Opining Online

Random Thoughts on Health Care.

Shreveport and vicinity got some heavy heavy rain and high winds yesterday. We live on a hill on the western edge of Shreveport and, as far as I know, there was no damage in this area, just flooding of some roads.

The most dramatic damage photographically was the steeple atop the First United Methodist Church at the Head of Texas Street being blown off and falling on an occupied car. The driver has broken bones, but is in stable condition and is expected to recover completely.

Photos by Jerry Newman, Shreveport Times. More at link.

Our only scare was when my husband decided, during what we thought was a lull in the storm, to go feed the dogs.  The minute he stepped outside the door, thunder and lightning picked up right over our heads. I’m waiting at the back door for him to come back, trying to see him during the flashes of lightning… and wondering if he’s slipped on mud and fallen leaves or has just decided to spend the night in the doghouse instead of trying to make it back inside.

UPDATE: The man injured by the steeple is in worse shape than earlier reported, but still it is a miracle he survived.

Also, my husband spent the day with the Red Cross in south Caddo Parish surveying flooded homes and providing food to people who are “flooded” in. The homes in this area are accessible right now by boats only.

I fear the flooding in some areas will only get worse, as many rivers, streams, and creeks have not crested yet.

Halloween just isn’t a big deal for us since we have no young’uns living here and have had no trick or treaters in the last 5 years. The last thing we need is a bowl of candy sitting around for us to eat. And we would. We are not that strong.

This year of not having Thanksgiving or Christmas plans is an example of what’s going to happen occasionally since we share our children and grandchildren with other families. It often works out that we get one or the other and we have no problem exchanging Christmas gifts at Thanksgiving.

So, for me there is no big Thanksgiving celebration to get in the way of Christmas shopping. It will all have to be done in time to allow for shipping, so I might as well start now.

Especially, since I got a call this morning from one daughter who informed she’d just found the perfect Christmas gift for me and already purchased it. Another daughter sent out the Christmas/birthday wish list for a granddaughter today too. I really appreciate these lists because it’s hard to keep up with what they already have and neither set of grandparents or aunts and uncles want to send duplicate gifts.

Thus I have been wasting time perusing Amazon and other toy sellers. And you know what? I’m not that impressed by most of the items. Far too many of the toys for the 3-5 age range are not interactive, or would likely be boring after used once or twice. Far too many of the toys for 2 year olds are still listed as appropriate for 5 year olds.

Also, just how comfortable should a parent or grandparent be purchasing a puzzle of the U.S. that contains only 45 pieces??

I am having fun. I’ve found the absolute perfect gift for one grandchild and some pretty good ones for the others. Of course, I’ll keep looking because that’s my gift to myself! That, and trying to figure out just how much I can get away with in the way of musical instruments and chemistry sets.

Not all leaf blowers, just my neighbor’s. I hate the way she uses it and when she uses, but I especially hate how often and how long she uses it.

She rakes her yard with it 2 or 3 times a week. After she’s got several little rows of leaves and pine straw accumulated in two hours of blowing, her husband mows over them with their mulching bagging mower. In fact, he mows over them and the entire lawn three or four times.

I’ve seen her chase him, blowing one leaf for him to mulch.

This is only going to get worse now that fall is here. There will be new leaves and pine straw for them to chase and mulch every day. For hours. I’d hate the lawnmower too if it weren’t so much quieter than the leaf blower.

Anyway, so much for my plans to sit outside on this beautifully cool Saturday afternoon and read. Thank goodness our house has been “sound-proofed”.

UPDATE: On this wonderful Sunday afternoon, I thought I’d try reading outside again. My neighbor across the street fired up his leaf blower to clean off his driveway (a legitimate use, IMHO) and dadgummit he was joined by husband deciding to blow the leaves away from our house (another legitimate use.)

I sat outside for a few minutes waiting for the third leaf blower to join them so I could listen in three-part unharmony.

Oh well… maybe tomorrow. OOPS. It is supposed to rain tomorrow.

Having just awakened from one of my infamous 15 hour naps, I find I have nothing important to say. I know that surprises you.

Get used to it, OK? Even the President has mostly nothing important to say. What I lack is his ability to say nothing eloquently.

What could possibly be said meaningfully or eloquently about poor Meghan McCain’s twitter castastrophe… and why is everyone so upset that she has boobs? I have boobs. Some people are boobs. Boobs are ubiquitous, right? Then… the feminist side of me jumps up screaming why are boobs associated with foolishness and ignorance, er… I mean dumb and blonde?

Is there an actual association between hair color and boob size? Or is there an association between women of average or better intelligence who happen to be blonde and have big boobs who have “made hay” of a perceived link?

As a big-boobed blonde of above average IQ who has given birth to a redhead, blonde, and brunette of above average IQ (and I won’t comment either on the boob size or gender…) I gotta ask… does penis size correlate with IQ? Is smaller smarter?

