren't a lot of NP jobs around at that time and I had done some of my clinicals there so they offered me a job. It was good experience but 12 hour shifts and mostly in the evenings. I thought..I've come all this way to work 12 hour evenings. I only stayed for about 18 months.
One of my first patients was this man who was a patient in a long term care facility where I later saw patients. That facility housed people who had significant mental health problems.
That patient came in with the skin of his penis caught in a zipper. The zipper was completely zipped up. He didn't act like he was in serious pain but so often, mental patients had very high pain thresholds.
They gave me that patient to take care of. It seems I often caught patients that no one else wanted to deal with. It's not like I had any experience removing a penis from a zipped up zipper. The zipper was one of those industrial strength zippers on a pair of institution blue jeans. I first cut the zipper from the pants and then had to cut the zipper apart. I had to use some serious tools, not instruments, carpenter tools to cut that zipper apart. Once I had cut the top and bottom off the zipper, I could just pull it apart. I did have some interesting experiences while working in that job. It was probably good that they gave him to me. The docs would have probably cut his penis out of the zipper.
Carol, your dinner tonight sounds delicious. You made the best chicken wings. Sounds like a fun afternoon. I loved the Bee Gees.
I remember that incident with Steve. I was sure he would be devastated. We could not keep one of those little rodents alive in LC. We bought him one when we moved to Albuq and the thing lived for 2 years. It got out of its cage a couple of times and we had to find it.
What's weird is that they often gave me jobs that required a lot of patience. What's also weird is..I usually didn't have any. I guess I did learn to find some.
I was saying that mental health patient's had a higher than normal pain tolerance. They also tolerated many things much better than the average bear. I had this little 80year old lady who lived in that same institution where the penis in the zipper guy came from. She had diabetes and was a poster lady for all the complications of diabetes. She was blind, double amputation, and renal failure on dialysis. She was the happiest little lady I have ever seen.
When I went to that facility to see patients, they weren't as concerned about their medical problems as they were with getting a hug. Most did not have any family who lived nearby or came to see them. I called them my lost people. I gave lots of hugs. I didn't charge for them. Didn't even need my fancy degrees to do that but it was more powerful medicine than anything else I could do for them.
I could write a book on just the characters I saw in that institution. I had this one young fellow who had been in a serious auto accident and had sustained severe brain damage. It damaged the part of his brain that controlled his speech and movement but not his thought. He was quite a sharp young man. He couldn't talk and was very spastic in his movements. He had to be tied to his wheelchair and could only communicate using a board with letters. He used his finger pointed out from his spastic arm to point to letters to tell me what was going on with him. I had my paper and pencil and would write down all the letters and try to group them into words to make sentences. It took forever. When I would get throught doing all that and put the sentences together, it was just a joke he was trying to tell me. He'd laugh real big. I'd had to laugh also. Looking back, I really miss those people. I hope whoever followed me, taking care of those patients, loved them as much as I came to.
What was also weird is that many of the patients that I saw in the ER were patients who were residents of that institution. I later worked for the doctor who had the contract to see those patients. He had me seeing all the patients there. I went twice a week, half a day. Then later I worked at the jail. I found out that many of the employees who worked at the institution were from the half way house and had come from the jail where I later worked. Weird synchronicity isn't it.
I saw one young woman who fell down so frequently that they tried to make her wear a football helmet. She wouldn't keep it on. I wonder if she just did it for entertainment, an opportunity to get a little trip away from the "home". When working in the ER, I stitched up her scalp wounds so many times that I often was stitching one scar to another. When you work in the ER, you have no follow up to see the results of your work like you would in a private office. Since I later had her as a patient at the long term care facility, I got to finally see the results of my sewing. I did a good job.
One Christmas I told one of my friends how most of those patients didn't have any families to come see them and bring them presents. She was a geologist who worked for one of the local industries here in town. She told some of the ladies who she worked with. They printed up some Christmas Carols, gathered together a bunch of safe gifts and we had a party there for anyone who wanted to attend. My friend had a huge collection of ball caps that she and her parents had collected from all over the country/world. She brought most of them also. We had them draw names and everyone got to come up and select a gift. This old man who was totally bald, selected a hat that said "bad hair day" Everyhone laughed. It was the best Christmas party I've ever been to.
Watching 20/20, I was reminded of Kim K's wedding that cost 10 million dollars. All those fancy wedding products representing a big fat scam. No problem with them being able to get married.
And many don't want gay people who have been together for years, waiting for the opportunity to make it official, to get married. It's a crazy screwed up world.
I started thinking about what I called my long johns that I put on earlier today. They have been quite comfortable and kept me pretty warm. For a short while, I even had to go turn down all the heat but as the temp started dropping again outsie, I had to turn it back up.
Long johns come in different level of protection. I called mine a one feather long john. They are the lightest of long johns. As I thought about it, that feather classification sounded weird. Then I remembered it wasn't feathers, it was snowflakes. I have on the one snowflake long johns. I guess living in an area that gets no snowflakes, feathers just seemed more appropriate.
With half our group on vacay and a less than chatty attorney still at the Swamp with me, I'm having to do a monolog today. I guess I often do that even when everyone is home. But you must remember that there's not much Maggie is interested in talking about.
When I was taking care of mama, while she was dying, the most important person in my life, and going through an undeserved crisis in my career, one I had nothing to do with creating, I wrote a journal. I thought of it as a book. It kept me from going nuts, I think. It detailed everything I was going through, some of the fun and crazy stuff I experienced in my career, some of my experiences in farm hand/cowgirl 101, what it was like to be stuck in a house with a severly dysfunctional family in which I was a card carrying member, and what I experienced watching my mama die. I was going to call my book, I took a trip to insanity and I hope I had a round trip ticket. I guess you can be the judge of whether I succeeded there.
I said that I never wanted to be bored...during that challenging time, I prayed for a little boring. I needed a little boring.
Besides watching There's Something About Mary yesterday, I also watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I guess both of those movies initiated those memories I wrote about here.
I am divine energy expressing as vitality and life.
God created me with the physical, mental and spiritual capacity to live a fulfilling and meaningful life. Whether I am active or resting, I am vitally alive. While my body rests, my mind may dream of my next endeavor. When I’m physically active, my mind clears as I focus on the task at hand.
In the Silence of prayer and meditation, I still my body and mind, tapping into the Source of strength and energy within. No thought or distraction interferes with the flow of energy in and through me. I am recharged physically, mentally and spiritually.
At work, at play, and at rest, I channel my energy into activities that bring joy to myself and others. Energized by Spirit within, I live an abundant life.
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.—John 10:10"
Burrrrr. Baby it's cold outside. 30 this morning. My one snowflake longjohns aren't cutting the mustard this morning, outside. OK inside. There's ice on my birdbath.
Chilly here still...but can feel that it wants to change...until we get past the potential mid week storm that is...may be into the 50s by the weekend...
Hey gals... here I am at the ski resort. We have one of the newer condos this year. It's not swanky... but it's nice.
Carol... lots of restaraunts in this town. Some cheap (McDonald's) and some not so (like my favorite, Gypsy Cafe). I do make breakfast here. I guess putting bagels in the toaster and making coffee qualifies as "cooking".
Carol... reading your long john stories is a hoot! I really am a true northern babe. I run hot. I LOVE winter temps. I rarely wear one of my scarves, or a hat, or gloves. And long johns were only worn when I skied on days in the single numbers.
Didn't know if I'd be able to get in here on the laptop. Looks like I made it. But internet service up here is spotty. I'll check in from time to time.
On my way to my house to feed the kitties and pick up my laundry, I heard that song that I posted on TM this morning. It just seemed to beg to be posted there. It's weird that when I'm pondering certain things, an appropriate song will come on the radio. Synchronicity.
After writing about Steamboat Springs last night, this morning, I had multiple ads for rooms there. Not synchronicity, that was Google. They are watching us.
Renee, are you rationing the hot tub? I do realize that there are dangers to using a hot tub. Careful when taking BP meds and/or drinking alcohol. The vasodilation can result in fainting. Make sure you aren't alone.
Also careful when you have diabetes. They can dry out the skin and lead to cracking which can allow entry to microorganisms. Moisturize. moisturize, moisturize. They can increase the absorption of insulin, if one takes it.
Carol, I have been enjoying your monologue here too. I got a big kick out of your stories of people you have taken care of. Funny about the woman you stitched up so many times.
It is downright cold here. We are having a 3 1/2 hour quiet time. I have been reading and took an hour nap. I kept waking up disoriented and thinking it was early morning and I just missed something. We have our graduation ceremony tonight. It is actually an Episcopal church service and before the Eucharist we will get our certificates and plaques signifying our completion of the program. In our group there are 2 Episcopal priests, one Episcopal Deacon, one Methodist minister, 2 Catholic nuns and then 7 of us who are just regular people. One might think we are a pretty dull group, but you have never seen such a group if irreverent and raunchy people in your life. One of the most fun groups of people I have known.
Now how rowdy do those people get?? Do you have another chapter for... as the Swamp turns? We'll keep it under our hats. I'll only share it with Maggie.. but she does carry a tail.
In an independent living facility a nurse refused to do CPR on a resident because it was against the facility's policies. Can you believe that? No one would keep me from doing it. I wonder what the Nursing Board in that state thinks about that? I guess that's where you send your loved one when you are in a hurrry for your inheritance. I think it was in California.
Jan, y'all have a safe trip home. I bet you're sad that these trips are over or will there be an occasional reunion? You were going over there several times a year.
Last night, I went over to Facebook and learned that one of my x secretary's, x husband's died. He was only 48 y/o. That's young. I called another friend from work to find out what he died of. It was some type of liver failure. Seems he did a lot of drinking. That still seems kinda strange for someone who was that young. In these parts, everyone does a lot of drinking. I have people who I know that some say that they drink a case of beer a day and I've never even seen some of them drunk. I can't understand how anyone can consume that much liquid much less beer.
We are a drinking culture down here. Not being able to drink keeps me from fitting in very well. I've told y'all that I've tried to acquire the ability to drink. I was a failure at that. I wish I could at least drink wine, it's so cool. I have a hanging wine rack at the house with many wine glasses.
Well, I didn't know my x secretary's x but I heard her fighting with him over the phone so often that I felt like I knew him.
This heavy drinking is one reason why I don't miss having my big cook outs. So many, mostly guys, will not eat while they are drinking. They say that it will kill their buzz. They'll take a plate home to wolf down right before they go to bed. I don't spend the amount of money, time and fretting that I do on my dinners for someone to take my cooking home as takee outee. They can just grab some Taco Bell on their way home, but I have done it for years. Very seldom do women do that but one of my good friends did that also. She always bragged on my cooking but I bet I coulda served dog shitl, made it attractive looking and she would have thought it was great.
