Sitting At The Kitchen Table

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 08 Oct 06 - 12:38 AM

I've always liked the sounds of "not hardly" and "that's some good."

As for redundancy, it's like nails on a blackboard (now there's an obsolete expression--Where have all the blackboards gone, long time passing?) to my ears when someone says "very unique." Either something's unique or it isn't. But VERY unique? My dog's more uniquer than yours?

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 07 Oct 06 - 03:58 PM

What about exactly the same, Carly? I used to argue with my youngest son about that. If it's the "same," it IS exactly the same. How could it be somewhat the same? His English teacher in high school said I was wrong. (Perhaps because she uses that phrase a lot?) I don't generally get my knickers in a twist about the misuse of language. Overuse of certain phrases until they become cliches, and totally meaningless(rather than mostly meaningless :-)) does bug my a little.

I just checked my Websters dictionary, and the same means INDENTICAL!
Isn't "exactly" redundant?

Where is Rapaire? He's the educated one in here...

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Carly
Date: 07 Oct 06 - 03:50 PM

It's raining and chilly here in Virginia, too; time to get out the sweaters and start making soup. I just spoke to my mom; it made me think of your mom, Jerry, and to hope that she is happy and at peace with herself, on whichever side of the river she is presently located. It certainly sounds like it; I am glad of that for her. I have relatives (not my parents) who spent or are spending their lives carrying around a great deal of anger and bitterness; it is so sad to watch, and know that nothing will change unless they decide it should happen.

I am also glad to hear about A Handful of Songs. Thank you, Dennis!

My family tends to make up words, which pass into the family vocabulary. "Unlelse" comes to mind; a combination of "unless" and "or else." "Becase" comes from "because" and "in case". I leave it to you to figure out usage; in our family, we are too busy laughing over the memories such words evoke to pay too much attention to logic. Connotation wins out over denotation, every time, which is funny in itself because we are a family of readers, writers, and conversationalists, who normally do care, a great deal, about correct use of language. While I'm on the subject,please, please, please, whatever you do, never tell me anything is very unique (it hurts to even type it!

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 07 Oct 06 - 12:08 PM

Yes, Wendy: we use the phrase "raining like cats and dogs." I'm suprised that the animal activists haven't protested using it as suggesting cruelty to animals. Now, in the good old days in Egypt, it rained frogs. I wonder if they used that phrase: "Gadzooks, Lord, it raineth like unto frogs today!"

Speaking of old phrases, I found myself using "usen't" in something I was writing, yesterday. That must be my Dad channeling through me. "Usen't" was a contraction of used not, as in used not to be.
"Dasn't" was another word he used, which I suspect came from my Grandma Rasmussen. It sounds like a word she'd use all the time, because she was always telling people what they should do. "You dasn't do that. That must be a contraction of dast not. Who says dast, anymore? Sounds absolutely Shakespearean.

I bet Rapaire can clarify all this stuff for us.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 07 Oct 06 - 01:47 AM

Congratulations on the Handful of Songs! There's a stadium-ful of people waiting to hear it.

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: billybob
Date: 06 Oct 06 - 09:53 AM

Hi Jerry
I have pm'd my e mail address.
Well done with the CD, it must feel good to have it at last.
Hope the coffee is hot , it is raining cats and dogs here( do you use that phrase in America? I wonder where it came from...anyone know?)
Autumn is here at last, grey skies , wind blowing. The day trippers have stopped coming from London and we residents have the town to ourselves till next Easter.This is when I love living by the sea, you can walk the beach at low tide and be the only person for miles.
Also lovley sunsets this time of the year.
Wendy

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 05 Oct 06 - 09:52 PM

Kinda excited today. I received a final test pressing of the CD of Handful Of Songs. I recorded the album 17 years ago, and even Cecille B. DeMille could have gotten it out on CD faster than I did. The problem was that the company that recorded my record album went bankrupt and I was never able to get the master tapes back. Thanks to Dennis Cook, I had an unplayed lp remastered, and after all these years, I hold a CD in my hand. At this point, the only one. I'll start a thread on it when I have more copies in hand, but it sure feels good..

Hope all is well you you silent folks out there...

