Susan's Scribblings the Blog

Author Archives: kayewer

• Fulfilling Month

  Posted at 3:32 pm by kayewer, on August 2, 2025

  Of all the months in the year, August seems to be the one with the most mixed messages to offer in the course of its 31 days. There are no official federal holidays in August in the US, which means no possible three-day weekends or breaks in the workweek. It’s the last month in the period measuring two thirds through the calendar year. It’s named for the emperor Augustus, who conquered Egypt during this time period, formerly known as Sextilis (the sixth month in the Roman calendar, until Julius Caesar invented the Julian calendar and mixed things up in 46 BC); the new name was bestowed in 8 BC.

  Schools begin preparations for the year, with colleges intaking freshmen and others starting early for the upcoming elementary and high school students. This means that some vacations end before Labor Day. However, no vacation is complete without celebratory foods, and August has quite a list of them, including Family Meals Month. Dippin’ Dots are an interesting item on the monthly roster, which includes catfish, goat cheese, peaches, panini and sandwiches. And yes, the two are recognized separately, even though one is a form of the other.

  Remember, I said it’s a mixed message month. And the food keeps coming.

  Today, the first Saturday in August, is Mead Day, when folks should consider brews of all kinds. Tomorrow, the first Sunday, is Friendship Day. This means you should be careful not to be hung over and grumpy after overindulging on Mead Day. If, by some misfortune, you do something while grumpy from too much libation, it’s also International Forgiveness Day, which gives you the chance to nab the person you’ve wronged on the way out of Sunday services. If it doesn’t work out, find a new friend, perhaps.

  The first Tuesday in the US is National Night Out, when people are supposed to spend some time post-sundown sitting outside and being visible to one’s neighbors. Unfortunately homebuilding has not included front porches in new construction, unless you’re in the South where it’s expected or even somewhat understood to be mandatory. Don’t forget bug spray.

  Then, if you missed out on Mead Day, the first Friday is an excuse to make up for it, on International Beer Day. Just be careful not to freak out if you see somebody in greasepaint and a colorful costume, because the first seven days in August include the observance of International Clown Week. Seems appropriate more than a mixed message, though, considering the behaviors of some folks when they’ve had a sip too much recently.

  August 13 and 14 celebrate filet mignon and Creamsicles, respectively. August 15 celebrates Lemon Meringue Pie Day, followed by days devoted to rum (16) and vanilla custard (17), potatoes (19), peaches (which get their own day and month) along with pecan tortes for some reason, on the same day (22). If you want to live a 600 lb. life, follow up with these lauded foods on their respective August dates: waffles (24), banana splits and whiskey sours (25), bananas by themselves along with a day for the baked custard pots de creme (27), cherry turnovers (28),chop suey (29), and trail mix (31).

  Save room for a sip of water afterward.

  August may be the best month to undertake a new habit (or break an old one), start or finish a project you’ve neglected all year, or simply prepare for the last four months to come barreling toward us before you know it. That’s what August really is; the clubhouse turn in the year’s race. Try to make the most of it.

  And have a banana split.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged august, family, food, life, recipe, travel

• Call It a Disease

  Posted at 9:22 pm by kayewer, on July 26, 2025

  I don’t know how many people have noticed this, but in the past few decades, we have learned the names of countless medical conditions by virtue of online, broadcast and print media. As a little girl growing up in the last half of the 20th Century, I wasn’t bombarded with terms such as tardive dyskinesia, peyronie’s disease, ADHD, wet macular degeneration, thyroid eye disease or rheumatoid arthritis. Advertisements on commercials use pleasant scenes of folks supposedly cured or persons with such ailments whose symptoms are under control, all the while bringing up the side effects and warnings that come with treatment (often headache, diarrhea or abdominal pain). Some even set their ads to happy musical tunes, such as a popular clip about “lowering my A1C” with a diabetic medication.

  One of the biggest causes of common conditions among Americans today is obesity. An estimated 41.9% of adults are considered in an unhealthy overweight condition, according to a Forbes Health article with data gathered by the CDC. Being overweight places stress on the body and leads to other conditions such as bone and joint problems, diabetes, kidney and heart disease, and a shortened lifespan.