Now, I've bought a lot of liquer over the years just to be hospitable. Right now I'm looking at a half gallon of Skyy volka I bought 8 years ago, right after I bought this camp. It's still half full. I havent moved everything out of my big room yet, mostly the stuff that I haven't decided if I will keep or throw away. I wonder if it's still good? Maybe I can use it as a disinfectant. I do have trouble throwing stuff away.
I have had a couple of Bloody Mary's outta that bottle of vodka. I'll only feel bad for an hour or so after one Bloody Mary. I can handle that on occasions. I guess I can keep it a little longer, as decor, so I don't look too prudish. I'll put it somewhere where everyone can see it.
I used to have that bottle of vodka sitting on the window seal by my kitchen sink. Anyone passing by on the river could see it. It wasn't exactly my purpose but it did help to identify my religious preference. It would say that she is definitely not a Baptist, probably not a Methodist either. Evangelical, not. Likely a good Catholic, atheist or church of the Big River. Many who attend the latter, the church of the Big River, do like their booze.
Ok Mama Carol, I promise I'll play nice in the hot tub. :)
he, he.... I'm not on insulin... and I would NEVER drink alcohol while in one... that'd be stuuupid.
I like a good glass of wine with a good meal. I occasionally drink a margarita. My favorite restaraunt up here makes them fresh... I will indulge in one when we go later in the week.
Jan... I know how you feel about Ryley... I miss my cats.
Coreen... "as the swamp turns"... LOL! I wanna play the trollop... they have all the fun.
Heard that story again about the nurse who refused to do CPR on a dying lady because it was against company policy. She needs to turn in her license. Our oath to our profession overrides any company policy. Shame, shame, shame.
I said that I think that wine is so cool. When my big sis comes down I like to go the the store and pick out some interesting wine for her to have available. I know nothing about wine. A couple of times I found these organic wines. My big sis is organic. The wines said they were grown, paying particular attention to the land where the grapes were grown. Now, they may not have been tasty wines but at least my sis would feel good about herself while drinking them.
Coreen, your attempt to keep your communication short can leave me wanting. When you write that your cats "go", does that refer to they hang out in or pee on? I don't know.
I'm a little worried about not hearing from Jan. Hope everything was OK at home.
I was distressed about that nurse in California refusing to do CPR on that 80+ y/o lady because she said it was against the Independent Living Home's policy.
I'd be aggravated if any regular human, who knew CPR, refused to perform it but a nurse?? I was wondering what the State Nursing Board would have to say about it.
Well, I came across the answer...
"The consensus is if they are a nurse and if they are at work as a nurse, then they should be offering the appropriate medical care," said Russ Heimerich, spokesman for the California Board of Registered Nursing, the agency that licenses health care providers."
Renee, did you check in after hot tubbing, noooo. Y'all like to make mama worry, don't you? Just like kids do. Well, was it at least worth it?
If you've been around this joint for long enough, you must know that worrying is in my DNA. I came by it honestly from my mom. She couldn't help it either and we did torment her for it. I think it was the way that mama showed her love.
I don't know if you remember when I told y'all that there was a train track in the small town where mom and my SF lived. We had to cross it to get to the Interstate to go home. It didn't have any rails that came down when a train was coming. Mom always worried when we left, that we might get run over by a train. She always gave us instructions when we left the house to watch for the train. If she forgot, I could often find her chasing my truck out of the driveway with her arms waving. I'd think that something bad had happened and when I stopped and she caught up with me, all she wanted to say was..."watch for the train."
One day, when my sisters and I were all leaving together and mom told us that, we told her...no mom, we're going to sit and wait for that train and then try to rush across. That was mean. I guess I got some karma coming for that.
We are home. Sorry I did not check in yesterday evening. Picked up Ryley. Don't know who was happier, Ryley, John or me. She had a bath and grooming yesterday and she is such a pretty baby today. By week's end she will be dirty again. We don't have grass in the back. She is so fluffy.
John and I slept all through the night last night - the first time since leaving home. Our room and bed were warm and comfy there but we both had trouble sleeping. Would wake up several times during the night. Soooo glad to be home.
Sweet story about your mom and the train Carol. Funny, how we remember those things after they are gone.
Renee, sounds like good fun on your trip. I seldom drink any longer. A little bit of wine on occasion and I dearly love margaritas but pass them up these days.
Carol, I had a letter from the gastroenterologist who did my procedures. This is what the letter said.
ESOPHAGUS, DISTAL BIOPSY: ACTIVE ESOPHAGITIS INCLUDING EOSINOPHILS NUMBERING UP TO 40 PER HPF. NO INTESTINAL METAPLASIA OR DYSPLASIA IS PRESENT.
Further down: These can be seen when you have acid reflux or if you have a condition called eosinophic esophagitis. Please take Omeprazole 20 mg po bid before meals and follow reflux precautions.
Her office called me and scheduled an appt for 4/17.
OK Jan, I guess the universe is telling me it's time to stop worrying about people. I'll work on it.
I got up this morning and tuned into PBS. They had a program on investments, pretty good. Got some info that I needed. Then there was one of mental health, didn't cover any issues that I could identify with this morning. Then they had an exercise program. I got up off my ass and joined them there. It wasn't too tough. I noticed this tractor tire I have around my waist now. Those months of being unable to move, except to find food, didn't do my waist any favors. Yesterday I got on my Gazelle. I started with 10 minutes.
Just remember that Omeprazole has been found to leach calcium from the hip bones. Google and check it out. See what you think. With my osteoporosis, I use Zantac when I'm having a problem.
The studies sound like there is no serious changes going on in intestines "NO INTESTINAL METAPLASIA OR DYSPLASIA IS PRESENT."
Eosinophic esophagitis is an ALLERGIC inflammatory condition of the esophagus. Allergy is the problem.
"In the past, patients with EE were incorrectly diagnosed as GERD sufferers. These patients were typically prescribed proton pump inhibitors, under the assumption that their problem was caused by excess stomach acid. However, researchers have since discovered that EE patients often have a normal pH in their GI tract."
Don't want you taking a proton pump inhibitor, break a hip, for something that might not should have been treated with one. Don't know. You will have to look at all the info and make a decision.
Don't want you to worry Carol. But I do so appreciate your concern and your wisdom and knowledge on this issue of the esophagitis.
I think I might have had a stomach/intestinal virus at the time of the procedure and I think I was allergic to the go lightly. When I saw my regular doc who is an excellent internist - he thought I had a reaction to the go lightly too. He too said the large number of Eosonophils were due to an allergic reaction to the golightly too.
In view of this, I want to have the gastric procedure again and this time without the colonoscopy so I don't have to take anything.
I don't want to take the omeprazol on a regular basis based on what you are telling me about the leaching from the bones.
I will keep the appt with the GI doc and tell her what you are telling me. In the meantime I am not going to take anything other than zantac prn. I seldom need it more than once or twice a month.
We have to do our own research these days. Sorry, but if you just depend on what docs tell ya, it's hit and miss. Not saying that they are wrong but not telling ya that they are right either. We are very fortunate that we now have resources to check. Have to be careful there also.
I have never depended on what the docs tell me. Before I could read the research, I depended on my intuition. Now I depend on you, the research and my intuition. One of the things I learned this weekend was to always depend on what you feel inside.
I'm still kinda keeping up with that Jodi Arias trial. I think she definitely had some evil in her but also had some good. Maybe we all do. Jan, you posted this or something like this before:
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.
"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
There's some moron playing this big speaker that's on his front porch. He's quite a ways down the road. He does that every now and again and it's not music, it's noise, annoying noise. It even scares the birds. He cranks it up like he thinks someone else might enjoy it. I've been tempted to go tell him a thing or two but, around here, people like their guns!
Renee, I just needed to know that you are OK and that all is well in your world. No need to communicate more than that. I found out that from checking on TM.
Let me let you in on a little secret, one that would save everyone and this country a lot of money. There are a lot of pharmaceuticals out there that are safer and cheaper than the ones that are pushed by the pharm reps today. They aren't used because medical people either don't know about them or forgot about them because no drug rep is pushing them. Those drugs have been around long enough to know how many people they will kill or mame. They are cheaper because they lost their patents. I used many of them on my formulary. I worked with a pharmacist, who I trusted, to make up my formulary.
If your medical practitioner is going to the drug cabinet for some samples, be afraid, be very afraid. Unless you are going to get the entire supply of what you need, when you run out, watch out. They are going to cost you a fortune. Giving you samples did you no favors!
Now, with antibiotics, new may be better, or not. Many antibiotics have lost their efficacy due to overuse. A few samples, or the total amount needed for treatment, would be a nice thing to have from the drug cabinet. Some of those babies can cost $10+ a pill.
The new leaves are bursting out everywhere here. I love the color or those new leaves. They are a light, lime green. When it's cold here, the sky is a deep blue. I love the light green colored leaves up against the background of the deep blue sky.
I used to wonder why the sky was sooo much bluer in the winter here. It's not the temp as much as it is the humidity. Often our humidity is lower when it's cold out. High humidity scatters the light making the sky look washed out. Of course, pollution can mess it all up.
Heard yesterday that the NRA paid a bucket load to change the name of Texas Nascar to NRA Nascar. How sly of them. Now when you go to the car races in Texas, you will think....faster than a speeding bullet.
My carpenter bees are back, the one's I told you that are sooo smart that they can avoid my electronic flying bug zapper. I just thought of something. Maybe they aren't really carpenter bees afterall. Maybe they are predator drones. Hmmmm.
Oh, it's a beautiful day here...the sun was great...45 & it felt like summer!...
Know that's cold for you Carol, but pretty sure Renee understands the feeling...
And half the yard is snow free & now they are saying another 4"+ on its way...just one more annoying weather mess...we often get a March snowstorm to end the season...
Now this is truly a bummer...(forget NRA, big pharma, sequester, & all the usual kvetching topics)...seeing the Fonz hawking reverse mortgages...together with a free lighted magnifying reader gadget! thrown in...
I'm not opposed to guns Coreen I have one, to help me feel safe even though Flatus said it probably wouldn't hurt a fly and I certainly couldn't hit a fly with it. I don't like those bad boys weapons, that don't have any usefulness, or mega magazines and I want background checks.
I'm trying to decide what I want for dinner tonight. I have a couple of wolves to feed. I've been feeding the good one some seeds and other healthy stuff. The bad one wants some MEAT.
Jan, I'm watching a Big Bang marathon. I'm having to be careful with my grazing because these shows are so funny, that I've choked on my food several times now.
I did throw my bad wolf a few chicken wings. That settled her down for a while.
