May Be Offline for a Bit

May be Offline for a Bit

Last Thursday we had 45 MPH wind gusts and a wind chill which I think was in the low 20's or high teens.  I went out to put a thank you note and small gift for my mail carrier in the mailbox.  Wind grabbed storm door and slammed it.  I had no coat on and couldn't get it open.  After swearing and yanking for a few minutes I managed to get an arm wedged between the door and its frame.

Since pulling had proved useless, I yanked.  Fell and cracked lower back across edge of concrete step, then landed on back, in the yard.  After a few minutes outside I realized I either had to freeze to death and join Ann or find some way to move.

Rolled to my stomach and was able to ooze into house and call 911.

I don't Feel lucky, but I Do truly know I Am!  No paralysis, nothing broken, (unless it's a stress fracture which isn't too treatable anyway) and somehow while I fell I managed to tuck in my head, no head injury or concussion!  Thank you All Holy Beings!

I'm getting around house, using walker to get in and out of chairs.  Haven't tried outdoor steps yet.  Having to leave heat on as when pain level gets too high I get cold and shaky.

So, cancer test rescheduled for later this week and I may not be writing for a bit, hard to sit up for long.

May all of you who celebrate Christmas have a warm, (Inside at least) safe, and Happy one.

May be Offline for a Bit

Last Thursday we had 45 MPH wind gusts and a wind chill which I think was in the low 20's or high teens.  I went out to put a thank you note and small gift for my mail carrier in the mailbox.  Wind grabbed storm door and slammed it.  I had no coat on and couldn't get it open.  After swearing and yanking for a few minutes I managed to get an arm wedged between the door and its frame.

Since pulling had proved useless, I yanked.  Fell and cracked lower back across edge of concrete step, then landed on back, in the yard.  After a few minutes outside I realized I either had to freeze to death and join Ann or find some way to move.

Rolled to my stomach and was able to ooze into house and call 911.

I don't Feel lucky, but I Do truly know I Am!  No paralysis, nothing broken, (unless it's a stress fracture which isn't too treatable anyway) and somehow while I fell I managed to tuck in my head, no head injury or concussion!  Thank you All Holy Beings!

I'm getting around house, using walker to get in and out of chairs.  Haven't tried outdoor steps yet.  Having to leave heat on as when pain level gets too high I get cold and shaky.

So, cancer test rescheduled for later this week and I may not be writing for a bit, hard to sit up for long.

May all of you who celebrate Christmas have a warm, (Inside at least) safe, and Happy one.

May everyone find her/his favorite doll or action figure just Waiting unter the tree!

Why Isn't it Obvious and Questions

Why Isn't it Obvious, and Questions

I can't believe people are Still arguing about what should be done to Limit the number of mass shootings in this country!

When I came home from blind school I lived in the woods.  There were rabid skunks around which might chase us kids or our pets.  If rabies was suspected 14 very painful shots in the abdomen were administered.  Those who assumed they were bitten by a non-rabid skunk, or one of the wild dogs, (often dumped by city dwellers and left to form packs with others and fend for themselves), they often died a horrible death.  My parents would shoot skunks or wild dogs acting strangely or threatening us kids.  They used hand guns kept locked out of our reach to do this.

A squirrel or rabit might be killed for food, with a 22 caliber gun.  In order to stay healthy and because I can't afford either meat or health food store prices for protein I do eat deer.  I thank the spirit of any animal who sacrifices its life so I can live.

The friends who hunt a deer for me use deer rifles and hunt legally, in season.

Does anyone know people who hunt caribou, bear, or moose to sustain their lives, for meat?  Do they need semi-automatics for hunting these beings?  I seriously Doubt it since the Native peoples of Turtle Island, (North America) were able to hunt them with arrows, lances, harpoons, and spears.

The Reason semi-automatic weapons are called assault weapons is Because they are made for only One Purpose.  They are Made to Assault other Human Beings in large numbers.  This is why they can  come with such large clips of ammunition.  Americans can keep guns, but it is sad that we fear and hate one another so much that some of us think we need these mass people killers among us.  The word Sad barely begins to touch the depth of the problem.

