Anecdotes, Antidotes, and Anodes

Watermelon Memories...Then and Now

Watermelon is a plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, (gourd) a vine-like flowering plant originally  domesticated in West Africa

Its a staple summer fruit and a low-carb way to help satisfy a sweet tooth, especially on the Keto diet. Each 1/2 cup of diced watermelon has 5.4 grams of net carbs. It's also an acceptable choice when dieting because of its high water content. 

But, we aren't here to talk about the health benefits or from where watermelons originated, we're here to talk about who wins a watermelon growing contest. 

First we'll reminisce about the time a strange looking vine started growing in our beautiful, well-manicured lawn in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. 

I'm not sure exactly how old Brooke was when the above photos were taken, but judging by the missing front teeth, I'm thinking she's in about the first grade.  It all started when we noticed a strange looking plant growing in the middle of our front yard. There had been lots of rain, so the yard couldn't be mowed until things dried out. By this time, the 'vine-looking' thing had grown to enormous proportions. I mean we're talking 'Jumanji, Welcome to the Jungle,' could have been filmed here. 

Upon closer inspection, we realized that what we had growing were watermelon vines and were perplexed as to how this might have happened.

Enter: Brooke.

She explained that one evening after enjoying a picnic in the backyard, she saved some watermelon seeds and planted them. 

IN. THE. MIDDLE. OF. THE. FRONT. YARD!

So, for the entire summer our front yard was enveloped with a healthy, hearty jungle of vines. Watermelon vines. Everywhere. I think they may have even 'vined-up' the tree.

Looking back, I'm surprised the Friendly Neighborhood Keep Your Lawn Looking Nice and Neat Committee didn't come knocking on our front door. Of course, they would have needed machetes in hand to get there. 

Lo and behold, that six-year old harvested a crop of watermelon as documented with the above photos depicting two of them.  

Who knew that a few years later that little watermelon-seed-planting-munchkin would graduate with a double major in Landscape Architecture and Landscape Contracting from Oklahoma State University and earned a Masters Degree from Oklahoma University in Urban Architectural Studies..  She also owns Florascape Designs, a landscape design company in Bartlesville. I'm interested in knowing how many of her designs might contain a watermelon feature.

This is where you just have to trust me. I promise the story above and the photos and stories below will connect at some point. Somewhere. 

There is a common denominator: Watermelons

Rewind several decades.

I was about 10 years old and Cousin Randy was a few weeks old. Notice the smile on my face !  I had a real live baby doll to play with. Dress up. And. Feed.

I was not into the diaper changing bit. 

I was probably 14 and Cousin Randy was 4. He was still a lot of fun but harder to 'control.'

And yes, that's a real live aluminum Christmas tree.We had just finished putting it together and were getting ready to decorate it. 

Now, Fast-Forward several decades . . . to this weekend. 

Watermelons are still the topic of discussion. Stay with me. 

Cousin Randy is now older than I am.  Here we are on Friday at Two Rivers Winery with some grape juice to sample. 

He came over that big hill that's in the middle of Colorado by way of Monarch Pass to visit. 

It was a weekend full of laughs and reminiscing and comparing watermelons as chronicled with the two video clips below. 

 

 

So there. I win. He said so.

Probably because of my learning experience umpteen years ago when I was tutored by a little toothless first-grader on how to grown watermelons.

See. I told you there was a convoluted connection with all this. 

Stella and PeekaBoo saying good-bye to Cousin Randy after a wonderful weekend of making more watermelon memories. 

Morals of this story . . .

Cousins are those childhood playmates who grow up to be forever friends.

AND. . .

Never doubt the horticulture abilities of a six-year old named Brooke. 

 

 

 

 

 

Stella and PeekaBoo

Entertainment at our house these days . . .

When COVID and a broken knee keep you home . . . 

This is what you do.

Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy.  Who needs Netflix?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tell Me What You Think About This Book

 

It's been a long time since I recommended a book.

Probably since recommending Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens way back in 2018. Even though I usually read non-fiction, and like it best, I have to admit, it was a great read.

After having been 'sheltered in' while in Okrahoma for several months, I read a lot of books.  Now that I"m home, I'm still reading a lot of books. And watching the birds.  And this week, watching lots and lots of U.S. Open Tennis.

So, when a school-teacher friend of mine suggested, Running with Sherman, and because it's a true story and because this particular friend has never recommended a bad book, this has become my new favorite book. 

If you love animals, this book is a must read. Even if you don't love animals, this book is a must read. You'll end up loving Sherman. 

