"Food" for Thought

Do you ever get tired of hearing about all the studies being done which, if we don't take them to heart, we'll find ourselves in an early grave? One making the rounds regards women and alcohol. How drinking at all spells doom, offsetting the one that says red wine is good for the heart.

Another current one is about how coffee may help deter skin cancers. The creme de la creme made the headlines last night. Which diet is the best for you? The one that works! Go figure!

Some metabolisms do better with high carb, some with low carb. I am told blood type can play a role as well as ethnic background. Some of us are just more prone to chunkiness than others. I cannot, however, argue with the calorie count as long as the type of calorie is left open for discussion.

I know myself that I do better on a high protein regime. Of course. That's because I love breads and pastas. I also know, even though the hype tells me I can eat all I want, that isn't true. Calories do count. I also know that after I've lost some excess I tend to get careless. I usually start adding in larger portions. I am not a bird, after all. Then comes the bad stuff with the good intention of making up for it the next day; then the next and so on. You get the picture. That's why my annual ritual is to go on the South Beach induction for the first two weeks in January. I get really bad during the holidays. Figuring that lasts from left over Halloween candy through New Years, even if I've held my own all year up to that point - it's blown. It's no mystery.

Contrary to competing studies, exercise also plays a role. It helps keep things in check. At the very least it maintains a degree of muscle mass and cardiovascular health. This can be particularly crucial if you believe in the adage you are what you eat.

You could suffer the same fate of that of a young Russian who was offered a tidy sum of money to satisfy his appetite with a couple of female friends. He succumbed from a heart attack after earning his fee. To assure his success he consumed an entire bottle of Viagra. This is definitely a case where he should have paid attention to the studies. The "exercise" lasted twelve hours. If I recall correctly, the ads advise calling your doctor after four. Talk about "blues" in the night!

Oprah Winfrey - Heavyweight

When I read the AP article about how upset Oprah is with herself I could empathize. So can just about every other woman in the world who has trouble maintaining a medically acceptable weight. So many of us belong to the "Sisterhood of the Yo-yo"!

The ads at the end of the article added insult to injury. They were Drop 13# with Acai, Dr. Oz Diet and Simple 2 Lose. Ha!

I had a health professional brighten my whole day awhile back. We were discussing my issues and the weight I've put on since vacation and Thanksgiving. "You're not going to obsess over losing a lot of weight are you?"

"Well, I'd like to shed 10 or so pounds and the first of the year brings my annual stint on the South Beach to accomplish that," I replied.

"Perfect." It's a good, sound plan, it works and it's easy.

It was music to my ears! Yes. I'd really like to lose more than that 10 pounds but realistically I realize I probably won't. And that's okay. Even that amount will help keep the blood pressure and cholesterol in check; the physical therapy and treadmill which is part of it, will help keep the old cardio vascular pumping at peak and I won't need to beat myself up.

I think the same goes for Oprah. As long as she's been a star she has had, shall we say, a zoftig physique. I think it bothers her far more than it does her fans. To confess that she's had to starve herself to achieve the weight losses she's had is no more healthy than being severely overweight. She worries that she's to be a role model and she let people down. Nonsense. Promoting something that is unachievable by most and certainly unsustainable isn't what role models are about.

All the special diets and pills in the world won't help anyone maintain their weight. Most of them don't work. If you already have high blood pressure you probably put yourself at even greater risk by taking them.

What does work is a modicum of discipline and realism. When you find yourself gaining, just stop and take it back off. Right away. I've done it and if I can anyone can.

True, as a "senior" no one expects me to look as I did in my 20s. The important part is that I don't either. Oprah, in her 50's is what she is. She doesn't have to get back into her Calvin Klein's to be healthy or please her fans. She doesn't have to look like Cher. All she has to do is be okay with herself and know that a whole lot of women like her just the way she is.

I'm always going to have those extra pounds I'd like to lose. So will Oprah. It's a female thing. We just need to be realistic, like ourselves and worry less about what we imagine others may be thinking. We're probably wrong anyway. That's another female thing. We're full of them!

Oprah is a heavyweight all right but it's for all the good she has done, her phenomenal accomplishments. That's a figure that cannot be measured in pounds!

"Yoga" Your Way, I'll go Mine!

