Month: March 2017

Acceptance Starts With Self

/ Leland Olson Hoel / Leave a comment

Acceptance

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.

In our high-tech, modern world, we usually start out life in a delivery room, at a hospital. The person doing the delivery welcomes you with a swat on your rear end. “Welcome to this world, WACK!” That is not a very good welcome for a new being entering into society. The new baby’s first human instinct must be of not being accepted. If the infant is fortunate enough to have its birth mother present it should soon be held and start creating a strong bond with her. Those first feelings of acceptance must have a powerful influence, many never get a chance to feel it.

If the child’s first acceptance is from a nanny with a tender loving touch and caring heart that new life might still get off on the right foot. As we progress in life we’re constantly in search of acceptance, first from the immediate family, parents and siblings. We all need reassurance and acceptance from each other. The best way to feel that acceptance is through caring conversation, hugs, kisses and sharing a touch of love with each and every one of them.

As a young person starts school they are instantly confronted by many new people. In this new phase of life, acceptance is tested severely. Each person wants to be accepted by those in his classroom and in his school. This is a very important stage of life, starting an education on the right foot. As a person finishes his educational years and starts into the workplace, once more acceptance by his employer is a must for the success of his future add his contentment at his job.

As a person finishes his educational years and starts into the workplace, once more acceptance by his employer is a must for the success of his future and his contentment at his job.

Acceptance again comes to the supreme test when you find a person you wish to spend your life with, as a soulmate and companion. Your acceptance for each other is a must for a life of contentment, peace, understanding and fulfillment.

Acceptance in this world keys on one very important point, that of accepting ourselves. Examining how we interact with others and what we are made of and how we look at life’s trials and tribulations. We have to understand and love ourselves before we can accept and love others, it has to be a two-way arrangement. If we accept ourselves without trying to improve our individual condition to make us acceptable to others we usually have problems getting along in society.

Society is made up of rules and laws that must be accepted by individual citizens or it can not function and survive. If we accept the laws of the land and live our lives accordingly, there should be few problems with acceptance, of one for the other.

https://lghoelson.wordpress.com/

Man’s Sweet Elixir

/ Leland Olson Hoel / Leave a comment

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/elixir/

DAILY PROMPT

Elixir
Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.

Elixirs have fascinated the people  for hundreds of years.  Adventurers and explorers have sailed all the seas of the world, searched every country looking for the Fountain of Youth or an elixir that could provide eternal life. Early experiments with elixirs laid the groundwork for our modern-day Pharmaceutical industries.  Alchemists  were even in search of an elixir that could turn lead into gold. To the glee and greed of many, this elixir would have been in high demand.

I recall as a child my grandmother had a very special elixir for coughs, colds or sore throats. She mixed pine tar with honey, the pine tar got your attention, right now. The honey, ‘like the spoon full of sugar’ made the medicine go down. It warmed the throat instantly, soreness soon vanished, it was a very good cure.  Another memorable elixir from our youth.

My grandfather had his own elixir, it wasn’t a very sweet elixir, to him it was his heart medicine, taken in small doses to keep his heart healthy. Grandpa being a loving husband, evidently didn’t want to bother our grandmother with his elixir taking. So not to upset grandmother he would keep his elixir in an old nail keg out in the barn. This was a very safe place to store his elixir, where he could find it and use it as needed.

I recall back in 1945 or 1946 my cousin Sandra and I was staying with Grandma and Grandpa during Harvest Time. Grandmother must have been busy preparing dinner for those working in the field. My cousin Sandra and I loved our grandfather dearly. We followed him everywhere and tried to imitate things that he did, typical, young, loving grandchildren.

One day we followed grandpa at a distance and watched him go into the barn. We peeked around the corner, He was taking a burlap sack out of an old nail keg, then he took a bottle from the keg and took a couple drinks from it. We watched Grandpa take a couple sips of his ‘brandy’ elixir, then he put the bottle back in the nail keg and covered it with the burlap bag.

After he left, Sandra and I proceeded straight to the nail keg. We saw that He enjoyed his elixir treatment so we thought we had to try it too. We got out Grandpa’s special bottle and we tried some, it was not sweet, it was quite bitter and strong. I believe each one of us took another sip following our Grandfather’s motions. The rest of the day got to be a little fuzzy for me. I do recall it was Harvest Time and someone took me and Sandra out to the grain field where they were shocking grain. I was only five or six years old but I do recall part of the conversation grandpa had with my father.

It was grandfather’s suggestion they keep us two kids out in the field, out of sight from Grandmother. The way the conversation went, they were quite positive that grandmother would be very upset. We spent the hot afternoon in the field, they tried to keep us in the shade and no doubt out of site be putting us in a grain shock. I believe we did sleep away a good share of the day. That is one experience I will carry with me for the rest of my life. My first hangover at age six!

lghoelson.wordpress.com

Symbiotic People

/ Leland Olson Hoel / Leave a comment

images

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/symbiosis/

DAILY PROMPT

Symbiosis
Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.

