Happy Holidays

Dog gone it, but I like this song I found. I guess it's the survivalist in me. Here are the lyrics and a link to hear the song.

http://www.seeqpod.com/search/?plid=81f625b5dc

Chipmunks Roasting On An Open Fire
By Bob Rivers


Chipmunks roasting on an open fireHot sauce dripping from their toes
Yuletide squirrels fresh filleted by the choir
They poked hot skewers through their nose
Everybody knows some pepper and a garlic clove
Help to make them seasoned right
Tiny rats with a crisp golden coat
Will really hit the spot tonight

And now when Santa sees his tray
There'll be some homemade chipmunk jerky for his sleigh
And every hungry child is gonna spy
To see if chipmunks really sing when they fry
And so I'm brushing on some honey glaze
To keep them crisp and juicy too
Let's hope they get served many times many ways
Tasty Chipmunks; good food

And so I'm offering some recipes
From chipmunk pie to chipmunk stew
I'm not really sad that it ended this way
Furry chipmunks to you?

Oy Vey to Oh, Boy!

As I left off last time I was due for a root canal. Monday was the scheduled appointment, and believe you me, I was early. My blood pressure was a little high as I went into the office. They thought I was nervous about being there. On the contrary, I was thrilled to be there to fix my tooth, but you'd think they'd factor in all the ibuprofen I was taking and the pain. Now, had I known how the procedure would go, I might have been more anxious. Once they numbed me up I was doing ok, until they put a rubber patch over my tooth and mouth and stuck a big rubber stopper in my mouth to bite on. That arrangement makes it pretty hard to swallow, which really did make me anxious. It's probably a good thing that they didn't monitor my blood pressure during the root canal.

I've been quite lucky all my life, the oral surgeon says it's because some of my teeth have 3 roots instead of two....like the one that needed the root canal. As he went into the nerve of each root, it was clear that the novocaine didn't help much in the root. I nearly came off the chair 3 times as he worked. Fortunately, after that, the rest was comparatively easy.

When I got home afterwards, I quickly discovered that not only does novocaine wear off too fast, but that ibuprofen doesn't work very fast. I wandered around the house holding an icepack to my jaw, moaning to myself and Laura, desperately waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in. Laura and her dog, Orion, were both freaking out and Laura had to go to work before I was doing better.

Doing better only meant that the tooth didn't hurt much anymore. In the process, it seems I picked up shigellosis from my granddaughter, Tamra. This is a kid's disease, but it has high fever, vomiting and diahrrea as it's symptoms, which kept up for over 24 hours. Monday and Tuesday I was recovering from the root canal, Wednesday I went to San Antonio for training till Friday. I lost 6 pounds and still do not have much appetite. Tamra's mother informed me that shigellosis will stay around for 4-6 weeks if you don't get major antibiotics. I had ampicillin for my abcessed tooth, but don't think it was strong enough to clear up the shigellosis.

Friday and Saturday we dealt with Laura and Niels' wedding and reception, which all went well. Tomorrow I'll call the doctor to see if I need another round of antibiotics.

Let's see. My tooth is fixed. The pain is gone. My daughter got married. I lost 6 lbs and don't want to eat a lot now.

I know there's a down side in here somewhere.....

Twist

Oy Vey!

Oy vey is a common phrase among jewish people. It means oh pain. That pretty much sums up my past week. I went to Fort Worth Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for training at work. I started having a tooth pain Monday or Tuesday and it got progessively worse. I called my dentist on Wednesday, but they were not open. Thursday morning I finally got the office and told them I thought I had an abcessed tooth. I was hoping to get a prescription of antibiotics faxed to me where I could start on the regimen. They told me they could see me at 8am Friday. Since I probably couldn't have filled a prescription anyway, I set up that appointment. The only way I made it home from Fort Worth was to take a drink of water about every minute or so. For some reason it made the pain ease up.

Friday the dentist's assistant xrayed my teeth and they decided I needed a root canal. I went straight from the dentist's office to the oral surgeon, but they were booked until Tuesday. They did promise to work me in if possible. Friday came and went without getting worked in. The pain on Friday was easily the most intense pain I've ever had in my life. I started the antibiotics and darvocet pain killer, but didn't notice much difference.

Saturday, the sharp pains were gone, but then it became an intense ache whenever pain medication wore off. The only thing that seems to help is to take 3 or 4 ibuprofen. I can only hope that they can work me in on Monday. If not, I have an appointment scheduled for Tuesday before taking off again for San Antonio on Wednesday.

