Eathquake in Turkey

While doing my regular morning routine of drinking green tea and watching the “Today show”, I saw a brief segment that I had to further investigate.A 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Turkey on Sunday. The death toll is now up to 370. Approximately, over 2,000 buildings have collapsed and rescuers continue to attempt to pull out survivors from the wreckage. In Ercis, the hardest –hit city, a 2-week old baby and her mother were pulled out a live two days after the quake. It is still unclear if the father had survived.

I thought it was rather interesting that at the beginning of this article and the news stations focused on the mother and child surviving but they neglected to state that seven other people were pulled from the rubble Tuesday and more bodies were discovered, raising the death toll.

Although hundreds of rescue teams from throughout Turkey have come to the area to assist with relief, the aid is not going to the area’s that need it. How horrible to think that people are trying to benefit from other peoples misfortune. They are taking tents and stoves leaving the earthquake victims without shelter and the ability to cook and feed their families. There were reports of fists fights in front of aid trucks. This is a time for people to work together and yet they are left to fight over aid? It sounds to me like there is a desperate need for more police and soldiers to make sure that the aid gets to the people who need it. Even though the government states they would set up temporary homes and plan to rebuild the destroyed areas, how is that going to help the immediate need? Nights get really cold without shelter. 

Reading this article makes me realize how amazing the people of Joplin are. The people of Turkey could really learn from them. Yes, we did have some looting. But all and all, the resident’s stuck together, helped each other when in need and they continue to help each other out.

Away to Cadbury

     While the sun and all of god’s creatures were still sleeping, my children and I woke up early last Sunday morning. Like mindless little zombies, we got into our medieval garb. My daughter and I wore our white chemise, black bodices, and long cotton skirts that dragged on the floor. As my son got dressed, he began to look like someone out of the movie, Robin Hood. We piled into my metallic motorized carriage and picked up my sister from our fair Mother’s house. My sister was dressed as a medieval elf.
     We had traveled past several other kingdoms and our stomachs did not growl until the sun began to rise, ever so slightly in the distant horizon. On the way to Cadbury, we stopped at a local eatery, called Sonic. A magical voice from a strange pictured box asked us for our order. I spoke to it and gave our order to the polite young wench. I was in dire need for caffeine, so I ordered a coffee latte along with whatever my kids and sister desired. We waited twenty agonizing minutes for our small order. When we finally received the peasant sized feast, I looked down at my ¾ full cup of coffee, which only had a small dollop of whip cream. Without hesitation, I laughingly asked the poor young serving wench if she had sipped my drink before it came and was it good?  My sister was taken aback by my bold statement and was slightly embarrassed. The girl very sweetly informed me that no one drank my drink but the whip cream simply melted.

     We got to Cadbury and the Festival was already underway. Once we paid the toll- keeper, we came across some gypsies and was mesmerized by their dancing and death- defining performances. The kingdom was flooded with scores of travelers from many different kingdoms. Luckily, the pirates were not in their usual unruly selves. While at the festival, we were able to watch some plays, and visited many shops. We were all graced by the presence of the King and Queen of Cadbury. Before the day came to an end, my son was enlisted in the Kings Army  in order to defend the kingdom against barbarians. Thankfully, my son came back to me with all his limbs intact. After this, we traveled back to our own little village and left Cadbury with wonderful memories of the Kansas City Renaissance festival.

San Jose man used at target practice

I love looking for unusual article for me to blog about. Today I came up with this one;www.sfgate.com
Javier Gonzales-Guerrero, 25 year old of San Jose, Ca was dressed in medical scrubs for a Halloween party when he brandished a fake gold gun and was shot by police. Officers found the intoxicated man either passed out or sleeping in a hotel stairwell. When the officers woke him up, Guerrero, then man reached for the “gun” that was in his waistband. Four officers shot at the man, hitting him numerous times. Guerrero injuries were non-life-threatening. The incident is under investigation.

This article infuriates and frustrates me. I believe that the situation was miss-handled.

I don’t think that it was right that the San Jose officers used this man as target practice. I would love to find out how bad his injuries really are. What kind of residual damage did the gun shot wounds cause? His injuries maybe non-life threatening, but will he be able to walk? Will he have to go through years of physical rehabilitation? I don’t agree that one should get so drunk in public that one passes out, but I feel for Guerrero. The incident happened at 8 am.  He probably had been in the stairwell all night and was now was sober. Can you imagine how that poor guy felt? You passed out in a hotel after a party. Then, before you know it, you are being awakened by four police officers screaming at you. And then, you remember you have a toy gun, and you put your hand on it to see if it was still there and hoping that it was gone, almost immediately you feel the stinging of the bullets as they hit you. What if that were a child? Would the police do the same? Would they have shot that child numerous times because he had a gold gun? I understand that a gun is a gun. But I know for a fact that they had other options, like a stun gun. I wonder if this is part of racial profiling, and all they saw was a Mexican man with a gold gun, instead of evaluating the situation. 