There are times I am so glad I live in the good ole USA where freedom from religion is still allowed! Not that I am condemning the beliefs of others but at times they seem a little far reaching. The Christian conservative movement is an example in our country. In Malaysia it would seem to be the Muslims.

According to the BBC Islamic authorities have issued a fatwa telling the country's Muslims to avoid practicing yoga because of it's Hindu roots and because of that it may corrupt their thinking. Wow.

Here's my problem with that ruling. You see my "fat" wa-t-ever-you-want-to-call-it needs all the help it can get. Be it hip, pelvis, back or some combination of all three, the prescribed exercise routine I follow each and every day is all yoga based. So far it has been the only thing that has actually helped, even if only minimally. Nothing else has come close.

I really don't care if it's Hindu based, or even Muslim based, if it helps I'll take my chances. Just how deep breathing, gentle stretching and holding is going to corrupt my thinking is beyond my ability to understand. I guess though, it's the meditation part they find worrisome. You know, the part where you hold a position and meditate. Or think. That must be the part that potentially could corrupt. I usually lose myself in listening to my timer tick away the minutes. For some reason I rather enjoy the mindlessness of it and find it relaxing.

If I do meditate or think, like this morning, it was about whether or not I should write this post. I found that to be far more stressful than listening to the ticks. Stress is counterproductive but sometimes my mind does wander into thought. No matter how ill advised.

In explanation of Islam thinking, this was said, "Islam is a complete way of life. Islam is able to cater to the needs of Muslims; spiritual needs, intellectual needs and other needs, material needs. So there is no need to bring in elements from outside."

Just don't develop a bad back.

AHhhhH-CHOO!

I haven't had a cold nor the flu for four or five years but boy I've got a dose now! Funny thing about living with aches and pains, when you add that old Rhino virus to them you're body gets confused and doesn't know what to do with any of it!

At least that's how mine is reacting.

Okay. We took a road trip. I'm quite conscious about keeping my hands washed but what do you do at rest stops where there is no hot water if any at all? Yeah. We've got the handiwipes in the car but they only do so much. And if you lead a fairly sequestered life like Hub and I do and you suddenly find yourself among throngs of people, who knows what they're carrying!

I thought I had things on the run yesterday but it's back with a vengence today. Meds. What can you safely take when you have high blood pressure pills, high cholesterol pills, pain pills, anxiety pills! Okay, I don't take anything other than the blood pressure and cholesterol stuff on a daily basis. But still...

The blood pressure stuff gives me a dry cough. I was forewarned it was a possibility but when I mentioned it to my doc she thought it might be allergies. Could be. I don't think so, but could be. So we didn't change. So now I have a chest full. What part is the BP med playing?

Who knows. I searched through my stash of over the counter meds and found one for coughs and congestion for those with high BP. We'll see if it helps.

I wouldn't be posting this but I had to come to the office to feed the fish since Hub is off doing his civic duty. The fish are finished now so I'm going to wrap this up and head back to the couch.

Always looking for the bright side, I listened to Obama's speech in Ohio and am as inspired as ever. It's being called his "closing argument" ; it could be a "Best of Obama" album! It was dynamite.

At least that made me feel well enough to get some food into my system.

When back on the couch I think I'll leave the TV off. Bacchus will sleep beside me. I may doze off. Maybe I'll even be ready for Hub who, I know, will arrive home in a mood even worse than mine!

"Drunk Last Night...

drunk the night before, gonna get drunk tonight like I never got drunk before!" Remember this ditty from your college days?

Shari Roan of the Los Angeles Times has been studying the debate universities, across the country, are having as to whether or not to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18. The problem is the high incidence of binge drinking and the consequences thereof - everything from the onset of alcohol dependence to death.

Listening to them you'd think this is a new problem and they've been caught off guard. Did not any of those officials attend college themselves?

My college days were back in the late '50s and early 60's. The dark ages, I know. But the problem existed even then. Sloe gin in the dorms. Where I went to school all you could get in the bars was 3.2 beer; no one could afford anything stronger. Do you know how much 3.2 beer a young, healthy metabolism has to consume to get drunk? A lot. But it was accomplished on a regular basis.

I remember football players getting kicked off the team after an arrest for disorderly conduct; sorority pledges being taught the evils of consumption prior to the latest frat party only to see the older "sisters" chug-a-lugging with the best of them once there. There were the keggers on some remote piece of land the townies always knew about and the frat house parties where just about everything was available.

