Holiday or Holidays: A Greeting for the Season

So many Christians today are opposed to the phrase "Happy Holidays!" or "Seasons Greetings" and while I suppose people have a right to feel any way they want, I hope to provide some additional food for thought from another perspective.

One's religious beliefs are a private matter and you simply don't ask a stranger or acquaintance, someone you meet in a store or at the park, what their beliefs are. They may be Christian, most people in this country are indeed Christian, but they may be Jewish, Muslim, or perhaps they are Native American and observe the traditions of their ancestors. You simply cannot tell by looking at someone what their beliefs are or what their religious faith might be. You may even think you know, but never assume. My beliefs are so personal that I rarely even share them, in toto, with my family. In the absence of knowledge, saying 'Happy Holidays' is a friendly way to let the person know that you wish them well, without invading their privacy.

I have friends of many faiths, including some of no faith. If I say 'Merry Christmas' to everyone, that ignores and disrespects the people who are non-Christians, as a reverse example, 'Happy Hanukkah' would have little meaning to my Christian friends. Some people celebrate more than one holiday already, and some even celebrate two separate religious holidays, for example, I know someone who celebrates Hanukkah because she is Jewish, and yet her husband is Christian. Their son is being exposed to both holidays. I have friends who celebrate Kwanzaa and Christmas. I also have friends who consider themselves pagan and even a few friends who claim to be atheist. Atheists need love and attention too, it is just that their intellectual side suppresses their spiritual side, and well, I still think they deserve well wishing along with everyone else, even if they don't celebrate anything but the moment. I strive to be tolerant of everyone and be all-inclusive.

December and early January historically support many feasts, holidays and festivals. St. Nicholas' Day, Yule, St. Lucia's Day, Virgin of Guadalupe Day, Hanukkah, Christmas, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, New Year's Eve, New Years Day, Orthodox Christmas, and Ashura among others. I'm sure I've forgotten a holiday or two. As Americans, we take pride in being the world's melting pot, and as a predominantly Christian nation, we should also show tolerance. To preach, Christ said "love thy neighbor as thyself". Follow His lead. He befriended and respected many non-believers. To that end, we should also respect the beliefs and practices of others. Of course we don't have to join in their celebration, but to indirectly recognize their celebration and practices with a simple "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings!" is what Jesus would have done, I think. Political correctness is about what society expects. This issue is not about political correctness, but about respect for all mankind, regardless of ethnicity, religion, country of origin, sex, race, etc.

To Christians, I make an additional argument for the use of Happy Holidays or Seasons Greetings. There are three branches of Christianity: Orthodox Christianity, the first Christians, Roman Catholic Christianity, and Protestant Christianity. Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on or close to January 7th. The difference in dates reflects the Orthodox church's continued use of the Julian calendar as opposed to the modern Gregorian calendar. It is interesting to note that Orthodox Christians prefer saying "Christ is born" over "Merry Christmas". Catholics and Protestants recognize multiple holidays during this 'season'. St. Nicholas' Day on December 6th was the original day of gift giving. St. Lucia's Day on December 13th celebrates light. In Mexico, the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe is celebrated on December 12th. In the Philippines, Midnight Mass begins on December 16th and continues until December 24th. It is called Misso do Galo-Rooster's Mass. In many Protestant churches, Christmas Eve is celebrated with communion, nativity re-enactments, the lighting of advent wreaths, caroling, and prayer. In many European countries, the day after Christmas, St. Stephen's Day, is celebrated and is even a paid holiday. Saint Stephen, for those unfamiliar, was the first Christian martyr. In fact, Christmastide is a Christian season lasting 12 days-the 12 days of Christmas-from December 24th to January 5th. In addition to all those Christian holidays in December and early January, there are also the secular holidays of New Years Eve, New Years Day, Boxing Day, and Kwanzaa.

As you can see, this 'season' which has become a melting pot unto itself, even for Christians, is more than just the one religious holiday of Christmas. Saying 'Merry Christmas' is appropriate when you KNOW the other person is a Christian and when Christmas is truly near. Saying 'Merry Christmas' the day after Thanksgiving just doesn't have the same feel or impact. "Happy Holidays" seems more appropo, especially when you are greeting virtual strangers in a mall store. I hear so many people say that the 'reason for the season' is being lost. In my opinion, saying 'Merry Christmas' out of season demeans the holiday and adds to the problem. This special day in the Christian faith is lost to convention, a convention that is the dream of retailers-to draw the Christmas season out longer to line their pockets. Ironically, Christians themselves literally buy into this, and the long term effect is that now Christmas Day is a denouement to shopping season. That's what it is, really, Shopping Season. It starts two weeks before Halloween and ends January 4th or so. If Christians want others to realize the devoutness of the day, then they should start watching their own speech and behaviors. If they feel that 'Happy Holidays' is not special, and that 'Merry Christmas' is special, then relegate tidings of 'Merry Christmas' to the proper time, place, and people, and don't over use the phrase.

'Happy Holidays' is both secular and religious. 'Seasons Greetings' is both secular and religious. 'Merry Christmas' is religious, but becoming more secular. The retailers would love to hear 'Merry Christmas' in October, secularizing the holiday even more, but I don't think this is truly what Christians, those Christians who have a problem with 'Happy Holidays', really want. 'Merry Christmas' was intended to be religious, specifically pertaining to Christianity, but over the years the celebration of the birth of Christ has expanded to include practices of gift-giving(from many festivals, especially St. Nicholas' Day), decorating Christmas trees (a pagan ritual), mistletoe kisses (pagan), Christmas lights (both pagan and St. Lucia), feasts and dinners(both pagan and religious origins), Santa Claus (again, from St. Nicholas' Day), etc. Santa's helper elves are pagan, too, as they originally were helpers of the Scandinavian god Thor .

In Rome, December 25th was a holiday celebrating the rebirth of the Sun god, Sol Invictus, who had died three days earlier(on the Solstice). The Roman holiday of Saturnalia was also celebrated after the solstice. It was a time of wild parties and gift giving and Mummers dances. Mummers sang and danced from house to house spreading cheer. It sounds a bit like what we would call caroling. Christmas was not celebrated by the Christian church until Constantine's rule, 300 years after the death of Christ, and while the Catholic Church calculated the birth of Christ as nine months from March 25, (the Feast of the Anunciation ), the exact date of his birth is unknown. Some modern Christian astronomers believe that Jesus may have even been born in September of 3 A.D. when Jupiter and Regulus were close together in the sky and might have seen as the Star of Bethlehem. For the Roman Catholic Church, aligning the Christmas holiday with other holidays already in existence made sense (the pagan masses were used to their festivals and traditions and did not want them to be forbidden), so slowly the Christmas holiday began to incorporate many traditions that did not originate in Christianity. The evergreen Yule tree, the Christmas tree, was a sign of fertility and life. Holly and mistletoe were also fertility charms. The huge Yule log burned brightly, celebrating the rebirth of the sun.

There is a resounding theme apparent to me in all of these December holidays, regardless of faith, they celebrate life-birth and rebirth, light, miracles, gifts, and historical events. They are all positive and cheerful, uplifting days. To recognize only one of those days with a ubiquitous 'Merry Christmas' greeting clouds what Christians like to call 'the reason for the season'. In our interconnected world, we no longer isolate ourselves and live only with those of like beliefs, we live in a worldwide community. To show respect for the traditions and faith of others is to show the love of thy neighbor, and a simple way of doing this is to say 'Happy Holidays' or 'Seasons Greetings' to others during the season of festivities if you don't know their faith.

Peace Be Unto You.

New Beginnings

Yes, I am still alive and kicking. I'm amazed that I still have 'followers' after such a long absence from this space.

Basically, over the last nine months, I poured everything I had into a job, but even so, it apparently wasn't enough as I was fired last month-for the first time in my life. I've always been the star, the go-to person, and now, I am experiencing the other end of that spectrum. The only thing I can do is to move on and to learn from my failings, career and social. I've never been good at playing politics, sucking up to people. My emotions are always on my sleeve, which makes me easy to manipulate. Plus, I tend to think the best about people, even those who act like assholes and jerks. I make excuses for them in my mind, and try to block their influence and in doing that, I allow myself to be blindsided. They win influence, I don't. It is the story of losers everywhere, I suppose, that the victor's side of the story is the one recorded in the books. C'est la vie.

