Morning! A very beautiful photo of such delicate flowers….and they are indeed prettier than tadpoles 😊
Chas my daughter is a tutor at her children’s charter school and they plan to require children and teachers to wear masks upon returning in August. They will have Fridays off and restrict contact during recess. How do you place four square with no contact…well you don’t… 😞
How do you have a bunch of children not playing with each other?
And some girl crying because some guy says, “You look better with the mask on.”
It has ho happen somewhere. Though he is likely teasing.
Good morning. Yesterday was the hottest of the year so far in Atlanta. It won’t be quite as hot today.
I hear another mower engine rumbling this morning which is a good time to br out there.
My brother is suppose to help out today with a plumbing issue we have. It is like we are almost back to our old selves before he had his horrible blowup with me. He has 337,000 miles on his car. He is making the most of his old Impala. I used to worry about him driving a clunker. I am thankful to God that I no longer feel that sense of responsibility for him that I felt for so long.
Our Governor plans to travel around the state and appeal to people to wear facemasks before this upcoming holiday. I hope his appeal works. We older people continue onward with shelter in place per his orders.
I am saddened by what our country is becoming. We are losing our freedom of free speech and I am having to be a messenger of it. Why can’t we disagree on something without trying to cost someone their livelihood?
Oh Janice that is a lot of miles on an Impala?! My very first car was a 62 Chevy Impala…Dad worked at Fisher Body which was GM…he would have no car in the driveway other than a GM 😊
Brother is still working outside. He trimmed the hedges. He put a cover over some wiring that goes to the heat pump, something he thought was needed. I hope my AC will come back on after we may or may not have turned it off. We never could find an off button on the thermostat so he got into the fuse box. We shall see. And, he has been charging up our old car battery that he only got up to 25% last Saturday. At least he got it cranked so I finally got all the spring pine pollen off of it. It looks 100% better! I swept off the back patio while he dealt with the heat pump/AC. Then I came back to my end of the month bill paying chore. We pay bills the old fashioned way. I write checks and put them in the mail. Priceless, NOT!
Last day of June. Twelve hours left of it here. Where did it go?
This morning I did something I’ve been wanting to do since we moved here. There’s a pond on the trail I walk most of the time (well, two of them, but one big one), and up till this year it had a panel around it and you couldn’t get up close to it. I don’t know if it was to keep deer from crossing, to protect from erosion, to keep people out, or what. But it was getting pretty ratty, and it got taken down earlier this year. Anyway, I can now get up almost to the edge of the pond in some places. (Not all the way to the edge. The deep footprints in the mud at the edge warned me to stay on the part that has grass!)
So I stood at the edge of the pond, just to blend in and be there long enough animals would ignore me, and see what I could see. And it was worth seeing. First, the pond has quite a number of big tadpoles, not the little ones I was watching elsewhere, but probably tadpoles of green frogs. And dragonflies of several species were flying in large numbers, and some dragonflies and damselflies laying eggs, and possibly some mating. Late in the hour I saw a very small frog sitting in the water near the edge, under the bush where a lot of the dragonflies were landing. I also saw a muskrat swimming with plants in its mouth, and bees flying around pollinating the flowers. But the best sighting was a snapping turtle swimming less than ten feet in front of me. I’d never seen a snapper in that pond and didn’t know any were in there, nor had I been that close to one swimming, close enough to see all of it. I had once seen a snapper in the smaller pond, which is fed from this one, so I’m not surprised, but just hadn’t seen one in there. I have seen beaver in there twice, but don’t know if any are still there.
As I thought would happen, officials announced late yesterday that our beaches will be closed through the July 4 weekend. We hit an all-time high for new cases yesterday. An LA Times article this morning says Memorial Day seemed to be the turning point — things were beginning to open up, cases were stabilizing, and everyone wanted to go out and enjoy “summer.” And so they did, And so here we are.
The article also mentions the ongoing mask fights and bickering over how serious the virus is or isn’t. Back and forth they go in the social media wars.
Kim, one of my main worries is for the first amendment right now. It began in the colleges years ago, but to think how our speech and expression is now being controlled publicly is alarming to me. And I fear it will be this younger generation that will carry it forward, they are the true believers in concepts such as “hate speech” and “you can’t say that.” It’s a very authoritarian theme that is not very American at all.
Elementary school age children are not going to wear their masks correctly. There is a humorous thing going around Facebook in different formats, from a teacher’s point of view, with all sorts of things little kids would do with the masks. Nightingale took Boy to the store with her recently, and in just that short period of time, he managed to do a bunch of the things the post was warning of – putting it over his eyes, under his chin, on the back of his head, chewing on it, etc.
I’m off to the physical therapist in about an hour. It may be temporary, but my knee has felt unusually good, better than it has since all this began almost, ever since last night.
I thought of a question I wanted to ask you all last night, but now it escapes me.
But here’s one — has anyone ever gotten a skin burn from an ice pad? I seem to have accomplished that, stupidly. As I said, I’m a mess these days. 🙂
I posted this on Facebook yesterday. The first part is my own preface to it. . .
“If we continue in the same vein, we will be no better than the people in Mao’s China who pushed the injustices and brutality of the Cultural Revolution. I have read some public figures’ written apologies, after getting in trouble for an infraction against the latest politically correct speech, that sound like the people who had to denounce and humiliate themselves in “struggle sessions”. Often what a person has said wasn’t even “bad” but was twisted out of context, but they had to issue a public apology anyway and hope that their career wasn’t over. ”
“Stop Firing the Innocent
America needs a reckoning over racism. Punishing people who did not do anything wrong harms that important cause.”
