RANDOM THOUGHTS AND A GRIPE OR TWO!

# 1

I won’t mention the brand of men’s underwear, but you all know it very well! Kudos go to them, as they came up with the idea of printing their label on the fabric, rather than using scratchy sewn in labels. Not having ever worn men’s undergarments, I can not say whether or not theirs were scratchy, however the fact is, most labels are sewn into the neck of garments. They are really a bane to most everyone. I have always hated them and usually cut the labels out, thereby losing information regarding laundering instructions, and what country of origin. (Which is another gripe altogether!) If they cannot print the label onto the garment, I have thought perhaps relocating the tags, into the inside of pockets. (Another gripe to be dealt with later!) Or to a side seam or hem, still available but not such a nuisance! Simple solution!

#2

Country of origin! …….. I did not notice, for some time, that almost everything I buy is “imported”. There was a time when the purchase of an imported something-or-other, had a certain amount of prestige and you did not care if the label scratched. It was enviable to have it and to show it off. I regret to say that now it is virtually  impossible to buy anything “Made In the U.S.A.,” much to my chagrin! I know! I know! There are so many reasons for this state of affairs, ranging from greed to politics, but still, I get a small thrill when I buy something that boasts of the fact that it was made here in America!

#3

Pockets! ……Now that everyone from first-graders to Great-Grandparents, have “cell phones“, it seems that all garments should have pockets. Also I quit carrying a purse when I go shopping, as I see no need in lugging one around when all I need is a credit card and identification, and of course, my cell phone, which would all fit into a small pocket! (On the news a while back they told of a woman whose purse had been stolen while she was shopping, and it held several gold coins she was carrying around, can you believe that?) Nowadays, women carry purses worth several hundred dollars, so the purse itself would be a worthwhile target for a purse-snatcher! Please, I beg you………..give me a pocket! I also would like all my dresses to button up the front, but that is another story!

#4 Random thought……….Interesting to note that a book you read as a child, is so much more enjoyable, and understandable, when read later in life. Ergo, you get so much more out of it! I noticed this when I read Swiss Family Robinson as a ten-year-old and then when I read it many years later, to my children! As a youngster, so much of the book was “over my head” and only after some years of experience, did I grasp the entire story! Now that I have a Kindle, I may go back and read some of those books like Alice in Wonderland, and Treasure Island, and see what I missed the first time around! Oh Yes, and Gulliver's Travels , which I later learned was a satire, and I would like to see if it is still “over my head”.

#5 Another Random thought!………..Some European countries have eating habits that differ from ours. For example, some do not transfer their fork from the left hand to the right hand after cutting off a morsel of food. That seems like a more efficient way of eating. So I decided to try that and, as I live alone, I would not be bothering anyone with this change…………….Tried it a few times………but, before I realized it, I had gone back to the American way! Hard to break a habit of 80 years. Plus, I did not really trust my left hand to go directly to my mouth and so was not entirely comfortable with the European method. (Now, their habit of driving on the WRONG side of the street, that is another matter entirely!)

English as a Second Language

A cousin of mine called the other night and we got to talking about our American language.  Bob is a retired teacher, and he knows about my interest in words.  We have that in common.  We were talking about words that have come into usage and other words that have gone out.  

 

Cell phones are new, and texting, as well as Blog, for that matter!  And app, what is that?  And now there are App stores, where I could buy apps if I knew what they were!  Running boards and rumble seats are no longer common.  As for phones, no one remembers when we had “party lines”.  Those were managed by the operator ringing long and short rings.  The phones rang at every home on any particular party line.  For example my ring might have been 2 longs and a short, while my neighbor had a short, a long and another short.  

 

What was fun, for us kids, was to wait till the neighbor answered her phone, and then we could pick up our “ear piece” and listen in on her conversation!   Everyone did it!  Also does anyone remember when we placed “person to person” calls when we called “long distance?”  And of course you did not call it unless it was an emergency of some sort.  Usually a death in the family. 

 

After talking to Bob, I got to thinking about our lingo and why it must be difficult for foreigners to deal with.  For one thing America, being the melting pot that it is, has a little bit of other languages thrown in with our English.  Many Indian and Spanish words are very much used.  When you throw in brogues, like Brooklynese, and Southern drawls, you really begin to have problems.

 

And then, have you ever thought of how many words sound the same, but mean entirely different things. Great-grate, hale-hail, bough-bow, etc.! Also, we can have several words for one item.