So in my quest of self improvement, I've decided to try to lose some weight and become more fit. This process began two and a half years ago when I stopped smoking after 27 years. I gained 30 pounds from that, and I lost that over the following 18 months, but now I am back on my pre-quitting plateau. I vowed to lose 50 pounds in 2010, and I have lost about 10 pounds with half the year gone. My BMI is close to 27, in the overweight range, but luckily under the obese marker. I just pulled out the Wii and weighed to make sure. I just weighed 199.5 pounds with a BMI of 27.8, up from last month by three pounds. That is where feeding your failure leads! Wii Fit states that my ideal weight should be about 157 pounds, which is where I would be if I lost the 50 pounds I intended with my New Year's Resolution. I have 43 pounds to lose in 6 months, 7 pounds a month, 1.75 pounds a week. That should be a safe loss rate and something I should be able to manage with diet and exercise. I've already given up soft drinks this year, and I am working on swapping out saturated fats for unsaturated fats. I don't believe in 'going on a diet', but I do want to make lifestyle changes. I've used a couple of calculators and figured that my Basal Metabolic Rate is about 2200 calories a day. I haven't been counting calories as to what I am consuming, but I will keep a journal for a week or so just to get an idea. If I can keep my intake between 2200 and 2500 calories, I should be able to exercise and burn off at least 1000 calories a day. One mountain bike ride around the 7 mile 'block' burns just over 700 calories and takes about 45 minutes, so I think with some stretching and a few additional minutes, I should be able to hit that 1000 burned goal. In addition, it is summer, and that means gardening-more calories burned. In a few weeks, I'll need to start splitting wood for the winter-more calories gone. So doing the math, If I consume 2500 calories and burn 1000 from exercise and 1000 from seasonal work, then my net caloric intake is 500, which is 1700 less than my BMR. If I ride my bike or exercise 5 times a week and spend 3 hours a day working, that is 8500 calories a week, equaling about 2.5 pounds a week. Of course, that will be the short term weekly goal that I strive for, not a given.

I want to pass along a few websites that I have found refreshingly useful.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/

From this link you can sign up for daily newsletters concerning topics that interest you. I've been receiving the Diet and Nutrition newsletter and it has a lot of informative articles (like choosing cooking oils) as well as a lot of simple, everyday recipes.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/

Nutrition data is just that, but I like this site because it gives you enough information to make balanced choices about food. They feature an Inflammation Factor chart which is helpful if you suffer from allergies or auto-immune disease. Also, there is a glycemic load chart for those who deal with blood sugar issues like diabetes. If you have a few minutes to check this site out, it will be well worth your time.

Going Green

My employer, a few months before I was hired, quietly initiated an voluntary environmental management system known as ISO 14001. This past Tuesday, after a week long audit, we have been recommended to be certified as ISO 14001. That is usually just a small formality-for the most part, we can say that we are ISO 14001 certified, or at least, we soon will be, but for the purposes of this blog, I will assume we already are.

We are now the only commercial flooring adhesive manufacturer in the US to be ISO certified. This is HUGE, and I am proud to say that I intend to play a more important role in this program in the future as anyone who knows me knows how much I care about the Earth, the interconnected nature of living things-Gaia, and environmental issues in general. Our environmental policy is straight in line with my personal belief set and green goals-conserving energy, reducing my footprint, becoming self sufficient and striving to live in harmony with nature. I also hope to become more active in the GreenBuilding community in the coming years.

http://www.usgbc.org/
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=222

My dream home is a passive solar earth sheltered home in the back pasture at the ridge line. Green Building, rather, sustainable building, is not new to me. It is a rare find to work in a place where your personal ethics and environmental concerns are shared by upper management. One day soon, our company will be building a new lab and office. I saw the architect's plans and WOW, would you believe that the building will be a LEED certified passive solar building with louvers to control the light and other energy saving features?!? How cool is that?

For those who aren't familiar with ISO 14001, you can learn more from the links below, and hopefully, for the sake of our planet, you can convince your employer and/or your community to follow suit. It can make a real difference, both for your organization, and for the Earth.

http://www.iso.org/iso/management_standards.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_14000

To quote Wiki, "The aim of the standard is to reduce the environmental footprint of a business and to decrease the pollution and waste a business produces."

And this could only be the beginning. We, as a business, could go even further, making even more voluntary changes that would benefit the company's bottom line and the environment. In fact, one such program that we could probably benefit from is called Six Sigma. Motorola invented this strategy for consistent business improvement back in the 1980's, and since then, other large, successful companies like GE and Honeywell have developed Six Sigma programs. It is really all about statistics-(I really, really wish I had taken more statistical studies in college). The Greek letter sigma, "σ" or "Σ", is equivalent to our "s" or "S". Sigma is the mathematical sign for standard deviations and there is a mathematical model that states that if there are six standard deviations between the process mean(the average in a data set) and the nearest specification limit, practically no items will fail to meet specifications. It is a process, and if your business operates within the process, then you will make less errors, 3.4 errors per one million opportunities, to be exact. In other words, if you put a system like this in place, and you make a million products a year, you can expect less than 4 product issues as a result of production or business error per million units. It is actually pretty interesting how far math can take you these days. Who knew that statistics would ever be so important in something other than baseball? ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma
http://www.ge.com/en/company/companyinfo/quality/whatis.htm

It is an insane world. I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but it sure is nice to work for a company that morally and ethically tries to do what is right. They get it. In a world where no one can agree on the cause of global warming, whether or not it exists, and what should be done about it, if anything, I have found an oasis of green common sense in my workplace. It is refreshing. I only wish I hadn't wandered around in the desert for so long.

Saami and Suomi

After a long absence from this space, I return with a bit of heritage. The Sami, or Saami are the indigenous people of northern Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Russia. You may have heard them called Lapps, from Lapland, but Saami consider the term Lapp derogatory, much in the way that the Inuit don't like the term Eskimo. The Saami are mostly nomadic or semi-nomadic reindeer herders, but there are some tribes who primarily fish or farm instead of herd. My grandfather was from a fishing village, and although I am not exactly sure of the location, I believe it was in the vicinity of Lake Inari, north of the Arctic Circle. My father just pointed to the area north of Rovaniemi and Kemi, Finland, and said that his family was from 'there'. Lake Inarijarvi is the body of water in northernmost Finland, up near the Arctic Ocean and the border with Norway and Russia.

Saami are not ethnically Finnish, but they are distantly related based on their language. The Finno-Ugric languages form a subfamily of the Uralic languages. Other closely related Ugric languages include Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian. Unlike most of the languages spoken in Europe, the Finno-Ugric languages are not part of the Indo-European family of languages, that is, they do not stem from Latin nor are they Germanic.

In the Old Norse language, Fenn and Finn are terms for Saami, but after the 19th century it was transferred simply to mean someone who lives in Finland and not specifically of the Saami people. 'Suomi' is still the Finnish name for Finland, and the word 'suomilainen' means Finnish.
Both words stem from the word Saami. There is a lot of confusion about the origin of the Finnish people, both Saami and non-Saami. New theories are proposed every year. Legend says that the khans of Mongolia chased these (Finnic) peoples across Russia until they reached the northern shores of Scandinavia. This happened over centuries, and the Fenns chose flight instead of fight. I once read that the word 'Fen' meant 'runner', but I can't recall where I read that. Anyway, when they could run no further, they fought fiercely and turned back the horde.
I've always liked that story.

The Saami seemingly share certain physical traits, like Mongoloid eye-shape, with other indigenous peoples of northern Asia. Modern theories of origin suggest that this is just chance, and that the facial features in common, such as high cheekbones, are more from cultural similarities than genetics. Europeans, who have a longer history or farming, have lost the high cheekbones necessary to support the musculature of those who eat a lot of meat. Many Saami are dark complected, but there are also fair-skinned blonds. The same is true of ethnic Finns. This phenotype variation further complicates the mystery of the origin of these people. In addition to evidence that these people came across the steppes of Russia, there is also evidence that the Saami and or Fenns have inhabited the Sapmi(Scandinavia to include all of Finland) since the last ice age.

I've included a few turn of the century Saami I found on the web, along with modern Saami. Since they were traditionally nomadic, their shelters were temporary, often tipis from animal skins or huts of stones and earth, as shown. I don't really look like any of these people(except for maybe the little girl second from the right in the front row back when I was 5 years old), but I consider myself of Saami heritage. If you don't know what I look like, then perhaps you have seen Renee Zellweger. She, too, is of Saami heritage. We both have those slanty eyes and round, high cheekbones and dirty blond hair. I'd rather look like Pamela Anderson or Christine Lahti (both Finnish, but not Saami),but, alas, Renee and I are distant cousins. I loved her in Cold Mountain, but I digress. For the record, speaking of celebs, Matt Damon is also Finnish.

I know you guys are rolling on the floor laughing at the traditional garb. That's okay. For a good chortle, zoom in on the shoes of the children. Now, you will understand why small Christmas elves are depicted with pointy shoes. Santa Claus is Saami, by the way, with his rosy cheeks, felt cap, reindeer, etc. I kid you not...now you know. The North Pole really is in the Land of the Midnight Sun.

Anyway, genetic and language studies are rather inconclusive as to proof of the actual origin, but what is known is that the Saami are not related to other Europeans, so perhaps we do hail from the Urheimat. "Urheimat" is supposedly the homeland or origin of the language. The exact location of the Urheimat is unknown and disputed. Big surprise there, huh? Some believed it to be to the just west of the Ural mountains in central Russia, some 5000 years ago. There is evidence that before Slavic tribes lived in Russia, a sprinkling of Finno-Ugrians inhabited the whole territory from the Urals to the Baltic Sea. Other scientists place the Urheimat further south or in Siberia. My Sami grandfather told my father that his ancestors were from northwestern Siberia. I consider myself of Finnish and Saami ancestry, but technically, he emigrated from St. Petersburg Russia (Finland was a Grand Duchy of Russia at the time) and there is a good chance that some of my forebearers were Siberian, so I suppose I could be as much Russian as Finnish, ethnically speaking.

