Travel TX: Padre Island. Tribute to the Turtle Lady. Sea Turtles. Allison's Prosthesis. Dangers Of Fishing Line. New Year's Eve. Rick Nelson. Panama Canal. Peekers To Habitat. Haddock.

 

For "Travel Tuesday", let's discover the sea turtles of Padre Island, TX in the Texas Gulf Coast region.

"Home to some of the best beaches in America, the Texas Gulf Coast region draws millions of visitors to this Texas playground. Stretching some 350 miles from South Padre Island & the Rio Grande Valley, all the way to Beaumont & the Louisiana border, this region is renowned for its wildlife & natural beauty, as well as the home of America's space program. Discover the Beaches of the Texas Gulf Coast Region."

 

The Longest Stretch of Undeveloped Barrier Island in The World

"Padre Island National Seashore separates the Gulf of Mexico from the Laguna Madre, one of a few hypersaline lagoons in the world.  The park protects 70 miles of coastline, dunes, prairies, and wind tidal flats teeming with life.  It is a safe nesting ground for the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle and a haven for 380 bird species.  It also has a rich history, including the Spanish shipwrecks of 1554."

The dunes shown is how Padre Island probably appeared to Native Americans and early European settlers hundreds of years ago. NPS Photo

For almost its entire existence, Padre Island has remained undeveloped wilderness. Because the National Seashore endeavors to preserve Padre Island in its natural state, visiting the island is very much like stepping back into the past. With few exceptions, visitors can now see Padre Island as it has existed throughout most of its history and how it is described in the few extant descriptions by the early explorers.

Four nations have owned Padre Island at different times. The first was Spain, which owned Padre Island from its entry into the New World until the Mexican Revolution of 1820. Following the revolution, Mexico owned Padre Island from 1821 until 1836, when the newly formed Republic of Texas claimed the area between the Nueces river and the Rio Grande. Padre Island was under ownership by the Republic of Texas until its territory was acquired by the United States, following the War with Mexico of 1845-1848. Throughout these times, the island has been known by several names, with Padre Island being only the most recent. It has also been known as "la Isla Blanca" (White Island) and "Isla de los Malaguitas" (Island of the Malaquites, a band of the Karankawa people).

The Novillo Line Camp and bunkhouse can still be seen on the eastern side of the park, across from Bird Island Basin Road. NPS Photo

The first permanent settlement on the island was located on the island's southern tip. This area was established around 1804 by a Spanish priest, Padre Nicolas Balli, after whom the island is named. Prior to then, the only people known to have inhabited or visited the island were nomadic hunter-gatherers Native Americans, Spanish troops or ships, and the survivors of three shipwrecks on the island's shore in 1554.

From 1804 to 1970, after the National Seashore opened in 1962, the island was used almost solely for ranching. The most prominent and lasting exceptions to this have been the development of the tourism industry (including the development of the town of South Padre Island and the National Seashore) beginning in the early 1920's, and the exploitation of the island's oil and natural gas reserves, which began in the 1950's.

One of the most interesting periods of the island's history was from World War II to 1960, when a Navy bombing range existed on the northern section of the island."

Kemp's ridley sea turtles are both the smallest and the most endangered sea turtles in the world. Padre Island National Seashore is one of only a few places in the world where Kemp's ridley sea turtles come to nest. More...

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Speaking of Texas: Tribute to the Turtle Lady

Ila Loetscher changed the face of coastal conservation

Ila Loetscher dedicated the last 35 years of her life to the conservation of sea turtles. Her foundation at South Padre Island continues the mission. (Photo by Jack Lewis)

"It often takes something spectacular to spark a worldwide interest in change, and for the conservation of the endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, that spectacular something — or someone — was Ila Loetscher (1904-2000), who founded South Padre Island’s Sea Turtle Incorporated in the 1970s. Many people first learned of the turtles’ plight during Loetscher’s daily sea turtle shows, where she both amazed and educated her audiences.

Barely standing five feet tall, Loetscher would scoop a 90-pound sea turtle into her arms and coo into its bonnet-covered ear before leading it across a stage with a few of its similarly clothed companions. Though her methods seem antiquated by today’s standards, Loetscher dedicated her life to the turtles’ appreciation and preservation, and with her turtle “fashion shows,” she aimed to instill public awareness of their precarious position.

Ila Loetscher, born Ila Fox, grew up in Iowa. Her family spent frequent winters in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, and they took occasional trips to the South Texas seashore. But at the time, Ila Fox’s head was in the clouds, literally. Flying fascinated her, and as a young woman, she spent time interacting with the pilots at the airport in Davenport, where she eventually took flying lessons. In 1929, Fox became the state’s first licensed female pilot and soon joined an elite group of female pilots called The Ninety-Nines, whose first president was Amelia Earhart.          

In the early 1930s, Ila gave up flying to move to the east coast with her new husband, David Loetscher. According to biographer Evelyn Sizemore, when David died of cancer in 1955, Loetscher decided to return to her childhood vacation spot in the Rio Grande Valley.

Kemp Riley Sea Turtle Baby

She soon moved to South Padre, where she learned of the sea turtle poaching occurring on the beaches of Rancho Nuevo, Mexico, some 225 miles south of the United States-Mexico border. At the time, this was the only major nesting spot of the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, and poachers were harvesting nearly 100 percent of the population for their skin, shells, and eggs. In 1966, Loetscher joined forces with Dearyl Adams, a Brownsville contractor heading up Project Ridley, an experiment to increase turtle nesting in Texas.

Together with other scientists working on the project, they transported the eggs from Rancho Nuevo to South Padre Island, where they could be monitored and protected until they hatched, imprinted on their new home base in Texas, and swam out to sea. Then, the scientists waited. If the plan worked, the female turtles would return as adults to nest at South Padre Island. Because sea turtles can take up to 10 to 15 years to mature and return to nest, they knew the wait would be a long one. But in 1974, a lone turtle returned to the beach of South Padre Island to lay her eggs. Loetscher and others were hopeful that this adult turtle was one of the original South Padre Island hatchlings, though there was no way to be sure. After 52 days of protected incubation, a member of the next generation emerged from the nest in the sand and headed out to sea. The cycle continued.

As the scientists continued to monitor the turtles’ activity, they would sometimes discover injured turtles, and they would send them to Loetscher, who nursed them back to health in her backyard. Soon, she became known as “The Turtle Lady.”

Loetscher’s influence made an international impact. She campaigned tirelessly for recognition of the plight of the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, making television appearances on Late Night with David Letterman, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and Ripley’s Believe it or Not!. Despite her lack of scientific background, she gave sea turtles a voice during a time when conservation was not a household word.

“Ila was a champion at creating public endorsement,” said Jeff George, Curator of Sea Turtle Incorporated. “She did it in unorthodox ways at times, but she made a splash.”

In 1978, the United States and Mexican governments joined forces to further Adams’ and Loetscher’s efforts, transporting eggs from Mexico to Padre Island National Seashore, some 70 miles north of South Padre Island. In 1979, the program’s first turtles were released into the Gulf of Mexico. Donna Shaver, Chief of the Division of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery at Padre Island National Seashore, who has led efforts since 1986 to detect, investigate, and protect turtles that return here to nest, explains how Loetscher contributed to sea turtle recovery efforts.

“She educated a lot of people and inspired a lot of people to care about sea turtles,” Shaver says. “It was very important at a time when awareness of sea turtles was much less than it is today.”

Thanks to conservation efforts, the sea turtle population—the Kemp’s ridley in particular—has made a significant comeback since it dropped to near extinction in the mid- 1960s, but the work is far from done.

“Thanks to efforts of many, many people working very hard, the numbers are increasing,” Shaver says. “It looks promising for the eventual recovery of the species, but we need to continue our conservation measures to try to help continue that increase.”

Ila Loetscher died in 2000 at age 95, but the staff and volunteers at Sea Turtle Incorporated have made it their mission to carry on her legacy. Visitors can tour the facility Tuesday through Sunday to see rehabilitating turtles of several species and to learn more about ocean habitat.