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 05 Oct 06 - 08:10 AM

Hey, Rap:

I know so many people who lost their Father or Mother early in their life and would give anything just to be able and sit at the kitchen table with them. I've been sharing my writings with two old friends, as well as with my family. One was a very close friend who went out to Oregon to college and settled there. I saw him once in his first year of college when he came back for his Father's funeral, but only for a handshake and a word of comfort at the funeral parlor. Ten years or so ago, he and his wife came out East for their daughter's graduation and stopped by to visit for a day. That's the only time I've been able to sit around the kitchen table and talk with him. He is not a correspondent, and never has been, so we've been relegated to exchanging Christmas cards with a two sentence letter. I've been e-mailing all that I've been writing, and after all these years, our friendship has rekindled in a marvelous way. The reason that I thought about him, reading your last post is that we both came to know the other's mother when we were well into adulthood. When I was living in Connecticut, he went back to our home town for another funeral and stopped up and visited with my parents. I have a photograph of him sitting on our front porch with a half-gray beard. My Mother talks warmly about him coming to visit, and under other circumstances I had a chance to get to know his Mother a little when she was in the Health Care Center where my Mother lives. She could barely get in and out of bed and was near the end of her days, but her mind was sharp. She had a wonderful sense of humor and a curiosity that I never noticed when I was a kid. We had a couple of long conversations and they weren't "remember when" talks. I didn't really remember much about her except that she was of Germanic stock, always had her hair in a tight bun and appeared mysteriously with something for us to eat or drink. As I wrote recently, when you're a kid, adults sometimes are not much more than vending machines. You don't have to insert a coin: just a polite word usually works. More often than not, unlike a vending machine, you find that you get want you want without even asking. Both my friend Earl Who Got Herbert and I are thankful that we got to know each other's mothers as adults. To us, they are people first, and mothers of a friend second.

My Father lived to be a month or so short of 94 yet in some ways, I didn't know him well. He was very bitter about his childhood and took offense at so many innocent actions in his life that he shut people out. But, in later years we became friends as well as father and son and I am thankful for that. We managed to set aside old battles and accept that there were things in each other that we couldn't understand, and just loved what we could in each other. There was more than enough of that.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Oct 06 - 11:20 PM

Jerry, I wish I'd known my father. He was killed in a construction accident when I was five. Other than the fact that he won WW2 singlehandedly, discovered antibiotics, built the pyramids by himself, invented the calculus and the guitar, and was the most fabulous actor and singer the world has ever known, I know little about him. My mother I knew far better, but she's been gone for a quarter century now.

And ya know, I'd love to sit down and have coffee or beer with them and just chat....

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 04 Oct 06 - 10:55 PM

Hey, Donuel:

The closest that I can come to your experience is that many years ago when I had cats, I'd have these terible dreams where I was being chased and couldn't run. My feet were glued to the floor. Then I'd wake up and discover that my feet were glued to the bed because my cats would be sleeping on them..

"I'm going to see my Mother
You know she died so long ago
What a blessed, sweet reunion
When I meet her on that shore"

From When I Get To Glory

I wrote that verse with my Mother very much in mind. Her Mother died when she was 13 and Mom says that her life was miserable after that. Her Father was bitter that his wife had been taken from him and it was as if he wasn't there. My Mother was the second youngest, and one of her older brothers was very mean to his sisters. He had a cruel streak in him which I didn't see until I was a teenager and saw how he treated strangers.

But, I suppose that it's true what they say: "Time wounds all Heals." And, "What goes around, comes around."

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ebbie
Date: 04 Oct 06 - 10:37 PM

Bless you and your mother, Jerry. I've been without internet for a few days until this evening and I was afraid I'd miss her passing. (In my part time job I have internet so when I had time I checked a couple of threads of the 'Cat)

Anyway I'm happy that she's still being herself. She's giving you lots of future stories about her eventual passing! Bless her heart.

By the way, I'm with you- I think she will be steeped in love and beauty the moment she steps foot, so to speak, on the other shore. I don't think of Death as the Enemy- it is a Gate.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Oct 06 - 10:22 PM

Hey Jerry, have you ever taken a nap at an unusual time while what is actually is going on around you is leaking into your dream?
Maybe it was a storm or a TV, music, conversation or conundrum you had been pondering but it is all combined and revealed to you in dream form. Free, boundless by time or needless encumbrence.