More later...and I couldn't resist the image of the Aurora Borealis over Lake Inari. It is magic, at least to me.

Ch..Ch..Ch..Ch..Changes

I survived my first week back in the workforce after a year of being at home. I did not have any real problem getting up for work(I know that surprises some of you!), but I am definitely feeling the job in my feet. I don't yet have a desk and have been mostly standing all week long. My computer came in Friday(it is a nice looking Dell), but without a desk or workspace, obviously I can't use it. I thought my foot was 100% healed after the surgery, but I have discovered otherwise. There wasn't too much walking to the job, and certainly no exertion, just standing.

The best part of the 'new job experience' is the people. My co-workers all seem competent and seem to have a good work ethic. I've seen no slackers, no idiots. That's a good thing as I can't stand to be the only one working while everyone else surfs the internet or plays games on their phone or makes personal phone calls, etc. That kind of stuff drives me crazy. It is a good group of folks to work with, and I think that can make or break any job. Even if you love your job, if you can't stand the ones you work with, you can be miserable.

This past week, I've been 'training' with the QC guy. Instead of filling a position, I'll be carving out a niche for myself in the lab. I'll start with taking over some of the more mundane tasks, clerical minutia, that are weighing down the other chemists-things like recording spec data and filing certificates, MSDS sheets, etc. I'll fill in for the QC guy and probably perform some testing for the R&D guys. I'll probably do more bench work as I gain more experience, but for now, I'm
just learning the products and their applications and specs. There are probably 65 or 70 formulas or more, many sold under more than one label, so it can be confusing. In addition, I'm not familiar with many of the raw materials, so there is a LOT to learn before I start mixing anything! I'm still not sure whether or not I will be working more in QC or in R&D, but there is always the possibility of doing both. The company is growing and I'll have options. It is SO much better than the last place I worked. They are like night and day.

On the homefront, I did not make it into the garden at all this past week, so this morning I had lots of beans and okra to pick and process. I got almost two gallons of beans, which isn't bad considering the fact that it is October. I made some fresh guacamole with the few tomatoes I picked, and sliced and froze the okra for frying later. I did take about 20 of the smallest pods and tossed them into a pickle jar. I had a hankering for pickled okra, but since the fridge is already full, I did not want to open a new jar. I had a jar of pickles that only had a few pickles in the brine, so I tossed the okra, some cayenne peppers and some garlic into the jar, shook it, and tomorrow I'll start snacking on the okra. In three weeks, I go back to get my cholesterol checked, and okra is a wonder food for lowering cholesterol. I'll eat a lot of it in the coming weeks. Tomorrow, I'll can a small jar of Anaheims and Poblanos for use in burritos or beans, and I have a 9 cubic foot wheelbarrow full of peanut vines to process. I'll remove the peanuts from the vine, brush off the dirt, and allow them to dry a few more days in the house. They have been in the wheelbarrow on the porch, which isn't ideal for drying and curing, but with the rain last week, it was the best I could do. I did not want to lose my peanut crop to mice, rats, or squirrels.

Skyguy spent the day bleaching and pressure washing the deck and the front of the house. He'll probably spend the better part of tomorrow finishing the job. We were going to try to wait until Spring to replace the kitchen window, but I'm afraid it won't last through the winter and I really think we need to replace it now. I think we can get energy credits if we do it before November, too. First is the pressure washing, then the window replacement, then the house gets a new paint job. Next weekend we have a 5 year NWGAA anniversary event here at the farm, and I really did not want our guests to wonder if the algea would attack them while they ate. The house and deck face north, and with all the rain this year, everything is green and slimy. The deck was a safety hazard.

Thursday, Skyguy and I celebrated (and I use that term loosely) 25 years of marriage. We had plans to eat out, but that night we were both tired and decided to just go home and have a normal evening. After all, it was 'Survivor' night, and we had to watch evil Russell scheme and plot his way to through the game. We decided that we would celebrate on Friday and would rent our 'Jacuzzi room' at the Hampton Inn. We started doing that years ago when we did not have TV and had limited water supply. It was nice to take a hot shower of unlimited length, enjoy heat without loading a log into the stove, lounge around in the Jacuzzi, and watch TV, hopefully some boxing or ultimate fighting or maybe a Formula One race. We would try to do that once a year, at least, just to relax and enjoy things that most folks take for granted. Even though we now have satellite TV and a new well so we don't run out of water, we still like to go to "our room"at the Hampton. So on Friday after work, we grabbed dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and went to the hotel to check in. As it turns out, 'our' room is no longer there. Apparently the hotel removed the jacuzzi due to a leak, and now the only room with a jacuzzi is actually a room where the whirlpool is in the bathroom and you can't watch television from the bathroom. It was disappointing, the end of a tradition, but we rightly decided not to waste money on that anymore, so we stopped by Home Depot and drove home where we were greeted by a couple of very happy dogs. I spent a few hours last night looking for another 'Jacuzzi room', and I did find a hotel in Dalton, but I just don't know. It is so tempting to just take the credit card and just buy a damned hot tub for the deck. With that, I never need to leave home. I have dreamed about that for close to twenty years now.

Vitamin D and me

I've written before that I thought I was Vitamin D deficient. There were a few symptoms that I had, but nothing too serious, or so I thought. On my own, I started taking fish oil, then switched to cold liver oil because it contained more Vitamin D. I've always craved oily fish and chicken livers and eggs and other foods that are notoriously high in Vitamin D. I eat plenty of dairy and milk, too.

Back in July, I wrote about Vitamin D on my blog. (July 17) It was around that time that I decided to start a trial of taking Vit. D supplements in the form of Cod Liver oil. This page gives a quick overview:

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp

I did some reading and discovered that there is quite a controversy over the RDA for Vitamin D. We need more as we get older. The relationship between Vitamin D, cholesterol, and the melanin pigment in our skin is important to understand. Basically, the short story is that the sun's UVB rays turn cholesterol into Vitamin D. Fair skinned people like me whose ancestors are from the far north have very little melanin to block UVB, because north of the Arctic Circle, there is very little UVB making it to the ground and our bodies don't need to block it. However, here in the US, I have the possibility of more sun, more UVB than Finland, and yet I still don't have the melanin to protect me. Because I am so fair, I don't get enough exposure year around to produce enough Vitamin D from my cholesterol.

So anyway, I started taking about 1500 IU's of cod liver oil a day as well as a multivitamin with an additional 400 IU's, and after a few weeks, I could swear that I felt a bit less achy from my arthritis pain. I seemed to have more energy and was more able to think clearly. About that time, I had an appointment with my rheumatologist and I told her of my suspicion that I was Vitamin D deficient. She ordered a test, as well as a test for bone density since I had had a stress fracture a few months prior. The other problem I've had for a few months is gum inflammation. I had my teeth cleaned in March and in early April, my gums started to bleed. There was a lot of blood, not just pink in the sink. I increased my brushing time, rinsed with fluoride washes and tried all kinds of stuff, but still, my gums were bleeding at the drop of a hat. I could also tell that they were receding a bit around my bridge. Things seemed to be changing fast, yet I had no pain or tenderness. I went to the dentist, but he had no answer other than it could be Vitamin D related but usually gum bleeding was gingivitis related. Well, as it turned out, the bloodwork revealed that I was indeed Vitamin D deficient. Very much so, even though I had been taking the Cod Liver Oil. Normal was 31-100 and my result was 14. Some docs think 'normal' should be 20, I've learned, but even with that I was deficient. My first thought was no wonder my arms feel like they are about to break when I do something like unload the washing machine! No wonder the dentist is telling me that I have bone loss and gum inflammation! So, my rheumatologist prescribed a Vitamin D supplement that I take once a week. It is a little blue gel pill of 50,000 IU of Vitamin D. WOW! The RDA is 400 IU and daily supplements are usually up to 2000 IU a day.

I have now taken two of them, the most recent being on Wednesday. Yesterday, Thursday, for the first time since April, my gums did not bleed when I brushed my teeth. Not a speck of blood, when just a few days ago I had to rinse 5 or 6 times just to not taste the blood anymore. Better yet, in the last week, I have had less arthritic issues, less overall aches and pains, and I seem to be more optimistic and more focused in my thinking. I'm now looking forward to seeing how good I will feel in a few months. The best part of this...these little Vitamin D pills were only $6 for a month's supply, 4 pills.

I'm hoping that I will at least be able to reduce my NSAIDS and pain meds, and hopefully, hopefully, I will be one of the lucky ones who might be 'healed' to the point that I would not need expensive biologics like Enbrel that are ruining my liver over time and increasing my chance of getting lymphoma.(I have something like a 40x higher chance of getting lymphoma that those who do not take Enbrel) This morning, I found this UK article, which supports the notion that RA might be curable after all.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-508283/Could-vitamin-D-really-cure-arthritis.html

This article makes a lot of sense as to why elimination diets might work for some and not for others. It mentions alkaline diets where you reduce acid foods, too. Dieting could even work for a while and then not work again. If you are Vitamin D deficient, anything can happen.