“Every penny we generate goes toward sea turtle conservation,” says Patrick Burchfield, Chairman of Sea Turtle Incorporated’s advisory board. “Sea Turtle Incorporated was built and dedicated for one purpose and one purpose only, and that was to conserve the Kemp’s ridley and other sea turtle species.”

Ecologist and sea explorer Jacques Cousteau once called Ila a “wave maker.” And just as a wave’s ripples grow as they continue from their origin, so does Loetscher’s influence on marine conservation." From: http://www.texashighways.com/index.php/component/content/article/37-departments/6268-speaking-of-texas-tribute-to-the-turtle-lady  By Haley Dawson

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Beloved Turtle Hugger of Texas

Photo Sea Turtle Inc.

Ila Loetscher, 1905-2000

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Ila Fox Loetcher, famed "Turtle Lady" of Texas, passed away on January 4, 2000. She was 95. Dr. Pamela Plotkin, of the Center for Marine Conservation, announced her passing on the CTURTLE mailing list with this tribute:

"Ila was the founder of Sea Turtles, Inc. and perhaps was most widely recognized for dressing sea turtles in clothes. She appeared in magazines, newspapers and on television with her turtles. I first learned of Ila back in the early 1980s when she appeared on the "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson and brought with her a turtle wearing a dress and panties. Naturally you might think this to be a bit odd...but Ila dressed turtles primarily to catch the attention and interest of those she wanted to teach. And over the years she did a wonderful job teaching tens of thousands of people about sea turtles, their biology and threats to their survival.

"Ila built large tanks in her backyard and took in injured and sick turtles, nursed them back to health, and then released them. Turtles unable to be released were put on display to the public in her backyard. She held shows in her backyard every day, often several times each day, and she tirelessly educated those willing to listen...and pay a small fee. Ila used this money to support the upkeep of her turtles. In addition Ila provided very generous grants to support conservation and research that helped recover sea turtles and their habitats.

"I only met Ila once. In the short time I spent with her I was most impressed with her dedication to sea turtles as well as her generosity and her love for engaging people in discussion about sea turtles. She accomplished a great deal in her 95 years. In all my years of working with sea turtles I have never seen anyone hug a turtle the way Ila did."

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Dr. Plotkin's tribute prompted these memories from Dr. Richard Byles, a member of the Board of Directors of Sea Turtle Inc. His farewell lovingly captures the spirit that made Ila Loetcher so special.

"Ila was truly an inspiration to many. She was old in years and young in spirit when I first met her in 1978.   Ila used to dress her "pets" up and perform skits for school-aged children. It sure got their attention. Her companion, Evelyn Sizemore, was even seamstress to the bale of turtles Ila kept. At first, I was dismayed at the shows she put on, I guess because it was seemingly unseemly and embarrassing to me as a young activist embarking on a sea turtle-influenced career. After all, weren't these endangered species? But she soon persuaded me that she was foremost a champion of sea turtles. She swayed me, not through words, but by dint of her heartfelt enthusiasm for bringing the plight of sea turtles before the public. And her success in doing so.

"Did you know that Ila was a pilot and friend of Amelia Earhart? She flew at a time when women were rarely found in the ranks of aviators and adventurers.

So even before the turtles captured her attention, she was an inspiration. She was a bold and charming woman. She charmed the public and spread the word about the declines of sea turtles and she charmed me. I remember one time when Pat Burchfield and I took Ila to dinner at Blackbeard's on South Padre. She was ready when we picked her up at home, dressed in a octogenarian floral print dress and running shoes. At that time, old people never wore tennis shoes and I personally had never seen such casual footgear worn with a dress. I think she unknowingly helped to spawn the term, "little-old-lady-in-tennis-shoes." She was in her eighties, slim, almost frail in appearance, but was sprightly and had a twinkle in her wrinkled eye. At the restaurant, she ordered fried oysters and ate a huge mound of them -- nothing wrong with her constitution. She impressed me with the gusto of her appetite; gusto she had for all of life's pursuits, only one of which was the saving of her cherished sea turtles.

"She confided in me that night how she got her show turtles to flap one flipper in a wave goodbye to the crowds of children she entertained and instructed.

"I just squeeze their arms up near the shell, I suppose it's the armpit. It is like tickling," she said. Well Ila, you sure tickled me. And in turn, I rarely pass an opportunity to tickle juvenile sea turtles I happen to hold. They always wave goodbye.   "Goodbye Ila.""

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About Sea Turtles:

"Many times, the most powerful education tools are the turtles themselves. These creatures touch the hearts of every single person that walks through our door. Our rehabilitation facility treats 40-100+ sea turtles each year. There are five species of sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico and all are considered "threatened" or "endangered" in the United States. Please take the time to learn some fun facts about these species (and the other 3 species of sea turtles) and how their existence is vital to our own. 

A critical portion of Sea Turtle, Inc.'s mission is public education. Each year, Sea Turtle Inc. engages with over 80,000 tourists on South Padre Island. Our goal is to educate the general public about endangered sea turtles and their marine environments. An essential part of endangered species conservation is simply to help  people to understand the species and their importance not only to their habitat, but to our lives as well."

At: http://www.seaturtleinc.org/

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Allison's Prosthesis 

"We are home to "Allison", the first sea turtle in the world to use a successful prosthetic!  Please enjoy this video of Allison swimming with her harness."

Allison survived a predator attack in 2005 with one remaining flipper. For years, Allison could only swim in circles. Allison has been featured in People Magazine, Discovery Channel, and the Today Show."

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One Flippered Sea Turtle Swims With Jacket

"This video shows Allison swimming in her 4th prototype of a prosthetic. This is the first successful sea turtle prosthetic in the world! For more information on Allison and where she lives please visit www.seaturtleinc.org,  which is a non-profit sea turtle hospital on South Padre Island, Texas."

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Boudreaux the Atlantic Green:

"Boudreaux stranded at the Mansfield jetties on July 6, 2012. His front limbs were entangled in mono-filament line that was still attached to an old fishing rod. All that was left of his front right flipper was a bone fragment sticking out. He had already lost his back left flipper to a prior injury. Boudreaux is an education sea turtle. His purpose is to warn people about the dangers of leaving fishing line to drift in the ocean."

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Learn about the common threats to sea turtles.

http://www.seaturtleinc.org/rehabilitation/threats-to-sea-turtles

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New Year's Celebration

Two reasons not to celebrate New Year's.

Transcript at: http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today-daily/mans-holidays/new-years-celebration

What Would Jesus Do Between Christmas and New Years?  http://www.ucg.org/blog/what-would-jesus-do-between-christmas-and-new-years/

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On This Day:

Rick Nelson dies in a plane crash, Dec 31, 1985:

"Former teen idol Rick Nelson dies in plane crash in De Kalb, Texas, on December 31, 1985.

When the teenage Ricky Nelson launched his pop career in 1957 by picking up a guitar and singing at the end of an episode of The Adventures of Ozzie And Harriet, he established a template for pop-music stardom that inspired hundreds of imitators in the decades that followed.

Beginning with his double-sided hit debut single, "I'm Walkin" b/w "A Teenager's Romance" (1957), Nelson reeled off a string of 30 rockabilly-tinged top 40 hits in the next five years—more than any other artist in the same period save for Elvis Presley and Pat Boone. Like Elvis himself, Nelson saw his commercial appeal take a major hit with the arrival of the Beatles in 1964. Nelson would remain musically relevant over the next decade, though, even earning credit for helping inspire the California sound of artists like Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles with his country-inspired late 1960s work.

Nelson continued to tour frequently, however, and it was on one such tour that he boarded a chartered DC-3 in Guntersville, Alabama, bound for a New Year's Eve appearance in Dallas. Shortly before reaching Dallas, however, the cabin of Nelson's plane apparently filled with smoke due to a fire of undetermined origin. While the two pilots of the plane would survive their attempted emergency landing in a field outside De Kalb, Texas, all seven passengers on board were killed, including the first pop star to cross over from the Nielsen charts to the Billboard chats, Rick Nelson.