The memory of those dreams is so clear and perfect you could write them down effortlessly in near fractal infinity of detail.

Well I was having one of those when the college footbal game that was on TV at the time presented an unfortunate repetition of the name of the team Yellow Jackets. Yeah I got stung all over my legs and had to wake up.

But not before having all the details clear enough to paint, like the 125 ft stained glass sculpture of a man with a stained glass radio telescope on his back. Almost like Atlas but not bent over.
I wish I could show you the 3D art version, but alas my dear old website was murdered by parties unknown.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 04 Oct 06 - 09:47 PM

Hey, Wendy:

If you PM me with your e-mail address, I'll put you on my list of people I'm sharing what I'm writing, as I go along. It's too much to flood Mudcat with..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: billybob
Date: 04 Oct 06 - 07:43 PM

Hi Jerry
your Mom sounds terrific,hair done, going to bingo?!
If you lived in the UK at 100, and add that 9 months it is 100, she would get a birthday card from the Queen.
I cannot speak for Queen Elizabeth 2nd but good wishes from all of us in England to your Mom and you and your family, you give us so much joy with your postings about your family.Please write a book, I will buy the first copy.
Love to you all, Wendy.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Oct 06 - 07:34 PM

Don't count 'em out until they're out, Jerry. They'll surprise you every time.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 04 Oct 06 - 03:37 PM

My Mother was supposed to die, last Saturday: Sunday at the latest. When we talked to her last Thursday, her voice was garbled because she was on morphine to help her breathe. She'd been in bed for several days, too weak to get up and all she was talking about was going home to see her Mother. This weekend, we watied for a phone call: The phone call. Yesterday, my Sister Helen went over to see Mom. Mom was sitting up in her chair, dressed to the nines. Or at least 8's. She'd just had her hair done and was about to head off to play bingo. She told Helen to tell Ruth that she was heading out to see her boyfriend, Phil. She gets a big kick out of Ruth kidding her about Phil, and asking her is she is behaving. At one point in the conversation, Mom said to the woman who was in cleaning her carpet, "You might as well push me over the cliff," and Helen said, "It wouldn't do any good, you'd just climb back up again."

I heard that Vegas is refusing to give odds on when Mom is checking out for good. The first prediction was that she'd go a year ago at this time. She may well make it to 100, after all. Or, as Frankie said last night at Messenger's practice, "Your Mother's been alive for 100 years already." When I reminded him that her 100th birthday won't be until next June, he said "She was alive for nine months, before she was born, so She's been alive for 100 years." We both got a food laugh out of that one.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 02 Oct 06 - 09:17 PM

Ah yes, I remember it well... Louis Jordan sang it to Shirley McClaine, from what I remember.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 02 Oct 06 - 09:05 PM

Yes, that's an absolutely wonderful song--and particularly captivating with Maurice Chevalier's accent.

Subject: Lyr Add: I REMEMBER IT WELL (Lerner & Loewe)
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 02 Oct 06 - 08:50 PM

The of the best songs about the vagueries of memory was sung by Maurice Chevalier as Honore and Hermione Gingold as Mamita in "Gigi:"

I REMEMBER IT WELL
(Lyrics : Alan Jay Lerner / Frederick Loewe)

Honore: We met at nine
Mamita: We met at eight
Honore: I was on time
Mamita: No, you were late
Honore: Ah, yes, I remember it well

H: We dined with friends
M: We dined alone
H: A tenor sang
M: A baritone
H: Ah, yes, I remember it well

H: That dazzling April moon!
M: There was none that night
And the month was June
H: That's right. That's right.
M: It warms my heart to know that you
remember still the way you do
H: Ah, yes, I remember it well

H: How often I've thought of that Friday
M: Monday
H: night when we had our last rendezvous
And somehow I foolishly wondered if you might
By some chance be thinking of it too?
That carriage ride
M: You walked me home
H: You lost a glove
M: I lost a comb
H: Ah, yes, I remember it well

H: That brilliant sky
M: We had some rain
H: Those Russian songs
M: From sunny Spain
H: You wore a gown of gold
M: I was all in blue
H: Am I getting old?
M: Oh, no, not you
How strong you were
How young and gay
A prince of love
In every way
H: Ah, yes, I remember it well