I can't believe that this might have been the precipitating factor for a lot of my health issues, for a long time, too. And it seems to have such a simple, and inexpensive solution. I've tried turmeric and milk thistle and other supplements and herbs but the biggest difference in pain relief and general well-being has been with Vitamin D supplementation.

Last year, I went to the ER with a kidney stone. I'd never even had a kidney infection or a bladder infection, and out of the blue I get a kidney stone. Well, I read that Vitamin D deficiency can cause "increased excretion of calcium from renal tubules". If you are going to the doc for bloodwork anyway, get them to check your Vitamin D levels. You might be surprised. It might keep you from getting cancer or even from getting the flu or other viruses.

This page lists some risk groups(including vegetarians) and talks about how certain meds can affect your Vitamin D levels.

http://www.the-vitamin-and-supplement-guide.com/vitaminDdeficiencysymptoms.html

I hope everyone takes a few minutes to read these articles. It just might save your life or prevent you from having osteoporosis or other bone issues later in life.

To Living Life to the Fullest

Thirteen years ago or so, when we lived in the Atlanta suburbs, Jeff C.
entered our lives and we've never been the same. Jeff was a friend and
co-worker of Skyguy's older brother, who is a monk now, but who used
to work for Clyde Beatty Cole Brothers Circus with Jeff. They did
various things, but mostly worked in marketing and advance promotions, traveling from town to town ahead of the circus. Long after Brother Dave left CBCBC, Jeff continued on, and we remained friends with him. He would try to get us into the circus for free when the kids were little. My kids have ridden on elephants and petted ligers and had other really wonderful backstage circus experiences. Once, he not only took our family to Augusta, he took my best friend and her husband as well and put us all up in a really nice hotel. That was the kindness we loved in Jeff, the more the merrier, and the words 'more' and 'merry' definitely described him. Jeff weighed well over 300 pounds and was always the life of any party. He loved to describe himself as a flaming queen. Yes, Jeff was as gay as gay could be, and if you look up homosexual in the dictionary, his picture should be there. As I type this, I hear his voice saying " tell them this, or tell them that-you really should capitalize 'flaming' "... he was quite a character and would love the fact that I am writing this story.

Whenever Jeff would come through town, he would usually take us out to eat in a really nice restaurant. He was of Spanish heritage and he delighted in teaching us about real Spanish cuisine. Once, Jeff came to visit, and instead of taking us to dinner, he decided that he wanted to cook an authentic dinner. He went to Harry's Farmer's Market and came back with enough groceries to feed an army. As he started cooking, he realized that we would have more food than the 5 of us could eat. While he was making the sangria-real sangria, he told me to call some friends over for an impromptu party. He kept cooking and I kept calling the neighbors. We lived in a pretty diverse neighborhood, but even as open minded as people were, watching people meet and get to know Jeff was always entertaining. He had a unique way of making people like him, even the most homophobic individuals. As it turned out, half the neighborhood had dinner with us, and Jeff was the life of the party. The food was great, but the Sangria...oh my god...it was divine. The neighbors got drunk and Skyguy had to walk a few of them home. One guy passed out on our sofa. That Sangria was so good that you would not even know it was alcoholic, until you woke up the next day with a banging sugar hangover. Amazingly, we had some left over, and Jeff suggested that I bottle it and we could open the bottle in two weeks when he came back through town on his way back North. I found one of those fish shaped wine bottles, poured the sangria in-straining out the slices of fruit-and corked the bottle. Jeff left the next day and told us that he would call us in two weeks.

We did not make any plans, nor did a couple of neighbors as they wanted to come by and just hang out with him. He was just so interesting and always had a million stories to tell. You would laugh until you cried. Two weeks went by, and there was no call. Three weeks came and went. We had not heard from Jeff. Finally, on the fourth week, Skyguy's brother called and told us that Jeff had been killed in a car accident on the weekend when he was supposed to be on his way to our house. He was so physically large that he was crushed upon impact with another car and the steering wheel impact caused cardiac failure. The world lost a very special person that day.

So, in honor of Jeff, I've kept that bottle of Sangria all this time. I recall that when we poured it up he made a joke that it would be good in 100 years. I don't have a good place to store the bottle here, and I don't think Jeff would want me to keep it the way I have done. I'm afraid someone will come along, not knowing the bottle's history, and uncork it to see what it is. He would want me to open it, invite some friends over, and have fun. The question is, is it still good? Part of me wants to keep the fish bottle intact, but part of me wants that Sangria. If I knew that the Sangria was vinegar instead of wine, I might keep it in the bottle, but just thinking about how good that
Sangria was, and just knowing how much love Jeff put in it....I want to make a final toast to Jeff.

So I open this dilemma to a vote among those of you who read my blog. Let me know what you think I should do. To the best of my memory, this was made with 7 up, grain alcohol, red wine, rum, sugar, and lots of fruit. I remember lemons, oranges, peaches, and kiwi, and it seems like there was more, but I've forgotten. It was very, very sweet, almost syrupy, and wonderfully smooth. What would you do-open a 13 year old bottle and toast to Jeff, or find a place to store the bottle and keep it in his honor?

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Back to Work I Go

It is a done deal. I start back to work on October 1st at XL Brands as their 'Lab Coordinator'. XL makes carpet and flooring adhesives and installation systems. The people seem to be very nice, and it looks to be a well run operation. The lab is much nicer and cleaner than the last place I worked. My working hours are normal daytime working hours with no shift work and no weekends. The company is quite a ways from my house, almost 45 minutes away on the south side of Dalton, but I'm hoping that Skyguy and I can carpool some to take the edge off the gasoline bill. I don't trust gasoline prices to stay low.

XL Brands is a division of Textile Rubber and Chemical Corporation, a global chemical and manufacturing company that is headquartered right up the road in Dalton. The following quote comes from their website: "XL Brands leads the industry with environmentally-safe flooring installation products. We have introduced industry first products that are SCS Certified, (Scientific Certification Systems), and contain PCC, (Post Consumer Content). XL Brands adhesives also care the CRI Green Label Plus seal for indoor air quality." It is so rare to find an adhesives company that is environmentally conscious. That's important to me.

I feel very fortunate and honored. There are so many people out there who are pounding the pavement looking for a good job. I was not looking, and had given up on working again. It is a crazy world and I definitely feel guilty because I know so many people are desperately looking for work. While I had first interviewed with this company over a year ago, nothing became of that and I had written it off as a lost opportunity. Then in July, out of the blue, they called, and I went in for another interview. There have been a couple of other meetings over the last month or so, culminating in yesterday's job offer. I have yet to fill out a job application. It is odd how life can twist and turn. You just never know what might be around the corner.

This will allow us to hopefully pay off debt and complete some projects that have been sitting on the back burner. We will be able to regrade the driveway and fix the ruts; we will be able to replace the bay window in the kitchen before it falls out; we will be able to add insulation to the attic. If President Obama goes through with his Dollars for Dishwashers plan, or whatever he ends up calling it, we might actually be able to afford a new refrigerator this year! Woot! Mostly though , having an additional income takes stress off Skyguy as he changes careers. Money makes him happy. I'm generally not materialistic at all, but I have wanted a jacuzzi for the last 20 years, and I might finally get one. I think I deserve it.

Heal Thyself

I am back from the brink of Viral Hell and I refuse to worship the Porcelain God ever again. :) I am healed.

Last Saturday at lunch, quite suddenly, just after I blogged/bragged about my mullein oil cure in fact, I got a headache and felt nauseous. I went outside to try to throw up, but could not. Thinking that I just needed to eat lunch, I went and got some soup from the pantry, and as I reentered the kitchen with the soup, I passed out cold in the floor. Apparently it was the sudden onset of a gastrointestinal virus and I passed out from a fever spike. It's never happened to me before that I can recall, but I have no idea of why I passed out. I did not even see it coming; it was as if someone clobbered me with a wrench: Lights out. Some time went by, I climbed into bed and just laid there. Late that afternoon when Skyguy came home, he took my temperature and it was 103, which is super high for me since my normal is 96.7(thyroid issues). I was really sick for a while. The GI distress started on Sunday morning with diarrhea, but by this time, my temperature had dropped to 99 and hovered between 99 and 100 all week until last night, when it rose to 101. Yesterday morning I decided to called the doctor to make an appointment. They told me that this GI flu is going around and they have one patient who has been fighting it for 16 days. The nurse I spoke with shared that she personally had this wicked virus for 7 days, but did not feel 'well' for two additional weeks. They just told me to stay hydrated-no visit needed. So there I was on Day 5 of a beastly illness with no end in sight. The headaches, fever, and body aches were relentless, as is typical with the flu. I lost 15 pounds and because of the infection I could not take my RA meds for the second week in a row. It was frustrating because I have so much to do, including two doctors appointments and a formal job offer luncheon to attend. The thought of possibly being sick next week was not only depressing, but I knew that would mean missing a third week of my RA meds, and that is a serious thing. Desperate times call for desperate actions.

