Early Days of Spring

First butterfly!

Dogwoods getting ready to bloom.

Some kind of cocoon thing on my berry branches.

This is either an anemone or a sorrel of some kind. I thought it was a wood anemone but those have five petals, these have four. 

I couldn't find anything that looked exactly like these in my guide books. 

They are very pretty, whatever they are.

The View From My Father's House

This is what I looked upon in my teenage years; this exquisite landscape scene of the Blue Ridge Mountains. My father built his house here in 1976, when I was 13. I lived there until I married at the age of 20.

Isn't it a lovely view?

I Want Bones McCoy (for my doctor)

From Sunday Stealing

TV Meme, part one


1. TV Theme songs. Which is your favorite, and which makes you crazy enough to hit mute on the remote?

A. I'm afraid I don't have a favorite, nor do any make me crazy enough to hit the mute button. I don't watch a lot of TV.

2. The Classics. What is your favorite Classic TV show?

A. At my age I think anything before 1995 would be a classic, wouldn't it? That will be my definition of "classic" anyway, since it is undefined. I don't have a favorite but I prefer many of those shows. I liked Cagney & Lacey, Charlie's Angels, The Cosby Show, Golden Girls, Cheers, The Facts of Life, Little House on the Prairie, and Star Trek (anything). 

3. What character from a Classic TV show would you like to be?

A. I would like to have been a female version of Dr. Spock.
 
4. Can you remember a line you liked from a Classic TV show?

A. Hmm. How about "Skipper!" - shouted Gilligan on every episode. Or maybe, "Mother!" from Samantha on Bewitched.
 
5. Heroes. What show featuring those who protect your country (fiction or non-fiction) is your favorite?

A. I liked JAG when it was on. Otherwise I don't generally watch those shows. I am not into violence.
 
6. TV Cops. Who is your favorite (past or present) TV cop? Which TV cop do you think was the most crooked, or the most inept?

A. I liked Christine Cagney on Cagney & Lacey the best, with her partner Mary Beth Lacey a close runner-up. Christine was smart, human, and tough. I also liked DeeDee McCall on Hunter in the early seasons of the show. I don't have an answer for the second part of the question.
 
7. You need to hire a bodyguard for yourself. Which TV cop do you choose?

A. Christine Cagney.
 
8. TV Doctors. Which TV doctor would you choose to remove your appendix? Which TV doctor would you not let touch you with a 10- foot pole?

A. I would love to have Bones McCoy from Star Trek run his tricorder over me and fix everything that is wrong. Wouldn't that be great? I also wouldn't mind having Cliff Huxtable from The Cosby Show for a doctor. I have no answer to the second part of the question.
 
9. TV Moms. Which TV mom would you have liked to have had for your own? Is there a TV mom you would never want as your own?

A. I thought Claire Huxtable on The Cosby Show was a good mom. I would not want whoever it was Rosanne Barr played as a mom.
 
10. TV Dads. Which TV Dad would you have most liked to have for your own dad? On the flipside, who was the TV Dad you’d have least liked to have had?

A. Michael Landon on Little House on the Prairie was a good dad; so was Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show. The dad I would least like to have is that awful father on that Orange County Choppers reality TV show. All he does is yell (my husband watched it sometimes while I read a book).
 
11. Comedies. How do you feel about sitcoms? Good, wholesome fun or saccharine inanity?

A. I like comedies. They are a good break from tough days. Right now my favorite is The Big Bang Theory but then again there aren't a lot of new ones to choose from.
 
12. If your life was a sitcom, what would the title be?

A. Chronic Crisis, LTD.
 
13. If you went to a comedy club on amateur night, and they gave you some jokes and a microphone, would you go onstage?

A. In reality, probably not, but to be honest I wouldn't mind giving it a try if I had time to give it thought and preparation.
 
14. Reality. Are you a fan of Reality TV? What’s your “can’t miss” reality TV show (or shows), or what reality TV show do you suppose the devil plays on the TV in Hell as punishment?

A. I started watched Survivor from the beginning as an escape right after my mother died, and for some reason I have continued to watch it. Other than that, I don't watch much reality TV. I suppose shows like American Pickers and Pawn Stars are also reality TV, and I do catch those from time to time, but I don't go out of my way to see them (nor do I have to, they are on like 24/7, aren't they?). Some of these shows about backwards southerners are terrible and quite unappealing and insulting to me; we aren't all loose-toothed idiots.
 