The four officers who shot their weapons at Guerrero have been with the police department served for 13 and 20 years. Since, This is the seventh San Jose officer-involved shooting this year, I hope that they will get some kind of education on way to apprehend a suspect without using deadly force.

Crazy Ohio Man

According to the news-leader, Terry Thompson, the exotic-animal owner who committed suicide in ZANESVILLE, Ohio was deeply in debt. Court records show that he and his wife owed at least $68,000 in unpaid taxes to the IRS and the county, two federal tax liens, and Terry had gotten out of prison last month for possessing unregistered weapons.  Sheriff’s deputies had to shoot and kill nearly 50 animals that were set free by Thompson.

Sheriff Lutz, stated that, Terry Thompson, had opened the cages at his animal preserve and then killed himself. Not only did his body appear to have been dragged a short distance, his head had a huge bite mark on it. Perhaps, the bite is from one of his exotic cats.

I found this article very disturbing. I felt sorry for Thompson’s wife and the animals that were destroyed.

The deputies killed 48 animals. This includes 18 rare Bengal tigers, 17 lions and eight bears. These are all very dangerous animals that can kill people. It is troubling to think that this man who was obviously unstable was able to buy dangerous and exotic animal. That he chose to kill himself, instead of selling the animals to zoo’s shows he was indeed unstable. It is unclear whether he acted out of desperation or vengeance against his neighbors, police or his wife. And now his wife has to clean up the mess he left. She has to deal with all the financial worries, legal issues, and dealing with her husbands name run threw the mud. It’s sad to thinks that all those exotic animals had to be put to death, because of what her husband had done.

I really hope that law makers realize that something needs to change and there needs to be stricter laws against buying exotic and dangerous animals.

New Family Member

I worked in the nursing home in my town for over six years before I left. I enjoyed my job and enjoyed my residents in the Special Needs unit. This locked unit contained Alzheimer's residents. It was very hard for me to leave. Besides my love for the residents, there was on particular person I was really going to miss. It wasn't a resident or a staff member. It was the therapy dog,Casey.

I briefly held a position as the Activities Coordinator in 2006. On my first day as director, The administrator had me make a huge decision. She had brought a dog that formally lived in a shelter. I was to decide if this dog had the qualities needed to live in the unit. Casey and I immediately bonded. This was a very strong bond. Casey knew several tricks and the residents at the time enjoyed and loved her tremendously.

 When I no longer held the Activity Coordinator position, Casey became my buddy on the night shift. She would do bed checks with me. We would check on the residents together. She was always by my side. If she heard one of the residents get up in the middle of the night she would let me know. If  one of the residents were sick or about to pass, she would not leave their side. She was an amazing dog and great for the unit. This meant I had to leave my buddy.

It only took four months after I left for the new administrator to get rid of the dog.Fortunately, a friend of mine contacted me before she went back to the shelter and was destroyed. We now have a new addition to our family. I have two other dogs and they instantly accepted her into our family. I am so happy to have Casey part of my life again.She is amazing dog .Now my family feels complete.

Sacred Streaker

I was looking at my face book, like I do every night. I was reading my friends status updates and the news things that they placed on their wall. I noticed  one of my friends had posted an news article, www.koco.com. I clicked on the link and it brought me to a page about, in Oklahoma city a naked man caring a bible and a bottle of gin was arrested on suspicion of public indecency. According to police reports Antonia Larray, 22 stated he was going to church. The man was taken to the Oklahoma County Jail and was booked with charges of public indecency.

Of Course, the reason why I had to further investigate was because the title grabbed my attention. I think that his situation was amusing. And I continued to chuckle as I read the short article.


This man must have been very drunk. I have a very vivid imagination. I pictured a naked young man waving a bible and a bottle of gin at the cars that passed by. I think that is funny. I think it was rather obvious that he was heading to church since he did have a bible in his hand. Perhaps, he was on his way to being baptized and didn’t want his clothes to get wet. I hope to god that he was a Baptist because he would never fit in one of the little basins that they use in the Catholic or Episcopal church. After all, wasn’t his actions scriptural? Doesn’t the bible state that we come naked into this world and naked we shall leave it?