If I remember correctly, women with bigger boobs have more trouble breastfeeding than to do women with smaller ones. In some way this makes a lot of sense since lower primates and mammals do not develop big boobs. So is this smaller breast size and greater ability to breastfeed a sign of greater evolution or a sign of the productivity of lesser evolution?

At what point in human evolution did the appearance and associated utility of mammary development become  important? If only nourishment of the next generation were considered, small breasts with large nipples would be the norm.

Where did humans go ‘wrong’ in their preference? And did males have anything to do with it?

And what are we to do with the incredibly stupid JP in Tangipahoa Parish who will not marry “mixed” race couples?  It’s fairly obvious that this man opposes only black/white marriages. How would he decide on an Asian/Caucasian marriage or on an Native American/Caucasian marriage? An Hispanic/Caucasian marriage?

While we are given little information on his opinions of “mixed race” marriages not of the black/white type, I am not reluctant to “guess” at his opinion of other mixed “race” types.

And… once again, I am compelled to remember my sharing of photos of grandchildren with a black woman. Her grandson had blue eyes and blonde hair while my granddaughter had black hair, near black eyes and “much darker than white” skin.

It’s rather ironic that my caucasian genes might lower the IQ of my Asian granddaughter and that the caucasian genes might raise the IQ of the black woman’s grandson… theoretically, at least…

And while we’re thinking about racism and it’s incomprehensible negative effects, do not forget those who think that Barack Obama’s black heritage is of a higher intelligence than those whose black heritage is through slavery.

There is a cognitive dissonance thing going on among those who think Obama’s blackness is more “pure” because he is descended from an “actual” African and those who think his “African” descendance is less pure than an American African descendant.

Frankly, as “post-racialist” I think it matters not at all. He chooses the background that most helps his agenda. Unfortunately, his lack of understanding of history confuses him in identifying his agenda.

While neo-neocon may be correct in her assessment of the strategy behind Obama’s war on Fox, I think it’s possible that she is over-thinking the whole thing.

I think Obama is declaring “war” on Fox because he knows he can’t keep “running” against Bush forever and this is the next best thing.

It’s a proxy war.

There is very little that Obama is “for” that does not meet with protest from the electorate. Actually, there is little that Obama is “for” unless one turns upside down language and accepts a negative for some as a positive for all.

Assistant Village Idiot has a short post on simplifying possessions. It’s really no more than a note of how one task has inspired him to another.

But for me, it’s an emotional issue. He speaks of getting rid of perhaps 50-100 books, and how his children will not curse him for this decision. He is implying they will be grateful.

I left a comment there, expressing the comfort that being surrounded by books gives me… and expressing the discomfort I’ve felt after having sold books I wish I still had. I acknowledge obliquely that I am a packrat.

Whether I am the blessed recipient or helpless victim of items beloved deceased individuals have put into my possession… I’m not sure. I certainly can’t quite keep up with them even if they are so small as snapshots. When the items are furniture, machines, keepsakes, collections… there’s a space problem as well.

Books are a special problem for me. I have, without doubt, absolutely worthless books on my numerous bookshelves and in piles in various not-so-out-of-the-way places.

My fondness, love, attraction, addiction to these printed and physical items might be related to my love/hate relationship with digital everything.

While I have physical prints of my children and grandchildren worthy of framing that have been framed and which I cherish, there are those snapshots not necessarily worthy of framing which mean so much to me. There are the “action” shots where personality shines, but the composition isn’t ‘artistic’ or even pleasing. Yet, the expression on the child’s or adult’s face is timeless and worthy of remembrance.

Sometimes that snapshot captures an essence that ‘art’ does not.

So… where am I going with this post? Mostly, it’s that my children and grandchildren are going to have to deal with a lot of junk to get a 3-dimensional image of who I am. And… that while it may not be easy, it will be – I hope – enlightening in some way.

Politically Correct Chemistry noted at Dustbury.

Althouse goes to the movies, so we don’t have to. Her thoughts on seeing “Capitalism: A Love Story”

Amusingly, Barack Obama is presented — outright — as a socialist. We see a roomful of people exulting over the election night announcement that Obama has won and, in context, we’re made to think that it’s the downtrodden people celebrating that socialism has arrived. I don’t think Obama really wants Michael Moore’s help.

I’m absolutely certain I should commune with nature more often. Or at least try it once.

My Datsun was a station wagon and it was red.  No A/C or radio with a stick shift. And in 1971, I could fill it up at 19 cents a gallon.

But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him And makes me poor indeed.

A (small?) moment in the history of the Internet.

If I had to guess at what “tortiloquy” meant, it would be something like a loving ode to the tortilla. However, that ain’t it. At Save The Words, I found it means “dishonest or immoral speech.” Remember that, the next time you hear a politician give a speech. The site takes a bit to load, but it is worth the wait.

Obviously, I need to contact Monongahela Mission Statements, Inc. right now, if not sooner.