Jul 30, 2015

It's not taboo, it's just wrong

TABOO
 adjective
 
1.proscribed by society as improper or unacceptable:
Taboo language is usually bleeped on TV.
 
2.prohibited or excluded from use or practice: In art school, painting from photographs was taboo.
 
3.(among the Polynesians and other peoples of the South Pacific) separated or set apart as sacred; forbidden for general use; placed under a prohibition or ban.
Synonyms: sacrosanct, inviolable
 
 
We generally don't agree or accept things that we as a culture don't do on a daily basis.  I understand for example that Inuits in Alaska have a limited food supply, therefore they eat seals.  I think of seals as these adorable blubbery mammals who do no harm and don't deserve to die for any reason outside of normal nature - death or being eaten by another animal haha.  It doesn't mean that Inuits are wrong or that they're bad people.  But what they do is taboo to me.  I have the luxury of fast food and a grocery store where food is readily available.
 
Last year, I was pissed off when reading about Kendall Jones' many big game hunts. She even made it her personal goal to kill Africa's Big 5 (white rhino, cape buffalo, leopard and an elephant.)
 
 
 
Seeing her smiley face next to these majestic animals who did nothing to deserve these deaths made me so sad.  Now we have this Minnesota dentist who paid a hefty $50,000 to go "hunt" a lion.  
 
The details of the story are this...
 
He and his guides secured a dead animal to the back of their truck, lured Cecil the lion (a studied and protected lion through Hwange Lion Research which is funded by Oxford University) outside of the protected Zimbabwe Hwange National Park, shined a spotlight on him and shot him with a crossbow (which did NOT kill him.)  For 40hrs they tracked him, when they finally found him they shot him with a rifle.  It was then that they "shockingly" - I say this facetiously, discovered they had killed a protected lion because they discovered his GPS tracking collar.  They attempted to destroy the collar, but failed because it was found.  Furthermore they beheaded Cecil and skinned him, leaving his remains to rot.  From what I read/researched last year during the Kendall Jones uproar, most big game hunters claim they hunt for the sport and donate the meat to locals.

If you're so rich you can afford to blow $50,000 - donate it to the damn country.  I'm sure locals, although they don't have access to conveniences like we do in America, can fend for themselves.  If you want to help them, provide vaccines or antibiotics to illnesses they cannot easily seek care for.  Clearly Walter Palmer wasn't worried about donating the remains of the lion because he took the head and skin and left him there.  Not only did he kill a majestic PROTECTED animal, illegally.  Yes...I hold him and his guide fully responsible.  But now he's messed up the entire nature and existing lion pride.  The remaining mature male, Jericho will now take over the pride which normally results in killing the cubs of the prior leader.
 
In this particular case, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management have stated that both the professional hunter and the land owner had neither a permit or quota to justify the killing of Cecil.
 
Way to go assholes...way to go.
 
Walter has hunted before, killing a leopard, rhino, grizzly bear and surprise - illegally killing a black bear in Wisconsin and lying to federal officers about it.  
 
 
 
 
 
I realize I may have a slightly larger heart when it comes to animals.  But for the love of God - why why why.  We know we're the top of the food chain...do you really need to kill beautiful, innocent wild animals to prove it?  Who are you trying to impress?

Stop it...just stop it.  My heart breaks for all of the lives of animals (and people) who have been murdered.  Because that's exactly what this is...murder.

Jul 27, 2015

Minions & Mayfield

Persephone has watched a handful of full-length movies at home and during car rides.  When the Minions movie came out, I assumed it would be a good time to try taking her to the theater.  Well....we made it through about 1hr ha!  She was just too fidgety and bored and didn't want to sit still.  We even moved to a row all by ourselves so she wouldn't bother anyone's movie experience. 

I managed to take a few pictures of the experience even if we didn't get the full bang for our buck.









Once we left there, we visited Mayfield Dairy Farm.  
The tour is pretty short and although you don't SEE a ton of stuff, I learned a lot :)


She wasn't excited about the hair net...but when we pointed out other little girls wearing them she agreed.





A milk cows utters can weigh approx 90lbs when full, so they're usually milked twice a day.

-During the schoolyear, Mayfield produces approx 4 MILLION milk cartons a week.

-Mayfield began using the yellow jugs in the 80's because their study found that 20min after light hits the milk it begins changing the flavor and vitamins break down.

-Mayfield tests a sample of milk before they accept the truckload.

-Mayfield only accepts milk with no trace of hormones or antibiotics.