In 1987, Rick Nelson was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—an honor no other former child actor has yet achieved."

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Panama Canal turned over to Panama, Dec 31, 1999:

"On this day in 1999, the United States, in accordance with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, officially hands over control of the Panama Canal, putting the strategic waterway into Panamanian hands for the first time. Crowds of Panamanians celebrated the transfer of the 50-mile canal, which links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and officially opened when the SS Arcon sailed through on August 15, 1914. Since then, over 922,000 ships have used the canal.

Ships pay tolls to use the canal, based on each vessel's size and cargo volume. In May 2006, the Maersk Dellys paid a record toll of $249,165. The smallest-ever toll--36 cents--was paid by Richard Halliburton, who swam the canal in 1928."

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Yesterday:

After I had given the critters their breakfasts, except Peekers, Misty and I went to get Jay to take him to town to cash his check and pay a loan.  Wrapped up in our coats, we had our walk down there.  She enjoys her walks, but she still isn't carrying her tail high or wagging it, so something is bothering her, either her cancer or renal disease.

When we got back here, I loaded Peekers into a carrier.  It was his turn to go to our SPCA Cat Habitat until the end of the month, unless he gets adopted during that time. 

Nala, my other foster cat, was supposed to go too, but when she heard me getting a carrier, she ran, trembling, under the couch. No sense in taking her, if she is going to be that upset.  She was so stressed the last time she was at the Habitat, that I had to bring her back here after 2 days. The Petfinder website has been difficult to use since Nestlé-Purina bought it, so I hope that doesn't hurt her chances of being adopted.  She considers this her home, but she should outlive me, and then she will be an older, shy, traumatized cat looking for a 'furever' home.

The first stop was to get Peekers situated in the habitat, and give him his breakfast. He seemed quite at home, ate and played with the toys.  He was the first cat to arrive for this month, but some others would be arriving in the afternoon.

As it was on the way, we stopped at Home Depot and picked up my new thick padded toilet seat that I had ordered online.  The ones they sell in the stores are too chintzy and have cheap thin foam.  I have looked at a lot of them in different stores.

Then we went to Jay's bank and loan company.  The Kroger's there had some 10oz packages of walnuts on sale for $1.50, so I bought a load of them.

As we had a gift certificate, we ate at Red Lobster.  Jay had the Lobster Pizza, which just had a smattering of lobster, and I had good ole 'fish and chips'.  It was haddock, and I haven't had good fish and chips for years. Jay wished he had ordered that, too.

"Beware of Fish without Scales and Fins.

Clearly our Lord, the Law-giver, knew something that has taken scientists years to discover. Now we know that fish with scales AND fins are equipped with a digestive system that prevents the absorption of poisons and toxins into their flesh from the waters they call home. Flounder, cod, haddock, and salmon are a few examples of fish with scales and fins." From: http://www.medicine-plants.com/Articles.asp?ID=271 

After I had taken Jay home, let Misty out, and unloaded the van, Nala came and snuggled up to me, so I was glad that I hadn't made her go to the habitat. She would have been petrified if she was there again, she is such a sensitive cat. Then I installed the new toilet seat, which was as good as the reviews about it.

In the late afternoon, Ray and I covered up our plants, as it is supposed to freeze again for the next couple of days.

Nipping Puppy Biting in the Bud. Dog Training. Pets In Cold. Pig Abuse. Reasons Not To Eat Pork. Southern U.S. Border. Ferdinand And Imelda Marcos.

 

For "Mammal Monday":

Nipping Puppy Biting in the Bud

"It is often a challenge to convince a new enthusiastic puppy not to bite the hand that feeds him, pets him, and plays with him. Nipping and mouthing is a very common and very normal puppy behavior.

When puppies play with each other, they use their mouths, so they tend to do the same thing when they interact with people. This is rarely an aggressive behavior intended to harm you, but it can be a difficult habit to break without some good, practical tools in your “puppy training tool bag.”

The worst thing you can do is physically punish your pup for this natural behavior, although many people incorrectly do so.

Most normal puppy mouthiness just goes away on its own, regardless of how much or how little puppy parents do to stop it, once puppies acquire their adult teeth

Instead of punishment, the use of positive distraction and the encouragement of acceptable behavior are far better approaches, yielding much better results. This article is intended to help you manage puppy nipping effectively, while at the same time helping you build a good relationship with your puppy, based on trust rather than fear."    More at: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2009/08/13/nipping-puppy-biting-in-the-bud.aspx

and more at: http://raisinghealthydogs.com/how-to-nip-puppy-nipping-in-the-bud

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Don’t Make This Tragic Mistake When Your Dog Misbehaves

"This is a sickening, heart-wrenching story I’d rather not repeat, but there’s an important message in it, so I hope you’ll bear with me.

A one year-old dog was injured so severely by misuse of a choke collar that he had to be euthanized. The owner suspended the dog a few feet off the ground with a choke collar for a full minute as a disciplinary tactic. When the dog was lowered to the ground, he was panicked and ultimately lost consciousness.

An exam at the veterinary clinic where the dog was taken showed brain injury and severe brain swelling. The ultimate diagnosis was strangulation and the dog’s injuries were so severe he had to be euthanized.

Positive Reinforcement Dog Training in 5 Simple Steps

The goal is to use very small-sized treats (pea sized is good, and you can even use frozen peas if your dog seems to like them) and verbal praise and affection to encourage desired behaviors in your dog.

1. Come up with short, preferably one-word commands for the behaviors you want to teach your pet. Examples are Come, Sit, Stay, Down, Heel, Off, etc. Make sure all members of your family consistently use exactly the same command for each behavior.
2. As soon as your dog performs the desired behavior, reward him immediately with a treat and verbal praise. Do this every time he responds appropriately to a command. You want him to connect the behavior he performed with the treat. This of course means you’ll need to have treats on you whenever you give your dog commands in the beginning.
3. Keep training sessions short and fun. You want your dog to associate good things with obeying your commands. You also want to use training time as an opportunity to deepen your bond with your pet.
4. Gradually back off the treats and use them only intermittently once your dog has learned a new behavior. Eventually they’ll no longer be necessary, but you should always reward your dog with verbal praise whenever he obeys a command.
5. Continue to use positive reinforcement to maintain the behaviors you desire. Reward-based training helps create a range of desirable behaviors in your pet, which builds mutual feelings of trust and confidence."

More at: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/12/27/dog-behavior-training.aspx

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Back to Basics: 10 Great Dog Training Tips

"Everyone realizes there’s a big difference between a well-mannered canine citizen and an unpredictable, out-of-control dog. But often dog owners develop bad training habits without realizing it, and are left feeling confused and concerned about their dog’s uncooperative behavior."  Article at: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/11/29/10-dog-training-tips.aspx

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10 Tips to Keep Your Pet Safe in Cold Weather

"Depending on where you live, you’re bracing for another winter of ice, snow and frigid temperatures. But before we all find our own ways to weather the chill for the next few months, it’s a good time to remember the importance of keeping furry family members as safe, warm and comfortable as we are.

Cold weather can be just as hard on pets as it is on humans – especially for dogs and cats left outdoors for extended periods of time (which I never recommend). Pets left outdoors in cold weather can acquire a wide variety of injuries and illness, not the least of which are hypothermia and frostbite.

Here are some things you can do to keep the four-legged members of your family warm and safe:"  More at: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/12/20/cold-weather-pet-safety-tips.aspx

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Animal Abuse At Former Walmart Pork Supplier Caught On Camera at Tyson (GRAPHIC VIDEO)

"Walmart's meat suppliers have been under intense scrutiny for their treatment of animals, and this is the fourth undercover investigation regarding the chain's pork suppliers by the group. First very upsetting video, Hidden-camera footage from another farm  that supplies pork to the retailer was released last month that allegedly showed pigs confined to gestation crates and workers throwing piglets on their heads. 

