Semi-patulous Eustachian Tube: I Got It!!

For several years now I have been bothered by my Eustachian tubes opening and staying open from minutes to up to several hours. This is very annoying. I can hear my breathing from the inside of the mouth, loudly hear myself talk from the inside of the mouth, and have trouble modulating my voice. And my already compromised hearing gets worse during these episodes.
For a teacher this is a real problem. In the middle of class, the damn tubes pop open, stay open and all hell breaks loose. Can’t hear my students, can hear myself talking and lower my voice to compensate, and then the students can’t hear me talking. A real mess.
It happens when I take a hike, or walk on the treadmill, too. Exercise induced. Caffeine induced. Weight loss induced. And at last a name: Semi-patulous Eustachian Tube. SPET. None of the problems get better knowing the name of the beast, but the tolerance gets better. Thousands of others also suffer, mostly without knowing what is wrong.
Ah, but the treatment. Some surgical, some chemical and best of all this: Reduce caffeine, reduce or cease exercise and gain weight. So, no coffee, no exercise and no diets. My cardiologist would agree with me that the second and third are non-starters, so I’ll go for the first. OMG, what will I do without my morning coffee? Hear better, that’s what.
Image found at: http://www.eustachian-tube.net/EUSTACHIAN-TUBE.html

Black Bear and White Squirrel

Man, was that a great morning walk.
Sal and I woke up just before sunrise and could see the glow behind the pine trees from our perch in the camper. We decided to go for a walk before coffee, about 2 miles up and back along a gravel road bordered on one side by the occasional house or shed, and the other by woods. About a quarter mile along the trail a young black bear crossed the road, left to right, and entered the woods. The youngster was very, very black. Velvety black. It (he or she we didn’t know) turned about 30 yards in the woods and walked parallel with us for most of the mile to our turning around point. What a treat!! We looked at each other from time to time, but neither felt anything but interest. No fear from either perspective. Just a kind of sharing respect.
On the way back down the same road we passed a big live oak and heard a loud rustling in the branches. Looking up, we saw the leaves of a palm tree that had grown up into the oak shake vigorously several times and finally a grey squirrel popped out and walked along a branch. What the hell was that squirrel doing, we asked each other? No answer. Then, as we were turning to walk away something caught my eye: DAMN!! A solid white squirrel was coming towards us up in the canopy of the oak. Solid white. “What a treat” we exclaimed again. We watched for a bit, and then walked on.
In that scant two miles, nature certainly put on a show for us. Black bear and White squirrel. Almost makes me wonder about the nature of the spirits out there. A message? I don’t know, but we certainly enjoyed the experience.
Image:http://naturalsciences.org/microsites/education/treks/swans_09/images/Black%20Bear%20crossing%20road.jpg
Image: http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/102041/white_squirrel.jpg

Drink Wine, not Koolaid

I think I used a pejoratively charged word. An if I accidentally insulted any real morons out there I am truly sorry. If fact, I am sorry as hell, but we won't go into that. I have over the years accused all kinds of people of having a "hot button" (for example, get a group of conservative christian voters together and murmur "gay marriage" and the place explodes with all kinds of angst). It never occurred to me that I had a hot button, and it was getting very easy and predictable to push. The mention of any conservative politician and "god" in the same sentence elicited a Pavlovian response from me that bordered on rabid.
Well, no more. In fact, (thank you Rhett) "Frankly my Dear, I don't give a damn". I finally figured out the no matter how much I rant and rave, the end will be the end, and will have very little to do with me or my pin-prick of a rant. But it does get my blood pressure up, and my cortisols up, and my angst level up, and none of that is good.
So, screw the political system. I'm going to vote for whom I think will do the best job under the circumstances, and you can do the same. No more day by day diatribes. Just pleasant essays on humming birds, and the new one coming soon on black bears and white squirrels.

Image: http://www.blackrockvineyards.org/img/Vinum-Pejorative-2007.jpg

Banned Book Week is BACK

What the hell is all the hoopla about any way? Why shouldn’t a community have the right to ban books from their libraries? Why shouldn’t people have the right to demand that books not be sold in book stores in their towns and cities? Or country for that matter?
Oh, I forgot. The same people that want GOVERNMENT OUT OF THEIR LIVES want to tell you what to do WITH YOUR LIFE. Yup, the very same.
“GET THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF OUR LIVES” AND “NO GAY MARRIAGE” AND “NO ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN” AND “BAN THE BOOKS I DON’T LIKE”

Sounds a bit moronic, doesn’t it? Yup again. Morons.

FIGHT BACK: READ A BANNED BOOK AND RUN OVER A MORON. (And watch the youtube video below)

Image: http://rlv.zcache.com/i_read_banned_books_tshirt-p235220146716053498q9bn_400.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoiJ44nSP34&feature=youtu.be

Morons of the World, Unite!!!