What kind of medicine woman would I be if I didn't take my own meds, right? To be honest, I was so sick Saturday through Tuesday that I did not even think about anything, let alone meds. After all, I've been brainwashed that the only drugs for flu are Tamiflu and a perhaps a few others that should be taken in the first 48 hours of illness. So it wasn't until my best friend Ava, in a phone call, reminded me that I had just made an elixir for this very illness and I should take it. Recall my blog post from last week where Ava and I canned all day and made and Elderberry Elixir. It looks red in the picture, but it is purple in reality, so much so that it looks like grape juice. So Wednesday morning, with a fever of 99.8, after I hung up from the doctor, I found an eyedropper and dipped into the elixir. It took some serious guts as you must remember that this Elixir is brandy based, and brandy is not exactly what one thinks of five days into a gastrointestinal virus at ten in the morning on an empty stomach. It was akin to the old 'hair of the dog' cure, but I held it down. Two hours later, my fever rose to 100.3, and I took another dose. I took about half a teaspoon of this Elixir every two hours or so, and throughout the afternoon and evening my temperature crept up, but I actually felt better. I did not feel like I had a fever of 101, I felt almost normal last night. It was very, very odd. This morning was Day 6 of the virus and my temp was 97 degrees when I woke up. I got up, poured a cup of Joe, and kissed that pint jar of Elixir next to the coffee pot. I am cured. All day long I've had no fever and no GI symptoms. My temperature has been hovering between 97 and 98, which is still above normal for me, so I have continued the elixir regime, but I feel great.

The short story is that I, the sickly one, the one with a weakened immune system, the one who usually keeps a 24 hour bug for a week, kicked ass on a wickedly evil 7-16 day GI virus. How did that happen?

It happened because of elderberries and the magic of everyday, easily accessible medicines, knowledgebases that are almost lost, but that thankfully, a few souls like Kiva are preserving. I feel such a kinship with this woman; I should hope to have her knowledge if only in my dreams. She is my new hero. I wrote to thank her as I like giving credit where credit is due.
http://bearmedicineherbals.com/

Mullein Magic

I went swimming a few weeks ago, and know exactly when water entered my ear. I felt it and knew immediately, from past experiences, that it would mean trouble if I couldn't get it out. Of course, I came home and doused vinegar in my ear, and thought it would be okay. Last week, my ear started hurting, and I recognized the problem as otitis externa, i.e. an external ear infection. I've had them plenty of times before, about half of the time it starts with allergies, not water, but what happens is that bacteria thrive on the extra moisture in the ear, and I think some people, and some ears, just have a susceptibility to becoming infected. My left ear is almost always the one that gets infected. I hate swimmer's ear.

So for the last few days, I've been trying all sorts of home remedies, as usual. Olive oil is usually what brings relief, but since I've made some infused oils and elixirs this week, I thought I would experiment to see what I could concoct that might help. I read that mullein flowers can be used to infuse an oil, and then I read that the leaves would also work to soothe an earache. I had leaves, but no flowers. So in a small glass, I crushed some dried mullein, about a tablespoon full, and sprinkled a bit of garlic powder on it. I added olive oil, heated it, stirred it, and then coated the inside of my ear with it. Within a few minutes, I got relief, more than just relief from the oil alone. I inserted a cotton ball and went to bed. This morning, I have no pain whatsoever from the infection. My jaw is not sore or swollen; I can touch and press on any part of my ear without pain. The key ingredient is either the mullein or the garlic, and my bet is on the mullein, because it has astringent properties and soothing properties. The garlic may have killed the bacteria, but the mullein probably dried up the fluids that caused the swelling and pain.

I just wanted to share another of my WOW moments with you.

Confucius and Lao Tse

A while back, my son asked me about religions, and I looked around the web and sent him a few links on various things. We in the West consider Buddhism as a religion, but it is more of a lifestyle than a religion, and in fact, someone can be a Christian AND a Buddhist, or a Muslim and a Buddhist, or an atheist and a Buddhist, etc.
Here in the South, there are a lot of misconceptions about religions other than Christianity. For that matter, there are a lot of misconceptions about Christianity. Most folks can't even list the types of Christians, and no, I don't mean denominations, I mean the three types of Christianity: Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant. So over the next month or so, I intend to write micro-primers on some of the world's religions. It will be in no particular order.

Confucianism

Confucianism began about 500 BC. K'ung Fu Tzu, better known in the West as Confucius, was born in 551 BC in China. Siddhartha the Buddha had just died, Darius was King of Persia, and all those famous Greeks like Pythagorus and Herodotus were doing an awful lot of thinking back in Greece. Confucius traveled China advising rulers and teaching. He dealt with individual morality and ethics, as well as the proper exercise of political power. He was the original supporter of what we call 'family values'. He emphasized: LI: ritual, propriety, and etiquette HSIAO: love among family members YI: righteousness XIN: honesty and trustworthiness JEN: benevolence towards others, which is the highest virtue and CHUNG: loyalty to the state, etc.

Confucianism is primarily an ethical system with rituals at important times during life, such as birth, reaching maturity, marriage, and death.

For more information, you can read Analects of Confucius
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=Q65fgetAJM&isbn=0486284840&itm=1

Or read the Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius

Taoism

Taoism was founded by Lao-Tse, who lived at the same time as Confucius. Taoism began as a combination of psychology and philosophy. Lao-Tse tried to end feudal warfare and other conflicts of his day. His writings, the Tao-te-Ching (which means Classic of the Way and Virtue), describe the nature of life, the way to peace and how a ruler should lead his life. Nine hundred years later, in 440 CE, Taoism was adopted as a state religion.

Tao, roughly translated as path or the way, is a force which flows through all life and is the first cause of everything. The goal of everyone is to become one with the Tao. Tai Chi, a technique of exercise using slow deliberate movements, is used to balance the flow of energy or "chi" within the body. People should develop virtue and seek compassion, moderation and humility. One should plan all action in advance and achieve goals through minimal action. Yin (dark side) and Yang (light side) symbolize pairs of opposites which are seen through the universe, such as good and evil, light and dark, male and female. The impact of human civilization upsets the balance of Yin and Yang in nature. Taoists believe that people are by nature, good, and that one should be kind to others simply because such treatment will probably be reciprocated. In my opinion, I'd bet that George Lucas borrowed heavily from Taoist ideas when he wrote about the Force.

Over the years, other philosophies and ideologies have merged or become part of Taoism, things such as ancestor worship, qigong, feng shui, various martial arts styles, and even what the west calls Chinese medicine has all melded to some degree with Taoist thought.

There are Ten Precepts of Taoism which are of note:

1. Do not kill but always be mindful of the host of living beings.
2. Do not be lascivious or think depraved thoughts.
3. Do not steal or receive unrighteous wealth.
4. Do not cheat or misrepresent good and evil.
5. Do not get intoxicated but always think of pure conduct.
6. Maintain harmony with ancestors, family and never disregard kin.
7. If I witness a good deed, I will support that with joy and delight.
8. If I see someone unfortunate, I will help him recover with dignity .
9. When someone harms me, I will not harbor thoughts of revenge.
10. As long as all beings have not attained the Tao, I will not expect to do so myself.

You can learn more here:
http://english.siutao.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism

Taoism and Confucianism are often seen as being closely related. Lao-Tse may have been Confucius' teacher, and Tse's book may have evolved from idea's expressed by Confucius. These two men who lived 2500 years ago have been greatly influential in Chinese history and culture, and increasingly in Western culture and thinking.

For Eleanor Bell

Thirty three years ago today, my birthmother and her husband died in a flash flood in Colorado. The flood made the national news, and several documentaries have resulted from the tragedy. Meteorologists have learned a lot from this particular flood, and if there is a silver lining to the dark cloud that killed so many, perhaps the lessons learned have saved others. River gauges that transmit data via satellite offer real time warnings today, you may have even seen one before-they are fairly common along riverbanks. Many lives have been saved by the advanced warning of flood conditions that these gauges provide and it is a direct result of the Big Thompson Canyon disaster on July 31, 1976. About 145 people died in the flood, which swept through the canyon without warning, turning an ankle deep creek into a 20 foot wall of water and debris.

My birthmother died instantly. Her body was found weeks later miles downstream. I was 15 at the time, living with my adoptive family. I had no knowledge of this event or the implication it would hold for my future. I found out about this when I found my birthfamily in 1989. My brother's wife, from my birthfamily, was kind enough to take me to the site where my mother was found and up through the canyon to her old homeplace in Drake. My brother was in the Navy in CT at the time and flew back to Colorado to help in the search and to support his sister. My sister on the very day of the flood, had given birth to her son, the first grandson. My birthmother had been to the hospital to see Ben for the first time, and were on their way home when they died. For my sister, this day is extremely difficult and personal, as you might expect. She gained a son, but lost her parents.