New subject:  Mental Health.  The mass shooters who get news attention have a specific profile.  They are young white men who are loaners, have few if any friends.  Moms and dads, if this profile fits your son, don't wait and pray that they will be ok.  Try to Get them connected with Qualified help, Hospitalize them if you must.  It's terrifying to love and fear your own child.  But silence about these nice young men with no connection to others Needs to stop!  Of course some of them Will turn out ok.  But the ones who don't, ah, the ones who don't!

Question:  How many shootings of more that one person by a man with a semi-automatic weapon happen but Don't make the national news because they happen to people of color?  Is it basically disturbed young white men who commit these crimes?  Have the news media come just to expect such things in communities of people of color?  I really don't know. 

I grew up largely in St. Louis and do know about drive by shootings in poor neighborhoods where people of color are trapped.  But those which kill children or other unintended victims usually draw an outcry from the local community.  I am not justifying the killing of any person, whether it is intentional or not.  I am trying to ask if this profile only fits young white men.

On NPR a mom E-mailed in saying she had a very angry young man for a son.  She said all efforts and money seemed to him to be going to motivate young girls to live up to their potential.  Is this a reaction to changing demographics in the U.S?  Should affirmative action be income based rather than strictly race and gender based?  No, I don't think racial or gender discrimination has ended.  But I do think there are pockets of poor white people, mostly in rural areas, who get no help.

Why don't police "gun buy back" programs focus on semi-automatic and other heavier war weaponry?

An interesting comment was made by a Canadian journalist on the BBC.  She said people in the U.S. often kept guns because they didn't trust their government nearly as much as Canadians tend to.  I understand that, given our history of seizing land by force from Mexico, slavery, the Ku Klux Klan, etc.  These are acts in which Canada had no comparable role.  But I'm not sure how different Native American history in the U.S. is from First Nations history in Canada.

Last subject:  Truckers, we need you to break down around the sites of funerals in Conneticut, like you did when the so-called church tried to invace President Obama's appearance at the Memorial Service for the more than 100 dead killed in the Joplin, Mo. Tornado of 2011. That tornado took the lives of more that 160 people and you truckers and the Patriot Guard, Without semi-automatic weapons, were there to help us.  I haven't forgotten.

  Some thoughtless bozoes are evidently staging their political rallies for and against gun control around the funerals of children and the heroes who died to protect them in Conneticut.

I don't Want this to be true, but my wishes Rarely coincide with reality.

Petitions to consider are below.

As Americans process the grief, fear, and anger stemming from last Friday's tragic

shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, many are calling for action. In response to the

shooting, more than 1,000 people -- including many in and around Newtown -- started

petitions on Change.org, calling for tighter gun laws, stronger mental health services,

and support for the victims' families.

Here are a few petitions calling for meaningful action in response to the tragedy

at Sandy Hook Elementary School. You can

click here to browse and sign other petitions

 started in response to the tragedy in Newtown.

 Reenact the Assault Weapons Ban and make it law

Reenact the Assault Weapons Ban and make it law

 Increase the availability of mental health services now

Increase the availability of mental health services now

 Protect grieving families from politically charged demonstrations at funerals

Protect grieving families from politically charged demonstrations at funerals

 Walmart: Stop selling assault rifles in stores

Walmart: Stop selling assault rifles in stores

You can read and sign other petitions started in response to the tragedy in Newtown

by

clicking here.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Tim and the Change.org team

Saving Lives for Christmas!

Do Christian people really think Jesus would  want al LBGT people in an entire country Murdered?  I'm not a Christian, but even I don't believe this.

Please help!

Saving Lives for Christmas!

The "Kill the Gays" bill and the lives of LGBT Ugandans hang in the balance. Pepsi,

a major player in the Ugandan economy, could stop the bill by speaking out. But so

far Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi has remained silent.

If just 1,000 people chip in today, we’ll be able to tell Pepsi executives that we’ve

reserved an ad in a major industry publication

-- and if they don't speak out against this horrific legislation, we will publish

an ad slamming them for remaining silent in the face of this potential human catastrophe.

Please donate now so we can ramp up pressure on Pepsi to speak out before it's too

late.