(You get some sense of my mood this morning?)
Yup, unite around Perry, Bachmann, Robertson, Romney and the rest of the gang to oppose the evils of Science and Scientists. Why should Science have the moral high ground, when obviously God HIMSELF gives it without reservation to the conservative morons of the world? Go forth and vote for the morons that have nothing at all to say of truth and evidence. Go vote for the politicians who will say and do anything to get elected and reelected, and will take money from anyone and do favors for anyone who pays.
You deserve what you get, but the rest of us don’t. Go vote. Be a real American. Vote without a thought for the consequences or the butcher’s bill. After all is said and done, it won’t make any difference at all. In 50000 years there will be very little trace of us or our resident morons. Maybe less than that. Maybe 1000. Maybe even 500. Maybe it really is the “end time”. Wouldn’t that be a grand joke on all the fundamentalist morons? An environmental end time? The earth rejecting humanity like your body rejects a virus?
Now that end time I can appreciate.
Image: http://blog.jonolan.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/science-and-religion.jpg

Humming birds

Just a short update: the count is now up to six or seven (hard to count when they zoom so much). Never saw this many young before. Must have been a good season.
Image (I wish this were my hand, but alas, not): http://catherinesherman.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/hummingbirds-2.jpg

Hop Devil IPA – WOW!!!

That about sums it up. You know by now that I believe that hops are medicine, good for what “ales” you right? Well this one is up at the top of the pile. Unbelieveable hoppiness. Don’t take my word for it (well, do actually). Try it and see if you don’t feel better, think clearer, walk faster and live longer.
Go for it. And, if you drink it in a Sam Adams glass, you get the aroma too!! Go for it.
Image: http://victorybeer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/beer_hd.gif
Image: http://estore.samueladams.com/mainstreet/get_image.aspx?domain=bostonbeer.com&item_guid=45f013f8-7d56-4853-8136-cfd1c3ea3a45&size=1

A Treat this Morning.

The air is cool and dry with a slight hint of smoke. The window next to me is open as I sit and think of the day ahead. Suddenly a swooping buzzing sound, then two then three sound just outside the screen. The culprits? Three young ruby throated hummingbirds, all trying for a snack at the 4-flower feeder. They chase and swoop, occasionally dipping in for a quick slurp then off on the chase again. All at once the three of them settle the dispute and each take a perch and have a long and hopefully satisfying feed. Then off again, chasing.
It reminds me of kids at a park or beach, chasing each other is a seemingly random game, not of tag, just of chase. Well, after all, these birds are kids after all. I suspect that their “games” are not so much for fun as for strengthening little wings for the long migration just ahead, and testing out the idea of territory control. They seem to waste so much energy in the pursuit of each other I wonder how they ever store enough fat for the flight to Central America. All but the latest hatchlings do store enough fat for the trip, and those late arrivals try to tough it out on the gulf coast until spring. In cold winters they usually don’t make it.
Hopefully these youngsters are old enough to go south, really south, and will be back next year, swooping and buzzing around my windows once again. Bon Voyage guys. Watch you backs.
Image: http://lancaster.unl.edu/images/GuessIt/september/sept11_big.jpg

Troy Davis: Innocent or Guilty?

Troy Davis (1): Is he innocent or guilty?
Well folks, I surely don’t know. There is a bunch of crappy evidence and several witnesses who have recanted their statements. Davis has maintained his innocence from day one. Charges of police coercion are also involved here. In about a week he is scheduled to die, in Georgia, after having been on death row since 1991.
This case is one more example of why the death penalty should not be used. There is conflicting evidence and testimony. He may be innocent or guilty. If he is guilty, why not life without parole? If he is innocent why not freedom? The bottom line is this: If the State of Georgia kills him, and if he is innocent, he is the victim of State Murder. If he is guilty, he is the victim of State Execution. You want the Bible? How about Romans 12:19? Or how about the sixth commandment? On the other hand, Deuteronomy 13:13-19 clearly indicates that killing of innocents is OK with God.
So I guess Troy is, as we used to say in New York, Screwed, Blued and Tattooed (2).
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Davis_case
2.http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=screwed%2C%20blued%20and%20tattooed (second definition)
Image: http://change-production.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/4/ty/ax/WaTyaxwFSFyxUxQ-250.jpg?1315681376

The Best Ever Salmon

I thought the other day about grilling a piece of fresh, wild caught salmon. That brought me back to the signature event in salmon cooking.
Years ago an old friend, then a part-time salmon fisher in Sitka, brought a big King Salmon with him from Alaska. In a styro cooler. A big-ass cooler. This was a beautiful fresh fish.
Sal and I were living at Rainbow Farm and the house and gardens had not yet been much renovated. The barbecue was a squarish construction of piled bricks on an old concrete pad left over from the DC generator from the ‘20s. It had a grill found somewhere for a cooking surface. It was fine for steaks and chickens, but way too small for the fish, so Bob and I enlarged it with more bricks, making it longer. We put the fish on a piece of heavy duty foil, fueled the fire with wood and some charcoal and cooked it, in the open sometimes, sometimes tented with foil.
After several beers and more or less continuous checking it was just done.
We struggled it off the grill and into the house, where many people feasted on the perfectly cooked flesh. Never was there a better fish.
I never grill a piece of salmon without thinking of that King. And the friends we shared it with. If there were ever “good old days” that was surely one of them.

Image: The guy doesn't look much like Bob, but the fish is the right size. http://fishwithjd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Bodega-Bay-king-Salmon.jpg