respublica

Nothing but news watching

Ever since the battle for Ukraine began late last week we have been sitting in front of the TV almost constantly when nothing else needed doing. The first day we watched all 3 of the cable news channels, alternating now and then to see how each reported. What stood out to me was the rare day when there was nothing political in any of the broadcasts. Everything was based on what was happening, who was doing what, the history of the country and Russia's interest in it. Many very knowledgeable experts we don't see often were brought in to give background.

This was the case on all 3 channels and pretty much continues today. The one guy I became amazed with was an unknown before Thursday, at least to me. Trey Yingst. He was reporting from the middle of the capital city of Kyiv and stayed there all day and into the late night and early morning hours of the next day. He was always there no matter when and I began to wonder how he could do without sleep. And it was getting more and more dangerous.

In any event it was news reporting as it should be. After a couple of days a bit of US politics started creeping in to all channels, but it is still rare and refreshing.

Growing a Venus Fly Trap Plant

Early last summer we had an issue with flies on our front porch. We had no idea why there were so many floating around, but it got to be a huge annoyance. Open the front door and in would come a few flies. They seemed to have made a home in our front porch ceiling light and kept reproducing. This drove me crazy enough that I was very interested in finding a Venus Fly Trap plant. No nursery or store which sold plants had any. In the end I ended up just spraying the heck out of them which did the trick but made a mess on the porch.

All of which made me very interested in this article this morning: Venus Fly Trap Care

After reading the whole thing I've decided to give up on this idea which is easy to do since they are never seen sold anywhere. But if you do find one here is the advice.

They can be grown indoors or outdoors but only in containers. Don't plant in the ground

Plant in sphagnum moss or a mix of peat moss and an aerating medium like perlite. Don't use potting soil or ground soil.

They need lots of sunlight so place near a sunny window and even add a grow light.

They love water and need to be kept moist consistently, but not sit in a pool of water.

They thrive on eating bugs and can feed themselves especially outdoors. But if indoors we have to feed them a fly or a spider every couple of weeks. How we do that is not explained.

All of which is just too much for me so unless we stumble upon one of these plants I am not going looking for any this year

What's on our camera rolls?

There are surveys done on just about everything these days and this one surveyed the number of food photos on phones for each state. It seems that the most common photo on our phones is of food.

First off, States with the most food photos are Colorado (174.5) Florida (152.5) and Arkansas (151.5). Not sure how they can get a .5 photo, but there it is. Illinois averages 123.2, Missouri 58.9, California 150.9. The entire list of states is found at the link.

Actually, having been on Facebook for many years, I can believe this. Hardly a day goes by without some on my timeline sharing either a restaurant meal or one they've made themselves. I have shared food pictures as well including this cake our 9 year old grandson made recently.

This survey went even further and found a certain age demographic put up the most food pictures-female millennials. Baby Boomers have the least.

The health benefits of washing dishes

There are studies for just about everything, but this one from the American Heart Association gave me pause. I wasn't sure at first if it was satire or really real. The study published this week measured the physical activity of over 5400 women between the ages of 63 and 97.

They found that women who did daily chores like housework, cooking, vacuuming, gardening and even taking a shower had a reduced risk of heart disease. While I do all these things everyday and it sounds like good news, I have to wonder if they ever did a study like this for men. The conclusions sound like a great argument for men to encourage women to keep on doing housework.

If housework and gardening is good heart work for women, should this not apply to men as well?

O Lord Hear Our Prayer

Lord, have mercy

Christ, have mercy

Lord, have mercy

#Ukraine

#The World

Flossing or picking?

I had a 6 month dentist checkup this morning which went fine, thankfully. They take blood pressure at the start and hurray, my is really good. Considering the Covid stress the past year this makes me happy. I always hold my breath thinking something may be wrong which happens only rarely. But, the young woman who did the cleaning was very nice, chatty in a good way, told me something surprising. We're always taught to floss floss floss after brushing. But she recommended getting a water pick Glide.

She said it will be an eye-opener to see what bits will splash out that flossing misses. And, the way to use it is not to shoot the water at the gum line but at the bottom of the row of teeth.

So I"m going out to see if any place has them in stock. I am not a fan of flossing, I do it, but it's just tiresome.

I like learning something new.

Fruits and Vegetables-a Mixed Message

We contently hear how important fruits and vegetables are for our health and well being. They should be a part of our daily diet. I'll admit we are heavy on these when it comes to meals.

But, this article has me scratching my head it is so...unexpected.

First comes the talk of the benefits of daily fruits and vegetables, followed immediately by a list of these which we should avoid. And, the avoid ones are things we probably eat regularly. It frustrates the heck out of me.

A survey reported: that strawberries, bananas, watermelons, pineapples, green grapes, red grapes, blueberries, tangerines, lemons, and clementines were the top 10 most popular fruits among adults. As for vegetables, potatoes, sweet corn, garlic, tomatoes, green beans, carrots, broccoli, onions, vine tomatoes, and cucumbers made the top 10. 

BUT, along comes the American Heart Association saying not everything on this list are much good for us and we should avoid.

Bananas, Coconut, grapes, oranges, strawberries, broccoli, celery, corn, eggplant, potatoes

And can vegetables are "a no no". Frozen ok as long as they aren't in the above no no category

I mean, come on people!

We eat a bananas regularly as well as about everything else on the no no list. I plan to ignore this. And, we've lately discovered a love for dark cherries, so good so sweet and actually very very good for you.

Plastic Wrap Hack

This trick is kind of cool. I use plastic wrap a lot, but just about every 2 out of 3 times I do, I have to fumble around while the plastic curls up or doesn't cut right. Just walking a cut sheet over to the bowl will often cause it to fold itself up.

So, here is the latest gimmick for stopping this. We should be keeping the roll of plastic wrap in the freezer!  "the cold temperature changes the molecular structure of the plastic, which removes the static and 'stickiness'."

Rats

I saw a number of local posts this morning asking why General Dollar, Dollar General etc stores were closed yesterday. There were a number of answers, but this morning a news article reported: "thousands of dead rats were found in one of Family Dollars distribution centers." This had many stores closing for clean up and rat control. I don't know if this was the reason for our stores, but many may have decided to check their own facilities. 

Sleep Aid News

Monday morning. This must be the day when news reporters are tired because a whole lot of stories showed up this morning on how to get better sleep.Some of these are interesting and maybe helpful, others are kind of far out.

A low protein snack before bed will boost the metabolism in the morning. They advise  eating things like fruit, nuts, seeds and oatmeal before bed. But this snack I would probably never eat: "a sandwich made with banana, lettuce and marmite and is the best way to fix your sleep problem." No sandwich for me that late and I have no idea what marmite is..

Why the snake plant will help you sleep better! It is a natural air purifier that emits oxygen at night, meaning you can sleep better (and for longer). Of all the house plants we have around here, not one is a snake plant. I may go looking for one today,

You need to change the bed sheets more often for better sleep. It turns out that there's a sweet spot for this by changing them every 12 or 13 days for the best chance of sleeping soundly. Actually, 12 or 13 days seems kind of long to me. This article is filled with reasons why clean bed sheets are good, and why not clean sheets are bad for a good sleep. I enjoyed this article

And finally, magnesium supplements are important. They seem to regulate our circadian rhythms, the internal clock that tells the body when to be awake and when to go to bed. magnesium is thought to directly and positively impact relaxation and sleep architecture. I have no idea what sleep architecture is, but magnesium helps it.

I have no idea why this post has such a long empty gap before the post under it.