Just woke up from nice long nap. I hadn't put Maggie out for her last evening potty and she wasn't going to let me pass that up. I think it's more because she wants that last cookie more than needing to potty. The temp has dropped and I'm back to being cold to the bone again. I turned off the heater in the house because it was so warm today. I had to turn it back on.
I've been watching some of this trial again today but not like I've watched other trials. This is one of the few times I've heard a defendant on the stand testifying. She's been on the stand now for 15 days. She's been on for direct, from her attorney, then cross, the prosecutor and now back with her attorney. Her attorney is trying to rehab her from that last testimony.
You can definitely see that there must have been a bad wolf in her. It's not like it's real obvious looking or listening to her. She works hard at only letting us see the good wolf but from the evidence of her actions, we're totally aware of that animal being in her.
I don't see as much her feeding that bad wolf as I see that her boyfriend fed it. He liked playing with that bad wolf, he got off to it. He thought that he could get by with doing that without that wolf coming after him.
After the attorneys get finished with her as a witness, the jury gets to ask questions. I just heard that they have 100 questions for her. That will be interesting to watch.
I apologize for my jumping in with my health care teaching stuff. I realize that it is not always desired but I did that for 40 years. I saw it as one of the most important aspects of what I did in all of my health care careers. I did it with my patients, with my family, with my friends and often with total strangers. It's one of the hardest things for me to turn off.
Something I read on one of those signs that I saw out in front of a church years ago said...you can give a man a fish and he can feed his family for a day but if you teach a man to fish, he can feed his family for a lifetime. That bit of advice moved me. I do believe in empowering people to take care of themselves and it's the only way to keep the cost of health care reasonable.
But then, I take it that you were probably asking for a little advice Jan. I've been picking on Renee with a little diabetes advice when she never asked for it. I do have a passion for helping people with diabetes. It is such a complex disease that even the experts can get stumped. I used to be more of one because that' all I did was eat, sleep and breath diabetes but not anymore, but I have a good background in it. So many things have come out for treating diabetes but just like when that's all I did, there were things that came out that weren't good ideas. Meds came and went and some killed people and went off the market. Medicine is a business. It's not an exact science. Buyer beware. That's all I need to say.
One time that I was the most disappointed in medicine was when mama found her cancer. It was so rare that we had to take her to a well known and respected cancer hospital not far from here, in Texas. I had a lot of respect for that hospital. I lost a good bit of that back then. I will still say that all the staff at that hospital were angels. I could even see wings on them.
The docs mom saw there offered her a treatment option that through lots of research of my own I found would have killed her faster, made her last days miserable and cost her a fortune. They didn't even have a clue what the cost was.
After I found all that I could, I gave the info to mom. I let her make the decision of what to do and she choose to do nothing. She outlived the life expectancy of all research and control groups but then she did have an NP as a private duty nurse. I think that all the education and experiences that I had in the years prior to mom's illness were strangely designed to provide for her at the end. Interestly enough, I think mom was involved in that.
It was such a rare cancer that I would assume that that research hospital would have still been interested in studying mom and how she responded to not choosing a treatment option. They didn't. When she didn't want their poison, it was.. we're no longer interested in you. She was sad about that. I did tell her doctors what I found and why she chose what she did. They had no arguement to anything that I presented. Evidently they were also aware of the same but didn't tell us that until I found it.
Of course this was a very rare cancer, maybe one in a million. I'm sure they do great with more common forms of cancer.
And then maybe it's just when your number comes up, if you are suppose to survive, you will. The right things will come up at the right time. I've heard of people dropping dead from cardiac arrest in the parking lot of an ER and dying and someone else have cardiac arrest in the Everglades, and survive. Our destiny may already be set.
But that doesn't mean one should throw caution to the wind. That shouldn't be in your destiny.
I started a routine yesterday, if you can call one day a routine. I wake up to a financial info show on PBS. It usually has some suggestions for us retirees. Then an exercise program comes on. Unfortunately today's program required laying on the floor. I haven't graduated to my bed yet so the floor is definitely out. I did some of the stretches that didn't require laying on the floor and then got on my Geselle and did that while I watched.
I'm really not sure if I can do the bed yet. I'm really enjoying my recliner. I wake up to looking out all the windows at the river. I like that. I'm in a semi reclining which is good for those of us who have some reflux. I can't stop my feeding 3 hours before reclining so I need to be a little more upright. I can get to a pretty flat position if I choose to.
Now there's a cooking show and I'm making my country sauted potatoes.
I've got to do Sam's today. I need my spicy salmon and bird seed. They have the best bird seed there. It's full of sunflower seeds that my birds love. It doesn't have much of that filler seed that only black birds and doves like.
I can get a 40 lb bag for 20 bucks. You may wonder how I can handle a 40 lb bag. Very carefully. I roll it into my basket. I roll into the back of my truck. I roll it off my truck onto a dolly and I roll it to my back porch. I love rock and roll.
The sun is reflecting off the water like a million sparkling diamonds. I'd rather have that than all the diamonds in the world. Diamonds have never been this girl's best friend. I think they are just a waste of money.
Carol, don't stop giving us your very experienced health care advice. I for one appreciate your information on the use of the omeprazole. I am definitely going to talk with the GI doc about it. I am sure my internist will agree with you. He is one of those who believes that a drug should not be taken unless absolutely necessary. The GI doc wants to talk with me about my symptoms and I want to visit with her too.
A long time ago, I learned to listen to my own intuition when it came to my health. I can tell you several instances where that worked best for me.
When I started through menopause in early 1990's my first doc (a man) tried to talk me into HRT. I filled the Rx but after taking it for a few days, did not like the side effects and stopped. Since I was in a med center, I read all the recent research on HRT's. Guess what, they found the studies inconclusive on the benefits. And who was funding the studies (they always tell you at the back of the research article) the drug companies. So I changed docs and went to a woman doc. Guess what, she too tried to talk me into HRT so I just said ok and tolk the Rx and didn't fill it.
Finally, the big study was released that there were not any benefits insofar as the heart and in fact there were bad effects - like blood clots. The only real benefit was on reducing hot flashes and other discomforts of menopause.
I really wanted to go back to those docs who strongly pushed HRT and shove the studies in their faces.
Carol, you are doing a public service here by sharing your wisdom, knowledge and experience. Don't ever apologize for doing that. You may never know who is watching here and may benefit.
John was talking about the movie, Hunger Games the other day. The movie had a strong effect on John. He told me the other day that when he thought about it, this is what we do and have done through the ages - we send our youngest and brightest off to war to kill or be killed. The only difference in the movie is that both young men and young women were sent off to kill or be killed. In the movie it was portrayed as a game for the amusement of some wealthy and powerful people. Well, duh, when you think of wars, is there much difference?
The pharmacy board never bothered this doctor until a NP was buying his practice. Then they came after him when she still needed him as a collaborating physician and was weaning his patients from those drugs. That job took up some on my book.
The old Doc I worked for before, wouldn't prescribe hardly any narcotics and I was in trouble for just working for him. This doc was handing them out by the truckload and he had no problems.
Another time when I paid attention to my intuition was when I was pregnant. I always gained about 40 lbs, at a time when OB docs were recommending no more than 20 lbs for every woman. I was not overweight when I would get pregnant. Pregnancy always made me hungry - and once I got over the initial stage of nausea and vomiting I was hungry and could eat a lot but it was always good food. I remember with every pregnancy the doc would caution me about gaining too much weight. I tried to listen but my hunger was stronger than their advice. I always lost the extra weight within about 2 months after birth.
When I was pregnant with Steve, my doc tried to give me some pills to reduce my hunger. This was in Argentina so don't know what it was but probably a stimulant of some kind. I did not like the way it made me feel, so after taking only one, I did not take any more.
I had 3 healthy babies who were a normal birth weight. Well, Steve did weigh 9 lbs. However, all the folks in Bob's family were tall/big men so I think it was just genetics. I did not have Gestational Diabetes. May be a question of normality there.
I got up, did all my stuff, took a shower and got ready. When I finished, I remembered that I had forgotten to go feed my kitties. It was an hour later than I usually feed them. I felt awful for forgetting. Mag and I ran home. They were all out in front of the house, looking at me, looking at their watches and tapping their little paws. I poured out all their food and they soon forgot their mad.
Yes Jan, it was one of the hormone makers that was financing that research. They were soooo sure of the benefits but that didn't turn out to be the case. I wouldn't prescribe them at the joint. It's kinda another example that what is natural may work well but when we try to make it, it doesn't work so well.
An old neighbor of mine just insisted she needed her hormones. She was in her 70s. I tried to warn her. I shared the research with her. She ended up having a stroke and laid on her bedroom floor for 3 days before anyone found her. She did finally quit the hormones.
I'm now taking foods like I would vitamin supplements. I have a dose of broccoli, a dose of almonds, a dose of walnuts, a dose of the deep colored fruits, etc.
growing up here lots of ethnic words (mostly italian & yiddish) learned...thinking about it, have had mostly friends with italian, jewish, irish heritages...
And Italian words that have made their way into everyday usage...popularized by 'mob' movies, like the 'Godfather' & the Soprano's TV series...& which are very familiar to those of us growing up italian...
No problemo Coreen. I thought at first that you were insulting me since I do resemble that word, kvetching. I'm a kvetch, we usually call it a "bitch" around my parts. It ain't the only bad habit I have, I have lots.
I just got back from all my running around and I made good time. Did my Sam's thing. Got my birdseed, my salmon and...a 4 pack of fat filet mignons, and some Satler's smoked brisket for some future time. Some of my bad habits. I stopped at this joint that makes great tamales. I don't get by there very often and my mouth is watering for them right now. Another bad habit. I told y'all that around my parts we believe more in quality of life than quantity. Just take me quick God.
I also went to my Vet's office for some Maggie dental diet that she thinks are cookies. One of us needs to be healthy.
Coreen, it looks like several days of snow for you and parts north of you. We don't know where Renee is skiing or I mean her hubs is skiing. She said north mountains. I'm wondering why she's not in that hot tub every chance she gets. I'd be doing it at least once or twice a day. As cold as it probably gets up there, I might live in the hot tub.
I have a hot tub at my house but the heater broke. I never got it fixed. Really wouldn't be worth the expense. I could only use it in the really cold weather and when there were lots of people around. When I did use it, I could get out and walk around in 30 degree weather in my bathing suit and be comfortable.
I built that hot tub house myself. My only construction project. I got one of the Ortho built stuff books. I started with a deck, I bought a used hot tub from a friend. We used pipes and rolled it back to the deck, can't remember how we got it on the deck. Then I built a screened in little building on the deck. It's kinda a waste now but I can point to it and say...I built that. I had help from one of my girl friends but I was the forewoman. I almost sawed a power cord in half while on the roof cutting plywood. Scared me.