The little gray donkey was rescued from a hoarder in rural Pennsylvania.

His hooves were so overgrown he could barely walk.

He was infested with parasites.

His teeth were rotting away.

The first night at his new home, his rescuers did not know if he would be alive the next morning. 

"Anything you want a donkey to do, you've got to make him think it's his idea."  (Hmmmm, some of you know what I'm thinking, but we won't go there.)

"Donkeys don't react. They reason"

Christopher McDougall's descriptions of his time with Sherman are vivid, as are his descriptions with humans. You'll feel like you are living on the pages of this book right there with Sherman. 

The book is fun and inspiring.  It is a true story that proves there is a real healing power in the human-animal bond.

“Patience and kindness don’t show up on demand; they’re disciplines that require constant practice, and there is no better boot camp for learning those skills than hitching your survival to your ability to discern—and respect—the needs of another creature.”

So, if you've read the book . . . tell me what you think. 

So, if you've not read the book, I have one comment:  Run. Don't walk. And read this book ! 

 

Treasures from PeekaBoo

Below are just a few of the treasures that Peeka has bestowed upon us the past few days. 

Not exactly sure what kind of snake this was . . .
It really didn't matter.
A snake is a snake is a snake.
Especially when one steps on it and it's still slithering on the rug in your house. 

 

Peeka came running in with something that looked like a cigar sticking out the side of her mouth.
Except it wasn't a cigar.
Upon closer inspection, we determined it was that plastic wrapper that she ate two days ago.
Hans gave her the plastic wrapper from a package of hamburger to LICK.
Evidently, she didn't quite comprehend that she was only to LICK it. 
Consequently, she passed it in the form of a poop-covered spiral cigar. 

Yup. It's a bird.
When I first realized she had a bird, it was flapping in her mouth.
Ever tried to chase down a puppy that has a live bird in its mouth?
Well, you can't catch a puppy that has a live bird in its mouth, especially if the person chasing that puppy has a broken leg.
Needless to say, the bird didn't make it. 

This would be a pile of poop.
A pile of dried poop. 
Instead of PeekaBoo, we are now calling her PeekaPoop.
She is obsessed with dried poop. 
We were able to confiscate this pile before she devoured it.
Evidently, according to Google, some puppies like to eat dried poop.
We just happen to have one of those puppies. 
At some point, Google says puppies stop eating dried poop. 

ADHD TEST

Remember the following word problem in math:

Whatchamacallit Train and Thingamajig Train are 190 miles apart. Train Whatchamacallit leaves one hour before Train Thingamajig does, traveling at 15 miles per hour directly toward Train Thingamajig. Train Thingamajig travels at 10 miles per hour directly toward Train Whatchamacallit. When the trains meet, how many miles has train Whatchamacallit traveled? 

That word problem make about as much sense to me as my word problem in green above. 

For my ADHD brain, that's not too good at math anyway, asks the question if these two trains are on the same track, then shouldn't the question be, "How long will it be before the trains crash?"

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD or ADD, is a neuro-developmental disorder.

The prefrontal cortex of the brain is impacted. This is the area responsible for executive functions, emotional regulation, and impulse control, among other things.

Most children with ADHD become adults with ADHD.

Even though symptoms shift and change with age, they rarely go away all together.

Here is a short quiz to create an awareness for you, someone who doesn't have ADHD. 

Take it for a person you live with, work with, or socialize with to understand them a bit better. 

In other words, if you suspect ADHD in a person close to you, s/he may be struggling with issues that you have never experienced. 

TEST:

Even when someone is speaking to you directly, how often do you have difficulty concentrating on what s/he is saying to you?

 Very Often

 Often

 Sometimes

 Rarely

 Never

 

In a meeting or any situation in which you are expected to remain seated, how often do you leave your seat?

 Very Often

 Often

 Sometimes

 Rarely

 Never

 

When you have the opportunity to unwind and relax, how often do you have difficulty doing this?

 Very Often

 Often

 Sometimes

 Rarely

 Never

 

How often do you finish a person's sentence before they can say what they are trying to say?

 Very Often

 Often

 Sometimes

 Rarely

 Never

 

How often do you procrastinate?

 Very Often

 Often

 Sometimes

 Rarely

 Never

 

How often do you find yourself distracted by subtle background noises like computers, motors running, conversations in the next room, etc.?

 Very Often

 Often

 Sometimes

 Rarely

 Never

 

 

How often do bright lights or sunshine affect your 'vision' or ability to concentrate?

 

 Very Often

 Often

 Sometimes

 Rarely

 Never

 

How often do you experience anxiety, boredom, mood swings, and/or sleep deprivation?

