When I was a kid, we lived behind an empty field, part of which later turned into a public school complex. Behind our row of houses, the field sloped away gently, making it a prime location for all sorts of pretend games. Dad upped our popularity among neighborhood kids when he built a two-seater airplane out of wooden crates, with wings, a propeller and wheels. Karen and I took to the slopes, the daughters of a Navy chief in the new, post-war field of avionics: aviation electronics. We didn’t know anything about radar and sonar for tracking spy planes and enemy submarines. All we knew was that our dad could build a great airplane. The hill was southern California dirt – no grass. We and our friends took that plane up and down that slope, eating dust, taking a bumpy ride to the bottom, then eating more dust. The visible evidence came that night in the bathtub. If bathtub rings had the same significance as tree rings, future scientists could have pinpointed the Summer of the Airplane by the width of the ring, except Mom never let a bathtub ring live. Dirt, glorious dirt! When we lived on St. Simons Island, Georgia, I recall another adventure in dirt with a friend. I can’t remember the scenario, but I think it involved forts and sieges. Margaret Lokey was not the type of girl who got dirty much, so her mother was amazed – maybe chagrined – when we showed up at the Lokey house looking like Dustbowl-era reenactors. In college, I started out majoring in archeology that ended after a dig by Utah Lake, where we used fine mesh to sift tiny bones and other rubble from dirt. I didn’t mind the dirt, but I minded the boredom. A tedious class on Meso-American pottery sealed the deal. Archeology was dull. I still liked dirt. When Liz was two, I took the Kelly sibs to one of Sam’s soccer matches. Liz wasn’t as much interested in watching her brother run up and down the field as she was in a puddle no more than six inches across. She started running at it and sliding. In no time, she had a royal mess and a much larger puddle. It started to resemble the La Brea Tar Pits. I could have stopped her. The horrified looks of other mothers told me – yet again - that I would not be named Mother of the Year in 1980. Lizzie was having fun, so I couldn’t see a downside. When the game ended and Liz was encased in Utah mud, we found some plastic in the car and made her sit on that. The bathtub soon had that same massive ring I remember from my days in California aviation. For a large chunk of world history, cleanliness was next to impossible. I just finished reading The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitary History, which describes in gory detail dirtier times than our own, when people couldn’t or wouldn’t bathe much. No one seemed to mind, because as more than one old philosopher noted, when everyone stinks, no one notices. After the clean Romans and their glorious baths, sanitation went belly up. According to the book, things got brighter in the Middle Ages when the much-cleaner Arabs (and their baths) invaded Spain. Unfortunately, things took a literal nose dive when suspicious Europeans considered their dirty Christian selves preferable to clean followers of Islam. Dirt took on religious overtones, and not good ones: To be dirty was to be righteous. By 1900, Americans took the lead in clean, partly because U.S. plumbing was newer than whatever existed in creaky old Europe. Also, advertisers began to refine their persuasive chops by exalting soap to the unwashed masses, stating with no subtlety that Body Odor ruined lives almost as fast as bubonic plague. Fortunes were made on Ivory and Lifebuoy as American manufacturers, ahem, cleaned up. Now, when sanitation in prosperous countries has reach astounding heights, researchers are discovering that clean has a downside. Young immune systems lacking certain bacteria are prone to allergies and asthma, health problems not found in developing nations where hygiene is still rudimentary. That’s the word. Personal deodorizing and pampering of the pelt are nice, but clean hands alone do much more to resist infection. What? Bathe less? Maybe you’d be better off. That’s it. Wash your hands, then go to the library and check out this book, which I donated, after washing my hands.
Paws to Consider... Pet identification
Wednesday, 27 February 2008
By Julee Russell
Benny, Timmy, Blondie, Sandy, and Tally, all dogs and cats who have been successfully placed with loving families, also have something else in common. Each of these pets now has permanent identification, an implanted micro-chip. If these pets stray from home, a shelter or rescue agency can scan them, trace the owners, and help reunite the family with the pet. Pet identification is a key element in your pet’s survival. O.K., perhaps that sounds extreme, but according to the HomeAgain web site, the number one cause of pet death is getting lost. In fact, pet detective Kat Albrecht states that, “Losing a pet is often not a question of ‘if,’ but ‘when.’ One in three American pets will get lost in their lifetime.“The Sheyenne Valley Friends of Animals encourages all pet owners to provide their pets with identification. According to the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy, only about 2 percent of cats and 15 percent of dogs that are lost are ever reunited with their owners. The reason is shockingly simple -- too many owners fail to put identification on their animals, especially cats, to ensure their safe return home. And even the most responsible pet owners can face unexpected circumstances that cause their animals to accidentally stray. If you care about your pets, tagging and microchipping are the best ways to help them get home again when they are lost. Dog owners, you should consider using a collar with tags or a collar with your telephone number embroidered into it. Cat owners, particularly those whose cats venture outside, should use break-away or elastic collars, those that the cat can escape from if necessary. Break-away collars are available locally at the Valley City Veterinary Hospital. The HomeAgain micro-chip identification system is available here at the Valley City Veterinary Hospital. The micro-chips are “universal” meaning they can be read by almost any scanner, and the numbers will be traced back to you. When you activate the chip, you receive a number of benefits from HomeAgain, from access to the pet recovery network, poster templates for lost pets and limited pet health insurance to 24 hour veterinary assistance and consultation. Call 845-3662 for an appointment.