“Cafferty was punished for an offense he insists he did not commit. Shor was punished for doing something that most wouldn’t even consider objectionable. Wadi was punished for the sins of his daughter. What all of these rather different cases have in common is that none of the people who were deprived of a livelihood in the name of fighting racism appear to have been guilty of actually perpetuating racism.
.
These cases do not negate the good that can, and hopefully will, come from America’s newfound determination to root out racial injustice. Given the gravity of police misconduct in this country, there is little doubt in my mind that the overall thrust of the changes set in motion by the protests over the murder of George Floyd is highly positive. Nevertheless, it would be a big mistake—especially for those who deeply care about social justice—to dismiss the fate of people such as Cafferty, Shor, and Wadi as a minor detail or a necessary price for progress.
.
First, these incidents damage the lives of innocent people without achieving any noble purpose.
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Second, such injustices are liable to provoke a political backlash. If a lot of Americans come to feel that those who supposedly oppose racism are willing to punish the innocent to look good in the public’s eyes, they could well grow cynical about the enterprise as a whole.
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Third, those of us who want to build a better society should defend the innocent because movements willing to sacrifice justice in the pursuit of noble goals have, again and again, built societies characterized by pervasive injustice.”
“I’m going to go so far as to say that even when someone does indeed say the wrong thing or is indeed a racist of some kind, that should not mean that they automatically have to lose their livelihood.”
A friend (my age) and my cousin (older than I am, maybe mid-70s now, but healthy and active, though she has gone through hip & back surgery in recent years) are both constantly going to doctors. They tell me, this is what it will be like for you too.
It seems like they go in for one thing, then another thing is ‘found’ so it’s off to another doctor, then another.
Frankly, I can’t imagine a life filled with rounds of constant doctor appointments (unless that is, of course, necessary). But in their cases, some of it seems like they’re caught on this merry-go-round of constant tests and visits for ‘whatever.’ One doctor says oh, you need to go see this doctor for this now and off they go.
Are we becoming just too caught up in doctor visits that never end? Is it because now there are so many specialists out there? These seem like “first world” kinds of issues they having to see all these doctors for; not saying it’s completely unnecessary, but it doesn’t seem to be making their lives very happy, to be honest.
I used to think my friend “liked” going to so many doctors, at the end of her work career (she retired early is financially set) she actually used all her vacation time to scheduled scores of doctor appointments. I don’t think they got sick time for that, though, and I’m fortunate my company does let you use sick time for doctors’ appointments.
But now with my cousin, whom I know doesn’t “like” doing to all these doctors, I’m wondering if this has just become some kind of “new normal” we’ve been convinced to accept?
I think part of it also are the constant annual “screenings.” I agree those are good to get, though I’ve often not been as “annual” as I should about them. But I think there are a whole lot of those possible to get now and maybe once you’re “in” the system, it’s one after another until the next year arrives and you have to start them up all over again.
How appropriate Karen. I have been dealing with a situation with an agent since last night. He posted something stupid in a group and has been tarred and feathered and my office right along with him.
Sometimes there is a need for doctors. Some things you can handle by eating healthily and exercising. For example: I was put on blood pressure meds for elevated blood pressure. I then researched and found out it did not have to be. Talked with the doc and he said to lose twelve pounds. Shock. I did and got off the meds. But then it started to creep up again and I learned I needed to exercise more than anything. When I get out and do stuff, my blood pressure is much better than when I am locked in by heavy rains and baby care. So, I need to take charge and find ways to move while eating well.
But if I stayed on the blood pressure meds, I would find myself then needing this and needing that to counter the meds.
Same with surgeries and other interventions.
Some people have a stronger tendency to “need” all those things but I suspect a lot of it is people are lured in by promises of eternal youth.
A number of years ago I had a lean middle-aged co-worker whose doctor told him his cholesterol was too high. So he changed his diet and started going to the track for three lunch hours per week, and perhaps other exercise as well. However, it wasn’t “enough,” and he was put on medication to lower his cholesterol. I already knew that cholesterol was quite an iffy measurement, and it definitely seemed to me that a healthy person who isn’t overweight, eats well, and gets some exercise is OK–and that taking medication in such a situation is riskier than the cholesterol level.
In this country, there’s a certain age (I don’t know what it is) after which the majority of people are on medication they take at least once a day (and that’s not even counting the “take a baby aspirin daily” group). It might be as low as 60 or 65 these days–the generations reaching retirement age now are definitely not the healthiest crop of people in our nation’s history. Too much fast food and sugar and too little exercise? I understand daily medication really is necessary for many, but I want to avoid being in that group.
PT went OK, there’s still “some” swelling, he said, but he didn’t seem overly concerned though he said to keep taking ibuprofen. We got back to the exercises so I was there a while doing those in the ‘gym’ area. I can use some more exercise, that’s for sure.
So I go back next on thursday when he’ll do another evaluation, talk to me and then get in touch with my GP who set up the PT referral for treatment to see if she’d be open to continuing that for now, thinking that last week was some kind of aberrational “setback” that we’re not getting past again.
I’m hoping that’s the route we take, provided insurance will continue to cover it. As much as possible I want to avoid more invasive treatments (steroid shots, or the worst, surgery).
Very nice father/daughter nature stories yesterday, DJ and Cheryl. A little glistening of the eyes here, reading those, I’ll admit.
Question I could probably google, or have 6th Arrow look up, but since I’m here and thinking about it at the moment, I’ll fire away. Cheryl or Kare or others with knowledge about animals in the wild and their behavior, do you know if raccoons take in orphaned baby raccoons?
