Apropos of Nothing v.10

LOL sorry. Eastern Star is the female version of The Masons. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Me either. I like to play but not watch.

Baylor is Texas' answer to the Ivy League. At least they think it is. And, yes, Eastern Start is the female version of the Mason's. DAR is Daughter's of the American Republic. You have to have some kind of hoighty toighty lineage in order to join, or at least you used to. I'm much too American for that. Jan, funny thing is there WAS no legacy in my family! Unless you want to count dirt farming or being a minister or college professor of dead languages or something on that order. It's just my mother always WISHED there had been some kind of 'legacy' thingy, because both sides of my parents families were dirt poor. I guess that was her own version of 'could have done better'. Poor mom. Never a family legacy, and then a daughter who never owned a pair of white gloves in her life. All my gloves are covered in dirt.

Here is my version of 'I could have done better...'. I always consider that to be only the beginning of the statement. In my head, it goes like this: 'I could have done better, but why would I have wanted to?' or 'I could have done better, but who cares?' or even 'I......better, but it was good enough the way it was. Onward.' In my finer moments it's 'I might have done better, and maybe there are people who thought I should have. If they'd like to come on over and take charge, I'll gladly move aside and do something more interesting while they take the responsibility off of my shoulders. ' I think I like that one best. There are so many suitable ways to finish that sentence.

Pix, DAR = daugters of the American revolution, not republic (LOL!) Maybe in Russia! To join all you need is proof that an ancester served in this war. Not easy to do but nothing "hoighty toighty " about this group. My Mom is an active member and helps others get the proper documentation together to join. Filling out the paper work is a pain in the rear..but for those who love that kind of thing,i guess it is worth the effort. Not my cup of tea although it would be easy now for me to join since my Mom did all the neccesary leg work. Maybe one day if I ever need something to do!

The wheels on this recycle greens bin is as tall as sweetpea.

Oh, right. Revolution! I forgot. Well, at least it starts with the same two letters! I get words confused all the time lately. Hmm. I don't think we qualify either way. Well, maybe we would, but I wouldn't know.

What a cutie that Sweetpea is! Great name for a little dog like that.

Apropos of nothing, what a hailstorm we just had! Sheesh!

That storm hit us too! With millions of teeny-tiny hail balls. It was like death by kitten.

Sweetpea is a cutie. I heard it was you had to have proof your family was here before the Revolutionary War. My mom's sister was in it.

I was in the DAR for years.

http://www.dar.org/natsociety/content.cfm?ID=145&hd=n&FO=Y

The consensus is: Get rid of the #%*# report cards, as all they do is cause misery for all, kids, parents and teachers. I'd far rather have several days to meet personally with each family to share with them ways they can help their child learn. I would even go in on the weekend to do it if I did not have to fill out grades and write these blurbs which cannot really show the learning life of a young child. Last year, at least I was provided with one full day to have parent conferences and I did back-to-back 20 minute sessions all day long to fit everybody in. Still had to write the report cards though, drat.

I would love 'no report cards'! It's more stressful on the parents than it is on the kids after awhile. Alas, I fear it may be a tradition that is hard to kill.

'Death by kitten' LOL!

Oh, yes, MHF - report cards out! Stamped and approved!

"death by kitten", agreed-LOL!

It has been stamped and approved, sooooo Let it be done. Yay!!!

What a word picture - 'death by kitten'. Was anything damaged?

I rushed out with an umbrella and put a couple of trays of winter sown seedlings back undercover. Got to those in time. The seed bed lay unprotected. Only the strong survive, Jan. Only the strong. We shall see. I fear the icy cold was more damaging to new growth than the kitten hail pretended to be.

We have had hard rain and strong hail in Portland. Lots of plant damage and trees down. One woman in the Portland Nursery parking lot made the mistake of looking skyward and was hit in the eye by hail.

My parents gave me a Portland Nursery gift certificate - the best gift they have ever given me! I'm going to buy a Deodar Cedar and a few other things.

Strong hail? Wow, totally missed me, but it sure has been raining.

Same here on the rain. Mom had a dentist appt. this morning which I called and they were glad to change it for her. Hopefully it will be dry on Thurs. They are very accommodating to her. After all they probably don't have many 90 yr olds who still come to the dentist.

Jan you guys are getting hit hard. I was watching the news about Rhode Island this morning and all the flooding there. Of course, North Dakota has been watching the Red River forever. And weren't there 10 tornadoes in North Carolina earlier this week?

I don't think I even had hail here - it was both north and south of me. I've been pretty lucky.

It sure is cuckoo!!! Where i live is pretty flat, so we don't get the bad flooding. But, I had to slog through some big puddles to get to the parsley I needed for dinner. Glad my gardens are a little raised. I need to lift the paths in one though.

Jan, my Mom is 92 and I still take her to the dentist. Perhaps we should compare notes via D-mail. I will never forget when I first moved her here from MN and took her to a local dentist. She was in her early 80's at the time and they had a "great plan" for her dental health that amounted to over $2000. Needless to say, we never went back to that dentist. I am now at a quandry as to how much they should do, or if it would be just as well to let nature take its course, with the exception of regular cleaning.

