Bats and Bees

The other night I was watching a PBS program about the American bat. An alarming number of bats are dying because of White Nose Syndrome (WNS). White fungus has been found growing on their muzzles and other parts of their bodies. They normally hibernate deep within the caves in winter to maintain a warm temperature but the bats infected with the white fungus hang closer to the entrance of the cave. They have low body weight and exhibit strange behavior. They are known to fly in the daytime during cold winter days when there aren't any insects to feed on or water to drink. Bats are nocturnal mammals that hibernate.

The fungus was first reportedly growing on bats in New York. The disease has since spread all the way south to Tennessee, and beyond. The fungus is killing huge populations of bats. 

You may not realize how important bats are to our ecosystem but they really are. Without bats to eat millions of insects during warm weather we would be more susceptible to diseases like malaria and typhoid. Bats eat mosquitoes, and moths, and other flying insects. For information on bats and how to build a bat house you can check out Benefits of Bats here.

This mysterious fungus is spreading across the United States. 

For years, we have heard about bee colony collapse disorder (CCD) spreading across the United States. Millions of bees just disappeared. It has been attributed to a loss or confusion of direction, or disease, or insecticides or herbicides. Bees are also being attacked by mites which weaken and kill off the hives. This new episode of lost colonies is just one more assault on nature's wonderful little pollinators and honey makers.

You probably think I am being overly melodramatic about bats and bees but every living creature in the ecosystem has a purpose. Without bees we wouldn't be able to pollinate enough of our crops and that would cause a food shortage. Without bats we would be eaten up by mosquitoes and it would become unbearable to work or play outdoors in warm weather.

I worry about the world in which we live and the destruction of this fragile cycle of life we depend on. 

DDT,  dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, was an efficient pesticide used to control malaria and typhus in World War II but was banned in 1972 after an environmentalist movement. It was devastating on the environment, particularly birds. Bald eagles were nearly extinct until the ban. Their eggs were so brittle that they couldn't survive because of the DDT. DDT was linked to cancer and diabetes in humans.

Nature seems to be turning on itself and destroying the very things we depend on to help and protect us.

Pine trees are infected with pine bark beetles across the south. We used to have plenty of pine trees on the hill behind our house and the ground was covered with pine needles. I loved the pine carpeting of the woods underneath the trees. The trees are infected with beetles. Now, Magnolia trees, hickory bushes (aka Chinese privet) and brambles are springing up underneath the pine trees that were there when we first came here. The pine trees are dying out and there aren't enough pine needles to cover the ground any more so other vegetation is taking over the undergrowth.

I don't know how to help the bees and bats and prevent the pine bore beetle but I hope we can figure something out or else we will all be in trouble. Instead of using chemicals we need to utilize nature's help.

Other diseases are infecting plants across America. One is attacking azaleas and other woody plants and trees in our environment. It is called Sudden Oak Disease (SOD). It can kill oak trees, rhododendrons, and many more indigenous plants. I'm beginning to believe Mother Nature is out of whack.

I've also noticed there aren't near as many lightning bugs as there were when I was a kid. They're disappearing too. When the plant life, and the insects, and mammals start disappearing you know we're in danger.

We depend on this planet to sustain us and provide for us. We are nature's gardeners. We need to take better care of earth. She's all we've got.

An article was posted on the Rome News Tribune on March 12, 2013. Deadly to Bats Confirmed in Northwest Georgia

I found this in Salon on May 1, 2013.  How Neglecting Bees Could Endanger Humans

White Nose Syndrome Cure*
http://news.discovery.com/animals/common-bacterium-cures-bats-white-nose-syndrome-150515.htm


orig. 10/13/11 
*edited 5/16/15

AS ALWAYS

PIO

Fall is Here

Loofah plant

Birdhhouse goards

(Double Bubble) goard *

Loofah plants

Drying peppers

Elaeagnus aka 'Silverleaf' or 'Ugly Agnes'

Tiny white flowers

It has a sweet aroma

Turnip green garden for fall

I'm glad that Donny planted some turnip greens for a fall garden. We love eating greens so our little garden will be a pleasant addition to our food supply.


I have been drying peppers in my dehydrator. After they dry I put them in a bag until I get enough to crush in my food processor. We use the red peppers on our spaghetti and in chili and soups. This year I am drying red bell peppers and going to mix it with the cayanne and banana peppers. 


I wanted to show off our Elaeagnus bush. When you flip the leaves over it is silver underneath. Tiny flowers are all over the bush. The smell is heavenly.


* I made that up

AS ALWAYS

PIO

SEX

WARNING: THIS POST IS NOT FOR EVERYONE

Recently I have become aware of a couple of things that I had never thought about or considered before. If you are squeamish and want to avoid anything disgusting or shocking, stop reading now.

FIRST

I stumbled across a group on Facebook that opposes circumcision. I started reading some of the testimonials about men who had been circumcised and the problems they suffered because of it. The first testimonial was about a man who couldn't experience sexual pleasure because of his circumcision. Other stories told of men who felt betrayed by their parents and the doctors who circumcised them. Even some Jews are speaking out against circumcision. 

