Archive for March 2023
It’s About Time . . .
. . . for the rest of the country
to move their clocks ahead one hour
for what is called Daylight Saving Time.
Those of you new to Arizona can drop the habit
because we don’t toy with our timepieces.
Some of us do have to adjust the times
we call our folks in the rest of the country —
and a lot of Canada, too.
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Aquamation Gaining Support
A global awareness of a totally new approach to funeral practice was unleashed when it was announced several months ago that South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu had died and was laid to rest behind his pulpit in Cape Town.
The 90-year-old cleric gained renown for denouncing bigotry and racial tyranny as well as giving speeches and writing articles about the need to take action to combat climate change and protecting the environment.
To cap his environmental crusade, he requested that his body be aquamated, described as a greener alternative to cremation.
Few folks knew what he meant.
Aquamation is a cremation method using water that funeral parlors are touting as environmentally friendly.
The process, known more scientifically as “alkaline hydrolysis,” is simply body disposal by water rather than fire.
The body of the deceased is immersed for three to four hours in a mixture of water and strong alkali-like potassium hydroxide in a pressurized metal cylinder that is heated to around 150 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).
Everything is liquefied but the bones, which are then dried in an oven, reduced to dust and placed in an urn with the coarse, sand-like remains of the body. The water can be processed through normal wastewater-treatment facilities.
This method of body disposal was developed in the early 1990s to discard the carcasses of animals used in experiments. It was used later to dispose of cows during the mad-cow-disease epidemic that lasted until the turn of the century.
Then U.S. medical schools began using aquamation to dispose of donated human cadavers and the practice slowly made its way into the funeral industry, according to a 2014 research paper.
The process also is used to dispose of animal carcasses in slaughterhouses, where it is considered to be more efficient and hygienic.
Advocates claim a liquid cremation consumes less energy than a conventional one and emits fewer greenhouse gases.
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SUPER SUPPER SHUTTLE
gets launched and is scheduled for the
second and fourth Friday of each month
Shuttle leaves Verna at Gilbert
3 p.m. 3:30 p.m. 4 p.m. 4:30 p.m. 5 p.m.
Shuttle departs restaurants
3:45 p.m. 4:15 p.m. 4:45 p.m. 5:15 p.m. 5:45 p.m.
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This month you can chow down at
Wendy’s
Chili’s Grill & Bar
Texas Roadhouse
Café Zupas
Be at the pickup point ready to hop on because the schedule is tight.
Sweet Springtime
It’s the time of year for a ritual that predates by centuries the arrival of European settlers in the New World.
The indigenous folk of this continent had been producing the comfortably sweet product for centuries but how they came to make use of sap running out of maple trees is clouded in several legends. Until the Europeans used a tube to tap into the tree trunks, the native people sliced a tomahawk into the tree and caught the clear liquid in a birch bark bucket.
The maple syrup ingathering season runs from late February to early April, when the days are balmy and the nights freeze.
Snow still covers the underbrush of southern Canada and the northern states when folks gather in maple groves to collect and save the sweetness for their kitchens. Corporate mechanized production that accounts for some 5 million gallons each year has replaced much of the old time fun.
Us kids in northern Ontario used to run into the nearby woods and snag sap icicles to suck on the way to school.
Canada produces more than 80 percent of the world’s maple syrup. The province of Quebec whose border is just an hour from my home town, accounts for 90 percent of that amount.
Memories still linger of a time when we would collect the pails of sap and take them to the boiling kettle where 40 gallons of clear sap was processed into one gallon of caramel colored maple syrup. To keep us kids happy, the adults would toss a ladle-full of the brown bubbling syrup onto the snow and watch us scramble for fists-full of snow-taffy.
The finished syrup would be ladled, scooped and poured into 16-ounce mason jars with the time-honored screw-on caps. When we got the syrup home, our mothers would set aside a pint of the liquid to make a pound of maple sugar they would save for special occasions – or sprinkle over tea when their friends would visit.
Desert dune-buggy treks can’t match the excitement that built up as we climbed aboard a horse-drawn sled heading for the sugar shack, where the scent of burning cedar logs mingled with the singularly sweet aroma of hot thickening maple syrup.
I could warm my hands and feet over the crackling fire. If I was lucky, the adults would let me swab the sides of the huge boiling kettle with slabs of pork fat lashed to long poles. This prevented the sugar from becoming spongy and bubbling over like bread dough. And it gave me the opportunity to scoop up some hot bubbling sweetness in my long-handled tin cup.
I would dash outside and pour the searing sweetness onto a patch of crystal white snow that hardened immediately into sheets of snow taffy. I called it my own form of Baked Alaska.