15. If you were given a free ticket to be on any reality show, which one would you choose?

A. None of them, really. I wouldn't mind going to watch Survivor being filmed, though. However, I don't want to play the game.

Yes, We Are Strange

 Saturday 9: Stuck on You (2012)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This upbeat song is from a CD called The Bright Side. What is brightening your world this fine Saturday?

A. I have a new car!

2) Our featured artist Meiko sings, "You are the one I can see having fun with ...". When is the last time you laughed hard? Who were you with?

A. My husband and I laugh all the time. The last really good laugh we had together was immediately after a funeral. Yes, we are strange.

3) She also sings, "I must confess when I wear this dress I feel like dancing ...". Does your mood have an impact on what you wear? 

A. I often dress up or put on something colorful in hopes it will help my mood.

4) In this video, she accidentally drops one of her meatballs on the floor. Do you believe in "the five second rule," which states that if food has been on the floor less than five seconds it's still OK to eat? Or, after it hits the floor, is the next stop always the garbage?

A. It depends on what it is. If it is something sticky, it goes in the trash. Not sticky, still OK to eat. Chocolate? Never in the trash.

5) Despite her exotic-sounding name, Meiko was born in Atlanta, home of the Braves. Do you plan on going to the ballpark this season?

A. I have never been to either a minor league or a professional league ball park.

6) Meiko recently posted a photo of herself in DisneyLand posing with Goofy. Who took the most recent photo of you? What were you doing?

A. Hmm. I don't get my picture taken very often. Seems like the last time was for the picture I use now, and that was taken in 2011 during an Open Studios Tour of the local artists' homes.

7)  Are you stubborn? 

A. Yes, though it depends on the issue. Some things simply aren't worth being stubborn about.

8) Let's visit your bathroom: What color is your toothbrush?

A. Blue, I think.

9) Which would we find: bar soap or liquid soap?

A. Bar soap by the sink, liquid soap in the shower.

Carilion Makes Good

A few days ago I wrote a post about how a Carilion doctor basically left me stranded regarding my health care when I went for a second opinion on a chronic health issue.

The post was not very complimentary of Roanoke's largest health care provider. Nor should it have been; what happened was inexcusable. I also linked the post on my Facebook page.

What happened next was completely unexpected. First, my Facebook friends, many of whom had no idea that I have been so ill because I've been somewhat private about it, came to my defense with concern and indignation. Some shared stories of their own issues with our behemoth healthcare system, including the local providers. Others offered up prayers. My inbox filled with suggestions. A few people posted helpful links in hopes of helping me figure out the source of my chronic pain. I was incredibly humbled, grateful, and overwhelmed by this outpouring.

On Thursday morning, around 9 a.m., I received a call from a Carilion representative. She said she'd heard I had a bad experience with Internal Medicine and was following up. I told her what had happened. She said that was not acceptable and that she would get me in to see an internal medicine doctor that very day.

She called back in about 20 minutes and asked if I could be at the Riverside facility for a 12 p.m. appointment. I said I would be there.

Then the most surprising thing of all happened: I received an email from Nancy Agee, President and CEO of Carilion. Ms. Agee said she was saddened to learn about my bad experiences with Carilion and that she wanted to help. She said she had taken action internally right away.

I received her note right before I left for my new appointment. I met with a different internal medicine doctor who was very kind. The nurse was nice, and the head of nursing for that department came in and apologized to me for the treatment I had received the day before. She told me that the issue had been corrected and that in the future people would not be treated as I was. I am very happy to report that and I hope that is indeed the case.

After our consultation, the doctor said the staff had already arranged for me to have a meeting with a gastroenterologist on Friday morning (4/25) if I wanted the appointment. I did.

This morning I met with my new gastroenterologist. He was a very nice doctor, quite thorough, and keenly interested in helping me understand why I am in so much pain. For the first time in all of my many doctor visits, this doctor took the time to pull out an atlas of the human body, show me how all the organs intertwined, point out the locations of my muscles, and show me where I hurt.

After my consultation with him, I had a much better understanding of the problem I am facing. My healthcare issue is an unusual and complicated one. The fact that the pain has continued for so long makes it especially difficult, he said.