I ask because, while I’m not certain, we saw a mother raccoon and two babies around our bird feeder yesterday evening and wondered whether one of the babies might have been from a different litter.
The two babies were easy to tell apart — the smaller one (not a lot smaller, but somewhat noticeably so) had more brown mixed in with its black coloring and seemed weaker. Maybe it was simply the runt of the litter, but it sure was cute! Both babies would try climbing the tree next to the bird feeder where Mama was cleaning out the rest of the birdseed. While the bigger one was coordinated and confident in its movements up and down the tree trunk, the littler one would try descending the trunk feet first, then stop partway down and try to get into a head down position, then change its mind and slide down with its belly flush against the trunk, paws wrapped around the tree until it would let go a few inches from the bottom and fall onto the grass.
So comical to watch! I was afraid the little one would fall from much higher up at one point, though, as the bigger one decided to come up the trunk for another round of fun once when the little one was descending. They did this little dance around the tree trunk about 6 feet above the ground, going in circles around the trunk when they realized they couldn’t get past each other on the same side. 🙂
We have a steep hill in back of our house where the bird feeder is, with lots of thick growth, and the babies seemed to be tousling around in there after their tree excursions. At one point, the little one came rolling down the hill (only a couple of feet from the bottom), with the bigger one right behind it. It appeared the bigger had shoved the littler out of its way!
Anyway, it was an entertaining show to watch from our kitchen window. 🙂 Mama seemed oblivious to the babies’ antics, but when she was done eating and climbed down from the feeder, up the hill she went into our woods, big baby and little baby following behind her in that order.
The only times we’ve seen mama and baby raccoons in previous years, the babies all seemed to be of the same size, appearance, and developmental stage, skills-wise. I don’t know if I’m starting to note more distinctions between babies now than previously, and what we saw last night were naturally-occurring normal differences between litter-mates, or if maybe the littlest one we saw last night was alone for a while before being “adopted,” and its possible previous disconnection from its (actual?) mother affected its development?
6 – how fun to watch – those babies are so cute. I know that at an animal rescue there can be a mama raccoon that will adopt orphans, but I don’t know if they would in the wild.
Eating right and getting good physical activity is very good and helpful. Everyone has different genes, though, and it does not work for everyone. I am grateful for medications, but don’t want any not absolutely needed. A lot of younger people seem to assume that as long as they are eating right and exercising they will continue to be healthy forever. Many will have a shock coming to them.
Daily medication has become a part of my life in the last two years, and I have two specialists to see within the next two months, and I am the youngest here. But, I have needed medical intervention since I was a baby, and was first hospitaluzed at age 8 (actually, I have not been admitted to hospital since, though I have been to the ER a half dozen times and have had day surgery) so I am accustomed to medical care being a normal part of life.
I do 25 to30 minutes in the morning. I do an online class that is videos. I walk 30 to 45 minutes most days. I have practically killed my self in the gym in the past doing aerobics and lifting weights. This is the first time I have anything to show for it. I have definition in my arms and legs. I also lost almost 25 pounds over the last 2 years. Here’s hoping it all works. I go back to the endocrinologist in July. My upper back and my right thumb hurt on a regular basis. Lying on the hard floor makes my back feel better. Nothing is helping my thumb.
6 Arrows, there is a certain phase right after the birth of her own litter that an animal mother is open to taking any animal that comes along, and there have been some weird results. One I read about a year or so ago was in the wild, in Africa, and a female lion had adopted something in the antelope family. The other lions saw her baby as food, and she fiercely protected it from them. I don’t know how that turned out in the long run!
And some animals are simply more maternal, and will care for strays even if she doesn’t have a litter. You probably know that people who breed animals are careful to keep other animals away from a nursing mother, even the father of the puppies if it’s puppies. Well, I read on the blog of one breeder that she had one collie bitch that loved to play auntie–so much so that she actually had her puppy boxes made for two adults (I think an L-shape). And mothers of brand-new litters would leave them for a few minutes if the “nanny” was there to look after her pups. It’s very unusual that the other mothers trusted her that much, but they did.
My hunch, though, is that one of the raccoons is simply smaller and weaker.
Medications: I was in no way trying to say nobody should use medicines. Simply suggesting a holistic approach.
Baby animals: we lost our lead goat and our lead ewe this year. I do not know why. But the ewe had a tiny lamb at her side. When I was told she was down, I went out and saw she was dead. Called son over. Another ewe and her lamb were close by (second in command) watching, as was her baby. We took the body out of the pasture and the other ewe immediately started calling the baby, who went to her and has been hers ever since. The baby is still small but quite healthy as is the ewe’s lamb but the ewe’s lamb is much bigger so it is funny to watch.
Thanks for the baby animals info, Kare, Cheryl, and Mumsee.
Medications: no one in our household is on any, regularly or permanently.
Hubby and I are both physically active, though not with any formal exercise program. Husband does a lot of wood chopping, etc.; I do a lot of up and down the stairs in the course of a day. We are very much in need of new carpet on them, it is so worn all the way across each step except for the very ends.
Piano lesson business: I told you about the new student who is starting next week. Today I found out from one of the studio owners that another student is also starting with me next week, and the following week a third new student will start!
So now I will have more at that studio than at home (7 there, 6 here). The girls have also now passed the boys in number. Before these newest 3 students, I had 6 boys and 4 girls, but the latest 3 are all girls, so it’s girls 7, boys 6.
