Do You Take More After Your Father or Mother?

Teaching Their Children

For the most part, my personality is more like my Dad's. In stature, and in some things, I am like my Mother, but she was born into a different generation, where women weren't really expected to be outgoing, and verbal. 

My Mother was very creative, well educated, and just a lovely person, while Dad was more outgoing, and interested in many things, always looking to learn something new about anything and just about everything. Dad was very cerebral, yet, he also loved working with his hands. He loved working with electricity, so became a Journeyman Electrician. When we lived in Ohio, he was a contractor, specializing in electrical work of all kinds, which provided very well for his family. Dad was also a Minister, who while far from being perfect, really lived what the Bible teaches. 

Father Shows Son
Hands On

My Dad and I did practically everything together, from electrical work, mechanical work on our family cars, working with our animals, such as our fifteen milk goats, working in our yard, trimming tall hedges, etc. I guess I was sort of the son my Father never had, and I loved it all. From public speaking to doing a tuneup on my car, milking our goats twice a day, and helping Mom do the cooking, and laundry. 

Public Speaking

I have always liked learning new things, and doing the things I have learned. Even changing my own tires, certainly did help save a lot of time. When I was growing up, these were things girls simply 'didn't do,' but I loved it all. Mom was very artistic, had an outstanding singing voice (lyric Soprano) and did some really wonderful pencil sketches. She sewed, and was more of a homebody than either my sisters or I are. My eldest Granddaughter seems to take more after my Mother in that way.

Learning and Developing What You Already Know

Keep adding to your knowledge, and be willing to learn more, instead of thinking that you probably already know it all.

Food Crops
Big Agriculture GMO vs Organic Farming

As long as there is life, there is always something you can still learn. 

While I don't think I actually have picked up any new skills, I have added to my abilities to improve some skills I already had. I have been working on the quality of my photography, and adding to my knowledge about healthier eating, and learning more about the quality, or lack thereof in all processed foods, including how dangerous genetically modified crops are. 

I learned about the so-called RoundUp ready soy, and corn, and that when a person eats these foods, they are actually taking in herbicides into their own body. They are also taking in pesticides, which are created in higher than natural quantities from these same foods. 

July Sunrise
©2011 PK Hawk

As a matter of fact, just this evening, I learned something I did not already know. While cabbage and broccoli are good for you, these are two vegetables that are best eaten cooked. When eaten raw, they are hard on the thyroid. So, if a person has issues with their thyroid, they would do better to take care to cook these two vegetables. All other organically grown greens, especially, are better eaten or juiced and drunk raw, in order to get the full benefit of their nutrients, without any pesticides, or herbicides. Organic vegetables are also usually higher in nutrients, as the farmers who grow them for sale as organic, take more care, to be sure the crops have more nutrients in the soil in which their crops are grown.

Nature's Bounty

If you watch Netflix, look for these videos:  King Corn, Food Inc., and Food Matters.  There are also several other videos and DVDs available to watch at home, also on Netflix.

Update on My Experiences With Death and Dying (07/26/2011)

Being there for a friend or relative is critical to them. You may be able to make it a little easier for them, just knowing that you are there. Dying all alone isn't a good way to die.

"Facing Death of Loved One"

This is a very difficult topic for me, as within a two year period, from when I was between six and eight years old, I lost a beloved nine year old cousin Lucille, from Muscular Dystrophy, a family pet, a dog named Wags why died of Distemper, and an eight year old cousin Jerry, who died as a result of burns sustained when he was playing with matches and gasoline in the garage, while his parents were in the house on Easter Sunday. I was also under death watch, as I was also not supposed to live to see the age of nine years. That was all from 1951 to 1953. 

Also during this time period, my Mother was ill with Rheumatic Fever, had my younger sister, who was born with a birth defect and going through several surgeries to repair the damage. 