It is my personal belief, based on radio transcripts and a timeline I created by survivor accounts, that Officer Hugh Purdy had stopped to help my birthmother and her husband when the road ahead of them was washed away. The radio transcripts reveal that he stopped to help a couple in a truck. Their truck was never found. I believe that the three of them died in the same moment, at the same place, just east of Drake. The canyon walls were steep there, and there was no where to go. There is a memorial in the canyon for the victims of the flood, and for Officer Purdy. If you are on your way up to Rocky Mountain National Park via Loveland and Estes Park, you will travel through Big Thompson Canyon. Perhaps you will find time to stop and remember those who died.

This page has a list of the dead:
http://www.idreamof.com/disaster/vic_btc.html

This page has a very nice flash media presentation of the flood:
http://www.coloradoan.com/news/thompson/

This page has a few stories and eyewitness accounts:
http://www.super70s.com/Super70s/Tech/Nature/Disasters/Floods/76July31-Big_Thompson.asp

Future Shock or Just Getting Old

Alvin Toffler, in Future Shock, predicted this would happen, but he didn't tell me that I would feel old and worry about having early onset Alzheimers. You see, I'm having trouble keeping up with technology. I know I am not alone, but I feel alone. At some point in life, I must have decided to turn my back on it and I just haven't kept up with things. For example, I have no clue what Blue Ray is, or what 3G or 4G means. I don't suppose I'll ever own a cell phone, um, Blackberry or iPhone. I've never texted anything, never received a text. I've never surfed the internet on anything but my desktop computer, never had a laptop even. Never had a Mac or an Apple...brother in law partitioned a drive for me and I had Linux at one time, but there just weren't any apps for it back then, so I went back to Windows. It takes more than 7 minutes for my Facebook home page to load, and I can't chat from it. Point is, even my experience on popular sites like Facebook is not what others experience. I can't watch video - no YouTube. I don't have a web cam for Skype. I'm really not even sure how that works, or if it would even work, connecting as slow as I do. No iPod, no Mp3 music or podcasts, never done it because of my connection speed. It is getting to the point where I almost can't get updates for the programs I have. These companies forget that dialup users have a hard time downloading a 15 meg update. I just got a Windows update. Even leaving the computer online all night long, it took all day yesterday and last night and this morning...24 hours..I have no idea of how large the update was, but whatever. 18 kbps download speed....Woohoo!

Long ago, I stopped looking at vehicles. I couldn't tell the difference between a Honda or Chevy. All the cars kind of look the same to me. People say, "I saw you on such and such road and waved-didn't you see me?" Of course, I don't look at other cars, just the road, so I never see anyone. I'm really nearsighted, which also plays a part in not noticing friends or family in oncoming cars. If I do make them out in passing, it is too late to wave, so people think I'm snobby or angry.

I'm out of it in more ways, too. Just for kicks, I googled the Billboard top 100 and top 50 singles. Out of 150 entries, I recognized 28 artists(some duplicated like the Black Eyed Peas) and two songs (Boom Boom Pow, Kiss A Girl). This poor showing from someone who used to know even the most obscure group on the top 100. When and how did this happen? I swore to myself when I was 15 that I would NEVER ignore pop music-that if nothing else, I would at least know the most popular artists and songs, the top 40, etc.

At my last job, I worked with this boy genius kid who knew more about Excel and spreadsheets in general than anyone I've ever known. Today's 20 something kids have been taught about these useful programs and software apps in school, whereas, my generation was forced to learn on our own. It is no wonder that people my age can't find a job. We are dinosaurs. I'm a chemist, but even the periodic table is different now than it was when I was in school. Experimental physics and polymer chemistry has changed everything in industry and manufacturing. When I was in school, polymer chemistry was a chapter or two in your Organic Chemistry class. Now, you can major in polymer chemistry.

I kept my granddaughter on a recent Saturday. I used to think that I would have a lot to offer her in the way of knowledge and wisdom. I did graduate college with a 3.94/4.0 GPA. I consider myself intelligent, and yet, I wonder if my knowledge will be relevant by the time Jordan is old enough to understand things. Will she appreciate Nature, or will she become a city girl who would rather be shopping at the local mall? Will she care about what I think if, in her eyes, I am old and irrelevant and not 'with it'? Already, my advice to my daughter concerning finances doesn't make sense as I write checks and keep paper records and she banks and pays bills electronically. Will Jordan even want to visit me here, where there are bugs and mosquitoes? What do I have to offer? Will she be so bored she hates the place when she can't get her Tweets or Texts?

In a homesteading, subsistence lifestyle, one doesn't have a need to watch anything on Blue Ray. One doesn't really even need television. It is optional. My field peas don't need a podcast, and I can hear the rooster at 4 in the morning just fine without 4G. Still, I wonder.

Future Shock was written in 1970, I believe, but it is very relevant today. It is worth reading if you have never read it, and worth a reread if it has been a while since you did. If you are like me, you have forgotten a lot.

Food in the Future

My new friend Dave has asked my opinion of the prediction of higher energy and food costs, possible shortages ahead, etc. All I can say is that I believe that to be true with every ounce of my being. I've long believed that we would see much hardship in my lifetime. I've tried to prepare by living simply, learning skills, and being frugal. I grow and preserve what I can, we hunt and fish, and we try to live close to the land. I've tried to learn about native plants and herbs in the event that medicines are scarce or non-available. For a while, I raised dairy goats and learned to make cheese and process milk. We've raised rabbits, pigs, goats, sheep and all manner of critters except cattle. Many people have asked why I don't sell my farm products, and the simple answer is that people will not pay enough to offset costs. I justify my own costs with the knowledge that I know what I am eating, how it was grown or raised, etc. I think I eat healthier than most people, even though I eat a fat-laden diet. I know that I am not poisoning myself with pesticides or herbicides.

The plight of farmers is all over the news. California may have happy cows, but the farmers are going out of business. Equipment costs, testing, transportation, and the cost of growing food for the cows all add up to drive the cost of a gallon of milk through the roof. Patented seed and chemicals have made Monsanto et. al. rich and left farmers poor. The rising price of oil and fuel has put a hurtin' on large agribusiness farmers who need specialized equipment to grow and harvest crops, and on the the truckers who transport the food to the processor and then on to grocery stores.

It is a no-brainer that we are headed for hard times. When I was born, the world population was about 3 billion, the US population was about 180 million, and the population of the county that I grew up in was 114,000. Today, world population is 6.6 billion+, US population is about 300 million+, and Cobb County has about 700,000 people. My local population increased five fold, and the world population doubled. By contrast, natural resources are diminishing, not growing. It is a train wreck that will have a gory outcome, and no one wants to think about it. To make matters worse, I believe there will be people, an elite class, that profit from the suffering of the general population. I believe that the decline has already begun. And no, I don't think it has much to do with politics or any particular politician. It is a global problem that no one is trying in earnest to solve. The only thing I can do is to try to reduce my dependence on utilities and purchased goods and live close to the vest. The Earth cannot afford too many of us living extravagantly, and far too many people in this country live above their means, which in the end will only increase their suffering. We have chosen a home away from city conveniences, a home that is modest and heated only by wood. Our water is from a well, and we protect the well because it is the life-blood of this land. Georgia and Tennessee are already battling over Georgia's claim to a spot on the Tennessee River, and that is child's play compared to western states' battles over water. I think, in my lifetime, we will see wars fought over water rights and development rights for production of electricity. Water rights are already a key issue in solving the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. It is a problem which will only get worse. Yeah, I believe that food shortages are coming.

Toivo

Today, July 24, is my father's birthday. I should say, my biological father. Just to avoid confusion, I should also say that I have a legal father who is deceased and whom I never met-that is my biological mother's husband, an adoptive father who is deceased and whom I was estranged from, and a stepfather who raised me and was my Daddy-there for me everyday. I did not meet my biological father until I was 29, twenty years ago. I had 17 years with him before he died, and I treasure that time. I'll dedicate this blog entry to him. The picture of us was taken in 1998, in Astoria Oregon where he lived.

Toivo Johannes K. was barely born in this country, a first generation American whose parents were both from Finland. In Finnish, Toivo means Hope, as he represented a great hope for the family's future in America. His father had left Finland in 1909 to avoid a second purge by the Czar Nicholas. Finland was part of Russia at the time, the the ruling czar was trying desperately to stamp out the communists. My grandfather was a communist, so he Finland left for North America. He met my grandmother who was also from Finland as they traveled through Canada before settling in the US. Toi spoke very little English as a child, and quit school at the age of 10 because he needed to help his family in the Great Depression and because he was struggling with the language. Toi worked for a dairy, and you guessed it, he was a milkman for over 50 years, with the exception of the time when he served in WWII. He served in the 132nd Infantry and the 164th Infantry of the Americal Division. Americal is short for Americans in New Caledonia. This division was the forerunner for the Marine Corp, but part of the Army at the time. http://www.americal.org/ambook.shtml

My father was an infantryman and driver who fought on Guadalcanal, Leyte, Bougainville, and other islands in the Northern Solomons in the campaign to liberate the Philippines. The picture at right was taken on the island of Bougainville. He received a Bronze Star for combat heroism-I never learned the story on that one, and a Bronze Service Arrowhead(Arrowheads are given for assault landings such as those at Normandy or in this case,Guadalcanal), as well as the usual Victory Medal, Asiatic Pacific Service Medal, etc. He was a good man, who loved my birthmother, loved her other children, and loved me unconditionally when he learned of my existence. He was a stubborn, Finnish, and had a drinking problem, not unlike others of his generation who served in WWII. In the short time that I knew him, he was very good to me.

