July 2011 "From My Perspective"

[Trudy in Illinois]

July first. Where has the year gone? Here in central Illinois the corn is almost knee high due to the rain and heat we've had. Although I don't like the heat and humidity, I have to remind myself it is with that type of weather the delicious corn I love to eat is gotten. About 5 miles over the hill is the area where wonderful melons are grown in sandy soil which is part of the Illinois River's bottom millions of years ago. I usually have a few tomato plants out, but I've been too busy with going to the hospital to see my beloved who spent most of June there recovering from extreme exhaustion and weakness brought on by the esophageal cancer and treatments he's been having. On June 22 he came home, but that was short-lived of 5 days when he became exhausted again due to the chemotherapy. Back he went on June 28. We found out he had the beginning of pneumonia in the lower part of his left lung. He's slowly improving. Some of what I've learned from all this is to not EVER say outloud you think your life is boring. Someone hears that and WHAM!!!! you get unbored real fast. Prayers are being answered and nerves are being tested. My faith doesn't waver, though. From out of nowhere come reassurances that we are being prayed for by those we know and complete strangers.

God never gives you more than He knows you and HE can handle together. Leave Him out and everything goes haywire.

All the best to you,
Trudy

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July 2011 “From My Perspective”

Here is just another reminder of what our forefathers did to give us freedom. Now we have liberals who want to destroy it. Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary War. Another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants. Nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward. Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. Nelson quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt. Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid. Remember: freedom is never free! “God, bless America, land that I love.”

It is not how old you are, but how you are old. -Jules Renard, writer (1864-1910)

My 35 year old son loves to cook and his two children love to eat his meals. Pancakes are a specialty. Here is his account of one morning: “I guess God didn't want me to fix pancakes this morning. The electric griddle started smoking more than normal. Then, I melt the edge of the spatula spreading the oil because apparently the griddle is stuck on full blast, even though the temp control says it's not. So I get out the cast iron skillets. While warming up, one cracks. I look up, tell Him "I can take a hint." and shut everything down.” I mentioned to him he had a George Forman ultra griddle with 5 inserts. His reply, “Let’s see….George Forman vs. God. I believe God has this one.”

Have you ever seen these door mats: “Nice underwear”; “Come back with a warrant”; “Go away; come back with wine”; Beer gets you in the door”? Well, I got to thinking about making up some of my own. Here they are: "Well?"; "We don't speak English here, just Gaelic, Walloon, Basque, a bit of ancient Greek, and Norwegian"; "Go ahead and knock and we'll go ahead and shoot"; "We dress for Walmart, ONLY".

Some words you may not know and want to use:
Zarf: that sleeve on coffee cups to keep you from burning your hands.
Purlicue: the skin between the thumb and forefinger.
Punt: the indentation at the bottom of a wine bottle.
Phosphenes: the shooting lights you see when you close your eyes really...tight.
Harp: the small metal hoop that holds a lampshade in place.

This was the headline for the Peoria Journal Star one morning. I about convulsed. Keep in mind, Peoria is the home headquarters of Caterpillar Corporation. We call it CAT when talking about it. All I could think of was the potty box felines use, and there is going to be a huge sand pile for all the feral felines in the area, complete with a director/leader to tell them where to go. "For males, line up to the left; for females, line up to the right; Long-haired go to the north of the pile; short-haired, to the south of the pile." “City names new litter leader”

Mark Twain once said, "When angry, count to four; when very angry, swear." While swearing is considered uncouth and vulgar, it has its place and purpose. It helps provide an emotional release and clears the system. Isn't a verbal venting of emotions better than a physical confrontation? I have found that there are times when “Shucky darns” just doesn’t relieve me of my pain/stress/frustration/anger. One doesn't have to rely on those worn-out four-letter terms to inflict rude remarks on the offending party or situation. With a careful selection of words, it's possible to elevate insults to an art form. Here are a few to add to your vocabulary:

troglodyte (TROG-luh-dyt) noun
1. Someone who is brutish, reactionary, or primitive. 2. A cave dweller. 3. An animal that lives underground.
[From Latin troglodytae (cave dwellers), from Greek troglodytai, from trogle (hole) + dyein (to enter).]