  However, obesity has not been classified as an actual disease. It is treated instead as a human frailty which brings on unwanted results, similar to drinking or using tobacco. However, people must eat, and it seems that the foods we are consuming in the US are more processed than ever before, likely because the more unreal ingredients there are in the foods, the more profits can be made for those endowed with golden parachute incentives.

  In the past I’ve brought up the discovery of chlormequat, a chemical introduced into wheat and oat plants to make the sheafs stand up taller for the machinery to cut it better; American cereal companies are allowed to import grains from other places where the chemical is used, though it’s banned in food products here. It has been found to have potential side effects because it interacts with human cells, and rats have experienced health issues when tested.

  Sugar, both natural and artificial, seems to be our common enemy, yet it is being sneaked into our food because it makes things taste better. Supposedly. The truth is that sugar can act as a “feel good” dopamine trigger and encourage overindulging in what is not good for us. That last bag of chips you opened and finished in an hour is one such example, and the ketchup and salad dressing you generously heaped onto your salad plate are two more. Check the ingredient panel, and don’t be surprised to find sugar there. The rule is: the closer to the beginning of the ingredient list sugar appears, the more of it there is in the serving.

  But back to obesity being called a disease. Our forefathers and ancestors were not all perfectly sized, either. Ben Franklin has been portrayed as somewhat broad in the body, and ancient figures such as Bacchus have been cartooned as rotund overeaters. Older woman have often been prone to becoming more pillowy in the middle as they age, but the problem has been trickling down to much younger persons, and from all types of backgrounds.

  The argument that obesity does not warrant aggressive treatment with medications or surgery unless other conditions such as diabetes are present, is cheating patients out of a chance to regain their best physical selves. The sympathetic side of the argument indicates that often obese people are not at fault for their condition, but have become subject to their ancestry, genetics, environment, and a medical community that doesn’t seem equipped to care much about the problem. Follow any severely obese person in the media, and you may see somebody who orders a lot of takeout or prefers chips over carrots, but there is also the financial side of things. Some people are not within ten miles of a simple supermarket with affordable produce and healthier choices; their closest food source may be at best a takeout joint or bodega, and at worst the nearest quick mart.

  Vegetables are too often consigned to landfills instead of being made available to people who could cook and serve them at the dinner table. We waste an estimated 60 million tons of food each year, according to the FDA, about 325 pounds of unused food per person.

  There is a cause and solution to the problem of obesity. Starting by classifying it as a disease may start treatments for people who need help, but pinpointing the cause of the surge in fat in America is another one our medical community may be loath to explore. It’s better to sing about the treatments than to not need a songwriter in the first place.

  Excuse me while I have my tea. Black, no sugar.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged diet, health, nutrition, obesity, weight-loss

• An Affair to Forget

  Posted at 8:31 pm by kayewer, on July 19, 2025

  Excuse my jumping on a temporarily popular bandwagon, but a meme which has appeared within the past few days has much to be unpacked beyond the obvious. That’s part of what I do here.

  The incident in question involves a corporate CEO and another employee in a high-ranking position, namely Andy Byron, the head of a tech company called Astronomer, and the company’s Human Resources officer named Kristin Cabot. During a concert by the band Coldplay in Massachusetts, the couple were picked up by camera crews looking to share the audience’s experiences on the Gillette Stadium’s huge (22,000 square feet) jumbotron screen. It’s their job to find happy pairs enjoying what the stadium is offering, whether it’s a New England Patriots game or Chris Martin singing up a storm in live performance.

  It appears that Byron has been married for an estimated decade (exact figures were sketchy at this time) to Megan Kerrigan Byron, who has since taken her married name off her social media tag and left Instagram. Not a good sign. As for Ms. Cabot, married to Andrew of Privateer Rum (a distillery founded some 200-years ago), she and her spouse of about two years are rumored to have bought a house five months ago.

  The depth of the pair’s relationship is still speculative, but one can only guess at how long these supposedly dedicated spouses were picking up spare change romantic feels with their respective sidepieces (excuse the terminology). This didn’t just happen overnight.