He gave me a new drug and said he was hoping that with medications and physical therapy, I would be about 60 percent better over the next few months.

That is not exactly the news one wants to hear, but I think I could function at 60 percent better. Certainly I could function better than I am now.

So Carilion made good and stepped up to help me. I am very grateful to Ms. Agee for her intervention, and most especially grateful for my unknown Facebook friend or blog reader who sent her the link to my page. I am glad to know that the leader of our largest healthcare provider does take an active interest in seeing that people are treated fairly. I hope that, at least, what happened to me will cause a change so that others are not left uncared for.

Truly I hope that the 9 a.m. Thursday phone call from a Carilion representative would have happened anyway; that someone would have realized there had been a mistake, and set out to make it right, without a command from on high. I don't know the sequence of events, except that I did receive the phone call from the rep before I received the email from the CEO. *Updated: I have since learned that the initial call to me to correct the problem was implemented prior to the CEO learning of the issue. So good for Carilion.*

And now, while I have it on my mind, I am going to list a few concrete things I'd like to see Carilion do to make itself a better healthcare provider for Roanoke. Some of these perhaps could be wrapped up into a new program called CarilionCares. That has a nice soothing ring to it, doesn't it?

1. Put a link to a (I am making this email address up) complaints@carilionclinic.org email (or something similar) in a prominent place on the front page of the main website. Presently, the only contact information goes to something called direct@carilionclinic.org and you don't know if you're writing to a person or a dead email file. I did receive an acknowledgement of the email I sent out Wednesday afternoon, but I think a cheery little box that says "Have a complaint? We want to help! Write us!" would go a long way. One of the most frequent comments I had on my Facebook page and in private messages was that people felt like their problems with healthcare at Carilion were going unheard.

2. Establish a better referral system. The Doctor/Provider section on the website lets you search by name, specialty, or location. But what if you don't know what specialist you need? How do you find out? That is where I ran into problems. I had no idea what kind of specialist I needed. Ideally, the primary care doctor would make a referral, but that isn't always the case. Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. The more power a person has to do this, the better for all. There should be a way to email a CarilionCares specialist asking for advice on the best doctor, or a way to call said specialist and ask for a referral. That specialist should be able to determine some direction for the poor soul on the other end of the phone. That specialist should be familiar with as many doctors and specialties as possible. If I called in tomorrow saying "I want a no-nonsense female doctor who can help me with the pain in my hip," she should be able to say, why of course, Dr. So-and-So would be just right for you. And that shouldn't just be platitudes, but a genuine effort to match patient and doctor.

3. Have better follow-up. My health insurance provider offers me something called "conditioned care" and a 24-hour nurse line. I have taken advantage of both - but they aren't located in Roanoke. They can't advise me except in the most general of terms. However, they check with me about my condition, ask appropriate questions, and offer help in other ways if I need it. Shouldn't someone from Carilion follow up when a patient diagnosed with asthma or high blood pressure or some other chronic issue doesn't return as scheduled? Make sure they're taking their medication? If a healthcare facility truly cares about its patients, then it should not lose them in the day-to-day matters. At the least, how about a 24-hour hotline for people with questions and concerns to call? If my health insurance provider can do that, I don't see why Carilion couldn't do it for its patients.

4. Have patient advocates for people with chronic and life-threatening conditions. For example, I remember when my mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer how alone I and other family members felt. There was no one available to guide us through the process of my mother's dying. I have felt a similar sort of panic with my own health care issue and it would be nice to have someone to call, if nothing else for a little reassurance.
Family members and patients get scared - it's a tough time when someone is sick. Kindness never hurts.

I think some of these things may already be in place - they're just not highly visible. There are volunteer opportunities on the webpage but it's hard to locate; I had to hunt for it. Shouldn't these people be promoted - maybe they should be the face of the healthcare community? I would urge Carilion to consider these types of nurturing activities - along with others - so that people can see that the big healthcare provider is there for them as people, not as dollar bills.

Thursday Thirteen

1. Today I am not in the mood for a Thursday Thirteen; I had a horrid experience yesterday at a healthcare facility, and I am in pain, and my frustration and disappointment level is high.

2. So bear with me while I look around me and inside my head for something to write about today. Maybe this: the sky is partly cloudy, but we had a beautiful sunrise.