Got all that? It will be on the test tomorrow. 😉
Nah, JK. I’ve got a busy rest of the week ahead of me, organizing my kitchen on my week off of piano lessons. I’m hoping my energy levels will cooperate. I was tired and weary yesterday — somber and care-worn for Karen’s family — but I bounced back around mid-morning today, and got some things done.
A day at a time, I guess “they” say. Many things for which to be thankful as we sojourn before our final resting place.
There are precious people in my life who live by their doctor appt schedules….some have life threatening diseases and some truly feel as though they must go to the doctor even though there seems to be nothing wrong. I go in once a year for my estrogen…doc feels it helps heart and bone health since having had a radical hysterectomy due to a cancer scare. Husband takes only vitamins and he will go in for a skin check due to moles and such. I don’t like going to the doctor…truth be told I hate getting on that scale!! 😂
Wrote the story about covid numbers for the day, still surging in LA County.
Real Estate Guy called, he’s convinced this ‘flu’ is just that, it’s all pretty much a fake scare and everyone’s making too much of it, but not so much that he didn’t want to “blame” all the protestors for shortening his life. Huh? He’s pretty cranky, generally. I think this was a cranky day for him.
Along with genetics making people prone to one thing or another, there’s also the matter of simple aging. Bodies become less efficient with age, it’s just the way it is. So I consider a lot of the medicines we have now to be a blessing. Conditions can be controlled, some diseases avoided.
Re- School opening: Some of the parents in our district posted on the school’s FB page that their pediatricians told them children should not wear masks all day. I have read other sources that say adults shouldn’t either, as you end up breathing the bad air you’ve exhaled after a while. I suppose changing masks every fe hours might help.
Aging…I handed husband the hummingbird feeder over the deck rail…turned around took one step and smacked my left knee into the door…I didn’t know we had a “funny bone” in the knee area. The lower part below the knee went numb and a vein popped out on top of the knee. Klutzy old broad am I?
Roscuro, my dad had asthma from when he was an infant. He was given experimental drugs when he was around three, I think he said. He used medications all his life. He was grateful for them and well aware of the side affects. He was an incredibly hard worker. He seldom stopped working. He learned to live with it, though it was not easy. I am sure it is quite a challenge for you.
I was dragging like that yesterday and part of today. Didn’t haul myself out of bed until after 8 this morning.
I have energy to spare tonight, though. Got all my food cabinets cleaned out and reorganized since posting above. It feels good to have that part of the kitchen done. I’ll do the refrigerator tomorrow; I didn’t feel like starting that at quarter to ten when I finished the cabinets, even though I wasn’t tired (and am not now, either).
Everyone else is in bed. Time to find something quiet to do until that sleepy feeling I couldn’t get rid of yesterday comes back to me tonight.
I say give in and go to bed…sometimes our body is trying to tell us something…like get some rest. I know I have found myself sort of frozen with all that is spiraling out of control in this world. Tonight “protesters” blocked a portion of I25 and traffic has been backed up for a while. Interesting they are mostly 20 somethings, and white…but they are calling it a BLM protest. Mostly everyone in town is outraged and want them either run over or arrested…everyone has lost their collective minds…. I’m going to bed..good night…our Lord be blessed to give us all a good night’s rest in His tender loving care… ❤️
BTW, I definitely wasn’t saying “Eat right and exercise and you’ll stay healthy.” I know that isn’t the case for everyone. I also know that NOT doing so is likely to bring consequences. And a few years ago a friend pointed out that we have a frighteningly large percentage of 40- and 50-somethings with chronic health conditions, far more than previous generations saw, which he blamed (rightly or wrongly) on the prepackaged food of the American diet and all the hormones and sugars and such in it.
I was quite thin into my forties. Most called me “underweight,” but I figured I was the right weight for me and I didn’t worry about it. Then several things changed at once in my mid-forties and in four or five years I gained enough weight that a doctor told me I needed to lose some. Again, I figure I’m the right weight for me at this point in my life (middle-aged women are supposed to have a bit of “extra” weight), but I’ve changed my diet a little bit so that I don’t continue to gain and I haven’t. The thing is, when I was thin, I was regularly asked what I considered a stupid question: “How do you stay so thin?” My answer was genetics. I knew I didn’t eat less or considerably more healthily than my peers. (I’ve never drunk much soda and have religiously avoided diet sodas–too many sources say they add weight and I know they aren’t good for you–and in general I’ve avoided real excess.) There wasn’t any particular “secret” about it; even when I tried to gain weight, I didn’t gain, and I chose not to worry about it either way. (I tried to gain weight mostly because I got tired of comments about my weight.)
Humor of the day. As I was packing up today, the next folks to be in the house came by and the gal in charge of the house was there too. She said something about it being a little warm, then she found the manual and turned on the air conditioning. Several years ago they had told me the house did not have air and no one told me that they had added it!!. We were sweltering last week.
Guess I should have asked ‘what’s new?’
Wandering Views 
The flowers are prettier than the critters.
Good morning everyone.
I see on TV where they are debating opening school this fall.
So? If not, what will they do?
(Il listed some possibilities, but none of them work. )
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Morning! A very beautiful photo of such delicate flowers….and they are indeed prettier than tadpoles 😊
Chas my daughter is a tutor at her children’s charter school and they plan to require children and teachers to wear masks upon returning in August. They will have Fridays off and restrict contact during recess. How do you place four square with no contact…well you don’t… 😞
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How do you have a bunch of children not playing with each other?
And some girl crying because some guy says, “You look better with the mask on.”
It has ho happen somewhere. Though he is likely teasing.
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Good morning. Yesterday was the hottest of the year so far in Atlanta. It won’t be quite as hot today.