  The fact that these two planned the concert outing, lied to their spouses about where they would be, went there and publicly showed affection indicates they did not feel there would be consequences. At least not until a camera technician trained their equipment on them in a clutch under the assumption that they were a typical pair of Coldplay fans.

  The results were a disaster. Fortunately it doesn’t appear that the concert was a multi-person event. The Astronomer company has said that no other employees were around the pair when the footage appeared, though a woman to their right seemed equally embarrassed to have been caught on camera. Perhaps she called out sick that afternoon from wherever she worked. The company placed Byron on leave while an investigation began (Cabot’s status was not revealed).

  In a work environment in which corporate compliance, along with the requirements that come with it, stress professionalism and decorum in all work and interpersonal relationships, this may well be a terminal knell for Byron at the very least, and Cabot may well follow. Of what value would enforcement of accountability be if both parties were not held to task for what they did?

  The most recent piece of news is that Byron has resigned his position.

  The camera zoomed in on the pair in a comfortable, forward-facing embrace, with Byron cuddling Cabot until they recognized themselves and broke contact. He ducked out of sight as she turned her reddening face away, and the third person to their right put a hand in front of her temple as if to block out what she suddenly realized was an awkward moment. Chris Martin ad-libbed, “Either they’re having an affair, or they’re just very shy.” Sounds like the former, Chris.

  What happened afterward may set a record to surpass the “wardrobe malfunction” moment for Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson in terms of visually altered spoof clips featuring every possible odd couple in pop culture being caught embracing the wrong partner. One compared the clip to a scary moment in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Even one of pro baseball’s mascots, the Philly Phanatic, got in on the trend with a green furry, blond-wigged partner for laughs.

  What the past 72 hours have done, however, is much more than simply offering up an example of humans making horrible mistakes in public. Two marriages will suffer, as will the in-laws and other friends and relatives on both sides. The companies’ staff members will need to handle the fallout from a poor example set by people who are supposed to set a quality example.

  It is never wise to think that a private affair stays that way in public. It was a devastating lesson for two people who should have known better, and a cautionary tale for those who might be considering such an adventure.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged ceo, coldplay, jumbotron, news, reviews

• Scraping By

  Posted at 3:04 pm by kayewer, on July 12, 2025

  I have been pulling up some old carpeting in a bedroom, and it’s the slowest and most painful task I have ever undertaken. It wouldn’t be such a tough process if the flooring had received more attention in the past, but sometimes a situation makes it impossible to do, and this was the case here. My parents laid the carpet themselves from a large remnant, a long time ago. The carpet itself is a no-pile teal colorway with rubber backing.

  Well, at least in the beginning it had rubber backing. Time disintegrated it into a combination of brittle mats and dust, all of which I will need to pick up. Some of it is stuck to the hardwood floor and needs scraping. This means that the old lady needs to go on hands and knees and deal with the flooring, foot by foot. Along with a sturdy pair of carpet shears, my dustpan and brush, a trash bag and sheer force of will, I have made progress, but age and the summer heat are battling me.

  Also, my parents’ and my old clothes found their way into this room over the years, and now I need to work my way around piles of things which should have been discarded ten diets ago.

  My social media feed is filled with self-help posts posing questions such as “how are clutter and trauma related?” I can tell you; when your family dynamic changes, such as when somebody passes or moves away, all of the things don’t always follow them. Some of the old clothes will fit me now, but I’ve moved on to other garments. This will mean bagging them up and arranging for pick-up to free the space I need to continue handling the carpet. The next phase will involve moving the entire bed to get the carpeting underneath. More scraping and cleaning.

  In the process of bagging the old clothes, the memories of their time decorating my body will come to mind. The years I wore gowns like prairie folk, and those I wore pajamas looking like Katherine Hepburn. The move from polyester to denim, nylon to cotton, bright to muted colors, and size large to. . . .well, you get the picture. And so the trauma continues.

