Simple truth...

Of all the truths in life, this I know with certainty: 


a manicure would be wasted on me..

Getting through the tough times...

Yep, and he's been asking about you...

Pioneer Up!

My friend Anna, a young mother of a toddler, lives in an area of large fir trees. During a recent snow storm, one of the trees gave up its earthly hold and fell through the roof of Anna's house. A bathroom was damaged, the ceiling light hanging loose, water and snow pouring in. She immediately went on Facebook, describing the occurrence and asking 'what do I do? I have no idea!'

The answers, from her female friends, were appallingly pathetic, weak, unhelpful, and ineffectual. I am so disappointed. I expected more from this group of bright, educated, worldly young women.

-I will pray for you...

-Turn the bathroom light off. Call Andy! (the husband)

-Turn out all lights and wait until Andy gets there. Don't go into that room. Praying! Hugs!

Oh, for god's sake! There are some pioneer women struggling to get out of their graves to kick some ass. I thought we had taught our young women better.

I wrote:

-Turn off the breakers to the bathroom and any other room effected.

-If you can safely put buckets under the leaks, do it.

-Call your insurance company for a referral to a tree removal service and to get an adjustor out.

-Notify the nonemergency number for the police/fire dispatch for an information only notice.

-Call the utilities; electricity, gas, sewer, cable.

-If you can't get help, call me. I know folks who can secure your home by nightfall.

Now, THAT'S advice, ladies. Hugs and prayers won't keep the rain off your prized possessions or make sure there isn't a gas leak. Make us older women feel like you can handle things. Or, we'll take back the world...

The Code of the West

Although the Code of the West was unwritten, every cowboy knew what it was. The Ten Principles are Jim Owen's distillation of the timeless, universal cowboy values that are still relevant to our lives today. They are at the heart of cowboy ethics and of Jim's book, Cowboy Ethics: What Wall Street Can Learn from the Code of the West.

1 Live each day with courage

2 Take pride in your work

3 Always finish what you start

4 Do what has to be done

5 Be tough, but fair

6 When you make a promise, keep it

7 Ride for the brand

8 Talk less and say more

9 Remember that some things aren't for sale

10 Know where to draw the line

Reynaud's Disease, My Cold Weather Companion

Definition

By Mayo Clinic staff

Raynaud's (ray-NOHZ) disease is a condition that causes some areas of your body — such as your fingers, toes, the tip of your nose and your ears — to feel numb and cool in response to cold temperatures or stress. In Raynaud's disease, smaller arteries that supply blood to your skin narrow, limiting blood circulation to affected areas.

Women are more likely to have Raynaud's disease. It's also more common in people who live in colder climates.

Treatment of Raynaud's disease depends on its severity and whether you have any other health conditions.

So, there is the definition and correct pronunciation for the malady. The daily reality is often much more dramatic, more painful and limiting than that short excerpt presents. My own symptoms are worse than that, but not as bad as some sufferers experience. As I age, the symptoms appear more quickly at exposure to cold, become more pronounced, more difficult to reverse. While it has heretofore not been particularly painful, I am becoming more uncomfortable as winters pass.

Raynaud's disease is more than simply having cold hands and cold feet, and it's not the same as frostbite. Signs and symptoms of Raynaud's depend on the frequency, duration and severity of the blood vessel spasms that underlie the disorder. Raynaud's disease symptoms include:

• Cold fingers and toes
• Sequence of color changes in your skin in response to cold or stress
• Numb, prickly feeling or stinging pain upon warming or relief of stress

During an attack of Raynaud's, affected areas of your skin usually turn white at first. Then, the affected areas often turnblue, feel cold and numb, and your sense of touch is dulled. As circulation improves, the affected areas may turn red, throb, tingle or swell. The order of the changes of color isn't the same for all people, and not everyone experiences all three colors.

That's why it is sometimes called the red, white and blue disease. Sounds patriotic, doesn't it? Again, the symptoms can be trivialized and minimized. But, RD can be a precursor or complication to other conditions, such as Lupus Erythematosus not to mention a difficult medical issue to live with. And that numb prickly skin upon rewarming? Rewarming and the reperfusion of blood can be excruciating to experience.

Types of Raynaud's

There are two types of Raynaud's. It can either be:

• primary: when the condition develops by itself (this is the most common type)
• secondary: when it develops in association with another health condition

The causes of primary Raynaud’s are unclear. However 1 in 10 people with primary Raynaud’s will go on to develop a condition associated with secondary Raynaud’s such as lupus.

Most cases of secondary Raynaud’s are associated with conditions where the immune system goes wrong and starts attacking healthy tissue, such as:

• rheumatoid arthritis: when the immune system attacks the joints causing pain and swelling
• lupus: when the immune system attacks many different parts of the body causing a range of symptoms, such as tiredness, joint pain and skin rashes

Secondary Raynaud’s can cause a more severe restriction of blood supply so it does carry a higher risk of causing complications such as ulcers, scarring and in the most serious of cases of tissue death, which is known as gangrene.

Who gets Raynaud’s?

Raynaud’s disease is a common condition. It may affect as many as one in every nine women and 1 in every 12 men. (It is hard to be entirely sure as rates can differ widely from area to area depending on how cold the temperature is).

Primary Raynaud’s usually begins in your 20s or 30s. Secondary Raynaud’s can develop at any age depending on the underlying condition it is associated with.

I have primary Reynaud's Disease, having several occurrences of it in my 20's and 30's. Now, though, in my 50's, I have an occurrence every day in the winter where I live. Any weather below about 55 causes my hands and feet to turn white. I often have the vasospasms while I am in the house during really cold weather. It is always a blessing to spend time in warmer weather during the winter. I hope to do that every winter from now on. Become a snowbird instead of a white winter dove.

For more information on RD, contact: http://www.raynauds.org/

Content in blue above from The Mayo Clinic site:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/raynauds-disease/DS00433

Err-runs...

Me: Please go get the electrical cord for the hip cooling unit, its next to my side of the bed.

George, back from upstairs: Here ya go!

Me: That's to my Kindle.

George, back from upstairs: Here...

Me: That's to my laptop.

George, back from upstairs: THIS?

Me: That's to the cell phone...

George: well, god dammit...

Me: Its okay... Can I just have an ice pack from the freezer?