Know what? It didn't matter if you were 18 or 21. It was available to everyone. We're talking 40 years ago here!

There is another side to the age debate and it involves societal differences. Take the young man who can't afford to party away four or more years at college so he joins the military. Six months later he may be off to a combat zone and if he's not 21 he can't legally have a beer with his buddies before he heads out, or on an infrequent leave or after a really rough deployment.

The question is how can you allow one and deny the other? I don't see it happening. The 18 year old GI, even if allowed to drink is going to come home a far more sober, in the serious sense, individual than the college kids who think of it as a rite of passage.

Somehow, a lot of this argument seems to come back to parenting - or at least it should. In the military the young have, in a sense, substitute "parent" figures in their superiors and the discipline they learn. The college kids need to learn this discipline from their parents before they are let loose on campus, often far from home and oversite. Administrators and their staffs on a campus with thousands of students can't do it adequetly; campus police can't be everywhere and the upper classmen aren't going
to even try.

Here's what we can do. Leave the age at 21 and stop waging wars or lower it to 18 and have the adults, especially the parents, assume the responsibilities that go along with the title.

My "Medical Underground"

Back in early August I began a new round of physical therapy for yet another diagnosis of what has been causing me severe pain for the past couple of years. Having consulted with an orthopedic surgeon and finding I have torn glutes and accompanying tendinitis that makes sitting for long periods impossible, I asked if he'd sign a waiver for the current jury pool being formed.

First he wanted to charge me $25 to do so. I protested and he relented so I trotted the paper work to his office. A week later his receptionist called and said bursitis of the hip was not due cause. I asked that he review the file again. Another several days passed and his nurse called to tell me his decision stood.

I was frustrated beyond words.

At my next therapy session, I explained my dilemma explaining that after two years of various types of therapy I never could break through the level I had reached. My guy is great. They have all been great; just stymied.

He suggested I see a chiropractor he knew. Off I went. After more poking and prodding, she suggested, "You can't up straight for long, can you?" Wow! We talked for quite awhile. I told her how much I liked the whole body approach of my physical therapist and how he thought she could help. "I'm going to co-ordinate this," she told me in no uncertain terms. I was elated.

She called the therapist, put me in touch with a deep muscle massage therapist and got the actual films from the x-rays and MRIs, rather than relying on the written reports.

We have a plan now. My "underground" is working as a team to help me. Isn't this what it's supposed to be about? The outcome has yet to be determined. If what we're doing now doesn't help there are no other alternatives than a regimen of pain control. So be it. I will have given it my all.

In the meantime, I have to say these health care professionals may be the least appreciated and most helpful in the field of medicine. My G.P. has helped by signing the therapy requests for medicare and taking over the pain medication responsibilities from the surgeon, but it is the physical therapist, the chiropractor and the massage therapist who have done the consultation, investigation and designed the protocol to help me regain at least a vestige of my former self.

To each and every one of you, past and present, from office staff to those who've had hands on, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Global Warming

There was a great column in this morning's Spokesman Review telling of happenings attributed to Global Warming. Everything from Bulgarian brothel owners losing staff to ski areas where patrons need other activities due to the lack of snow to an increase in anxiety in people already affected and outbreaks of the bubonic plague.

Who the heck does these studies? Lots of folks it would seem. The article sent me to this website at which I was able to further educate myself. I am a Doubting Thomas when it comes to this subject because of the number of opposing views, the cyclical nature of earth's climate and pronunciations of "fact" by the Al Gore's of the world versus what actual scientists who study climate have to say.

That being said, the following topics are to be found on this site. A change in body temperature may cause an increase of severe acne.

Melting Siberian peat bogs could release millions of tone of methane into the atmosphere. And we've been worried about cows!

Our brains may shrink. Most people will die, those remaining will become cannibals.

The cat population will explode due to an extended breeding season.

Hibernation ends too soon. Hibernation ends too late.

Ice sheet growth. Ice sheet shrinkage.

Sheep will shrink. Short nosed dogs will be endangered.

Killer cornflakes will cause mass hallucinations, manic depression, gangrene, abortions, reduced fertility and painful convulsive death. Actually this one sounds like the warning label on some of my medications. I haven't looked for a warning label on a cereal box yet.

For those of us who might survive there will be vampire moths that will feast on human blood.