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 02 Oct 06 - 10:30 AM

Thanks, Partridge:

I've been having a good time these days renewing old aquaintances with school buddies. The thing I find humorous is how radically different some of our memories are. I remember a hot dog joint in my home town as being dark and greasy inside. My friend remembers it as very well lit and not greasy. The same thing happens when we talk about experiences we had together. We each remember it with a slightly different twist. Sometimes, the twist is major. People put a lot of stock in memories. Probably too much. As the years go by, memories evolve and can become much more ornate. I know there are times when that happens with me. In the long run, memories are just our perception of how we remember things happened. Not necessarily how they actually happened. Sometimes our memories are a vast improvement over what actually happened.

An example:

A highschool buddy of mine had a banty rooster. My memory of how he got it is now 50 years old, and through the years has become quite elaborate. The way I remember him telling it, he was out in his front yard one summer afternoon, and when a car drove by, a banty rooster came flying out of the rear window, and came running toward his house. The man driving the car hopped out, and was chasing the rooster, and the rooster was running Hell Bent for Leather. At the same time, an unsuspecting squirrel was running across the yard, and even though the rooster was the pursued, he couldn't ignore the challenge of the squirrel and took off after the squirrel. As he came skidding around the corner, he almost ran into my friend Earl, who quickly grabbed him. When the man came around the corner, puffing like a steam engine and saw Earl, he asked for his rooster. Earl being a real slick talker managed to convince the man that what he really wanted to do was give the rooster to Earl. So, Earl kept the rooster, named it Herbert and when he went to college in Oregon the next fall, he threw it in on the deal when I bought Earl's Harley Davidson 125 for $90.00. That's the way I remember Earl telling me how it happened, over fifty years ago.

Here is what actually happened according to Earl, 2006: The rooster did indeed escape from a passing car, but it was a friend of Earl's who caught it. When he couldn't keep it, he gave it to Earl. Earl has no idea how the rooster got the name Herbert. There was hot pursuit of a squirrel, or any slick-talking done by Earl.

As I tell Earl, he remembers what happened (maybe.) I remember how it should have happened. I like my story a lot better. I even threw Herbert in a Cadillac when I wrote a song about him:

"He came a' riding in to town in a great big Cadillac
With the windows all rolled down, tied in a gunny sack
But the sack was for potatoes, and not for Herbert's kind
And with his spurs as sharp as razors, he cut the ties that bind.

So, where did the squirrel come in? When I owned Herbert he was one of the first "Free-range" chickens. Earl kept him tied up to a pole with a rope around one leg. I let Herbert have the run of the yard, and because it wasn't fenced in, he actually had the run of the neighborhood.

"When Herbert strolled the neighborhood, the squirrels stayed in their nest
The dogs all looked the other way, and the cats would genuflect
And the pigeons in my Dad's garage got up an barred the door
For those who messed with Herbert, were never seen no more."

Herbert did find squirrels to be a personal affront, and he made life Hell for the neighbor's cat. The cat made the mistake of stalking Herbert once, and when he punced for the attack, he found that he had a banty roosted on his back with spurs dug in as firmly as any rodeo cowboy. Herbert took the cat for a little ride, and it was the last time the cat came within a hundred yards of Herbert.

"And Herbert was the terror of the local countryside
Sometimes he'd flag the neighbor's cat. and he'd take him for a ride."

So you see, my memory of how Earl got Herbert was about 90% wrong, and yet in a way, it was Herbert. If Herbert HAD seen a squirrel in the yard, he would have abandoned any attempt to get away, and taken off after the squirrel. And if Earl had been the one to catch Herbert, he WOULD have smooth-talked the guy out of his rooster. For something that never happened, I got the story just right.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: GUEST,partridge
Date: 02 Oct 06 - 02:09 AM

Hi Jerry.
I'm thinking about you and your mum. Its hard living without a mum, mine died nine years ago and my dad died last november. I have loads of happy memories, but miss them sooooooooo.... much. But we must all go back home and if she is ready to go then more power to her elbow!
Happy thoughts Jerry,
love
Pat xx

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: JennyO
Date: 02 Oct 06 - 01:42 AM

Thinking of you and your Mom, Jerry. Whatever happens, she will go at the right time for her, and of course you know that she will not really be gone as long as she is in your heart. It's great that you had her for so long and I know it will feel right. You are truly blessed! Not everybody is so fortunate.

