Friday, January 27, 2006, 20:42
Highly Unusual
This is weird.
Yesterday (Thursday) the high temperature was 50 degrees. Today the high temperature is 50 degrees again.
In January.
In Wisconsin.
At this time of year, we can expect 50 degree below zero windchills. But not a straight air temperature of 50 degrees.
And it is windy, too. Out of the south. With lots of sunshine.
Last night when I let our Springer Spaniel, Charlie, out and then went down to the barn to give the horses hay and to check their water, I could hardly believe my eyes when I came out of the barn.
Charlie was sitting near the barn door with "something" in his mouth. I bent closer to see what it was.
He had caught a pocket gopher.
What in the world was a pocket gopher doing above ground in January? At this time of year, the pocket gophers are usually far below ground, in their dens and tunnels, trying to keep from freezing to death.The pocket gopher would have had to have been above ground for Charlie to find it. The dog did not have time to dig up a gopher tunnel. And besides, the ground is too frozen for Charlie to dig up a tunnel.
If I am lucky, Charlie caught the pocket gopher that was eating my carrots last fall, although of course, I have no way of knowing if that was the one or not.
Another strange thing is that the horses have started to shed their winter coats. Usually they do not start shedding until later in February. With horses, I have noticed, shedding is a gradual process. They will begin with just a few hairs, and as the weather grows warmer, they shed faster. But even just the preliminary few hairs usually does not start until the middle to later part of February. And yet, the horses are beginning to shed now in January.
I can't help wondering what the spring and summer will be like. It is possible that the high temperature will still only be 50 degrees in June. It has happened before.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Thursday, January 26, 2006, 20:26
With a Grain of Salt. . .
I always wonder if the 'experts' who appear on the morning shows (The Today Show; Good Morning America; CBS Morning Show) have any idea that they frequently sound stupid to perhaps half the people who are listening to them.
Consider the other morning, for example. According to one 'expert,' dentists all over the country are extremely worried because people are drinking so much bottled water, and, therefore, are not getting enough fluoride from drinking tap water.
"It is easy to drink fluoridated tap water," the expert said. "Everyone can just turn on their tap and drink fluoridated water."
Really?
Everyone?
What about those people who drink well water and are not hooked into a municipal water system that fluoridates the water supply?
I don't know about people who live out in the country in other parts of the United States, but around here, we do not install systems to fluoridate our well water. Sometimes people will give fluoride tablets to their children to prevent tooth decay, and the school districts will also give fluoride tablets to rural children, but from what I've read, fluoride tablets might not be such a good idea, either. I have read that fluoride can depress thyroid activity and that doctors used fluoride up until the 1950s to treat thyroid conditions.
Whether the claims about the dangers of fluoride are true or not, I cannot say for certain because I am not a research scientist who has investigated fluoride. What I can say for certain is that if you do a Google search for "fluoride" and "thyroid" more than 300,000 references come up. And when you start to read through the web page descriptions, you see that many of the websites are questioning the safety and efficacy of using fluoride either by tablet or in the drinking water.
In regard to the issue of drinking tap water for the fluoride, the expert on television went on to say that many people are afraid to drink their tap water because of contaminants.
Really?
Isn't that why municipalities go to great pains to test their water? To make sure the water is free from contaminants? Isn't that why there are so many regulations concerning the testing done on municipal water to make sure that it is safe to drink?
Be that as it may, the expert hastened to assure everyone that the bottled water companies were coming to the rescue and would soon sell BOTTLED WATER THAT CONTAINS FLUORIDE.
Ah-hah!
Now we come to the real crux of the matter.
It isn't that dentists fear for our teeth and general dental health because so many people drink unfluoridated bottled water.
It isn't that municipal water systems contain contaminants.
It's that the bottled water companies want to create a market to sell more bottled water.
So now I wonder, how long did it take the publicist (hired by the bottled water companies, of course) to talk the producers of the morning news show into airing the segment?
It all makes me rather sick to my stomach. No one cares about my teeth. It's just that the bottled water company wants to sell more bottled water.
Then again, it serves as an excellent reminder.
When you see or hear something on television, or read about it in a newspaper or magazine, always ask yourself -- whose agenda is this?
And once you figure out who stands to profit by a certain train of thought or a certain opinion or a certain piece of "news" -- you are just that much closer to the truth.
LeAnn R. Ralph