My wife and I have a symbiotic relationship. Symbiotic is the adjective form of the noun symbiosis. There are of course several different types of symbiotic relationships, one type is parasitism. A worm that lives in the gut of another animal and feeds off of the host is a parasite.

My wife has dementia messing with her head, as it gets worse, I feel she is the worm in my gut. She continues to exist on strength from my inner working. I have no control over the process.

There are also more benign forms of symbiotic relationship’s, such as the mutualistic or mutually beneficial relationship between coral and algae. Some algae live within coral colonies, they provide the coral with oxygen and nutrients in the form of glucose and other similar substances. I would rather think of myself as a 200 lb. hunk of algae.

Our symbiosis is biological.  The relationship between two different kinds of living things that live together and depend on each other. I have to question how two extream opposite people end up together? It must be for the sole reason of testing symbiosis to the maximum limits.

The creator of all surely must have a hand in it for his enjoyment and entertainment.

Pressing, pushing and punishing the relationship between two people, testing each other’s symbiosis. Can it be obligatory? Which means that one or both of the symbionts entirely depend on each other to survive,  when they could generally live independently.

The safest, best symbiosis relationship would have to be the lowly worker bee, pollinate flower or plant, then fly away. No harm intended or done.

lghoelson.wordpress.com

Influenza A

/ Leland Olson Hoel / 5 Comments

Mayoimages

My wife became ill on 03/15/2017, she shared it with me, I was sick as a dog on 03/19/2017. An ambulance took us both to the hospital that day, we spent three days there on IV’s with antibiotics. We were both close to pneumonia and are now in rehab here at the Arlington Care Center for another week or so.

Overview
Golden Living Center Arlington, in Arlington, SD, is rated 3.5 stars overall. It is a small facility with 45 beds and has for-profit, corporate ownership. It is not part of a continuing care retirement community. It participates in Medicare and Medicaid.

S_175455_Front_1

This nasty bug is nothing to take lightly.

By Mayo Clinic Staff Print
“Influenza is a viral infection that attacks your respiratory system — your nose, throat and lungs. Influenza, commonly called the flu, is not the same as stomach “flu” viruses that cause diarrhea and vomiting.”

“For most people, influenza resolves on its own. But sometimes, influenza and its complications can be deadly. People at higher risk of developing flu complications include:”

“Young children under 5, and especially those under 2 years
Adults older than 65
Residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities
Pregnant women and women up to two weeks postpartum
People with weakened immune systems
People who have chronic illnesses, such as asthma, heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes
People who are very obese, with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher
Your best defense against influenza is to receive an annual vaccination.”

Climatology Crime

/ Leland Olson Hoel / 1 Comment

Baby bears to mama bear, “Are we home yet”? ” How much further do we have to swim?” Mama bear, “Stop complaining and asking questions, we will all get home as soon as we can.”

Baby bears to mama bear, ” I don’t think we can swim much farther, we are both hungry, tired out and wish we were home right now.” Mama bear, ” You can do it, you are my rough and tumble, tough little bears, we will all get home, one way or the other.

Mama bear says “I’m swimming as slow as I can swim, you will have to keep up with me. Baby bears, “We don’t think we can go on much further, we are exhausted.” Mama bear, “You can ride on my back but you keep falling off, try it again, I will go very slow.”

Mama bear finally finds a small piece of floating ice, she drags her  body up onto it. Then looks all around but does not see her babies anymore, they have both drowned. She swims on for days but cannot find her home anymore, it has vanished. She rests on small chunks of floating ice, slowly starving to death.

Edison Records

/ Leland Olson Hoel / 3 Comments

 

Edison - Copy

 

Record

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.

Edison Cylinder Records

I see today the word prompt is Record. When I first looked at it, I thought to myself, self, there is absolutely nothing you can do with the word record. So I mulled it over, ruminated it for awhile with a cookie and coffee. Sort of a mental munching and reminiscing session of the old days during the record playing years.

That’s when it dawned on me, a bright light lit up my memory section. After 46 year of marriage we had quite a collection of records. My wife being slightly older had a large collection of 78 RPMs when we were first married. Kids are awful hard on the old vinyl 78 RPMs when they play frisbee with them. I had a fairly large collection of 45’s as a teenager, Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, Patsy Kline, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and many more. Those were the greatest years for country and rock ‘n roll music. Three years ago we had an auction sale to dispose of our personal stuff collection. I was surprised to learn we had about 200 LP records 33 1/3 RPM. None of them were worth much.

After thinking about the newer records it dawned on me. When we bought our acreage about 40 years ago, the house was pretty well falling down. Our plan was to make it livable, chase out the raccoons and skunks from the basement, stuff like that. We did that, made the old house into a home. There was an old fallen down garage behind the house, a lot of junk had been left behind the garage for many years.

One day as I was cleaning up the mess. I found an old wooden box full of Edison Cylinder Records, couldn’t believe my eyes. We had very little money at the time, none for buying an Edison Record Player. Those old records were in remarkably good shape, considering the wooden box they were in was rotted away, all the cardboard covers on each record were rotten, the old cylinder records were still intact.