  Decluttering and changing a living space can be a cleansing ritual, but modern décor gurus seem to want us to aim for a minimalist surrounding, with little on the flat surfaces and walls devoid of much identity. I already broke some unwritten rule by buying a tufted headboard for the new queen bed in the room. I like the look and, if I were to be graded, would gladly take the zero. It is neutral in color and offers something soft to sit up in bed upon. What more could one want in a bedroom?

  So my plan for the next phase of cleaning is to place old summer clothes in one bag, and old winter clothes in the other, and make a phone call for a charity to pick up the bags and remove them forever. Somebody should enjoy the items, as the clothes succumbed to outsizing or boredom after years of use, rather than actual wear and tear.

  Which brings to mind another kind of trauma; being told in social media that most donated clothes wind up in a landfill. That’s a guilt trip nobody wants to burden themselves with. I do, however, also have a back-up plan involving a set of bags in which I can donate clothes which are guaranteed to be repurposed instead of going to a cloth mountain in some forsaken back corner of the world, and in return I will earn points for shopping online.

  I promise to not shop for more clothes with those points. I have enough to wear for now, and it’s time to say goodbye to the past.

  After I scrape one more foot of that carpet backing away.

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• Fly That Flag

  Posted at 3:16 pm by kayewer, on July 5, 2025

  The subject of patriotism has been a bit unpredictable lately in this country. One only needs to check out the news articles about retail boycotts, cancel culture, or even the latest new concept originating from the nation’s capital to see that life as an American is confusing at the best of times.

  I had to give serious thought to what I was doing when considering putting the flag up outside my home. It’s just the standard stars and stripes rendition, though I do have an altered red white and blue version containing supportive messaging which I have not displayed since election day.

  The neighborhood I grew up in is not the type to experience negative expressions of opinion–thank goodness–but we already have a block culture which is subtle yet irascible when violated. One example is trash collection, for which the ritual is begun the evening before with the traditional receptacle parade to the curb. The first person to begin the task is met with subconscious annoyance, because others on the block feel compelled to immediately stop whatever they are doing to set their trash out as well. Anybody who holds their waste without putting it to the curb within a designated time frame is considered, well, trashy. Whether the evening plans to be cold, hot or drenching from rainy acts of God, that trash must be on display overnight or else.

  Naturally, the reverse occurs once the collections are completed, which is unpredictable since we get a trash truck, a recycling truck and possibly a yard waste collection. Whichever comes first, the cans are either placed respectfully back on the curb or unceremoniously slid within close proximity to the property, possibly landing on their sides in the driveways. These, of course, need to be cleared from the front as soon as humanly possible, because those who leave their cans out are also trashy. It’s an unwritten law, and it’s understood.

  It’s also an unwritten law that one should adhere to the current collective feelings of the rest of the block, which is what comes to flag displaying. Those who are away for the holiday are exempt, but the rest of us must judiciously decide what to display while respecting the rest of the residents. We don’t even have an HOA; it’s an unwritten law and understood.

  I decided to put my flag out, because I feel that my country is the sum of the good and bad in it, not just a matter of political climate or financial conditions. The block seemed to mirror my sentiments in the past, so I didn’t have reason to doubt it was a good decision.

  However, I had one issue blocking my successful displaying of the flag. A while ago I had the siding replaced on the house, and with it came new fascia and decorative finishing touches. The installers apparently did not have a lot of experience with flag pole mounts, because they put mine back upside down. This was the time, I figured, to right that wrong. So with trusty screwdriver in hand, I went out and struggled with four rusty Phillips head screws to remove them and the bracket (which itself shows its age with chipping paint, but that’s for me to handle some other time).

  The screws were dreadfully discolored, so I ventured to my late father’s tool haven–untouched for ages since he passed away–and miraculously found four replacement screws with standard screw heads on the first try. It was as if Dad were guiding my hands from beyond. In minutes, with some elbow grease, a different screwdriver and determination, I remounted the bracket in the correct position, and on the Fourth I proudly displayed my flag from the moment I got up until sundown.

  That’s actually a written law, so it’s definitely understood.

