The View from Here

A Little Adventure

Yesterday we joined our son on a little adventure. None of us had been to Lake Murray in years, but some recent sightings of the Common Loon prompted us to embark on a road trip. So off we went, despite the cold and very little knowledge of what we were going to find.

First of all let me say that I was very pleasantly surprised by the condition of the park, the clarity of the water, and the beauty of the surroundings. Lake Murray, seven miles south of Ardmore, is the oldest and largest of Oklahoma’s 35 state parks and frankly I expected it to look like an old park. Well, yes, the tower is still there and the distinctive rock work done by the WPA during 1930 is evident in many of the camping areas, but there is also new construction and renovation everywhere. New roads, new campsites, new sidewalks, new playgrounds, and new restrooms are in various stages of completion. And a nature center will be open in time for the summer tourist season. Very impressive.

I was also surprised to see so many people in the park on a sunny, but cold February day. Many had obviously been camped there for quite some time and several cabins also seemed to be occupied. We saw people picnicking, walking their dogs, fishing, and just playing in the sunshine. There was also some type of event going on in the group camp area designated for Field Trials. Lots of horses and dogs!

We spotted some loons, mallards, red heads, coots, Canada geese, cormorants, ring-necks, gulls, herons, hawks, and a pelican. I never keep all the names in my head like Robert does and I have to consult him or a book for most. Also saw lots of little birds, some familiar, some not. Some were too far away for quality photos, but a pair of geese wandering around down by the marina were obviously quite accustomed to posing for the tourists. If I had had food in my pocket I think they would have followed me anywhere.

We stayed in the park for most of the day and then headed to Durant for a late lunch. When we got home there was a pair of green-winged teal on the pond. So all in all, quite a good day for bird watching!

I hope you enjoyed your Saturday, and I pray you have a blessed Sunday. 

The Day After

Valentine’s Day has never held a lot of importance for me. I love chocolate, but I certainly don’t need an excuse to eat it and I don’t like the “fake” chocolate that is found in most red heart-shaped boxes. I told Gary when we first started dating that if he gave me flowers, they’d better have roots! Cut flowers are dead flowers. I think balloons are one of the biggest wastes of money and energy around, but that is a post for another day. I have a personal aversion to candles. So my very smart husband bought something that he knows I love.

It’s that word “knows” that is important. And while the right gift on a special day is nice, it is still the day after the holiday that matters even more to me. Because it isn’t holiday behavior that proves how much someone loves you…it’s the day after, and all the days after that, when there are no expectations and no guidelines.

Today Gary is taking my truck to be serviced because he knows I absolutely HATE to sit at the dealership and wait for anything.  He’ll work from 5am to 2pm and then sit in that waiting room for as long as it takes. I know he actually enjoys seeing the new cars and talking to the guys, so it isn’t torture for him, but I still appreciate his willingness to do something I don’t want to do. That’s love. 

First Daffodil

Ignore the fact that the heater is still on.

Ignore the fact that the weather report still includes temps below 40.

Ignore the fact that the calendar says it is still winter.

My mind and my mood are already on SPRING, thanks to this little beauty.

Have a Happy Valentine’s Day! 

The Power is in Prayer....

Okay, everyone who watched television last night needs to just breathe into the bag…then pray. I watched ten minutes and had to go take my shower because Gary said I was “Talkin’ to the TV” again!

This too shall pass.

We will survive.

Some people don’t have quite as much power as they think they do.

Anything can happen.

The worst laid plans...

The Lord is in charge!

Pray.  

Let's Eat...or not.

We have more or less adjusted to the changes in our school breakfast/lunch program. Our students know that fruits and vegetables will be on their tray. They know they can’t get seconds of French fries or chicken nuggets. They know they can’t drink juice at lunch time. Some other rules and regulations are a little more complicated and even the teachers still have to ask for clarification. Some menu options still make no sense to me. In what universe is a corn dog a healthy food? Why do we still serve gigantic cinnamon buns? But no one asked my opinion before embarking on this journey. And no one pays attention to the concerns of a fat woman, even if she has learned some lessons the hard way.

What HAS caught the attention of everyone, from custodians taking out the trash, to teachers monitoring mealtimes, to administrators concerned with cost, is that children are ignoring much of what is on their plates, and opting to be hungry rather than healthy. You can put as many fruits and vegetables on a tray as you like, but you can’t force a kid who has been raised on meat and potatoes to eat something green!

