Saturday, April 16, 2011

Spring? HA!

Yes, I am better now...sort of. I still have a bit of vertigo, but it appears to be going away. I also am now officially OLD. I have a medicare card and two brand spanking new hearing aids! AMAZING what you can hear again. I have heard the birds in the morning but I had forgotten about the higher tones that some of the early morning birds produce. I have acute hearing loss in the higher ranges in both ears. When I put the hearing aids in it was like fine tuning a radio station that is just a TAD BIT off the station. The ess'es are clearer, the TEE's are more like tees than dees. and I am not yelling into the phone anymore. Did not know I did. Wonderful inventions these little bitty things. Spendy though. Shudder! I heard the Spring Robin singing his little heart out this morning from the top of the cedar tree in the neighbors yard. He was telling Mother Nature that HEY! It is mid-spring! Where the HELL are you! it froze last night, sleeted this afternoon, and My electric heaters are on still. I usually turn them off the first of April and then back on again the first of November. Not this year. I am afraid that we are in the grips of a cold wet spring and summer, and our gardens are all going to be moldy and full of SLUGS!



The photo above is the granddaughters of my blog buddy Robert Brady from PURELAND MOUNTAIN in Japan. He has been blogging extensively about the Earthquake and Tsunami that hit the Northern part of the country where his daughter and her family live. The family is fine, but they had quite abit of damage to their apartment, and it's contents. They live about 30 miles from the Fugusima nuclear reactor, so they all had to leave until they decide what they could do. The powers that be still are not quite certain what they need to do, but the girls all left Bob's place near Kyoto last weekend, to return home and start back to school. If you get a chance, go to his blog and read all about it, it will break your heart, but it will also tell you what a determined people they are, they are rebuilding their lives, and buildings, and starting to get back to normal again. The Heart of the devastation is still a ghost town, and probably will not be re-built, but it is not by lack of fortitude, but by risk of radioactive exposure. This is horrible! What are we to do with a source of energy that burns clean, is effective, and readily available but can cause horrible destruction if not monitored properly. Hard to say.

We are so lucky here in Washington state, as we have an abundant source of hydro electric power, which works great, as long as the reservoirs stay full, but if we go into a drought it is lights out! We also have a lot of wind, and that means a great amount of energy from windmills, which pollute the scenery with their towers. They are also a source of destruction to the migrating birds at night. I do not know what the answer is, but we have to come up with something that is renewable, clean, will not pollute, is cheap and does not create an eyesore. Any ideas?

11 comments:

Unknown said...

I understand how you feel with your new hearing aids. In 2007 I got hearing aids too and it was amazing to hear all the things you mentioned. I wrote a blogpost about it in January 2007. I did not translate the text but in the comments you can read about it.
Today I'm going to spend some time to read Robert Brady's blog. Have a nice day Mary Lou and enjoy the the sounds around you.

Unknown said...

Here the link I forgot to mention:-)

http://hermansjournal.blogspot.com/2007/01/mijn-nieuwe-hoortoestellen.html

catmomaj said...

WHAT....YOU HAVE MOLDY SLUGS???

EWWWWWWW!

Anji said...

I'm pleased to see you back again. My elderly pupil (she's 82) has recently had hearing aids. She still misses some sounds, but hears a lot better. Now what to do about her memory going

Yes, I checked up on my bloging friend in Japan too, she was fine, just a little broken glass to clear up.

The only solution I can think of which does not cause more polution or danger, is wear more clothes to keep warm!

omnipotentbenevolentempress said...

The numbers of birds killed by wind turbines are negligible compared to other causes of bird fatalities. Read http://www.greenenergyohio.org/page.cfm?pageId=116

A wind farm is far less unsightly than a mountain that has been reduced to a mole hill for the coal deposits, oil washing up on the beaches or the vast ugly, toxic complexes that are nuclear powerplants.

Secure and sustainable energy needs to come from a variety of renewable resources, preferably decentralized to reduce the environmental impact and security risk, connected to redundant networks that is easily rerouted in the event of disaster, be it natural or manmade. Think conservation and community based power generation.

Mary Lou said...

Donna! PHHHFFFTTTT!! You have a valid point my darling daughter, however they are very disturbing to view when all you want to see is NATURE. There is a place for them, but it should not be at a viewpoint.

cassie-b said...

How interesting to have a blog friend in Japan. We have extended family there, and they seem to live in a place that's safe - at least for the moment. They were both away from home at the time of the troubles, and it took them more than a day to get home, but they're ok. They cover the plants in their very large garden at night - hopefully to keep their food good.

Thanks for the catch up. Good luck with those hearing aids. The sounds of nature are worth the inconvenience of wearing them.

Granny Annie said...

I had almost lost all of my hearing in my right ear. Went to the doctor and she diagnosed me with "a ton" of wax in my ear. Ear drops for four days and I'm hearing those birds tweet in stereo now. Sorry you could not cure your hearing loss as easily but am so happy you got help and are loving your hearing aids.

Dick said...

I think nuclear power works fine but we do need to monitor them VERY carefully as there is little room for errors. Also there is another way to build power plants that works fine with power generating stations and is a lot safer as they shut themselves down if electrical power fails. The systems we use are necessary in something like a ship or submarine as the other way isn't very portable.

There is also research on using the rise and fall of tides that may offer a source of energy to generate electric power in the future.

omnipotentbenevolentempress said...

Hey Mom....Update your blog!

edtNZ said...

How are your furbabies? Glad to hear your hearing has improved. Regards from a cold autumn sunday morning in Nuclear Free New Zealand. PS: we do have windfarms though :)