Back in the day – before the likes of Starbucks, etc. friends would gather at someone’s home (on a rotating basis) and have coffee or their favorite beverage and converse about everything under the sun! Sometimes the host/hostess would serve cookies or small finger sandwiches; other times, they would meet at a restaurant and make a morning of it.
This is an electronic version of a coffee klatsch. There will be many topics, some serious but mostly fun. I’m sure there will be guests dropping by.
Hello! And Welcome! I’m Eppinese Estelle your hostess. I hope you are well.
July is nearly here! Do you remember the old saying regarding corn? A good crop of corn was always ‘knee high by the 4th of July”. I’ve always thought that was rather subjective. I mean, different heights of people have different knee heights…If I would say it is my knee height, it wouldn’t be very tall…
Why is it that when I find something that I like as in a computer program or even extending to a favorite perfume it either gets switched around totally from what I originally purchased the program to do or the perfume is discontinued…Yes, I recently had a computer program switch to a membership site and the program no longer works the way it had when I purchased it. I don’t have anything against anyone making money online but sometimes it gets really frustrating! Always something to keep you floundering around it seems.
Remember last time when I mentioned the VW “slug bug” commercial? Well, granted I have only seen it once, but there is a VW commercial incorporating the two slugs back if you don’t call it correctly…But it still is not for a VW Beetle – the original “Slug Bug”. Oh well, I’m a creature of habit….
On July 11 there will be at total eclipse of the Sun. This eclipse will not be visible from North America. It will be visible only from the South Pacific
Ocean and parts of South America.
Next Total Eclipse of the Sun
Next Total Eclipse of the Sun: November 13, 2012: visible from northern Australia and the South Pacific Ocean.
The Moon’s path across the sky changes
with the seasons. Full Moons are very high
in the sky (at midnight) between November
and February and very low between May
and July.
Not since 1963 has Jupiter been so close, so bright,
so easily seen—a result of its slow, oval orbit around
the Sun that will take nearly 12 Earth years.
Finding Jupiter should be easy. Beginning in
mid-August, look halfway up the southern sky for
the night’s brightest star. This is Jupiter! Dazzling
and astonishingly conspicuous against the faint
stars of Pisces, it will stand at its highest at 2:00
A.M. (In July, early birds can catch a glimpse at
4:00 A.M.)
As the year winds down, Jupiter will be at
its best earlier each month: at midnight in September
(look for green Uranus hovering nearby
in midmonth), at 10:00 P.M. in October, at 7:00
P.M. in November, and at nightfall in December.
Exactly 400 years ago, Galileo
Galilei (1564–1642) and
Jupiter changed the order of
the universe.
By around 1608, spyglasses
and magnifying devices
had become popular. Duplicating
one such instrument,
Galileo had painstakingly fashioned
wood and leather into a tube into
which he set one concave and one convex
glass lens. The result was a refracting
telescope with three-power
(3×) magnification.
Galileo’s device showed the Moon, long thought to be smooth actually had craters and mountains. The glow of the Milky Way burst into separate stars. The most amazing sight was Jupiter shining brightly in Taurus and it was round! Not just a pinpoint of light.
Galileo published his discoveries.
Instead of being cheered, he was jeered.
Church officials detained him,
forced him to recant (or be burned at the
stake), and placed him under permanent
house arrest, where he eventually died on
January 8, 1642, penniless. (paraphrasing from Bob Berman’s most recent book, coauthored with
Robert Lanza, M.D., is Biocentrism (BenBella,
2009). Learn more about Berman’s universe at
www.skymanbob.com.
Watching the Skies in July: (sort of rhymes doesn’t it?) Earth reaches its farthest point from the Sun, on the 6th. Venus finally budges in brightness, up from magnitude –3.9, where it’s been stuck since January, to –4.0.
Changes will now come more rapidly. Although Venus keeps widening its angular separation from the Sun, its orbit appears at an increasingly low slant on the western horizon. Result: The brilliant planet is lower at dusk than it was a month ago, as it passes Regulus on the 9th and 10th. Venus approaches Mars as Mars approaches Saturn. Low in the west an hour after sunset in the final days of July, Mars passes below Saturn and is the dimmer of the two.
Dog Days (July 3–August 11): These
are the hottest and most unhealthy days of
the year. Also known as Canicular Days,
their name derives from the Dog Star, Sirius.
The traditional 40-day period of Dog
Days coincides with the rising of Sirius at sunrise.
