Category Archives: Health

The Great, The Marvelous, the Most Fantastic…

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As of 26 Sep 20, 204,499 Americans have died from Covid19. At 5 seconds to intone each name, and maybe ring a bell, it would take 11 days, 20 hours, 1 minute, 35 seconds to read and tally our loss. At least half would still be alive if people cared about their neighbors and wore masks and the CDC had not been politicized.

…Ruth Bader Ginsburg (aka the Notorious RBG) has died. Age, 87. You all know that. I was too upset to write anything last week, so I’ll write it now, a week after her death. She was, truly, all those things, and she will be sorely missed. Her death may, at this time, bring about the beginning of the end of our country as we know it.

This is an opinion piece. But, what the heck, it’s my blog, so I can write my opinion. (You may counter in the comment section.)

It didn’t take long for the Unholy Swamp Triune to come out and say that they don’t give a rat’s hind end what the American people want, they’re hell-bent-for-leather to name and confirm, a new Supreme before the election. And she’s going to be a “Right to Lifer.” Rules and precedent be damned! Almost three out of four Americans support a woman’s right to control her body. They Unholy Ones don’t. They want to go back in time to the wonderful fiction of Father Knows Best that only existed on television, not in actuality.

And therein lies my angst. Oh, not that they will cheat, that’s a given, but how they have perverted the term “Pro Life/Right to Life.” For the sake of this discussion, I am going to make Right to Life and Pro-Life mean the same thing. These people, all good members of their faith, are NOT Pro Life. They are Pro Birth and Anti-Woman. They want to take all rights away from women, especially where her reproductive life is concerned, because they don’t think women are intelligent enough to think things through. You know, hormones rage and emotions swing, and they have power given by their patriarchal god to rule women and by their god, they’re gonna! After all, if they can keep women pregnant and at home, they won’t take a job from another testosterone poisoned male. And it’s easier to blame a woman than keep their trousers zipped.

I won’t go so far as to say NONE of these Right to Lifers are, but I’ve only met one, and that was years ago, and she put her money where her mouth was! She went to her lawyer, paid to have the papers drawn up, then went to the abortion clinic, talked to the manager in charge, explained what she wanted, and received permission to wait inside and talk to the women seeking treatment. She explained who she was and said if they would carry the baby to term, she would pay all pre-natal costs, delivery costs, etc., and adopt the baby. She showed them the papers, and letters of recommendation that she would make a good mother. She didn’t have any takers, but no one complained to management about her being there. She never adopted (she was single and at that time single women adopting was frowned upon, after all, a baby needs a daddy) but she did take in teens as a foster mother.

Now, I’m Pro Choice or, if you prefer, Pro Life. To me, they are the same thing. Yes, really. The same. I know women who have had abortions, and none chose that option lightly. There were medical reasons, financial reasons, real and solid reasons. Because they had a medical procedure in a safe and sterile environment, many went on to later raise, love, and care for healthy families.

They took care of themselves. They were Pro Life. They made a difficult decision and have lived with it. But they still live. I don’t know any who had an abortion because they got ‘knocked up’ at an inconvenient time.

My mini quilt, Walking the Red Road. (It really is square, the caera wonked it.)

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you don’t want an abortion, then by all means, don’t have one! If your god says it’s wrong to have an abortion, then don’t have one. But the face of your god is not the face of every other woman’s god. And this is NOT a religious country, it is a secular country founded to remain secular with a separation between Church and State. Remember, the world cannot support our current population, and add into that Climate Change, rising seas, and wildfires….

If you are going to vote as a Right to Lifer, then, please, vote for all that entails—good pre- and post-natal care for the mother, good medical and dental coverage for the child until an adult, enough money to have the necessities of life—shelter, food, clothing, education, etc, for that child until s/he is an adult. Don’t say you’re Pro Life when you really only want the woman to have the baby and you don’t care to help out after. That’s not Pro Life. That’s Pro Birth.

Again, I say, if you don’t want an abortion, please, I beg you, don’t have one! But don’t try to force your morality on others, for one day you may be judged by your morality as lived and thought and held in your heart, and you may not like it. One day, these words may appear on your wall, Mene, mene tekel upharsin.

