Another beautiful summer-like day in Maryland. Birds are chirping. Spiders are scurrying. Squirrels are being defiant. My eye is almost opened and its not yet 1 PM. Perhaps I will look decent enough (i.e., not scary) to be able to go out for those groceries we need so badly.
For two nights now, Elaine and I have cooked spaghetti. Why is it that when she cooks it, it tastes sweet and wonderful and Italian, and when I cook it, it is bland and kind of tasteless? Yes, I know.. its because women know how to cook better than men... Wait a minute... what about all of the famous chefs, especially Emeral, who comes from my area of the world in Massachusetts? Elaine would answer that all of the great chefs were taught by women. I'm sure she is right.
Local News
The Carroll County Times has a Carroll Seniors Page today next to its weekly Carroll Planner.
I was pleased to see that the Carroll Planner printed an advertisement for our upcoming AARP Chapter meeting. Each month, we strive to provide AARP members in Carroll County with a pleasant luncheon meeting, where we listen to an informative expert in health matters, followed by nice entertainment. Unfortunately, the minimum price we charge for attending is $14, and apparently many feel that this is too expensive. I wish we could lower it, but we have to pay what the Elks Club charges us. We make no money at all from this charge.
Our only source of income is received from trips that we sponsor. All of our trips cost less than similar trips in the Westminster area. One may check this out easily by comparing prices. The lady who runs the trips does not even use complimentary gifts by the trip companies. She turns that into the AARP treasury to cover Chapter expenses and gifts to charity, when we have enough on hand.
With that, we have a hard time getting new members. This is a problem with almost all non-profit organizations these days. People in younger generations do not seem to be interested in anything that does not involve high-tech activity.
Where are the Flowers?
Dr. Hermine Saunders is a lady who is involved in many organizations, boards, committees and counsels in the Carroll County area, one would not be aware that she is retired. However, she also manages to find time to walk her sweet little dog, Annie, and to write a column for the newspaper.
In addition, she is writing a book about a young lady who had spina bifida.
In today's well-written column, she bemoans our current violent society, both in school and on the street. I agree, and how can our society be anything but violent with the current media attention to it. I long for old-style TV like Leave it to Beaver, and I love Lucy, and I love to look at Fred and Ginger movies, and what do we have today: the return of Godzilla, and CSI TV shows that give serial rapists tips on how to terrorize young children and women.
(During the 1990's the son of one of our friends let me watch his video game, where GI Joe would use his machine gun to slaughter everybody lurking around every corner.. Nazis, gangsters, women, animals.. everything jumped out at Joe as he tried to work his way through an old Aztec ruin to get at an ancient treasure. The game player got points for the number of humans and creatures killed. These points would be displayed proudly on a chart at the end of that game session. I was appalled. I understand that the games are worse now, and much more realistic.)
When I first saw Hermine's headline: Where are the Flowers? I remembered that the Vermont Country Store says that it takes 10,000 jasmine flowers and 28 dozen May roses to make just a single ounce of Joy, perfume created by Jean Patou in 1930, to bring "joy" to women during the Great Depression. The Vermont Country Store will still sell you a spray ounce of Joy for $99.
We need more citizens like Hermine, who are willing to spend their retirement years helping others instead of sitting in their rocking chairs watching HBO all day.
Another author on the Senior Page of today's newspaper was Dolly Merritt of Westminster, who wrote a nice article about the "almost better than human" activity of dove parents. The doves she mentions may be those that come to my side porch each day to eat from our "leaning tower of bird seed."
My NARFE buddy, Chuck Forbes, and three other guys are also shown and mentioned on the Senior Page today. They form the Elderly Brothers, a barbershop quartet that is available for weddings and Bar Mitvahs. I've heard them sing a number of times, and they are good.
Farming
The Carroll County Times also reports on some farming statistics that I thought were interesting.
Average farm income in 2007 = $16,127.
Average farm income in 2012 = $23,881.
Total number of farms in 2007 = 1,149
Total number of farms in 2012 = 1,092
Total farm acreage in 2007 = 141,934
Total farm acreage in 2012 = 132,630
Average age of farmer in 2007 = 57.2
Average age of farmer in 2012 = 58.4
The article is very interesting and mentions that an entity that makes more than $1,000 in agricultural sales is considered a farm. So, I guess that lots of those folks at Farmers' Markets are considered farmers, even though they might have a smallish garden.
Religion
A new version of Jesus Christ, Superstar, was mysteriously canceled before its 54 city tour that was scheduled to start in New Orleans.
Baltimore and National News
Tatoos
To show you how popular tattoos are becoming, members of the Black Gorilla Family are starting to have their backs tattooed with the numbers 276 (BGF). You remember the BGF who virtually took over the Baltimore jail
Obesity
The Baltimore Sun reports that Rice University is trying to modify "good" E Coli bacteria to treat obesity. The goal is to create a microbe that can detect and treat intestinal disorders linked to obesity. They have found that putting "gut" bacteria from an obese human into a mouse, causes the mouse to become obese, regardless of the mouse's diet. This also works the opposite way, with lean transfer causing skinny mice.
So, just as I have always suspected, my beer drinking has not caused my fat belly.. I just had chubby bacteria!
Criminal Activity
A New Scam
Yellow signs are going up all over Baltimore: "Sell Diabetic Strips". Although it is legal to buy and sell strips outside of a pharmacy, it is not wise to do so. Some purchasing and selling companies are supposedly helping poor people obtain valid strips that were on hand when a diabetic person died, and that sounds good. However, the strips might be very old or spoiled from high heat. The purchaser would take a big risk that the strips might not give accurate readings, and that could be very bad for a diabetic person.
In addition, a scammer might give you "free" strips in return for your Social Security Number and other information, which the scammer could use to make some false Medicare or Medicaid claims.
Phoney Solicitation
Recently, a couple stood outside of a Glen Burnie grocery store, soliciting funds for a non-profit group. An observer got suspicious and asked the man for the telephone number of the group he was representing, so it could be checked out. The solicitor give the observer a number, and the observer immediately dialed. The solicitor apparently forgot that he had a phone in his pocket and was surprised when it started ringing there. Later, police determined that they were not legal representatives of the non-profit and will spend a little time soliciting funds from their fellow inmates.
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