Please donate

Pepsi is at a crossroads: The company can speak out and use Pepsi’s clout against

the “Kill the Gays” bill that the Ugandan Parliament is considering, which would

make being gay punishable by death. Or Pepsi can keep doing what it's been doing,

and stay silent -- and if the bill passes, bear part of the responsibility for the

deaths of an unknown number of Ugandans.

Pepsi is a major player in the Ugandan economy, with the ear of key Ugandan officials.

 Over 114,000 members of the SumOfUs community, the vast majority of us Pepsi consumers,

have signed our petition urging Pepsi to speak out.

But so far, the company has refused to act

 -- and time is running out.

Every day we get closer to Christmas without the Ugandan Parliament considering the

bill, it becomes more likely that our collective voices will have stopped this bill

from becoming law.

 Our sources on the ground tell us that

some MPs are wavering -- which means that additional pressure from Pepsi now could

make a huge difference.

So we have a plan: We want to go to Pepsi later today and tell it that we’ve reserved

ad space

in a major industry magazine,

Beverage World

, which our allies tell us Pepsi execs and their competitors read religiously

.

If Pepsi speaks out against the “Kill the Gays” bill, our ad will be a giant “Thank

you.” If it doesn’t, we’re going to call the company and its CEO, Indra Nooyi, out

for refusing to take a moral stand against this atrocious legislation.

Can you chip in $3, or whatever you can afford, to help us reserve the ad space immediately? It’s the best pressure point we have to get Pepsi to speak out about this bill. The lives of our LGBT allies in Uganda hang in the balance.

The problem is that right now, our concerns are sitting on the desk of Pepsi's PR

team -- and they just want to make it go away so they can get home for the holidays.

We have to get the attention of the CEO of Pepsi, Indra Nooyi.

 She personally may have the power to save the lives of brave LGBT men and women

in Uganda. And we think this challenge will be what it takes to get this issue on

her desk.

If Pepsi does speak out,

 its stance would ripple across Uganda’s entire government

. That’s because Pepsi is a huge deal in Uganda. Through its subsidiary Crown Beverages

Ltd., Pepsi has grown to be one of the largest beverage companies in the country,

seeing its market share grow year after year. According to the Ugandan Prime Minister,

Pepsi is making a “great contribution... to the growth of our economy in Uganda and

to the well-being of our people.”

Yesterday, Pepsi responded to us -- but instead of taking action to stand up for

the men and women in Uganda who are literally staring down death,

Pepsi paid mealy-mouthed lip service to human rights in the abstract

, and refused to do anything that would actually stand up for those rights in the

real world.

Pepsi’s executives clearly think that, if they make even the slightest nod to the

idea that human rights are a nice concept, then we’ll go away. The executives won’t

have to do the hard work of actually standing up for the human rights of LGBTI Ugandans

who, if this bill passes, will face the real risk of the receiving the death penalty

for something as little as repeatedly holding the hands of someone of the same sex.

We think that's unacceptable.

It’s not like the goal of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill is a secret. David Bahati,

the bill’s author, has said publicly that

 he believes every single gay person in Uganda should be killed

. Bahati has extensive, well-documented ties to a secretive group of evangelicals

called The Family that includes American Senators and well-known American pastors.

When he initially proposed the bill two years ago, a global outcry forced the government

to drop consideration of the bill last May.

Together, we’re going to make sure this bill gets put to rest once and for all

, by putting Pepsi’s CEO in an uncomfortable position -- she could listen to us and

speak out against this bill, or see Pepsi’s brand tarnished on the world stage. We

think the choice couldn’t be more clear -- but we need to make sure we can afford

to issue that challenge.

Click here to donate $3 -- or whatever you can -- now to help us reserve the ads.

Thanks for continuing to stand against hatred,

Taren, Kaytee, Rob, Claiborne, and the rest of us

P.S. Not convinced? Why don’t you read

Pepsi’s weak response

 for yourself:

As a global company, PepsiCo works in countries with a broad array of laws and regulations.

Regardless of where we operate, PepsiCo takes great care to weave diversity and inclusion

into the very fabric of its culture, and respecting human rights is a fundamental

priority for PepsiCo.  We do not condone any action that would violate the human

rights of any person anywhere.