  My next task will be to replace the old one with a more sturdy version less likely to succumb to the elements. That will mean unscrewing the bracket again (possibly) to take with me to the hardware store. I have confidence, though, that I can handle this task. And take out trash on schedule.

  Meanwhile, in nearby Philadelphia, the trash pickup is postponed due to a strike, so dumpsters are overflowing with bags of refuse everywhere you turn. On Philly’s most tourism-related holiday. In summer. That is something to cause everybody to react with disdain.

  Perhaps they should keep the trash at home for now. Everybody would understand.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged humor, politics, trash-collection, writing

• What Price Pleasure

  Posted at 3:26 pm by kayewer, on June 28, 2025

  Before I begin, I must warn you that this content is for adults and may cause extreme negative emotions, as well as some trigger reactions. Reader discretion is advised.

  Women these days often lament the issues associated with being single and unable to find a partner who can be a true human companion. Married women or those supposedly in a committed relationship also offer up commentary about how their significant others misbehave. We, as women, are having a tough time in this age of what we call enlightenment.

  In my lifetime, I have seen men degenerate from treating us like we deserve equality and respect to acting as if we’re despicable lower life forms. I could go on to write a full-blown rant about how the relationship dynamic has changed in a few decades, but I want to focus on one thing: the “O” word.

  That peak of pleasure sought after by any living creature with a hint of hormonal activity in their bodies is, in my opinion, undervalued as a commodity. Male creatures with antlers (such as rutting moose in mating season) have died entangled while jousting over who gets the females. Male praying mantises will seek out a female and lose their head for that opportunity. Really, she will bite his head off and remain conjoined with the corpse afterward, and the males don’t care; instinct overcomes all common sense.

  Of course, we are humankind and should know better.

  I could go the easy route and say that one second of bliss for us humans can set you back over a third of a million dollars; the average cost to raise a child to age 18 is about $375,000 (US), so if sperm are anywhere in the vicinity of their pre-programmed target ovum, that’s the expense you’re talking about for the next two decades. The quest for sexual pleasure has brought down kingdoms, divided nations, and ruined countless lives. All for a few seconds of existential nirvana.

  This past week I was subjected to a social media post from somebody I greatly admire for being a decent man; his name is Robbie Harvey. He has a wife whom he stood by and gave loving support during a cancer battle. He talks about human decency and values, and isn’t afraid to call his fellow men out for being anything from simple jerks to totally inhumane monsters. When a recent article he posted came into my feed, I was just as shocked as he was to watch it (link is at the end of this post).

  I will give you my best slightly enhanced TLDR (too long didn’t read) version.

  A woman delivered a baby by Caesarian section. This is the surgical birth of a baby through the abdominal wall, meaning a doctor cuts through the belly’s many layers and opens the womb to free the infant inside instead of being forced through the birth canal. This is major surgery. Women are expected to recover over many weeks while their abdomen heals. There are still baby activities (feeding, changing) needing to be done while handling breast milk, post-partum depression and all that comes with it, and post surgery comes with the specific warning of no intimacy for the duration of recovery time.

  This woman’s husband wasn’t having it. He “had needs.” She felt compelled by him to disobey the doctor’s orders, and she gave in to her spouse’s demands for sex. She ended up returning to the hospital and having additional emergency surgery, and she want into cardiac arrest during the procedure to repair her ripped-up surgical scars, which were likely pounded open by her husband’s quest for that one second of release.

  So the “big O” can also nearly cost human life, and one can only guess how much that husband cared.

  What have men in these times done to deserve us? What have we done to deserve treatment like this? The man had needs? What about the woman’s needs? I had several viscerally unprintable thoughts about how to nail the point home with that Neanderthal of a husband.

  I don’t blame Robbie Harvey for posting the story, because it brings to light some of the terrible mindsets men have these days. He has done compilations of awful things men have said to women about their looks, or after miscarriage, and brought attention to the cringe-worthy fringe men of our society who don’t seem to have a clue about how to be human. The videos are thought-provoking and worth attention. However, this one haunted me all week. What kind of person is so desperate for that one moment of what amounts to a sexual sneeze, that he would put the life of his child’s mother at risk?

