A collectiholic, such as myself, finds it difficult to reduce the "stuff" we collect. I'm a paper nut and many of my collections involve paper. But, on-line, with this blog, I get to collect "stuff" that doesn't pile up, such as cures for hiccups or favorite poems, and strange-sounding names. Yesterday Elaine May from Canada sent me another sure cure for hiccups. "I take a few drops of balsamic vinegar. It works every time," claims Elaine. And a neighbor reminded me that a cure for poison oak grows all around us. Simply make a tea of manzanita leaves and drink it once a week in the spring and you won't be affected by poison oak. Another neighbor swears by delicately biting the leaves off a poison oak plant (only in the early spring) and swallowing it. A sure preventive if it doesn't kill you.
And from my other blog comes this old remedy from Homer Maas. "I smashed my thumb in the car door. It swelled like a mini-balloon and I lay in misery all night with it throbbing, and throbbing. In the morning my dad carefully took a paperclip, half unbent it, and heated the pointed end red-hot with a torch. While I cringed with fear, he carefully "drilled" a hole into the top of my thumb nail with the heated end of the paperclip until blood spurted out of the hole. The pressure was immediately relieved and the pain was instantly gone." Homer was only 12 years old then and he lived through it.
I've been asked how long I'll be staying in Murphys by so many people, I thought I'd explain. I rerouted away from the Motor Home to attend, graduations, my family reunion and business at home. Most of that business involves paperwork and ridding myself of collections. I'm simplifying my life to handle everything from the road. Lining up accounts for bill paying on-line and doing neglected projects. Then things like a Jury summons and other responsibilities intervene. I removed propane tanks at one rental because they don't use propane anymore. Supervising yard work that needed to be done. Small repairs made. Reducing the load. It's a small epiphany when I can find a home for old sheet music which a piano teacher friend, June Foster gladly took. A table and lamp and kitchen stuff for my daughter's new apartment. I off loaded my old vinyl record collection, and so on. I'm far from finished, but making steady progress. Simplifying and reducing the load FEELS SO GOOD. Jim is encouraging me to bring some of my paper projects aboard. (He knows not what trouble he is getting into, and, I still don't know when I'll be leaving Murphys.)
Showing posts with label pleasant travels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pleasant travels. Show all posts
Monday, July 18, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
REMEDIES WE'D RATHER FORGET
Bob and Donna Parker sent me their cure for hiccups which made me laugh. Most are kind of silly and fun, and they work. Here is what the Parkers recommend:
Fold your hands as if in prayer interlocking the finger’s except for the index ones. Concentrating on getting the index fingers as close together without touching and before you know it you no longer have the hiccups
It kind of put me in mind of those old childhood remedies we'd like to forget. Most of these come from Reminisce Magazine. Pat Cook from Colorado Springs explained how her husband's mother would fry up chopped onions, wrap them in cloth and place them inside of his pajama top on his chest to take away his congestion. The smell would cling and the kids at school would give him funny looks and stay away from him.
And from Bay City, Michigan, dipping a hot poker in the fire then sticking it into a glass of wine for the kids to drink prevented colds. The taste? Horrible.
Hair loss was cured by nightly treatments of heated castor oil and olive oil massaged into the scalp in Carencro, LA. The hapless one wrapped her head in a towel so not to stain the pillow case.
Taking cod liver oil as a preventive cure for childhood illnesses was a horror from my own past. The teachers at our school gave you a spoon full of the stuff everyday. It made you gag to swallow it. Then you were rewarded with a piece of hard candy. The teacher hated the ritual almost as much as we kids.My mother-in-law treated sunburn and poison oak with kerosene. Surprisingly, it didn't burn when applied.
John Thurston remembers enduring German Liniment, "a bottled, foul-smelling ooze," poured over pulled muscles or into the mouth of a sore-throated child with a liberal dollop of butter. Did it work? "I surely stopped complaining!" says John. He also remembers a poultice for slivers made from sodden bread and milk fastened over the splinter to encourage it to back out. Other poultices for a thorn or sliver were made from a slice of greasy salt pork.
Mustard packs could burn the hide right off your chest, but they also cured pneumonia, according to Lorraine Wicks. In later years, chest congestion was treated with Musterole, the same thing in a big green jar. The smell was awful but it worked. I could always go to school the next day.
Runny noses, stomachache, and colds were treated with Simmons Liver Medicine which looked like black pepper and tasted as bitter as quinine. Violet Dickerson of El Paso says she could get hers down but her sister would always immediately go to the bathroom and spit it out.
Cough drops were horehound candies. Its a sin to call them candy because we hated the taste even though they were sweetened. And, if that didn't work, a shot of straight gin burned all the way down to your stomach. Bill Atkinson.