Jan, did you ever eat hot tamales from Mancuso's tamales, down close to that antique furniture place? They were the best tamales anywhere. My grandpa from Detroit and an uncle from Houston used to get a bunch to take home. Mancuso was Italian but made the best hot tamales. The hot tamales I got today tasted just like them. I don't normally like most hot tamales. I think most taste like dog food. I had about 4 of them earlier and will have some more tonight with my salad. Yummm.
Most Italians just know how to cook..period. My grandma was Czech/Polish, her husband was Italian. She could cook. When we visited, she put on a spread for an army. It wasn't just a meal it was an Italian smorgasbord. Mom was a great cook also and I inherited it from both of them. My dad's mom probably was a good cook but she died when I was 5 so I don't remember.
I don't do much Italian cooking except Marinara. I did create this spinach manacotti dish that you would slap someone you loved for. It's so rich that you'd probably die of a heart attack first. It is one of my prize recipes. It's in a white heavy cream, garlic, butter, 5 pizza cheese, with extra parmisian sauce. The manicotti is stuffed with spinach/5 pizza cheese, feta, garlic. It's a lot of work but I usually made three cassaroles dishes full of it. Only did it for special occasions.
While at our dream conference I signed up with one of our presenters to go on a Women's creativity Retreat in Ireland. I just booked my airline ticket. That was separate. Oh Gosh, this will be the first time for me to travel out of the country on my own. A little nervous. It is June 12-21.
How tough can it be. At least they speak english in Ireland. A friend at the Univ goes to Ireland often. I talked with her today. She said it is beautiful there.
That sounds super neat Jan. I just Googled it. Is the conference going to last the entire 10 days or do you get to do a little sight seeing there. It sounded like the conference is 10 days. That's long confererence.
When I woke up this early morning, I noticed the moon hadn't even risen above the trees across the river. That moon rising just doesn't make sense to me. It just does what it wants, when it wants to. Kinda like me now. It's taken me long enough to learn to enjoy my new freedom.
Soon, I will have people around all day when they start putting a new outfit on my camp. I'm not sure when. Papa carpenter dropped by the other day to leave me some siding samples. He's been tied up with another job that has taken longer than expected.
I'm wondering if I will have to take Maggie home during the day. She will not take well to a bunch of noise on the outside of the camp. I might not either. There's some construction going on about three camps down. She's been tolerating that better than usual. She doesn't freak out when I take her outside and she hears banging. I still don't think she will deal with it when it right outside.
191 comments:
198 comments was making me nervous. You know what happens when we get to that witching number of 200. We get lost in the ozone.
I did manage to find an old pic and make it work on this laptop. Don't keep old Harry from keeping you from putting up a new post. Harry can't wait too long. He's got places to go and things to do.
When you get back Renee, just email me your pics and what you want to say and I'll put up a new post in your name. We can teach you later how to do that yourself. The Swamp has inspired some great work from the girl here.
Happy to see Harry, Carol...Don't you think he can hang around for another 100+ posts...what's the hurry...
Harry drops onto my wharf often to check things out. My worker guys came across him one day. They said they got so close that they could almost touch him.
Did anyone like that Youtube I posted this morning. No comments.
"Morning Has Broken" is a popular and well-known Christian hymn first published in 1931. It has words by English author Eleanor Farjeon and is set to a traditional Gaelic tune known as "Bunessan" (it shares this tune with the 19th century Christmas Carol "Child in the Manger"[1]). It is often sung in children's services. English pop musician and folk singer Cat Stevens included a version on his 1971 album Teaser and the Firecat. The song became identified with Stevens when it reached number six on the US pop chart and number one on the US easy listening chart in 1972.[2]
I got that on Wikipedia. Forgot to leave the link.
You want feedback on the song...
Let's put it this way, if it came on the radio in the car I would change it...not a fav, then or now...
but then again along with country & western, not big on folk songs...exception would be "Puff
the Magic Dragon" & not sure that even qualifies as folk, but think it was...I think one of the peter,paul mary lives not to far here in CT...he was on local tv
& in westport pushing a children's book/song about a big blue frog...
motown, classic R&B, girl/guy groups of the 60s, do wap & of course Elvis my favorite music...
Figures Coreen. I think it's a beautiful song.
But then I do love folk music.
Kenw I saw it..peter yarrow signing & singing at Barnes & Noble in Wesport promoting big blue frog children's book about racial tolerance...
Still a hit with the kids
Peter Yarrow in Westport to sign big blue frog child's book
Liked him too, along with Paul and Mary.
Not the NYT daily fix but from the daily news...
Something to keep the Downon spirit alive...some pics...do like the vintage cars...
P.S. there is a bit about one of the downstairs characters (Mrs. Obrien) too, but not sure if you want to know (nothing bad)
Downton Abbey begins filming
Where did you see something about Obrien?
When I wrote that the Swamp has inspired great work..I left the s off of girls. It was supposed to be the "girls" here.
Seem to remember that you did a lot more picture taking Coreen than you had done before.
Its also at the NY Daily News...
Did you look at the pics...
Here's the link if you want to read it...
Mrs. Obrien
Yes, Carol...your prompting & interest in seeing other places
allows me to see things around that may be taken for granted...
LOVE that picture, Carol. I really love Great Blues.
I also loved Cat Stevens and that song. I think I'm a bit younger than the rest here. I'm 58... I came of age with the Beatles. I adore folk music. I used to go to Cambridge Massachusetts with a boyfriend to hear folk music live at a little, but famous, club called Passeums.
Saw Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk, Arlo Guthrie, and many others. I've seen Arlo Guthrie the most play live.... I've seen him at least 10 times. I LOVE me my Arlo!
Coreen... I also love motown (especially The Supremes), do wap, and R&B too. My father loved Elvis. He took us to see every Elvis movie at the drive-in. He also took us to see all the beach movies with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello.
I also love me some Motown, et al.
Coreen, I wonder how they will do her in. Karma, at last.
Guess they could flat out fire her, she is such a nasty, unhappy
person...but then how does that leave the door open for future appearances...maybe she has to leave to care for relatives & she just goes...that would be too easy
though...who knows...only 11 months to go, unless you go to england!...
Old Harry has been around here as long as I have. He has a ugly singing voice. Go to songs and sounds and listen. I can hear him when he flying by. Sounds like he has a sinus drip.
Great Blue Heron
She has done some evil things at DA. She even caused Cora to have a miscarriage. That woman has some bad coming to her.
Well, Renee...Diana Ross is my absolute all time ever, ever favorite...still is,
we saw her in 2011 here in Stamford...
she was fantastic, she still can sing & her gowns (she changed maybe 6 times, just exquisite)would go see her again in a heartbeat...I just love her...pretty sure I put some pics of her up here then...
And Elvis...my mom took me to see him when I was like 10 in Miami Beach when he just started...the theatre was packed with screaming women/girls...my mother was screaming! & I was looking at her like are you nuts...Then in 1975
saw him at the Colliseum New Haven, he was fat in the white suit, but still could sing, but we were far away from the stage, women were going up to the stage tossing whatever & he was throwing out the scarves...he was without doubt the king...no one else...my big disappointment, never got to see him in las vegas...
Frankie Avalon, again saw him here when I was a teenager & in 2008 saw
him with Bobby Rydell & Fabian (the golden boys) here in Bpt & at the Mohegan Sun Casino...
Just saw Jay & the Americans last year & Felix Cavilliere (only him from the original rascals) 2 years ago locally...
I guess Jan will be at her "intensive" until late tonight. They must really get intense.
Did y'all realize that Max was gone from DWTS?
Loved Cat Stevens singing "Morning...
In addition, saw several by "Bread." I had their album and love everything they sing.
Listened to a couple of Carpenters songs too -
So really enjoyed the link Carol. I am in bed and will hear them in my dreams.
Talked lots about dreams today. It was great. Heard some new stuff. New people presenting too.
We have snow on the ground here in Flat Rock NC.
It is cold here. A different cold than in NM. It is true that when it is a humid climate, cold feels colder than in a dry climate.
Waving goodbye. I'll be back next weekend.
Ya'll take care now... ya hear...
Bye Renee, have enough fun for all of us. Can't remember if you said whether you could could drop in for any visits. Anyone else remember?
Jan, hope you had some good dreams to discuss this morning. I don't remember any of mine. You spoke of some new stuff that you learned. Care to share?
Anyone ever ponder whether we could be also existing in a parallel universe when we dream?? Can we communicate with love ones in our dreams??
Coreen, it's kinda just you and me now. Ya gotta keep me company. I know that may be a tough assignment but you have been playing a little longer lately and I like it. I think that Coreen and I have a lot more in common than she thinks. Just one problem with Coreen's hanging out at the Swamp...
Don't like Spiders and Snakes
It's burrzini here outside. 39 degrees and the sun has been out a bit. I'm warming up the truck to go feed the cats. Yesterday, Maggie didn't want to go. Made me worry. She was a little sluggish but was OK. She ate and did all her business.
Now she's dancing around waiting to go. It's rare that she would pass up a road trip.
The high today is only going to be 52 but there's a big sun out. That should make it more comfortable.
Wanted to play my river theme song:
Proud Mary
Not to worry Carol..always close by sooner or later...
It's chilly here, not much sun, but
more & more ground is free of snowcover...still throwing lots of bird seed & the deer still coming, but think they may be starting to find more food in the woods...
We have to get through another week with a potential snowstorm mid week...but if the pattern holds
it will stay south & out to sea...
And next weekend daylight savings returns...more daylight...yeah...
I'll share my sunshine
People on the river are happy to give!
Just got out of a hot shower and put on some one feather long johns. I feel much warmer. It's not bad in my camp like it used to be but with the long johns, I can keep the heat low and be comfortable outside. It's 49 but there's a pretty good wind coming off the river which makes it feel colder. Remember, I'm not acclimated like y'all are. I'm not sure I could ever be either.
Well, it's been a good day. Cold but bright and sunny. Feeling groovy. Truck danced to Staying Alive by the BeeGees to Wally World. Cruised in and got a primo parking spot. They had some really pretty fresh asparagus that was on sale at Market Basket for a 1.99/lb and I price matched it. It was almost 4 bucks at Wally World. Showed the checker the sale ad on iPhony. Got some chicky wings for almost half price because their sale by date is tomorrow. Love a bargain. I'm a frugal shopper. It's in my DNA.
Spicy lemon/butter chicken wings will be for dinner tonight with some sauted asparagus.
Well Renee, if you check in, let us know how your first day was. Do they have good food there?