Whew! Who knew? For each and every topic I have mentioned there is a link to an article so stating the applicable study.

Someone is missing something here. I'm not sure if it's me for having taken the time to look at this, or the people who compiled these and many, many more links or the people who did the "studies" and made the assumptions talked about!

It's hot today. Really hot. But I don't think my brain has shrunk. In fact I think it has so enlarged it's likely to explode!

Lions Of Their Professions

Robert Novak, long time conservative columnist and Ted Kennedy, long time U.S. Senator. The tie that binds is they both have malignant brain tumors. Other than being close to the same age that's where the similarity between the two men ends.

When news of Kennedy's affliction became public there was a tremendous outpouring of support from everyone he has touched during his political career. There seems to be little of the same for Mr. Novak, who too has had a long and illustrious career. I'm supposing it is because, as one reporter described him, he is pugnacious. A man who revels in his "Prince of Darkness" image.

I recall watching him over the years on Cross Fire and The Capital Gang. I distinctly remember that he didn't seem well liked by his fellow panelists. They were always taking shots at him and he absorbed them practically without notice. The first time I noted what he really might be like was when he swore and walked off the set during an interview.

Of course he is most famous for having "outed" Valerie Plame as a covert CIA operative. I don't understand all the ins and outs of professional ethics at his level but that he was given a pass by everyone amazed and disturbed me. I guess when you break bread with Karl Rove you have a certain immunity - at least with this administration.

I'm thinking what goes around comes around. Especially when it comes to how you treat people and how they perceive you in return. When Tim Russert died unexpectedly the out pouring of sympathy equaled that for Kennedy. Both men, highly respected, are and were generous of spirit.

Novak, on the other hand, commented in an interview a year ago, "I'm 76 years old and I don't have much time on this earth. There's very little people can do to hurt me and so I say what I want to say."

The "Prince of Darkness" indeed. I wonder if it's lonely having such a title.

Cliff Notes

I was chatting with a neighbor this morning while keeping one eye on his cat, wondering if Bacchus would notice it. He often does not but I'm in for a ride if he does. He did not.

It got me to thinking about how cats frolic. If only I were one I'd not be having these !@#%%* problems.
They are so agile!

Look at the little guy in the picture. See how his feet are facing one direction yet his upper torso as angled away from them? He'll snap back whenever he wants. I'm that way all the time.

So here we go again, new diagnosis (It's inflamed tendons that are causing the muscles to tear and not heal and my spine to twist), new physical therapist - that would be Cliff - and new techniques.

Per my orthopedic surgeon's instructions I took my MRI report to see Cliff. I expected nothing but he spent a good half hour checking this and that and I agreed to have one more go at it. At least this time we know what we're treating. Plus I've invested two years already, what's a few more weeks?

He sent me off to the book store to pick up a copy of The Egoscue Method of Health Through Motion by Pete Egoscue, telling me it will be what I'll be working from when Medicare runs out. Don't you just love it?

I settled in and read it. I even tried a few stretches that are said to help eliminate the pain. Cliff was pleased. He told me he sends a lot of patients to buy the book but they never read it. Go figure.

I had my first session yesterday. Back to the morning routine of exercises now. I'll report back in a few weeks and let you know if this is going to work. I'll be cautiously optimistic. I just want to quit hurting!

The Reality Of Aging

While talking with a friend this morning, she commented on how I sounded like a new person. More like my old good humored self. The reason, if indeed it was true, is because of the relief of finally finding out what is wrong with my hip. We talked about how even minor aches and pains can affect our patience, tolerances and moods. We both have what I'd suppose is an average amount for women of our age - and we're well aware of how we behave and how others react to that behavior.

Then I checked my e-mail and found a note from my friends at Beacon Press. I did a book review for them awhile back. 60 On Up: The Truth About Aging in America by Lillian Rubin is a no holds barred dissertation on the realities of aging.

She is now asking why it is politically incorrect to apply those facts to John McCain. Her observations, on Beacon Broadside are sound. John McCain is by all considerations, old.

He has suffered physically and mentally more than most of us ever will, what's more be able to imagine. He is bound to be affected by that treatment as his physical prowess and mental acuity acquiesce to the aging process.

To be concerned about this should not be politically incorrect nor anti-McCain or any other label his campaign will put on it as time passes. It should be considered a prudent evaluation of his ability to sustain the rigors of the job.