3. My desk is covered with work, and I am happy about this. I just wish I felt well enough to do all that I want to these days.

4. We replaced our windows in May 2010. Since then, the gas has leaked out of about half of them, and some of them have had weird brown streaks break out through the glass after a period of time. We have been greatly disappointed, not in the service from the local company that installed them, but in the manufacturer. Not long after we purchased these windows, the manufacturer went into bankruptcy and someone else bought it. They are not honoring the warranties well. Right now I have a top glass in my office that I can barely see through because of the streaks.

5. I had a CT Scan done on April 11. It cost $7,500, according to the EOB at my insurance company's website. The report came back saying I have no bladder. Guess what. I have a bladder. I don't have a gallbladder. I will have to cough up about $600 as my co-pay for this, something that isn't even right. My doctor asked for a correction but such errors does not do much for confidence.

6. A CT Scan I had done in September, by the same facility but at the hospital instead of a satellite location (via the ER) cost $10,000 according to the EOBs. By that time I'd already met my out-of-pocket deductibles for the year, thanks to a surgery and another ER visit. Is the $3,000 difference because one was scheduled and the other not? Inquiring minds want to know.

7. I posted my experience yesterday on my Facebook page and here, and it has been gratifying to see the indignation my friends have expressed over, as my brother so gracefully put it over the phone this morning, my "f@cking" at the health care facility. My thanks to you all for your concern.

8. Most of my friends on Facebook did not know I have been ill; I had not posted anything about it on there before. Perhaps I should have mentioned it sooner there. I have mentioned it on my blog a few times, but I try not to dwell on it. Who wants to read that kind of depressing stuff, you know?

9. We are having a beautiful spring. Lots of things blooming. I love the colors and the renewal. The promise of better times.

10. If the rains in Spain stay mainly on the plains, what does it do up in the mountains?

11. Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild & precious life? - Mary Oliver

12. Laugh more, cry when you have to. Hug three times a day for 20 seconds each. Call your friends, say I love you, and eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Could that be the recipe for a long, healthy, and happy life?

13. Thank you dear friends for reading these meanderings. Sorry for the weirdness of it all today.



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 341st time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Why I Dislike Carilion

I had a long-standing scheduled appointment at 9 a.m. with an internal medicine doctor at Carilion's new Riverside facility this morning (4/23/2014). I had called back in February and asked for assistance in finding a doctor, explaining I was having stomach issues, and was directed to Internal Medicine and given this appointment by someone at Carilion's appointment desk. I asked specifically if this doctor would be a good doctor to see for my issue and was told "I don't know, I just make appointments."

 

Anyway, I kept the appointment. An internist should know about your internal organs, after all, and that is where I am having problems. After I arrived and paid my co-pay, the nurse called me back to the examining room. Then she asked me if I was looking for a new primary care doctor. I said no, I was there for a specific issue, I have a primary care doctor whom I like and I wasn't interested in switching. However, my primary care doctor had encouraged me to seek help elsewhere because her months of assistance have failed to alleviate my problem.

Then I was told that unless I was switching to this internist as my primary care doctor, she wouldn't see me. I asked if she would see me this one time - I even offered to pay the specialist co-pay - and I was turned away!

 

I sat sobbing in the examining room while the nurse went out. Another came in and said the same thing. My husband was livid. I went sobbing out into the waiting room where at least I was refunded my copay. However, I am in so much pain and have been unable to find a doctor to help me. What is wrong with a health care system that doesn't bother to alleviate suffering?

Obviously, Carilion's health care system is not set up in the best interest of the patient AT ALL and I find it to be the most appalling method of taking care of people I have ever experienced. Apparently all they care about are profits.

I do not understand why I couldn't be evaluated and looked at for referrals or whatever I needed instead of sent away crying in pain. This callous doctor, her nurses, and this entire organization should be ashamed of itself for what I experienced this morning. I can't believe any health care organization would turn away a patient - a paying patient with good health insurance, I might add - over some stupid policy such as this.

 

It is no wonder people leave this valley to find medical care. You certainly can't find it here.

 

When I had my gallbladder out last summer, it was at Carilion Hospital. You might want to read my blog entry about that, appropriately entitled A Comedy of Errors. It reads like a horror story. And I've been sick ever since - 10 months. Ten months solid of pain and nausea.