As an adult, I have been able to help care for several terminally ill friends and acquaintances, and neighbors. My late husband and I helped provide end of life care to an old friend, who I had known since I was ten. "Shorty" was in his eighties, when he was diagnosed with stomach and liver cancer. This was in the early 1980s. Shorty wanted to die at home, and his family needed some help around the clock, helping with care, meals, etc. 


My husband there when Shorty died. His daughter really took it very hard, and begged me to do CPR, even though we all knew it was useless. However, since she really needed to let his death soak in, so I did CPR, as well as mouth-to-mouth respiration on Shorty, and it gave Susan some time to let things soak into her head. 


There have since then, been several other times when I did hospice type care for other neighbors, and even for one woman I really personally disliked. There was no one else ready to step up to the plate though, and someone needed to do it, as well as their needing someone they could talk to about the things they could not talk about to their friends. They needed someone who understood, and that would respect their final wished. So, I did it, and though it is never easier, it is something I am or was able to do, and it made their last days easier, I suppose. 


Of course, when my own mother died, I was there, and that was of course the hardest of all. Mom was not quite seventy years old, when she died of kidney failure in 1982. 


My husband died on August 16, 1995 of Brain Cancer, at the age of fifty-five. It doesn't get easier, just more familiar. 


Just this past week, I lost a cousin who was only fifty-two, of a heart attack related to the heat wave hitting Georgia, with high humidity. 


While it did help me deal with such losses, I'm not sure I can really say I have to this day fully recovered from it all. Eventually, the mental images of their last days and their final breaths fade somewhat, and you begin to recall some of the better times. Keep those to the fore, and it really does help.

By searching God's Word,
we find the truth
about death and how
we can live forever
here on a paradise earth. 

What helps most is the knowledge that the Bible teaches that our heavenly Father, Jehovah (Yahweh) have promised that he will resurrect everyone in the memorial tombs, and teach them what he has been trying to get humanity to know for thousands of years.  That being that death is not natural to humanity, that we inherited death and sinning from out original earthly parents, Adam and Eve, when they betrayed God, and were disobedient to his law, stealing fruit that did not belong to them.  Once they became independent from God's close companionship, they no longer had a chance to live forever, as they would have if they had simply obeyed.

That is the whole reason that Jesus, God's Son came to earth, to die as a ransom sacrifice, thereby buying obedient humans, who listened to what he said to do, and who listened to his teachings, instead of false teachers.  Jesus bought humans an opportunity to live forever, in peach and good health, here on earth, without crime, sickness, hunger, or any of the other things that make live miserable now.

Update: Tuesday, July 26, 2011: 
I received a phone call yesterday afternoon, from my friend, Colista, of whom I have previously written. 
Colista is the one who had a ruptured aneurysm in her brain several years ago. She was not supposed to have survived that, but even after several months in a coma, and three brain surgeries, she did survive. She has some lasting effects from the ordeal, such that require medication to help prevent seizures, and pain control. 

Her call yesterday was after she had a followup CAT Scan. They now tell her that she has two tumors about the size of a thumb print. Now, they will be doing more testing, so find out if the tumors are malignant or benign. 

So far, she is taking it better that I would expect. You see, her sister also has brain Cancer, and though she has had surgeries to buy her more time, she is really living on borrowed time.

I will try to keep you informed as is reasonable and non-intrusive for my friend. She doesn't read online, so I know she will not accidentally find this. She knows I occasionally write about her, her pets, and other things going on with some of my friends. 

Death, as man's last and worse enemy will be done away with. If you have a Bible, look up this scripture: Revelations 21:4;  In modern English, it says: "And He will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning or outcry nor pain be anymore!  The former things have passed away."