I hear another mower engine rumbling this morning which is a good time to br out there.
My brother is suppose to help out today with a plumbing issue we have. It is like we are almost back to our old selves before he had his horrible blowup with me. He has 337,000 miles on his car. He is making the most of his old Impala. I used to worry about him driving a clunker. I am thankful to God that I no longer feel that sense of responsibility for him that I felt for so long.
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Our Governor plans to travel around the state and appeal to people to wear facemasks before this upcoming holiday. I hope his appeal works. We older people continue onward with shelter in place per his orders.
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Beautiful header. Love that photo which would make a nice greeting card picture.
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I am saddened by what our country is becoming. We are losing our freedom of free speech and I am having to be a messenger of it. Why can’t we disagree on something without trying to cost someone their livelihood?
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Oh Janice that is a lot of miles on an Impala?! My very first car was a 62 Chevy Impala…Dad worked at Fisher Body which was GM…he would have no car in the driveway other than a GM 😊
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Good morning. Yesterday was the coldest day of the summer. Should be about the same today.
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oh, my where do I put all of these things. And then I should be cleaning, too.
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Brother is still working outside. He trimmed the hedges. He put a cover over some wiring that goes to the heat pump, something he thought was needed. I hope my AC will come back on after we may or may not have turned it off. We never could find an off button on the thermostat so he got into the fuse box. We shall see. And, he has been charging up our old car battery that he only got up to 25% last Saturday. At least he got it cranked so I finally got all the spring pine pollen off of it. It looks 100% better! I swept off the back patio while he dealt with the heat pump/AC. Then I came back to my end of the month bill paying chore. We pay bills the old fashioned way. I write checks and put them in the mail. Priceless, NOT!
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Last day of June. Twelve hours left of it here. Where did it go?
This morning I did something I’ve been wanting to do since we moved here. There’s a pond on the trail I walk most of the time (well, two of them, but one big one), and up till this year it had a panel around it and you couldn’t get up close to it. I don’t know if it was to keep deer from crossing, to protect from erosion, to keep people out, or what. But it was getting pretty ratty, and it got taken down earlier this year. Anyway, I can now get up almost to the edge of the pond in some places. (Not all the way to the edge. The deep footprints in the mud at the edge warned me to stay on the part that has grass!)
So I stood at the edge of the pond, just to blend in and be there long enough animals would ignore me, and see what I could see. And it was worth seeing. First, the pond has quite a number of big tadpoles, not the little ones I was watching elsewhere, but probably tadpoles of green frogs. And dragonflies of several species were flying in large numbers, and some dragonflies and damselflies laying eggs, and possibly some mating. Late in the hour I saw a very small frog sitting in the water near the edge, under the bush where a lot of the dragonflies were landing. I also saw a muskrat swimming with plants in its mouth, and bees flying around pollinating the flowers. But the best sighting was a snapping turtle swimming less than ten feet in front of me. I’d never seen a snapper in that pond and didn’t know any were in there, nor had I been that close to one swimming, close enough to see all of it. I had once seen a snapper in the smaller pond, which is fed from this one, so I’m not surprised, but just hadn’t seen one in there. I have seen beaver in there twice, but don’t know if any are still there.
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As I thought would happen, officials announced late yesterday that our beaches will be closed through the July 4 weekend. We hit an all-time high for new cases yesterday. An LA Times article this morning says Memorial Day seemed to be the turning point — things were beginning to open up, cases were stabilizing, and everyone wanted to go out and enjoy “summer.” And so they did, And so here we are.
The article also mentions the ongoing mask fights and bickering over how serious the virus is or isn’t. Back and forth they go in the social media wars.
Kim, one of my main worries is for the first amendment right now. It began in the colleges years ago, but to think how our speech and expression is now being controlled publicly is alarming to me. And I fear it will be this younger generation that will carry it forward, they are the true believers in concepts such as “hate speech” and “you can’t say that.” It’s a very authoritarian theme that is not very American at all.
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Elementary school age children are not going to wear their masks correctly. There is a humorous thing going around Facebook in different formats, from a teacher’s point of view, with all sorts of things little kids would do with the masks. Nightingale took Boy to the store with her recently, and in just that short period of time, he managed to do a bunch of the things the post was warning of – putting it over his eyes, under his chin, on the back of his head, chewing on it, etc.
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I’m off to the physical therapist in about an hour. It may be temporary, but my knee has felt unusually good, better than it has since all this began almost, ever since last night.
I thought of a question I wanted to ask you all last night, but now it escapes me.
But here’s one — has anyone ever gotten a skin burn from an ice pad? I seem to have accomplished that, stupidly. As I said, I’m a mess these days. 🙂
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Kizzie, yes, I had to chuckle at the very thought of young children wearing masks. Right.
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I posted this on Facebook yesterday. The first part is my own preface to it. . .
“If we continue in the same vein, we will be no better than the people in Mao’s China who pushed the injustices and brutality of the Cultural Revolution. I have read some public figures’ written apologies, after getting in trouble for an infraction against the latest politically correct speech, that sound like the people who had to denounce and humiliate themselves in “struggle sessions”. Often what a person has said wasn’t even “bad” but was twisted out of context, but they had to issue a public apology anyway and hope that their career wasn’t over. ”
“Stop Firing the Innocent
America needs a reckoning over racism. Punishing people who did not do anything wrong harms that important cause.”
“Cafferty was punished for an offense he insists he did not commit. Shor was punished for doing something that most wouldn’t even consider objectionable. Wadi was punished for the sins of his daughter. What all of these rather different cases have in common is that none of the people who were deprived of a livelihood in the name of fighting racism appear to have been guilty of actually perpetuating racism.