There are lots of ‘old wives tales’ about the dog days of summer. Don’t go swimming in rivers because they turn over and if you have a sore and go swimming during dog days it will get infected or your will die. But, being a kid I had to find out for myself.
My friend and I went swimming in the river and we found out; yes, the water does get all nasty (I don’t know what it means when they say “the river will turn over” unless they are speaking of all the guck from the bottom comes to the top) and the water was dirty, mud brown. As we were swimming something would brush us on the leg and it was, “I hope that was a fish, or a branch or leaf.” Then pretty soon you would see a shed snake skin go floating down river and it was, “Okay…I’m done…I’m outta here!”
In summer everyone faces a danger – a form of hyperthermia called Heat Stroke.
Hyperthermia is an abnormally elevated (hyper) body temperature accompanied with physical and neurological symptoms. Heat stroke is a true medical emergency that can be fatal if not promptly and properly treated.
Heat cramps and heat exhaustion are less severe forms of hyperthermia. Although neither one are fun.
Normally when the body generates heat it is usually able to dissipate that heat through radiation of heat through the skin or through the evaporation of perspiration.
Extreme heat, high humidity or vigorous exercise can set up conditions where your body’s core temperature rises and is unable to dissipate it.
Dehydration is another cause of heat stroke. If you are dehydrated you will be unable to sweat fast enough to dissipate the heat.
Those that are most susceptible to heat strokes are:
The elderly
Those with heart diseases, lung diseases, kidney diseases
The very young
People taking medications that make them vulnerable to heat stroke
Athletes
People working outside that physically exert themselves under the sun
If you exercise outdoors, do not do it during the hottest part of the day – noon time, 3-4 pm
Drink a glass of water prior to exercise, and then drink some water every fifteen minutes while exercising. Your urine should be clear. If it isn’t then start drinking water.
Also, please, if you love your animals do not take them in the car with you. Even if you leave your pet in the car with the windows cracked they will die from the heat within 3 minutes. The interior of a car shoots up to over 100 degrees in that time. It will fry their brain and they will die. Please, for their sake, leave them at home.
Make sure they have plenty of fresh, clean water too.
If you do suspect you or your pet are having some kind of heat prostration immediately get in the shade or go inside. A cold shower or cold compress to the back of the neck will help lower your core temperature.
I also would like to share a website with you:
Of course I highly recommend ConsumerWorld.org
Among some of the wonderful tidbits this week I found this pertinent article:
Clean that bag
The report on reusable grocery bags by researchers at the University of Arizona and Loma Linda University in California makes these recommendations for lawmakers and tips for consumers:
– States should consider requiring printed instructions on reusable bags indicating that they need to be cleaned or bleached between uses.
– State and local governments should invest in a public education campaign to alert the public about risk and prevention.
– Consumers should be careful to separate raw foods from other food products.
– Consumers should not use reusable bags for purposes other than grocery shopping, such as carrying books or gym clothes.
– Consumers should not store meat or produce in their car trunks because the high temperatures promote bacteria growth, which can contaminate reusable bags.
Source: University of Arizona
I think that is about all for this time. Take care and I hope to see you at the next Coffee Klatsch.
Hello and Welcome! I’m Eppinese Estelle your hostess. I hope you are well. Perhaps I should say “Aloha”.
This time I’m going to try something a little bit differently…let’s see how it goes.
Today we’re going to discuss:
The VW commercial
Automatic Soap Dispensers
New Drivers’ License and Plates
Looking at the Planets for June
Best times for different things
Now you are probably wondering why I have on a lei and hat? Today I’m dressing Hawaiian in honor of King Kamehameha Day June 11. He united the Hawaiian Islands 1795 and June 11 is considered a state holiday. In North Kohala it is an especially special place to celebrate as Kamahameha I was born in North Kohala and residents there played a prominent role in saving his life as an infant.
Gee it seems that just a couple of weeks ago we were all grabbing a lightweight jacket of some sort as we ran out the door! The field across the road has corn coming up – it’s about 1 inch tall right now.
I probably watch more television than I should but there is a couple of commercials out right now that just drive me to distraction:
The automatic soap dispenser: “never touch a dirty pump again’. Now, come on! It’s a liquid soap dispenser or a bar of soap. And I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that the normal everyday person isn’t doing surgery! You are washing your hands for cryin’ out loud!! Any dirt or germs are being washed off, after you pump the soap into your hands!