 

I don't know how this hospital organization receives any of these awards they tout. It can't be because they ask the patients what they think. Or maybe the patients are afraid to say because they fear they won't get care.

Well I am not afraid of the big bad behemoth of Roanoke. They owe me an apology, if nothing else.

Ailing Blue Spruce

In February, we noticed our blue spruce trees were looking thin and scraggly.

 

My husband put some fertilizer around them, but it didn't help.

 

After the weather warmed, we realized that the trees had some kind of fungal infection. We looked up the symptoms on the 'net.

 

 

My husband lopped off about three feet of branches from the bottoms of the two trees that were the most infected.

 

 

I really hated to see him do that, as we planted these trees when we moved here 28 years ago.

 

 

This might give you a better idea of how bad the lower branches were looking prior to cutting.

 

 

 

From all indications, this is the result of the wet spring and summer we had last year. 

 

 

The poor trees scarcely had any needles left on them on some branches.

 

 

This is one of the healthier trees. We sprayed it with a fungicide, as we did all of them.

 

 

This tree, which is the furthest away from the others, seems to have been spared most of the damage. It is being sprayed with fungicide too, though. 

 

 

This leaking of white sap is a tell-tale sign of the fungal infection.

The Value of a Life

Recently there has been a lot of talk about the value of people. Some people would have us think that there are folks who are more valuable than others, it seems.

Poor people, for instance, have little value in our society. (If you don't know any poor people, you might want to look in the mirror because the middle class is rapidly deteriorating.) People on welfare or food stamps, people who don't work at "real" jobs - folks like teachers and policemen, for instance - apparently are part of what is wrong with today's society. At least that's the story from one side of the aisle.

It's a question of equality, really. Does each person have value? Is just being human, just living, important? It seems to me that in this day and age, being human isn't enough. You have to be a human doing, not a human being, in order to be considered important enough to be thought of as equal.

In my local paper, a recent opinion writer made this statement: "Never mind that God did not make us equal and only naïve (or unscrupulous) politicians think they can override that natural law.

I assume he (it's almost always a he, isn't it?) is speaking about the Christian god, since that's the deity most popular here. Perhaps he needs a refresher course in his biblical readings.

From Galatians 3:28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave[a] nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

From John 13:16: Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

From Acts 10:34: So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality.

That's just three verses; there are more, of course. I can pick and choose as well as anyone.

But then we also have a certain document that Americans hold sacred. The Declaration of Independence says this: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Of course, it doesn't mention women, and here's where things get tricky. I define "people" as all of humanity, everyone who looks like a human, regardless of gender, color, sexual preference, hair style, types of jeans they wear, jewelry - anything. All human. All equal. All valuable.

I think, though, that people like the op ed writer see classes of people. They are thinking white males, mostly. Those are the people of value, the people who are equal. The rest of us, not so much.

They are rather like the pigs in Animal Farm. Remember that allegorical novel? The animals take over the farm. Initially their most important rule is "All animals are created equal."

But as time goes on, the pigs move into the farmhouse. They begin to feel power. In the end, the rule changes to say "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

That seems to be where we are now, with the mouths yelling at one another in our halls of power and places of worship. We're all equal - but we're not. From the media we hear these whispers: poor people bad, rich people good. White people good, everybody else bad. Women bad regardless and so should always earn less, but some women are worse than others. People who need public assistance are bad, people who inherit wealth are good. Where does it end? Why must we draw these lines?

It's enough to make your pants fall off.

I am, I suppose, judging people who judge. How dare you, anyway? How dare you think that you know better than anyone else who has value and who does not?

The amount of money in my pocket is not what makes up my value. My value as a person is limitless and infinite. So is yours.

The mantras of today are not the moral values I want to live under. I want to live in a world where worth is not judged, where acceptance of all is key. Yes, I judge. We all judge. It is human nature to judge. But I try not to act upon my judgments except in lawful, acceptable ways (such as voting). I don't pelt people with eggs, I don't go on talk shows and make vile remarks about things of which I know nothing, and I don't condemn that which I do not understand.

When the sun rises, it rises for all. Think about that.

Geese on the Pond

I'm a Sugar Addict

The Easter Meme
From Sunday Stealing

Q. What are your Easter traditions?

A. I don't have any. When I was a child, we did the Easter bunny thing, with baskets and candy on Easter morning. It was very secular. I was a teenager before I realized there was another significance to the weekend.