Best Regards,

Andrea, Senior Consumer Relations Representative

1-800-433-2652 ext. 7904

Click here to donate to our ad fund now, to show Pepsi we have the resources to make use its power as a major company operating in Uganda to stop this legislation once and for all.

 SumOfUs is a world-wide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations

accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

You can follow us on

Twitter

, and like us on

Facebook

ll

Trees

Trees

This morning on NPR there was an article about the Archangel Ancient Tree Archhive, which collects specimens of some of the world's hardiest and most ancient trees and replants them where they have a chance of flourishing, despite climate change.

I think trees are holy.  Sounds nuts I guess, but too bad.

Trees are the most giving beings I know.  There is so much to say I don't know where to start.

First, they are pillars connecting Earth and Sky, living pillars.  Second, they are Literally part of our lungs.  They give us oxygen and thrive on the CO2 we over-emit. 

Third, they heat the homes of the poor, as charcoal or wood.  In this way too they keep humans both warmer and fed, by cooking our food over their bodies.

And of course, they are home, shelter, and food for numberless species of beings.

There is a children's book called "Song of the Trees" which I no longer have.  I think the author's name was Mildred Taylor or Tailor. It's about an African American family in the South, I think during the Depression.  They own some land with ancient oaks and other trees.  The daughter in this story realizes that these very trees witnessed slavery and hid runaway slaves.  They knew Native people before slaves were ripped from their homelands and forced onto this continent.

I think of trees in the same way.  If we could once again learn to understand them then Each ancient tree would be a library of stories.  They could tell us not only about human history in the Americas, but about the characters of all the beings they used to know, like the Carolina Parakete, which fed primarily on cocle burs.  Ever wish That bird was still with us?  What was its song like?

Here in the Ozarks our most ancient tree is probably the Osage Orange or Hedge Apple.  Talk about History, these trees were around with the dinosaurs!  Bet They could correct a few textbooks, if we could understand them.

I have an old Cherokee cookbook which has recipes for chestnut bread and chestnut stuffing, but the American Chestnut is gone.

Occasionally I torment unsuspecting healthcare aides with that book, suggesting they help me cook Yellow Jacket Soup, Cicadas, etc.  Fun.

The Cherokees in Oklahoma still make hickory nut butter, to add protein and fat to soups, serve over rice in a soup, etc.  They also use chinkapin (I think it's a kind of oak) nuts.  Our black walnut trees are in danger and Mo. Provides about three quarters of the black walnut crop for the country.  Personally, I don't like the taste of black walnuts but many people do, using them in Christmas baking and eating them in ice cream.   They also provide nutrition for squirrels and others. There are stoves which burn walnut shell pellets instead of wood, to keep homes warm.

 Pi~non trees also provide food for the Shoshone people and countless other creatures. Then there is the ewe tree from which a chemotherapy drug called taxol, which helped to save my life comes.  There is a drink which can be made from the sweet sap in honey locust trees.  And acorns can be eaten once the tanic acid is leached out of them, the shells can be roasted for a coffee like drink.

Due to two drought years our spruce and pines are dying out here.  The ancient white oaks are gone and a faster growing species was planted to replace them.  Now that species, with a lifespan of about 80 years is dying out and there is an overpopulation of red oaks.

One reason I eat deer meat here is that in general, the land is too rough for growing genetically modified crops of soybeans, corn, or wheat.  So the deer graze and eat blackberries, acorns, etc.  They are smaller than the deer in the Nothern part of the state, where GMO crops are grown, but to my mind they are also more healthy.

Many people use sacred trees to purify and clean their environments and minds.  Cedar, juniper, and other evergreens are usually used for this purpose.  When I smell cedar my mind becomes clearer and my spirits tend to lift.  In Asia sandalwood may serve the same purpose.

I think of trees as Treeople, Tree People, and I immediately fell in love with the Ents of J. R. R. Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings" series.

I haven't even mentioned the more ordinary trees which give us fruit:  peaches, pears, oranges, lemons, limes, papaya, bananas, apples, and cherries.

I Love the smell of a living evergreen and I know that Christmas trees are grown on farms.  But I can't enjoy that smell knowing I'm slowly killing a living being.  Just by being human I must kill to live, that is the law of Earth.  Whether it's a cabbage pulled from the land or a deer, I take life.  So I just have to carefully think about it and try not to take too much.