I watch as he makes inappropriate jokes, I look at the advisers who surround him, I listen as he gets his facts confused and think, "This is only the campaign." I think about his temper, his denial of his own actions and wonder if he is in this mode at this point what will happen if he wins? And those aches and pains kick in? I don't want him doped up on meds to disguise them from us. I don't want him making crucial decisions while under their influence and I sure as heck don't want him contemplating war or dealing with our adversaries when his temper is short and nerves frayed.

Any President will have these types of moments, you might argue. True. But don't think for one minute they aren't magnified by age.

A Real Pain In The Butt!

I had my follow up on the second MRI today. The doctor came into the room and handed me a sheet of paper. "That's what's wrong with you!"

I skimmed the gobbledy gook and gave him a blank stare. "I have to tell you," he said, "I have never, never seen a diagnosis like this! And I've seen a lot! There is no lipoma, no tumor. To put it bluntly the muscles in your butt are shredded."

"Shredded?"

"Yep. Shredded. Do you have any idea what you did?"

A few sceanarios went through my head but nothing that would cause that kind of damage. We discussed them and we both shrugged.

"There is really nothing I can do," he said. "I've never seen anything like it."

Wow. So what do I do about the pain? We talked some more. We can have a different PT have a look at the diagnosis to see if there might be some new ideas but it seems doubtful. Over three years I've tried everything in the book - though it was for my back, not this. I was given a prescription for a non-narcotic pain killer I'm told I can take for the rest of my life. We'll see how that goes.

On the bright side there is no crippling arthritis and no tumor.

I'm thinking the aggressive approach might not have been the best one. Maybe it's time to do what we old folk are expected to do after awhile. Just sit on our butts and give it a rest!

Why Would An 8 Year Old Kid Need A Statin?

When did they start testing kids for high cholesterol? Is it becoming a routine part of pediatric exams since kids are getting fatter? I haven't a clue, but it is certainly a wake up call.

I have an ongoing battle with my doctor because of my own cholesterol. She looks at the "bad" stuff; I look at the ratio which I'm told is an obsolete measure. Depends on who you talk to. The battle will no doubt continue because I'm flat out afraid of the side effects that are possible - liver problems being one of the more prevalent. At the moment I'm on enough non-effective medications to open my own pharmacy. I don't care to add another to the mix.

But that's me. A senior citizen who realizes maintaining a semblance of health is a constant balancing act.

But for kids? I see them. Around schools, in the malls, in grocery store parking lots - places I pass or visit with some frequency. If I were of an age where I had a lot of friends with kids I might also see them in their homes. Just what would I find? Burgers, fries, pizza and soda pop as a steady diet? Sitting around texting their friends? I guess eight year olds are savvy enough to do that. Playing non-stop video games? I really don't know. But if that is what I would find there is a remedy that is far better than prescribing  statins.

Go outside and play. Ride a bike. Take a hike. Go swimming.  Join a team. Play a sport. And take your folks with you. Pills may lower the cholesterol but they won't do squat about solving the problem. The doctors know it. The parents know it. And I'll bet even the kids know it.

I Had To Laugh But I Wanted To Cry!

I visited yet another doctor yesterday in my quest to find out what's wrong with my back/hip. This time an orthopedic surgeon. There was a sign above the receptionist's desk that read: Be Nice or Leave.

I had to laugh though I was hardly in the mood. Three years have passed since I've noticed what appears to be a swelling on my hip. When pain developed I went to the doctor. Oh, probably bursitis. X-ray. Arthritis in my lower back was probably causing the pain. Physical therapy. Nothing.

That round of medicare ran out. Then an auto accident. Acupuncture. Nothing. Back to physical therapy. Nothing. That insurance ran its course.

Back to the Doctor. Another x-ray. Same thing. Arthritis. Dope up on Aleve. Didn't touch the pain. Back to the Doctor. Muscle spasms. What about the hip? Muscle spasms. Stronger pain meds and muscle relaxants. Nothing. Back to the doctor. An MRI. Same result. Back to physical therapy.

We looked at each other. "I don't think there's anything you can do for me. The pain in my hip hasn't been dented after all of this."

"Hmmm. You've been talking about that hip all along."

Duh!