Second video, very cruel and graphic. Be considerate and think twice before sharing." http://youtu.be/SArGyNusR_Y

More at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/21/animal-abuse-walmart-pork-supplier_n_4312183.html

Please sign petition at: https://www.change.org/petitions/tell-tyson-to-stop-torturing-pigs

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From me:  I sometimes wonder if The Lord told us not to eat pork in Leviticus 11, because he knew how much the pigs would have to suffer to be in our food chain.  Apart from that:

"Every animal has its purpose. Scavengers, such as pigs, are designed to clean—not to be eaten by humans, only by other carnivorous animals.

A pig’s digestive system—unlike a cow’s—is not designed to filter toxins from its system. These toxins work their way through the pig and are deposited in the animal’s flesh—especially in its fat. The pig itself is actually able to sustain very high levels of toxins. As such, it can eat just about anything. In an effort to keep feed costs down, pig farmers will purchase garbage, such as rotting meat and vegetables, to feed them—and the pigs can be sustained with it. There is nothing in the pig’s digestive system, or the processing of the meat, that removes these toxins.

Some of the “cleaning” features of the pig are remarkable. One is located under its hooves. Often referred to as poison ducts or running sores, these “sores” act as a conduit for poisons to ooze from the pig’s body. This is one reason pigs can eat poisonous snakes that would kill other creatures and not be affected themselves. These ducts, however, will often become “plugged” from the amount of toxins pigs must excrete from their bodies. If this is the case, a farmer must quickly slaughter the pig and send it to market before it dies. Accordingly, the meat from such an animal is riddled with parasites and toxins.

The toxicity of the pig is not just limited to its meat and organs. Even its saliva can be horribly infectious. In fact, one disease, called “mad itch,” will cause a cow to rub all the skin from its mouth—to the point of killing itself. All that is required for cows to contract this disease is to come in contact with the residue of a pig’s saliva on shared food supplies!"  More at: http://realtruth.org/articles/263-apt.html

Even Joel Osteen has switched to turkey bacon:

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"A pig is a real garbage gut. It will eat anything including urine, excrement, dirt, decaying animal flesh, maggots, or decaying vegetables. They will even eat the cancerous growths off other pigs or animals.  The meat and fat of a pig absorbs toxins like a sponge. Their meat can be 30 times more toxic than beef or venison.

The pig is so poisonous and filthy, that nature had to prepare him a sewer line or canal running down each leg with an outlet in the bottom of the foot. Out of this hole oozes pus and filth his body cannot pass into its system fast enough. Some of this pus gets into the meat of the pig."  From: http://www.9jabook.com/forum/topics/15-things-you-should-know-about-pigs-their-meat

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On This Day:

Southern U.S. border established, Dec 30, 1853:

Territorial expansion of the United States, the Gadsden Purchase shown in red-orange.

The border between Mexico and the United States spans six Mexican states and four U.S. states, and has over twenty commercial railroad crossings.

"James Gadsden, the U.S. minister to Mexico, and General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the president of Mexico, sign the Gadsden Purchase in Mexico City. The treaty settled the dispute over the location of the Mexican border west of El Paso, Texas, and established the final boundaries of the southern United States. For the price of $15 million, later reduced to $10 million, the United States acquired approximately 30,000 square miles of land in what is now southern New Mexico and Arizona.

Jefferson Davis, the U.S. secretary of war under President Franklin Pierce, had sent Gadsden to negotiate with Santa Anna for the land, which was deemed by a group of political and industrial leaders to be a highly strategic location for the construction of the southern transcontinental railroad.

It was James Gadsden who was influential in the convention’s recommending a southern route for the proposed railroad, beginning in Texas and ending in San Diego or Mazatlán. Southerners hoped that such a route would ensure southern prosperity while opening the “West to southern influence and settlement.”"

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Marcos inaugurated,  Dec 30, 1965:

"Former Philippines Senate president Ferdinand Marcos is inaugurated president of the Southeast Asian archipelago nation. Marcos' regime would span 20 years and become increasingly authoritarian and corrupt.

After substantial evidence of Marcos' corruption emerged, including the looting of billions of dollars from the Philippine economy, Marcos and his wife were indicted by the U.S. government on embezzlement charges. After Ferdinand Marcos' death in 1989, Imelda was cleared of the charges, and she was allowed to return to the Philippines in 1991, where she unsuccessfully ran for the presidency the following year.

In 1993, Imelda Marcos was convicted of corruption by a Philippine court, but she avoided serving her 12-year prison sentence. In 1995, she was elected to the House of Representatives. In 1998, she unsuccessfully ran for president again and subsequently retired from political life."

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Imelda Marcos loses her collection of 2,700 pairs of shoes:

   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2207353/Imelda-Marcos-legendary-3-000-plus-shoe-collection-destroyed-termites-floods-neglect.html

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Yesterday:

Jay came here and wanted to work on something, he was getting bored staying at home.

He won't wear his sling even though he is supposed to have a broken right arm, so he was able to cut some lattice with my lightweight circular saw, and we completed two sections of one of the cross fences yesterday.

New Year: Should Christians Celebrate It? 50 Years Without Christmas. Xmas Trash. A New Name. 3 Lies Every Woman Needs to Stop Believing. A Thief in the Night. London Blitz.

 

For "Scripture Sunday":

New Year: Should Christians Celebrate It?

"God didn’t begin His year in the dead of winter. So what does He think of the celebration of New Year’s Eve based on the Roman's calendar and customs?"

What does God think of New Year’s Eve?

"Are New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day celebrations that God approves of? Since God set the first month of the year on the sacred calendar to begin in what we call March or April, obviously it is not God’s new year (Exodus 12:2; Deuteronomy 16:1). And God didn’t command a celebration for that day either.

The origin of New Year

So what is the origin of New Year? “In early times, the ancient Romans gave each other New Year’s gifts of branches from sacred trees. In later years, they gave gold-covered nuts or coins imprinted with pictures of Janus, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings. January was named after Janus, who had two faces—one looking forward and the other looking backward. The Romans also brought gifts to the emperor. The emperors eventually began to demand such gifts. But the Christian church outlawed this custom and certain other pagan New Year’s practices in A.D. 567” (The World Book Encyclopedia, 1990, article “New Year’s Day”).

Not pleasing to God

Today, too often New Year’s Eve is treated as an excuse for drinking too much and lowering moral standards. It is one of the most dangerous times of the year for drunk driving, and every year warnings are given about those who fire guns into the air in celebration—an act that too often turns deadly.

For all these reasons, celebrating the pagan holiday of New Year is not pleasing to God."  From: http://lifehopeandtruth.com/life/plan-of-salvation/holy-days-vs-holidays/new-year/

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50 Years Without Christmas

"Now, with Thanksgiving behind us, here in the U.S. we turn our eyes toward Christmas. (Well, that’s not exactly true … some stores were throwing up Christmas displays back in mid-October. Give us another 20 years, and Black Friday will probably be sometime around the end of August!)

This year will be a special Christmas for me—it will be the 50th consecutive year that I’ve been without it! Yes, a golden anniversary of not having something!

I remember it well. I was 11 years old when my parents made the big decision that it was intellectually dishonest, scripturally untruthful and spiritually hypocritical to celebrate Christmas. Researching the facts was the easy part—history has never hidden the pagan origins of Christmas and how its customs became integrated into the church by powerful people who called themselves Christians but bore little resemblance to the Christians of the Bible. And finding out the truth of what the Bible says, or does not say, about Christmas was a piece of cake.

Even as a child, I could clearly see the truth of the matter, and maybe I was more primed to accept it since the memories of having been lied to about Santa Claus were still fairly fresh in my young head.

At any rate, it really wasn’t all that hard to stop celebrating Christmas. That we weren’t going to be keeping Christmas anymore was much more difficult for those who weren’t changing anything than it was for us who were!  I saw my grandparents all the time throughout the year, but one would have thought their world was coming apart at the seams when we announced that we were quietly bowing out of the Christmas scene! At least they weren’t mean and spiteful about it like some people were. This decision taught me one of my early lessons in life about freedom of religion—it’s a nice notion, but in reality it usually comes with a price, such as having to deal with other people ridiculing and badgering you.

