The return
-
I started this blog as an unofficial vehicle for interesting statistical
information. When I retired, I let it lie fallow. I'm going to post here
period...
Gender Wage Gap By State - Census Bureau
-
If you need a reason to start a business, the gender wage gap may be a
factor. The Census has created a new visualization of the disparity between
male ...
It takes a lot of practice
-
A friend asked: “If you had the chance to ask three different people
(living or dead, famous or not) ONE question… who and what would you ask?”
The one req...
Faded road markings cause concern
-
Q: Can someone at New York state tell me why the DOT doesn’t use a better
reflective paint when the lines are painted? It appears the paint used has
no ref...
Goodbye but NOT farewell
-
Using the words which Roger used in his intro for the last post of round
20--- Z
*With joy, we'll dream away each sorrow, With love we'll live for each...
Alan Moore's Twilight Proposal
-
Introduction by Alan David Doane:
Honestly I didn't intend the irony, but this week's FMF, looking at Alan
Moore's never-published Twilight proposal, also ...
Empowered Minds: Celebrating Women in Research
-
SUNY Researchers Making an Impact Here at SUNY, we have no shortage of
women who have made a mark on our world. Throughout Women’s History Month,
we’ve had...
The Best Films of 2023
-
Martin Scorsese, left, Lily Gladstone, and Robert DeNiro all received Oscar
nods for *Killers of the Flower Moon*. Some say Leo DiCaprio, right, was
snubbe...
Getting Ready To Die
-
Getting Ready To DieNo, as far as I know, it’s not imminent, but you never
know. An awful lot of people are checking out in the seventh decade that I
just ...
Petitioning season cut short
-
Political "petitioning season" for U.S. Congress, NYS Assembly, NYS Senate,
and a host of other positions, was cut short. Like all the other things
that...
Eagle Scout Project
-
Rutherford neighbor Krish Soni is getting started on his Eagle Scout
project on Saturday, October 26. He will be labeling storm drains in the
neighborhood ...
We’re Off On An Adventure!
-
Just now, Marge and I are doing a bit of adventuring. The next adventure
will include a whole new online reality and presence for me and my work…
See you i...
It Changes
-
Living with Lupus and Fibro and Asthma is often not so much 'one day at a
time.' It is much more like one fifteen minute segment of time - at at time.
This...
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye…
-
Well, kids, this is it. I’m leaving first thing tomorrow morning. My visits
home will be few and far between, and when they happen, they’ll be
exclusive...
Spring is here?
-
As far as the pro peloton goes, it’s on! I watched the Tour of Flanders
today, and it was one of the best races I’ve ever seen. “Looking back, you
get a b...
Modern Types-Ronald Searle,Geoffrey Gorer
-
With the recent attention given to Ronald Searle's 90th birthday and new
interview,I decided to look at one of his books.
The book is titled Modern Ty...
AmeriNZ Podcast episode 413 is now available
-
AmeriNZ Podcast episode 413, “Eighteenth season”, is finally *available
from the podcast website*. There, you can listen, download or subscribe to
the po...
AmeriNZ 413 – Eighteenth season
-
This episode has been so very long delayed! I was busy with a lot of little
things, and I still am, so this episode isn’t edited. I start with what I
did r...
Bedfordshire, the hay, and the sack
-
Inspired by Anatoly Liberman's *Take My Word for It: A Dictionary of
English Idioms* (which I've reviewed for the *International Journal of
Lexicography*...
March Photo Challenge: Eleven
-
Welp, I missed last month’s photo challenge due to our winter vacation from
February 22-March 2, and came down with the flu in record time on March
3rd, wh...
1, 2, 3, 4: You Can Count On It
-
Up the stairs, count the steps1, 2, 3, 41, 2, 3, 41, 2, 3…Crap, it didn’t
come out even, it’s eleven But 1-2-3-4-1/ 2 /3-4-1-2-3 will have to do; the
middl...
Here we are at 21.
-
Happy 21st birthday, Johnny Bacardi Show!