What really caught my interest and sparked my indignation was when I read that circumcision was performed to remove the foreskin of the penis to deter the desire to masturbate. Circumcision removes the most sensitive part of the penis with millions of little nerves that enhance pleasure. This practice was mainly common in Jewish and Muslim cultures. Only about 30% of the male population in the world are circumcised. Most European men are not circumcised. In America it is considered acceptable and even recommended by most doctors.

I didn't realize that women are also circumcised in other cultures around the world until a famous model, Iman, the wife of David Bowie, spoke out against it. Circumcising of the female is far more drastic than male circumcision. It is considered Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) because they remove some or all of the exposed female genitalia. The clitoris is removed to reduce the libido of the female. Sometimes the vaginal opening is sewed shut. This procedure is usually done by a circumciser on babies from a few days old to older little girls. It is usually done without anaesthesia or sterile conditions. This drastically reduces the woman's desire to have sex.

I was shocked to see a video of a woman in America who had been circumcised when she was a little girl. She told about masturbating when she was a child to relive tension. Her mother, a very religious woman, took her to the doctor and had her circumcised. The woman was clearly uncomfortable talking about being mutilated but wanted to spread the word that this kind of unnecessary assault happens everywhere, even in America.

I read that some circumcisions on men are so severe when they have an erection that it causes pain, and some even bleed around the scar on the penis. The foreskin of the penis is removed because it has been believed to prevent diseases when the penis isn't cleaned properly. Men are being circumcised in countries like Africa where HIV is rampant because they believe it will help prevent the disease. What they don't say, though, is that it is no more preventative and cost efficient than condoms are.

Improperly performed circumcisions can cause the penis to lean to the left or the right.

The more I read and researched this information on the internet, the more I realized that this practice is archaic and a brutal unnecessary ritual.

The foreskin on the penis is a natural lubricant that protects the glans of the penis and gives the woman more pleasure. There shouldn't be a need for lubricants during intercourse. The foreskin protects both partners from chaffing. If that is not reason enough to reconsider circumcision, ask yourself why you are doing it. If you are doing it because everybody else is doing it that is a stupid and uneducated reason. If you aren't doing it for religious reasons (Jewish, Muslim), why are you having your baby circumcised? Some people said "so the baby will look like his daddy". Really people, are they going to compare equipment with each other? Seriously. 

Like mamma used to say, "Just because everybody else is jumping off a bridge doesn't mean you should do it, too?" 

How about cutting everybody's little finger off when they are little? That makes just as much sense as cutting anything else off of a healthy normal baby, especially their genitalia.

It is unthinkable to think that any intelligent woman in America believes it is right to circumcise (FGM) little girls. Both practices should be abandoned unless there is a serious medical condition requiring it. I can't think of one.

For more information go to The WHOLE Network or on Facebook or find information on Wikipedia.

SECOND

I was watching TV late one night and saw a show about "the dancing boys of Afghanistan". http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/12/dancing-boys-afghanistan

This story was equally disturbing.

The ancient practice of 'bacha bazi' (boys for play) is practiced in Afghanistan. It had been in practice until the Taliban banned it. That is one thing I have to agree with the Taliban about but now the practice is reviving.

Bacha bazi is the practice of men buying young boys from their families and taking them in to learn to make music and dance as a woman for the men in the community. Women are not allowed to perform for men because of their backwards and primitive culture so they have devised a way around it. Owners of the dancing boys take them to entertain during ceremonies like weddings or birthdays. Their culture prohibits women from attending these parties. Young boys dance seductively and dress in feminine clothing to entice the men. The owner of the young boys uses them as concubines to relieve the men's inhibitions. The boys are kept until they are 19 or 20 or so and no longer desirable.

After the boys are no longer servants they are free to live as a man in society. They can even get married and have a family if they want to but there is still a stigma attached to them.

One young boy said that he was 15 and when he turned 19 he would probably no longer dance but have a harem of bacha bazi boys. Another man said he would like to have sex with the bacha bazi boy if he could. One man said he would like to have his own bacha bazi boy if his wife didn't mind. And yet another old man said his wife didn't have any say in the matter. If he wanted a boy to live with him, he would.

These are the type of men that you wouldn't trust with your sheep. I naively thought that God had wiped out the sodomites when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. I can not imagine a community of men who rape and have sex with young boys.

Homosexuality is one thing. I don't think you can help how you are born, but a whole culture that practices sodomy just because they don't respect women is bizarre. They would rather sleep with a boy than go to a prostitute. And I don't condone going to prostitutes but that seems more natural. 

I've decided men are more like dogs than I thought. They will hump anything. Maybe that's what men are doing when they are 'on the down-low' in America. They're just sex addicts. Maybe they're not really closet queers.

It appalls me that this obscene custom isn't reviled and squashed. What kind of people are the people of Afghanistan who would do such a perverted thing? I cannot understand such twisted logic. I wonder how the women of the culture feel about the practice. I wonder how the families of the young boys feel about prostituting their children out for a pittance to destroy their innocence. The whole culture condones sexual slavery. That is abhorrent. 

The bacha bazi boys should not be mistaken for homosexuals. They are slaves, owned by a master who can whore him out to anybody or anything. The young boys interviewed all knew of bacha bazi dancers who had been killed. They admitted it was a dangerous life unless they totally complied.

