My neighbors treeBeautiful rose – my favorite flowerRose getting ready to openMy sweet boy Link – he doesn’t go on walks anymore
Hello to you. I’m back from a walk. It’s really cool and crisp out. The trees in the neighborhood are all starting to change color and drop their leaves. I miss taking Link out but he just can’t do it. His back legs bother him. He’s going to be 11 this year – he’s still a puppy to me! I hope this finds you well and knowing you are cared about. You are never alone – Jesus is always with you.
Some positive food for your spirit:
Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you” by Walt Whitman,
Hebrews 10:24-25New International Version
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hello to you. It’s Sunday again – boy do the weeks fly by. Signs of spring are all around. The trees are budding and the daffodils are blooming. I have been enjoying seeing the little birds flitting about and singing their love songs. I have been trying to walk a little further even though my back still bothers me. I try to take Link but sometimes he says no so I take him home and go by myself.
Today we were in Galatians 5 again and the emphasis was on the war that we are constantly fighting between the spirit and the flesh. My personal battle is with food. I enjoy eating and my obese body is evidence of it! I have been looking at some things and it’s possible my liver is not working like it should. I meant to look into a supplement today but forgot at the grocery store today.
Pastor Jayson always comes up with relatable messages in his sermons. For example sin is like our shadow – can’t get rid of it. Fruit trees bear fruit not for itself but for us. The same can be said about fruits of the spirit. Gifts of the spirit are for the common good and fruits of the spirit are for everyone to enjoy. A very timely message for this time of year!
Galatians 5:16-26New International Version
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[a] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality,impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Some sights from last nights walk – I took a different route to see some new things.
Hello just a short post today. Link just got his nails ground for the first time and he was not loving it! There was flying pee and poop! The girls from Pampered Pets Manicure LLC were able to get it done. They were really nice. It was really nice that they came to the house.
Hello to you. It’s Friday again – the week went fast! Todays prompt is a pretty easy one. The trait I look for the most in a friend is honesty. I value people in my life that tell the truth even if it’s someone thing I don’t want to hear. The worst thing a friend of mine can do is lie to me! One of the Ten Commandments is about lying:
Exodus 20:16New International Version
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
Happy tree Bright sunshine A bush full of rose blooms!Some sights on the walk last night
Hello to you. Hope this finds you well! This morning I decided to join others from church for a prayer meeting. They had only expected four people and my going made five! One of the things we prayed for I’ve had on my heart for quite some time and that’s a permanent home for our church. As it stands right now, each Saturday volunteers have to set up for Sunday at a school gym here in town. After service they have to pack everything up. It’s very labor intensive. God will make a way for us I hope.
Tree buds – love the flowers Alleluia clouds Prayer meeting at Grace House We prayed for volunteers to plant flowers – looks like nature and God already on it!The tree leaf buds in morning light
One of the unspoken obstacles we are facing as a Christian church is we are trying to operate in a predominately Mormon town. Everything will work out I hope!
Matthew 6:5-15
Prayer
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.7 And when you pray, do not keep on babblinglike pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you needbefore you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation,[a] but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Hello to you. How are you? I’m doing ok. My energy levels have been pretty low so me and the couch and You tube have been besties lately. When I let Link out a few minutes ago I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful sunset – the light in the neighbors tree really was vibrant. It’s been awhile since I’ve felt inspired to take a photo of natural beauty. I hope it pleases you too.
A beautiful look at my neighbors tree in contrast of light and shadow
Hello to you. How are you doing? I’m trying to figure out why I have the feeling of being on a boat all the time – a swaying sensation in my head when I walk or move around. Well I found out about a condition that happens after you get off a boat but can persist or just happen even without having been on a craft. I haven’t been on a boat recently. The sensation just started a few months ago when I was in the hospital. It’s very frustrating. I have to talk to a doctor about it as this is just a self diagnosis right now. It’s called Mal de debarquement disorder. Here is a description I found:
NORD gratefully acknowledges the Vestibular Disorders Association and Jeffrey Kramer, MD, Neurology Department, Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, Chicago, IL, for assistance in the preparation of this report.
Synonyms of Mal de Debarquement
MDD
General Discussion
Mal de debarquement (MDD) is a rare and poorly understood disorder of the vestibular system that results in a phantom perception of self- motion typically described as rocking, bobbing or swaying. The symptoms tend to be exacerbated when a patient is not moving, for example, when sleeping or standing still. Studies have shown that a brief period of these symptoms is common in healthy individuals after prolonged episodes of passive motion, normally lasting seconds to three days. However, in MDD, significant balance impairment can persist for months to years. Symptoms may diminish in time or may reappear spontaneously or after another exposure. The most common triggers are water-based activities such as ocean cruising. Less common triggers include airplane travel, extended landing travel and sleeping on water beds. Other common complaints of patients with MDD include a sensation of uneven ground below their feet while walking, or feeling as if they are still on a boat. It is rare for MDD patients to have true rotational vertigo or motion sickness.