Q. Do you hard boil and decorate eggs?

A. No.

Q. How do you decorate your home for Easter?

A. I don't.

Q. Do you make/buy special outfits for yourself and your kids on Easter?

A. No.

Q. What is your favorite Easter dish?

A. I like chocolate. It doesn't really matter what time of year, but it seems quite abundant in the grocery aisles between Valentine's and Easter.

Q. When did you learn the truth about the Easter Bunny?

A. Sometime before I was six. I learned about the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Santa Claus all at one time, because of my own ability to put two-and-two together. I had recently lost a tooth and received a 50 cent piece for it. I came across a dish full of 50 cent pieces. I suddenly made the connection, that this dish is where my tooth fairy money came from, and knew immediately that if there was no tooth fairy, there was no Easter Bunny or Santa Claus. I am good at making leaps of logic like that.

Q. Do you spend Easter at home, on vacation, or with family?

A. I will be home.

Q. First one up on Easter morning?

A. When I was young, it was my brother.

Q. Go to mass or church?

A. Probably not.

Q. What are your favorite Easter hymns and/or choir arrangements?

A. I don't have any. Does Gene Autry's Here Comes Peter Cottontail count?

Q. How many Easter egg hunts does your family usually participate in?

A. Zero.

Q. Do you make deviled eggs out of leftover Easter eggs?

A. I would if I made Easter eggs.

Q. Are you tired of eggs by the end of the Easter Season?

A. No.

Q. Are Peeps good or gross?

A. I don't eat them but have no real opinion on their goodness or grossness.

Q. What company makes the best chocolate for Easter time?

A. I like Cadbury Eggs. This is the only time of the year you can get them (though they recently started selling some at Halloween with green innards, that I did not like so much).

Q. Lots of candy or not?

A. I'm a sugar addict, so candy always.

Q. What is your favorite Easter candy?

A. I will go with the Cadbury Eggs.

Q. Do you find plastic Easter grass hidden in places for months after Easter is over?

A. When we were small we used to.

Q. What’s your favorite color for fake grass?

A. Um. Green? It is supposed to be grass, after all.

Hippity Hoppity

Saturday 9: Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1950)

1) Which do you prefer: colored hard-boiled eggs, chocolate marshmallow eggs, or plastic eggs with coins inside?

A. How about just those nice milk-chocolate egg footballs, or a Cadbury Egg? I love Cadbury Eggs.

2) What's your favorite color of Peeps (yellow, purple, or pink)?

A. I don't like Peeps. My favorite color is blue. Do they make blue Peeps?

3) All this talk of sweets is making the writer of this meme (Sam) hungry. What's for lunch?

A. Yogurt.

4) This song was introduced by country singer Gene Autry and it's still a favorite. Please share some of the lyrics. (And you're on your own; Sam didn't include a link to the song this week.)

A. Here comes Peter Cottontail, hoppin' down the bunny trail, hippity hoppity Easter's on its way. He's got Jelly Beans for Tommy, colored eggs for sister Sue, there's an orchid for your mommy, and an Easter bonnet, too! (That's from memory, I didn't look it up.)

5) Gene Autry was so popular that a town in Oklahoma named itself for him. Have you ever been to Oklahoma?

A. I think I have driven through Oklahoma, way back in 1976 when I was 12 and my parents drove across the US from Virginia to California. But otherwise, no.

6) In addition to singing, Mr. Autry made 93 cowboy movies. What's the last movie you saw?

A. I guess Game of Thrones isn't a movie, is it. My husband was watching The Waterboy while I was paying the bills the other night, but that doesn't really count as I wasn't paying much attention and I really dislike Adam Sandler movies. The last movie I saw at the theater was The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. I don't really watch a lot of movies, as you can tell.

7) He and his horse Champion also had a TV show. Can you name another famous horse?

A. Mr. Ed. He was a talking horse. There was also Secretariat, which won the Triple Crown in horse racing. The Disney movie about him was great. There, that's a movie I have watched.

8) Gene Autry also recorded "Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer," and it was, of course, wildly popular, too. Who is your favorite recording artist?

A. I am partial to both Melissa Etheridge and Sheryl Crow, though I liked both of their earlier works more so than what they are producing today. I don't really have a favorite, more like a certain style of music that I prefer.


