Pawprints From Space

I have a guilty pleasure. I can admit it. I watch a daytime soap. One of those dinosaur programs slowly dying on the air ... except that mine is roaring back in many ways (ratings included) but ... First some perspective : I grew up watching General Hospital with my grandmother. Before I even went to kindergarten - which was a half day event for me - Grammy and I would watch every day at 2:00 p.m. (Central Time). After I went to school she would catch me up and on days I was home sick - which with asthma was a lot - we'd watch together. When I went off to college I continued to watch and actually tried to schedule my classes to me back at the dorm at 2:00 (especially on Wednesdays and Fridays when all the action happened). In fact. I had a very large dorm room so everyone on the floor gathered there. It was the 1980s the heyday of Luke & Laura and GH was all the rage. On to the work-a-day world and time got in the way, although VCRs helped over the years to stay in to...

Back in August a nasty infection of ear mites hit all cats in the household. The current vet was amazed that all of them had the little buggers. The previous vet (from whom the "new guy & wife" bought the practice) had stated on numerous occasions that if one animal in the household got 'em, they all would. Especially in my household since they sleep in a big pile of fur half the time. Anyway the mites lead to lots of meds since they simply would not die and at one point Lucky ended up going deaf. Now true she had been getting hard of hearing for quite some time so perhaps it wasn't entirely unexpected. But the trauma of going deaf had her hiding out in the basement for over a month. The world is very very scary when you can't hear and your siblings can (and do) sneak up and pounce on you. Once deaf she became vocal for the first time in her life.  Finally, Lucky came back upstairs to live only to end up with a nasty bladder infection a few weeks late...

Those of us who grew up south of Chicago - which is 98% of the state - are sick and tired of all the Illinois bashing thanks to the various shenanigans of the former governor and various other elected folk. For the record, Illinois was a great place to grow up. I would go back in a heartbeat. I grew up in Peoria, back when the City was two and a half times larger than it is now - like much of the Midwest a lot of major industries have moved on but still that river city has a lot to offer. Oh sure there are the usual issues you have in any city that size (well over 100,000 currently). But there is history, art, theatre (will it play in Peoria?), good schools and corporate heaquarters of international companies (e.g. Caterpillar). Heck there's hockey, minor league baseball and the government's agricultural research center. You want it? Odds are Peoria has it. It also has great people. Peoria has a nature center I practically grew up in that is a true gem. Private and public u...

So ... whatcha reading? Better yet ... how are you reading it? Are you a gadget junkie? Did you rush out and get an eReader as soon as the first one rolled out of that factory far, far away? What kind is it? A Kindle? Which version? A Nook? An iPad? A Kindle app on some other device? Or maybe you're all hipster and old school. You actually picked up a volume made from GASP!! paper. You breathe in that luscious smell of new book ... or even old book. The sweet dusty, musty richness of an old tome that weaves its spell around your senses and takes you on journey of the imagination.  Better yet you went to the LIBRARY!! You borrowed a book, or six, for FREE!! You have in your possession the one most valuable thing a person in this country can have. It is a ticket to faraway lands, to rich literature, to ancient cultures, to current yet different cultures and learning from all over the world. It opens doors, increases knowledge, sets the mind free to dr...

A little retrospective musing seems in order. No worries, it isn't a full "year in review" rant or rave. Merely a way to mull over some things. The things that have stuck with me all year. By no means everything that happened or even things that others might consider important. Just a handful of things that continue to dance around my thoughts... Globally - Malala Yousafzai is a true heroine. At a tender age of 15 she stood up for what she believed in (education for girls) and was shot for it. By the Taliban, who apparently afraid of little girls. She has survived and continues to receive treatment in Britain  She is an inspiration. The Taliban were revealed for what they truly are: frightened, ignorant, small-minded, misogynistic men who prefer living in the 12th Century. The "winner" of this conflict was school girls.  Of course it isn't over yet. They are still vowing to kill her. Nationally - President Obama was re-elected. It was a long, ugly...

The suspense is killing me.   Okay, not literally "killing me" but distracting me, making me wonder, getting impatient here ...   What over you ask? Well it ain't what Santa's bringing me for Christmas! Nope, it is Mars Rover Curiosity's "big find".   It appears that SAM (Sample Analysis on Mars) a piece of equipment on the rover found something that has mission control "very excited". But they aren't talking. In fact the date of release of info keeps getting pushed back.   Bloggers are going nuts, conspiracy theorists are ranting and raving, even Fox News has gotten into the act. In fact: John Grotzinger, the Project Scientist for Curiosity, said in an interview, "This data is gonna be one for the history books. It's looking really good." And thus he launched the imaginations of everybody out there.   What worries me isn't that this is some ground-breaking find that will put theories and conservative ...