Report goes to the Doctor recommending I see an orthopedist and maybe get a steroid injection. Or at least see what the lump is all about. I call the doctors office. Did you get the report? Let me check. Yes. Has anyone read it? No. I'll have the nurse call you.

Nurse calls. Have you read it? No. It's in your file though. Will you please read it and show it to the doctor? I'll call you back.

Yesterday. Orthopedic surgeon. It's probably a lipoma pressing on the bursa. Let's do an MRI. This time on the HIP! Hello?

Today. MRI. The second one in a month. Next week follow up for results and treatment options. Probably surgery to remove the lipoma and bursa. Sigh.

By the way, all that physical therapy may have aggravated the problem.

You wonder why insurance rates are so high and medicare is nearly broke? Hub, who isn't into dealing with what he deems my hypochrondia, assured me I'm not going to die.

Probably not, though I wonder how many do in the "process"!

But I'll be nice. Or leave.

Brain Trust

Every time I go to the doctor I get a knot in my stomach. Usually for no good reason other than knowing it will be another reinforcement of the fact I'm getting old and have the ailments that accompany the process.

Then I watch the story about Ted Kennedy, a 76 year old not in the best of health in the first place, coming through what was anticipated to be six hours of surgery in three and a half. Plus, he was awake throughout and spoke with his wife immediately after. Wow. Step one has gone well and I sincerely hope his recovery process continues on such a positive note.

The government health plan is extremely generous. In addition, with his personal wealth, Kennedy can afford the best medical care the country has to offer. Then there are the rest of us.

A few weeks ago I had some blood work done. Routine stuff that we elders have done at least once a year. One of the tests was not covered by medicare. Hub wants to know which one and why. Me too.

Obama has promised the American public that we will be offered health coverage to match what those in Congress have. Hold him to that; hold any of the candidates to that! Medicare reimbursements to doctors are being cut to the point they actually lose money by having we old folks as patients. Many conditions and tests are not covered. More and more doctors are declining to take on medicare patients. It's an uneasy feeling.

I try not to bother my doctor more than necessary, but when it is I resent feeling like a financial burden. I don't resent the doctor, I resent the law makers who have put us in this position.

Concern about this area of our lives seems to be one of the Democrats strongest issues. One thing for sure, we are all going to face the need for greater and better medical care as we age. We all strive for that rather than the alternative. Science is obliging us but funding the service end of the deal is failing us.

I don't know if Hillary is going to eke out the nomination or not. If Obama prevails, as expected, I can think of one area in his administration where she would excel. Health care. She has the experience albeit it a bad one. If she is as smart and capable as her legions believe she is, she'll have learned from those mistakes and would make one ferocious champion for those of us who increasingly need one the most and are the least able to fend for ourselves.

Being the best niche player out there could leave her with a better legacy than being president!

A Taxing Situation?

I knew it! Now that we're past the point of extreme vanity and getting used to the fact we're never going to fit into the clothes in our closets labeled "skinny", we've a new burden to bear.

Those of use who are a bit thick through the middle, maybe just a wee bit overweight, are being told we're contributing to global warming! Yep. There was actually a study done by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, reported in Lancet via Rueters . First of all, I find it hard to believe there is actually a school bearing such a name but apparently there is and they are quite serious!

So here's the deal. No more chocolate chip cookies from Super One, no beer with my ribs, less wine with my dinner and fewer steak dinners. Forget the foie gras and the molten chocolate cake! Next thing you know we'll be taxed for every pound of excesss weight we carry! No matter that as I get older there is less and less I am able to do with my once incredible vigor fast disappearing, eating well and enjoying it was something I always could.

Just as I'm beginning to enjoy it without dreading an additional bulge here and there I find I'm part of this humongous world problem! You see, the reasoning goes, we require more fuel to transport us, we eat more leading to shortages. To make matters worse the additional agricultural pursuits required to keep us fat and happy increases greenhouse gas emissions!

Whew! That's quite a bit to bear. Worldwide, they tell us, 400 million adults are obese. By 2015, according to the World Health Organization, 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and 700 million will be obese.

Now. This isn't all bad. You see, in a speech right out of OZ, John McCain told us he could see the Iraq war being won by the end of his first term - 2013. It seemed like pie in the sky at the time. Maybe there is a certain logic to his madness - everyone will be too fat to fight!

Breathe? Right!