Those closest to us, though, adjusted after a while when they realized that we hadn’t turned into religious nuts, that we still loved Jesus, that we still loved them and that, because we loved them, we would continue to give and receive gifts at other times of the year … just not at Christmas. That actually turned out to work to our advantage because when we did show up with gifts for no particular reason, it was always a surprise and they knew it was a gift from the heart, not because it was the seasonally expected thing to do.

It’s probably strange to some people; but truthfully, from year one I never missed Christmas. Maybe it was the way my parents engaged me in the discovery process—I don’t remember the exact conversations we had about it, but I do remember coming to comprehend the core issue that I mentioned earlier: Mixing Christianity and Christmas just isn’t being honest with the truth.

And isn’t honesty, sincerity and truth supposed to be a cornerstone of our relationship with God? Isn’t that one of the most important gifts we can give to our children?  For Life, Hope & Truth, I’m Clyde Kilough."  From: http://lifehopeandtruth.com/speaking-of/50-years-without-christmas/ 

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Xmas Trash.  Friday, December 27, 2013

"One last thought about Christmas and the trash that is generated.  Everybody's dumpsters are overflowing with the trash, the refuse, the packaging that has been accumulated as a result of the Christmas holidays."

Transcript at: http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today-daily/christmas/xmas-trash

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This Woman's Walk: A New Name

Source: Stockbyte/Thinkstock

"While watching a BT Daily recently, I stopped and thought back through the years to an afternoon in a park. I was sitting on a bench next to my then-fiancé, David. We were having one of many conversations about how we thought our marriage would work. In this particular conversation, I had stated that once we were married, I would like my name to be hyphenated.

I wanted to be Joy Elliott-Jones. I liked the ring of it. It sounded modern, and suited the woman that I wanted to be: headstrong, independent, career-focused, making my own way. The truth was that I was not ready to give up my own personal identity to take up that of another. I liked being an “Elliott”. I didn’t want to surrender completely to becoming a wife. I wanted to hold onto who I had been and keep it with me in our marriage. In my head, marriage looked less like “two becoming one” and more like “two remaining two, but sharing living space.”

I explained my rationale with arguments about my upcoming career, my personal identity, and my right to choose what my name should be. To my ears, my points seemed so reasonable! After I had spoken for what seemed like a long time, I felt satisfied that he would understand and agree. I had made an impassioned argument and I felt confident that he would see my side. I was wrong.

When he did speak, though, he started by explaining that his family name, Jones, was not one of which he was proud. His father had done a good deal to damage that name before abandoning the family that carried it. He had grown up on financial assistance, and he felt as though that label followed him and affected how people saw him.

David wanted to build and strengthen that name, and change what it meant to be a Jones. He wanted a wife who would stand beside him and help create that new meaning with him. He wanted a wife who would surrender her past identity as he surrendered his, to create a name that would be their own—a name worthy of praise.

I have been Joy Jones for nearly 18 years. I did surrender my “identity”, but as it turns out, taking my husband’s name was never about losing “me”. I am still me, but I am better-- I have my helpmate walking alongside me. Taking my husband’s name was not about losing myself, but simply a step in becoming his wife. There were so many more steps after that… learning to trust him, to depend upon him, to walk beside him through life’s storms and see myself as a part of him… as “two becoming one”. Those steps have not been easy, and I have stumbled my way through some of them. But now as I look back at our years together, I reflect on the effort I have seen him make to create a “new name” for himself and for our family. Today I can say, with complete conviction, that I bear my husband’s name with great love and pride.

What struck me this morning is that God is asking us each and every day to take His name and make it our own. His name is not one of which He is ashamed, and He doesn’t want us to be ashamed to wear it. He asks us to let go of our past identity and to surrender that “old man” to become all that He would have us to be: His beautiful bride.

God’s gift to us of His name is beautifully stated in the book of Isaiah: “…do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are Mine…” (Isaiah 43:1).  God gives His name to us, and we have to take it and really make it our own. Just like I did in my own marriage, we will stumble at times, but our Beloved’s hand will be ready to pick us back up. I am living proof that there is truly beauty in the surrender to something greater."  From: http://www.ucg.org/blog/womans-walk-new-name/  by Joy Jones

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3 Lies Every Woman Needs to Stop Believing

What do you see when you look in the mirror? Is your worth defined by your outward appearance or by something far more important?

"If you’ve flipped on a radio station or picked up a magazine recently, chances are you’re aware of the highly controversial teen pop star Miley Cyrus. Miley made headline news with her performance (which we won’t describe) at the 2013 Video Music Awards. She stirred up further controversy with her provocative music video for the song “Wrecking Ball,” in which she appears nude.

Miley’s reputation, however, was not always so shocking. As the former star of Disney’s Hannah Montana TV series, Miley once portrayed a far more wholesome image. Miley Cyrus grew up attending church and even wore a purity ring. Now she has become known for her increasingly provocative clothing and sexually explicit routines.

What happened to the wholesome image?

Miley is not the only celebrity to undergo an outward transformation. Well-known singer Katy Perry also grew up in a religious home and lived a conservative lifestyle until her music career began to take off. Now she is known for her sexy clothing, provocative music videos and hard-edged lyrics.

With such influential role models on the scene, what kinds of messages are being sent to us about beauty and femininity? Is it possible that society is broadcasting some very powerful messages that are actually false?

Consider the following three false messages that are currently being sent to women—and especially to young girls—through celebrities and modern fashion.

Both Miley and Katy have undergone complete transformations. But what was wrong with how they looked before?

False Message No. 1: You’re not good enough the way you are.

Truth: Your worth is not determined by what you see in the mirror; your worth is determined by the God who created you.

False Message No. 2: It’s all about the image.

Truth: True beauty is not dependent on how you look, but on how you act.

False Message No. 3: Being sexy and alluring is fun and powerful.

Truth: You teach people how to treat you. When you treat yourself with respect, others will too."

Complete article at: http://lifehopeandtruth.com/change/blog/3-lies-every-woman-needs-to-stop-believing/      by Debbie G. Pierce and Vivienne Villaescusa

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The program on WGN TV this morning:

A Thief in the Night

"Jesus said to "be ready" for the horrific events of the day of the Lord. Don't let yourself be caught off guard. Learn how."

Transcript at: http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today-program/news-and-prophecy/thief-night

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On This Day:

Germans raid London, Dec 29, 1940:

"On this day, German aircraft blanket incendiary bombs over London, setting both banks of the Thames ablaze and killing almost 3,600 British civilians.

A double-decker bus drove into a bomb crater in Balham, south London

The German targeting of the English capital had begun back in August, payback for British attacks on Berlin. In September, a horrendous firestorm broke out in London's poorest districts as German aircraft dropped 337 tons of bombs on docks, tenements, and teeming streets. The "London Blitz" killed thousands of civilians.

December 29 saw the widespread destruction not just of civilians, but of great portions of London's cultural relics. Historic buildings were severely damaged or destroyed as relentless bombing set 15,000 separate fires. Among the architectural treasures that proved casualties of the German assault were the Guildhall (the administrative center of the city, dating back to 1673 but also containing a 15th-century vault) and eight Christopher Wren churches. St. Paul's Cathedral also caught fire but was saved from being burned to the ground by brave, tenacious firefighters. Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and the Chamber of the House of Commons were also hit but suffered less extensive damage.

Fighting the blazes was made all the more difficult by an unfortunate low tide, which made drawing water a problem."

More at: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/worst-air-raid-on-london

From me:  I remember the bombings very well.  During the course of the war, I would go to school and find out which of my class mates had been killed during the night.  I was very fortunate, I just got a hurt foot.

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Yesterday:

After the animals had their breakfasts and Wendy and I had our Saturday phone call, I got ready for church.