puerile (PYOO-uhr-il, -uh-ryl, PYOOR-il, -yl) adjective 1. Immature; silly; childish. 2. Relating to childhood. [From Latin puer (boy). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pau-(few, little), which is also the source of paucity, few, foal, filly, pony, pullet, poultry, pupa, poor, pauper, poco, and Sanskrit putra (son).]

odoriferous (o-duh-RIF-uhr-uhs) adjective 1. Giving off an odor. 2. Morally offensive. [From Latin odor + -ferous (bearing), from ferre (to bear).]

jejune (ji-JOON) adjective 1. Dull; insipid. 2. Lacking maturity; juvenile. 3. Lacking in nutrition. [From Latin jejunus (empty, hungry, fasting, meager). A related word is jejunum, the middle part of the small intestine. It was so called because it was usually found empty after death.]

Are you having trouble with cats in your garden or spraying around the outside of your house? Try a mixture of citrus, vinegar and garlic. Mash a clove of garlic or some garlic powder and chop/grind citrus skin and put in vinegar. Let it soak for a few days. Strain and drain it into a squirt bottle and spray away. Most cats do NOT like the odor of these three things. Ants don’t like peppermint. So, if you have access to some live peppermint put it in hot water and let it cool. Strain and drain into a bottle and spray away. I use Dr. Bronner’s peppermint liquid soap. This can be found at Kroger’s in the health food section. It is most refreshing in the summer as a body wash and to wash my hands.

Sometimes I’ve read something which is long and arduous only to wonder what it really meant. I’m sure you have too. Wordiness loses some of those who are simple in thought and voice, and bores some of those who are more articulate and verbal.

If you can do no good, then do no harm. God whispers in your soul and speaks to your mind. Sometimes when you don’t have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at you. It is your choice: listen to the whisper or wait for the brick. I had just come out of the grocery store from shopping and was unloading the bags into the car. I kept hearing a yipping and looked to see from where it was coming. It was the black and red Blazer next to me. There in the front seat was a little white dog jumping back and forth, tongue hanging out, and clawing at the window. I looked to see if any windows were open, but only the sun roof was about 6”…no side ones for cross ventilation. It was very humid and the temperature was 85, putting the heat index around 90+. I called the store on my cell phone to alert them and ask to announce that a dog was captive in a very hot vehicle; there was no answer. I took down the license number and was getting ready to return to the store with the information. A woman approached the vehicle with keys in hand. I asked her if the vehicle was hers. She said it was. I told her she had endangered her dog by leaving it in the vehicle with no water. “I was only in there 5 minutes,” she whined. I told her the vehicle gets very hot quickly and that I was going to report her. She said that was stupid. I asked her if she’d like to sit in the vehicle for that amount of time as her dog had. She said, “No, I’d get too hot.” Too bad I didn’t have a brick.

The 3 Musketeers bar was originally split into three pieces with three different flavors: vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. When the other flavors became harder to come by during WWII, Mars decided to go all chocolate.

“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal; love leaves a memory no one can steal.” This was found on a tombstone in an Irish cemetery.

In 1991,Wayne Allwine, the voice ofMickey Mouse, married Russi Taylor, the voice of Minnie. Imagine the out-going message on their answering machine.

Guy knows how much I enjoy my computer. I’ve told him of all the advantages of having them and have encouraged him to get a portable one. He finally conceded and told me, “I’m going to get a lap top.” Very pleased I said, “Well, tell me all about it.” “Oh, she’s 30,” he said slyly. “Really? Better think twice, she’ll mess up your hard drive,” I retorted. For all we know, our blessings are not the fruit of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us. There I was is sitting at the bar staring at my drink when a large, trouble-making biker steps up next to me, grabs my drink and gulps it down in one swig. "Well, whatcha gonna do about it?" he says, menacingly, as I burst into tears. "Come on, man," the biker says, "I didn't think you'd CRY. I can`t stand to see a man crying." "This is the worst day of my life," I say. "I'm a complete failure. I was late to a meeting and my boss fired me. When I went to the parking lot, I found my car had been stolen and I don't have any insurance. I left my wallet in the cab I took home. I found my old lady in bed with the gardener, and then my dog bit me. So I came to this bar to work up the courage to put an end to it all, I buy a drink, I drop a capsule in and sit here watching the poison dissolve. Then you, you jack-ass, show up and drink the whole thing!But enough about me, how's your day going?"