A month or so ago there was an article in the Coeur d'Alene Press regarding pending legislation that would require vehicles of a certain type and age to undergo emissions testing. The intent being to reduce health problems caused by air pollution.

There was a huge hue and cry over why our county might be included since we were being lumped in with the Spokane area in determining the extent of the pollutants. How would our less affluent residents, many who drive basically junkers, be able to afford not only the test but the repairs the testing might bring about?

Today there was another article regarding the resumption of field burning. It had been stopped for a year due to law suits regarding health issues, but the farmers have been diligent in their resistance. For you not familiar with this story, it is an annual ritual that after the grass seed crop is harvested the chafe and stubble are burned to ready the fields for the next crop.

When we moved here, on prairie land that used to be grass farming territory, we were not advised that this was still the practice all around us. Each year I've written a rant complete with pictures of what we suffer through when a burn goes bad which always seems to happen. Like the wind shifting or a piece of equipment getting too hot and igniting the tinder by "accident". With a bad burn the smoke sucks the breath out of you, leaves particles, still smoldering, the size of match sticks and permeates every nook and cranny in your home even when closed up. Your fabric furniture, drapes, carpets and clothes reek for days. This is mild compared to what happens to the communities backed up against the mountains where the smoke gets stuck until it eventually settles or disapates.

Yet, it is likely to resume again this summer. Who says lobbyists aren't successful? Once again we'll be hacking and wheezing during the aggregious assault on "clean air"!

It's nice to know, however, that the residents of our fair capital city aren't without their own pollution and health problems. It seems they have a problem with smog. The Department of Environmental Quality is asking those locals to mow their lawns less often. Now that will clear up the air!

I guess, though, that may be the most practical solution since most everyone has a gas powered mower of some sort. They won't be able to afford to mow their lawns!

All we northern Idaho folk with asthma and heart problems can migrate south to escape our fouled air. I'm sure there will be a run on electric powered mowers. But no, the power plants to provide the electricity to power the mowers will pollute the air too! Arrrrgh!

Never Too Old To Learn

My posting has been sporadic at best the past couple of weeks. Between Bacchus and myself we've been paying our doctor's overhead. Well, at least he has. I'm a different story.

For Bacchus we pay full freight. After the hematoma healed up he developed a hot spot on his cheek that was a doozy. Getting that cleaned up, along with the accompanying medications, cost nearly as much as getting the hematoma squared away. No medicare for pups, but then his vet gives him all the time and attention he needs.

Then there's me. I used to fume over the fact that, in her later years, my Mom's entire social life seemed to revolve around health care professionals. Now I understand why. I'm learning. It's a process.

First, I figured out why I thought I didn't like my doctor. It really had nothing to do with her, especially as a person, and had everything to do with me. I'd put off going until I absolutely had to, then did so reluctantly with a chip on my shoulder. Why? Because I knew I was going to have to discuss things I did not want to face. Nothing serious. Just having to admit I'm aging, there are issues that come with it and not liking it one bit.

I'd always have to wait. I resented it. Then I learned the first appointment after lunch usually resolved that problem.

I'd be angry I couldn't address everything I wanted to before I'd be rushed off. Then I understood the person waiting for Doc to finish with me didn't want to have to wait either. So I learned a check list was helpful with the most important issues first. I've also learned to talk a lot less and faster to boot and listen more closely. She's been good enough to provide me with written confirmation of what I am supposed to have heard.

She takes medicare patients. She knows how to deal with us and I've learned a lot just from observing how she deals with me.

I've also learned it's useless to put things off, like lab work, because a few extra days really isn't going to make a difference in the grand scheme of things. I've learned that I worry too much. I've learned that a lot of what ails me can be treated and I can actually feel and function better.

I've learned that I've got a doctor I really am beginning to like. Now. If she can teach me how to deal with a husband who's convinced I'm a hypochondriac, I'll really feel better!

Welcome to Idaho

Interstate 90 travels through 73 miles of Idaho from the Washington/Idaho border to the Montana/Idaho border. We travelled it often when we were living in Seattle and visiting family in Montana.

The Idaho stretch has one rest stop in those 73 miles. You have several additional miles to travel either east or west before you find another. It is an ideal place to stop. We let the dogs stretch their legs along a nice stretch of the Centennial Trail that runs through the east bound side.