 

A long Night

The night was still young when I went to bed on Monday night, but I already knew that Tuesday was going to be a busy day for me. The darkness of my room surrounded me as I lay in my warm and cozy bed.  I could hear the soothing sound of my fan as I began to list all the things that had to be done the following day.  Then, after what seemed like an eternity, I looked at the clock and thought, “Great! It’s already midnight. Now I will only get four hours of sleep!”  I took some deep relaxing breaths and slowly began to feel myself drift off to sleep.

Suddenly, I was jolted awake as my Great Dane bashed against my bed, which was her way of telling me that she needed to be let outside. Thank God, the shaking bed woke my husband up as well and he sweetly decided to let her out for me. As I lay there trying to fall back to sleep, I could hear him yell at the dog to hurry up, and then, finally, he and the dog came back inside. I turned to the clock once again and wondered if this night would ever end. With only an hour left before I had to be up, I decided to give it one last try to get some sleep, because at least a little sleep is better then none at all.

My alarm went off entirely too soon. After two cups of green tea and a shower, I felt slightly refreshed. Then I realized that I only had forty-five minutes before I had to clock in for work. I rushed out the door, hopped in my van and headed down the highway. To my surprise, there was a scheduled farm equipment parade down the highway. Time was ticking and so was my time clock, none of which was helped by the slow-moving parade, but I did manage to make it to work with five minutes to spare.

Being a Certified nursing assistant in a nursing home has its limitations since CNA responsibilities differ from one hospital to the next. The Senior Nurse Technician class I took was interesting. I learned how to do an intermittent catheter, change-out the inner trachea cannula, and to do G- tube feedings. These were skills that I could use at my present place of employment, but not at my last one.  Although the class was interesting, it was rather long, so I didn’t get home until late afternoon and I still had a ton of homework and grocery shopping to do.  And since I’d had only a few hours of sleep, I can only imagine what the  clerk thought of me with my bright red, glossy, sleep-deprived eyes stared at her blankly as I  attempted to pay for my groceries with my MSSU student ID card.

            At this point of time, I only had one thing on my mind: I knew that I had a warm and cozy bed waiting for me. I couldn’t wait to hear that wonderful relaxing sound of my fan, and once I had finished all I'd had to do that day,  I was glad the day was over and I fell quickly to sleep.

Topeka hates women

My mother and I often discuss current events. She told me about an article that she came across, topeka to consider decriminalizing domestic violence to save money/. This idea of decriminalizing domestic violence came to light during a recent city council meeting where the city was trying to figure out ways to balance their budget. City leaders and the district attorney agree that even though domestic violence is wrong and shouldn’t be tolerated; there isn’t enough money in the budget to put these cases through trial. According, to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence one in four women will be victims of domestic violence.  The U.S. spends $5.8 billion a year on health related issues brought on by this type of abuse

My initial response was disgust and bewilderment.  Upon further reflection, I continued to be outraged and will discuss the stupidity of this proposition.

I think that it was outrageous that such an ordinance was even being considered. What kind of monster would approve this? With the statistics of one in four women being victims of this type of violence, and most women who are murdered are murdered by someone they were dating or were married to, it seems to me that this ordinance would make it open season on hunting women. This ordinance, if passed, would put hundreds of woman’s lives at risk. I believe that the laws maybe the only thing that prevents domestic violence from being more common then it already is. With the possibility of decriminalizing this type of violence, there exists a strong possibility that there will be an increase on domestic violence or even homicide.

According to the YMCA in Topeka, this decision made some of the survivors of domestic violence afraid for their safety. I have a wonderful solution to this problem. I think that perhaps after issue a gun to every woman in the state and teach her how to use it, and teach her that she has the right to protect herself and her children. Teach the boys how to respect women. Then perhaps the domestic violence rates will go down.

Red Tide in San Diego

My mother told me about an interesting story. I did a Google search and found this article in the LA Times. Bio luminescent waves crash on to the shore of  San Diego beaches. This brownish red algae, commonly known as the red tide, glows an iridescent blue at night. This chemical reaction started in August of this year and possibly will continue for several more weeks or even months according to UC San Diego the algae has a mild toxin and can accumulate in some sea creatures. Although there has been an increase of complaints of sinus and ear infections since the algae arrived, the toxin is said to be harmless to humans.

I lived in Southern California until I was thirteen. I have very fond memories of when I was a child. It was almost an every day occurrence for me to go down to the beach and bask in the sun, watch the tide come in, and listen to the relaxing sounds of the waves as it hit the shore. After hearing about this article, my daughter and I watch the You Tube Video regarding the bio luminescent waves. We watched in amazement as the brilliant neon blue waves crashed onto the shore. The video and the article made me very homesick. I would have loved to be able to see the red tide in person. With Further thought and my own investigation my feelings changed. I didn’t have such a draw to go swimming in the waters, that’s for sure.