He spent the latter part of his life working with other vets in the American Legion and VFW. He was a Legion Post Commander and even served as a the Secretary of the Legion in the State of Oregon at one time. Service was more than just a word to my father.

This N That

Monday I went to the doc to have my bandage changed, and while I had hoped to convince him to remove the sutures in my foot, I will have to wait another week. Note to self, work on powers of manipulation, cast magic manipulation spells, and perhaps sex up requests using the word 'please'. Yeah, that's the ticket.

While in Rome, we checked out the new Cycle Therapy bike store. They've moved to the center of town and are sponsoring a local Sprint Triathlon, the second annual Navigator Triathlon to support Cancer patients in our area . Kate and Jon have decided to attempt the triathalon in September, so it should be a lot of fun to watch. Skyguy might even try it. I can't because my foot won't be well enough to train in time for the event. This is an abbreviated competition consisting of a 500 meter swim, a 12 mile bike ride, and a 3.1 mile run.

http://www.navigatortriathlon.com/

It's being held at a nearby state park. We are already riding 12 miles over hilly terrain, so that would be the 'easy' part for us. Running would be the hardest leg, and these races are almost always won on the run. A good runner can make up for being a mediocre swimmer. Skyguy and I decided it would be a lot of fun to complete one of these things, but we would have to take it slow and train well, making sure not to overtrain and risk injury. Neither of us deals well with high impact activity like running, so it would be a risky venture, but don't you think it would be a cool thing for a couple of geezers like us to do? I do! Anyway, we went to the bike store to look at road bike tires and I noticed that they had all of their womens apparel half off. I'd been looking for a pair of riding shorts since before we went on vacation. They are padded, and wick moisture away from the body. The tight fit compresses muscles, reducing recovery time and bruising. I'd been looking at the various styles of riding shorts, but finding them in my size is daunting. I'm still overweight, and in case you had not noticed, most serious cyclists are rail thin. Usually I see Small and X-Small, maybe a Medium, but nothing designed by Omar the Tentmaker. However, I suppose it was my lucky day at Cycle Therapy as I found a skort in an XL that will be great for riding. (I'm 5'11 and 190#) It is a Shebeest Cycloskort like the one on this page:

http://www.bikesomewhere.com/bikesomewhere.cfm/product/391/3743/31592

Don't freak on the price...no way I could afford that, and I paid less than half of that price. Anyway, for a woman of my age and shape, I think this was a good choice in shorts. If I had to, I could swim in it as well. But for now, I can't ride or swim or run. I can do tai chi though. The doc said I could ride a stationary bike on Monday. Woot!

Tuesday, in addition to my David Carradine Tai Chi tape exercise 'workout', I clipped more herbs from the herb garden and hung them to dry. I harvested some more oregano and marjoram, as well as lemon balm and horehound. I also tore up and jarred up some mullein that was dry. After washing and hanging the clippings, I decided to make a cough syrup from the fresh horehound. I stripped the leaves and buds from the stems and put it in the food processor to chop it and bruise the leaves. I probably had 2 cups of crushed horehound leaves and 1/2 c of mullein leaves. Both are expectorants. Then, I added it to about a cup of lemon juice and a bit of water. I brought the concoction to a boil, then allowed it to steep for a few minutes. I separated the plant matter out by straining it, and then added 2 cups of locally produced honey to the 'tea'. When the time comes to use it, I'll probably doctor it up with cayenne pepper and garlic, too, depending on how I feel. Adding some dried lemon balm might make it taste better, too. Horehound is good for making cough drops, too, but I don't have a candy thermometer at present and I did not feel like standing at the stove all day. Mullein is a great herb that grows wild almost everywhere. Not only is is a good expectorant, but it is good for the respiratory system in general. It can be smoked in a pipe to counter asthma or pneumonia. Some companies use it in their herbal cigarettes, replacing tobacco.Its tall yellow flower spikes and fuzzy leaves make it easily visible on roadsides for wild collecting. These pages have a lot of good info on mullein, but they are by no means complete:

http://www.herbcraft.org/mullein.html
http://www.prodigalgardens.info/march%20weblog.htm

While I am no expert, I do consider myself somewhat of an herbalist. Additionally, while I would not characterize myself as a person of faith, I do believe that there is great wisdom in the Bible. I found this quote from Psalms: "He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man" Psalms 104:14a Pretty cool. I really like the Psalms. Another of my favorites is: "The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display His marvelous workmanship." (Ps. 19:1,2)

Yesterday, my friend Ava and I picked the last of the blackberries from Patch #1 on the mountain, and we both ended up getting chiggers for our trouble. New bites, and I still have sores from the last time I picked berries before my surgery. I did get enough berries for a cobbler or pie, but there is yet another patch, my Secret Patch, of blackberries to pick, and hopefully I can get another quart or two. It has been so dry lately that the yellow jackets are sucking the juice from the berries. I'll need to start picking blueberries soon before the wasps suck them dry, too.

Speaking of berries, I got about a quart of strawberries from my plants yesterday as well, and we enjoyed them mixed with some sugar and a few blueberries over angel food cake last night. Berry good!

I Survived

I survived my bunionette surgery (a bunionette is on the pinky toe whereas a bunion is on the big toe) and while it is only the second day, I can say this is the easiest surgery I have ever had. They gave me two Xanax, be even so, I was awake and conscious the whole time. I think taking RA meds has increased my tolerance for pain medication. I told the Doc while he was cutting on my foot that I've be drunker after two glasses of wine...lol...It did not hurt, but I could feel things, like the vibration from whatever kind of grinding tool that was and of course the numbing injections. Oh, and he let me keep the bony parts he removed. Part of it was ground off and lost, of course, but he even told me how I could permanently save it. (Bleach it, dry it, drill it, cord it for a necklace or charm...LOL. The largest chunk of bone is still rather small, about half an inch square, so probably a charm would work better than a necklace. I came home and slept about an hour and half-maybe the Xanax finally kicked in, then got up for dinner and to take a pain pill, which I did not feel that I needed, but was coerced into taking because the local anesthetic had not worn off. I can bear weight and all I need is a surgical shoe. It is a pain though because I can only be up for 5 minutes every 30 minutes and the rest of that time my foot has to be elevated. There are so many things I want to do and need to do that 5 minutes just isn't long enough. At bedtime, I took my normals meds and no Lorset/hydrocodone for pain. It really did not hurt that bad. However, I woke up at 4 am and felt it, so Skyguy went for the pills. It says to take it every 3 hours, but I just don't to be all doped up with a new puppy. He's very sweet, but has still bonded to Bear more than to Skyguy and I. I'm hoping to remedy that today by leaving Bear crated more and letting the boys outside to walk, poop, and play at different times. Bear still continues to amaze me with the abuse that Bingo dishes out. He will tolerate it, then finally, after 30 minutes or so of a seemingly endless barrage, Bear will snap and get serious, but then, a minute later, it is like he feels guilty to he initiates the play, and of course the cycle begins again. They do love each other, and Bingo had parked himself with Bear in Bear's crate a couple of times. Now, I make them both sit in front of the crates and say Bear Go Bear Crate, Bingo Go Bingo Crate. It is too cute.

At any rate, I have to be careful until my stitches come out in two weeks. I have 20 or so in 3 layers. 2 will dissolve on the inside, 9 in the middle layer, and 9 larger stitches on the outside. The incision is about 2 inches long. The good thing about being awake is that you can see what it looks like before the bandages go on! I'll get the bandages changed on Monday. It really hasn't been bad at all so far, but it is going to drive me crazy to stay off it and not exercise. I want to ride my bike so badly! But for now, we are all resting.

Sotomayor, Strike One for President Obama

It's been a while since I blogged about Obama and politics in general. I know most of my friends and readers just love the guy, so I try to hold my tongue, but every once in a while, I just have to talk about it. His recent nomination of Sotomayer to the Supreme Court requires discussion, a lot of discussion. First though, I thought I would see how my views aligned with the rest of the country. I took these latest poll results from Real Clear Politics:

President Obama Job Approval
Approve 60.5%
Disapprove 32.5%

Congressional Job Approval
Approve 35.7%
Disapprove 54.7%

Direction of Country
Right Direction 45.0%
Wrong Track 47.7%

I find it interesting that people support Obama, but not Congress. I wonder why that is? They are all the same party-all pushing the same agenda! In this case, Congress is the hand of the Presidency...he speaks, they 'make it so'!