"My Italian friends at school would come with a bag of garlic around their necks," says Elizabeth Rainy of Vallecito, CA. "It may not have worked to ward off colds, but it kept the rest of the kids from getting near them and they didn't catch colds from anyone else."
Herbert Orr remembers being given a spoon of sugar with kerosene to help his breathing and sulfur mixed with molasses in the spring to purify his blood.
A cut potato wrapped over a wart and the other half placed under a rock for 12 hours caused the wart to fall off, according to Jean Schaus of Indiana. When the rock was moved for landscaping, the wart returned.
But the horror of all times goes to Charles Wagoner's father. His dad rendered the fat of several skunks and placed the grease in a covered bucket. When any of the kids had a sore throat, he smeared it on their necks and tied a cotton flannel cloth around it. Charles is 96. He survived the treatment.
Arrgh!
Fold your hands as if in prayer interlocking the finger’s except for the index ones. Concentrating on getting the index fingers as close together without touching and before you know it you no longer have the hiccups
It kind of put me in mind of those old childhood remedies we'd like to forget. Most of these come from Reminisce Magazine. Pat Cook from Colorado Springs explained how her husband's mother would fry up chopped onions, wrap them in cloth and place them inside of his pajama top on his chest to take away his congestion. The smell would cling and the kids at school would give him funny looks and stay away from him.
And from Bay City, Michigan, dipping a hot poker in the fire then sticking it into a glass of wine for the kids to drink prevented colds. The taste? Horrible.
Hair loss was cured by nightly treatments of heated castor oil and olive oil massaged into the scalp in Carencro, LA. The hapless one wrapped her head in a towel so not to stain the pillow case.
Taking cod liver oil as a preventive cure for childhood illnesses was a horror from my own past. The teachers at our school gave you a spoon full of the stuff everyday. It made you gag to swallow it. Then you were rewarded with a piece of hard candy. The teacher hated the ritual almost as much as we kids.My mother-in-law treated sunburn and poison oak with kerosene. Surprisingly, it didn't burn when applied.
John Thurston remembers enduring German Liniment, "a bottled, foul-smelling ooze," poured over pulled muscles or into the mouth of a sore-throated child with a liberal dollop of butter. Did it work? "I surely stopped complaining!" says John. He also remembers a poultice for slivers made from sodden bread and milk fastened over the splinter to encourage it to back out. Other poultices for a thorn or sliver were made from a slice of greasy salt pork.
Mustard packs could burn the hide right off your chest, but they also cured pneumonia, according to Lorraine Wicks. In later years, chest congestion was treated with Musterole, the same thing in a big green jar. The smell was awful but it worked. I could always go to school the next day.
Runny noses, stomachache, and colds were treated with Simmons Liver Medicine which looked like black pepper and tasted as bitter as quinine. Violet Dickerson of El Paso says she could get hers down but her sister would always immediately go to the bathroom and spit it out.
Cough drops were horehound candies. Its a sin to call them candy because we hated the taste even though they were sweetened. And, if that didn't work, a shot of straight gin burned all the way down to your stomach. Bill Atkinson.
"My Italian friends at school would come with a bag of garlic around their necks," says Elizabeth Rainy of Vallecito, CA. "It may not have worked to ward off colds, but it kept the rest of the kids from getting near them and they didn't catch colds from anyone else."
Herbert Orr remembers being given a spoon of sugar with kerosene to help his breathing and sulfur mixed with molasses in the spring to purify his blood.
A cut potato wrapped over a wart and the other half placed under a rock for 12 hours caused the wart to fall off, according to Jean Schaus of Indiana. When the rock was moved for landscaping, the wart returned.
But the horror of all times goes to Charles Wagoner's father. His dad rendered the fat of several skunks and placed the grease in a covered bucket. When any of the kids had a sore throat, he smeared it on their necks and tied a cotton flannel cloth around it. Charles is 96. He survived the treatment.
Arrgh!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
CURES FOR HICCUPS.
I have a cure for hiccups. It works every time. I’ve encountered people who look a bit askance at my simple cure, until they try it. You lie down on a bench or bed on your back with your head hanging over the edge, practically upside down, and you take a swallow of water in that position. Works every time. Someone long ago passed this cure on to me and it seems quite sane. However, I found out that hiccup cures are really quite varied and entertaining, so let me pass on a few I’ve heard about that are “sure cures” in other families.
1.-Using both hands, stick your fingers in your ears. Take a deep breath. Have someone hold your nose while he or she gives you a drink of water. Sort of the same principle as the one we use in our family.
2.-Cut three holes the size of half-dollars in a paper bag. Put the bag over your head, and breathe deeply 20 times. Hiccups disappear. Hmmm! Sane. I’ll try and remember to give that one a go. Why the three holes in the bag? And, exactly 20 times?