 

Some are spelled the same, but are pronounced differently.  "I read it, but I will read it again"!

I did get off the subject didn’t I?  My mind wanders a bit, or rather it gets to dwelling too long on one subject, language in this case!

 

Although, when I went to school, we had the strictest teachers regarding our enunciation that, for years, I would pronounce the “ing” and not shorten to “en” on words like something or nothing.  I have learned to relax a bit.  I have even learned to like slang.  Those same teachers drilled it into our heads that slang was the ruination of our language.  But, I ask you, how could you say “That child had me climbing the wall”, in a more colorful way?  Slang is a part of our language, like it or not. 

 

Here in the U.S.A. our language has changed and evolved, over a period of time.  So I ask you, is it just me or does everyone have this problem?  The other day I was watching a cooking show on TV.  The hostess of the show, a Chinese girl, had as her guest an English woman.  They both spoke perfect “King’s English” and I could hardly understand a word they were saying!  For the first time in my life it occurred to me that English is actually a foreign language!

Some Things I Don’t Understand

September the 8th, in Texas, we had an abundance of rain, wind gusts and even some tornadoes touched down in the area, briefly.  All the local stations carried the story for a few hours.  I was watching one channel where a young woman was standing out in the wind and rain and trying to hold an umbrella in one hand and her microphone in the other, in order to tell us about the weather!

I don’t know if it is just me, or if there might be a large group of us who think this is a most ridiculous  thing to do.  Putting people in harms way or at least into a miserable situation, in order to fill us in on a weather situation. 

I remember one time, a reporter was standing in front of the White House, in below freezing conditions.  Her lips got so cold she could hardly speak.  Why?  I would not have cared if they had simply placed her before a picture of the White House.  In fact it would have been a lot less distracting.

Another thing that disturbs me is the fact that when we have a disaster like an earthquake or a  hurricane, there are hundreds of cameras and news people rushed to the scene.  They are evacuating the local citizens and here come a caravan of news people!  Does not make sense to me.

In the all over scheme of things, this is no really big thing, I suppose, but I just want to vent about it, because I can.  It is MY Blog, you know!

Is There A Nurse In The House?

I read this on the Internet.  Don’t know if it is true or not, however I would not be at all surprised! 

 

“ERRORS BY DOCTORS, DRUGGISTS AND HOSPITALS ARE NOW AMERICA’S FOURTH LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH!”

 

I do know that my experience with the Medical Profession has been somewhat less than desirable.  I have not been hospitalized, in the last few years, without problems.  Some of those problems could have been devastating.  A good many were lack of care.  Once when an intravenous solution was put in my arm and was to remain there all night, my arm was not secured to a board, and so, during the night, when the needle came out of the vein, I was asleep and for a while did not notice.  When I did awaken, my arm was about the size of a football.

 

On another occasion, the attendant who was supposed to give me my medicine, did not, as he did not want to wake me.  Duh!  By the time I got him back to my room, I was about an hour off schedule.  Also, I could not call for the nurse as my buzzer was not plugged in.  I had to use the phone and call the hospital and get the nurses station on my floor, in order to talk to a nurse. 

 

My son came very close to dying when a Dr. prescribed an antibiotic that shut down his ability to produce white blood cells.  My son was extremely ill, but could not be taken to a hospital for fear of picking up something there that would kill him, since he could not fight off infection.  He came very near death and it was such a scary time for us.

 

My Mother died as a result of a Dr. puncturing her intestine and peritonitis killed her.  Also, as she was in intensive care, we were not allowed in to see her except every two hours.  When I was allowed to go in, the monitor read that her temperature was 107 degrees.  The monitor had not sounded an alarm.  No idea how long she had been like that!  I called the nurse and we packed her in ice to lower her temperature, but, of course, the damage had been done. Had she survived, I doubt she would have been mentally normal again.

 

The one exception has been Nurses. (With the exception of the Nurse in my Mother’s case.)

Most Nurses that I have come in contact with, have benefited me in so many ways.  A Nurse taught me to do a breathing exercise!  A Nurse developed a set of exercises that has helped me to regain some of my stamina and improved my breathing!  A Nurse instructed me regarding the timing and staggering of my medication, which enables me to even cut back on some, with no ill effects.  Doing a lot better now, as a result of listening to those Nurses! 