This ancient practice has been perpetuated for centuries. They all need to come into the light and come into the twenty first century. Their culture is primitive and deeply disturbing. 

Epilogue

Both of these subjects are very disturbing. I know this wasn't an easy article to read. If you have read this far, I commend you. I believe that knowledge is power and knowledge should be shared. Until we bring the truth into the light we will be stumbling around in the dark. I don't know how you feel now but I bet you will look at sex in a whole new light from now on.

AS ALWAYS

PIO 

OCTOBER

It seems like summer barely got started and now it's over. The weather has changed and everything is taking on an autumnal feel. That's good if you don't like 90° temperatures, although I do. The cooler temperatures and breezes are a nice change though. I like having the windows open and hearing the crickets and frogs at night.


Donny planted collard greens in the garden where our squash garden had been. We haven't had a fall garden in years. I look forward to having fresh greens this year.


I pulled the loofah plants off the vine and picked some red peppers to dry. I'm going to crush them and put them in baggies so I can sprinkle them in foods when I cook. 


It's almost Halloween. You can tell because Scout has already been digging around in the barn looking for Halloween decorations. He likes to decorate for the holidays. I told him that he could take anything he wanted but he would have to bring it back packed back up if he wants to store it here. You wouldn't believe how many messes he likes to make. We still have a box of Christmas lights sitting on the carport from last year.


Speaking of Scout and his messy ways, I think Kim is starting to understand why I was always griping at him and staying on his butt about doing things. They are living together now and she gets to see first hand how much he makes messes.


I went into the bathroom after he took a bath here one day and there were hairs all over my faucet and in the sink. I got on to him and told him that he was developing bad habits since he wasn't living here anymore. He didn't leave hairs all over the faucet when he lived at home. And, why the heck was he taking a bath and shaving here? He said the lighting was bad at his house and he could see to shave here. I told him he better clean up after himself if he wanted privileges around here. Egads! He's devolved. That's not good. 


I was chewing his ear off one day when I told him he was a lot like his father. He doesn't pay attention to me, either. Scout admitted that Kim accuses him of the same thing. I don't understand men, but I do know them. I've lived with three men for long enough to know it doesn't matter how many times you tell them something, unless they want to hear you, they're not going to listen. Some things you can not change. Believe me; I have tried.


I hate going behind everybody and cleaning up after them so I gave up. I felt defeated until I found FlyLady and learned to change my stinking thinking around. I realized I couldn't change anybody but I could change myself. I've clung to my shiny sink and my kitchen routine. That is one think I can control.


Donny and I are usually empty nesters until Colt comes home for the weekend. I've gotten used to feeding the pets and cooking dinner for two again. It's usually quiet around here but on the weekends I have my baby home. He and I watch TV into the wee hours of the night.


The boys are going to fix my speedometer and brakes on the Buick this weekend. With any luck we might even get a few more things done around here. I love having my family around. Maybe we'll get to see Kim and the baby, too. 


Last week Jason brought Tristan to visit. Jason is 'another son'. He and Allen grew up with Scout and Colt. I loved watching little Tristan running around in the backyard chasing cats everywhere. They don't visit very often.


We used to have little boys running around in the backyard all the time. God, I miss the good old days.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Joann, Shannon, Alesha, Lon, Layla, Matt, Devan, Michelle, Kelly, Debbie, Chase, Barry, Diane, Summer

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Kelly and Troy

AS ALWAYS

PIO

Something Borrowed

~~~author unknown, shared on the internet via southern discussion group~~~

MAKE SURE YOU READ ALL THE WAY TO THE END
WHERE IS THE GARDEN OF EDEN
AS IT WAS TOLD IN THE BIBLE,GO TO THE GREEN THEN THE BIBLE

Read all of this one, it is interesting!!

Near the bottom--the part highlighted in green--will give you GOOSE BUMPS!!!

You don't want to miss this! ((*_*) )

VERY INTERESTING-

1. The Garden of Eden was in Iraq .

2. Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq, was the cradle of civilization!

3. Noah built the ark in Iraq ...

4. The Tower of Babel was in Iraq ..

5. Abraham was from Ur, which is in Southern Iraq ...

6. Isaac's wife Rebekah is from Nahor, which is in Iraq ...
7. Jacob met Rachel in Iraq .

8. Jonah preached in Nineveh - which is in Iraq ...

9. Assyria, which is in Iraq, conquered the ten tribes of Israel .

10. Amos cried out in Iraq ..

11 Babylon , which is in Iraq , destroyed Jerusalem ..

12. Daniel was in the lion's den in Iraq .

13. The three Hebrew children were in the fire in Iraq (Jesus had been in Iraq also as the fourth person in the Fiery Furnace!).

14. Belshazzar, the King of Babylon saw the 'writing on the wall' in Iraq .

15. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, carried the Jews captive into Iraq

16. Ezekiel preached in Iraq ...

17. The wise men were from Iraq ...

18. Peter preached in Iraq ..

19. The 'Empire of Man' described in Revelation is called Babylon --which was a cityin Iraq..

And you have probably seen this one: Israel is the nation most often mentioned in the Bible.

But do you know which nation is second?

It is Iraq !

However, that is not the name that is used in the Bible.

The names used in the Bible are Babylon , Land of Shinar , and Mesopotamia .... The word Mesopotamia means between the two rivers, more exactly between the Tigris And Euphrates Rivers .

The name Iraq means country with deep roots.

Indeed Iraq is a country with deep roots and is a very significant country in the Bible.

No other nation, except Israel , has more history and prophecy associated
With it than Iraq ..

And also, this is something to think about:

Since America is
Typically represented by an eagle.
Saddam should have read up on his Muslim passages ...

The following verse is from the Koran, (the Islamic Bible)
Koran (9:11 ) - For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle.. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced; for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah;
And there was peace.

(Note the verse number!) Hmmmmmmm?!

***********************************
bible scholars, is this right?