3.- Put a teaspoon full of sugar on your tongue and hold it until the sugar melts. When the sugar is gone, so are the hiccups. Sounds practical. Let me know if it works.
4. If you can stand on your head, do it. If not, put your head between your knees. Close your eyes as tight as you can, take a deep breath and recite “Mary Had A Little Lamb” or “Little Bo Peep.” This is a real chatty cure. I’ve heard just holding your breath works for some.
5. Make a fist and bite the knuckle of your little finger. Take a deep breath, and hurry up and bite the next, then the next, then the next and then the thumb. By the time you bite all your knuckles twice, you are cured. Realize, I can’t vouch for any of these cures. But, it you are desperate, you’ll try almost anything, right?
6.-Said to be 100% effective. Take a tablespoon of peanut butter and keep it in your mouth, making no attempt to eat or swallow it. As the peanut butter disappears, so will the hiccups. Kind of like that sugar cure, but where does the peanut butter go?
7.-Fill a clean glass with water and cover it with a handkerchief. Drink the water through the hankie. No sipping. No holding of the breath. The hiccups disappear like magic.
8.-This is goofy but it works. Open your eyes as wide as you can. Stick out your tongue-all the way. Reach for the ceiling-really reach. Try to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Of course, you can’t do it with your tongue sticking out, but if you make the sounds, that is good enough. By the time you get to “the rockets red glare.” the hiccups will be gone.
I’d like to see a bunch of people in a room with hiccups, as an experiment, each trying a different cure, to see which one works best. The laughter alone would vanish the hiccups.
If you’re not into gimmicky cures, grab a gin and tonic, go outside and smell the flowers. Hey, whatever works.
1.-Using both hands, stick your fingers in your ears. Take a deep breath. Have someone hold your nose while he or she gives you a drink of water. Sort of the same principle as the one we use in our family.
2.-Cut three holes the size of half-dollars in a paper bag. Put the bag over your head, and breathe deeply 20 times. Hiccups disappear. Hmmm! Sane. I’ll try and remember to give that one a go. Why the three holes in the bag? And, exactly 20 times?
3.- Put a teaspoon full of sugar on your tongue and hold it until the sugar melts. When the sugar is gone, so are the hiccups. Sounds practical. Let me know if it works.
4. If you can stand on your head, do it. If not, put your head between your knees. Close your eyes as tight as you can, take a deep breath and recite “Mary Had A Little Lamb” or “Little Bo Peep.” This is a real chatty cure. I’ve heard just holding your breath works for some.
5. Make a fist and bite the knuckle of your little finger. Take a deep breath, and hurry up and bite the next, then the next, then the next and then the thumb. By the time you bite all your knuckles twice, you are cured. Realize, I can’t vouch for any of these cures. But, it you are desperate, you’ll try almost anything, right?
6.-Said to be 100% effective. Take a tablespoon of peanut butter and keep it in your mouth, making no attempt to eat or swallow it. As the peanut butter disappears, so will the hiccups. Kind of like that sugar cure, but where does the peanut butter go?
7.-Fill a clean glass with water and cover it with a handkerchief. Drink the water through the hankie. No sipping. No holding of the breath. The hiccups disappear like magic.
8.-This is goofy but it works. Open your eyes as wide as you can. Stick out your tongue-all the way. Reach for the ceiling-really reach. Try to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Of course, you can’t do it with your tongue sticking out, but if you make the sounds, that is good enough. By the time you get to “the rockets red glare.” the hiccups will be gone.
I’d like to see a bunch of people in a room with hiccups, as an experiment, each trying a different cure, to see which one works best. The laughter alone would vanish the hiccups.
If you’re not into gimmicky cures, grab a gin and tonic, go outside and smell the flowers. Hey, whatever works.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
AFTER THE STORMS
This is a gentle trickle.
This water is thundering.
I found seven spots where water flowed and sang within the first quarter mile from the house. I've always loved to walk this country road, in winter, spring and evenings during the summer.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
AMTRAK TO SACRAMENTO
Roomy seating with a plug-in for your computer and a tray. Or, you can choose a table seat for four, play cards with a friend, or write a letter, read, whatever suits you. Great for traveling with kids who can work a puzzle or use their crayons. Roomy isles let you walk from car to car, downstairs to the lavatories, one on every car, or go to the cafe car for a bite to eat. Hot food, or snack food, beer, wine. Quite a nice ride. I love Amtrak.
And, depending on he route, not all landscapes are scenic. Its part of America, but the trip from the S.F. Bay Area to Seattle is a beautiful,scenic route as is the ride across the Northern United States and Canadian Border.
Oh, well, an ho-hum. Not quite home yet. I'm here in Sacramento to see a specialist about my shoulder. Hoping for good news, but it is not sounding promising. Life is ever changing. I'll keep posting.
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