So a team from the Texas A & M AgriLife Research and the Institute for Obesity at Texas & M University has embarked on a study that will tell us how much food school children are wasting. They are currently doing their research in elementary schools in Bryan and Dallas and the results should be available next month. Ironically it is funded by the Alliance for Potato Research and Education (who knew we even had one of those?) and we can probably expect just a bit of bias toward adding more potato dishes to the menu, but my own observations tell me that my students would agree.

At first I was a bit worried about the money spent on such a project. As I told my colleagues, we could easily tell the researchers what children are throwing away, and save them some money. But of course they want things to be exact and they want data that can be calculated and compared. So they are paying A & M students to be waste watchers at the campuses. College kids always need more money! And they have very specific guidelines to follow. I can’t even explain the parameters of the study without notes. But one of the questions to be answered is “Do students generally eat more on the days when potatoes are served?”

Dr. Murano, director of the Obesity Institute, has already made some general observations about lunch:

“A percentage of students will return food trays after lunch with very little eaten – milk carton unopened, fruit and vegetables untouched, a lot of food is wasted,” he said. “Anecdotally comparing fruit and vegetable consumption (not a focus of our project), it appears fruit is much more popular than vegetables. Also, students seem much more likely to choose two fruits as sides rather than two vegetables. And when potato products are served (mashed potatoes, potato wedges, tater tots, etc), just about every student chooses the vegetable.”

Okay, let’s look at the reasons behind this. And let me just say that after working with pre-K and Kindergarten students for forty years I AM an expert on children and their food preferences.

1. Children want to eat things that they KNOW, from their own experience, taste GOOD.
2. They are totally against anything perceived by looks, smell, or reputation to be “YUCKY!”
3. They are motivated by experience to prefer any food that can be covered with or dipped in ketchup.
4. Most three-year-olds in our culture already prefer the taste of sugar, salt, and fat over anything else.

In other words, the school is battling 3 to 5 years of home training in the consumption of sugar (soda, doughnuts, ice cream, cookies, candy), salt (McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC) and fat (same list). These children are not eating fruits and vegetables at home. (Even if they are, the dishes are typically cooked and served in a different way than they are at school.) They are certainly not eating them in restaurants or fast food places. And they are not going to be agreeable to trying something that looks and smells totally foreign to them. We have parents who are opting to send their children to school with breakfast or lunch in a bag, and I can tell you for a fact that what is in the bag is NOT healthy. So it may take years of education and retraining to fully implement a successful healthy food program.

Dr. Murano says, “In any research scenario where it is found that healthy food items are being wasted, strategies must be developed and implemented to increase consumption. These may include conducting taste tests, providing nutrition education and implementing successful health promotion interventions.”

I await the results of the study, but I think I can make some pretty good predictions. 

Big Oops!

Oh, I love technology…when it works. Of course you have to be a savvy user to avoid some of the glitches, so I fully admit that this one was my fault. I believe it is called “operator error”. LOL

I took my Sunday afternoon stroll down to the pond. Took a few pictures of the heron napping in the shade of the tree, the hooded mergansers floating on the pond, and the bright green plants emerging from the soil. Then on the way back I took some shots of the pretty pink blossoms on the peach tree.

Got back to the house and did a few things: worked on my puzzle, answered my email, did a little research. When I finally got around to uploading my new pictures….they weren’t there! Oops! I guess the card failed to record them. The ones I had taken last week were still there, but not the new ones. I’m guessing that it is bad to use the same card over and over for eight months. Well, anyway, I’ll be getting a new one today! At least I had two others that were partially full and I used one of them to take photos of the peach blossoms. It was nearly 6pm by then so the light wasn’t as good and the photos probably aren’t as good as the first ones, but that’s life. At least you know that it is spring at the Maurer house! 

My brothers' keeper...

Fair warning: We are about to fall into the rabbit hole. (For those of you unfamiliar with Alice in Wonderland, you are excused for a few minutes to Google, but don’t forget to come back.)

Two loosely related news items this weekend immediately got my attention and sent me scurrying to the internet to read more.

The first was a report that eight Houston ISD schools have been fined a total of $73,000 for selling food that violates Texas Department of Agriculture regulations.

The second was an explanation of HB 751, proposed by Texas representative Richard Pena Raymond, and HB 523, proposed by Rep. Terry Canales. The two bills would work together to ban the purchase of sodas, junk food, and energy drinks by recipients of the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).  