The ski resort where Jan and I went when we skied together was in Colorado, Steamboat Springs. I went to that resort about 3 times and each time stayed at the Scandinavian Lodge.
The package included meals. We were grouped with other people at a table. I don't know if Jan remembers but we sat at a table with a sports producer from NBC.
The food was Scandinavian and very good. We had a cheaper room that time that had bunk beds. That lodge trained olympic skiers at that time. I guess we were in the training area. One night we had a mouse that came in the room.
We had some cookies in the room and we woke up to a noise.
A little mouse was trying to drag a cookie through a hole that was not big enough to pull it through. I think we broke it up for the little fellow. I don't remember any of us being frightened.
I had mice as a kid and I know Jan's youngest did. I remember a cute story about little Steve, her youngest boy, and his mouse. One day his mouse bit the dust. Jan was all distressed about having to tell him. He was in school but pretty young. I was with her for moral support when she picked him up from school.
He got in the car and Jan was all serious and gently told him that his little mouse had died. She was prepared for the worst. After a short pause, he yelled out the window to one of his little friend's, "hey Mike, my mouse died. It was like it was exciting news. Jan and I just looked at each other and tried hard not to break out laughing.
The lodge didn't charge any extra for the mouse. It came with the room. I think they would have even let us take it home.
Renee, hope you are having a good time on your trip. Look forward to hearing about it.
Everyone here at the retreat center went to a barbeque down the road and a dance with some live music. I feel like I am coming down with a cold so John and I drove into town and got me some throat lozenges and went out to eat. We are back. Nice to turn in a little early. I am going to do some reading in a bit.
I'm watching There's Something About Mary. At the beginning of that movie, the lead character gets his junk caught in his zipper.
My first NP job was in ER. It wasn't where I wanted to work but there weren't a lot of NP jobs around at that time and I had done some of my clinicals there so they offered me a job. It was good experience but 12 hour shifts and mostly in the evenings. I thought..I've come all this way to work 12 hour evenings. I only stayed for about 18 months.
One of my first patients was this man who was a patient in a long term care facility where I later saw patients. That facility housed people who had significant mental health problems.
That patient came in with the skin of his penis caught in a zipper. The zipper was completely zipped up. He didn't act like he was in serious pain but so often, mental patients had very high pain thresholds.
They gave me that patient to take care of. It seems I often caught patients that no one else wanted to deal with. It's not like I had any experience removing a penis from a zipped up zipper. The zipper was one of those industrial strength zippers on a pair of institution blue jeans. I first cut the zipper from the pants and then had to cut the zipper apart. I had to use some serious tools, not instruments, carpenter tools to cut that zipper apart. Once I had cut the top and bottom off the zipper, I could just pull it apart. I did have some interesting experiences while working in that job. It was probably good that they gave him to me. The docs would have probably cut his penis out of the zipper.
Carol, your dinner tonight sounds delicious. You made the best chicken wings. Sounds like a fun afternoon. I loved the Bee Gees.
I remember that incident with Steve. I was sure he would be devastated. We could not keep one of those little rodents alive in LC. We bought him one when we moved to Albuq and the thing lived for 2 years. It got out of its cage a couple of times and we had to find it.
Hi Carol. You have had some doozey patients. I had not heard the penis in the zipper story before.
I remember the little mouse in the room we had at Steamboat.
Coreen, thank you for posting the pics of the cast of Downton Abbey. Matthew was a few years older than Mary, I see.
What's weird is that they often gave me jobs that required a lot of patience. What's also weird is..I usually didn't have any. I guess I did learn to find some.
Matt Dillon is hysterical in this movie.
I was saying that mental health patient's had a higher than normal pain tolerance. They also tolerated many things much better than the average bear. I had this little 80year old lady who lived in that same institution where the penis in the zipper guy came from. She had diabetes and was a poster lady for all the complications of diabetes. She was blind, double amputation, and renal failure on dialysis. She was the happiest little lady I have ever seen.
When I went to that facility to see patients, they weren't as concerned about their medical problems as they were with getting a hug. Most did not have any family who lived nearby or came to see them. I called them my lost people. I gave lots of hugs. I didn't charge for them. Didn't even need my fancy degrees to do that but it was more powerful medicine than anything else I could do for them.
I could write a book on just the characters I saw in that institution. I had this one young fellow who had been in a serious auto accident and had sustained severe brain damage. It damaged the part of his brain that controlled his speech and movement but not his thought. He was quite a sharp young man. He couldn't talk and was very spastic in his movements. He had to be tied to his wheelchair and could only communicate using a board with letters. He used his finger pointed out from his spastic arm to point to letters to tell me what was going on with him. I had my paper and pencil and would write down all the letters and try to group them into words to make sentences. It took forever. When I would get throught doing all that and put the sentences together, it was just a joke he was trying to tell me. He'd laugh real big. I'd had to laugh also. Looking back, I really miss those people. I hope whoever followed me, taking care of those patients, loved them as much as I came to.
What was also weird is that many of the patients that I saw in the ER were patients who were residents of that institution. I later worked for the doctor who had the contract to see those patients. He had me seeing all the patients there. I went twice a week, half a day. Then later I worked at the jail. I found out that many of the employees who worked at the institution were from the half way house and had come from the jail where I later worked. Weird synchronicity isn't it.
I saw one young woman who fell down so frequently that they tried to make her wear a football helmet. She wouldn't keep it on. I wonder if she just did it for entertainment, an opportunity to get a little trip away from the "home". When working in the ER, I stitched up her scalp wounds so many times that I often was stitching one scar to another. When you work in the ER, you have no follow up to see the results of your work like you would in a private office. Since I later had her as a patient at the long term care facility, I got to finally see the results of my sewing. I did a good job.
One Christmas I told one of my friends how most of those patients didn't have any families to come see them and bring them presents. She was a geologist who worked for one of the local industries here in town. She told some of the ladies who she worked with. They printed up some Christmas Carols, gathered together a bunch of safe gifts and we had a party there for anyone who wanted to attend. My friend had a huge collection of ball caps that she and her parents had collected from all over the country/world. She brought most of them also. We had them draw names and everyone got to come up and select a gift. This old man who was totally bald, selected a hat that said "bad hair day" Everyhone laughed. It was the best Christmas party I've ever been to.
One thing that I always wanted in my jobs was to never be bored. God saw to that. My jobs may have been challenging but I was never bored.
SNL may have some fun with the Oscars tonight. Might be worth watching if you don't aready plan to do that.
Watching 20/20, I was reminded of Kim K's wedding that cost 10 million dollars. All those fancy wedding products representing a big fat scam. No problem with them being able to get married.
And many don't want gay people who have been together for years, waiting for the opportunity to make it official, to get married. It's a crazy screwed up world.
I started thinking about what I called my long johns that I put on earlier today. They have been quite comfortable and kept me pretty warm. For a short while, I even had to go turn down all the heat but as the temp started dropping again outsie, I had to turn it back up.
Long johns come in different level of protection. I called mine a one feather long john. They are the lightest of long johns. As I thought about it, that feather classification sounded weird. Then I remembered it wasn't feathers, it was snowflakes. I have on the one snowflake long johns. I guess living in an area that gets no snowflakes, feathers just seemed more appropriate.
With half our group on vacay and a less than chatty attorney still at the Swamp with me, I'm having to do a monolog today. I guess I often do that even when everyone is home. But you must remember that there's not much Maggie is interested in talking about.
Oh, another name I had for that long term care facility...the home full of beautiful minds..
When I was taking care of mama, while she was dying, the most important person in my life, and going through an undeserved crisis in my career, one I had nothing to do with creating, I wrote a journal. I thought of it as a book. It kept me from going nuts, I think. It detailed everything I was going through, some of the fun and crazy stuff I experienced in my career, some of my experiences in farm hand/cowgirl 101, what it was like to be stuck in a house with a severly dysfunctional family in which I was a card carrying member, and what I experienced watching my mama die. I was going to call my book, I took a trip to insanity and I hope I had a round trip ticket. I guess you can be the judge of whether I succeeded there.
I said that I never wanted to be bored...during that challenging time, I prayed for a little boring. I needed a little boring.
Besides watching There's Something About Mary yesterday, I also watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I guess both of those movies initiated those memories I wrote about here.
This is today's reading from Unity's Daily Word:
"Energy
I am divine energy expressing as vitality and life.
God created me with the physical, mental and spiritual capacity to live a fulfilling and meaningful life. Whether I am active or resting, I am vitally alive. While my body rests, my mind may dream of my next endeavor. When I’m physically active, my mind clears as I focus on the task at hand.
In the Silence of prayer and meditation, I still my body and mind, tapping into the Source of strength and energy within. No thought or distraction interferes with the flow of energy in and through me. I am recharged physically, mentally and spiritually.
At work, at play, and at rest, I channel my energy into activities that bring joy to myself and others. Energized by Spirit within, I live an abundant life.
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.—John 10:10"
Burrrrr. Baby it's cold outside. 30 this morning. My one snowflake longjohns aren't cutting the mustard this morning, outside. OK inside. There's ice on my birdbath.
Chilly here still...but can feel that it wants to change...until we get past the potential mid week storm that is...may be into the 50s
by the weekend...
Hey gals...
here I am at the ski resort. We have one of the newer condos this year. It's not swanky... but it's nice.
Carol... lots of restaraunts in this town. Some cheap (McDonald's) and some not so (like my favorite, Gypsy Cafe). I do make breakfast here. I guess putting bagels in the toaster and making coffee qualifies as "cooking".
Carol... reading your long john stories is a hoot! I really am a true northern babe. I run hot. I LOVE winter temps. I rarely wear one of my scarves, or a hat, or gloves. And long johns were only worn when I skied on days in the single numbers.
Didn't know if I'd be able to get in here on the laptop. Looks like I made it. But internet service up here is spotty. I'll check in from time to time.
I think it proves that we adapt to our environment. If I got used to this, I'd be in serious trouble in a couple of months.
On my way to my house to feed the kitties and pick up my laundry, I heard that song that I posted on TM this morning. It just seemed to beg to be posted there. It's weird that when I'm pondering certain things, an appropriate song will come on the radio. Synchronicity.
After writing about Steamboat Springs last night, this morning, I had multiple ads for rooms there. Not synchronicity, that was Google. They are watching us.
I'll guess that you probably don't care for Kenny Loggins either Coreen?? God, he's beautiful.
Renee, are you rationing the hot tub? I do realize that there are dangers to using a hot tub. Careful when taking BP meds and/or drinking alcohol. The vasodilation can result in fainting. Make sure you aren't alone.
Also careful when you have diabetes. They can dry out the skin and lead to cracking which can allow entry to microorganisms. Moisturize. moisturize, moisturize. They can increase the absorption of insulin, if one takes it.