I may have mentioned this before - I can't remember - my mother died 14 years ago leaving behind a lot of bad feelings and a will that divided the family. I've only in the last few weeks spoken to a step-brother I had had no contact with in that time because of her actions, and there are others I will probably never see or speak to. It took many years and a lot of hard work on my part to let go of the bitterness and make my peace with her in my mind, so that I could move on with my own life. I've managed to do that now, but sometimes when I hear about other people's good relationships with their mothers, I get a twinge of longing, wishing it could have been more like that with my mother. I'm sure the experience has made me stronger though, so I can see a positive side to it.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Oct 06 - 11:01 PM

Jerry, as Pogo said, "Life ain't noways permanent." So all we can do is do what we can in the impermanence we have left. If that's making music and a joyous sound unto, great! If it's building houses or cleaning drains or just being who you are, great!

The ancient Egyptians believed that you would be judged by three gods, and your fate depended upon...well, they weighed the good in your heart against a feather. If the good was heavier, you were In Like Flynn. If, on the other hand, the feather tipped the scales it was the darkness. Consider how many people, then and today, would be outweighed by a feather...and then consider the parable of the pharisee and the publican in the Temple, or the story of the widow's mite.

Somehow I can't believe that your mother, or any decent mother, would go spinning down into perdition. Nope, she'll be there waiting, a big plate of your favorite cookies in hand.

Enjoy her while you got her. Mine's been gone a quarter century now...and we miss her terribly.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 01 Oct 06 - 08:19 PM

I was sitting here tonight lost in thought and prayer, when the phone rang. It was my Mother. She can't see well enough, and doesn't have the strength to dial the phone now, but a real angel friend of hers who has always been there to help her came in to visit and my Mother asked her to dial my number. Mom's voice was a little garbled at times, because she is on morphine: not th kill the pain, as she has none, but to help her breath. We talked at some lenght, and she told me how much she loves receiving the reminiscences that I am mailing her. She can't read them, but her friend Bess stops in every evening and reads my letters to her, and they have a prayer time. I wanted to make sure that she chad a chance to talk with Ruth, because they were Mother and daughter the moment they met nine years ago. Ruth's Mother had been dead for several years before I met her, but the moment she met Mom, she knew she had a Mother again. And my Mother knew that she had another daughter. Forget the "in-law." Every time we talk to Mom, we realize that it may be the last time, so every minute is precious. Mom may hang in there and stick around a while longer, or she may be gone by morning, as the Hospice nurse thinks. Whatever happens, it was such a blessing, talking with her tonight.

And speaking of blessings, Mudcat has been a wonderful one for me these days. I am especially thankful for my Catter friend who has so kindly encouraged and guided me in writing down my families memories. They have been such a joy to my whole family and I will never forget the gift of encouragement I have received.

We never know with Mom. She may fool everyone and stay a while longer, but she is too weak to feed herself, can't see well enough to read or watch television any more and I believe she has far more joy before her than she has these days.

Mudcat is often maligned for the mean-spiritedness and petty squabbles that sometimes poison the air. But Mudcat has it's beauty, too. I appreciate all of you who are a part of that beauty.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 01 Oct 06 - 06:46 PM

Thoughts and prayers for you, your mother and your family, Jerry. May you receive as much comfort and light as you give.

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 01 Oct 06 - 05:18 PM

I spoke to both of my sisters today. They live in the same town as my Mother, and my Mother has had another relapse. Hospice is there with her, and one of my sisters has spent time with her every day this week. She just talks about wanting to go home to see her Mother and her brothers and sisters: all of whom have gone on before her. My oldest sister, who was rleased from the hospital Thursday after being in there for a month and a half, undergoing a colostomy and weeks of painful physical therapy was able to spend some time with my Mother this afternoon. Her daughter got her in the car and took her up to the hospital. It was the first time she'd seen my mother in almost two months, and they were overjoyed to be together, even if ony briefly.