Signs & Symptoms
The primary symptom is the persistence of a sense of motion and rocking. Some patients may experience fatigue, mood changes and confusion. Imbalance is a common complaint. Symptoms often increase when exposed to fast movements, flickering lights and grocery store aisles. There may be transient improvement in symptoms with re-exposure to passive motion, for example, riding in cars or trains. After completion of the trip, however, the symptoms tend to recur.
Studies have shown that the length of time one is exposed to a motion experience does not determine the severity or duration of the syndrome, but most typical cases are triggered by day trips lasting several days.
Causes
The true cause behind MDD is still unknown. MDD likely results from the body’s balance system inadequately processing and adapting to multiple sensory inputs (visual, vestibular, proprioceptive and cognitive) from the environment once the stimulus (trigger) has ended. It is as yet undetermined as to the cause of the balance system’s inability to appropriately compensate and adapt. How or why this happens remains a mystery.
Affected Populations
The majority of people affected are adult females, although there have been reports of males having the diagnosis. Patients with migraine may have any increased susceptibility through unknown mechanisms
Hello to you. How are you? Today I’m having a tree trimming service come out and trim my neighbors tree back from my house. It’s amazing how much growth happened over the summer and early fall. It’s not cheap either but needs to be done.
My neighbors tree reaching over to my house
News about Dad is he’s dealing with a UTI (urinary tract infection). Please keep him in your prayers. His name is Larry.
later – think this might be what I’m dealing with for the swaying:
Mal de Debarquement It literally means sickness of disembarkment. It refers to an illusion of movement felt as an aftereffect of travel on water most frequently. Most individuals will recover following exposure to motion within a few days. It becomes pathological if it persists more than a month. Most patients note a resolution of their symptoms within 12 months. Middle-aged women are most at risk, following exposure to an unfamiliar movement and removal of the stimulus. The pathophysiological process seems to arise from the brain rather than the inner ear. Functional MRI studies suggest that the brain is able to adapt to an unfamiliar movement but is unable to readapt once the movement has stopped. Most commonly, the patients describe their symptoms as rocking, swaying and disequilibrium and rarely a spinning vertigo. The symptoms are worsened when the subject is in an enclosed space or when they are motionless. They feel better when they are moving or driving. Diagnosis is made after taking an appropriate history and after ruling out other disorders that can cause dizziness. There is no single effective treatment for Mal de Débarquement Syndrome. Short-term use of benzodiazepines and may alleviate the symptoms. However, prolonged use may cause delay in the necessary compensation to recover. Vestibular rehabilitation is controversial. Early exposure to motion may exacerbate symptoms. After a variable wait time for spontaneous resolution it can be suggested. The rehabilitation will focus on readjusting the maladapted vestibulo-ocular reflex.
Flowers, plants, trees and gardens require a lot of water, like us, to stay alive.
Hello to you today. How are you? I’m tired. Didn’t have a very restful sleep last night. I know I’m not alone about that! I’ve had water on my mind a lot more than usual lately. The headlines coming in around the globe about our freshwater drinking supplies is grim. I have been looking at my own life and personal habits with regards to water usage…..on my walks watching water running from sprinklers, down the street and into the drains. Stand by the canals we have here and watching how many lives other than humans depend on a narrow strip of flowing water. I grew up in a time when we drank water directly from the tap. Now I go to our local grocery store and sometimes the shelves are pretty bare of bottled drinking water….so I end up buying Gatorade or flavored water that really isn’t good for me and my wanting to lose weight.
This morning after watching John Oliver’s piece on water, I found an article that I had been looking for. It talks about how much of our water resources is going towards things we buy like smartphones for example. We are coming to a wake up call, collectively, many will deny needs to happen. Much of what drives the livelihoods of many businesses and workers is the buying and selling of goods, services and luxuries for entertainment like water parks for example. People, myself included, have lived with the now romantic notion of the seeming plentiful nature of water on this earth. We, those paying attention, are seeing harsh realities. Trees, that contribute to our shared oxygen supply, need water. The womb, where a baby takes the 9 month journey in humans is in water. Water is life….quite literally so. No water….no babies.
Hidden water is an important part of water use. It may not be visible, but millions of gallons of virtual water go into making the consumer goods Americans buy, use and throw away. Manufacturing everyday materials like paper, plastic, metal and fabric takes water – a lot of it. Knowing how much water it takes to make the raw materials and products we all use and consume is an important first step towards water conservation and using water more productively.
Hidden Water: How the Water Footprints of Consumer Goods are Calculated
Hidden water is water that is not felt or seen and it is required for almost every step in the production processes for many raw materials and finished products. The water footprint of a product is calculated by adding up all of the water required for each step of the production process. Table 1 lists a sampling of water footprints for the manufacturing of some common consumer goods.
Table 1. Water Footprint of Common Consumer Items.