~~~comments welcome~~~

AS ALWAYS

PIO

All My Children

All My Children went off the air after 41 years on American Broadcasting Company last Friday. ABC is owned by the Disney Corporation so you could say the house of Disney killed All My Children. What had been a rich and entertaining serial drama became a shell of itself as stories focused on the younger demographic. 

Older, more mature characters were displaced by vapid, young, attractive performers with little legitimate experience. Their acting skills had to be honed on the set and in front of the cameras. Instead of giving us stories with substance 'the powers that be' started recycling storylines. It seemed like an attempt to drive long time fans away from their beloved soaps. 


When they weren't able to drive the fans away with shallow storylines, they moved the entire production from the east coast to the west coast. I've no doubt they were hoping the top stars (i.e. Susan Lucci, Cameron Mathison, Alicia  Minshew, etc.) would refuse to relocate. Then they would have blamed the stars who didn't go for the failure of the show. I believe Susan Lucci surprised them by signing on and commuting to the west coast to film each week for a year and a half. She went on a book signing tour for 'All My Life' and promised her fans that All My Children wasn't going to be cancelled. When Miss Lucci came back to AMC from her book tour in April the mouse pounced. 


ABC finally announced they were pulling the plug on two of their soap operas and going to replace them with low budget programs. All My Children was being replaced by The Chew, a cooking show. One Life To Live is going to be replaced next year by The Revolution, a fashion show. I've read rumors that Katie Couric was going to have her own talk show on ABC soon. That would probably knock General Hospital off the air.


A great cry went up from the fans and they sent letters and emails to ABC and Disney protesting the demise of their beloved soaps. The fans raised such a ruckus Prospect Park made an offer to buy the rights to produce the soaps online. ABC had declined other legitimate offers. The deal from Prospect Park is a total unknown. Soap operas have always been on radio, first, and then television. The transition from television to the internet is shifting it into a completely new genre. Nobody knows how this will work. Nobody knows if this will even work!


Now I am surfing the channels looking for something interesting to replace my hour of All My Children. I would rather do that than spend every day angry because I lost my show. Today I am watching Days Of Our Lives. It shouldn't take long to get interested in that. I've already seen a couple of familiar faces from my soaps. 


I don't know if the Prospect Park venture is a ploy to divert all the All My Children fans or if it will really come to fruition. Even if it does go online that is no guarantee that it will survive. They will have to draw back enough fans to make the show viable. I've already heard grumblings about having to buy a box to convert the programs to our computers. If it's going to cost a lot of start up money and paying a subscription fee I doubt I will be interested in watching soaps online. That is sad and depressing.


I don't know why ABC sold out to Disney. It appears the executives at Disney want to micromanage daytime TV and don't care for or respect the daytime audience. Soaps haven't failed over just the past few years. They were being destroyed for decades. I have seen so many 'who's the daddy' and 'dead baby' stories that I am conditioned to accept it without question. You wouldn't believe how many 'back from the dead' characters I have seen resurrected over the years.


It's hard to explain to people who don't watch soap operas why we are so invested in them. The characters become familiar like family members. I've watched Erica Kane evolve and grow over the years. I used to hate her and her pompous attitude. Over the years I have grown to understand her and accept her for who she is. 


Although the writers have been dismantling and sabotaging the characters over the years, I remember when they were more innocent and likable characters. That is owed to the incredible actors who shine through and make you root for them even if the writers seem to be making this crap up as they are smoking crack.


I want to thank the wonderful actors and crew for producing such a wonderful show over the years and for their dedication to the fans. They have gone above and beyond the call of duty when they were forced to relocate and film the program in California. Many actors on soap operas used their down time to work on Broadway when they weren't on the show. Moving to the west coast changed their ability to perform in theater. Despite all that, the actors and some of the crew went with All My Children. 


ABC deserted AMC after 41 years. OLTL has been on the air 42 years. They are like two old divorcees who were dumped by their uncaring and unappreciative husband for a new, upgraded model. The fans will not forget. 


I plan on boycotting ABC after OLTL goes off the air in January. I will never support Disney again. No more Micky Mouse lunch boxes. No more Disney toys for the little kids in my life. No more Disney what-so-ever. No matter what, I am not going to be a watcher of The Chew or The Revolution. They are too lame for words. Yuck!  