Who Influenced Me As A Child, And Why I Think The Way I Do Today

Adam and Eve, Before They Sinned
Painting from Wikipedia

Though I have always been on the side of truth and justice, I have honestly been influenced by things I learned from my parents. They taught us from the Scriptures about Jesus Christ, his followers, and all the patriarchs and our ancestors throughout Bible History. There have been times when I was very young and I saw my sister doing some seriously wrong things, such as when she stole $5 from my Aunt's purse. She told me, "Don't tell anyone." I did tell, and when I think about that now, that $5 was a lot more than it is now. The value of that $5, these days would have been valued at closer to $75, as that was back in the late 1940s. 


She also stole some candy from a store while my parents were shopping. When the got home, and discovered the theft, my father took her back to the store, and told the owner, who really goofed up, telling her that she could have it. My parents at that time could well afford candy, and the lesson was lost which my dad was trying to inculcate on her. 

She always seemed to feel entitled to whatever she wanted, and that, in addition to her being bipolar, and the fact that she was born with a cleft pallet made her life difficult as she was growing up.  Finally, she did straighten out, but even now, with her being Bipolar, she is difficult to live with.  Only GOD can fix that, and I know that she does love him, and his Son, Christ Jesus.  She no longer steals, or lies, and that really makes a lot of difference. 

Sure, I watched such shows as Roy Rogers, Gene Autrey, The Lone Ranger, Sky King, Sheriff John, and a whole slew of others. These just strengthened my natural instinct for right. I first rescued an animal when I was only about two or three, and I have never stopped. I have always tried to help others, whenever I could, too. 
I developed a real interest in law, and really couldn't decide whether I wanted to be a lawyer, or a doctor. Alas, that was not to be, as my health in my youth prevented me from doing many things which I dreamed of. 

I have certainly also done my share of teaching others, about the Bible, and about pet care, and keep doing what I can to keep my own life clean, and free from such disgusting habits as smoking, drunkenness, lying and cheating. I certainly am not a perfect person, but I know that one day, Jehovah God, with his Son, Christ Jesus, will do away with suffering, sickness, bullying, cheating, killing, and all such things. As Revelations states, Death, will also be done away with, as it is man's worse enemy. 

I still have limited tolerance for wrongdoers, and no tolerance for liars. I firmly believe that when someone does something dishonest, they should be held accountable. I hate lies, and will not cover for anyone who lies. 

Satan told the first lie, when he told Eve that she certainly would not die if she partook of the fruit of the tree which GOD had told Adam they should not eat from or even touch. When Eve gave Adam some of the fruit, instead of telling her she had done wrong, and talking to their Heavenly Father about it, he also ate it. When they were later discovered, Adam as much as blamed GOD, for it was "the woman GOD had given him who gave him the fruit, 'so I ate.'" 

They both knew that eating from, or even touching that one, single tree would mean death to them. It wasn't as if they didn't have anything else to eat, as GOD also told them that they could eat from every other tree in the Garden, just not from that one tree. 


So, when they finally produced children, they also inherited sin and death, which Adam and Eve were no longer perfect as they had been before sinning. 

This is the reason we live in such a wicked world now. That's why there are so many greedy, hateful, and wicked people. That is also why we have sickness and death. No matter how hard man tries to discover the reason for death, he can never do anything which will keep man from dying eventually. Only the ransom sacrifice paid by Christ Jesus will fix that, when GOD, Jehovah tells Christ Jesus and the angels that the time has come for Armageddon, the battle talked about in the Scriptures, which will end man's and Satan's running things on earth.  The Bible, GOD's Word, promises that wars will cease as well.

Then, and only then, will there be peace on this earth. GOD said that the earth was made for man, and man for the earth. He also stated that the earth will abide forever. In Isaiah 11:6-9, there is a small example of what living on that perfect earthly paradise will be like. Also, the Bible teaches that those in the "memorial tombs" will be resurrected, and taught the truth of the Bible and of our Heavenly Father. Satan will be gone, and man will have a thousand years to return to perfection, that Adam and Even lost due to disobedience.