  What we don’t know is whether she has left him. For all the difficulties of single parenthood, I would hope that would be the better choice for her than dealing with that buffoon.

  Yes, it makes me glad I’m single.

  https://www.facebook.com/therobbieharvey/videos/1453233082523841

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged family, marriage, women

• Thank You For Holding

  Posted at 3:12 pm by kayewer, on June 21, 2025

  There’s a lot of preparation involved in going on vacation. When you travel far from home, you are actually uprooting your life in one place and temporarily setting it up in another place. Your home patiently waits for you while the power sits unused, your water stagnates in the pipes, the devices begin gathering dust on your counters, and the landscaping prays for rain.

  Meanwhile, you are transporting an array of stuff from one place to another so you will be able to live comfortably in a new location for a few days. Some of the stuff is essential, such as your toiletries, clothing, bedding and little Billy’s favorite stuffed animal. Others are short-term items such as bug repellant, suntan supplies, adaptive footwear and games for the kids unrelated to charging a device.

  Hopefully your vacation requires car travel, because heaven knows the luggage fees in airports these days prohibit most of the stuff you would easily pack in the car. As it is, stuffing your vehicle for a vacation trip is what playing Tetris has trained you for. You can cram a week’s worth of stuff into the minimal hatch space in a small SUV and have room to add Billy’s second favorite stuffed animal.

  Then there is the process of putting regular life on hold. In the olden days (about two decades ago), you would put vacation holds on newspaper deliveries and mail. Today the news is offered online, so your main concern is postal deliveries and online packages.

  I had stopped ordering things for delivery in May for my June vacation, hoping I would get everything before I left. It didn’t work. One package took over four weeks to process and deliver (right after I had departed and held the mail), and the second was delayed and ultimately lost in customs partly due to the tariff-related holds, so I received an email before my vacation ended, asking if I wanted a replacement order. Yes, please. At least I will be home to receive it. In July sometime.

  Bills, unfortunately, don’t wait for anybody, so while you’re away on vacation, payments become due while you’re buying souvenirs and eating dinner out. The bill next month is always a groaner. The food bill from eating out on a credit card goes up incrementally to how much vacation weight you gain.

  Weather can also be unpredictable. You could experience a cataclysm at home while your vacation destination is sunny and mild. On the other hand, you could pick a vacation week in which storms occur every day for the whole week. That happened to us once. Yes, we left early and got a refund.

  The decision to go away on vacation doesn’t mean that life is on hold. It’s still the same, just in unfamiliar surroundings. You may vacation in a dry town or one without a 24-hour pharmacy. The kids still want fast food, and vacationers who are used to their own cuisine at home may find a lack of places to shop for familiar edibles. However, you will be exposed to a new kind of local cuisine all around you.

  You’ll encounter “resort pricing” and unfamiliar sales taxes. What passes as “soda” in your town may be “pop” in another. You may have difficulty finding cable channels, or the banks may have unfamiliar origins. To the locals, it’s a part of life, and you’re just passing through it.

  Fortunately for me, I did not vacation far from home, so there was little cultural shock. I did my best to not be a disreputable tourist, shopped local, paid my share of tips and taxes, and left with all my physical and emotional baggage neatly packed in the back of my vehicle.

  And no, I didn’t pack a favorite stuffed animal.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged life, parenting, travel, travel-tips, vacation

• The Real Iron Maiden

  Posted at 4:31 pm by kayewer, on June 14, 2025

  Vaccines have done much to eradicate deadly and crippling diseases from our planet. Whether you are for or against the concept of helping your body recognize and ward off attacking biological threats, it is impossible to deny the living examples of what life was like before immunizations.

  Polio has been considered an eradicated threat thanks to the thriving number of vaccinated people who will never know the disease, but for a time it was the terror of the medical world. Hospitals were filled with people suffering paralysis from polio. Some were rendered unable to breathe on their own and were placed in an assisted breathing device called an iron lung, which is a type of cylindrical full-body pressure system. A person using an iron lung is confined to it, often for life, with only their heads visible as they lie inside the negative pressure device which stimulates inhaling and exhaling in cases of full body paralysis.