The 100th  Edition

*************************

Please don't forget to vote for J.R. Martinez on Dancing With The Stars on ABC. He is a wounded veteran who had a storyline on AMC. He also went to Dalton High School in Dalton Georgia. He is a real sweetheart. 1-800-868-3410

AS ALWAYS

PIO

Who's Keeping Score

We have a running joke in the family about who is the better driver; or should I say, really, who is the worst driver. Needless to say, "yours truly" held the record for a very, very long time and was teased and reminded constantly. Thanks boys.

When the kids were young they were with me the time I was backing out of the carport and tore the five foot wooden gate right off the hinges. It had so much momentum it bounced into the yard. Thank goodness I was driving the Mercury Marquee. It was an old yellow station wagon, built Ford tuff. 

Another time I scraped the side of Scout's Toyota as I was backing up in the driveway in my Ford truck. I didn't even see it. Donny scraped the other side.

One time when I was driving through Ringgold, I screeched up to a four-way stop so hard that it threw the timing chain off. Don's step-daddy, Charlie, said he'd never seen anyone do that before. I didn't know whether to be proud of that, or not. I think I was driving the station wagon that time, too. It was like driving a Sherman tank. The car was practically invincible.

I was trying to pull the boat out of a campground.The axle got hung and I nearly pulled the wheels off of the trailer. It was so warped we couldn't drive it home until Don crawled under it and tried to straighten it out. He was afraid I was going to take out some mailboxes on the windy little roads near Harrison Bay. Frankly, I was too.

I've had more close calls than I care to remember. Once I almost ran over some obnoxious woman when I changed lanes in town. I was driving the truck with a big white camper on it and it was hard to see out of the mirrors. I thought I was safe so I moved into the right lane. I pulled into the Chamber of Commerce parking lot and started to get out.

I didn't realize I had cut someone off until a car whipped in beside me and a woman started screaming at me because I had cut her off. She claimed I hadn't given a signal but, since my truck is old you have to turn the signal off and on by hand, I had turned it off when I stopped and couldn't prove it to her.

She was screaming about how I could have killed her baby and wouldn't shut up. I told her I was sorry I hadn't seen her but she must have gotten in my blind spot because I had checked the mirrors. I told her that I wouldn't have hit her baby, I would have hit her side of the car, if anything. She wanted to turn me into the police. I told her to go ahead and tell them what happened and see if they cared. I hadn't done anything on purpose and nobody was hurt so she should shut up. She finally left and I never did see the law.

Those are just a few of the examples of my bad driving record. 

One day Donny, and the kids, and I were in the backyard. Donny was going to move the station wagon. At the time we had a homemade power pole in the middle of the yard. Donny backed clean over that thing! I was so happy. Finally, somebody else had done something stupid while driving. The mantle had been passed. The best part about it was the fact that everybody saw. Scout, Colt, Jason, Allan and I had witnessed it. 

Scout told me about a couple of close calls but he managed to avoid having a wreck. Scout was driving in the country on a holiday when a car veered into his lane and nearly hit him. He said he had to drive halfway in the ditch to dodge the  other vehicle. Scout was afraid he would flip the truck. He thought the driver had to be drunk as a skunk to do that.

Everything was fine until Colt started to drive. He was terrible at tailgating other vehicles. I was always telling him to back off and not get on people's bumpers. Colt drove my Buick to Dalton College every day. One morning he rear-ended a car that was turning in to the school at Valley Point. He called me very upset. He figured I would be furious. I was just grateful that nobody was injured.

I am thankful that the guys will try to fix everything. They worked together to cut and replace the front of my Buick with another front end. Thankfully, with Scout's car expertise and Donny's skill in building, the car was perfectly square. No shop could have done better.

The title of worst driver has been passed on to Scout's girlfriend, Kim, now because she hit Colt's truck after it had been restored. She scraped the fender. She hit it while it was sitting in our driveway. Sound familiar? Welcome to the family, Kim. 

AS ALWAYS

PIO

Old People

One day Scout called me from his cell phone to ask me if he had left his keys in Colt's car. I said I didn't know but I'd go check for him. It was about to come a storm. I ran out to the car and checked the passenger side in the front and back but couldn't find any keys. I looked between the seats and then went around to check the driver's side in the floorboard. Colt's and Scout's coolers were in the car but I didn't check them. I took Colt's cooler out so I could pour the water out and came back inside.


Colt had climbed in the shower and I was waiting on him to get out and check everywhere again before calling Scout back to tell him if we found them. Scout called me back to ask if I had found his keys and I told him I looked everywhere, even between the seats, and I couldn't find them. I told him I'd let him know if Colt found them and then I hung up. Colt finally got out of the shower and ran to the car to look for Scout's keys. I told him that Scout said they could be in the back seat or maybe they were in the back of Bob's truck.


Colt went outside to check. He couldn't find them. He came back inside with Scout's pink cooler. There weren't any keys in the cooler so I called Scout and told him we couldn't find his keys. Was he sure he had lost them there? Did he need them to drive his car? And did he need a ride to Bob's to look for his keys since we couldn't find his keys.


Scout finally told me he was looking for his SHOES, not his keys! That's when I knew I was deaf but, in my defense, he was talking on a crappy cell phone. His alarm on the cell phone didn't go off till 8 o'clock this morning. Yeah, it was the crappy cell phone's fault. That's right. Oh yeah. 


I bet Scout thought I'd lost my mind when I said I even looked between the seats for them.