I have a feeling it's going to be another long week.

Twist

When Garage Sales Go Bad

We had a garage sale today. We've been building up, saving up for it for about a month now. Chris & Tandy had a lot of things stacking up since they got married, at their house, our house and their storage. We sold quite a few things. Our only advertising that most people saw were two boxes with our address on them. We strategically placed them at two of the most popular corners of our area. The results were fantastic. Lots of stuff got bought up.

A blog or so ago, I wrote about survival kit stuff, in particular, how to start a fire. I asked Sticks and others what their favorite odd method is of starting fires. No you may think I just got off track, but in actuallity, what I did was discover a way to make a fire. You put a garage sale sign box out on the corner with a bottle of water inside. The sun's rays shine through the water and are magnified enough to set the box on fire. Fortunately, a good samaritan passing by saw the smoke and used some of the water in the bottles to put the fire out, then let us know about it.

I don't think I can carry a cardboard box and 3 liter bottle of water around to light a fire in case of emergencies, but it is sure a principle I can adapt.

Do you smell smoke?......

Twist

Sea Turtles, Salmon and....Spiders?

It is a well documented fact that many animals can find their way back to where they were born. Turtles and salmon, for example may travel hundreds of miles to return to their nesting/spawning locations, but I've never heard it said that spiders do it.

We had a spider in our front yard, called Charlotte by some, Bella by others, you know.. a vampider.. Anyway, I liked to just refer to it as ookie. As Halloween approached, we decided to relocate the spider to avoid any web collisions by trick-or-treaters. Not to mention, a similar spider in Plainview really attacked a stick we used to move it away from our doorway.

I got a small (small not short) branch and swirled it around the web, effectively getting enough of the web to keep the spider attached. It was eating a bug at the time or it might have gotten away again. I took that stick and web around the house out the back gate and threw it down the alley on the opposite side of the alley from our house. I figured it would be happy enough with a tree down the alley.

That might have been all of a week ago and there is a spider back in the original tree again. Whether it is the same spider or another, I don't know, but Laura said, "Wouldn't it be really ookie if it went through the house to get back to the front yard. (Shudder).

As Mom would say, now I itch all over.

Twist

Touched by the Spirit

We had general conference 4 weeks ago. Although it was hard to concentrate with little ones around, it was an inspiring event. One thing that always helps me is to take notes on my laptop while conference is going on. It helps me focus on the speaker and how I feel.

While the talks were great, ideas during the conference were not what touched me the most. Being so influenced by the Spirit, has helped me in the past 4 weeks, long after conference was over. Our family has personal experience with inspiration that affects lives. Now I may have concentrated a little more on doing the things I should and avoiding worldly influences, but I have had a multitude of promptings by the Spirit lately. The surprising part lately has been how many of these promptings were meant to help at my work. Things which would definitely help me and others. The trend continued this weekend during Stake conference as assigned tasks needed to be accomplished.

There have not been any earthshaking changes happen, but my own little world is truly grateful for being notice by One who continually watches over my life, even in things that might be considered trivial. I just hope to continue the trend as I have some really lifechanging decisions coming up in the next few months.

See you a little later on down the trail,

Twist

Survival of the Most Prepared

The fittest may look better, but the most prepared last longer. I've been interested in survival techniques, kits, gadgets, etc since I was a young Boy Scout. I've always tried to be prepared to stay alive by knowing what to do and how to do it. Lately I've once again been trying to compile what I think is the perfect small survival kit. I even included some of my ideas in my book, Tall Trail Tales. A couple of the items on my list are really bigger than I'd like, but I would still include them in my ideal kit. Here's my list of what I've come up with so far. If you have a favorite not on my list, let me know what it is and why you'd include it. Remember this is trying to be space conscious.

Obviously my ideal kit would be a motorhome full of stuff.

Twist

Fire
Hot Spark Flint
Fire starter chip
Glycerin
Plastic Magnifying lens
Small Bic lighter
Tinder wick

Tools
Compass
Duct tape
Multitool
Orange bandana
Parachute cord
Pencil / paper
Signal mirror
Small knife
Survival cards
Whistle

Food
Dental Floss
Flies/lures
Hooks
Line
Pan
Sinker
Snare wire

Shelter
Emergency blanket
Poncho
Tube tent

Water
Gallon ziplock bag
Mesh bag
Plastic sheet for solar still
Potassium Permanganate
Water purifier tabs
Water tubing for seeps

Light
Candle wick
Candles
LED light
Small glow stick