 

Often wonder if the Nurse tries to tell their Dr. about these good results, and if he looks down on her as if she were intruding onto sacred ground.  I worked for a Dr. years ago, and he told me the reason he would not hire an RN to assist him, was because they got to thinking they knew as much he did about some matter………….”  How dare them, try to help!  After all, it is very offensive to a Dr. to be advised of anything from the underlings below His pedestal!

Mental Challenge!

Free Cell

Each Morning, when I go to my computer, the first thing I do is play “Free Cell.”  I am constantly impressed by the mentality of the person or persons who came up with this game.  Now, it seems to be a game of “Solitaire!  But, that is not really the way I look at it.  To me, it is as simple or as complicated as rearranging a lot of furniture in a very small room!  You move the coffee table here so, you can pull the sofa away from the wall, and then the end tables must be shoved behind the sofa in order to make room for the arm chair, etc.  You see what I mean?

 

So far, I have not found one game that could not be solved.  Some are extremely difficult and so, on occasion, I will quit the game out of lack of time, or accidentally close the game improperly.  When you do that, it counts as a loss.  Once, long ago, I completed 35 games in a row.  My best record so far.

 

My point, about mentioning this game, is to tell you that this is how I check my mental sharpness for the day ahead.  Some days, when I really have to struggle with the game, and click onto “undo” several times, and sometimes go all the way back to the beginning of the game and start over from there, that is when I realize that this would not be a good day to try to balance my check book! 

 

There are days when I can solve the games without effort.  I tend to gloat, to myself of course, and am so proud of myself that, I take on other mental tasks.  I used to work the “New York Times Crossword Puzzle.  I especially loved the Sunday one.  I quit doing that when I quit taking the paper.  Also, my eyes are not what they used to be.  That used to be my mental check!  Now it is “Free Cell. 

 

I suppose that, as long as I can work this game, I think I am OK!  I hope I am not deluding myself.  Meanwhile it is good entertainment and I highly recommend it to everyone!

Wrong Number... Please!

Since, at my age, I am not doing anything that is very interesting, when someone calls and asks me what I am doing, I decided to come up with a list of things for answering that question. 

 

For instance, restringing my tennis racquet, or helping Hillary plan Chelsea’s wedding, repacking my parachute!  You get the picture!  Silly stuff. 

 

This morning a lady called and instead of saying “Hello“ she asked what I was doing, so I told her that I was counting the number of grains of salt in my salt shaker!  When she asked why in the world would I do that, I realized I did not recognize the voice on the other end of this call.  I said, “I’ll bet you have a wrong number.” And she asked me if I was Wanda, and I assured her she did, indeed, have a wrong number.  She said “Well I am sorry, but can I call you again sometime?  You sound like fun.”  That made me chuckle.  I hope she does call again, as she sounded like someone who would appreciate my weird sense of humor!

 

After I hung up, I got to thinking about how things were 50 or 60 years ago when our town was much smaller.  In those days when you got a wrong number it was always someone you knew, and you could chat for a half hour!   In those days I would have recognized the voice immediately and naturally, they would have known who I was as soon as I answered the phone, because it took a while for me to loose my California accent. 

 

Things do change!

Canning Memories!

My Grandmother died when my Mother was only 10 years old.  Mother had to become the cook and housekeeper for my Grandfather and a younger brother.  There were a couple of neighbor ladies who helped her some, that is, with advice and what ever they could contribute as they both had large families to care for.  Mother never developed into a great cook, however, she did learn from those friends, to excel in one area. She loved to do the canning.

After we became homeowners, in California, around 1936, we had 5 acres of land with the house and barn.  The first thing Dad did was put in a garden.  Mother started canning again.  And one year she even won a blue ribbon for her green beans at the county fair.  One of my jobs was to clean and help sterilize the fruit jars. I doubt that I thought it was great fun to help with that chore, at the time! 

 

After I married, it happened, the man I married loved gardening. We almost always had a large garden and so we started canning.  Now, you may not think this would become a very special enterprise, but it did.  He always loved to help me and we would sit together and snap beans or what ever, and we would reminisce about when we were kids and helping the elders with their canning.  I would tell him about crawling under the house, where the jars were stored, and bringing them into the kitchen to clean.  He told me about neighbors gathering each year to can corn.  His job was to turn the crank on the apparatus that sealed the lids onto the tin cans, that they used.  