 I know, I know. It’s Texas. They are big and powerful. They could be their own country. They rival California in the “we do our own thing and you can’t stop us” faction. However…it IS Texas and they ARE our closest neighbor. We cross their border daily. We shop in their stores. We trade students with them every year. We tend to copy their actions more often than not. So I think it benefits us all to pay close attention to these two reports.

Anyone with a child must be aware by now that major changes have been made in school cafeterias across the country.  Everything from what children are served to how it is cooked as been changed. Menus continue to vary from state to state and district to district, but the bottom line is supposed to be better, healthier food. So there are regulations regarding the sale of “competitive” foods such as soda, candy, and junk food. Many schools, especially elementary schools, restrict when and how often these can be sold, even as fund raisers. So, one of the coaches in Houston got into trouble for selling fried chicken to raise money for his team. My only comment about this story is that I hope my own district is VERY clear about what we can and cannot sell, because I sure don’t want us to lose money in a dispute over food regulations!

The second story is a bit more disturbing and has some insidious implications. Those of you who are still picketing and protesting about your right to carry an assault weapon to shoot a turkey should probably start being alarmed about your right to buy a honey bun. Just sayin’.

These two Texas legislators have great intentions. They want to make sure that taxpayer money isn’t spent on sodas, junk food, and energy drinks that would contribute to the unhealthy diets of people who would then require more healthcare and cost us even more money. Canales makes the additional point that energy drinks are dangerous: "There's nothing nutritious or healthy about these products, and in fact they're potentially dangerous to children and we don't believe that you should be able to be using government funds to be buying them." Amen.

But…

Am I my brother’s keeper? This is a complicated issue. On the one hand there is the Bible’s admonition to care for the hungry and thirsty. On the other is Cain’s attitude and perspective, “How do I know? Am I supposed to keep tabs on what my brother is doing?” And there is also the idea that a “kept” person, like an animal in a zoo, is not only safely housed and feed, but is also highly restricted, monitored, and prevented from escaping.

Think of this legislation in terms of being a parent. The basic premise of parenthood is that if a child is in my care, in my house, then that child has to eat what I buy, wear the clothes I purchase, play with the toys I allow, and follow the rules I establish…or suffer the consequences. We all know how perfectly that works!

So how would a bill banning the sale of soda, junk food, and energy drinks actually work? I can see that it would be pretty easy to identify sodas and energy drinks, but who decides what is labeled “junk food” and what is not? At 500 calories, 890mg of sodium, and 28g of sugar, I think the pizza Lunchables should surely qualify!! And what would be the consequences of non-compliance? Fines? Removal from the program?  If the issue is really monitoring the health of the individual, would they be punished for making a deal with their neighbors and trading an apple for a bag of chips? Can we also prevent them from buying cigarettes or alcohol? How about banning them from eating at McDonald’s? That would definitely tip the scales in the right direction!

My point is that this is a very limited “solution” to a very big problem and I’m not sure it wouldn’t create even more problems. And of course anything of this nature requires millions of dollars in implement and enforce. Something to think about… 

Rainy Weekend

The weatherman says that this is the weekend we have been waiting for- 70% chance of rain. So ready!!

Our annual rainfall total is down 10-12 inches, depending on where you live in the area.  We are still officially in a drought. The lake elevations are low. Area ponds are low or dry. There are still cracks in the ground despite some recent rain showers.

So I am quite willing to sacrifice any outside plans I had for this weekend in order to watch it rain. I can do some research and catch up on emails if we stay online. I can work on my new book if we don’t. I also have a new medical mystery that I’m reading. And Gary gave me this great puzzle, so I can get started on it. BTW, the photo is of the poster that comes with it. Makes it so much easier to work! Sometimes the picture on the box is so small and not quite accurate.

I suppose if I get desperate I could even clean my house. Well, let’s just hope that doesn’t happen!

Have a great weekend! 

Living Dangerously

What is one of the most courageous things you will do today?

What is one of the riskiest things you will do today?

What is the most defiant thing you will do today?

All of the questions have the same answer- for you, for me, for your child, and for anyone you friend, tweet, or text.

The answer is eat.

I don’t have to follow that word with anything because it doesn’t matter if you are a vegan or a “beef and potatoes” fanatic. It doesn’t matter if you eat fast food or your own cooking. It doesn’t matter if you shop at the big box stores or the local farmer’s market. Any food can be contaminated, poisoned, spoiled, processed incorrectly, or cooked improperly. Most foods contain things we shouldn’t be consuming. And most of us eat things we know for a fact we shouldn’t be eating.