9) Back to the holiday celebration at hand -- Easter is considered the season of rebirth. What leaves you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated?

A. A good night's sleep helps. A massage is nice. Inspired conversation with friends is also good. And I like the idea of healthy blood. Everybody needs healthy blood; I'm just not sure how one gets it and keeps it.

Books: The Invention of Wings

The Invention of Wings
By Sue Monk Kidd
Copyright 2014
360 pages

This story is inspired by history and the true story of Sarah Grimke, an early abolitionist in the 1830s. In real life, Sarah, at age 11, was given a young slave girl for her handmaid. Sarah taught the young slave to read, and the slave was beaten so severely that she later died.

Kidd reimagines the story, breathing life into both Sarah and Hettie, the slave girl. She allows the slave girl to live, though, and offers the reader a look at what a life in chains - figuratively and literally - really means.

This a book about courage, hope, faith, and women. Mostly it is about women and their need to find their voices - their heartbeats that give meaning to life beyond the prescribed roles dictated by a patriarchal and unforgiving society. I fear it is a tale that still rings true for women even today, for the many who are kept bound by the dictates of economy and lack of education.

It is also a good reminder of the times this country has attempted to leave behind, and a hit upside the head to those who think we have stepped so far that periods like these are best forgotten. We are doomed to repeat what we forget, and this is something better remembered.

I recommend this book highly to anyone who wants to read about virtue and who would like to understand what courage really means. If you are interested in reading how one might go about fulfilling the dreams of life, you might find your own courage in the passages of this book.

The characters portrayed here will be staying with me for a very long time.

Oprah picked this book as one of her book club picks. You can see a short interview with Sue Monk Kidd here. Oprah writes about why she chose the book here. She calls it "a conversation changer" and there is no argument from me. I hope it changes conversation in the living room of every home.

Thursday Thirteen #340

Here are some folk remedies. These all come from Folk Medicine: A New England almanac of natural health care from a noted Vermont country doctor, by D. C. Jarvis, M.D., copyright 1958. These are listed for entertainment purposes only; I have no idea if any of them work.

1. To lose weight, sip two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water AT EACH MEAL.

2. For chronic fatigue, add three teaspoons of apple cider vinegar to a cup of honey. Place the mixture in a wide-mouthed jar. Take two teaspoons just prior to going to bed.

3. Two teaspoons of honey taken at each meal will prevent headaches. If a headache occurs, take a tablespoon of honey immediately.

4. For high blood pressure, increase your consumption of apples, grapes, cranberries, or their juices.

5. For dizziness, take two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in water every day.

6. Gargle with a mixture of one teaspoon of vinegar to a cup of water for a sore throat every hour. Swallow the mixture after gargling.

7. Honey is an efficient way to end bed-wetting.

8. For a cough, boil one lemon slowly for 10 minutes. Cut the lemon in two and extract the juice. Add two tablespoons of glycerin. Add honey until you have filled the drinking glass. Take one teaspoon at a time. Stir before taking.

9. Chewing honeycomb helps with breathing disturbances.

10. Chew honeycomb once a day for a month before hay-fever season; your symptoms will either not appear or be mild.

11. Kelp helps with heart pain. (If you are having chest pains, please see your doctor right away.)

12. Foods such as radishes, asparagus, carrots, tomatoes, spinach, rhubarb, potatoes, peas, strawberries, mushrooms, lettuce, bananas, cabbage, egg yolk, and onions can help add iodine to your diet. Cod liver oil is also rich in iodine.

13. When you are expecting an active day, omit wheat foods, wheat cereals, white sugar, and citrus fruit and fruit juices from your morning meal. Instead eat rye or corn foods and cereals. Use honey for sweetener. Eat an apple, grapes, or cranberries.

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 340th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. 

Mustard Meadow

In a number of hayfields around the area, you see a profusion of mustard flowers. My husband said the mustard came in with alfalfa seed several years ago; thus the great masses of yellow.

I think it looks quite lovely but it doesn't make for very good hay. This field needs to be reseeded.

Tuesday Rant

Today is tax day in the United States. All taxes from last year are due today.

It is also the day quarterly taxes for the current year are due if you pay estimated taxes. Small business owners are likely to do this.

In the last presidential election, there was a lot of talk about how half of the country (it's really about 46 percent) doesn't pay federal taxes. The talk never centered on the reason why these folks don't pay federal taxes.