  Until recently, three people were still using iron lungs. A man named Paul Alexander was able to live a fulfilling life even as he was mostly confined to one room inside his device. He received a bachelor’s degree and became a lawyer with a “work from home” practice. He was six years old when overtaken by polio, and at nearly 72 years of confinement was considered the longest surviving person using an iron lung. He passed away in March 2024 at the age of 78.

  A woman named Mona Randolph needed the device after contracting polio at age 20 but was able to emerge from it for a while, only to need it again when post-recovery symptoms overtook her years later. She also used CPAP, which is a common method of treating sleep apnea. She died in 2019 at age 82.

  The last known surviving iron lung user is Martha Lillard, who may have contracted polio when exposed at her own birthday party at an amusement park, where she was around throngs of people who may have had the disease and been asymptomatic. She tried alternative products but chose to remain in the device for life, feeling it keeps her healthy. She has beagles and spends time painting and watching classic movies. Now in her 70s, she said in an interview that replacing parts on the device is her biggest concern (insurance does not cover it).

  Once during a blizzard, her power went out and the back-up generator failed. She was unable to reach emergency services for some time until the cell towers produced a signal. Her determination not to give into panic saved her. She remains an example of how far we have come from days when getting sick was more often than not a death sentence. When she leaves this world, a chapter from medical history will be closed, but let’s hope we have learned something from it.

  Afghanistan and Pakistan are the remaining places in which polio is still considered a threat, after Nigeria experienced its last case in 2016. Today most of us have likely not been shown what polio did to victims in the last century and beyond, but rendering the virus extinct will permanently mark the death of the iron lung as well.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged health, history, polio, vaccine, vaccines

• In An Instant

  Posted at 3:20 pm by kayewer, on June 7, 2025

  Have you ever had an experience in which you gave an honest answer and it backfired on you? I had that happen this past week. I had to make a change in something which had been running normally for a long time. Once I started the ball rolling on making the change, it turned out that, because I gave honest answers to make the adjustments, I had suddenly gone from having a long-term thing with no problems to having a load of problems which will cost me time and inconvenience.

  Telling the truth shouldn’t suck, and learning the truth about people, and how that truth shapes who we are, shouldn’t either, but it happens more often than not.

  One of my first experiences with this instant 180 effect was watching a movie about a young couple in love; she brought him home to meet the family, which consisted of her mother and monsignor uncle. The evening progressed smoothly and warmly with jovial conversation, until the uncle steered the talk towards church matters to find out more about the religious views of the young man at the dinner table. The fellow, accustomed to being honest, admits politely that he is an atheist who does not believe in God, and the merriment shuts down like a light being turned off. The man leaves in defeat and the young lady left in tears.

  Another famous example is the popular epic film The Ten Commandments, in which Charlton Heston as Moses gives a small speech about what has changed after it is confirmed that his heritage is Hebrew and not Egyptian. He notes that he as a person is no different than before (the same hands as before), and yet who he is suddenly turned his fate much darker.

  One of our most successful modern authors, J.K. Rowling, was (and remains) the biggest worldwide phenomenon, selling books which spun off into movies and theme park attractions and all sorts of promotional joy for millions of followers. Once she gave her opinions on transgender rights, however, her fan base diminished.

  One of the most noted composers, Richard Wagner, wrote beautiful and still well-known compositions such as the Ring cycle and Parsifal. His legacy is less one of outright rejection due to cancel culture, however, and closer to that of what we might strive for in the future: noting the bad and the good in human nature. Wagner was openly not a fan of Jewish people, yet opera patrons can appreciate the fact that he wrote exquisite music. In fact, conductor James Levine thumbed his nose at the composer by commanding his baton, proud to be a Jew, in front of the Metropolitan Opera orchestra through countless Wagner performances. Of course, Levine himself became another infamous cancel culture icon due to a professional scandal, and lost his status at Lincoln Center as a result.