Tribal history has it that some warriors were honing their tomahawk throws for accuracy when one hit a maple tree and a clear liquid began to flow from the gash.
Moqua, the spouse of the mighty Iroquois hunter Woksis, had been resting by a nearby tree on her way to get some water in a nearby creek. When she saw the clear liquid that had formed into a small pool at the base of the tree, she scooped it up and used it for cooking.
Her husband was so pleased with the sweetness of the venison he was served that night that he relayed the word to other hunters and tribes encountered on his hunting forays. They tried it, and liked it.
Some tribes rendered the sap into sugar cakes because they were easier to transport than liquid syrup. They also used it for trade – a form of money, if you will. The sweetness was use to flavor food, in much the same it is used today.
When the first European settlers arrived, they saw the natives transforming sap into syrup by tossing red-hot stones into hewed-out logs filled with the “sweet water.” These pioneers bored holes into the maples and squeezed in small tubes, or taps, to channel the dripping sap into wooden buckets.
It Was Just . . .
. . . the other day
that I mentioned I couldn’t remember
the last time I had a cold.
Now I remember.
I caught one yesterday and still have it.
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All we hear about Humpty Dumpty is his great fall.
He musta had a lousy summer.
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Fish Fight Arthritis
The omega-3 fatty acids in fish bolster your body’s ability to battle inflammation that autoimmune rheumatoid arthritis causes to its victims’ joints, heart and lungs.
A couple of fish servings a week can alleviate the pain and discomfort as can a daily dose of fish supplement.
Vitamin C-rich foods, such as citrus fruit, also can help. Two CCs – celery and cherries – can alleviate the pain caused by gout, a form of arthritis that flares up without warning to attack joints. Cherry juice also can help.
If you’re prone to gout attacks, you should avoid carbohydrates, such as white bread, and commercially prepared baked goods as well as processed foods.
Nice Quiet Week . . .
. . . but prepare your questions
for the Town Hall meeting at
4 p.m. Tuesday in the 2nd Floor Theater
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I don’t have to be patronized
by physical-health nuts
who show off their six-packs.
I just pat my tummy
and point out I have a keg.
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Penny Earned No Longer Worth It
The penny may soon be only in our thoughts, to paraphrase an old adage.
The wisdom of producing pennies is being questioned because the coin costs more than 2 cents to produce.
Canada quit making pennies a decade ago because it was costing 1.6 cents to produce 1 cent.
This relinquishing of the penny is a reminder of the pressures being exerted to do away with cash.
British lawmakers are mulling laws that would make sure that the less-than-20 percent of their population that relies on cash will receive their change in cash
Promoters of a cashless society argue that maintaining automated teller machines (currently paid for by the banks) is costly. Retailers and other businesses report accepting cash takes more time and costs more than payments made by store card, debit card, credit card or cryptocurrency.
And don’t forget that handy-dandy contactless-payment tool in your hand – the cell phone.
The pressures for change are not going away.
Next in the line of sight of those who want to abolish coins is the nickel. Their argument sounds familiar. It costs more to make a nickel than its worth – about 7 cents.
Britain is abolishing checks slowly but surely. They originally planned to dump checks in 2018 but it’s taking a bit more time to smooth out the wrinkles caused by their demise.
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Got Wondering . . .
. . . while waiting for breakfast the other morning,
where do they get the seeds
to plant for seedless watermelon?
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Inflation is a Four-Letter Word
There’s a lot of talk about inflation these days.
No one can pin point its cause nor can they really explain what it means. One generally accepted description is “Too Much Money Chasing Too Few Goods.” An economic term describes it as a general increase in prices and a fall in the purchasing power of money.
How ever you say it, it means things cost more than they used to while your money’s purchasing power has declined.
But just because the price of air fare goes up because everyone’s going on vacation doesn’t mean we’re being hit by inflation.
Money mavins are interested more in why prices rise. A rainy season can ruin a crop, boosting its price until regular seasonal supply can resume. Supply-chain breakdowns can cause sudden but short-lived surges in the price of certain products.
Those events are not to be confused with inflation.
Money supply is important, but so is the demand for money. If you lose confidence in the future of your currency, you’re likely to seek something else that will maintain its power to purchase what you need and want. Dumping dollars for gold and silver is one common practice, as is buying another country’s currency.
Like so many economic theories and multi-syllabic words, inflation is not easy to define.
When prices rise when consumers change their behavior or supply chains get snarled, that’s not inflation. But when prices climb because there’s a shift in the supply of and demand for money, that’s when inflation starts to become a problem.
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Early Warning!!!