Entertainment:

TCM: I have long said I’d go with any cable company that would let me choose 10 channels and charge me appropriately — Spectrum did. I now have, among other channels, Turner Classic Movies, and on Saturday night I turned it on just as the credits finished for The Red Shoes. The movie came out in 1948, I probably saw it sometime between 1950-1955. It ranked right up there with An Affair to Remember and The Quiet Man in my all-time most loved movies. I’ve seen the latter two several times, sometimes whole movies, usually bits, parts, and pieces. Saturday is the first time I remember seeing The Red Shoes in a reaaaalllllly long time—like since the first time I saw it. Yes, it’s a romantic drama, and I loved it even more now, as an adult, than I did as a kid of 10 or so. I remembered my favorite part, if not exactly the words, the intent. He: Why do you dance? She: Why do you live? I also remember sitting in the theater when it ended thinking that I was a big girl and big girls don’t cry. Well, I didn’t sob out loud. Do I get points for that? Saturday, I sat on my couch and decided it’s perfectly fine for an old Auntie to cry/sniff/sob/tear. I did laugh at the two white males discussing the ending after the end. It’s probably a good thing I wasn’t in the studio, or one might be walking funny now. He thought she was somehow weak. Both of them missed what, to me, was so blatantly obvious—she felt pressured to choose between the love of her life, her husband and the love of her living, dancing. It was obvious to the men, of course, that she should choose between marriage and family or singledom and career. How dare she want both? Why, that was/is a privilege reserved for men. /meow/ Not a HEA movie, but, if you get the chance to see it, well worth the 2 hours 13 minutes of your time to watch it. Some absolutely gorgeous ballet! It’s available to rent on Amazon Prime.

Amazon Prime:  

IMDB has free (with commercials) tv series. I started watching the old Banacek series, again. Loved that show. We’ll see if it holds up.

Books: 

For any books I may have finished and reviewed and mayhaps a bit of snark, see Rainy Day Reads Who? Me? Snark? Bwahahahaha! 

CORRECTION: Last week I said I had Wyrds by Weld Champneys on my bed to read, I hang my head in unabashed shame, the title is Wirds, and it has now moved to my bedside table to be read randomly just before I turn out the light. A delightful book of poetic humor, review is on my site above. 

Wearing a mask is a proven method to help slow down the spread of Covid19. Please, wear your mask. And wear it properly—keep it over your nose! Your Auntie and your Granny appreciate your thoughtfulness. However, when you come next week for a fresh cuppa and homemade biscotti, we’ll be properly socially distanced so you may remove your mask at that time. Honest. Trust me.

Notorious RBG, We Miss You!

Auntie Lenora

The “Red Road” is a metaphor for living a spiritual way of life. Oglala Sioux medicine man and holy man, Black Elk, spoke of the all the people on the red road as being one interconnected circle of people that made a sacred hoop. Only you can walk your journey, but many are on the road. https://www.spirithorsenation.org/the-red-road

If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing with others.

Thank you. Auntie Lenora

Is Walking Your Dog Hazardous to Your Health?

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Maybe.

I recently read an article in the Washington Post by Karin Brulliard, that dog-walking may be hazardous for seniors. The study didn’t suggest any reasons but did note the numbers of seniors who are injured, often with broken bones, has risen remarkably. According to the article, and a new study by University of Pennsylvania researchers (co-authored by Dr. Jaimo Ahn) the numbers of broken bones increased “…from 1,671 in 2004 to 4,396 in 2017…”  The article went on to state that the reason is unclear, though they do mention that the number of us old farts and fartesses has increased, and we tend to be more active than our predecessors. 

People over 65 who fracture hips have a “20 to 30 percent chance of dying within a year” which is higher than having a mild heart attack or mild cancer. 

The photo accompanying the article shows a gentleman out walking his dog after an overnight snowfall, with icy sidewalks. I don’t think the higher number can solely be blamed on winter. Though the slickery ice and slush certainly don’t help, and probably contribute highly to the study; however, I think it might be related to something else.

I’ve noticed women often wrap the leash about their hand or wrist versus holding it in their hand. If they do not have superb control, especially voice control, over the dog, and the dog sees a squirrel, or another dog, and bolts, the walker goes down. I had a neighbor who might have been five feet tall, and perchance weighed ninety pounds soaking wet and wearing a wet wool coat, and probably in her seventies at the time, who walked her daughter’s big dog. I don’t remember the breed, but a good eighty pounds, and a sweet dog. Also, he was a dog who didn’t always listen to or process commands. I walked my small dog one day, and Big Dog charged, pulling Granny. I told her to drop the leash, and she couldn’t. It was wrapped around her wrist so she wouldn’t let go of it. Her panic at the situation didn’t help. The dog picked up on that and was sure my wee dog was going to attack.

It all worked out in this case, but I’ve since noticed other people, usually women though not all, who do the same thing. They stick their hand through the loop, and then wrap the leash to get a tight hold on it. Now, if they fall, they would report to the doctor they were “just walking the dog” and he pulled me. I’m willing to bet a fresh batch of biscotti that the doc never asks, “How were you holding the leash? Exactly what happened?”