The hospice nurse told my youngest sister that Mom will go tonight, or tomorrow at the latest. That might be the case, and we are all preparing for the time as best we can. These last few weeks, I've been writing our family history, some of which I've included here at the kitchen table. It's been a wonderful balm for all of us, and I have another batch to mail off, tomorrow. So, Mom might slip away tonight or tomorrow. Or maybe not. She is very week and hasn't been eating, and she is looking forward to going home.

In the meantime, she asked for a ham and cheese omelet this afternoon and ate almost the whole thing. We all hot a great laugh out of that because none of us can ever remember eating a ham and cheese omelet. If it was her last supper, she's going out as feisty
as she's lived these 99 years.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 30 Sep 06 - 03:31 PM

I dunno, Ron:

Looks to me like we'll have no trouble coming up with posts that match years until we hit 2008..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 30 Sep 06 - 11:12 AM

Never expected to do this--but   MAGNA CARTA!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 30 Sep 06 - 07:00 AM

Hey, Carly:

Good to see you. I think the Charlie Horse term was pretty universal. It certainly was in the Midwest. Leg cramps in the calves are even more common as you get older, as we all seem to do. They call it the "restless Leg" syndrome. "Oh the restless leg, is a wearisome leg." If I don't get my walking in and stretch my calf muscles consistently, I get them during the night. I'll have to try the upper lip pinch sometime, out of curiosity. For me, all it takes is walking on a regular basis. The body is an amazing creation, though. I've outlasted several Pintos, a couple of Nissans and a Toyota, and spent a lot less time in the shop.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ebbie
Date: 29 Sep 06 - 11:09 PM

Charley Horse is the term I learned also. But Carly, this is the first time I connected in my mind *calf* spasm with charley *horse*. Where did that come from? lol

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Carly
Date: 29 Sep 06 - 04:21 PM

The year I was was almost done in by a type A strep infection, I spent months on heavy-duty antibiotics and other drugs, some of which had bizarre and frightening side effects. Fortunately, when I stopped taking the drugs, the side effects mostly went away. As those drugs undoubtedly saved my life, I can't complain. I hope your hearing improves, Rapaire, now that you are off the medicine.

I don't know why, but in my family we called a calf muscle cramp a Charlie Horse, a silly name for such a terrible thing to awaken you in the night. Years ago I was taught an accupuncture technique to deal with them; when the muscle spasms, grab your upper lip with your thumb and forefinger just below your nose and pinch as hard as you can without damaging yourself. For about eight seconds nothing will happen, except that you feel like an idiot, and then the cramp will relax. Sometimes you have to hold on for a minute more, or the cramp starts to return. When you feel the cramp is gone, do a little stretching or walking on that leg, to minimize stiffness later.I hope this helps; it works for us.

Carly

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 29 Sep 06 - 01:56 PM

I started posting something I wrote this morning on this thread, and then decided it should be in a thread of its own. It's up in the music section: My First Portable Radio. Maybe you can stop by up there (or down here,) and share your experiences..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ebbie
Date: 29 Sep 06 - 11:01 AM

In the 70s, when I was diagnosed and being treated for lupus, in addition to other MAJOR drugs I was put on a regimen of aspirin popping. I was to increase the dosage by one a day - when my ears would ring I was to not increase it for that day but not reduce the number I was taking already.

This happened a lot. The high whine in my ears felt like a jet winding up to take off- only this was my *head* ready to go. It was scary- and would've been even scarier if my thinking processes hadn't been scrambled by the other medications.

It all eventually went away, Rapaire, and I hope the same for you.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Sep 06 - 09:20 AM

Well, the tinnitus is stopped or considerably lessened in the right ear. I hope it leaves the left soon, for I'm off to the Grand Teton National Park this weekend and I'd like to hear the Fall birds.

One result of all this is that we're bringing in the University audiology students to the library to do free hearing screening on people 12 and under and 60 and over. The folks at the U were thrilled with the idea of getting practice (under observation) and helping the community at the same time. We're looking at Fall and Winter screenings.

The other thing is that we're going to be working with the U's pharmacology program to inform Senior Citizens about drugs, drug interactions, adverse effects, etc. This is part of a new effort on our part to act as an information center for Seniors -- we don't have to know anything except where to point people to get help.

Might as well turn a personal problem into good for the community. Won't help to carry on and scream and yell about it anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 29 Sep 06 - 01:15 AM

Heya folks,

Been away from my own kitchen table, chasing wabbits, wainbows and work.