Does it seem to you that winter will never end? What could lift your spirits more than a cat on your lap, a cup of tea at your side and a good book. If you don’t already have a cat or if the cat you have needs a companion, we have a deal for you! Adopting a cat from SVFA will give a lost or abandoned cat a permanent home but also make room in an SVFA foster home for other homeless cats. That good deed will keep you warm at least until spring. Call us at 840-5047 for a pre-adoption form and to talk about the cat that is right for you! These SVFA cats are available now. They have had wellness checks, are spayed or neutered, all shots and a Home Again microchip.
Foster Homes Needed: Imagine for just a minute that your world suddenly turns upside down. You're lost and no amount of wandering takes you home. It's cold, really, really cold. You're hungry. You have nowhere to go. You see a few people but you can’t explain what has happened to you. You can only wag your tail or woof or meow or hide in fear. You need help. Now imagine some nice person comes along and recognizes your situation and takes you in. And this foster home feels like a miracle -- nice people, a warm place to nap and sleep and regular meals. Oh, and lots and lots of love. Foster homes for animals make a difference. The Sheyenne Valley Friends of Animals is looking for people who are willing to take in a homeless animal until a permanent home can be found. Contact SVFA at 840-5047, if you have what it takes to make a difference in a pet’s life.
Your Health... Warning signs for heart attack, stroke and cardiac arrest
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
By Dr. Adeel Ahmad, Internal Medicine physician
February is Heart Month and a great time to become aware of the warning signs for heart attack, stroke and cardiac arrest. Dial 9-1-1 fast. Heart attack and stroke are life and death emergencies, so every second counts. If you see or have any of the listed symptoms, call 911 immediately. Not all of these signs occur in every heart attack or stroke. Also, sometimes they go away and then return. If any occur, get help fast. Coronary heart disease is America’s number one killer and stroke is number three. Whether you are 20, 50 or older, it’s important to reduce your risk factors, know the warning signs and know how to respond quickly. Some heart attacks are sudden and intense, but most start slowly, with mild pain or discomfort. Often people affected are not sure what is wrong and wait too long before getting help.
Heart Attack Warning Signs: * Chest discomfort that can last more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain. * Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Symptoms may include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach. * Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort. * Other signs may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
Stroke Warning Signs: If you have one or more of the following signs, don’t delay, call 911. Also, check the time so you know when the first symptoms appeared. * Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body.
* Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding* Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.* Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination* Sudden, severe headache with no known cause. Cardiac Arrest Signs: These signs come on immediately and without warning. n Sudden loss of responsiveness (no response to tapping on shoulders). n No normal breathing (the victim does not take a normal breath when you tilt the head up and check for at least five seconds). If these signs are present, tell someone to call 911 and get an AED (if one is available). If you are alone with someone who has these signs of cardiac arrest, call 9-1-1, get an AED, and begin CPR.
Know Your Risk Factors: By age 20, you should know your risk factors. The important risk factors you can control or treat include: * smoking. * high blood pressure. * high blood cholesterol. * diabetes. * being overweight or obese. * physical inactivity.It’s essential that you measure your risk of heart disease and make a plan for how to prevent it in the near future. To do a quick assessment of your risk, go to the American Heart Association website at www.americanheart.org and go to “Risk Assessment.”This tool will help you assess your risk of having a heart attack or dying from coronary heart disease in the next 10 years. It will also check to see if you may have metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors that greatly increase your chances of developing cardiovascular disease, including stroke and diabetes. The above material was courtesy of the American Heart Association. The Your Health column is coordinated by Mercy Hospital.