Jay called and said that he was going too.  When I went to pick him up, he was wearing sunglasses to cover his scabs and black eye.  But he didn't have his arm in a sling, as he said it was too constricting.  I don't think it could have been really broken.  The teen that often hangs around him, was there too, and he said that Bret was going to church, too.  Bret said that he often went to church, but when we were looking up Bible verses, he didn't know his way around the Book.

The Bible readings were the continuation of Genesis 37:1 - 40:23.  About Joseph being sold into slavery, imprisoned in Egypt, and he interpreted the dreams.  The other reading was Amos 2:1-3:8. 

The song service was great, as usual.  The talk was about God's Mysterious Ways, and one example was from Acts 16:26.  There came a great earthquake which broke up the foundations and doors of the jail, and broke the feet stocks of Paul and Silas. Thinking that his prisoners had gone, the jailer was going to kill himself, but Paul and Silas had not escaped, knowing what would happen to the jailer.  That made the jailer and all his family believe in God.

The potluck and fellowship was great, though I did think it was a bit much that Bret went back for four helpings.

Pricey Postage. Ages of Rocks. Safer Sofas. Tiny Terrariums. Pure Wine. Statin Stats. First VP To Resign. First Labor Day.

 

For "Summary Saturday", or News, Some New, Some Old:

Going up: First-class stamps to cost 49 cents soon

Pony Express-stamped letter, 1860, courtesy of the National Postal Museum

Mailing a letter is about to get a little more expensive. The new rate is effective Jan. 26.

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How do we know how old a rock or fossil is?

"Dear Dave,
How do geologists determine the age of an ancient volcanic eruption or a glacial advance? How do we know how many years ago Tyrannosaurus lived?" Bertina H., Saint Louis, MO

"Bertina, Geologists, paleontologists and archaeologists often want to know the age of a soil deposit, a rock layer (such as a lava flow), or the fossils in the rocks. We speak of two types of 'ages'. 1. Relative age is the relation in time between rock layers (and the fossils they may contain). Relative age can tell us that a particular rock layer is older or younger than another. It CAN'T tell us if a rock or fossil is 3 million or 300 million years old. 2. Absolute age is the time in years before the present time. If the rock can be dated at all, the absolute age can be determined. An example: a lava flow is determined to be 32.4 million years old (almost always with some imprecision, expressed. for example, as " ± 0.2 million years").
This week I'll deal with relative age. I'll tackle absolute age in a future blog post. That will help us understand how long ago Tyrannosaurus lived.
There are some basic laws that state the principles of relative ages of rocks. Geologists apply these to the rock record to determine sequences of time.

The "Law of Superposition" says that any undisturbed sedimentary rock layer that lies above another is the younger of the two. This principal was formalized in the mid-1600s by a Dane, Nicolas Steno, who is among the founders of modern geology.

Steno's Law of Superposition says that the rocks higher in the stack are younger than those below. Sounds like common
sense now, but this was a radical thought in the 1650s, when all sedimentary rocks were held to be the same age: deposited by Noah's Flood over a period of 40 days and 40 nights.

More at: http://askdoc-rock.blogspot.com/2013/07/how-do-we-know-how-old-rock-or-fossil-is.html

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Calif. Ends Rule That Poisoned Us with Flame Retardants

"The reason most furniture sold in this country contains flame retardants is a 1975 California regulation called TB 117, which requires furniture foam to withstand an open flame for 12 seconds before igniting. Because the vast majority of furniture fires start from cigarettes, which smolder rather than flame, the open flame standard has been shown to be largely ineffective at curtailing furniture fires. In other words, much of our furniture contains flame retardants that end up in our bodies and our children’s bodies, but that do not protect us from fires.

Thankfully, last week California revised its flammability regulations, changing them from a chemical-dependent open flame standard, to a smolder standard that can be met with non-toxic fabrics. Taking effect starting in January 2014, the new rule eliminates the need for furniture makers to inject the chemicals into upholstered chairs, sofas, and other items.

Given the widespread presence of flame retardants in consumer products containing foam, this change comes none too soon. As one small reminder of the problem, here is a chilling study by the Center for Environmental Health, which found these toxic chemicals in 38 out of 42 pieces of children’s furniture that were purchased and evaluated."  More at: http://earthjustice.org/blog/2013-november/calif-ends-rule-that-poisoned-us-with-flame-retardants

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Magical Miniatures: How to build terrariums with kids

"As winter approaches, a terrarium, generally defined as a glass or plastic container used for growing plants indoors, is a wonderful way to keep a little green in your life as well as a creative way to keep kids engaged with nature.

“Looking for the tiny plants and mosses that make up the terrarium requires close inspection of the small things underfoot—the kinds of plants and lichens that many people simply pass by or step on,” Salter said. “Building terrariums puts those humble wee plants on center stage and gives kids a chance to marvel at them.”

One of the great things about terrariums is that they can be built very inexpensively. Salter’s grandmother picked up cool jars and glass containers at yard sales to use in her creations. In Martin’s book, she describes making terrariums with everything from fish bowls to canning jars to vases, items you may already have in your home."     More at: http://greatkids.outdoors.org/2013/11/magical-miniatures-how-to-build.html

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Pure Wine

An Amazing Fact: "In 1869, Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch, a physician and dentist by profession, successfully pasteurized Concord grape juice to produce an “unfermented sacramental wine” for fellow parishioners at his church in Vineland, New Jersey.

He was inspired to do this after a visitor became drunk and unruly following a communion service in which fermented wine was used. Since antiquity, there have been several methods of preserving wine from fermenting, but they always sacrificed much in the way of taste. Dr. Welch’s process preserved both. Today, Welch’s Grape Juice is an international food company.

Alcohol consumption is a national problem in America. It destroys people’s ability to think clearly and act properly. Tests show that after drinking three bottles of beer, there is an average of 13 percent net memory loss. After taking only small quantities of alcohol, trained typists were tested and their errors increased 40 percent. Only one ounce of alcohol increases the time required to make a decision by nearly 10 percent, hinders muscular reaction by 17 percent, and increases errors due to lack of attention by 35 to 60 percent.

Using the illustration of grapes, Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1, 2). When we do not abide in Christ, the fruit that we bear is permeated with sin. Like fermented grape juice, the results of a life without Jesus are impure, broken, and impaired. Unless we are connected to Christ, we will not bear good fruit. Unless we abide in Jesus, we will be cut off.
Spend time with the Lord every day. Press the Word against your heart. Talk to God in prayer. And let the pure spiritual “wine” flow, unfermented by sin, out of your life to bless others."

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Consumer Alert: 300+ Health Problems Linked To Statin Drugs

"A growing body of clinical research now indicates that the cholesterol-lowering class of drugs known as statins, are associated with over 300 adverse health effects -- research boldly flying in the face of national health policy, medical insurance premium guidelines, statin drug manufacturer advertising claims, and the general sentiment of the public, with approximately 1 in every 4 adult Americans over 45 currently using these drugs to "prevent heart disease."

The Cholesterol Myth

For well over 40 years, statin drugs have successfully concretized a century old myth about the primary cause of heart disease: namely, that cholesterol "causes" plaque build up in the arteries, ultimately leading to obstruction of blood flow, and subsequent morbidity and mortality.

Indeed, the medical establishment and drug companies have been singing the praises of this "cholesterol myth," to the tune of 25 billion dollars in statin drug sales, annually.

While it is true that oxidized low-density lipoprotein is found within the atheromatous plaque that is found in damaged arteries, it is less likely a cause than an effect of heart disease. The underlying damage to the lining of the artery, which could be infectious, chemical, stress and/or nutritionally-related, comes before the immune response that results in plaque buildup there.

Blaming LDL cholesterol for causing heart disease, is like blaming the scab for the injury that caused it to form, or, like blaming the band-aid for the scab it is covering -- this is, after all, the inborn and fatal flaw of allopathic medicine which focuses only on symptoms of disease, which it then -- fool-heartedly -- attempts to suppress by any chemical means necessary.

Death By Statins?