Elmer Fudd hasn't gotten his number yet, Jerry, so I doubt he's gonna get yours. 1935 is safe and sound.

So sorry about your hearing, Rap. That's tragic news. Hate it when drugs turn out to have nasty side effects along the lines of, "The operation was a success but the patient...."

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ebbie
Date: 29 Sep 06 - 12:53 AM

Hey, Jerry- that's MY year too! Incidentally, have you noticed how far up 1935 is when you're scrolling computer dates? Humph.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 29 Sep 06 - 12:04 AM

Yeah, Ron:

People can have all the major even numbers. I've got dibs on 1935 though... the year that I was born. If I can just keep that Wascally Elmer Fudd from taking it.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 28 Sep 06 - 11:46 PM

Hi Jerry and everybody else--I have a resolution of the great Home Depot Stove Removal Crisis. But I don't have time to tell the story now--getting a lot of pressure to go upstairs.

The coffee seems to be perking right along here--already into the 1200's--Magna Carta soon--1215. All these numbers remind me of events now. And will for quite a while.

Anybody else feel that way?

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 28 Sep 06 - 09:42 AM

Yeah... that has to hurt, Rap:

I was talking with a friend last night who's wife's siter has a dangerous, rare health problem. As often happens in medical problems, there is a trade-off in using medicine. A drug that helps reduce the sypmtoms or even reverse the disease often has seriously detrimental side-effects. I'm not talking about hang-nail medication that causes hemmahroids... medication to attack a serious, life-threatening disease that cause serious, sometimes life-threatening side effects. Steroids are a wonder drug that have serious side-effects if used over an extended period of time. And yet, taking them for a week completely healed my hip, so I'm grateful for them. I still couldn't hit home runs to save my soul, though.

Loudness is something that is hard to escape in our society. I'm afraid that as more and more people destroy their hearing everyone will be screaming at each other in a "quiet" conversation if this keeps up.

I'd look up hemmahrhoids to get the correct spelling, but I don't find myself using the term regularly in letters. :-)

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Sep 06 - 09:03 AM

I think what hurts is that I wear hearing protection when I cut the grass, blow snow, shoot targets. I keep the sound down on the music playing machines and the radio.

And then I get blindsided by medicine....

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 28 Sep 06 - 07:50 AM

Hey, Terry:

You are about the only one who drops by this kitchen table that I've had the pleasure to welcome to our actual kitchen table (or at least kitchen) and Frankie of the Gospel Messenger's home, too. I know others do drop by a take a chair in the corner, but don't join in the conversation. I talked with Jimmyt last night and he and his wife Jayne are hoping to get over your way and maybe sit around someone's kitchen table up in your neck of the woods a couple of months from now. I'ts a rare treat to meet a Catter. Especially those we all enjoy so much.

Don't be s stranger, you hear?

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: GUEST,IBO
Date: 28 Sep 06 - 06:53 AM

I JUST BOUGHT A TABLE,ALL I NEED NOW IS A KITCHEN

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Leadfingers
Date: 28 Sep 06 - 04:48 AM

Just thought I would pop in to say "Hi!" and try for 1200

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 28 Sep 06 - 02:10 AM

There's no getting away from me this time, ya dumb bunny.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 28 Sep 06 - 02:09 AM

Prepare to meet your doom, you wascally wabbit!

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: JennyO
Date: 28 Sep 06 - 12:38 AM

Thanks for the birthday wishes Rapaire, and good luck with the new medication. I get night-time leg cramps from time to time, and what makes mine go away is Magnesium tablets. It's only when I've been forgetting them that the cramps start to reappear, and once I start taking them again, the cramps go away. Horrible things to wake up with!

I suspect Jerry might be right about pop-deafness being widespread. I know I had my fair share of loud concerts in the 60's and later. I've noticed that even at folk festivals, the volume is unnecessarily high in the big marquees, so that even when they are placed well apart, the sound bleeds from one to another. Not good. Requests to the organisers of these festivals to address the problem seems to fall on deaf ears (so to speak). Everyone these days seems to equate loud with good. Is this a sign that I'm an old fart?