Ellen Chaffee... A train wreck in slow motion
Monday, 25 February 2008
By Ellen Chaffee
The finances of college students in earlier times (like yours and mine) were much different than today. Even after accounting for inflation, the cost of going to college was less. First-year teachers made more, and student loans were uncommon. Take my experience at a public university, for example. I had a small scholarship, I worked part-time and summers, and my parents helped out. I had no loans. My first job after graduation as a high school teacher paid $5,900. If I had attended VCSU, the cost of my senior year (tuition, fees, room, board, books, and a small personal allowance) would have been $1,677, or 28 percent of my $5,900 starting salary. How does that translate today? The cost of attendance at VCSU is $13,800, which is 27 percent more than the $10,825 it would have been after inflation on the earlier $1,677. A typical teacher’s starting salary in North Dakota is $29,000, so the cost to attend has risen from 28 to 48 percent of a teacher’s starting salary. Increasing my starting salary by inflation would give new teachers a salary of $38,100, or 31 percent more they earn now. In summary, after adjusting for inflation, students pay 27 percent more than I did to go to college and earn 31 percent less as new teachers. But that is not all. Like me, today’s students work, get scholarships, and have parental support. Unlike me, the typical VCSU graduate has $19,000 in loans. Loan payments will take a big chunk of their much smaller teaching salary for years to come. Look again at that $38,100 first-year teaching salary. It sounds like so much more than my princely $5,900, but it is the same, after inflation. Coincidentally, VCSU recently advertised to hire a new mathematics professor, doctorate preferred, with a starting salary of $38,000. The ad generated considerable online discussion at the Bismarck Tribune. Someone wrote that it was outrageous to expect someone to work for so little due to inadequate state funding, when they had invested so much in their own expertise. He was right. And he did not even know that $38,000 is the most we have ever offered a new faculty member. Why don’t we pay more? We have reallocated $100,000-$400,000 every single year to pay for high priorities not funded by the state, including higher salaries. Since education is an intensely human enterprise and requires a wide variety of expertise, we protected positions as best we could. Our budget has risen from 70 to nearly 80 percent salaries and benefits, leaving five percent for utilities and only 15 percent for costs like supplies, postage, phone, travel, software licenses, and equipment. To increase salaries by one percent, we would have to cut more than two staff positions. That’s what “reallocate” means – making painful cuts. Over the years, North Dakotans have been watching a financial train wreck in slow motion, both for students and for universities. That’s not like us. We help when people are hurt. We fix things that are broken. We value education. Don’t we?
From There to Here... Does 9 + 9 = 18?
Friday, 22 February 2008
By Dennis Stillings
Spring is approaching, the time when a golfer’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of greens and birdies and (I hear tell) of beers and bets. The Valley City Town and Country Club has a long and illustrious history, for these parts, that deserves to be documented. This venerable institution was organized in 1916: the golf course was built in 1920, and the clubhouse was added in 1922. Joe Kirkwood, the famous Australian professional, and Gene Sarazen played golf matches and did trick-shot demonstrations here in 1925. These exhibitions were sometimes filmed and sent back East. Walter Hagen played 9 holes of golf here in 1933, scoring 34. In the early days of professional golf there was typically only one payout of around $100 for winning a tournament—there was no second- or third-place money— therefore pros could do much better financially by railroading around the country doing exhibitions at small local golf courses. I remember well the old wood-frame clubhouse at the Valley City Town & Country Club (VCTCC) and the sand-green course with its burnt-to-dust grass-and-clay fairways, its foot-scraper doormat tees, and its buckbrush roughs. The summer weather was much hotter and dryer then, and golf balls would roll into the cracks in the clay—a real hazard during late July and August. Occasionally, a crow would make off with a good drive. (Anyway, that excuse was sometimes used for a lost ball—and there were lost balls aplenty in the thick prairie grass). I learned to play golf at VCTCC with a well-used set of hickory-shafted clubs, including a driver, brassie, spoon, mid-iron, mashie, niblick, mashie-niblick and putter. I particularly liked my niblick, which had somewhat more loft than a modern 64-degree wedge. If I opened the face slightly, I could come close to hitting my own nose with the ball. I called the club a “schlibbitzer.” My driver, brassie and spoon soon broke, but I managed my very first eagle ever on hole #6 (267 yards along the railroad track) by nearly driving the green (down-wind on the baked-clay fairway) with my mid-iron and then “schlibbitzing” the ball into the hole. My own place in VCTCC history (other than winning First Flight last year) was to be the very last person to play the sand-green course. I believe that it was during the summer of 1958 that the old sand course came to an end, and construction of the new grass-green course began. Before that work began, the vegetation on the old course was burned off. Fanatic that I was, I played one last round through the smoke and flames, nearly losing my bag of old hickories to a flare-up of dry grass near where I had laid my clubs while I hit a shot. Somehow, I did lose the old Schlibbitzer, a misfortune that crippled my golf game for some time to come. After my family moved to Hutchinson, Minn., in 1956, I continued to come back to Valley City during summer vacation for a few more years. After 1958, I played the new grass-green course with, as best I can recall, Dick McConn, Will Jantzen, Noel Dalziel, and Jack Paulson. Sometimes it can be a bit difficult to get a money-game going here now, but in those days, with those guys, it was bet it or forget it. So we always had our little dime-and-quarter stakes. It has been a considerable disappointment to me that Valley City still does not have an 18-hole championship golf course, a state of affairs that is all the more strange because we have two 9-hole golf courses. A town with plenty of available land located in a tree-filled river valley surrounded by buttes and rolling hills and drained by innumerable branch creeks should be able to string together a first-class 18-holer. One suspects that there are turf issues involved, and not the kind of turf you take with a well-struck iron shot. A decent 18-hole golf course would bring in a lot of money, and would serve the community well in many ways, including those who do not play the game. I intend to return to this topic in future columns, so if anyone has input on this, it will be appreciated.