Times like that slap you right back into reality and remind you how you are no longer the young person smirking at the poor old goofy person who couldn't hear and misunderstood everything. I am now that poor old goofy person that misunderstands things. I don't want to be that old fart. I want to be the hip, young, cool one. 

***************************

Donny cleaned out our fenced in garden where the squash had been growing. He mowed down weeds and raked up debris. He only left a few pepper plants and a couple of vines running up two sides of the fence. One vine was growing five beautiful double bubble birdhouse gourds. The other vine on the opposite fence had loofah plants all over it. 

I was so excited and hoped they would survive. I wanted to dry them and use them. Everything was about halfway grown when I noticed someone had stolen the gourd growing outside of the fence wire. That had to be the horrible neighbors. I only had four gourds left.

Naturally, I went inside and told Don all about somebody pulling the gourd off the vine. I was mad for a couple of days but I still watered them and checked the vines every day.

I was outside one day in the yard and noticed the leaves on the loofah plant were wilted. It shouldn't have wilted that bad. I tried to water it until I saw it was cut! Don had cut it with the weedeater. I yelled at him for killing the entire plant. I couldn't believe he would do that since he knew they were there. Men!

***************************

I have a little crock pot that I use to cook dry beans. The base is separate from the pot. I cooked some October beans one day but they weren't done by dinner so I put the little crock pot in the refrigerator for the next day. The next day I put the crock pot in the microwave to warm the beans. I was going to put it back in the base to keep them warm until I fixed dinner.

I needed to run to the dollar store to get a couple of things for dinner so I told my husband that the beans were in the microwave. He was getting ready to take a bath, but I stressed that the bowl was in the microwave. All I wanted him to do was put the beans in the (base of the) crock pot after they were heated. I ran to get pet food and salmon.

When i came back home I unloaded the car and started to cook supper. I looked over at the crock pot and saw the white crock wasn't in the base. I looked in the microwave but they weren't there. I saw the crock pot sitting on my butcher's block but it was empty. Don had dumped the crock pot of beans into the base of the crock pot. I flipped out. Old people!

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I've decided this is the way to let off steam. Rather than rant and rave I'd be much better off just blogging about it. Nobody listens anyway and Donny and I are both deaf so it doesn't do any good to yell. He doesn't even listen when I'm not yelling.

AS ALWAYS

PIO

I Can Feel It

Does anybody else feel like me? I feel like a balloon that is slowly leaking, losing my energy. When the sun was blazing, temperatures dancing around the hundred degrees Fahrenheit (37.77 degrees Celsius) mark on the thermometer, everyone was complaining about the heat but I felt alive and cheerful. The weather took a U-turn and dipped around seventy degrees Fahrenheit (21.11 degrees Celsius) after a couple of rainy days and cloudy skies. I don't know where my energy went. I need the sun! 


Scout came over and we sat on the carport enjoying the beautiful fall weather. Scout said he felt bad today and had a headache all day long. He was wondering if his headache stemmed from the change in the weather. I reminded him that Kim hadn't been feeling good, as well. She had been having headaches. 


I told him it could be the weather, or it could be a cycle. Sometimes people are sick because of allergies. It seems like people will become sick in cycles. Sometimes people will share similar symptoms and it could be a virus or something else those people were exposed to. I'm always wondering where some flu or virus or headache or other communicable disease came from. I am sort of germaphobic that way. Then I got to thinking, it might be the weather after all. 


What if the weather all over the world is fluctuating because of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the radiation leak at the Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant in  Japan? What if it is affecting the entire world? I know you might be saying I'm a kook but think about it, the weather has been extreme across America this year. Climate change is affecting locations around the world.


I read an article about the government monitoring radiation levels in the soil and in the livestock across the USA. Radiation levels have risen drastically since the tsunami damaged the plant which leaked toxins into the atmosphere for weeks before they were able to contain the damage. 


Air currents carried radiation across the globe, raining down on the earth and sea, contaminating everything. Radiation levels near the nuclear plant were too high in vegetation and livestock for human consumption. Since the wind currents shifted to the east, the radiation fell in the Pacific Ocean and the west coast of America first. Radiation levels have increased across America. Rising radiation levels were detected all the way to  the east coast.


Radiation poisoning is a horrible deadly form of energy and mankind doesn't have the power to prevent natural disasters like tsunami's and earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. Until they can predict those things I don't think we're responsible enough to control a meltdown. I prefer not to fry from radiation poisoning, but that's just my opinion. I'm not entirely convinced that microwave ovens are safe, either. 


Imagine an invisible microwave. cooking on high, with the door open. That's how I imagine the nuclear power plant meltdown. Between the radiation leak from Japan and the BP Oil Leak in the Gulf of Mexico, I can imagine all the shrimp and fish and sharks cooking in black oil at the bottom of the sea. Yum, yum. 


No wonder the shrimp from Red Lobster is so small. All the good ones are all gone because of the toxic combination of petroleum and radiation poisoning. I shudder to think of the quality and quantity of seafood in the future.


I wonder how the people in Japan are surviving and if all their food and water is being shipped in from other countries. I hope they are receiving generous aid from around the world. They were crushed in the tsunami and it will take a lot of help and time to recover.