Carol, I have been enjoying your monologue here too. I got a big kick out of your stories of people you have taken care of. Funny about the woman you stitched up so many times.
Renee, glad you got a nice place to stay at the ski resort.
You want Kenny!...
the best, with a little help from
Michael McDonald...
One of my theme songs...
This is it
It is downright cold here. We are having a 3 1/2 hour quiet time. I have been reading and took an hour nap. I kept waking up disoriented and thinking it was early morning and I just missed something. We have our graduation ceremony tonight. It is actually an Episcopal church service and before the Eucharist we will get our certificates and plaques signifying our completion of the program. In our group there are 2 Episcopal priests, one Episcopal Deacon, one Methodist minister, 2 Catholic nuns and then 7 of us who are just regular people. One might think we are a pretty dull group, but you have never seen such a group if irreverent and raunchy people in your life. One of the most fun groups of people I have known.
Or maybe even a little Danger Zone for you...from a great movie, when
tom cruise was still well...liked, before he became a whacko...
Danger Zone
And by the way...these songs get the radio cranked up when they come on!....especially 'this is it'...
and both are fittng for this episode of 'as the swamp turns'...
did I make your day!...
Yes Coreen!
Jan, I can just bet they are a cool bunch of people. You ought to hear it when a group of nurses get together. Oh right, you know.
Coreen, I like that "As the Swamp turns" Clever.
Coreen, Looking at the picture of Kenny L. makes me think of Jesus or as the the Spanish version "hesus"
I have to admit that I am missing TV. I have not before now because we have been so busy.
Jan, when do you head back to the house, mouse?
Now how rowdy do those people get?? Do you have another chapter for... as the Swamp turns? We'll keep it under our hats. I'll only share it with Maggie.. but she does carry a tail.
In an independent living facility a nurse refused to do CPR on a resident because it was against the facility's policies. Can you believe that? No one would keep me from doing it. I wonder what the Nursing Board in that state thinks about that? I guess that's where you send your loved one when you are in a hurrry for your inheritance. I think it was in California.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2013/03/04/06/18/nurse-refuses-to-perform-cpr-on-dying-woman
We fly out of Asheville at 8:30 in the morning. Anxious to see our little doggie friend.
Jan, y'all have a safe trip home. I bet you're sad that these trips are over or will there be an occasional reunion? You were going over there several times a year.
Last night, I went over to Facebook and learned that one of my x secretary's, x husband's died. He was only 48 y/o. That's young. I called another friend from work to find out what he died of. It was some type of liver failure. Seems he did a lot of drinking. That still seems kinda strange for someone who was that young. In these parts, everyone does a lot of drinking. I have people who I know that some say that they drink a case of beer a day and I've never even seen some of them drunk. I can't understand how anyone can consume that much liquid much less beer.
We are a drinking culture down here. Not being able to drink keeps me from fitting in very well. I've told y'all that I've tried to acquire the ability to drink. I was a failure at that. I wish I could at least drink wine, it's so cool. I have a hanging wine rack at the house with many wine glasses.
Well, I didn't know my x secretary's x but I heard her fighting with him over the phone so often that I felt like I knew him.
This heavy drinking is one reason why I don't miss having my big cook outs. So many, mostly guys, will not eat while they are drinking. They say that it will kill their buzz. They'll take a plate home to wolf down right before they go to bed. I don't spend the amount of money, time and fretting that I do on my dinners for someone to take my cooking home as takee outee. They can just grab some Taco Bell on their way home, but I have done it for years. Very seldom do women do that but one of my good friends did that also. She always bragged on my cooking but I bet I coulda served dog shitl, made it attractive looking and she would have thought it was great.
Now, I've bought a lot of liquer over the years just to be hospitable. Right now I'm looking at a half gallon of Skyy volka I bought 8 years ago, right after I bought this camp. It's still half full. I havent moved everything out of my big room yet, mostly the stuff that I haven't decided if I will keep or throw away. I wonder if it's still good? Maybe I can use it as a disinfectant. I do have trouble throwing stuff away.
I have had a couple of Bloody Mary's outta that bottle of vodka. I'll only feel bad for an hour or so after one Bloody Mary. I can handle that on occasions. I guess I can keep it a little longer, as decor, so I don't look too prudish. I'll put it somewhere where everyone can see it.
I used to have that bottle of vodka sitting on the window seal by my kitchen sink. Anyone passing by on the river could see it. It wasn't exactly my purpose but it did help to identify my religious preference. It would say that she is definitely not a Baptist, probably not a Methodist either. Evangelical, not. Likely a good Catholic, atheist or church of the Big River. Many who attend the latter, the church of the Big River, do like their booze.
It's already almost warmer than the high was yesterday. I have to shuck these one snowflake LJs. Sweating.
Ok Mama Carol,
I promise I'll play nice in the hot tub. :)
he, he.... I'm not on insulin... and I would NEVER drink alcohol while in one... that'd be stuuupid.
I like a good glass of wine with a good meal. I occasionally drink a margarita. My favorite restaraunt up here makes them fresh... I will indulge in one when we go later in the week.
Jan... I know how you feel about Ryley... I miss my cats.
Coreen... "as the swamp turns"... LOL! I wanna play the trollop... they have all the fun.
"I wanna play the trollop... they have all the fun."
We may have to draw straws for that Renee..or we can choose to have an all trollop cast.
Heard that story again about the nurse who refused to do CPR on a dying lady because it was against company policy. She needs to turn in her license. Our oath to our profession overrides any company policy. Shame, shame, shame.
I said that I think that wine is so cool. When my big sis comes down I like to go the the store and pick out some interesting wine for her to have available. I know nothing about wine. A couple of times I found these organic wines. My big sis is organic. The wines said they were grown, paying particular attention to the land where the grapes were grown. Now, they may not have been tasty wines but at least my sis would feel good about herself while drinking them.
Good...shirley mac will be returning to Downton, along with some newbies..
Shirley will return
Hope this NYT link works...
Shirley will return
Thanks Coreen. Before you put up the link that worked, I Googled it and found it. We still have a long time to wait to watch it.
I think you'll love this. I like the decision tree.
How Cats Make Decisions
PBS has a program on tonight:
Motown" Big Hits and More. 8:30-10:30C here.
I'm figuring that by now that little Ryley is in the sweet loving arms of her two human pets.
And that's why Cats Rule...
the refrigerator!...mine go in the bath tub, on my little notebook & sometime in a dresser drawer...
Coreen, your attempt to keep your communication short can leave me wanting. When you write that your cats "go", does that refer to they hang out in or pee on? I don't know.
I'm a little worried about not hearing from Jan. Hope everything was OK at home.
I was distressed about that nurse in California refusing to do CPR on that 80+ y/o lady because she said it was against the Independent Living Home's policy.
I'd be aggravated if any regular human, who knew CPR, refused to perform it but a nurse?? I was wondering what the State Nursing Board would have to say about it.
Well, I came across the answer...
"The consensus is if they are a nurse and if they are at work as a nurse, then they should be offering the appropriate medical care," said Russ Heimerich, spokesman for the California Board of Registered Nursing, the agency that licenses health care providers."
Morning.
Jan, worried!
Renee, did you check in after hot tubbing, noooo. Y'all like to make mama worry, don't you? Just like kids do. Well, was it at least worth it?
If you've been around this joint for long enough, you must know that worrying is in my DNA. I came by it honestly from my mom. She couldn't help it either and we did torment her for it. I think it was the way that mama showed her love.
I don't know if you remember when I told y'all that there was a train track in the small town where mom and my SF lived. We had to cross it to get to the Interstate to go home. It didn't have any rails that came down when a train was coming. Mom always worried when we left, that we might get run over by a train. She always gave us instructions when we left the house to watch for the train. If she forgot, I could often find her chasing my truck out of the driveway with her arms waving. I'd think that something bad had happened and when I stopped and she caught up with me, all she wanted to say was..."watch for the train."
One day, when my sisters and I were all leaving together and mom told us that, we told her...no mom, we're going to sit and wait for that train and then try to rush across. That was mean. I guess I got some karma coming for that.
You want karma?
We are home. Sorry I did not check in yesterday evening. Picked up Ryley. Don't know who was happier, Ryley, John or me. She had a bath and grooming yesterday and she is such a pretty baby today. By week's end she will be dirty again. We don't have grass in the back. She is so fluffy.
John and I slept all through the night last night - the first time since leaving home. Our room and bed were warm and comfy there but we both had trouble sleeping. Would wake up several times during the night. Soooo glad to be home.
Sweet story about your mom and the train Carol. Funny, how we remember those things after they are gone.
Renee, sounds like good fun on your trip. I seldom drink any longer. A little bit of wine on occasion and I dearly love margaritas but pass them up these days.
Carol, I had a letter from the gastroenterologist who did my procedures. This is what the letter said.
ESOPHAGUS, DISTAL BIOPSY: ACTIVE ESOPHAGITIS INCLUDING EOSINOPHILS NUMBERING UP TO 40 PER HPF. NO INTESTINAL METAPLASIA OR DYSPLASIA IS PRESENT.
Further down: These can be seen when you have acid reflux or if you have a condition called eosinophic esophagitis. Please take Omeprazole 20 mg po bid before meals and follow reflux precautions.
Her office called me and scheduled an appt for 4/17.
Coreen, Hope your snow has just about melted. I see another storm is headed your way. I am thinking about you.
OK Jan, I guess the universe is telling me it's time to stop worrying about people. I'll work on it.
I got up this morning and tuned into PBS. They had a program on investments, pretty good. Got some info that I needed. Then there was one of mental health, didn't cover any issues that I could identify with this morning. Then they had an exercise program. I got up off my ass and joined them there. It wasn't too tough. I noticed this tractor tire I have around my waist now. Those months of being unable to move, except to find food, didn't do my waist any favors. Yesterday I got on my Gazelle. I started with 10 minutes.
Just remember that Omeprazole has been found to leach calcium from the hip bones. Google and check it out. See what you think. With my osteoporosis, I use Zantac when I'm having a problem.
The studies sound like there is no serious changes going on in intestines "NO INTESTINAL METAPLASIA OR DYSPLASIA IS PRESENT."
Eosinophic esophagitis is an ALLERGIC inflammatory condition of the esophagus. Allergy is the problem.
"In the past, patients with EE were incorrectly diagnosed as GERD sufferers. These patients were typically prescribed proton pump inhibitors, under the assumption that their problem was caused by excess stomach acid. However, researchers have since discovered that EE patients often have a normal pH in their GI tract."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eosinophilic_esophagitis
Don't want you taking a proton pump inhibitor, break a hip, for something that might not should have been treated with one. Don't know. You will have to look at all the info and make a decision.
