Virginia Is For Families

It’s 34 F outside and raining.  So much for snowflakes and icy glitter as Christmas approaches.  Once again the skies are gray and full of nondescript clouds.  The trees have given up making wild gestures  of despair.

Now they are all drooping in sodden slumber.  Wake us up when the temperature goes below freezing.   Splash us with a dressing of ice as portrayed in the photo I put up a few days ago.   That was last year.  Nothing so interesting has happened this winter.  Noah is probably happy in his celestial yacht.  Somewhere.

My cough returned for a encore run and I have a headache this morning.  Will it never end?  I decided to go for the cure and went out for Hardee’s cinnamon  and raisin biscuits.   Four of these guys plus some Mountain Dew or (even better) Vault will solve just about any pounding pain in the CD ( chrome domium).    And in fact it’s working.

But the photo taking has been postponed (again!)  until the rain and the coughing stop.

Any day now.   On a more positive note I discovered that liquid Vitamin B12 and B6  are sometimes beneficial for RLS (Restless Legs Syndrome).   I was giving a can of Red Bull a chance to wake me up while having an attack of RLS a few weeks ago.  And the shaky legs went away!   No more bees doing laps from my knees to my ankles.

So I looked at the ingredients and discovered the Vitamin B content.  Now I take a teaspoon per day and it helps once in awhile.  Yesterday I even took a nap!   Oh what joy.   A nap during the day for someone with RLS is better than you know what!  Imagine never being able to rest unless you have taken some medication that is used mainly by Parkinson patients!  Believe me you do not want to take that stuff during the day unless you plan to live in bed.

So here is the good news for the five or ten percent of the population out there who deals with this scourge.  Try B12 and B6 in liquid form.

AND  look for silver linings  in the clouds.  I managed to find some yesterday as I grabbed a few moments of exquisite slumber during the day.   Then dreamed I was kissing a beautiful girl in a field of sparkling grass on a sunny afternoon.

Later, upon awakening, I told Beth about this dream.  And a  few hours later she told me that company would be here tomorrow (now today) and we would not be alone again until   the new year arrives.

We have been wrapping so many presents lately.  Perhaps we should take a moment and unwrap a couple.

Just for fun.

I’m sick again.  But wasn’t I just laid out with something a few weeks ago?  This is a cold and a chest virus.  A few weeks it was a stomach virus.

The good news is we all should be in good health for the weeks around Christmas.  These bugs have been going around but so has the cold weather.  It seemed a lot like winter out there today even though the temperature was in the forties.

Don’t you hate a cold that gets into your lungs and makes you cough?  I hate coughing.  It keeps me up at night.  I just lay there and wait for that irritation in the throat to grow to a point where I have to get rid of it.  And then I cough and feel better for about a minute.

Cough syrup doesn’t seem to help much.  Sleep helps.  But how do you get to sleep with this cough reflex action keeping you up?

If I could just numb that area in my throat so I would not  feel the irritation growing.   HHmmm.  I tried spraying it with this spray they have for sore throats.  But it wouldn’t reach the right spot.   And then I thought about the small vibrator I use on my legs when I have RLS (Restless Legs Syndrome).

I just lay the vibrator on a pillow next to my chrome domium and turn it on so that it’s pressed up against the spot that brings on the coughing.

And I don’t feel the need to cough.   It is completely overwhelmed by the vibrator.  And then I go to sleep.

But the vibrator keeps going because it’s plugged into the wall and there’s nobody there to turn it off.  And it heats up the pillow.

So this is not good.

Something that has helped me on a more serious level to deal with severe coughing fits at night is the Conair Facial Sauna.  The hot steam does an amazing job of soothing my ravaged air passageways.  Last night, in fact, it saved me once again.   So I am adding it to the list of things to have around the house in case of an emergency.

I wish I could tell you about the facial spa part but that involves reading directions so . . .

I don’t understand a lot about SEO and this blog really isn’t too concerned about it.  As time goes on I find it more difficult to read due to the medication I take for RLS.  Restless Legs Syndrome.  And so trying to comprehend a text about SEO is difficult.

I like taking photos and enjoy editing them.  Writing doesn’t seem to be affected too much.  But if I sit down with a book I go to sleep after about three pages.  I used to love to read and I have a nice library so this is frustrating to some degree.

But it’s just the way life is. . . You go up and you go down.  You count your blessings and you deal with your problems. You take your meds and YOU will take them too when you need them.

So back to the SEO stuff.  What I DO understand is that linking to posts you find interesting is very important.  And I actually do that quite a bit.  I don’t buy the theory that you want to keep people on your blog so you don’t send them to interesting places.  I find this ludicrous and a lot like trying to collect water with a sieve.  Someone did some testing and found that you are better off showering your readers with interesting links.  Because they will come back for more!

Look at Drudge!  That’s all he does and he has made millions.

In the past we  have concentrated on the StumbleUpon stuff.  And that’s fairly temporary.  What we need to do is send links back and forth from relevant posts.

This is what will produce higher PR and in turn more search engine traffic.

Blogging is fun.  It’s even an entertaining conversation from time to time.

PR is important.  We went through a period where a lot of folks were saying it’s not.  But that was, in my opinion, a reaction to the fact that PR was being reduced on the blogs of a lot of these same folks.   PR helps us to reach out to a larger audience.

I await your comments.  And if I say that  you need  to “draw me a picture” don’t take it personally, alright?

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No physician is really good before he has killed one or two patients.  ~Hindu Proverb

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.  ~Auguste Rodin

More Writing About Blogging

http://davidnotes.com/2008/05/20/blogger-and-huge-photos/

This is what I wrote on June 30th.

Good News For Consumers/ Demand For Gasoline Down

And today on the radio they said that the price of gasoline was down 53 percent from its highs. A bit of good news amidst the economic chaos.  And so a lot of prices will be coming down.  And a lot of crazy practices on Wall Street will be outlawed.  Perhaps people will not be able to buy houses they cannot afford as well.

Perhaps we will all live closer to our means.  And  sleep better at night even if the rain comes in the roof of our 1940’s era home.

I know it is going to be very difficult for some.  I feel most for those guys with families who are going to lose their jobs and their homes.  I feel for their wives and children.   Gasoline at two dollars per gallon is not going to do much for them at first.

But maybe it will help to revive the economy and create new jobs.

We really need to establish places for families to stay who are caught in the economic nightmare.   The schools and the churches need to be used to provide shelter for families at night.   Groups need to be formed to make them comfortable and as cheerful as possible.

Families who need shelter are different from individuals who need shelter.  Perhaps that sounds controversial but I believe that a family that includes children is not going to take advantage of a shelter program most of the time. Someone who had a job with a corporation and applies for shelter this week with his or her kids is someone who genuinely needs help.   They join others with genuine needs for shelter.

Conservatives and liberals can come together to make this happen.   I see it happening all across America.  Conservatives are willing to help once they understand the need is genuine.  Liberals have much less of a problem in that area.   THIS SITUATION should bring them together.

Liberals are going to have their wishes fulfilled in Congress and the White House.  Maybe now we can all come together and create a closer nation where people help each other instead of fighting all the time.