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These cases do not negate the good that can, and hopefully will, come from America’s newfound determination to root out racial injustice. Given the gravity of police misconduct in this country, there is little doubt in my mind that the overall thrust of the changes set in motion by the protests over the murder of George Floyd is highly positive. Nevertheless, it would be a big mistake—especially for those who deeply care about social justice—to dismiss the fate of people such as Cafferty, Shor, and Wadi as a minor detail or a necessary price for progress.
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First, these incidents damage the lives of innocent people without achieving any noble purpose.
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Second, such injustices are liable to provoke a political backlash. If a lot of Americans come to feel that those who supposedly oppose racism are willing to punish the innocent to look good in the public’s eyes, they could well grow cynical about the enterprise as a whole.
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Third, those of us who want to build a better society should defend the innocent because movements willing to sacrifice justice in the pursuit of noble goals have, again and again, built societies characterized by pervasive injustice.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/stop-firing-innocent/613615/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share&fbclid=IwAR20TtfLH-zEGJ1xH5gFZoC0DDyTb0SHX-0d4ODbzMutSVsNTRNNtqipXDw
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In a comment on my post, I wrote:
“I’m going to go so far as to say that even when someone does indeed say the wrong thing or is indeed a racist of some kind, that should not mean that they automatically have to lose their livelihood.”
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I know what my question was.
A friend (my age) and my cousin (older than I am, maybe mid-70s now, but healthy and active, though she has gone through hip & back surgery in recent years) are both constantly going to doctors. They tell me, this is what it will be like for you too.
It seems like they go in for one thing, then another thing is ‘found’ so it’s off to another doctor, then another.
Frankly, I can’t imagine a life filled with rounds of constant doctor appointments (unless that is, of course, necessary). But in their cases, some of it seems like they’re caught on this merry-go-round of constant tests and visits for ‘whatever.’ One doctor says oh, you need to go see this doctor for this now and off they go.
Are we becoming just too caught up in doctor visits that never end? Is it because now there are so many specialists out there? These seem like “first world” kinds of issues they having to see all these doctors for; not saying it’s completely unnecessary, but it doesn’t seem to be making their lives very happy, to be honest.
I used to think my friend “liked” going to so many doctors, at the end of her work career (she retired early is financially set) she actually used all her vacation time to scheduled scores of doctor appointments. I don’t think they got sick time for that, though, and I’m fortunate my company does let you use sick time for doctors’ appointments.
But now with my cousin, whom I know doesn’t “like” doing to all these doctors, I’m wondering if this has just become some kind of “new normal” we’ve been convinced to accept?
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I think part of it also are the constant annual “screenings.” I agree those are good to get, though I’ve often not been as “annual” as I should about them. But I think there are a whole lot of those possible to get now and maybe once you’re “in” the system, it’s one after another until the next year arrives and you have to start them up all over again.
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How appropriate Karen. I have been dealing with a situation with an agent since last night. He posted something stupid in a group and has been tarred and feathered and my office right along with him.
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Sometimes there is a need for doctors. Some things you can handle by eating healthily and exercising. For example: I was put on blood pressure meds for elevated blood pressure. I then researched and found out it did not have to be. Talked with the doc and he said to lose twelve pounds. Shock. I did and got off the meds. But then it started to creep up again and I learned I needed to exercise more than anything. When I get out and do stuff, my blood pressure is much better than when I am locked in by heavy rains and baby care. So, I need to take charge and find ways to move while eating well.
But if I stayed on the blood pressure meds, I would find myself then needing this and needing that to counter the meds.
Same with surgeries and other interventions.
Some people have a stronger tendency to “need” all those things but I suspect a lot of it is people are lured in by promises of eternal youth.
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My mother in law has always said, “If you go to the doctor long enough, they will kill you”.
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A number of years ago I had a lean middle-aged co-worker whose doctor told him his cholesterol was too high. So he changed his diet and started going to the track for three lunch hours per week, and perhaps other exercise as well. However, it wasn’t “enough,” and he was put on medication to lower his cholesterol. I already knew that cholesterol was quite an iffy measurement, and it definitely seemed to me that a healthy person who isn’t overweight, eats well, and gets some exercise is OK–and that taking medication in such a situation is riskier than the cholesterol level.
In this country, there’s a certain age (I don’t know what it is) after which the majority of people are on medication they take at least once a day (and that’s not even counting the “take a baby aspirin daily” group). It might be as low as 60 or 65 these days–the generations reaching retirement age now are definitely not the healthiest crop of people in our nation’s history. Too much fast food and sugar and too little exercise? I understand daily medication really is necessary for many, but I want to avoid being in that group.
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I see medication as a good thing in many cases, an advancement that was not available to our elders. But yes, it can probably be overdone.
Anyone heard of Raising Cane’s restaurants?
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PT went OK, there’s still “some” swelling, he said, but he didn’t seem overly concerned though he said to keep taking ibuprofen. We got back to the exercises so I was there a while doing those in the ‘gym’ area. I can use some more exercise, that’s for sure.
So I go back next on thursday when he’ll do another evaluation, talk to me and then get in touch with my GP who set up the PT referral for treatment to see if she’d be open to continuing that for now, thinking that last week was some kind of aberrational “setback” that we’re not getting past again.
I’m hoping that’s the route we take, provided insurance will continue to cover it. As much as possible I want to avoid more invasive treatments (steroid shots, or the worst, surgery).