No one can deny that statins do exactly what they are designed to do: suppress cholesterol production and reduce measurable blood serum levels. The question is, rather, at what price do they accomplish this feat, and for what ultimate purpose?

Moreover, statin myotoxicity is not exclusive to skeletal muscle. If you consider that the heart is also a muscle, in fact, is our most tireless muscle, an obvious red flag should go up. It is a remarkable fact that it took over 40 years before the biomedical research and publishing fields were able to produce a human study, like the one published in the Journal of Clinical Cardiology in Dec. 2009, showing that statin drugs, despite billions of advertising/marketing dollars to the contrary, actually weaken the heart muscle. This finding may also explain why rates of heart failure may be increasing in the general population given these drugs."       More at:  http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/consumer-alert-300-health-problems-linked-statin-drugs

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On This Day:

Calhoun resigns vice presidency, Dec 28, 1832:

"Citing political differences with President Andrew Jackson and a desire to fill a vacant Senate seat in South Carolina, John C. Calhoun becomes the first vice president in U.S. history to resign the office.

Born near Abbeville, South Carolina, in 1782, Calhoun was an advocate of states' rights and a defender of the agrarian South against the industrial North. Calhoun served as secretary of war under President James Monroe and in 1824 ran for the presidency. However, bitter partisan attacks from other contenders forced him out of the race, and he had to settle for the vice presidency under President John Quincy Adams.

In 1828, he was again elected vice president while Andrew Jackson won the presidency. Calhoun soon found himself politically isolated from national affairs under President Jackson. On December 12, 1832, Calhoun was elected to fill a South Carolina Senate seat left vacant after the resignation of Senator Robert Hayne. Sixteen days later, he resigned the vice presidency.

For the rest of his political life, Calhoun defended the slave-plantation system against the growing anti-slavery stance of the free states. In the early 1840s, while secretary of state under President John Tyler, he secured the admission of Texas into the Union as a slave state.

Together with Andrew Jackson, Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun dominated American political life in the first half of the 19th century.

For his second term (1833-1837), Jackson's Vice President was Martin Van Buren, who followed him as the 8th US President."

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America's first Labor Day, Dec 28, 1869:

"The Knights of Labor, a labor union of tailors in Philadelphia, hold the first Labor Day ceremonies in American history. The Knights of Labor was established as a secret society of Pennsylvanian tailors earlier in the year and later grew into a national body that played an important role in the labor movement of the late 19th century.

The first annual observance of Labor Day was organized by the American Federation of Labor in 1884, which resolved in a convention in Chicago that "the first Monday in September be set aside as a laborer's national holiday." In 1887, Oregon became the first state to designate Labor Day a holiday, and in 1894 Congress designated the first Monday in September a legal holiday for all federal employees and the residents of the District of Columbia."

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Yesterday:

For the first time in a few days, Misty didn't get me up during the night to go out.  But she still doesn't hold her tail high, so I hope she isn't in pain.  That inoperable tumor is getting bigger.

Friday is a 'Preparation Day', so I was doing all that I could, to be prepared for the Sabbath. 

Luke 23:54 - And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on.
Mark 15:42 - And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath.

After feeding the animals their breakfasts, I put some chicken broth and chopped up veggies in the crockpot for the church potluck, and while that was cooking, I touched up my grey roots.    If I don't do that, I look like a dull, dingy, washed out snow tiger with light and grey hair mixed. (TMI)

Ray came over, and raked and burned some more. There were even more visitors at his house, and he wanted out of there.  He raked up the pine needles on Lot 3, (my side lot), and those in front of his son's house, next door to me. 

Peekers, my foster kitten goes to our SPCA Cat Habitat on Sunday for a month, unless he gets adopted during that time.  He is a sweet, purring, playful, happy, well adjusted little guy, so I don't think it take him long to be adopted.  Nala, my shy foster cat, is supposed to be in the Habitat with him, but I think she will stress out again and have to come back here.  They had to have their Revolution put on their necks, and all their medical records and care instructions printed out, ready to go with them

Another thing I did was postpone the nuclear stress test.  I didn't think that New Year's Eve was a good time to expect the best medical care.  I know they are professionals, but it just didn't seem to be the best time to do it when they are  anticipating getting off for the evening's revelry.

I should have gone shopping yesterday, but I postponed that to conserve on gas, as I have to take the foster cats to Conroe anyway on Sunday.

Bone Broth. We Feed Cows Chicken Poop, Rotten Potatoes And Newspapers! Ractopamine. Splenda And Neotame Hazards. Montgomery Ward.

 

For "Foodie Friday":

Now that you have had all the left-overs from your holiday meal that you can take, how about some……

Bone Broth—One of Your Most Healing Diet Staples

"According to an old South American proverb, "good broth will resurrect the dead." While that’s undoubtedly an exaggeration, it speaks to the value placed on this wholesome food, going back through the annals of time.

The featured article by Dr. Amy Myers¹* lists 10 health benefits of bone broth. Sally Fallon with the Weston A. Price Foundation²* has previously published information about this healing food as well.

Bone broth contains valuable minerals in a form your body can easily absorb and use, including calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulfur chondroitin, glucosamine, and a variety of trace minerals.

The gelatin found in bone broth is a hydrophilic colloid. It attracts and holds liquids, including digestive juices, thereby supporting proper digestion.

Bone broth also inhibits infection caused by cold and flu viruses, for example, and fights inflammation, courtesy of anti-inflammatory amino acids such as arginine.

Making your own bone broth is very cost effective, as you can make use of left over carcass bones that would otherwise be thrown away. And making your own broth is quite easy."

1* http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-9890/10-benefits-of-bone-broth-gut-healing-recipe.html

2* http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/broth-is-beautiful

More at: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/12/16/bone-broth-benefits.aspx?

Another recipe: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/3615609338/slow-cooker-beef-bone-broth

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We Feed Cows Chicken Poop.

They’re Feeding WHAT to Cows?

"'Poultry litter' is exactly what it sounds like: the filthy stuff scraped off the floor of a chicken coop. Feeding it to cattle (yes, that happens) risks the spread of mad cow disease—yet the FDA has done nothing to stop it.

Anyone who pays even scant attention to where our food comes from is likely aware that some pretty unsavory things happen between the farm and your fork (see this month’s big story in Rolling Stone, for example). But some of these farming methods are more than just unappetizing: they could be deadly. One practice in particular could allow for the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, the gruesome and fatal neurodegenerative disorder more commonly known as mad cow disease.

The practice in question is feeding what’s known as "poultry litter" to farmed cattle. Poultry litter is the agriculture industry’s term for the detritus that gets scooped off the floors of chicken cages and broiler houses. It’s mainly a combination of feces, feathers, and uneaten chicken feed, but in addition, a typical sample of poultry litter might also contain antibiotics, heavy metals, disease-causing bacteria, and even bits of dead rodents, according to Consumers Union (the policy and action arm of the nonprofit that publishes Consumer Reports). 

Aside from the fact that we’re feeding our cows chicken crap, this practice is worrisome because both the excrement and uneaten pellets of chicken chow found in poultry litter can contain beef protein, including ground-up meat and bone meal. Which means—if you can follow the gruesome flow chart here—that cows could be, indirectly, eating each other.

As the US Department of Agriculture has made quite clear, cows really, really shouldn’t be doing that. Meat and bone meal containing infected bovine protein, the USDA says, is the chief culprit behind the spread of mad cow disease. (The closely related illness in humans is called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.)" 

A lot more at: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/12/we-feed-cows-chicken-poop  This story originally appeared on OnEarth.org.

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 5 Surprising Things We Feed Cows

Sawdust, Candy, wrapper and all, Chicken shit, Ground limestone, Crab guts!

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And another list of factory-farmed cow's diet here:

Chicken Poop and Cookies: Food for Cows?

"For those of you wondering what chicken litter is, it is basically straw or wood shavings  and chicken poop that is scooped up off the floor of the chicken coop while cleaning it. Yum.