One of my lifetime wishes is to spend time with an ancient tree long enough to apsorb its atmosphere and maybe even Learn something from it.  If I don't ever get to do this in physical form, maybe I will as a being of Energy.

I heart trees!  But I couldn't send a donation (very small one) to the Archangel Ancient Tree Archhive, because I can't see the annoying Code I have to type in to send them an E-mail asking where to send a check.  I do not use credit cards.

Personal

My blood work yesterday was questionable enough that I have to take a more unpleasant test on Dec. 21st to determine whether my cancer has or hasn't come back.  I've been so Good, so far as diet is concerned that I lost ten pounds in a month, Never happened before. 

Meanwhile, am trying to go on as normally as possible.  Last year I was so depressed, (first Christmas without Ann) I drank too much and lost some time while hanging around the house.  Scared myself and stopped that shit.

Last night I was very sad not to have
Ann here, but enjoyed putting up the artificial tree.  Ann got me some carved wooden ornaments which truly look like animals I will never have the chance to touch, a penguin, a bear, a seal, a wolf, etc.  I thought of her and missed her as I put them up.  But they reminded me of the love she showed me in getting something I could enjoy touching.  Ann Loved shinny things!  So her favorites were fragile glass ornaments which made the lights sparkle.  After she died I sent all but three of those back to her family.  I was always terrified to touch them, both from experiences of past Christmas's at home, and because she loved them and some had come from her grandmother.  Ann's sister has a grandson, so it's better that family possessions stay in their family, to continue being passed down.

I have an odd Christmas tree.  It's like me, a mix.  It has Native made bead work, Buddhist prayer flags, (small paper ones) woven wicker and wooden ornaments, shells, and representavies (either painted brightly or just carved) of most kinds of creatures on Earth.  There's a little cherry wood Quan Yin carrying a baby and trabeling against the wind, from the way her cape and robes are ruffled.  If people want to call her Mother Mary, neither she nor I will care.  There's a leather camel a friend visiting Morocco brought back for me, so I could learn how a camel is packed and ridden, (this one has two bags and a saddle) a ceramic bamboo tray which was Ann's and which I always loved to touch, and an angel from a business called Sandys, which is no longer in business.  She is a gorgeous Kwaanza angel, and I picked her for her face.  Ann says it looks like she is annoyed, pouting, or at least serious.  I Like a ticked off angel,  there is certainly enough going on in the world to annoy Anyone!  The tree has no top ornament.  Up there is the Sky, the Mystery, so I'm not willing to define it or pretend I know what it is.  Buddhas don't tend to claim to be the best, have the only right way, I've never heard such things.  So a Buddhist symbol doesn't belong at the top either.  Wish I could send pics. of the tree.  Near the top is a wheat weaving, (a folk art) with two bird feathers above it.  I kept two bell ornaments of Ann's, an ice cicle which shines made of plastic, and four cut out metal ornaments, (like philagree only less detailed and sorry about my spelling) three snow flakes and a bell.  Because we valued them, I put each of our Obama for President buttons on the tree also.

I enjoyed putting it all together.  Stayed up until after midnight to get it done.  I did include a Japanese Buddhist mala (rosary) with nice black long tassles and a bead which, when looked through in a certain way, shows a tiny Buddha figure inside.

May everyone of you, of all beliefs or none, have a safe, warm, enjoyable holiday season!  Thank each of you for reading!

We Can Help Stop This

Below is a letter I sent to my local Buddhist group, or Sangha.  It deals with the law going through the legislature in Uganda allowing gay or lesbian people to be put to death.  Please read and consider this.

Thank you.