As we move through life we change perspectives.   When we are children we see our world in one way and as we mature that view evolves (ideally) with us into a more mature view. Granted you have to wonder about some people who seem to remain stuck in the toddler's perspective of what's mine is mine and by the way EVERYTHING is mine. But overall I like to think the majority of us move along the path towards, for lack of a better term, enlightenment.   Certain exceptions must be made for political campaign season obviously. But I digress...   So ... perspective and growth. I find it interesting that some people of my acquaintance believe that when you're young it is understandable to be idealistic and thus have a live and let live, take care of each other and the planet. But that as you age you "grow out of that" and realize what life is all about. Really? And what is life all about then according to this perspective? Making money and keeping it as much ...

Autumn ... change  Not the dying of the world but sleep. Plants seem to die and yet they do not. They go to sleep. The roots are nice and cozy down deep in the soil, or the seeds tucked quietly away waiting for the returning sun. Leaves whisper along the streets, skipping ahead of the wind and chasing each other along paths and across grass .. like laughter skips along with children. Nature at play. Cooler air makes animals frisk and frolic, the oppressive heat of summer a fading memory. Even indoor cats get all puffy tailed and race around the house with sudden bursts of kitty-insanity. Horses play tag in pastures and even normally calm cattle suddenly kick up their heels. Cooler air is invigorating to all. And yet ... Change is difficult, change is sadness as well as joy. The bright flowers of summer have faded away, the sweet birdsong of spring is a memory. These warmer months enchant poets to craft words of love. Autumn and winter coax forth phras...

Where have they gone? The dedicated community service folk. You know the ones, the people who get involved and roll up their sleeves. The sort that jump right in there and "do what needs doin" regardless of the cost in time or money. Service clubs across the area - perhaps across the country - are asking this question. So are nonprofits struggling to find board members and volunteers - let alone donors. School districts long for parents to get involved and actually DO something other than complain. It's sad.  Whatever happened to civic responsibility? To giving back to a community that has given you so much? And more than on the national "make a difference day" - I am not talking about one day a year. I am talking about working to make your community a better place EVERY day. Whether that is by being a vocal cheerleader for what's great where you live, shopping local or actually being part of something greater than yourself. Your communi...

Guess what: This is NOT a political piece! So relax, you can breathe now ... maybe   It is always SO much fun to have to explain what you meant when you said what you said because some overly sensitive/paranoid individual (or group of individuals) jumped to a conclusion. Just ask a political candidate.   As a person who specifically says exactly what she means, this drives me nuts.   For example: I will say that I "have" to be somewhere to do something. And I do. Why? Because I have made a commitment to be there.   Maybe that is to show up for work. Maybe it is to help my mother out. Maybe it is to attend a party I have RSVP'ed to in the affirmative. Maybe it is an event. Maybe it is a volunteer organization. Maybe it is a meeting for an organization. Whatever "it" if I have somehow, some way committed to be there then .... I HAVE to be there. It is that simple. If something unforeseen gets in the way I call and let someone know I can't be ...

I am reminded recently, daily it seems, of a phrase ... why can't we all just get along . Probably paraphrased but poignant all the same in the midst of all the negative advertising, mud slinging and viciousness of the political "season". And that's just among friends on Facebook!! Never mind what the various candidates in local, state and federal elections are saying about each other. That rhetoric might be nasty but it can't hold a candle to the way people are bashing - and defriending - each other online for daring to have a different opinion. There is apparently no such thing as civil discourse these days when it comes to the election. People who are supposed to be friends are ripping into each other and simply being cruel. There is no call for it. None. Part of what makes it great to live in the United States is the fact that we can voice different opinions! You can have a say (by voting) in what goes on. To hear some of these people talk it is t...

Like so many people I've decided I need to take off some pounds. This is a common goal for women of une certain age I know but I have had enough of going through several items in the closet before finding the one thing that fits. This is eating into my sleeping time! Have to get up earlier than I'd like just to figure out what'll fit the figure. On the up side the proportions are still in the hourglass category - there's just too much damned sand in said hourglass. Plus there is a wedding at the end of September and I have a dress I'd like to wear but at the current levels of hourglass "sand" I'll be lucky to get one leg in it. And the bride is a size zero so PRESSURE!! I have discovered a couple of new tools to aid me in this quest: a web site and phone ap called "Lose It!" which can be found here: http://loseit.com/  The aps for the phone works with both the iPhone and Android platforms and it is free. The other thing I like is that ...

It doesn't matter what your political leanings are, if you are female at certain points in your life you're going to be told you need certain screenings (Pap test, mammogram). You may find out that you have certain medical issues that require medications typically used for contraception (endometriosis, menopause, control of acne, regulation of the menstrual cycle, etc.). You may have some insurance, no insurance, not enough insurance or one of those so-called Cadillac plans.  And you might wonder why a drug for men's reproductive "issues" is mandated to be covered by insurance and yet the mere idea that a type of drug for yours is causing such a ruckus. Within weeks of Viagra's hitting the market in 1998 more than half of all prescriptions for the drug were covered by insurance. The Pill? Not so much. Which is REALLY silly since The Pill is cheaper than a pregnancy. AND contraception tends to mean that there are fewer abortions as there are fewer unplanne...