 

Hmmm, the word canning came, I am sure, from the fact that they used cans in those early days and the term did not change after we started using mostly jars.  You wouldn’t say “jarring” would you?

 

Any way, it was a very companionable pastime and I loved that.  Often my Mother would come and help and it was very pleasant. 

 

Later we bought a large food freezer and began freezing a lot of our produce, especially fruit.  We did not grow peaches, but every July we would go to Montague County and buy them.  One year, with the help of Mother and Dad and an Aunt and Uncle, and whoever else we could find, we put up 5 bushels of peaches. What a mess that was in our tiny little kitchen and what fun it was.  And, how my Husband loved peaches!  Often he would not even wait till they were thawed, before starting to eat them.  Good memories, often recalled now that I no longer have those dear people with me. 

Can you imagine, though, what a happy day it was, recently, when my Daughter called and asked if I would like to help her put up some peaches. What do you think my answer was?

Connections

I became interested in genealogy around 1995, and what was most interesting to me, was the fact that there were so many real connections, links, some of which covered several decades even! You probably can come up with some of your own, if you start thinking about it.

 

A Doctor and his wife, Joe and Betty, retired and moved from Dallas to our small town.  Everyone immediately loved them and we were happy to have them join our group of friends. 

 

It turned out Joe had been my Daughter-in-Law’s pediatrician when she was a baby!

 

He was in the Navy during WW2, and was on the ship that retrieved George Ray Tweed from the Island of Guam! My uncle, by marriage!

 

We all went to New Mexico to hunt Antelope, on a ranch owned by Hugh and Naomi Holland.  Joe and Naomi got to talking one evening and discovered that she had been a nurse to one of his associates, years before!

 

More links.

 

Naomi mentioned that she had grown up in Pampa, Texas.  My husband told her that he had relatives in Pampa.  It turned out that one of his cousins was her best friend in High school!  Another of his cousins owned an Appliance Store in Pampa. Though we did not know it at the time, when we visited his store, I had a cousin who was working for him……I did not learn of her existence until years later when I was well into genealogy! 

 

There were so many of this sort of connections that I found and I was constantly amazed.

 

Was it Kevin Bacon who said we are all only 6 degrees removed from one another? 

By the way............

My daughter is closer then 6 degrees removed from Kevin Bacon! How about that?

The Ghost of Guam

I was 11 years old when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor!  We had just come through a terrible depression, and the country was just beginning to recover from that.  Now we were at War!

 

Several years before the war we had a naval station near our town and the young sailors were often around.  My Father’s sister, Mary, had recently divorced and she and her young son were living with us when she met and started dating a naval radioman named George Ray Tweed.  When George came to our house he was always so patient with us children.  Many times he would sit down in front of our big console radio and take down the messages for us, that came over the radio in Morse Code.  We all liked him and ultimately he and Aunt Mary were married.  He had been given his shipping orders and was to leave for Guam and could take his family with him.  I don’t know how long they were together in Guam, several years though, as they had a baby boy while Mary was over there.  I don’t remember how old he was when the Navy began evacuating civilians from Guam.  I know Mary did not want to leave, but had no choice in the matter.  

 

It was not too long after this that the Pearl Harbor bombing occurred.  I was very young, but I began to wonder if it was really the surprise everyone seemed to think it was.  Why else would they suddenly make the families of the servicemen come home?

 

I believe the Japanese took Guam the next day.  They came ashore and took all the military men prisoners. Some few escaped capture that day, and George Ray Tweed was one of them! 

 

Uncle Ray was the only one who managed to avoid capture, and with help from some of his friends, the natives, he was able to survive the balance of the war.  The Japanese knew of his escape and they spent a lot of time, looking for him.  He said that there were times when he was hidden in the woods and they came within a few feet of him.  At one point he was hidden, for a while, in a leprosy hospital.  It nearly broke his heart when he learned that several of those friends who helped hide him, were beheaded by the Japanese. After he found out about the harsh treatment given to his friends, he decided that he could no longer put their lives in jeopardy and he hid out in a hard to get to cave until the war was almost over.  The cave was well hidden and the owner of the land would bring him food and supplies as often as he could.  He spent the rest of the time in isolation.  I read once that he had a “Readers Digest” tucked in his back pocket when he escaped.  He said that he had managed to keep it, and while he was in the cave, he would read aloud from it, in order to keep his voice active.