Probably won't begin writing here again anytime soon, but hey, if you like
my stuff I have a Substack now and...
Check me out!
-
Over the years I have collected a range of recipes to help me lose weight.
I attend Slimming World and achieved my target weight in November 2022.
Read...
This is The End (a follow-up)
-
I wrote yesterday about my possibly retiring this space in favor of
migrating all of my blogging to ForgottenStars.net, because of Reasons. I
am now pul...
A Dumb God
-
People who believe in God but don’t believe that creation is teleologically
imbued essentially believe in a dumb God, likely a God who merely exists to
ser...
18 and life, you got it
-
It's the 18th of April, and that means it's the anniversary of Mia's
accident - 18 (!!!!) years ago today, we were in the crash that damaged her
brain ir...
Sunday Round-up
-
Wash your mouth out
In these ultra-hygienic days, Russian artist Yulia Popova has come into her
own by making models of foodstuffs out of soap. What makes y...
I believe ..Religion
-
Written by the Rev.Jeannette van der Veen-Bosgra
I believe in a world where all people can live in happiness,
and that I too have a duty to create such a wo...
Tough Day
-
A few weeks ago, I turned 38, and I am still under the scrutiny of
strangers in public. One would think that once you're out of grade school,
middle school...
Change
-
Group Reading “The only thing we have in this world that is utterly and
intrinsically ours is our integrity.” ~ Mira Grant One- to find the
universal eleme...
Retro Y'all!
-
Still jumping. In place, mostly. Someone should do one of these rap battle
style brags about being a junker. Seriously. Big sale at the Peddlers Mall
today.
X is for XMAS
-
*MERRY CHRISTMAS (XMAS) EVERYONE!*
I thought I'd put a link to the top 100 Xmas songs for 2017 so you could
click on it and play anything your heart d...
The Myth Memers
-
One of those little questionnaires just to dip a toe back into blogging.
Took this from Chris Hull's Facebook.
1. Do you make your bed? No.
2. The first c...
Now available in paperback!
-
*Sharp: A Memoir*. William Morrow & Co, 2012. Print.
We lost 4 members of the Guilford High School Class of 84: David Ciardello,
Richard Eaton, Ronnie Burn...
No parallel
-
Get a good look at these: Whence they came: After seeing that incredible
glow-in-the-dark Zac Posen dress that Claire Danes wore at the 2016 Met
Gala, Lori...
ABC Wednesday: The Importance of Being Bored
-
When I was growing up, you being bored was your problem that you were
responsible to rectify. As children we learned never to be bored- or at
least not t...
Monday PSA: The Pioneer of the Pole
-
Click on the image for the full ad As promised, the second of two
Antarctica themed PSAs. Today: “Pioneer of the Pole.” Just like last week,
this is from D...
Final Act
-
Dear Followers of Berowne's "Savage Reflections." I'm very sorry to have to
inform you that my father, John Savage, passed away on December 26, just a
week...
Friday Post - Your services are no longer needed
-
Heads will roll
While the good news fairies of Wall Street would have you believe that
everything is just hunky dory the truth is it's not. In order to m...
Age is a State of Mind, Somewhere Near Nebraska
-
What a year it has been! After surviving the odometer rolling over to 40, I
had a year of sabbatical. That gave me plenty of time to think about my mid-lif...
The End of a Long Day
-
You know those days where all you really want to do is change into your
pajamas and curl up on the couch while you decide which comfort food would
mak...
#Freaking Out -AND!
-
Calmly completely freaking out about my move. AND! I quit smoking. I feel
this qualifies me to have an opinion on how to do it.
So I am calmly completel...
Gaze Upon My Works and Snicker, Part 53.
-
[image: DP700-F365028]
Another quickie sketch at work, because I wanted to draw Pandora A in a
white fuzzy hat (no, I don't know the name for them) and a b...
Superheroes I Love #10: Deathlok
-
Every red-blooded boy loves cyborgs. Half-man, half-robot, what’s not to
love? The Marvel Comics character Deathlok is a bit on the obscure side,
but debut...