I had some skepticism when I first read that cows were fed old chicken house bedding that contained chicken manure, because it seemed so crazy to me, but after a little research into “feedstuffs” for cattle, there were all kinds of unsavory things that cows are fed. Here is an incomplete list of the things that I discovered on various university extension and cattle industry websites:

• Shredded newspapers soaked in molasses
• Blood meal (dried blood from slaughter house waste)
• Animal byproducts: fish meal, meat and bone meal, poultry by-product meal, etc. (slaughter house waste – wait, isn’t this what caused mad cow disease??)
• Hydrolyzed Feather Meal (AKA chicken feathers – also slaughterhouse waste – this REALLY eliminates the humor in those chic-fil-a commercials)
• Stale candy: gummy bears, gummy worms, m&ms, etc.
• Pasta (old surplus pasta)
• Surplus french fries and potato chips
• Cannery waste (waste from canning factories where canned vegetables etc are processed)
• Stale bakery goods: breads, donuts, pastries, etc.
• Soy cakes (left over after making soy sauce)
• Brewery waste: spent grains from making beer (this is what caused the problems that led lawmakers to decide that milk needed to be pasteurized after milk from cows that were fed brewery waste sickened and killed hundreds of people.)
• Rotten potatoes that never made it to grocery store shelves. (This only after potatoes useable for making frozen french fries are separated out. My father used to work at a factory that made frozen french fries, and the place smelled like a sewer. The potatoes used for fries were rotten, but not completely mush yet. They would soak them in a solution to harden them again, then bleach them, then cut them into fries and flash freeze them. The potatoes that couldn’t even survive this process are sold as animal feed.)
• Soy hulls (a byproduct from the soybean milling process)
• Corn, cottonseed, soy, peanut, and other ‘meals’ (leftover from making oils)
• Cotton gin trash (leftover from harvesting and milling cotton)
• Peanut shells
• Grain middling's (left over from milling flour)
• Citrus pulp (leftover after making orange or grapefruit juice)
• Cane byproducts (leftover after making sugar)
• Beet pulp (from sugar beets in sugar production)
• *Sweetos a cheaper substitute for molasses. Sweetos guarantees the masking of unpleasant tastes and odor and improves the palatability of feed according to Monsanto spokesperson (so that cows will eat all of the unnatural feedstuffs that they are being given)

(See this list of cattle ‘feedstuffs’ from the University of Wisconsin)

Which of these cattle would you prefer as your food source?

If we are what we eat, (and so are our cows) what have you eaten today?" From:  http://www.meanroostersoup.com/chicken-poop-and-cookies-food-for-cows/

*Neotame is the generic name for Sweetos:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/03/28/neotame-more-toxic-than-aspartame.aspx

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Ractopamine: The Meat Additive on Your Plate That’s Banned Almost Everywhere But America.

October 31st, 2013

[Note:  Don't panic, go organic!  This additive is not allowed in organic foods.]

"The asthma drug-like growth additive has enjoyed stealth use in the US food supply for a decade despite being widely banned overseas.

Are you sure you want a bite?

Have you ever heard of ractopamine? Neither have most US food consumers though it is  used in 80 percent of US pig and cattle operations. The asthma drug-like growth additive, called a beta-agonist, has enjoyed stealth use in the US food supply for a decade despite being widely banned overseas. It is marketed as Paylean for pigs, Optaflexx for cattle and Topmax for turkeys.

Certainly the ractopamine label puts no one at ease, says the label for the turkey feed.

"WARNING: The active ingredient in Topmax, ractopamine hydrochloride, is a beta-adrenergic agonist. Individuals with cardiovascular disease should exercise special caution to avoid exposure.  Not for use in humans. Keep out of the reach of children. The Topmax 9 formulation (Type A Medicated Article) poses a low dust potential under usual conditions of handling and mixing. When mixing and handling Topmax, use protective clothing, impervious gloves, protective eye wear, and a NIOSH-approved dust mask. Operators should wash thoroughly with soap and water after handling. If accidental eye contact occurs, immediately rinse eyes thoroughly with water. If irritation persists, seek medical attention. The material safety data sheet contains more detailed occupational safety information. To report adverse effects, access medical information, or obtain additional product information, call 1-800-428-4441."   This is used in food production?

Complete article at: AlterNet By Martha Rosenberg

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From Me:  And people wonder why they are sick!  More reason to eat only organic pasture-fed beef and poultry.

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Health Hazards Associated with Splenda Consumption

"Splenda is found in tens of thousands of processed food products sold in 90 different countries, many of which are specifically marketed to those seeking to either lose weight or manage their diabetes.

Mounting research, however, shows that not only does it tend to worsen both of those problems, but it’s also associated with an array of other troublesome side effects.

The web site www.truthaboutsplenda.com lists a variety of consumer complaints from Splenda consumption, many of which mimic other health conditions. Some of the most commonly reported adverse effects include:

• Gastrointestinal problems
• Seizures, dizziness, and migraines
• Blurred vision
• Allergic reactions
• Blood sugar increases and weight gain

But that’s not all. Now, an in-depth scientific review of sucralose (Splenda) published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health reveals an extensive list of safety concerns, including toxicity, DNA damage, and heightened carcinogenic potential when used in cooking."  More at: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/12/18/sucralose-side-effects.aspx

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On This Day:

FDR seizes control of Montgomery Ward, Dec 27, 1944:

"On this day in 1944, as World War II dragged on, President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders his secretary of war to seize properties belonging to the Montgomery Ward company because the company refused to comply with a labor agreement.

In an effort to avert strikes in critical war-support industries, Roosevelt created the National War Labor Board in 1942. The board negotiated settlements between management and workers to avoid shut-downs in production that might cripple the war effort. During the war, the well-known retailer and manufacturer Montgomery Ward had supplied the Allies with everything from tractors to auto parts to workmen's clothing--items deemed as important to the war effort as bullets and ships.

However, Montgomery Ward Chairman Sewell Avery refused to comply with the terms of three different collective bargaining agreements with the United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union hammered out between 1943 and 1944. In April 1944, after Sewell refused a second board order, Roosevelt called out the Army National Guard to seize the company's main plant in Chicago. Sewell himself had to be carried out of his office by National Guard troops.

By December of that year, Roosevelt was fed up with Sewell's obstinacy and disrespect for the government's authority. (The uber-capitalist Sewell's favorite insult was to call someone a "New Dealer"--a direct reference to Roosevelt's Depression-era policies.) On December 27, Roosevelt ordered the secretary of war to seize Montgomery Ward's plants and facilities in New York, Michigan, California, Illinois, Colorado and Oregon.

In his announcement that day, Roosevelt emphasized that the government would "not tolerate any interference with war production in this critical hour." He issued a stern warning to labor unions and industry management alike: "strikes in wartime cannot be condoned, whether they are strikes by workers against their employers or strikes by employers against their Government." Sewell took the fight to federal court, but lost.

For much of the 20th century, Montgomery Ward, founded in 1872, reigned as one of the country's largest department store and mail-order retail chains. Heavy competition from Wal-Mart, Target and similar discount stores forced the company to close all of its stores in 2000, though it retains a catalog and internet presence."

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Yesterday:

Just as I was feeding the animals their breakfasts, Ray came over wanting to help me with something, anything.  That surprised me as he is still hurting from his accident.  Shay's sister has been staying with them for over a week now, and Ray just wanted to get out of his house rather than listen to them constantly arguing.

The pine needles have been settling on blind Misty's pathway to the back yard which makes it difficult for her to find her way to the stone walkway. So Ray blew them out of there with the blower.  That led to both of us raking and blowing the whole front yard.  The red maple had dropped all it's leaves, too. As there was no wind, we lit the burn pile, and kept on loading more pine needles and leaves on it.  Then we moved into the back yard and raked up all of the pine needles back there, too.   We got our exercise for the day.  

Then we came in here as Ray wanted to watch the two videos that tell about the customs when Jesus was born.

More about the living conditions in those days:

Ray found them very interesting, and said that they bring up some facts which are not generally known.  What did you think? These are the ones that I posted on Christmas day.