Want me to quit worrying about ya?
Don't want you to worry Carol. But I do so appreciate your concern and your wisdom and knowledge on this issue of the esophagitis.
I think I might have had a stomach/intestinal virus at the time of the procedure and I think I was allergic to the go lightly. When I saw my regular doc who is an excellent internist - he thought I had a reaction to the go lightly too. He too said the large number of Eosonophils were due to an allergic reaction to the golightly too.
In view of this, I want to have the gastric procedure again and this time without the colonoscopy so I don't have to take anything.
I don't want to take the omeprazol on a regular basis based on what you are telling me about the leaching from the bones.
I will keep the appt with the GI doc and tell her what you are telling me. In the meantime I am not going to take anything other than zantac prn. I seldom need it more than once or twice a month.
Don't want you worrying Carol. You don't need that stress.
We have to do our own research these days. Sorry, but if you just depend on what docs tell ya, it's hit and miss. Not saying that they are wrong but not telling ya that they are right either. We are very fortunate that we now have resources to check. Have to be careful there also.
Those proton pump inhibitors were never intended to be used like people use them or docs prescribe them.
Thanks for caring about me Carol. You will always be my adopted little sis. I love you.
I have never depended on what the docs tell me. Before I could read the research, I depended on my intuition. Now I depend on you, the research and my intuition. One of the things I learned this weekend was to always depend on what you feel inside.
Must go. Have to get ready for work. I am moving slow this morning. So good to be home - have I said that before?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton-pump_inhibitor
I'm still kinda keeping up with that Jodi Arias trial. I think she definitely had some evil in her but also had some good. Maybe we all do. Jan, you posted this or something like this before:
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.
"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
I remembered it and just Googled it.
http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/TwoWolves-Cherokee.html
testing
Don't know why you can't through this morning Renee. I'm having no problems.
There's some moron playing this big speaker that's on his front porch. He's quite a ways down the road. He does that every now and again and it's not music, it's noise, annoying noise. It even scares the birds. He cranks it up like he thinks someone else might enjoy it. I've been tempted to go tell him a thing or two but, around here, people like their guns!
Renee, I just needed to know that you are OK and that all is well in your world. No need to communicate more than that. I found out that from checking on TM.
Let me let you in on a little secret, one that would save everyone and this country a lot of money. There are a lot of pharmaceuticals out there that are safer and cheaper than the ones that are pushed by the pharm reps today. They aren't used because medical people either don't know about them or forgot about them because no drug rep is pushing them. Those drugs have been around long enough to know how many people they will kill or mame. They are cheaper because they lost their patents. I used many of them on my formulary. I worked with a pharmacist, who I trusted, to make up my formulary.
If your medical practitioner is going to the drug cabinet for some samples, be afraid, be very afraid. Unless you are going to get the entire supply of what you need, when you run out, watch out. They are going to cost you a fortune. Giving you samples did you no favors!
Now, with antibiotics, new may be better, or not. Many antibiotics have lost their efficacy due to overuse. A few samples, or the total amount needed for treatment, would be a nice thing to have from the drug cabinet. Some of those babies can cost $10+ a pill.
One problem is that the US pays for much of the research and development of new drugs. Many other countries get them for much cheaper. It's not fair.
The new leaves are bursting out everywhere here. I love the color or those new leaves. They are a light, lime green. When it's cold here, the sky is a deep blue. I love the light green colored leaves up against the background of the deep blue sky.
I used to wonder why the sky was sooo much bluer in the winter here. It's not the temp as much as it is the humidity. Often our humidity is lower when it's cold out. High humidity scatters the light making the sky look washed out. Of course, pollution can mess it all up.
Heard yesterday that the NRA paid a bucket load to change the name of Texas Nascar to NRA Nascar. How sly of them. Now when you go to the car races in Texas, you will think....faster than a speeding bullet.
My carpenter bees are back, the one's I told you that are sooo smart that they can avoid my electronic flying bug zapper. I just thought of something. Maybe they aren't really carpenter bees afterall. Maybe they are predator drones. Hmmmm.
You laugh? On TV they demonstrated this hummingbird that was a drone.
Glad your home Jan, happy to know how much you, John & Ryley have become a 'family'...
Renee, whatever you are doing,keep it up, your joy for life comes through...
As far as those hummingbird drones Carol...gotta get me a few!...
Found a link for that NRA Nascar:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-400_162-57572502/nra-becomes-title-sponsor-of-nascar-race/
Check on Amazon Coreen. What would you do with your hummingbird drones, spy on your neighbors?
Oh, it's a beautiful day here...the sun was great...45 & it felt like summer!...
Know that's cold for you Carol, but
pretty sure Renee understands the feeling...
And half the yard is snow free & now they are saying another 4"+ on its way...just one more annoying
weather mess...we often get a March snowstorm to end the season...
No I want them armed!...
Well, You don't want me to have guns, so!...
Now this is truly a bummer...(forget NRA, big pharma, sequester, & all the usual kvetching topics)...seeing the Fonz hawking reverse mortgages...together with a free lighted magnifying reader gadget! thrown in...
I'm not opposed to guns Coreen I have one, to help me feel safe even though Flatus said it probably wouldn't hurt a fly and I certainly couldn't hit a fly with it. I don't like those bad boys weapons, that don't have any usefulness, or mega magazines and I want background checks.
I'm trying to decide what I want for dinner tonight. I have a couple of wolves to feed. I've been feeding the good one some seeds and other healthy stuff. The bad one wants some MEAT.
LOL Coreen.
You see, my gun is kinda a gesture. I can fool myself some of the time...and that's usually good enough.
It was comfortable today but it's gonna get cold again tonight and for the next few nights.
And Coreen, it's a good dang thing that I like kvetching. What would we do if we didn't have anything to kvetch about.
Oh, I did have to look up that word. Ain't part of our vocabulary down here.
And then again, what would we talk about...the weather?
Carol, I read the old Cherokee story on the link you read. That was good. I like the 2nd story even better.
Jan, I'm watching a Big Bang marathon. I'm having to be careful with my grazing because these shows are so funny, that I've choked on my food several times now.
I did throw my bad wolf a few chicken wings. That settled her down for a while.
Carol, so happy you like Big Bang. It too is addictive.
Just watched Amer Idol. They make voting so easy now.
Tonight the 10 final girls sang and the TV audience will save 5. Tomorrow night the 10 final girls will sing and 5 will go home.
Just woke up from nice long nap. I hadn't put Maggie out for her last evening potty and she wasn't going to let me pass that up. I think it's more because she wants that last cookie more than needing to potty. The temp has dropped and I'm back to being cold to the bone again. I turned off the heater in the house because it was so warm today. I had to turn it back on.
I've been watching some of this trial again today but not like I've watched other trials. This is one of the few times I've heard a defendant on the stand testifying. She's been on the stand now for 15 days. She's been on for direct, from her attorney, then cross, the prosecutor and now back with her attorney. Her attorney is trying to rehab her from that last testimony.
You can definitely see that there must have been a bad wolf in her. It's not like it's real obvious looking or listening to her. She works hard at only letting us see the good wolf but from the evidence of her actions, we're totally aware of that animal being in her.
I don't see as much her feeding that bad wolf as I see that her boyfriend fed it. He liked playing with that bad wolf, he got off to it. He thought that he could get by with doing that without that wolf coming after him.
After the attorneys get finished with her as a witness, the jury gets to ask questions. I just heard that they have 100 questions for her. That will be interesting to watch.
I apologize for my jumping in with my health care teaching stuff. I realize that it is not always desired but I did that for 40 years. I saw it as one of the most important aspects of what I did in all of my health care careers. I did it with my patients, with my family, with my friends and often with total strangers. It's one of the hardest things for me to turn off.
Something I read on one of those signs that I saw out in front of a church years ago said...you can give a man a fish and he can feed his family for a day but if you teach a man to fish, he can feed his family for a lifetime. That bit of advice moved me. I do believe in empowering people to take care of themselves and it's the only way to keep the cost of health care reasonable.
But then, I take it that you were probably asking for a little advice Jan. I've been picking on Renee with a little diabetes advice when she never asked for it. I do have a passion for helping people with diabetes. It is such a complex disease that even the experts can get stumped. I used to be more of one because that' all I did was eat, sleep and breath diabetes but not anymore, but I have a good background in it. So many things have come out for treating diabetes but just like when that's all I did, there were things that came out that weren't good ideas. Meds came and went and some killed people and went off the market. Medicine is a business. It's not an exact science. Buyer beware. That's all I need to say.
One time that I was the most disappointed in medicine was when mama found her cancer. It was so rare that we had to take her to a well known and respected cancer hospital not far from here, in Texas. I had a lot of respect for that hospital. I lost a good bit of that back then. I will still say that all the staff at that hospital were angels. I could even see wings on them.
The docs mom saw there offered her a treatment option that through lots of research of my own I found would have killed her faster, made her last days miserable and cost her a fortune. They didn't even have a clue what the cost was.
After I found all that I could, I gave the info to mom. I let her make the decision of what to do and she choose to do nothing. She outlived the life expectancy of all research and control groups but then she did have an NP as a private duty nurse. I think that all the education and experiences that I had in the years prior to mom's illness were strangely designed to provide for her at the end. Interestly enough, I think mom was involved in that.
It was such a rare cancer that I would assume that that research hospital would have still been interested in studying mom and how she responded to not choosing a treatment option. They didn't. When she didn't want their poison, it was.. we're no longer interested in you. She was sad about that. I did tell her doctors what I found and why she chose what she did. They had no arguement to anything that I presented. Evidently they were also aware of the same but didn't tell us that until I found it.
Of course this was a very rare cancer, maybe one in a million. I'm sure they do great with more common forms of cancer.
And then maybe it's just when your number comes up, if you are suppose to survive, you will. The right things will come up at the right time. I've heard of people dropping dead from cardiac arrest in the parking lot of an ER and dying and someone else have cardiac arrest in the Everglades, and survive. Our destiny may already be set.
But that doesn't mean one should throw caution to the wind. That shouldn't be in your destiny.
I started a routine yesterday, if you can call one day a routine. I wake up to a financial info show on PBS. It usually has some suggestions for us retirees. Then an exercise program comes on. Unfortunately today's program required laying on the floor. I haven't graduated to my bed yet so the floor is definitely out. I did some of the stretches that didn't require laying on the floor and then got on my Geselle and did that while I watched.
I'm really not sure if I can do the bed yet. I'm really enjoying my recliner. I wake up to looking out all the windows at the river. I like that. I'm in a semi reclining which is good for those of us who have some reflux. I can't stop my feeding 3 hours before reclining so I need to be a little more upright. I can get to a pretty flat position if I choose to.