The Water Footprint Network (whose research provides some of the data used in the WFC) defines these components as:
Blue Water Footprint: The amount of surface water and groundwater required (evaporated or used directly) to produce an item.
Green Water Footprint: The amount of rainwater required (evaporated or used directly) to make an item.
Grey Water Footprint: The amount of freshwater required to dilute the wastewater generated in manufacturing, in order to maintain water quality, as determined by state and local standards.
How Much Virtual Water is in a Smart Phone?
Take smart phones, for example. Their water footprint comes from the virtual water associated with their manufacturing – what’s known as the “grey water footprint.”
Phones are composed of many pieces created in multiple steps, and each step consumes water. Numerous resources, materials and parts go into smartphone manufacturing, including rare earth metals (e.g., lithium), tin, glass and plastics. The supply chains for these materials stretch around the world to places like Indonesia, the Philippines and China. Production might include steps like mining for precious metals, creating synthetic chemicals for glue and plastic and assembling and packaging. Collectively, the water associated with each step adds up to the blue water footprint.
In addition, manufacturing the parts creates wastewater that is released into surrounding waterways. Those waterways often have pollution limits that manufacturers must meet before they can send their wastewater down the pipe and into the waterway. The water used to clean and dilute the wastewater adds up to the grey water footprint, and in the case of the smart phone, makes up the largest portion of its total water footprint.
When the water required for all the steps to make a smart phone is added up, the water footprint of the production of a single phone is an estimated 3,190 gallons.
The Water Footprint of Everyday Paper, Plastic and Cotton
To meet all of these needs, industrial facilities in the US withdraw over 15.9 billion gallons of water per day. Fortunately, due to increasingly efficient manufacturing practices, most factories have reduced water use by 12 percent since 2005, and 33 percent since 1970.
All told, the water that keeps America afloat on a sea of consumer goods is enormous. As some of the biggest shoppers on the planet, the average American’s water footprint for buying, using and throwing away consumer goods (excluding food) is 583 gallons of water per day.
Save Water With the Three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
The adage “reduce, reuse, recycle” becomes even more relevant given all the water and other resources that go into making all the products consumed in America. Many consumer goods are made to be thrown away, so they pile up in landfills, wash into the ocean or litter the landscape.
Buying fewer products in the first place reduces the overall number of products that are made, and, in turn, reduces the amount of water needed by the factories that make these products. Additionally, recycling consumer goods can have a positive effect. In 2012, for example, the US threw out over 24 million tons of paper and almost 29 million tons of plastic – both of which are water-intensive materials that can be re-used and/or recycled. Recycling a pound of paper – the same amount found in a typical daily newspaper – saves 3.5 gallons of water.
Small actions like recycling at home, reusing items when possible and using fewer plastic bags and paper towels can make a small but cumulative difference in water consumption. Reducing the need for new products in the first place – ending overconsumption – is the strategy that saves the most water. Avoiding purchases of disposable, low-quality goods that are made to go in the trash makes a big difference. Buying used items and thrifting – especially for clothing – or buying products that are of higher quality, reusable and, if need be, recyclable, are the best options when new purchases are necessary.
The Hidden Water in Energy
The average American today uses about five times more electricity than they did 50 years ago. This increase is significant because it takes a substantial amount of water to create energy. Water is used to cool steam electric power plants – fueled by coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power – and is required to generate hydropower. Water is also used in great quantities during fuel extraction, refining and production. So, wasted energy is, in effect, wasted water.
Nobody will have a water footprint of zero because it takes water to make just about everything we choose to buy, eat, use and throw away. Individual daily decisions might seem small, but cumulatively they can have a great impact.
My prayers for the souls and families of this story from San Antonio Texas….. those considered disposable, replaceable, desperate people and the consequences:
As the snow flies On a cold and gray Chicago mornin’ A poor little baby child is born In the ghetto (In the ghetto)
And his mama cries ‘Cause if there’s one thing that she don’t need It is another hungry mouth to feed In the ghetto (In the ghetto)
People, don’t you understand The child needs a helping hand Or he’ll grow to be an angry young man some day Take a look at you and me Are we too blind to see? Do we simply turn our heads And look the other way
Well, the world turns And a hungry little boy with a runny nose Plays in the street as the cold wind blows In the ghetto (In the ghetto)
And his hunger burns So he starts to roam the streets at night And he learns how to steal And he learns how to fight In the ghetto (In the ghetto)
Then one night in desperation The young man breaks away He buys a gun, steals a car Tries to run, but he don’t get far And his mama cries
As a crowd gathers ’round an angry young man Face down on the street with a gun in his hand In the ghetto (In the ghetto)
And as her young man dies (In the ghetto) On a cold and gray Chicago mornin’ Another little baby child is born In the ghetto (In the ghetto)
And his mama cries (In the ghetto) (In the ghetto) (Ah)
A voice in all of this that comforts me and great to sing along with….no words just the healing sound energy of music. Thank you Mei-lan! So glad I found you:
To be 