The Stand In
-
“Beijing, 1986. I really (really) wanted a dog as a kid, but we moved
around a lot. After a particularly weepy episode, this was the next best
thing my p...
Episode 326: The WGA Strike
-
One by one, Ken goes over the many issues the WGA is fighting for and why
they’re important. He also gives an overview of the situation and how it
might...
The dopamine jail of joke Twitter
-
I’m home from vacation and the Planet Funny promotional engine is slowing
down. (There’s still one last signing at Powell’s City of Books in two
short week...
Rex Smith: Free speech, pulpit speech and tax laws
-
Each school day when I was a little boy began with the Pledge of
Allegiance, followed by all the students bowing their heads to recite the
Lord’s Prayer. T...
Mixed Results for The Rules
-
Well that was an “interesting” Emmy Awards. There were enough surprises to
make the alteration of the voting rules to a single round plurality rather
than ...
Mom Has Stacked Dinner Party Roster
-
GOLDEN, CO—Their eyes widening in amazement as the 43-year-old rattled off
the names of heavy hitter after heavy hitter, impressed members of the
Dreesh...
Week 17 NFL Picks
-
Last week’s 10 wins leaves me with 153 wins. Weak season. Sorry. Week 17
picks NFL Picks Away Home Chicago Detroit NY Jets Buffalo Tampa Bay Atlanta
Caroli...
Coverville Countdown 2012: Nominations Begin NOW!
-
It’s that time of year again! Time for you to nominate and vote for your
favorite covers, and for me to spend the last few shows of the year to line
them...
Obama’s speech coverage on NPR
-
What were the people at NPR thinking? The coverage of President Obama’s
speech on National Public Radio on Wednesday was just awful. I’ve never
minded anal...
2PP132 – 16 May 2020
-
This episode was delayed, yet again, because Arthur didn’t have enough
time. Anyway, here we are—were? Today’s chat was about the changes to New
Zealand’s ...
My New Venture: Top Flight Family
-
You may have noticed that you haven’t heard much from me lately. That’s
because I’ve been quietly working on new passion of mine, a digital media
startup o...
First blog post
-
This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it,
or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you
started t...
10.29.15 GOOGLE UBER ALLES
-
This article originally appeared in the 10.29.15 issue of Metroland.
You may have heard that the New York federal appeals court granted Google a
big win ...
This Is Not A Joke
-
A new ball game - with tasers. Hat-tip : The Volokh Conspiracy According to
The Daily Caller, Eric Prum, one of the founders of Ultimate Tak Ball,
said, “I...
This page rank checking tool is powered by Page Rank Checker service
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Bats in the belfry
The first time we saw a bat in the house (I’m talking the mammal variety, not the sports variety) was in June 2002. I woke up about 3 a.m. for no particular reason. It must have been a moonlit night, because, although there were no lights on in the house, I could just make out something in the corner of the room. "Carol!" I whispered insistently. "There’s a bat in the room!" I pointed to the general direction of the critter’s location. She replied, "OK." O.K.? "Leave it alone and it’ll leave us alone." Carol grew up in a very small, nearly rural, area, and that was the credo: leave animals alone and it will generally reciprocate. Well, swell, but how do I sleep now, knowing that there’s a beast only a few yards away? About ten minutes later, the bat suddenly swooped down towards us. We put the covers over our heads, ran out of the room, and closed the door behind us. I went onto the computer and came to the site of the Monroe County Health Department in Rochester. The site says: "If it is certain the bat did not have contact with a person or pet, the bat can be allowed to leave through an open window." Well, we weren’t exposed, so that’s good. We went to sleep in the guest room, with the door closed, after thorough examination of the corners. The next morning (oh, two hours later), I ran into our bedroom, opened the window, ran out, and closed the door. A while later, I opened the door and didn’t see the bat. But my wife wanted to be sure, so she called a bat removal guy. He came over in a few hours, checked around, and didn’t find a bat. But he was obliged to contact the Albany County Health Department and tell them about possible rabies exposure. Since we were asleep when the bat arrived, there was no way to KNOW that we were not exposed, and since the bat had escaped, the creature couldn’t be tested. Two people in