It also is home to one of the Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce's visitor centers, manned by friendly senior volunteers and chock full of tourist information for the whole tri-state area. Definitely something for everyone. Last year when our Senator was arrested in a Minneapolis airport for allegedly suspicious mens room behavior, it came out that this bucolic rest area was also a haven for those seeking a quickie.

Wow. Right here in our tourist destination want-to-be northern Idaho! A place where those wanting to visit would stop to gather information.

It's one of those news items that fade from memory when you live here and don't have reason to frequent the place. One would assume the authorities would be dealing with the problem.

But no. Apparently not. In today's Coeur d'Alene Press there was an update, if you will. It seems the restrooms have also become a haven for those who want to shoot up. The janitors are finding something like 30 discarded needles a week!

What the heck have the authorities been doing? The article tells us the rest rooms are vandalized routinely even with a crackdown on the lewd conduct. Some crackdown! What's even more disturbing is the information that tells of the State Police conducting a sting back in 1987. Let me see now. 1987, 1997, 2007 and there is still a problem. Twenty years?

Maybe we can get the officer from the Minneapolis airport that nabbed our Senator to join the ISP stakeout team. Twenty years of a problem in our only rest area is not only disgraceful, it's unacceptable.

"Floating" Crap Game

Miss Ima Oldie strikes again! Last month I wrote a post regarding why seniors are so reluctant to give up their homes. I used information that came from a paid advertisement in the Coeur d'Alene Press written by Julie Tastad, an employee of Fairwinds-CDA, a local "retirement" facility.

I'm beginning to think the Press should run her columns as a public service rather than as an advertisement. She provides real heads up information.

This week she takes on the issue of "licensed" and "unlicensed" apartments within the same facility a step further. Previously she (and I, in turn) addressed how one had to be in a "licensed" apartment to receive certain services from the staff. Now, it seems, if you've finally made the move to the "home" even though you are still able to care for yourself, if a point in time comes when you cannot you have to move from one apartment to another within that facility! And back again if you mend!!

Please! She is suggesting Idaho take a page from Washington and have floating licenses to prevent this measure from being necessary. Is it me or is this bureaucracy run amok?

Realistically I would suppose one day to have to make such a move. Once done I would not want to have to do it again. Don't the blockheads who write these regulations know how traumatic such a move is in the first place? If I have to go, and manage to create some degree of comfort zone, leave me alone. Even if I can't have my cats!

Explain to me why all the apartments in a facility aren't of equal nature. If in Washington they can float a license I would assume all the apartments meet the same safety criteria that one expects no matter the degree of infirmity. Are the costs of these homes so high because of all these layers? Sheesh!

I'm going to move to England, meet 101 year old Buster Martin , join him for a pint or two and see if he can get me in shape for the London Marathon.

Enough of this nonsense!

Monsters In Our Midst

Imagine a society where men are allowed multiple wives, one in which women are required to dress in a specific manner; where women are forced into arranged marriages and are often horribly abused when they dare to question or refuse do a man's bidding. It sounds like some of the middle east cultures, doesn't it?

But no. It's right here in the United States. It is illegal. Full stop. It is illegal. Yet it exists. One has to wonder why.

I found interesting reading on How Polygamy Works at the howstuffworks site. For instance, I was unaware that monogamous practices, worldwide, are in the minority. Some critics of Western practices even suggest that our way of frequent divorce and remarrying is a form of "serial polygamy".

Early reasons for the practice included the decimation of male populations due to war. At various times it had been practiced in Vietnam, China, among many African tribes and many of our own Native American tribes. It fell out of favor with most long ago.

Even in many Islamic countries it is a perk for the affluent and is being considered "old fashioned" by many of the younger generation.

Yet we have our walled compounds enclosing cults that continue the practice of forced sexual servitude. They have found ways around the legalities by intimidating the women and separating one "marriage" from another by manipulating "church" and "civil" law.

The tragedy of the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints drama we're watching play out in Texas is the children. No where in my reading did I find abuse of children condoned. Yet here we have three generations of women who have never experienced the world outside their compound.

What is to be done with them? The women who are free to return may well do so. It is all they know. It is their reality, their normal.

We pride ourselves on our freedom of religion but what differentiates a religion for the worship of one's God versus a cult in which to indulge one's most purient interests?

A walled and fenced compound might be a clue.