I hope the world reconsiders their desire to harness nuclear power and rejects it. There are so many renewable sources of energy that we should explore instead. I don't know why we don't utilize solar energy, among other things. I'd like to have solar panels on my rooftop making electricity.


I feel like somebody has flipped a switch. It was summer. Now it's fall. The rain knocked down loose leaves, carpeting the ground. The frogs and crickets are singing their summer songs in the night. The sound drifts on a breeze through my window.


I'll try not to worry too much about nuclear fallout and global warming if you promise to think about it a little. Don't you think we humans are bad about soiling our own nests? Earth is our global nest and I think we are fools and small minded when we don't consider the greater good of the planet. It's our only home. 


People have such short attention spans that they forget about the damage to the Gulf of Mexico and they have probably already put Japan's nuclear disaster out of their minds but it would behoove us all to pay attention and realize the damage we have done to the earth. Mother Nature is forgiving and, over time, things will probably eventually right itself but wouldn't it be nice to save the earth for our children and grandchildren and their future children, too.


Like Hootie the owl says, "Give a hoot. Don't pollute!"

(I guess I'm just an old worry wart.)

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On another note, I'd like to announce that J.R. Martinez is going to be a contestant on Dancing With The Stars. He was a wounded veteran who was injured  by an IED in Iraq.  J.R. moved to Dalton Georgia when he was a teenager and attended and graduated from Dalton High School.  

J.R. Martinez beat out scores of contestants for the part of 'Brot' on ABCD's All My Children soap opera when they were featuring a story about wounded veterans. J.R. Martinez is a real American hero and he has proven to be a talented actor. I admire his spirit and his character. He is a motivational speaker for wounded veterans and others.  Please consider giving him your vote if you watch Dancing With The Stars. I'm sure he'll give his all.

AS ALWAYS

PIO

(Who knows what this means?)


Please consider becoming a follower of Resaca Rose

More Car Trouble

Scout's Ford broke down so he asked our neighbor, Richard, to help him figure out what was wrong with the car. Richard and his son, Todd, are very good mechanics. Richard used to work for the Ford dealership in Dalton and he taught Todd how to fix cars. Richard said the car needed an ignition module.

Since Scout didn't have a car I've been taking him to work every morning and picking him up after work and taking him to the auto parts stores looking for parts every afternoon. It's throwing a monkey wrench in my usual lackadaisical morning routine. It took a couple of days for the module to come in and, in the mean time, Scout told me the module wasn't like a regular module. It was built to conform to California standards. It was hard to find parts to match. In other words, it costs more.

Todd told Scout he needed a new rotary cap and wires. Scout found a cap but couldn't find the wires to fit it. We ran around looking for parts in the stifling heat every afternoon. The new rotary cap has a screw in the middle that is broke loose. Now he will have to reorder one. That's the Strickland luck, for you. That's why I don't believe in gambling. We're not conducive to good luck.

I did enjoy spending time with Scout and taking him to work and back. My favorite part was driving down long ribbons of winding roads, with grazing cattle, and fields of golden crops, over rivers, and through shady lanes, soaking in the day. One day I think I saw a fawn colored fox but I couldn't get close enough before it was gone, lickidysplit! 

Bob's farm is in Red Bud, but Scout goes east on highway 136 from Sugar Valley, through Resaca, to a road that runs all the way to Bob's house. I turn right on the first road past Polecat Creek, (can't remember the name) and cross two bridges, a couple of stop signs, one at highway 225, traveling through picturesque scenery. From one end to the other I feel like I've been riding an amazing roller coaster ride. 

I didn't even mind getting out early since I was helping my son. It was better than letting him have my car and drive the crap out of it. I've seen him drive and I don't need the shocks falling off the car. You can't push the Buick. She doesn't respond well. Besides, I'm just now getting comfortable with having my car back. I didn't have it for a while when the heater core was being fixed. I'm anal retentive about my ride. But, I have my reasons!

You know what F-O-R-D stands for don't you? Fix or repair daily! Well, that's the price of driving antiques, I guess. We aren't motor-heads, we're just rednecks. You gotta love it. Either that, or admit defeat. I choose to embrace my redneck roots. Thank you Jeff Foxworthy. O we are all worthy! If you're southern you're bound to be a little bit redneck. Don't you think? 

Scout finally got his car running so he went to Dalton the other day. I got a call from him telling me that the Ford broke down in town. He said the police came and were going to make him have it towed by a Dalton wrecker service. Scout wanted to call Kim's family instead because they have a wrecker service. 

Scout said one cop took mercy on him and said he would help Scout push his car out of the road. Scout laughed and said the policeman told him, "Wait a minute until I lock my doors." Scout asked him if Dalton was really that bad and the officer said "Yeah." I don't know if he was kidding or just had to go by procedure and lock his doors before stepping away from his car, but I thought that was funny and sweet. Scout told me the other two cops acted abrupt and unfriendly. It's nice to know there are some nice cops out there.

Reeves Wrecker brought Scout's car to the house and dropped it off in the driveway. You know what that means, don't you? He got Kim to take him to work and would call me to get a ride home after work.

Scout put a new distributor cap on the car this afternoon after he got off work.  I hope that fixes it. He's replaced just about everything he can.