 

 Very Often

 Often

 Sometimes

 Rarely

 Never

 

How often do you lose or misplace things and are always looking for something?

 

 Very Often

 Often

 Sometimes

 Rarely

 Never

 

The objective of this quiz is for you, a non-ADHD person to better understand what an ADHD person experiences everyday in most every situation...whether it's trying to listen to and be a part of a conversation or to just sit down and enjoy a movie. An ADHD person probably answered "VERY OFTEN" to almost every one of those questions. 

 

When any of the above situations happen, it helps to remember to consciously B-R-E-A-T-H-E !

 

Here's a breathing tip for everyone because it strongly influences our mind, body, and moods. By simply putting our attention on our breathing without even doing anything to change it, we move in the direction of relaxing. Here's is an effective relaxation technique, a natural tranquilizer:

 

1. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound; keep the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth throughout the exercise.

2. Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of 4.

3. Hold your breath for a count of 7.

7. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of 8.

5. Repeat the cycle 4 times and do this at least twice a day. 

 

This is not the same as Ujjayi Pranayama Yoga breath, sometimes called ocean breath.

 

I know.  I know.  I'm just interested in who else notices. 

 

 

ADHD . . . continued . . . Squirrel

You suspect your child or grandchild has ADHD if/when:

Your child is the only one doing cartwheels . . . on the baseball field.  At least he's having fun!

You send your child upstairs to get dressed, twenty minutes later, she’s sitting in her pajamas on the floor, examining her socks. Fussing about those little knobby things on the toes.

Her name is mentioned, called, and screamed ten times more often as anyone else in the house.

You find your grandson's dirty sock on his bookshelf, his underwear hanging on a doorknob, his shoes are never together in pairs, and his school backpack is nowhere to be found.

You're in Walmart and hear funny suction-type noises two aisles over...then find your grandson doing 'bottle flip' with a toilet plunger.

She can’t spell—unless she’s hanging upside down, bouncing on a trampoline, or spinning in an office chair.

Your child can hold a two-way conversation…on her own.

In the span of five minutes, your child asks 14 questions— all about totally different topics. You barely get the answer out before he's halfway through asking the next question!

She spends hours on a homework assignment with constant encouragement nagging, and then leaves it at home on the day it is due. Or she manages to bring it to school and still forgets to turn it in. 

His big sister has to take a note to school from Mom explaining that her little brother ate her homework. 

Your grandson manages to get himself stuck upside down in one of those very tall laundry baskets. 

You check the lost and found box each Friday and leave with a bag filled with your child’s belongings. She has no idea anything was missing.

Climbing the walls is not a metaphor in your home. 

You feel like you live with a mini-version of Jim Carrey.

 

Conversation with seven-year-old daughter: This is a true story. 

Loaded in the car headed to school and she's barefoot.

Me: Where are your shoes?

Her: I can't find them.

Me: What do you mean you can't find them. You have about 11 pair of shoes in your closet or at least scattered around your room. 

Her: Yes, but none of them are the ones that go with this outfit. (Remember . . . she's seven.)

Me: Well, you can't go to school barefooted.

Her: Why not?

Me: Here is where I wanted to say, "Because I said so." But, I explained very calmly there were rules about that. 

Her: Why are there rules about going barefoot?

Me: (My voice tightening just a little) Because there could be glass on the playground or thumbtacks on the floor. The rule is to protect you.

Her: (Silence with a bit of a puffed up attitude and arms now tightly crossed in her lap) But I want to wear the shoes that go with this outfit!!

Me: (My voice even tighter and somewhat louder-trying to reason with her) Where were the shoes the last time you saw them?

Her: On my feet.

Me: My voice just a decibel below a scream  You have two minutes to get in the house, find some shoes, any shoes, put them on your feet and get yourself back int this car.
Do you understand me?

Her: No response. Gets out of car. Goes into house. Comes back out wearing the shoes she was looking for in the first place. 

Me: Where were those shoes?