Before I get to Sotomayor, I read a few days ago that the Obama administration and the Pentagon are now saying that troops will stay in Iraq for as long as ten more years, despite the agreement with Iraq that said all troops would be home by 2012. Of course, we all remember Obama's pledge on his trip to Iraq last summer-to bring the troops home in 16 months. That's what he told the troops-that they would be home in 16 months, in other words, by Christmas of 2009. If you cut him slack and start the 16 months from January, then the homecoming will be in April of 2010. Obama is still saying that combat forces will be home then, but that other troops might have to stay until 2012. I think this is a promise broken, but we will see. I'm not fond of his word games. "Troops" become 'combat forces', "new jobs" becomes 'saved jobs", etc. We now have 139000 soldiers in Iraq an 52000 in Afghanistan. Obama will send 21,000 more combat forces Afghanistan this year. In one breath, he says that he doesn't expect to send more to Afghanistan after that, yet in the other, he claims that's where the fight is, that Afghanistan is
more important than Iraq for troop victory. He also said he would close Guantanamo, but 5 months after that announcement, he is now backing up and reinstating some Bush Admin orders, contradicting his own executive orders issued right after the inauguration. Closing Camp X-ray at Guantanamo Bay was one goal in which I supported Barack Obama. I'm not sure what the answer is now, but surely we could figure out a way to maintain security and meter justice to those being held. The months tick by, and Camp X-Ray is still holding enemy combatants.

I read an AP article about Obama's plan to create jobs. The results are rather scary. This is a good example of politics affecting how quickly the economy recovers. The Associated Press reviewed 5,500 projects nationwide and found that the government will spend 50 percent more per person in areas with the lowest unemployment rates than in places with the highest. For example, The AP says Elk County, Pennsylvania, which has about 14 percent unemployment, is getting no money. But Riley County, Kansas, which has a jobless rate around 3.5 percent, will get $56 million to build a new highway. The reason is because Riley County already had a plan. The worst hit areas don't have the finances to set up projects in advance, so only the municipalities that have not been hit too hard and have projects ready for the bulldozer are getting funded. There is still a lot of pork in the system, but I'm sure it will all spin out looking rosy.

The Obama administration is spending money right and left. There is no way to know if the programs will be effective. Much of the spending seems to have nothing to do with economic stimulus or recovery, but it seems to have been on a Democratic Wish List for decades. However, I will say that Wall Street seems a bit more stable and I heard that housing sales are increasing, so perhaps he has at least stopped the panic over the economy. Much to my surprise and joy, he has reversed his position on raising taxes, and now has moderated his plan to basically sound like John McCain's. LOL! Who would have thunk it?

I think what has happened is that he was a bit naive in the beginning, thinking that is popularity would allow him to change everything. As he finds out that change isn't quite as simple as he thought, he has to back away from his initial promises(Guantanamo, taxes, new jobs, etc.). He's doing a lot of backtracking. In some ways, it is moderating action in a way that I actually approve of, but it is only a matter of time before he angers his adoring populace. One of the reasons I did not like Obama to begin with was that I thought him horribly naive, and yet people bought into that. His naivety extends to his foreign policy decisions, and in that arena, I think he is walking on thin ice and putting the country at some risk. I dislike Dick Cheney and never thought I would be agreeing with him, but I do think Obama is not showing the world that America is strong by his constant apologies and his lack of a firm stand on torture-the interrogation/waterboarding issue-I mean, is he or isn't he backing Pelosi? I fear that we will soon be tested in a way that we never have been before. If we appear weak, there will be enemies that will take advantage and test that weakness. I hope I am wrong, but I fear that I am not.

I'm about tired of the word 'historic'. Everything Obama does is historic. If race really did not matter in this country, the word historic would have been put to rest months ago. Now, he has announced that Hispanic Appellate Judge Sonia Sotomayor is his choice to replace Souter on the Supreme Court. He says she has 'empathy'. I am not sure I would call it that. In 2001 at the University of California at Berkeley, Sotomayor said “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” She doesn't think that a judge should try to rise above race and gender, and she is on the record that there should be more women and Latina judges. Sotomayor is a very well educated and qualified woman. Obama is right in that her story is definitely compelling. There is no doubt about that. What bothers me is that she is doing the very same thing that is criticized if a white person does it. I really think the effect will be a disservice to women and minorities of all backgrounds due to the backlash from her comments. If a Caucasian American judge, or even a African American judge, said that her own experiences would allow her to reach a better judicial conclusion that a white man or a Latino man or a Hispanic Woman or whoever, we'd call that bigotry and it would be condemned. If a White male judge said the same thing, that the richness of his experiences would allow him to reach a better conclusion than a Latina woman, we'd call that racism. Obama doesn't seem to call it bigotry or racism though. Instead, he paints it positively with the word "empathy" and that bothers me. It seems to me that to Sotomayor, gender and skin color are more important than intellect, experience, compassion and education. This is the exact opposite of the lessons we teach our children about equality for all. Maybe there should be more women judges. To remedy that, we don't need to appoint the unqualified, we need to encourage little girls to learn critical thinking and analysis, we need to encourage teens to become politically active and care about SCOTUS decisions, and we need to encourage young women to go to law school instead of getting master's degrees. We are making progress-it is certainly better now than when I was a kid, but we still have a ways to go. As the Hispanic and Latino populations grow, so will the number of judges representing those ethnic groups. When Sotomayor promotes her own gender or ethnicity in this way, talking about seats and positions that should be filled, she is saying that not only does ethnicity and gender make a difference, but she thinks it actually makes her better than other genders or ethnicities. In my opinion, that's wrong. If you think I am reading in too much, I challenge you to read some of her quotes. IMO, she clearly thinks that she, as a Latina, is better than a white man, not because of her education or experience, but because she is a Latina. The sad thing is that I believe she is qualified for the job and would probably serve justice well in spite of her bigotry. As a woman myself, I'm quite sure she has fought her way into this position and put up with a lot of abuse over the years. My hat is off to her for that. I also read that she may have trouble in the confirmation process due to her combativeness and emotional responses. I feel for her in that regard as well. I, too, become combative and emotional when on the defensive.

I got a call from the NRA about Sotomayor the other day. It seems that Obama’s nomination Sotomayor is being painted as a declaration of war against gun owners and the Second Amendment. You will recall that Washington DC banned all guns. Recently, there has been much debate as to whether or not the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, applies to states. The Bill of Rights was meant to limit the Federal government, not states or cities or other local governments. If a part of the Bill of Rights is part of the Fourteenth Amendment, then it would apply to the states. There are a couple of other judges who have made similar rulings, and in fact, the split is about 50/50 for those who think states have the power to ban guns vs. those who think that states do not have the power to ban guns. Judge Sotomayor thinks city or statewide gun bans are perfectly acceptable. President Obama has said that he has nothing against guns, however, soon he will be taxing ammunition and serializing it. If you fire a round at a tree, the powers that be will be able to determine what kind of round it is, who purchased it, when and where it was purchased, etc. The Second Amendment says nothing about ammo, does it? Gun owners, in their fear of the future, have created a ammunition shortage that has not eased in the last 8 months. If you need a job, try to find an ammunition factory, because they are working around the clock trying to keep up with demand. I can only hope that Sotomayor doesn't get approved, but I see nothing to stop her. Democrats are in control of Congress. That was my biggest beef as to voting Obama into office. The US Government operates on checks and balances. With Obama in office and a Democratic Congress, there are no checks and balances. With this appointment, the Supreme court will take a left turn as well.

If I sound a bit ambivalent, criticizing one moment and 'empathizing' another, well, I am. When I take various quizzes and such, I'm always labeled very conservative, way right of center. However, I don't think I am that far to the right. I do believe in personal responsibility and accountability and that usually registers as anti-entitlement which puts me right of center. But, I am not totally against entitlements. There are people who need disability and unemployment, but there is so much abuse and misuse in the system that it is distressing. I am definitely pro-choice, and I definitely believe there should be separation of church and state. I don't want to see the Ten Commandments hanging in the lobby of the courthouse, but if a judge wants to display them on the wall of his private chambers, I have no issue with that. I say all of this as a counter to the notion that I am a right wing nut job. I actually think I am rather moderate. I'm not a fan of Obama, but then, I wasn't a fan of Bush either. I believe that I have been very critical of every president since Reagan, and then I was more or less following his wave of popularity in the way that so many younger folks are cheering on Obama today. I just want everyone to take a hard look at what is really going on. Sometimes what we personally want or believe is not what would be best for this country. I may not agree with the decisions that left leaning Supreme Court Justices hand down, but I believe that those justices are needed in the Court. We have to have balance. We have to try to represent as many views as possible. It is by understanding and listening to a viewpoint different from our own that we grow as a nation and as human beings. I want fairness. I want my Justices not to necessarily agree with me, but to look at all sides and consider people as equals, because we are all equal. I'm afraid that Judge Sotomayor doesn't think we are all equal. I believe that she thinks that Latinas are superior, and that belief has no place in the SCOTUS. Of all people, our President should understand the dangers of bias based on ethnicity and gender.