 

From his high perch, he was able to see the American fleet when it approached.  As I understand it, he was able to send a signal to them, and after they confirmed that he was really an American, he was able to help in the recapture of Guam, because of his knowledge of the island.   Guam is a very small Island and Tweed knew it well.

 

He became quite famous after the war and a movie and a couple of books were written about him. When he returned home there was a huge parade in Los Angeles, given in his honor.  I remember that his hair had turned completely white during his ordeal.

For Two Cents I'D. . .

I pay almost all of my bills through the bank…..Therefore when I receive a notice of an account that is due, and in the notice is a return envelope for payment, although plainly printed on the statement are the words “Do not pay, automatic withdrawal from your bank account” I think, why!  Why do they always include a return envelope?

 

Yesterday I received a check from Medicare. Seems they owed me 1 cent…..  So, get this, the check for 1 cent arrived by mail with a first class potage, presort rate, of .35 cents. So it cost Medicare .35 cents to send me that check.

 

And I’m thinking, is anyone out there THINKING?

 

I am trying to decide whether to cash the check or frame it.  NO, neither one.  I am posting it on my refrigerator to show people as a conversation piece!

Toilet Tissue and Broccoli

Several years ago I was walking down the aisle of the local grocery store when I met an older lady.  She had been a teacher and was several years into her retirement.  She was holding a regular small box of Jell-O and examining it very closely.  When she saw me she said “Look at this, they have changed the size!  Now it is this tiny little box.  What do you think of that?”  What I thought was, that this dear old woman was loosing her marbles.  A couple of years later she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s!

I recently had occasion to doubt my own sanity.  Although once, I heard a Doctor say, that if you think you are going crazy you are probably OK, people who really are, rarely know it.

Back to my concern and why I was worried for a few minutes.  I have been buying the same brand of toilet tissue for several years.  I always buy the 12 roll pack.  Well one day I pulled a roll out of the package.  It looked strange to me!  By George, it looked smaller, and I thought to my self “Oh oh“ in spite of what that Dr. had said, “I must be loosing it!”  But then I got over the shock, and pulled another roll from the package and sure enough they were not the same size.  The regular roll was about ¾ of an inch wider.  I had to laugh out of sheer relief until I realized this was not a laughing matter.  Indeed what is happening to the economy of the USA has caused manufacturers to figure out ways to cut expenses and increase their profits.  I had to wonder how much money was saved, (adding to their profits) by this simple little deceit. 

A few day later, I was making a broccoli casserole, and the recipe called for a 16 oz. bag of frozen broccoli. After I opened the bag, I happened to glance at the package and it indicated that the contents were only 14 ounces.  Hmm!  I will have to research this.  Am I paying the same price for the 14oz. size as I had been paying for the 16 oz. bag?  So, now I must check more closely while shopping so I can determine whether or not I am getting my money’s worth!  Drat!  It’s no big thing, I guess, but you know what, I feel a little bit cheated about the toilet tissue and now the broccoli. Though, I will try not to loose my mind over it!

Tamper proof, or use proof?

Who would have dreamed that those people who put poison into pain reliever capsules and

proceeded to place the boxes back on the store shelf, would create a whole new industry? Yes!

The tamper proof package became a booming business. 

 

My life had already been complicated by the “child proof” packaging, to the extent that I had to find someone to open the medicine bottles for me. Sometimes I had to rely on one of my children for that. And now, I really have a hard time with the “tamper proof” packages. However, I understand the need to protect the public! I really do! But I have a question for manufacturers regarding a lot of this new system. For example, why do spools of thread or flashlight batteries need those heavy gauge plastic packages? No one will ever poison them and furthermore, no one will be ingesting them. 

 

I live alone now and there are times when I am entirely helpless when it comes to opening some products. Also, my kitchen must have a pair of scissors and needle nose pliers and some very sharp knives or I could not survive. I use those items for the easier to open items. But there are some containers that still will not give up their contents.

 

I must admit, part of the blame is mine. I got old! Just not as strong as I was at 70! So the other day, I could not open a bottle after trying all my tricks and all my tools.  Probably worked for about an hour, off and on. I had to wait until my neighbor came home from work so he could do it for me. I handed him the bottle and in about a quarter of a second he handed it back to me with the lid loosened. 

 

I am now ready for someone to start a whole new industry! Packaging products exclusively for octogenarians!