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now getting past, not “not” getting past
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Very nice father/daughter nature stories yesterday, DJ and Cheryl. A little glistening of the eyes here, reading those, I’ll admit.
Question I could probably google, or have 6th Arrow look up, but since I’m here and thinking about it at the moment, I’ll fire away. Cheryl or Kare or others with knowledge about animals in the wild and their behavior, do you know if raccoons take in orphaned baby raccoons?
I ask because, while I’m not certain, we saw a mother raccoon and two babies around our bird feeder yesterday evening and wondered whether one of the babies might have been from a different litter.
The two babies were easy to tell apart — the smaller one (not a lot smaller, but somewhat noticeably so) had more brown mixed in with its black coloring and seemed weaker. Maybe it was simply the runt of the litter, but it sure was cute! Both babies would try climbing the tree next to the bird feeder where Mama was cleaning out the rest of the birdseed. While the bigger one was coordinated and confident in its movements up and down the tree trunk, the littler one would try descending the trunk feet first, then stop partway down and try to get into a head down position, then change its mind and slide down with its belly flush against the trunk, paws wrapped around the tree until it would let go a few inches from the bottom and fall onto the grass.
So comical to watch! I was afraid the little one would fall from much higher up at one point, though, as the bigger one decided to come up the trunk for another round of fun once when the little one was descending. They did this little dance around the tree trunk about 6 feet above the ground, going in circles around the trunk when they realized they couldn’t get past each other on the same side. 🙂
We have a steep hill in back of our house where the bird feeder is, with lots of thick growth, and the babies seemed to be tousling around in there after their tree excursions. At one point, the little one came rolling down the hill (only a couple of feet from the bottom), with the bigger one right behind it. It appeared the bigger had shoved the littler out of its way!
Anyway, it was an entertaining show to watch from our kitchen window. 🙂 Mama seemed oblivious to the babies’ antics, but when she was done eating and climbed down from the feeder, up the hill she went into our woods, big baby and little baby following behind her in that order.
The only times we’ve seen mama and baby raccoons in previous years, the babies all seemed to be of the same size, appearance, and developmental stage, skills-wise. I don’t know if I’m starting to note more distinctions between babies now than previously, and what we saw last night were naturally-occurring normal differences between litter-mates, or if maybe the littlest one we saw last night was alone for a while before being “adopted,” and its possible previous disconnection from its (actual?) mother affected its development?
Any thoughts?
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6 – how fun to watch – those babies are so cute. I know that at an animal rescue there can be a mama raccoon that will adopt orphans, but I don’t know if they would in the wild.
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Eating right and getting good physical activity is very good and helpful. Everyone has different genes, though, and it does not work for everyone. I am grateful for medications, but don’t want any not absolutely needed. A lot of younger people seem to assume that as long as they are eating right and exercising they will continue to be healthy forever. Many will have a shock coming to them.
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Daily medication has become a part of my life in the last two years, and I have two specialists to see within the next two months, and I am the youngest here. But, I have needed medical intervention since I was a baby, and was first hospitaluzed at age 8 (actually, I have not been admitted to hospital since, though I have been to the ER a half dozen times and have had day surgery) so I am accustomed to medical care being a normal part of life.
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Actually, I was first hospitalized as a baby, but I do not remember it, and thus think of my experience at 8 as my first time.
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I do 25 to30 minutes in the morning. I do an online class that is videos. I walk 30 to 45 minutes most days. I have practically killed my self in the gym in the past doing aerobics and lifting weights. This is the first time I have anything to show for it. I have definition in my arms and legs. I also lost almost 25 pounds over the last 2 years. Here’s hoping it all works. I go back to the endocrinologist in July. My upper back and my right thumb hurt on a regular basis. Lying on the hard floor makes my back feel better. Nothing is helping my thumb.
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6 Arrows, there is a certain phase right after the birth of her own litter that an animal mother is open to taking any animal that comes along, and there have been some weird results. One I read about a year or so ago was in the wild, in Africa, and a female lion had adopted something in the antelope family. The other lions saw her baby as food, and she fiercely protected it from them. I don’t know how that turned out in the long run!
And some animals are simply more maternal, and will care for strays even if she doesn’t have a litter. You probably know that people who breed animals are careful to keep other animals away from a nursing mother, even the father of the puppies if it’s puppies. Well, I read on the blog of one breeder that she had one collie bitch that loved to play auntie–so much so that she actually had her puppy boxes made for two adults (I think an L-shape). And mothers of brand-new litters would leave them for a few minutes if the “nanny” was there to look after her pups. It’s very unusual that the other mothers trusted her that much, but they did.
My hunch, though, is that one of the raccoons is simply smaller and weaker.
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Medications: I was in no way trying to say nobody should use medicines. Simply suggesting a holistic approach.
Baby animals: we lost our lead goat and our lead ewe this year. I do not know why. But the ewe had a tiny lamb at her side. When I was told she was down, I went out and saw she was dead. Called son over. Another ewe and her lamb were close by (second in command) watching, as was her baby. We took the body out of the pasture and the other ewe immediately started calling the baby, who went to her and has been hers ever since. The baby is still small but quite healthy as is the ewe’s lamb but the ewe’s lamb is much bigger so it is funny to watch.
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Thanks for the baby animals info, Kare, Cheryl, and Mumsee.
Medications: no one in our household is on any, regularly or permanently.
Hubby and I are both physically active, though not with any formal exercise program. Husband does a lot of wood chopping, etc.; I do a lot of up and down the stairs in the course of a day. We are very much in need of new carpet on them, it is so worn all the way across each step except for the very ends.