Her: In my closet

 

 

 

 

 

ADHD . . . to be continued

 

I'm always organizing and re-organizing 'stuff.'  Especially paper. I think it's called, "Taming the Paper Trail." My desk is a vertical file of everything paper. From bank statements to Medicare reports, to vet bills, to any kind of bills for that matter, to receipts, and on and on. I do have cute little file folders to put all this in. I don't like sitting and filing. Yes, I know I could go paperless, but that requires remembering about forty-seven different passwords. Then there's the catalog issue. And each catalog must be perused through just to see what's inside before I trash it or file it.  I have reduced the amount of catalogs I receive by using Catalog Choice and opting out. There is also Direct Marketing Association's (DMA) Mail Preference Service. It is suggested to set aside a few minutes each day to deal with the mail, preferable as soon as it's brought inside. That it helps to have a designated spot where I can sort the mail. I was visiting with a dear friend this week about needing to sit down and file all these pieces of paper/mail.  Know what she said? She said she just throws it away. Her designated spot is by the trash can and she trashes it. All of it. How do you do that? 

Speaking of catalogs, the ones I keep . . . they're kept in a cute little wicker basket . . . filed in ABC order. (See photo)

Then there's the projects that involve photographs. Oh don't get me started on how to organize photographs, hundreds of them,  because I've tried any number of ways. Right now I'm in the middle of creating a Shutterfly photo album that I started two years ago for a couple who was married in 2002. Don't judge me. So, since my knee is broken I decided this would be an opportune time to try to finish it. My dining room table is covered with photos and memorabilia that need to be scanned. I've organized these photos so well that the rehearsal dinner photos have gone missing. How does that happen?

Then there's what the experts call Time Management Issues which is a common effect of ADHD. I frequently lose track of time, miss deadlines, procrastinate, underestimate how much time I need for tasks, and find myself doing things in the wrong order. This is because I do the things that are more fun FIRST and spend inordinate amounts of time doing them. I think this is known as “hyperfocusing” and nothing else gets done.

One suggestion, of which there are many is to use a timer. I try to allot myself limited amounts of time for each task and use a timer to alert me when my time is up. For longer tasks, I set the timer to go off at regular intervals keeping me productive and aware of how much time is going by. I might start a project in the morning, get so involved in it and look up at the clock and it's 3:00 p.m.  How does that happen?

When I first started using the 'timer idea,' I kept going to the oven to pull out whatever was in there baking  But, there was nothing there. 

Speaking of timers, mine of going off . . . meaning I've spent enough time on this post and I need to move onto something else. 

Now, where is my list of things to do today?

. . .  ADHD . . . to be continued. 

 

 

Is It ADHD or Situational Awareness Overload ?

Most of my posts have nothing to do with anything. Most of them are not serious and border on just plain silly and nonsensical.

But today's post has  a more significant tone to it . . . at least to me it does.

I'll start with a few questions for you to contemplate:

1) Do you ever turn down the radio in your car so you can see?

2) When talking on the phone, does the other person's background noise over-ride his/her voice?

3)  Do certain noises send you up the wall i.e. plastic spoon scraping on a styrofoam cup?

4)  Do people ask you why don't you turn the lights on in your house?

5)  Do those same people ask you why you're wearing sunglasses in your dark house?

6)  Do you prefer lamps to overhead lights?

7)  Does trying to find a particular cereal in the cereal aisle cause a minor anxiety attack? (I mean, how many different cereals are there?)

8)  Do some types of fabrics rub you the wrong way?

9)  Do you love XXL clothing that doesn't touch your body anywhere?

10)  Do tags on clothing that touch the back of your neck send you over the edge?

11)  Do you walk on the shady side of the street so the sun doesn't interfere with your thinking?

12)  Had you rather pay more for something from a small boutique or shop online rather that find it in a four-acre-sized store?

13)  Do you look for the booth in the far-away corner of a restaurant to avoid the noise and conversation at the next table?

14)  Are you hoping not to assault the person sitting behind you in an airplane whose voice sounds like it's coming through a bullhorn?

15)  Do the way certain socks fit make your feet crazy? 

16)  Do you have socks with holes in them because you cut the little knobby things off each side of the toes?

17)  When you were a kid did you use a piece of paper to cover up all the words under the line that your were reading?

18)  Do you know all the conversations going on around you in a restaurant?

19)  Do traffic sounds like motorcycles, sirens, truck noises, screeching tires make you feel like you're in a combat zone?

20)  Does the humming of appliances, air conditioner kicking on and off, and computer sounds become amplified if you're trying to relax?

If you answered no to most of those, this post will make absolutely no sense at all to you.

But, if you connected in some way to maybe half of the questions, you may connect with me today.

And yes, I know that a few of those might just probably land me somewhere on the Asperger's Spectrum. 

High levels of awareness or constant awareness can easily ramp up anxiety to a point where cognitive resources are hijacked and perception is altered Too much awareness can actually have adverse consequences  on our physical and mental capacities to detect and react properly to threats. 

Just saw a squirrel . . . will continue this tomorrow . . .