So, why would someone wrap a leash around their hand or wrist? I can think of a few reasons. Two that jump out at me are if they have neuropathy in their hands, their hands may be numb or too painful to hold something, and wrapping lets them know they know they have a good hold on the leash. Or they may have arthritis in their hands and need to wrap the leash, so they don’t drop it because it’s too painful, or impossible, to wrap fingers around it.  

Do I ever wrap the leash around my hand? I try not to. Sometimes I need to short leash my dog, and I hold it, folded, in my hand. I’m considerably bigger and heavier than Sammy Brave Dog, by about 10 times. Should I ever take my sister’s eighty-pound Rottweiler for a walk, I would be certain not to wrap that leash. Quick release is important. I might not let go of the leash, adding my weight to act as a break if he was going after a child, but that would be an option and a pretty fast thought on my part. Then, again, if that child was doing something to make the dog want to go after it, I might drop it (Not!). My little Sammy has caught me when I wasn’t paying attention and was mid-step into a zag, when he jerked to zig. Usually, he’s the one to stop and smell the grass, but every so often, I want to stop and take a photo—he is not as patient with me as I am with him. I’ve been pulled off balance more than once by him, and at my age, well, this old fartess ain’t lookin’ for any more broken bones! I now pay better attention, and don’t wrap the leash.

This is not a dog. This is a coyote. A wild coyote. I named her Mercy for Mercedes Thompson Hauptmann, a human-coyote shapeshifter by our very own local author, Patricia Briggs. I am not stupid enough to put a collar and leash on a coyote, whether real or fiction. I will, however, photograph one if given the opportunity. This photo was taken from a car, out the window, while we were leaving Yellowstone National Park. She patiently sat on the side of the road until we finished with the cameras and drove on, then we saw her in the mirrors as she went up the hill to what we assume were her pups. Note, she had been to the river to drink and eat. You can see the blood on her muzzle if you look close enough.

Entertainment:

Netflix:

Can you believe I haven’t watched a single show on either Netflix? However, I did get my Roku streaming stick and because Spectrum finally made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, I now get 10 channels of my choice, so I have been watching news, etc. that I couldn’t get before. I admit, Friday’s was pretty sad to watch, what with the passing of our beloved RBG. It was too soon. I wasn’t ready.

Amazon Prime:  

The Scalphunters, 1968 movie starring Burt Lancaster, Shelley Winters, Telly Savalas, and Ossie Davis. I wasn’t sure I wanted to watch this since I know what scalp hunters were, but that is a pretty good cast, so I decided to give it a go. The music was fun, the credits were fun, and it started out fun and I laughed out loud several times through it. Lancaster plays a fur trapper, friendly with (perhaps related to?) the Kiowa. Davis is a slave of the Kiowa. The Kiowa steal Lancaster’s furs and supplies (including booze) and give him Davis. Lancaster doesn’t want him. Lancaster and Davis follow the Kowa to wait until they are drunk and retrieve the packhorse and furs. In the meantime, Savalas and his group of scalp hunters show up, kill the Indians and steal the packhorse and away we go for round two. Shelly Winters, long one of my faves, is marvelous. The ending was good. and, yes, it’s a Western, so of course there are fistfights. And just because it’s a fun fact to know, I’ll pass it along—not all who were scalped died. It depended a lot on how the scalp was taken. If an axe was used, death from a crushed skull was probable, if the scalp was lifted and a “clean” knife used, the person actually stood a good chance of surviving, if he got help and no infection. I had a cousin who was scalped in one of the Indian wars in the Ohio Valley. He survived and lived several more years to die an old man in bed.I\ I assume it was his bed, but I don’t know.

Books: 

I just looked at my bed and have 6 books on it I am reading, and a puppy dog who is keeping it warm for me. Not the books, the bed. He doesn’t like books. The books are: Wyrds by Weld Champneys, Willow Springs anthology, Chrysanthemum 2020 Literary Anthology, Before Our Eyes by Eleanor Wilnor, The Vagina Bible by Jen Gunter, MD, and RAGE by Bob Woodword. See, I told you I am an eclectic reader. For any books I may have finished and reviewed and mayhaps a bit of snark, see Rainy Day Reads Who? Me? Snark? Bwahahahaha!

Wearing a mask is a proven method to help slow down the spread of Covid19. Please, wear your mask. And wear it properly—keep it over your nose! Your Auntie and your Granny appreciate your thoughtfulness. However, when you come next week for a fresh cuppa and homemade biscotti, we’ll be properly socially distanced so you may remove your mask at that time. Honest. Trust me.

Auntie Lenora