-The date printed on the gallon jug is the "sale by" date not the "expiration".  Milk usually will lasts about 18 days after packaged.

-When you're smelling milk to see if it's bad or not, pour it into a glass because if you smell directly from the milk jug you're probably smelling dried milk around the rim.


We ended our visit with FREE ICECREAM!


Jul 24, 2015

Impetigo Round #2

Back on June 19th we took Persephone to a local Urgent Care because of some sores on her arms.  At the time they had been there for 4 days and progressively got worse.  I thought they were ant bites, but I was wrong.  The doc in a box diagnosed it as impetigo - a bacterial skin infection.  He prescribed cephalexin oral antibiotic. 



It started to clear up really nicely within about 4-5 days but suddenly began to reappear a few days after finishing the antibiotics and much MUCH worse than the first time.



I took her to the pediatrician, he didn't seem to think it was impetigo and just prescribed us an antibiotic cream to put on the sores.  Two days later it was getting worse so we took her BACK to the pediatrician who confirmed it was still impetigo.  I trusted her diagnosis because she really examined the sores and touched them..etc.  She re-prescribed cephalexin oral, told us to keep using the antibiotic cream and come back in a week for re-check.

This physician (Dr. Nancy Johnson at Longstreet Pediatrics) was amazing.  She was so interactive with Persephone and very thorough.  If I had my choice I would never see anyone other than her.  Anyway...unlike the prior two visits Dr. Johnson looked at Persephone's ears, nose and throat and listened to her chest.  She heard wheezing.  For the first time ever I thought a light was shining down and an angel choir was singing.  Hardy and I have suspected she might be a little asthmatic especially at night because she's had several coughing spells that have kept her from sleeping.


Dr. Johnson had us do a breathing treatment in the office with albuterol and sent us home with a prescription and a nebulizer.  We were to do the nebulizer 4-6 times a day until we returned the following week to re-check the impetigo and the wheezing. 



As you can see from the pic above her impetigo started clearing up beautifully and although she's finished her oral medicine, I occasionally put a little of the antibiotic cream on it - I want to make sure all traces of those sores are gone.  As of today there's only a small shadow on her inner arm of one of the biggest "sores" otherwise she has clear skin!

Her wheezing was non existent according to the physicians assistant that we saw at the re-check.  So now we're only doing the nebulizer once a night before bed.  When we did it the few first couple of days she freaked out, screamed, wiggled and fought.  Now there's nothing to it!




Jul 23, 2015

I gave up

You know how men have selective hearing?  I believe I have selective commitment.  I've been committed to Hardy since I first laid eyes on him - yes, I have.  I'm committed to Persephone and my family.  I'm committed to my friends.  I'm even committed to some books and bands.  But I cannot seem to commit to diet and exercise.  WHY?!  WHY?!  I don't enjoy being overweight and flabby...but I'm just so damn lazy.

I tried that Contrave pill for 1mo...it made no difference.  Not even any crazy side effects.  So I stopped taking it.  I don't know what I was expecting.  Maybe some energy?  Maybe some appetite suppression?  Anything...but I got nothing.  I don't eat all day long, hell I don't even snack on sweets or junk.  My issue is portion control and lack of exercise.  When I eat dinner, I almost always have seconds - bad bad bad.  I know what's good and what's not...but I refuse to make myself do the work.

I even went to a workout class a few weeks ago.  It was a private group session.  I loved it, I worked my ass off...I sweat like a pig.  I hurt for 3 days afterward, but I still felt pumped up about it.  So what's holding me back?  The cost of a gym membership.  The cost to do the group session.  I can't really afford to either.  Some people may argue, your life is worth it.  You don't want to have a heart attack or stroke...or develop diabetes.  No, you're right...I don't want any of that.  But daycare pretty much absorbs all of our "extra" money.  I'm not going to pull Persephone out of daycare so I can work out.

I've got to find my niche.  I haven't always been fat.  Yes, I said it...fat.  No one in my family is really even obese.  But I'm without a doubt obese.  Granted I never played sports in school, but I didn't consume 3,000 calories a day either.  I'm not sure what changed or when it changed, but post-baby it hasn't gotten any easier to lose it.  I don't expect to be high school skinny again, hell if I did that I would appear anorexic (even though I wasn't.)  But I need to lose about 65lbs to be "healthy."

Why am I so damn lazy?  Why can't I see past the heat and sweating and just do it?

Wah wah wah

End crybaby post.