Dear Sangha,
In general I do not believe in interfering with the policies of another government.
But I do believe that Buddhism calls upon me to care about the suffering of others
both in my country and others.  I also believe that Buddhism calls upon me to not
judge others and to "non-discrimination" toward others.
It is for these reasons that I forward the E-mail below.
If you go to this organization's website and try to help save the lies of LBGT people
in Uganda, you will get more E-mails from this group.  But you can Always Unsubscribe.
Isn't that hassle worth trying to save the lives of fellow human beings?
One Ugandan Government official has stated that instituting the death penalty for
homosexuals would be "a Christmas present for the Ugandan people."
Please read the info. below and consider helping.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lyn
Teresa,
Thanks for standing with LGBTI Ugandans in calling for Pepsi to publicly oppose the
Ugandan "Kill the Gays" bill. But it's going to take all of raising our voices to
win this life-or-death campaign.
Can you share this petition on Facebook and Twitter or forward the email below to
your friends?
Click to share on Facebook
Thank you,
Kaytee and the rest of us at SumOfUs
*****************************
Dear Friends,
In Uganda, it’s already illegal to be gay. But some government officials -- with
support from American evangelicals -- want to take government-sanctioned homophobia
a step further. They’ve proposed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill that would, among other
things, institute the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”.
But I know that if Pepsi, which has a huge presence in Uganda, speaks out against
the bill and the harmful effect it would have on investment and economic development
in Uganda, it would force Ugandan officials to put the bill on hold -- or even pull
it entirely.
Can you join me in adding your name to our petition to Pepsi, telling it to speak
out against this horrific “Kill the Gays” bill that’s racing through the Ugandan
Parliament.
http://action.sumofus.org/a/uganda-bill/?sub=taf
Thank you!
 SumOfUs is a world-wide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations
accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.
You can follow us on
Twitter
, and like us on
Facebook
.
Was this email forwarded to you?
Click here
 to add yourself to SumOfUs.
If you don't want to receive emails from us anymore, you can remove yourself
xmeybrlz@att.net
from our list by clicking
here
. But just know, we'll miss you!

This Could be Fun

Heard about some new dolls I didn't know about.  And Hopefully, some of these "nonsexist toys" will appeal to boys as well!

The toys listed are not all dolls.

Personal note:  Cancer check tomorrow.  Usually I don't worry about these things.  But I'm on such a strict diet that it forces me to give careful cnsideration to literally Everything that goes into m mouth, constantly Reminding me.  Mental and emotional detox. continues, though Thankfully, at a slower pace.
I have acquired a router to download books o

download books onto my Kindle Keyboard.  It is playing Major havoc with my attempts to access internet, and just now, to read anything I have written.  I hope this comes through in a somewhat legible form.


I wil be glad when tomorrrow is over and I know if hard choices and unpleasant tests await me or do not!

Now, fo the fun, see below.

Can you help decide which gifts make it into the

UltraViolet Holiday Gift Guide: A 21st Century Guide to Non-sexist Holiday Shopping

?

It's easy and really fun to vote for your favorite gifts.

click here

Click Here

Last week UltraViolet members nominated thousands of awesome gift ideas for our "21st

Century Guide to Non-Sexist Holiday Shopping."

The ideas submitted were amazing and inspiring, like Sarah H., who nominated GoldieBlox,

a toy set meant to get girls interested in engineering or Jacquelyn I., who nominated

the Go Go Sports Girls! dolls of female athletes.

There's just one problem:

There are TOO MANY awesome gift ideas.

So we need your help.

Can you take a minute to click below and vote on a few of your favorite nominations?

 Voting is really easy and really fun--maybe even addictive.

And it will help us ensure the best of the best ideas make it into the final gift

guide.

Vote for the best non-sexist gifts.

If you've shopped for a gift for a young girl lately, you've probably noticed that

it seems like all the options are pink, princess-themed, and sparkly. There are great,

empowering toys, books and movies out there, but it can be really hard to find them.

That's why we wanted to put together a non-sexist gift guide--using the UltraViolet

community to choose the best gifts.

UltraViolet members have nominated over 1,200 gift ideas. Now, we need you to help

choose which will make it into the final gift guide.

Will you take a few minutes to vote on which toys, games, books and movies should

be included in the final guide?

Voting only takes a second and you can rate as many--or as few--as you like. Even

one or two clicks will help us make sure the final gift guide includes only the best

gifts out there.

After members have voted, we'll publish the gift guide on our website, Facebook,

and as a printable list in early December--just in time for holiday shopping. But

first, we need you to vote on your favorite gifts.

Vote for the best non-sexist gifts.

Thanks for helping out!

--Nita, Shaunna, Kat and Karin, the UltraViolet team.

nto