Now there's a cooking show and I'm making my country sauted potatoes.
I've got to do Sam's today. I need my spicy salmon and bird seed. They have the best bird seed there. It's full of sunflower seeds that my birds love. It doesn't have much of that filler seed that only black birds and doves like.
I can get a 40 lb bag for 20 bucks. You may wonder how I can handle a 40 lb bag. Very carefully. I roll it into my basket. I roll into the back of my truck. I roll it off my truck onto a dolly and I roll it to my back porch. I love rock and roll.
I don't think that I did any kvetching this morning Coreen but I do reserve the right to do that when I feel the need. Kvetching can be fun.
The sun is reflecting off the water like a million sparkling diamonds. I'd rather have that than all the diamonds in the world. Diamonds have never been this girl's best friend. I think they are just a waste of money.
Carol, don't stop giving us your very experienced health care advice. I for one appreciate your information on the use of the omeprazole. I am definitely going to talk with the GI doc about it. I am sure my internist will agree with you. He is one of those who believes that a drug should not be taken unless absolutely necessary. The GI doc wants to talk with me about my symptoms and I want to visit with her too.
A long time ago, I learned to listen to my own intuition when it came to my health.
I can tell you several instances where that worked best for me.
When I started through menopause in early 1990's my first doc (a man) tried to talk me into HRT. I filled the Rx but after taking it for a few days, did not like the side effects and stopped. Since I was in a med center, I read all the recent research on HRT's. Guess what, they found the studies inconclusive on the benefits. And who was funding the studies (they always tell you at the back of the research article) the drug companies. So I changed docs and went to a woman doc. Guess what, she too tried to talk me into HRT so I just said ok and tolk the Rx and didn't fill it.
Finally, the big study was released that there were not any benefits insofar as the heart and in fact there were bad effects - like blood clots. The only real benefit was on reducing hot flashes and other discomforts of menopause.
I really wanted to go back to those docs who strongly pushed HRT and shove the studies in their faces.
Carol, you are doing a public service here by sharing your wisdom, knowledge and experience. Don't ever apologize for doing that. You may never know who is watching here and may benefit.
I agree that in some cases when it is your time, it is your time.
I felt so badly for the guy whose bedroom went through the sinkhole. I felt even worse for the brother who could not do anything.
All we can do in those cases is pray for him. I hope he did not suffer too long.
John was talking about the movie, Hunger Games the other day. The movie had a strong effect on John. He told me the other day that when he thought about it, this is what we do and have done through the ages - we send our youngest and brightest off to war to kill or be killed. The only difference in the movie is that both young men and young women were sent off to kill or be killed. In the movie it was portrayed as a game for the amusement of some wealthy and powerful people. Well, duh, when you think of wars, is there much difference?
The pharmacy board never bothered this doctor until a NP was buying his practice. Then they came after him when she still needed him as a collaborating physician and was weaning his patients from those drugs. That job took up some on my book.
The old Doc I worked for before, wouldn't prescribe hardly any narcotics and I was in trouble for just working for him. This doc was handing them out by the truckload and he had no problems.
War "...a game for the amusement of some wealthy and powerful people."
More for the MONEY it brings those people! Ask Coreen, it's all about the MONEY.
Another time when I paid attention to my intuition was when I was pregnant. I always gained about 40 lbs, at a time when OB docs were recommending no more than 20 lbs for every woman. I was not overweight when I would get pregnant. Pregnancy always made me hungry - and once I got over the initial stage of nausea and vomiting I was hungry and could eat a lot but it was always good food. I remember with every pregnancy the doc would caution me about gaining too much weight. I tried to listen but my hunger was stronger than their advice. I always lost the extra weight within about 2 months after birth.
When I was pregnant with Steve, my doc tried to give me some pills to reduce my hunger. This was in Argentina so don't know what it was but probably a stimulant of some kind. I did not like the way it made me feel, so after taking only one, I did not take any more.
I had 3 healthy babies who were a normal birth weight. Well, Steve did weigh 9 lbs. However, all the folks in Bob's family were tall/big men so I think it was just genetics. I did not have Gestational Diabetes. May be a question of normality there.
I got up, did all my stuff, took a shower and got ready. When I finished, I remembered that I had forgotten to go feed my kitties. It was an hour later than I usually feed them. I felt awful for forgetting. Mag and I ran home. They were all out in front of the house, looking at me, looking at their watches and tapping their little paws. I poured out all their food and they soon forgot their mad.
Yes Jan, it was one of the hormone makers that was financing that research. They were soooo sure of the benefits but that didn't turn out to be the case. I wouldn't prescribe them at the joint. It's kinda another example that what is natural may work well but when we try to make it, it doesn't work so well.
An old neighbor of mine just insisted she needed her hormones. She was in her 70s. I tried to warn her. I shared the research with her. She ended up having a stroke and laid on her bedroom floor for 3 days before anyone found her. She did finally quit the hormones.
I'm now taking foods like I would vitamin supplements. I have a dose of broccoli, a dose of almonds, a dose of walnuts, a dose of the deep colored fruits, etc.
Carol, kvetchings ok whenever and schmoozing is too!..
Interesting you never heard the word...here's a few more yiddish words for you...
40 yiddish words you should know
growing up here lots of ethnic words (mostly italian & yiddish) learned...thinking about it, have had mostly friends with italian, jewish, irish heritages...
And Italian words that have made their way into everyday usage...popularized by 'mob'
movies, like the 'Godfather' & the Soprano's TV series...& which are
very familiar to those of us growing up italian...
A Sopranos viewers glossary of italian words
No problemo Coreen. I thought at first that you were insulting me since I do resemble that word, kvetching. I'm a kvetch, we usually call it a "bitch" around my parts. It ain't the only bad habit I have, I have lots.
I just got back from all my running around and I made good time. Did my Sam's thing. Got my birdseed, my salmon and...a 4 pack of fat filet mignons, and some Satler's smoked brisket for some future time. Some of my bad habits. I stopped at this joint that makes great tamales. I don't get by there very often and my mouth is watering for them right now. Another bad habit. I told y'all that around my parts we believe more in quality of life than quantity. Just take me quick God.
I also went to my Vet's office for some Maggie dental diet that she thinks are cookies. One of us needs to be healthy.
Haven't had time to puruse your links yet Coreen. I got back in time to hear the jury's questions for Jodi.
I was familiar with 10 of those Yiddish words.
My mama's SF was Italian but I didn't spend much time around him.
Those GPs lived up in Detroit.
Renee is on a different computer than she uses at home and told us on TM that Google won't let her comment here. She's checking in but can't talk.
I do miss having your thoughts and comments Renee.
Coreen, it looks like several days of snow for you and parts north of you. We don't know where Renee is skiing or I mean her hubs is skiing. She said north mountains. I'm wondering why she's not in that hot tub every chance she gets. I'd be doing it at least once or twice a day. As cold as it probably gets up there, I might live in the hot tub.
I have a hot tub at my house but the heater broke. I never got it fixed. Really wouldn't be worth the expense. I could only use it in the really cold weather and when there were lots of people around. When I did use it, I could get out and walk around in 30 degree weather in my bathing suit and be comfortable.
I built that hot tub house myself. My only construction project. I got one of the Ortho built stuff books. I started with a deck, I bought a used hot tub from a friend. We used pipes and rolled it back to the deck, can't remember how we got it on the deck. Then I built a screened in little building on the deck. It's kinda a waste now but I can point to it and say...I built that. I had help from one of my girl friends but I was the forewoman. I almost sawed a power cord in half while on the roof cutting plywood. Scared me.
Coreen, thanks for the link to the Yiddish words. I knew a bunch of them.
Jan, did you ever eat hot tamales from Mancuso's tamales, down close to that antique furniture place? They were the best tamales anywhere. My grandpa from Detroit and an uncle from Houston used to get a bunch to take home. Mancuso was Italian but made the best hot tamales. The hot tamales I got today tasted just like them. I don't normally like most hot tamales. I think most taste like dog food. I had about 4 of them earlier and will have some more tonight with my salad. Yummm.
Most Italians just know how to cook..period. My grandma was Czech/Polish, her husband was Italian. She could cook. When we visited, she put on a spread for an army. It wasn't just a meal it was an Italian smorgasbord. Mom was a great cook also and I inherited it from both of them. My dad's mom probably was a good cook but she died when I was 5 so I don't remember.
I don't do much Italian cooking except Marinara. I did create this spinach manacotti dish that you would slap someone you loved for. It's so rich that you'd probably die of a heart attack first. It is one of my prize recipes. It's in a white heavy cream, garlic, butter, 5 pizza cheese, with extra parmisian sauce. The manicotti is stuffed with spinach/5 pizza cheese, feta, garlic. It's a lot of work but I usually made three cassaroles dishes full of it. Only did it for special occasions.
Carol, I don't care for tamales. That is a speciality dish here with many of the folks especially at Christmas. Just not something I like.
While at our dream conference I signed up with one of our presenters to go on a Women's creativity Retreat in Ireland. I just booked my airline ticket. That was separate. Oh Gosh, this will be the first time for me to travel out of the country on my own. A little nervous. It is June 12-21.
How tough can it be. At least they speak english in Ireland. A friend at the Univ goes to Ireland often. I talked with her today. She said it is beautiful there.
Off to bed.
That sounds super neat Jan. I just Googled it. Is the conference going to last the entire 10 days or do you get to do a little sight seeing there. It sounded like the conference is 10 days. That's long confererence.
Renee, can you email me some pics from your vacay. Here's my email
thcl777@aol.com. We need a new post unless someone has something. Harry has been restless to fly away.
When I woke up this early morning, I noticed the moon hadn't even risen above the trees across the river. That moon rising just doesn't make sense to me. It just does what it wants, when it wants to. Kinda like me now. It's taken me long enough to learn to enjoy my new freedom.
Soon, I will have people around all day when they start putting a new outfit on my camp. I'm not sure when. Papa carpenter dropped by the other day to leave me some siding samples. He's been tied up with another job that has taken longer than expected.
I'm wondering if I will have to take Maggie home during the day. She will not take well to a bunch of noise on the outside of the camp. I might not either. There's some construction going on about three camps down. She's been tolerating that better than usual. She doesn't freak out when I take her outside and she hears banging. I still don't think she will deal with it when it right outside.
Has the snow started Coreen? I am watching your radar.
Ok, I am working on a new post. I took some snow pics in Kanuga I can post.
NEW POST
Neat pics Jan. Thanks for putting them up. Old Harry was very happy that he could take off. He missed out on a lot of fishing.
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