As an aside, I am looking for a new dentist for myself also, and wonder how to go about it?

It's still rainy but not much at all. The hail is gone and the sun actually peeked out for about 10 minutes today. The forecast was for thunder but I certainly didn't experience any. It's just wet wet wet.

Jan, I hope you get some nice weather soon!

Ooohhh - the dentist. I have had that on my to-do list for the past 6 months. Along with a colonoscopy. Can't decide which one I dislike the most.

Thanks, Portland.

Also, thanks for reminding me I need to call for my colonoscopy. I had one 2 years ago and they found a few polyps which were removed, so I need to get this done. I had no problems with it. Just the prep the day before. Won't plan on doing anything away from the house that day. :) BTW , the Dr's. name is Dr. Butt ( I kid you not) I actually chose him because of his name. DH needs one this year also. Last time he had it done w/o any anesthesia cuz he didn't want to lose a whole day. Not me. - knock me out.

$2k sounds like nothing for dental care. Isn't a crown at least $1,000 these days? I think I've paid up to $1,200.

That's right - knock me out! The prep is the worst part. Hee hee Dr Butt. Poor guy! My ex-husband did his residency with a guy named Dr Panic.

LOL

Yes, crowns are expensive. I had 2 done in '73. Hope they last a LONG time. So far, so good.

I have absolutely no plans to ever have a colonoscopy. Or a mammogram, for that matter.

Just because a screening test exists doesn't mean I have to accede to it.

It's like my constitutional right to not vote if I'm not happy with the choices.

Yep, Judi and Jan, you're right. The prep is the worst part. I don't even remember much about the doctor at all. :-)

Sharon, you might make a list of "must haves" and then use them to "interview" the office and the dentist. I'll bet some retirement homes or assisted living places might have some doctors to recommend.

Joey and I just went to a new dentist this year, here in Bonney Lake. His name is Dr. Ho, across from Fred Meyer's. He is very articulate, and very gentle and caring.

My DH had no dental care as a child because his family had no resources for it, and we have had a recent quote of 12,000 to fix up his teeth. We aren't quite sure what to do about it, have asked them how much it would be to fix just one problem at a time, and found if you do it that way it costs twice as much. Very frustrating.

Holly, I'd get a second opinion on that. I can see that they want to do it all at once to achieve efficiencies, but that have to consider the effect on the patient - that's the point of medicine. Cost a little more, yes. But twice as much? I'd be shocked, too.

I'd get a second opinion, and a third opinion.......and an itemized list of costs from the first dentist that illustrates why it would be more expensive to fix one problem at a time. Your DH must be frustrated! Poor guy.

Summerkid, you may want to rethink that -- when my husband had his colonoscopy he was pretty loopy when I picked him up and all he remembered was the girls were pretty and they gave him cookies. Not so bad.

No, certainly you have the right to refuse screening tests. (Were your hands on your hips when you made that post, SK?) Maybe breast and colon cancer don't run in your family. I don't worry about breast cancer for myself, but I get my colonoscopy every few years (yes, the prep is the worst!) Colon cancer runs in my family. Also, my MIL's dear husband died of colon cancer. There was no excuse for that unless he just plain wanted to check out early. His father and brother had both died of it. One would THINK that he could have been screened for it so easily. And she would not be living alone today if he had done so. But, let's see, there must be, oh, about at least 200 screening tests that I don't get on a regular basis. Maybe more.

If I have to choose between a colonoscopy and the dentist, I'll take the dentist every time. My dentist is so nice. Plus, he has 'gas'. It's worth it just for the gas and a nice nap in the chair. Keeps me going every 6 months or so for my checkup.

MHF, seems to me that it used to be possible to get some dental stuff done at the UW dental school clinic. Maybe that would be worth looking into as well?

Pixy, you should have warned me - 'plus, he has 'gas' I 'm glad I didn't have a sip of coffee in my mouth cuz I busted up laughing. I don't know if ours does or not.

Good idea on a dental school. They are well supervised.

According to a study at Cornell, only 5 - 7 percent of all breast cancer patients have a family history. I have no family history and I don't worry about breast cancer, but wow - I get regular mammograms on my birthday, and I never miss one. Colon cancer is a major complication of celiac disease so I get a regular colonoscopy as well. I don't like living on the edge.

I need a dentist with gas!

Judi, you took the words right out of my mouth. I have at least 5 friends who have had breast cancer detected early because of mammograms. None of those people had breast cancer in their families and all were shocked and surprised at the diagnosis. Knowing that, I think it's a pretty darned impressive tool that we have at our disposal and I'm grateful that it's available to me.

I shudder to think of how many women in the generations before us just died quietly of breast cancer without ever having gotten a diagnosis.

Yup, I also have a few friends who are battling breast cancer and have no family history. I also have a few friends who died from breast cancer and had no family history. I prefer to take advantage of all that science has to offer!

And now I wish mother nature would offer up a bit of sunshine so we could all sit in our gardens and feel the warmth. Mmmm...a book, a glass of wine, the sun, and a dog at your feet.

Judi, Mother Nature must be listening!! We have sunshine and dry, not so warm at 39 but fabulous for garden. Thank you for wishing, hope you get to enjoy some of this as well.