I cooked a rack of ribs I've had since last year for my birthday. Moma got sick about that time and we postponed my birthday dinner so I've been saving them. I decided today was the day I was going to cook them. Kim's birthday is tomorrow so I asked Scout to call her to see if she and Layla would come over to eat with us. We had ribs and cream corn from the garden and potatoes and fried okra. It wasn't a fancy party but any time you don't have to cook, or clean up, I figure that's a pretty good present.

AS ALWAYS

PIO

SEPTEMBER

I created Resaca Rose last year in the hopes that I would be able to share my life and, um, adventures with my family and friends. I have learned so much and have felt so empowered as I learn more and more about the computer world. Whenever I got stuck with something I would ask my son for help. When he wasn't around, or couldn't answer my question, I turned to my wonderful and savvy cousins for advice. Their generosity was limitless. They never left me hanging without an answer, and I am grateful for that. I finally started understanding what I was doing, a little bit at a time. Now I look back and wonder why it took me so long to catch on to everything. 


Computers are so much easier than they used to be. I was a data entry operator. That's a glorified title for a typist. I worked in data entry back in the dark ages. We used keypunch cards. Half of the data team typed in information and the other half verified our work. It was very tedious. If a card was wrong the machine would spit it out and it had to be re-punched. Everything was stored on huge spools of tape. A computer would take up a whole huge room. Terminals, or keyboards and monitors, were in a separate room from the computer. The computers were very touchy and 'wend down' all the time.


At the time I never could imagine the day would come when nearly everyone would have their own computer. Now there are computers everywhere, even on people's portable phones and in their cars. We've come a long way in a short amount of time. I credit the space program for the great strides in technology we have reached today. 


Donny's mother used to be a telephone operator when they lived in Summerville. Donny's daddy was a line man for the phone company. It's hard to believe that every phone call used to have to go through an operator. If it was like that today, half of the population would have to work for the phone companies just to keep up. Just about everybody has a cell phone today.

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It was time to go to my dentist today. My hygienist Rachel cleaned my teeth. Doctor Frank wasn't there. He was in France. Rachel said he went to climb Mount Blanche, but the climb was called off because of a rock slide, or something. On top of that, he lost his passport. I hope he finds it so he can come home. Maybe next time I go to see him I'll get the full story. I told Rachel she was a hit on the internet because people were checking out My Dental Visit.


Our baby girl, Layla, had to go to the dentist, today, also. She's only four years old. The pediatric dentist had to put Layla to sleep. She filled Layla's cavity and pulled her two front teeth. They were damaged and the dentist was afraid they would make her permanent teeth bad. Little Layla will be five in October. Her mother is teaching her to sing, "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth".

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I forgot to mention that I saw a Model A in Dalton this morning. When I finally caught up with it, I saw Daddy driving. He was going to meet his buddies from the antique car club for coffee. 


After I went to the dentist, I stopped by Momma's and Daddy's to see how they were doing. Daddy came home while I was there. He told me an incredible story. 


Daddy said a woman stopped him one day and asked if she could ask him a question. He said, 'okay'. She asked him for $10 to buy gas because her mother was sick and out of town and she didn't have gas to get there. She offered to give him $10 on her credit card if he would give her gas money. He refused to give her any money. One day, after that, he was home talking to his neighbor, Jack, in the front yard when a little silver car pulled up. The woman driving the car asked Jack if she could ask him a question. She wanted $10 to buy gas to go visit her sick mother. Daddy started yelling at her and told her to get the hell out of there. She wasn't getting any money from them. Jack didn't know what to think until Daddy explained about that woman approaching him before.


Daddy went to visit his car club friends and told them about the woman driving around in a silver Chevrolet soliciting money. Two women told him they had been hit up for money from the same woman. When they started to leave the Burger King, Daddy helped his friend, Jimmy, get into his car. Daddy's other friends, Creed and another guy, were getting into their car when a little silver car pulled up and a red-headed woman asked them if she could ask them a question. She told them she was out of gas and needed money to visit her sick mother. Since Daddy had warned them, both men offered to buy her gasoline at a gas station nearby. She said, 'no' she didn't use that kind of gas. Then she sped off. The men told Daddy about the woman pulling up and trying the same scam on them. Daddy reported her to the police and the sheriff because he was in the city one time when the woman approached him and in the county another time. He got the tag number and reported her.


That woman has been riding all over town and begging people for money to go visit her mother. She is playing on the sympathy of men, and women, so that she can scam them out of money. Don't let anyone play on your sympathy to con you out of your hard-earned money. Use common sense and offer to get her in touch with some organization who can help her, preferably the police. She is only trying to steal money from goodhearted people. Be sure to report her to the sheriff or the police. Maybe they can catch her and make her pay for her duplicity. I hate thieves and liars. Don't you? I especially can't stand a mooch.

Oh yeah, Go Daddy Go!

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Other links to My Dental Visit and JUNE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Butch, Katy, Kim, Susan, Larry, Corbin, Gail, Melissa, Melody, Erin, Emily, Debbie, Jesse, and to everyone celebrating this month

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
Resaca Rose
and everyone celebrating this month


RIP
REMEMBER 9-11

Gary McNamer, Robert Burchfield

AS ALWAYS

PIO