                                                

                                                           " The lion and the lamb
                                                        will feed together."
                                                               "Together their young ones will lie down"
                                  

Childhood Toys And Imagination

Pretend Cowboy

Bicycles and roller skates were pretty much the most desirable toys when I was a kid. I also recall my parents getting us a play kitchen, too. Mind you, that was long before the days of electric kids stoves, and ovens that really baked little cakes with the heat of a lightbulb. 


I don't recall there actually being fad toys like today.  Of course we never even got a television until 1955, so maybe we just weren't aware of those things.  If I saw a toy I liked, my parents might buy it, or might not, depending on whether or not they could afford it, or thought it was a good idea or not.

Children actually used their imagination in those days. For example,  I remember gently swatting flies, just hard enough to kill them, yet leaving them intact, and removing their wings, adding in some grass, and weeds, and pretending I had cooked chicken with veggies. 
When I was six years old, I was very ill, and spent the greater part of a year in bed. My aunt and uncle sent me a really large "Magic Slate," from Ohio, so I would have something to play with in bed.  It was almost as big as I was.  It even had a rolling/scrolling sheet of many pictures for me to draw on the magic slate. Even today, I have never seen another magic slate like that one. 

Books

My first grade teacher was nice enough to stop and visit me, and always brought me a new Golden Book, at every visit, as she knew how much I loved to read. Yes, I could read at age six.  I found it easy to learn, and it opened up a new world of imagination for my mind, stuck in bed, and not expected to live to see age nine. 

Toy Cars and Trucks

I also had lots of those tiny pot metal cars. I pulled moss off of a huge Oak tree in front of a neighbor's house, and use that for grass that was on each side of my pretend roads.  I also planted grass seeds in areas that were bare, and grass actually grew there.  No one had told me about planting grass seeds when I was six, it just sounded reasonable to me, that grass should grow from grass seeds.

When we wanted to play cowboys and indians, we used sticks for horses, and either a toy cap gun, or our hand and fingers as out six-shooter. I always pretended to be Roy Rogers.  I loved playing cowboys, I was always Roy Rogers, and my stick horse was Trigger, of course.

Chasin' Rustlers
Herding Cattle

I also had a doll which had a sun suit, and hat, and could drink from a bottle, and wet her pants, too. Now that doll would be worth quite a bit, as it was a Madam Alexander doll, with movable arms and legs. I kept that doll for many years, until it was finally stolen while we were away from our home for about a month. Someone actually removed all our possessions. 

Paper Doll Fun

It's really too bad that kids today have way too many toys that actually stifle their imaginations.

Banished! Please, Do Not Call Me Again

Local Lake From David's Property
©2010 PK Hawk

I recently banished someone from my life. It was David, the man who has all the stray cats that are constantly getting eaten by coyotes and owls. I have written about him and this situation before. I told David about three months ago that I no longer wished to speak with him, as he was only a source of major stress in my life. He asked me for my suggestions, and yet, very seldom if ever took the advice. David had never had cats in his life, until about five or six years ago, so it's not as if he really knew much about cats needs, illnesses, or pretty much anything other than they eat cat food, and go to the bathroom, and have kittens. 

©2010 PK Hawk

After I told him that I no longer wished to have communication with him, David waited a few days, and called me again. I told him again I no longer wished to have any contact, and to please not call me again. His conversations would start out about his investments, which are all tanking, yet he can't see the value of saving what he has left, selling his deceased mother's condo, which would save him three hundred dollars a month in homeowner fees alone. He is supporting two homes, shorting his own health, and quality of food, all to hang on to a second home, just in case the home he lives in goes up in smoke. He has lived in that home for forty years, and there has never been a wildfire close enough to even threaten his place. 


Once he gets what he considers a conversation going, he starts talking about some other strange cat that came into his home, and carried off a kitten which he has been bottle raising, as their mother was killed. Another cat had a little of kittens under his sofa, which he could hear, but had never seen. Once he put something heavy on top of the box containing the litter he was feeding, that same cat came in again, and killed all the kittens from the second litter. 