None of that stuff at my folk club (North By Northwest) and my friend Sandra's folk club (The Loaded Dog). We have two of the best venues in Sydney with marvellous acoustics, and not an amp or microphone in sight.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 27 Sep 06 - 11:12 PM

Hey, Rap:

Night-time leg cramps are pretty common. What I've discovered for myself is that when I walk regularly, and stretch my calf muscles, the cramps disappear. When I hurt my hip a couple of weeks ago, I went a week when we couldn't take our morning walk, and the leg cramps that disappeared ever since we started walking regularly several months ago came back with a vengeance. All it took (for me) was getting back to walking the last two mornings, and they're all gone.

I have the feeling that in twenty years 90% of the population of the U.S. will be legally deaf, having destroyed their hearing by listening to EVERYTHING to loud... not just Rap, Rock and Hip Hop music, but movie soundtracks in theaters, and even the music in some churches. I keep meaning to do a run of stickers that would say "God is not hard of hearing" and unobtrusively put them on all the keyboards that are played in black churches (and the amplifiers for guitars) and the drums.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Rapparee
Date: 27 Sep 06 - 10:53 PM

Happy B-day, Jennie-O.

Nice thoughts are welcomed....

For quite some time I suffered from cramps in the legs when I was asleep, sometimes so bad I had to walk and walk to work them out. Several medicines were tried to no avail (including some of the very new ones). Finally, the doc tried quinine sulfate and it worked!

For nearly a year now I've been cramp-free.

Last October I had a hearing screening done, and it was recommended that I have a full hearing evaluation. A couple of weeks ago I had that done.

Apparently quinine is ototoxic -- it can kill the cililia in your middle ear and caused hearing loss in high registers (over 2,000 db). This has apparently happened to me. I have nearly constant tinnitus ("ringing" in the ears) and have been asking my wife to repeat things.

Years ago a grenade simulator went off about a meter to my left and left me with a 10% hearing loss in my left ear. It was no matter then. Now I may need hearing aids.

I'm trying a new medicine, starting tonight. Sometimes, a few times, ototoxic hearing loss can be reversed (although it is uncommon where quinine is involved).

Well, I'd rather hear than not. But the news has been hard to take.

Don't take chances with your hearing. Wear hearing protectors when you use lawn mowers or anything with a small engine, if you shoot or are around shooting, at rock concerts. Keep your MP3 player turned DOWN, and likewise when you play recordings. And watch the medicines....

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: JennyO
Date: 27 Sep 06 - 10:16 PM

Hello, thought I'd just drop in here and say hello, and maybe have a little birthday drink to start the day (although it's lunchtime here already).

Before I went to bed last night I was watching TCM, the old movie channel, and caught most of an old Marx Brothers movie, The Big Store. You know, they just don't make movies like that any more - it was a lot of fun.

On Sunday night, Fox Classics has two Pink Panther movies in a row - the original Pink Panther and The Pink Panther Strikes Again, which I think is the best Pink Panther movie of them all. I'm looking forward to it! I'm a grest fan of Peter Sellers. Now all I need to make it even better is The Party (probably my favourite movie of all time) and I Love You Alice B Toklas.

There are certain actors who I will watch in just about any movie they make - as well as Peter Sellers - Jack Nicholson and Robin Williams come to mind.

GUEST, IBO, how sad that you don't have a kitchen table. As Jerry said, come and share this one. It's very friendly!

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 27 Sep 06 - 08:21 PM

I had a bowl of Neopolitan ice cream tonight. Talk about de ja vu.
I haven't had Neopolitan ice cream in fifty years, I bet. For our friends over the seas, Neopolitan ice cream is one third vanilla, one third chocolate and one third strawberry, in distinct thirds. I associate it with the forties and fifties over here, along with Honeymoon Logs. (Anybody remember Honeymoon Logs?)

A couple of days ago, they had a "Buy one, get one free" on ice cream, and the Neopolitan half gallon was in the row with vanilla. I didn't notice it until I went to get some ice cream tonight. At first I was very disappointed. I was all set to have vanilla ice cream/ peanut butter swirl. Somehow, making it with Neopolitan ice cream didn't sound very appetizing. Just as well. I actually enjoyed the stuff..

I also noticed that you can still by Fels Naptha. Wrapper suitable for framing.

Jerry