Folks relying on
Mary Weaver’s constant support
will have to make adjustments while she’s on
vacation March 13 – 16.
She’ll be back in time to lead our St. Patrick’s Day celebration.
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Do it now.
Bookmark
maturelifefeaures.com
so you can give it a quick check every morning.
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Snore No More
Snoring can ruin your sleep as well as those sharing your dwelling. Almost half the population snores some time. One out of four people snore regularly. Only half of the people who snore admit to snoring.
The sound of snoring has been reported to hit as high as a car horn or low-flying jet.
Folks who snore regularly are five times more likely to suffer heart disease than those who only snore now and then.
It’s the third major reason given for getting a divorce, following infidelity and financial issues.
A little exercise can help you avoid snoring or, if you’re already a snorer, cut down on its effect on you and those around you.
You don’t have to get any special equipment or join a gym. Developers of these exercises call them throat sit-ups. They report that patients who face surgery or have been wearing mouth guards to curb snoring have been able to discard the devices or avoid surgery after doing these exercises, which take about five minutes, three times a day for six weeks.
The first is a simple tongue press. Push the tip of your tongue firmly behind your upper teeth and drag it tightly back along the roof of your mouth as far as you can. Try saying the five vowels – a,e,i,o,u – at the same time.
While saying the vowel sounds again, suck your entire tongue up against the roof of your mouth. Now try raising it to the back of the roof of your mouth and, if you can’t get the vowel sounds, say aaah.
Repeat each of these throat sit-ups about 20 times.
You should also discuss your situation with your primary care physician, who can recommend therapies or specialists if these exercises don’t work.
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Why Is It . . .
. . . that people who maintain
they don’t believe everything they hear
feel they have to repeat it?
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Contributed by Kathy F.
Father Murphy’s parish was poor so he asked his parishioners for suggestions on how to raise some money. He was told that the owner of a race horse always seemed to have money so he decided to purchase an equine. His lack of experience and budget led him to buying a donkey, which he proceeded to enter in the races at the local track.
If finished third in its first a race and the local sports page ran the story with the headline, “Father Murphy’s Ass Shows.” The bishop reportedly was was not pleased. The donkey won its next race, which was reported with the headline, “Father Murphy’s Ass Out Front.” While the bishop was said to be highly displeased, he didn’t take any action. Until its next race, when it came in second and the headline read, “Father Murphy’s Ass Back In Place.”
The bishop ordered the priest to take it out of its next race. The headline on that report was, “Bishop Scratches Father Murphy’s Ass.” That did it. The bishop told the cleric to get rid of the animal.
Father Murphy couldn’t bring himself to sell it, so he gave it to Sister Agatha who’s rural convent had a lot of grass-munching space. The editor who printed that story wrote, “Father Murphy Gives His Ass to Sister Agatha.” The red-faced bishop told her to get rid of the beast anywhere, as long as it was out of his diocese. She managed to sell it to a rancher in another county for $10. Which was reported under the headline, “Sister Agatha Peddles Her Ass for Ten Dollars.”
And the bishop was buried three days later.
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Bocce Ball Fans . . .
. . . who wish to revive their skills
should grab a jacket and meet at Verena’s front door
at 11 a.m. Friday
to leave for the courts at Chandler’s Tumbleweed Park.
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Have You Ever Noticed
that the reward
for a job well done
is more work?
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What’s In Any Name?
In an earlier post, I discussed several versions people have of offered of my name over the years. During all that time, I’ve saved clips of names that must have given their owners interesting moments during their lifetime.
The Troy (NY) Record is the source of this submission — the Rev. William Knight Gown. It also provided the name of Elizabeth Streetman Oberhellman Hickenlooper Duttonholter.
In Nevada, a Pansy Spicer married a chap whose last name was Garden. In Chicago, Liberty Banister reportedly married Charity Stairs.
Rachel Harr wed Daniel Hardy in Maryland for a Hardy-Harr ceremony and celebration that sounded like a lot of fun. A Denver dude named General Pancake exchanged marriage vows with a gal named Farina.
A Florida bank whose president was Jerry Banks had a cashier named Golda Counts. Employed in a downtown San Diego bank at one time was a staffer listed as A. Dollar.
The following were collected by a professor at Yale: Shady Banks, Crystal Chanda Lear, Will B. Muchmore, Quigg Newton, Purdie Good and Dr. I. M. Sick.
Long-time-ago Texas Gov. Big Jim Hogg had a daughter named Ima Hogg. I unearthed a Jack Daniels in Chile and a Christian Guy in Britain.
And Dr. Whet Fartz attended to patients in Pittsburgh while Ben Dover sold real estate in Butts County, GA.
Mature Life Features 