  Since the month of June is one to celebrate pride in who one is, we should strive to be honest about our foibles as well as our successes, and not need to apologize for many of the things for which scores of overly zealous righteous folks reject entire subcultures, minorities or populations. Trying to sort out who to like or dislike should not be relegated to such frivolous things. One might as well divide people into who puts on both socks before both shoes, or who hangs their toilet paper over or under. All of it means essentially nothing in our planetary picture. LGBTQ people pay taxes, go to Starbucks, get tattoos and choose their pizza toppings the same way as everybody else. The most “vanilla” person on the planet may possess one flaw that you might not agree with, and they might find an unpopular flaw in you. Does that truth divide us, or bring us to a better understanding of the subtotals that make up who we are.

  I will need to endure the inconveniences to get back to the way things were. But I don’t regret telling the truth. What has been done is over, and it’s time to move forward. That’s how life is.

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• For Dear Life

  Posted at 3:17 pm by kayewer, on May 31, 2025

  I have a microwave I bought in May 2000, so it’s just five years old now. Before that, I never owned one. There just wasn’t room in the kitchen for it, and my family was still clinging to the old religion of “pan or oven” cooking for everything. As the family whittled down with the passage of time, I downsized a few things in the kitchen myself, and finally caved and bought my first microwave, a Hamilton Beach. Middle of the road power at 1200 watts, white with simple buttons. Nothing fancy.

  Once I began using my new microwave, I didn’t realize how helpful it could be. Over the past half decade I have used it nearly every day, starting with heating up oatmeal for breakfast and ending with either preparing steamed vegetables or a fresh entrée.

  Funny thing is, I’ve never done popcorn in my microwave. Imagine that.

  Anyway, the thing began to act up lately, and though the average lifespan of a microwave is supposed to be about ten years, I figured that maybe I had used it to the end of its lifespan. The carousel would make noises when rotating, food didn’t heat evenly, and moisture dripped every time I opened the door. Considering its cost and age, I decided the time had come, so I bought a replacement. It’s similar in wattage and price, and I was able to use credit card points to purchase it. Karma was affirming that I was making the right decision.

  The boxes used to hold appliances are ridiculously oversized and padded with foam cages surrounding the item as if one were transporting a museum piece. Overall the thing weighed some 30-40 pounds, but I got the thing into a cart by myself, then into the car trunk and home. I had a workout to last a fortnight.

  The box is still in the kitchen waiting to be opened, because the old Betsy apparently took one look at what I had done and began pleading for its life by performing better. It’s struggling, though, and in my heart I know it’s time to swap it out and start using the new one.

  I already have all the things I need to keep the new appliance in good shape. My favorite item is Angry Mama, which is a kitschy measuring device for steaming out your oven’s interior with water and vinegar. The gizmo is a three-piece depiction of a house frau with hands on hips and a look of borderline rage on her plastic face. It’s simple to use; pour vinegar and stop at the horizontal fill line on her back, then add water to the second fill line. Replace her flippy wig which serves as the cap, and then let it spin inside for a few minutes, during which time she blows her stack like a Karen and sends hot steam onto the walls to loosen grime so it can be wiped away easily.

  I don’t have actual grime in my microwave. The biggest mess I have is when fish explodes.

  Yes, I microwave salmon about once a week, and it’s a moist fish which can experience mini-explosions while cooking. If I put a cover on the fish, the explosion shoots out the sides. No matter what I try, the fish wins every time, so I have Angry Mama at the ready when it does.

  For a brief time I had an omelet cooker, but it didn’t produce the results I wanted. My only other special gadget for the microwave is the aforementioned plate cover which can’t contain salmon explosions and is apparently the wrong size for my normal sized plate, because it slips off. So much for convenience.

  However, this is a small problem in life, and I intend to start the new month by bringing in the new and removing the old. So in the (slightly altered) words of Horace Slughorn of Harry Potter fame, it’s time to move on. Farewell, old Hamilton Beach 1200-watt microwave, king of the kitchen appliances. Your exterior will rust, but your memory lingers on, and your human will find solace in the loss she has sustained.

  Maybe I’ll get a bag of popcorn to usher in the new appliance. Imagine that.

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