Ok, is it just me or is Volkswagen trying to start a new fad or whatever? I mean come on people! The slugging someone in the arm and calling the car color “blue one” is totally incorrect! That was reserved for the Volkswagen beetle and the ‘slug bug’ punch in the arm was only for the beetle! And! If you slugged someone in the arm and it wasn’t a beetle you got slugged back harder for messing up! Now, I must be getting old but one mini-SUV or station wagon looks pretty much like another at quick glance. So how do I know I am correct when I slug someone thinking it’s a VW? Nope, gets way too confusing…There is no mistaking the silhouette of a VW Beetle. Back to the think tank VW!
Well, since we moved to a new state we had to get new drivers’ licenses and car plates. Fortunately, our licenses were still valid and we just had to take an eye exam. For such a little place the drivers’ license office was really busy and quite up to date technology-wise. I was quite impressed!
I will try to not drag this out too much, but it involved 2 trips back to the house (4 miles round-trip) I kept forgetting stuff; and several phone calls to my husband at work…he was unable to talk to me…so I resorted to an email, asking where the car registration was (we had to get replacements because the originals were packed away somewhere—safe.
Then I had to have a current proof of insurance – the card I had expired last year…naturally! So I had to call them and then I managed to freak the woman out when I told her we had moved. She went all in a dither and I said, “Look, just FAX me what we have now and we can do the transfer stuff later…I’m at the DMV right now and really don’t have the time to update this right now.
So, okay when I walked back in and up to the window the paper work was ready and we were waiting for the FAX…I guess as so often happens with Faxes in an office, someone tore off my fax and put it aside as it wasn’t theirs…so 15 minutes later the woman went to the back and started looking for it…
Anyway…I’m still in a state of shock at how nice people are here! Even at the DMV!! Now, if we could just get those photos to look better….
Special thanks to the Old Farmer’s Almanac at http://almanac.com for the following sky-cast:
Look for a striking, close meeting of orange Mars and Leo’s blue star Regulus during the first 10 days of June. They’re well matched in brightness but identifiable by the stark color contrast. A nice drama unfolds also in the hours before dawn: Jupiter, having crossed into Pisces a month ago, hovers below the Moon on the 6th and then passes very near blue-green Uranus from the 7th to the 11th. Binoculars easily show Uranus above Jupiter. Look for the crescent Moon below Venus on the 14th and use binoculars to see Venus within the lovely Beehive star cluster on the 19th and 20th. Summer begins with the solstice, on the 21st at 7:28 A.M.
Full Moon 26th day 7th hour 30th minute
Quit Smoking: June 4, 9
Begin diet to lose weight: June 4, 9
Diet to gain weight: June 17, 21
Cut hair to discourage growth: June 4, 5
To encourage growth: June 15, 16, 19, 20
Best Fishing days: June 12 – 26
That’s all for now, I hope to see you at the next Coffee Klatsch. Take care.
Hello and Welcome! I’m Eppinese Estelle your hostess of Coffee Klatsch!
It seems the weather is all goofed up – April’s rain is in May…so does this mean we will have May’s flowers in June?
Well, we are still putting things away. I was putting some stuff in the side table when I found this thingy. My husband said it is a hand-held planetarium. I made the mistake of asking how it works…what with the dials and such. So he proceeded to humor me. As he explained my face must have shown how perplexed I was at his explanation so as a result he became more irritated with my failure to grasp what I’m sure to him is a simple concept his voice gets ‘edgy’ and then he comes up with: “The stars are out all the time you know…there is no energy switch.”
Well, Yeah! What can one possibly say to that? I mean something that won’t start a big hairy disagreement. My husband hasn’t learned that it’s just not right to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person!!
Ok, so I was reading – again…The article was 10 things killed by the internet. Part of the author’s list was: Encyclopedias: used to be if it was in either the Britannica or Grolier’s’ Encyclopedia you could count on it being the truth. Now we have Wikipedia’s. Wiki’s sound like a good thing provided they are every-mans/every woman’s knowledge, but most often it is rehashed urban legend or hearsay, according to studies done on encyclopedias.
Another casualty? Trust in studies of encyclopedias.
The Nigerian Scam, now often referred to as 419 scams as that is the section of Nigerian law they violate. My question is why would anyone believe that someone from a foreign government has magically chosen them to smuggle money out of said country? Oh, right—-greed….Never mind..
Well, speaking of emails – I just did that dreaded chore of weeding out email boxes. It took me nearly 8 hours but I managed to semi-organize, file and delete…are you ready for this? Over 11, 674 pieces of email! That was just my inbox…I have, at last look, about that many pieces of spam in my ‘junk drawer’. But you know…it does give one a sense of accomplishment to see all of those disappear! One has to become ruthless when deleting! – I liken it to cleaning out unnecessary clothing, etc out of a closet. I’m still trying to learn how to do that in that in that department!