It's because they are too poor. These are low-income folks, many of whom are elderly (remember, we're an aging population). They're the people who work for minimum wage at fast food places, in retail, and other service jobs. They are the backbone of the country and the tax rate is structured to keep them from being burdened with taxes. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to eat.

It is worth noting that tax cuts enacted under the Bush administration - under a Republican president - also reduced the tax burden on people who probably could afford it. Those cuts increased child tax credits, earned income credits, and increased deductions and other exemptions. All of that had the effect of increasing the number of people who pay minimal taxes.

However, very few people pay no taxes. There are state taxes, local taxes, food taxes, gas taxes, and no end of fees out there. I don't see how anybody can escape them entirely.

In Sunday's edition of Parade, they ran their annual "What People Earn" article. The thing I always find most striking about these articles is what it reveals about what we value as a society. We value entertainment more than public safety, for example. Sports over national security. If we didn't, then the paychecks would reflect different priorities. It also indicates that different areas of the country have different value systems.

Matthew McConaheghey earns $19 million. An assistant to the mayor in Seattle earns $80,000. A fire chief in Utah makes $110,000. Here locally, our county administrator makes about $132,000 (that's not in the article, that's just something I know). A library director in West Virginia makes $8,840. A stadium beer vendor in Pennsylvania makes $12,000. Vice President Joe Biden makes $230,700. A Montessori teacher in Idaho earns $26,000. A firefighter in Indiana earns $52,000. A mental health counselor in New Mexico earns $31,200.

Does it not concern you that 46 percent of the people in this country are too poor to pay taxes? Shouldn't that give you pause? Shouldn't we, en masse, as a society, stop and reexamine our value system?

Is this healthy? You can't expect the disabled or the elderly to get out and work harder. You can't expect the low income-earner to do better when there aren't jobs out there. We've reached a point where people simply have no upward mobility because the jobs aren't there. You can't go from flipping burgers to a nice union job at the Ford Motor Company anymore. Those higher paying jobs in production have vanished, sent overseas or done away with because a robot can turn a screw.

I have a little house that I rent out. I have figured out that in order for someone to live there and be comfortable, they really need an income of about $36,500.  That's one person. That's well above the poverty level in this country, but I think that should be the bottom line. That's $100 a day to eat, pay rent, put gas in the car, pay for heat and electricity, and pay taxes. Maybe on that $36,500 you could go out to eat once in a while. I would consider this amount to be a living wage.

The inequality of salary and our declining value system, the one that puts going to the movies or watching sport over having the house fire put out or health care issues taken care of, concern me more than any other issue taking place in this land. I think there are solutions available for this problem that would solve other problems, too.

For example, what if there was a program that trained young men how to solarize a home? What if every household became a more green environment? That's a lot of jobs in construction right there. What if we each had a windmill?

Our infrastructure is failing. The electric grid needs work. Roads are falling apart. There is a lot of work to do and little will to fund it. What would make you happier, paying a little more in taxes so a road can be repaired, or having the road repaired by some big corporation that then charges you a $2 toll every time you go through it? Aren't you still paying for it either way?

What if we built more hospitals, trained more nurses and doctors, and had the health care that would truly make the United States the most enviable country in the world when it came to taking care of its citizens?

What would happen, do you think, if we put people over profits? What if we tried to become the happiest country on earth instead of the richest?

Virginia is often rated high as a "great state for business." It always irks me because I don't want to live in a great state for business. I want to live in a great state - a great nation - for people. I want this country to be the best that it can be, and that means it puts people - you, and you, and me - first.

Not the Koch brothers, not Exxon, not Monsanto. But us, We the People of the United States, who long ago joined together to create a more perfect union.

If we do not change this, if we do not once again come together as a society that cares about one another, that sees inequality and does something about it, then this grand experiment is over, and we have failed.

Pay your taxes today, and be grateful that you earn enough to have to write the check. There are an awful lot of people out there who do not have that opportunity. They are not lazy, they are not slobs, they are not objects of derision. They are people who work just as hard as you do, but maybe have had a little less luck or fewer opportunities.

In a blink of an eye, that person could be you. All it takes is one car wreck, one house fire, one heart attack, one lawsuit. And you'd better damn well not forget it.