Albany County died of rabies from bats in the previous 5 or 6 years. That meant one thing: RABIES SHOTS. Carol was planning to go to Ukraine for a week of teaching within the week. The bat guy said, "Oh, you’re not going ANYWHERE," which was greatly disappointing to her. The good news about rabies shots is that they no longer shoot long needles into your stomach. The bad news about rabies shots is that they still use long needles, and they leave them in until all of the serum is out. Worse, the heavier you are, the more needles you get. So, we go to the county health department to get these shots. I got four of them. First, two nurses gave me simultaneous shots in the front of of my thighs. Involuntarily, I started humming as the needles s-l-o-w-l-y discharged the serum. Then, two shots in the back of my thighs. Pain. Humming. Then, we needed booster shots the 3rd, 7th, 14th, and 28th days after. These are traditional shots in the arm. The head of the Health Department wrote a letter explaining to whomever that Carol would be carrying serum halfway across the world. Would the airlines be OK with Carol carrying a needle in her carry-on luggage? Her flights were from Albany to Toronto, then Toronto to Vienna on Air Canada, then Vienna to Dnipropetrovs'k on the Austrian line. (Yes, she had to fly west to go east.) We called Air Canada to tell them the situation, but we never got the assurances we were really seeking. On the third day, we had arranged to have our then-neighbor, who was a doctor coming home from Albany Medical Center’s night shift, to give Carol her first booster shot. Her second dosage was in a bag filled with dry ice in her carry-on bag. No problems in Canada or Austria. When she gets to Ukraine, the Customs personnel want to know EVERYTHING she’s carrying in, including her wedding ring, and its value. Apparently, they don’t want a lot of wealth entering and not leaving the country, or for much wealth to leave the country. When Carol declared about her medicine, though, the guy said, "Never mind," because it would be too much of a hassle to deal with, and he failed to write it down. So, the tour people arranged for a Ukrainian doctor to get her shot on the 7th day, and she was home for the last two boosters. Of course, I got all of my boosters at the Health department in Albany. I was telling this story to a friend of mine, about thinking I was not exposed when health officials would determine that I might have been, when I was interrupted. "Oh, yeah, my sister went through the Same Thing." Boy, I wish I had known that before! In June of 2003, I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. On the first floor of our house, the chimney is in the center, adjacent to the living room and dining room. I look down and see a bat flying round and round our chimney. I go back to bed, with the door closed. Carol is awake, and I tell her what I saw. I don’t know if either of us went back to sleep. In the morning, we called the bat removal guy, who looked for the animal, and FOUND it in the window on the landing between the first and second floor. He took it to be tested, and it was negative for rabies. In June of 2004, Carol was coming downstairs from the first floor to the basement with a load of laundry in her arms when a bat decided to fly up the stairs. She nearly was face to face with the creature. I don’t know that we ever found that beast. Next month, batproofing is supposed to begin, patching very small holes under the roof where bats can squeeze in. One can’t do it TOO early, lest the bats get stuck in the house all winter, and we get to see them again next spring.
2 comments:
Anonymous
said...
why would you have to get rabies shots when you were not even bitten? we are exposed to rabbits and squirrels in the woods but we do not get rabie shots, I thought if your were bit that is the only time to get rabie shots.
The procedure, at least here, is that if you don't know whether you've been bitten (and it is possible, I'm told, that one can be bitten without knowing it), and if you can't test the animal, then the procedure is to get the shots.
2 comments:
why would you have to get rabies shots when you were not even bitten? we are exposed to rabbits and squirrels in the woods but we do not get rabie shots, I thought if your were bit that is the only time to get rabie shots.
The procedure, at least here, is that if you don't know whether you've been bitten (and it is possible, I'm told, that one can be bitten without knowing it), and if you can't test the animal, then the procedure is to get the shots.
Post a Comment