Just a quick little: Did you know? Cats and humans have identical regions of their brain responsible for emotion. It made me wonder if this is a reference to “being catty”?
I always like to try to share some tidbit of useful information…and the mild stroke suffered by Sen. Bob Biden’s 44 year old son got me to thinking. How do you tell if a person is having a stroke?
There are 6 signs that happen suddenly and intensely:
Numbness, paralysis or weakness in your face, arm or leg, especially on only one side of your body.
New problems with walking or balance
Sudden vision changes
Drooling or slurred speech
New Problems speaking or understanding simple statements or feeling confused
A sudden, severe headache that is different from past headaches
According to Froedtart and the Medical College of Wisconsin, you must know the warning signs and act FAST! Every minute counts! A quick guide to determine if someone you know or love is having a stroke: Just remember FAST:
Face — Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?
Arms — Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
Speech — Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence. Are the words slurred? Can he/she repeat the sentence correctly?
Time — If the person shows any of these symptoms, time is important. Call 9-1-1 immediately.
Not all of these warning signs occur in every stroke. When symptoms of a stroke occur and then resolve on their own in a short period of time, a person has experienced a transient aschemic attack (TIA). Although TIAs usually go away within minutes, they should be regarded as very serious. TIAs are major warning signs of an impending stroke. One out of every 10 major stroke victims had first experienced a warning TIA. The lag between a TIA and a major stroke may be hours, days or months. One-fifth of all strokes that follow a TIA occur within the month. Half occur within the same year.
Hello! And welcome to Coffee Klatsch! I’m Eppinese Estelle your hostess. I hope you are well.
Spring is here and just a quick update of planting days for May…Can it be? Already? How can this be? I’m just getting used to writing April and you want me to change? I’m still having trouble remembering that it is 2010!! I keep trying my best to put that zero first!
Planting dates: May 15 and May 30/ Moon is favorable May 15 and May 28
Good fishing days: May 13 through May 27.
123 new species have been discovered in Borneo…one is a frog with no lungs…they breathe through their skin.
On to the great salt controversy of 2010 – I’m a visual thinker so when I heard that the medical community wants to step in and reduce the salt in pre-packaged foods I immediately went visual and ran the movie of the Salt Police coming to your door and doing random searches. People meeting in alleys asking if they can score some sodium…okay I’m weird…
Some restaurants in New York, I have heard, are no longer placing salt shakers on the tables. It makes no difference…people in and of themselves are not at fault here! Individuals that salt their food at the table are around 20% of salt use. The only thing that really scares me about this is the idea that the medical community is in charge of our lives to this extent. Didn’t we just get out of a near economic collapse when the banks were in charge?
A little history about salt: In the days of yore…and actually before, salt was considered pound for pound as precious as gold, hence the term: “Worth his weight in gold.” The Romans paid their soldiers partly in salt called a salarium, or in today’s English, salary. Medieval Europe was forever changed when fishermen were able to salt the cod caught off of North America’s Grand Banks so they would be preserved for sale in Europe!
I finally found a beautician that I think is going to be wonderful! As you can see I’ve shortened it up for the summer! Yes, I actually found her salon! I’m getting pretty good at following directions! The part that really throws me for a loop is all the one-way streets! Whoa!!
Then…THEN, one of the one-way streets after a time changes directions! I found that out the hard way…Imagine driving thinking you are going to be able to get to your destination when you come to a 4-way stop. The traffic across from you on the same street you are on has suddenly changed direction and is now coming at you and you have to make a quick decision as to which way to go! ‘Cause you sure can’t go straight! (Although it did cross my mind.)
Oh man! There is nothing that says “newcomer” or stranger faster than having that moment of absolute panic on your face as you try to get your bearings with other cars waiting for you to go!!! That’s when you would dearly love to have a big sign that says, “Gimme a break! I’m new in town! I don’t know where I’m goin’!”
Boy! Has it ever been windy here! Both dogs have become Velcro dogs. They are constantly underfoot in the house and when we go outside, Bella is determined to get the rabbit that lives under our back deck! So determined that she forgets why we are out there! Yogi just gets skittish. I sometimes think “Skittles” would have been a good name for him in the wind. Of course, horses get really skittish in the wind. Oh, yeah, they will practically turn themselves inside out when a leave blows into them from behind. Probably because they can’t hear any possible danger coming toward them so they just freak at everything!
I am having the most difficult time getting my bearings. Our house is situated on an angle I think…so what I think in my head should be north is east and well, let’s just say it’s making it very difficult!