Don't you hate it when relatives fight? When two best friends beat each other up (verbally or otherwise)? When companies rip into each other? How about when two organizations whose mission is to serve their membership, the public, and/or the greater good suddenly get ugly? For no real good reason. Let's say you are Organization #1 and you are in dire financial straits. Your group has one regular source of income - a weekly event. People like this event, nearly 200 attend every week. However, there aren't enough volunteers to run it properly and it has been in steady decline. Organization #1 doesn't make much from it as costs keep increasing. Some months they don't make anything at all and actually come out owing their vendors more than they took in. Eventually the Board of Directors decides this can't continue and votes to shut the event down. It'll be hard but they will get by, God willing. So they get out the contract they have with Organizati...

The 2011 elections are a mere 19 days away. Local elections have generated a fair amount of silliness - incumbents who are indignant, challengers who are clueless and issues that confuse the populace because, really, who is going to read the massive insert in the paper this week that attempts to explain it all? Those of us inclined to read it already understand the issues. Those not so inclined will not read it, remain confused or ill-informed and vote whichever way the wind is blowing. This is not merely an Ohio affliction.  If you thought it was an Ohio affliction I call your attention to the hoopla over the so-called GOP "debates". Can you call it a debate with no set questions, no real moderator and a bunch of people on a stage who just yell at each other for a couple of hours? That may be an ordinary day in Congress but it isn't a debate of the issues by well-informed candidates. It is instead that aforementioned "every which way wind" blowing across T...

Imagine if you will sitting in a church - a nondenominational congregation with great music and charismatic preacher who goes on for nearly two hours about forgiveness and God's love and it is a really, really great sermon. Now imagine that you're a person struggling in life. You've been through some horrific things as a child. Things that have turned your world upside down. Things that have (perhaps) led you down a certain path. Perhaps it wasn't those things you experienced. Perhaps your DNA is such that you were born with a certain preference for same gender relationships. However you got there. There you are. Someone who is struggling with who they are; someone who has studied the Bible. Someone who has it bookmarked and highlighted and knows it inside out and backwards. Okay so after listening to nearly two hours of how God loves us no matter what, who will forgive us no matter what - who, like our parents wants the best for us and who will never turn His back ...

So I got to thinking about stuff today - it was too nice to be inside at work so the mind tended to wander all over the place. Fortunately when it does that it does find its way back home... eventually. One of the things I was thinking about was the whole Occupy Wall Street brouhaha. Now granted I haven't been paying too much attention I admit it (which is SO not like me) but I have had other things on my mind - work's been busy, the Humane Society event I am trying to put together for next week is in the panic phase, kitties are nuts and two of the five now have ear issues (one has mites, the other an infection). Anyway, lack of attention to the Occupy Wall Street and the 99% thing. From what I gather this appears to be the left side of the fence's version of the Tea Party "uprising" of a couple of years ago. They got all fired up about taxes, etc. and the so-called left pretty much sat back and thought they were nuts. Now of course Congress is nearly be...

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We have a mandatory recycling program here in Lima Ohio, have had for a while now. It took quite a while to get it up and running - to get the City's residents to use the recycling bins the City provides. But now everyone is pretty good about sorting their recyclables from their regular trash. We have nice, large rolling trash bins for our recycling items (having graduated from the small brightly colored curbside boxes a few years ago).  We aren't asked to separate clear glass from colored, paper from the various levels of plastic, fold cardboard a certain way or even thoroughly wash out the jars and cans as I had to do in Connecticut. It IS nice not to have to run the dishwasher just so you can put things out to be recycled. Very simple here, if you can recycle it, put it all in the same bin. We even have separate bins you can buy (for a mere $20) for your yard waste. We get yard waste clear bags from the City as well (just have to show your utility bill), so long as ...

It's been a while and folks are wondering (yup, all 2 of you) what's going on so it is time for some randomness and catching up... The trip to Dallas was great! Very comfortable meeting the rest of my family. As my sisters and I noted on that Tuesday (our Sister Day) even though we didn't grow up together, it feels as though we've known each other all our lives.  All the calls, emails and Facebook postings since "first contact" no doubt helped. Connected well with the nieces as well. Wonderful young ladies all! The older girls have wonderful guys in their lives and little great-niece Presley Elizabeth is an absolute doll! The younger two girls are fabulous young women as well. One still in high school has a great deal of energy about her, which goes well with her spunk and freckles. Her older sister is a deep, gentle soul who has had more than her share of troubles at so young an age but her compassion outshines everything else she is struggling with ...