All this occurred to me recently when Gary and I were eating at a restaurant. I watched the waiters scurrying around delivering food to tables and I just thought “How trusting we are to think that our food is safe. And what an act of faith to put something in our mouths that was grown, harvested, packed, and cooked behind closed doors.”

These days few people have any idea what they are really eating or where it came from. Just since my generation was born we have become separated from our food sources by thousands of miles. My mother never looked at a label to see if our food came from Mexico or China. She didn’t worry about our hamburger patty containing meat from over 100 steers. She didn’t wonder if the spinach on our plate had e-coli. Nearly everything we ate came from our farm or from somewhere within driving distance of our town. The meat we ate came from an animal that had recently been grazing in the pasture or rooting around in the pen next to the house. Vegetables came from the garden or the local produce market. If there was something sprayed on our food or added to it we usually knew about it. If one of our animals was sick we knew better than to eat it.

Nowadays there is so much to worry about concerning food sources and production and cooking and serving that I really have to control my OCD tendencies and not think about all the possibilities. I have had food poisoning twice, both as a result of eating hamburger (years ago) so you won’t find me touching that anymore. But the safety of any food is questionable given the government’s allowances for insect parts, rat feces, hair, and other “defects” known to be in our food. The FDA states that "it is economically impractical to grow, harvest, or process raw products that are totally free of non-hazardous, naturally occurring, unavoidable defects." I agree. And none of the defects are considered a health hazard unless the quantity exceeds their standards. But it makes me wonder…

And of course added to my concerns about safety is my anxiety about additives since I am on a very low salt diet. And I was talking recently with someone about the sugar in foods. We were both surprised to learn that there are 10 grams of sugar in a Quarter Pounder with cheese. Of course I’m very worried about the food our children consume under the local arches because it is so laden with salt and fat and sugar. That same QP has 1100mg of sodium. Think the little cheeseburger is better? Try 680mg of sodium and 7 grams of sugar. Oh, and if you are a sweet tea fan because you think it is better than soda- medium sweet tea, 45 grams of sugar, medium Coke 58. A minor improvement.

So be careful what you put in your mouth today. Bon appetit! 

Award Shows I No Longer Watch

Well…that would be any of them. I no longer care who gets a pat on the back. I don’t care what the stars wear to the event. I don’t care what they have to say. And I am so very tired of seeing and hearing things I wish I hadn’t and then trying to blot the same out of my memory! “Stars” are still people and they wear, do, and say some very, very stupid things.

Yes, I appreciate good music and I admire talent. Yes, I am a huge movie fan. Yes, I watch some television shows and have my favorites. But I no longer feel the need to be assured that others like the same music, movies, or shows. And let’s face it- that is real reason we watch. We don’t really care if the stars are glorified and get their little trophies. We want to be part of the “in group” that supports them. We want the reassurance that our choices match those of our peers. We want to belong to the best fan club!

When I first moved from California to Caddo one of my new classmates wanted to know if I “loved” the Beatles. I think she was shocked to hear that I barely knew who they were. Another was surprised that I wasn’t an Elvis groupie. Little did they know that my family was still watching Mitch Miller and I was listening to Andy Williams and Johnny Cash!

It was much easier way back then to just enjoy a song or movie or television show. I didn’t read fan magazines or keep up with every little bit of gossip about the private lives of singers and stars. Now I don’t even have to try to learn the sordid details of the lives of each and every member of the entertainment industry. Stories of their sex lives, political aspirations, arrests, addictions, and designer wardrobes are everywhere- from the evening news to talk shows, reality shows, commercials, newspapers, magazines, and of course, the internet.

For years I tried not to let the personal lives of stars influence my appreciation of their talents. I tried to enjoy songs and movies and television shows despite knowing the person in front of me had beaten his wife, cheated on his taxes, and was addicted to cocaine. Who didn’t love hearing Whitney sing, knowing full well she had serious problems? But it is getting more and more difficult to do so. I can’t listen to Randy anymore without thinking about him lying drunk and naked alongside our local highway. I can’t admire someone I saw in a mug shot on the evening news or watched being escorted into the courthouse to face charges of drunk driving. So he can sing…so what? It is getting harder and harder to separate the person from the persona.

So, no, I won’t be watching the Grammy awards Sunday. I have better things to do.