I think that’s why I always felt comfortable driving in California is that if you ever got lost, just start driving west…sooner or later you’re gonna come to some big water and you can stop now.
Driving directions were always a source of mystery to my parents. I remember many a time when we would be traveling on vacation or just taking a Sunday afternoon ride, and my mom was in charge of the directions. Now, I have to point out here, this was before the days of GPS…man! That would have been great, not to mention save a lot of screaming and misunderstandings, at least between my mom and dad.
We would be traveling down the highway and the highway or street that we were to take to get to our destination would be on the large green highway signs with the words, “Exit Whatever, Next Right” and sometimes the exit number, if you were quick enough to catch it.. Mind you now, this was in the days when the speed limit on the highway could be 75 or 80 miles an hour.
My mom would tell my dad, “get over in the right lane. We have to take this exit.” My dad would move over but wouldn’t slow up a little to exit. As we were in the process of sailing past, Mom would raise her voice just a little saying, “This is it! Take this one! Now”!
Dad would grip the wheel in what for the world looked like a bear hug, “What? Where? – Right here or the next one? – They didn’t say, this exit, they said the next exit! Does that mean now or the one after this one?” My mom would bite her tongue and mutter very loudly, “you were supposed to take this exit! Now we will have to find a way to get back there.”
Now all of this is going on at about 80 miles an hour and voices are raised and tempers are beginning to flare. And there I sit, in the back seat not daring to speak, because I know mom will turn around and pop me up side my head! Huh uh!
Anyway, my husband thinks because I haven’t figured out my way around yet that I can’t find my way out of a wet paper bag…well…why would I want to? Anyway, it’s quite a different story when you are a passenger as opposed to driving. As a passenger you can gawk around and enjoy the ride.
Some props to MousePrint.org: They did a comparison of “Low Sodium” canned soup. Now, we all are trying to eat right and healthy so naturally, when we see “low sodium” we think it’s true, don’t we? Hah! How mistaken we are! How mislead! There is 480 mg of salt in both! Plus! In the low sodium can there is 1.4 grams of fat! And then! As if to add insult to injury, so to speak, they will charge you an extra 50 cents for the privilege of the label misleading you! What!?!
Ah well, I guess it’s back to wearing the glasses on a chain when shopping and taking the time to read!
Well, I can feel a rant coming on so I’ll save that for another time.
Thank you for stopping by and Take care. We will see you soon.
The best times are 1 hour before and 1 hour after high tides and 1 hour before and 1 hour after low tides. Now this is based on the eastern coast so, if you live inland the time for high tides corresponds with the times the moon is due south. Low tides are halfway between high tides.
Also, when the barometer is steady or on the rise even when it is stormy, fish don’t want to give up feeding, so the smart fisherman will find the right bait.
Now for planting by the moon:
Plant flowers and vegetables that bear crops above ground during the light or waxing of the moon: (this is from the day the moon is new until the day it is full)
Plant above ground crops: April 19 and 20
Plant below the ground crops: (carrots and potatoes come to mind) April 1, 10, 11
If you have decided to quit smoking: April 1 and 10th
To Lose Weight: April 1 and 10
To Gain Weight: April 15 and 24
Haircut to encourage growth: I know, there are the old wives tales about getting your hair cut on a full moon by a pregnant woman, but the Almanac says April 15, 16, 26 & 27.
Coming Up on Thursday, April 8, we will have a live show with Nancy Calumet speaking about Spiritual Practices. I hope you can join us, if not; it will be recorded so you can listen later.
The link to join the call: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/78144
Also, we’re going to be going outside and I’m going to show you how to plant a salad garden in a very easy container…(I’m sprouting my lettuce and green peppers so I can plant seedlings – here’s hoping they cooperate!) Also, I’ll be planting a staple of the Native Americans: the Three Sisters, (corn, beans, and squash) and they will all be in a pot, as I don’t have a fence up yet to keep the dogs out of it!
If you would like to follow along with me in planting a very easy container for salad you will need: seedlings of lettuce and green peppers (if you wish); a bag of garden soil; and either a child’s red wagon, or old wheelbarrow, or some kind of container to hold the bag of soil. (Wheels would probably be a good idea, that way you can move your garden in and out of the sun.)
So, that’s all for now, I hope we will see you on Thursday, if not, we’ll talk again soon. Take care.
I’m Eppinese Estelle, and I am your hostess for Coffee Klatsch. The nice folks over at TurtleZen agreed to let me post my blog here.