In the article it stated that there has been a rise in cases of sinus problem and ear infection since the appearance of the red tide. I would be curious to find out how many of those cases are truly related the algae or is it simply because of a high pollen count in the area. I ran a search, regarding if in fact it is dangerous to humans. I found that in fact the red tide can potentially be lethal. With further investigation, I found that people have passed away from eating shell fish that had come in contact with the algae. I think the writer of this article was doing a disservice to the general public by not stating all the facts regarding the seriousness of the toxic algae. The Algae releases an neuro-toxin that paralyzes. In fact, it has been proven that when red tide occurs in an area there is a drastic increase of death among bird, fish and animals.

I really don’t think that people should be swimming or surfing at the beach at this point of time. I believe that the beaches with the highest density of the algae should be closed until it has gone away. It’s scary to think that  families could be swimming in this possibly paralyzing water.

Sea Lion's shot in jaw

An injured sea lion lifted herself out of San Francisco Bay, got herself across the eight lanes of freeway traffic, and headed toward downtown Burlingame.  Motorists alerted the authorities, who, according to the San Francisco Gate(www.sfgate.com) waited with the animal until staff from the Marine Mammal Center arrived, whereupon she was brought to the Sausalito center for treatment. Veterinarians discovered a week-old gunshot wound to her jaw. However, disorientation from the gunshot wound may not be the reason why the sea lion crossed the freeway. Veterinarians believe that perhaps the sea lion may have eaten fish that had ingested a toxic algae, and that may have been the cause of her disorientation.  Test results will either verify or disprove this theory.

Growing up in California, I became an avid animal lover. I loved watching these wonderful animal sunbath on the piers or perform during animal shows at the San Diego Zoo. I have a certain soft stop for these particular animals. Therefore, reading this article gave me a variety of emotions.  I was both sad and angry and by the end of the article, I was relieved.

The Marine Mammal Center admitted nine sea lions with gunshot wounds, in 2010. Earlier this year, Santa Cruz Wharf attempted to rescue another with a gun shot wound, only to have it pass away from its injuries.  According to the article, fishermen compete with the sea lions for fish and illegally shoot at sea lions to keep them away from their nets. I think this is horrible. It saddens me to think that there are people who don’t value nature and its wild life. They see only profit and forget how valuable and precious nature is. I have to wonder how many fish the sea lions can really be taking in order to validate the fishermen’s need to massacre them? Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to find out who is shooting this protected species. There has to be a better way to chase the sea lions away from the fishing nets. With all the technological advancements that we have made within the last 20 years, one would think that someone could invent something that would help.

Fortunately, the sea lion is currently sharing a pen with two other sea lions. Although she appears fatigued, her recovery looks positive. I hope for the best for this amazing creature.

My so called Life

Moving to Missouri has been a culture shock for my husband, two children and I. We were used to drive-by shootings, drug deals, and having the police helicopters with spotlights searching for criminals as part of our daily life. Nothing prepared us for living in a small rural town in the Mid-west. Having a wild hare means something entirely different here.

It was a normal weekday for the Cunningham family. I was in the living room working on my online math class, my children were playing Xbox in the play room, and my husband was watching TV in our bedroom. Our sleek white cat used the cat-door to patrol her territory. All was quiet when my daughter Melody let out a blood curdling scream. She ran into the bedroom shouting, "Opal has something and its BIG!"

Like a super hero, my nearly-blind husband rushed into the kitchen to save us from the giant creature that my cat had dragged in from the darkest depths of the country wilderness. I closed all the doors to the kitchen to trap the beast. My husband shouted at me, "Where is it? Where is it?" he demanded with increasing agitation because he was unable to see where this horrible creature was.

I noticed that my dishwasher door was open. All one could see of my poor cat was her hind legs and her tail flipping back and forth under the dishwasher door. I picked the cat up. Then, much to my horror, the beast came out from under the dishwasher door. I knew I had to be quick and that I could not let this animal get out of my sight. I shoved the cat into my husband's arms and, like our cat, I pounced onto the creature and captured the fearsome animal. Then with my bare hands, I scooped it up and began to examine it. My tiger-like cat had given it a slight puncture wound, but it wasn't very deep and the creature would be fine. Cupping it in my hands, I walked out my front door and onto the porch to set it free.

The little baby bunny hopped away from the house and never looked back. I gave the cat a can of cat-food as a consolation price for setting her rabbit dinner free. The family went back to their activities. Just before I sat down to finish my homework I looked at my cell phone and saw I had a text message. It read: "Help! Your sister's cat killed something in her room and it's bloody". So starts another adventure for me in this crazy thing I call my life.