Banging your head against the wall for 1 hour uses 150 calories. Who volunteers for these tests? An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain. I know some people like that. A starfish has no brain. I’ve known people like this, too. Turtles can breathe through their butts. ‘Gives a whole new definition to bad breath, huh?

Hugs will take-in so much and give-out so much. I always found security in the arms of my mother and father. When my children received my hugs, it was always a 2-armed hug; it gives the most security and strongest message. A one-armed hug (when you have 2 arms which work) gives a message, too; to me it is looking for a way out, a 1/2 commitment. A 2-armed hug tells me: "I'm here 100%, and I offer security as best as I can." It also tells, "I'm so glad you're here."

Intolerance of ambiguity is the mark of an authoritarian personality. -Theodor Adorno, philosopher and composer (1903-1969) What about intolerance of stupidity? One knows you just can’t fix it.

–Trudy Ripka, mother, wife, teacher, friend
All the best to you for this month, Trudy J

[mspete]

Trudy, as we have come to expect - another terrific writing! Thank you for doing this each month. I look forward to it.

[Trudy in Illinois]

You're very welcome, mspete.

The hubby is heading for the mending post. His white blood count is up to 4.5 today, which is very good. Tuesday was a very sad and terrifying day. His count was .9 (this is bad and dangerous), his pneumonia was non-responsive to any antibiotic, he was diagnosed with a large colon infection called "C-diff" which is easily gotten in hospitals when one's resistance is low, he kept having elevated temps, and one of his doctors told him he didn't know if Guy would make it. 2 infectious disease doctors were called in on the case. He was put on 5 different antibiotics and a drug which jolts the bone marrow to make more white blood cells. I was a mess, my blood pressure zoomed to 218/90. I called my daughter to come to the hospital immediately due to all this. Now he's getting better and intensive rehab may be in the picture soon. Please keep praying for him; he's not out of the woods, yet.
Trudy

[peio]

Thank you for the update. Keeping you and Guy in my prayers. Now, take care of YOU!!

[mspete]

Thanks for the update, Trudy. You and Guy are in my thoughts and prayers.

[nedayja]

Sounds like every possible obstacle has been there to hinder Guy's recovery....but he is still fighting! You need to take care of yourself now so that you can be his 'rock'! Good thoughts and prayers are still being sent your way.....from my house to yours!

[Trudy in Illinois]

Thank you so much for the prayers. I'm exhausted, but keep plugging away and going to see my beloved everyday. The tiling of the 15 x 25 family room needs to be executed before he gets home. Since the bills are arriving faster than I can eat cheesecake, I'm going to do this before we run out of money. "Resubmit to the insurance company" is going to be a very frequent order from me. I swear, I don't think they try hard enough to do that. Well, it will take a few years to pay them off, but "OH WELL!!!".

[mspete]

Trudy, some hospitals here offer "patient advocates" that help patients & their families with all sorts of medical situations. I think this includes helping with insurance claims, etc. Perhaps you can get some help from "senior help" groups that are very knowledgeable in this sort of stuff. The last few years I worked I was in Human Resources. My job included researching insurance claims, working with hospitals and/or doctors to determine what could be done to get maximum coverage. It was amazing how many claims were not processed correctly, not enough information or incorrect information was given to the insurance company. It is a long, tiresome, process. One advantage I had was that I was not personally involved and perhaps it was easier for me to deal with the problems. After I retired, I helped other retirees and their survivors with insurance questions and problems. I have now been retired for 18+ years and there are still a few former co-workers that call occasionally to get my opinion. Don't give up - fight for what is right! God bless.

[Trudy in Illinois]

Yesterday my dear cousin replied to my announcement of some of the blessings which have occurred for Guy. She said, "This has been one gargantuan battle, hasn't it? He's worth it." My reply was, "As far as him being worth it, he's worth every tear I've shed, every sigh I've breathed, every prayer been said, every smile given. How does one measure the worth of a loved one's life? Jesus did, and HE stretched out His arms for us."

Thank you, mspete, for the advice. I will delve into it when the energy returns. It ain't over, until the fat lady sings....and, I'm not even humming at this time.