Not being able to afford a player to listen to those old records was driving me crazy. I took an old cheap 45 RPM record player, change the frame around to where it was running sideways. I made a tube to fit tightly inside a Edison cylinder, similar to an oversized toilet paper tube, only solid. Mounting that firmly onto the player was tricky, then I had to re-figure a way for the arm and the needle to come down on the record and run smooth. Getting the proper speed was a real big headache, changed the drive wheel sizes a few times. I finally got the speed right but I could not get the needle to follow smoothly enough over the record, it would jump on occasion.

I was like a little kid in a candy store when I got the first sounds off one of those old cylinders. We have long cold winter days in this north country,  it’s not fit to be outdoors, some of that time was spent playing those old Edison records. One of my favorite songs was Don’t Bring LuLu.

I am extremely thankful for today’s modern technology. The blogging is great! I just googled “Don’t Bring LuLu,” by Billy Jones and Ernest Hare. Sure enough I found a cyber location and listened to, Don’t Bring LuLu again, after about 30 years. So I have a treat for everyone who wants to take the time to click on the following link and listen to a old record. I hope you enjoy it. 6byOrmE

https://lghoelson.wordpress.com/

Bird Murmuration

/ Leland Olson Hoel / 1 Comment

geese - Copy

Murmuration

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.

Bird  Murmuration

What is a murmuration? I had to visit Wonderopolis.org to find out. In my lifetime of seventy-six years, I have seen numerous murmurations, as the different birds and waterfowl migrate through our area. I’ve seen murmurations done by clouds of blackbirds, starlings and mallard ducks.

The most unforgettable murmuration of all is when you see hundreds of thousands of geese, all in that very close formation. How can they possibly do it? That question is no doubt, one of the unanswerable questions we humans will have to live with. We can not know all, in spite of what we think?!

I believe birds in a murmuration are all flying as one, they are on the same exact flight plan, sent to each one. Better than the fastest computer input. If I were a starling, blackbird, duck or goose I would follow the leader, real close. It is good to arrive at the destination together.

Humans can be outright bad, bothersome and thankless at times. The creator might like to just kick back, relax and watch his handy work with birds at times, similar to a living mentally controlled drone. You feel his presence at a large murmuration. His eye is even on the sparrow.

geese 2

The word prompt for today on WordPress.com was murmuration. I started looking online for the meaning, as I had no idea what the meaning was. I also discovered someone else considers murmuration to be, “ceaseless, inarticulate murmurations of prayer.” I seem to be more interested in finding the answer to that murmuration definition. Maybe there is a connection to the bird murmuration mystery?

Most nights when I try to sleep, neuropathic pain in different parts of my body from spinal cord injury, disrupts my sleep. After many years of this, I have come to murmurate during the night to rest. I seem to overcome the pain with a murmuration diversion, it starts out consciously. It later becomes inarticulate murmurations according to my wife. I plug into the creator’s pain control power source somehow and unconsciously make it through the night.

“A. E. Richardson ceaseless, inarticulate murmuration of prayer …ceaseless, inarticulate murmuration of prayer — Frederic Prokosch”

Regardless of the size of the murmuration, all the birds seem to be connected to the same network. This phenomenon puzzles scientists, because it goes beyond what we know from biology about how animals behave. The mystery of the murmuration is a fascinating example of a natural phenomenon that hides secrets about the world that scientists have still yet to uncover!  http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/what-is-a-murmuration

https://lghoelson.wordpress.com/

 

Life Pattern Dream

/ Leland Olson Hoel / 3 Comments

Pattern

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.

life

Life Pattern Dream

Ego, feelings of self importance would prefer our lives reflect a perfect pattern, such as that on a marble floor in an ancient cathedral.

It would be solid, shiny marble with a perfect pattern end to end and side to side, unblemished, perfect in every respect. That perfect floor pattern would be protected and surrounded by huge marble walls. Safe from any natural disaster, or bombs of war. Under even more amazing protection from liturgical patterns, with extra layers of sanctity, grace and peace.

The view from the that patterned floor reveals all the marble statuary and religious murals along the walls. Only from that patterned floor do you get the breathtaking view of the murals high up in the dome.

A multitude of stained glass windows, shower rainbow rays with no set pattern, from every angle of the sun, unto the marble floor. A sanctuary scene, set to delight all who genuflect before crossing to the Holy Altar.

The tolling pattern emitted from the bell tower rolls sound off the walls and washes across the floor, as ocean waves, calling all to worship. On occasion a single tolling bell will mark the death of a person or a funeral service in progress.

If we start to feel superior, thinking our life pattern has any resemblance to that marble floor, that is the first indication that we have found bats in our belfry.

Life Pattern Fact

We live in a “Monkey See, Monkey Do.” world. Life all depends on how you look at it, you create the pattern, hopefully with care.

https://lghoelson.wordpress.com/