Piano lesson business: I told you about the new student who is starting next week. Today I found out from one of the studio owners that another student is also starting with me next week, and the following week a third new student will start!
So now I will have more at that studio than at home (7 there, 6 here). The girls have also now passed the boys in number. Before these newest 3 students, I had 6 boys and 4 girls, but the latest 3 are all girls, so it’s girls 7, boys 6.
Got all that? It will be on the test tomorrow. 😉
Nah, JK. I’ve got a busy rest of the week ahead of me, organizing my kitchen on my week off of piano lessons. I’m hoping my energy levels will cooperate. I was tired and weary yesterday — somber and care-worn for Karen’s family — but I bounced back around mid-morning today, and got some things done.
A day at a time, I guess “they” say. Many things for which to be thankful as we sojourn before our final resting place.
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There are precious people in my life who live by their doctor appt schedules….some have life threatening diseases and some truly feel as though they must go to the doctor even though there seems to be nothing wrong. I go in once a year for my estrogen…doc feels it helps heart and bone health since having had a radical hysterectomy due to a cancer scare. Husband takes only vitamins and he will go in for a skin check due to moles and such. I don’t like going to the doctor…truth be told I hate getting on that scale!! 😂
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Wrote the story about covid numbers for the day, still surging in LA County.
Real Estate Guy called, he’s convinced this ‘flu’ is just that, it’s all pretty much a fake scare and everyone’s making too much of it, but not so much that he didn’t want to “blame” all the protestors for shortening his life. Huh? He’s pretty cranky, generally. I think this was a cranky day for him.
Along with genetics making people prone to one thing or another, there’s also the matter of simple aging. Bodies become less efficient with age, it’s just the way it is. So I consider a lot of the medicines we have now to be a blessing. Conditions can be controlled, some diseases avoided.
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Re- School opening: Some of the parents in our district posted on the school’s FB page that their pediatricians told them children should not wear masks all day. I have read other sources that say adults shouldn’t either, as you end up breathing the bad air you’ve exhaled after a while. I suppose changing masks every fe hours might help.
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Aging…I handed husband the hummingbird feeder over the deck rail…turned around took one step and smacked my left knee into the door…I didn’t know we had a “funny bone” in the knee area. The lower part below the knee went numb and a vein popped out on top of the knee. Klutzy old broad am I?
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Roscuro, my dad had asthma from when he was an infant. He was given experimental drugs when he was around three, I think he said. He used medications all his life. He was grateful for them and well aware of the side affects. He was an incredibly hard worker. He seldom stopped working. He learned to live with it, though it was not easy. I am sure it is quite a challenge for you.
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Ouch! 😦 NancyJill
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Ouch
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I’m dragging tonight, tempted to go to bed at 8. Sheesh.
Sometimes the whole seemingly endless pandemic situation and other things going on, plus the knee, can pull me down, I admit
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I was dragging like that yesterday and part of today. Didn’t haul myself out of bed until after 8 this morning.
I have energy to spare tonight, though. Got all my food cabinets cleaned out and reorganized since posting above. It feels good to have that part of the kitchen done. I’ll do the refrigerator tomorrow; I didn’t feel like starting that at quarter to ten when I finished the cabinets, even though I wasn’t tired (and am not now, either).
Everyone else is in bed. Time to find something quiet to do until that sleepy feeling I couldn’t get rid of yesterday comes back to me tonight.
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I say give in and go to bed…sometimes our body is trying to tell us something…like get some rest. I know I have found myself sort of frozen with all that is spiraling out of control in this world. Tonight “protesters” blocked a portion of I25 and traffic has been backed up for a while. Interesting they are mostly 20 somethings, and white…but they are calling it a BLM protest. Mostly everyone in town is outraged and want them either run over or arrested…everyone has lost their collective minds…. I’m going to bed..good night…our Lord be blessed to give us all a good night’s rest in His tender loving care… ❤️
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BTW, I definitely wasn’t saying “Eat right and exercise and you’ll stay healthy.” I know that isn’t the case for everyone. I also know that NOT doing so is likely to bring consequences. And a few years ago a friend pointed out that we have a frighteningly large percentage of 40- and 50-somethings with chronic health conditions, far more than previous generations saw, which he blamed (rightly or wrongly) on the prepackaged food of the American diet and all the hormones and sugars and such in it.
I was quite thin into my forties. Most called me “underweight,” but I figured I was the right weight for me and I didn’t worry about it. Then several things changed at once in my mid-forties and in four or five years I gained enough weight that a doctor told me I needed to lose some. Again, I figure I’m the right weight for me at this point in my life (middle-aged women are supposed to have a bit of “extra” weight), but I’ve changed my diet a little bit so that I don’t continue to gain and I haven’t. The thing is, when I was thin, I was regularly asked what I considered a stupid question: “How do you stay so thin?” My answer was genetics. I knew I didn’t eat less or considerably more healthily than my peers. (I’ve never drunk much soda and have religiously avoided diet sodas–too many sources say they add weight and I know they aren’t good for you–and in general I’ve avoided real excess.) There wasn’t any particular “secret” about it; even when I tried to gain weight, I didn’t gain, and I chose not to worry about it either way. (I tried to gain weight mostly because I got tired of comments about my weight.)
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Humor of the day. As I was packing up today, the next folks to be in the house came by and the gal in charge of the house was there too. She said something about it being a little warm, then she found the manual and turned on the air conditioning. Several years ago they had told me the house did not have air and no one told me that they had added it!!. We were sweltering last week.
Guess I should have asked ‘what’s new?’
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Good morning
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