Stray Cat
©PK Hawk

It is so upsetting to me, as I have offered to get homes for many of these kittens over the past almost four years, only to have him question why I wanted to take the ones that looked part Siamese, instead of the tabby kittens. I explained that the colorful kittens would be the ones that were most likely to be killed, as their colors made them harder to conceal in bushes, etc. I had two different rescue groups that would have taken in the colorful kittens, and they were just the right age to get altered, and would have been adopted very quickly. 


When he asked for advice, he very seldom listened to what I told him needed to be done, and the poor cats paid the consequences. After the county actually paid for about thirty cats getting spayed or neutered, as well as driving them back and forth to the vet, returning them to David at his home, there were still three or four kittens that were too young to have surgery. David promised to follow through, and get them done as soon as they were old enough. Well, he did not follow through, and they began producing more kittens which were eventually killed, and eaten. Just enough survived to produce more kittens, and pass on an upper respiratory illness, that caused several of them to lose sight in at least one eye. 

Happy Loved Cat
©2010 PK Hawk

In any case, I have told him over and over that I no longer wish to have contact with him, and yet, for more than two months, he continued calling. Even when I did not return his calls, he would say things trying to get me to return his call. 

Finally, about two weeks ago, I called local law enforcement about the situation. They sent an officer to my home.  After I explained the situation to him, he agreed to make a personal call on David, to tell him that I was very serious about cutting off all contact, and that if he calls again, I will press charges of harassment against him.  If David knew where I moved to, he would still be stopping by, and acting as if everything were fine, and that since I am female, I must be having a hormonal issue, or that if he waited long enough, I would forget about it. 


He should know me well enough by now, to know that I say what I mean, and I mean what I say. I have said I no longer wish to talk with him, and I meant it. Since it's been almost two weeks since he last called, I think he realized that when I called the local law enforcement, he had better listen. 

Loved Kitten

When I first began helping him, he had some thirty cats, which were all strays, which needed to be spayed and neutered, as they were reproducing as cats will. This was upsetting to his neighbors, as they were concerned for their safety. They were also disgusted that so many cats were using their planters for their litter box. Someone eventually reported him to animal control, who had begun trapping and destroying the cats.


Someone gave David my phone number, as a pet rescuer.  I had stopped taking in pets for adoption, but I still did referrals to legitimate no kill rescuers, with a warning about "fake rescuers," who pretend to rescue and adopt, but who kill every animal they take in.


David was crying, as he had been left traps by animal control, and was told that he had to catch all the cats, which would be picked up by animal control, and since all the cats were feral, or semi-feral strays, they would be destroyed, as they were not adoptable.

Happy and Safe Kitten
©2010 PK Hawk

What else could I do?  I called the County Supervisor's office, and told them about this man's problem, and that I was also concerned about his age, and health being seriously affected.  The County Supervisor's Secretary contacted Animal Control for the county, and they worked out the plan to get the cats fixed, and returned at no charge to this retired older man.  He had lived in the same home for nearly forty years, and had never been a problem, paid his taxes, and certainly deserved some cooperation from the county.


I have certainly done all I can, and it is now out of my hands.  I don't need all the stress I suffer worrying about something over which I have absolutely no control, nor will this person cooperate getting his remaining cats spayed or neutered.  Poor little kittens are being born to become coyote bait, when they could have been adopted to safe, caring homes, to people who would and could cover vet bills to have them desexed, vaccinated, and well fed, in a home safe from predators.


NOTE: I think I failed to point out that the man no longer has 30 plus cats, as all of the original ones were already killed by coyotes and owls.  I have no power to do anything which he does not agree to, as at this point, the number is within the legal limit of nine cats.   He just will not alter the remaining cats, and they come and go as they please.  He does provide food for them, but he really can no longer afford to feed increasing numbers when they are allowed to continue producing more kittens. 


I am sixty-six years old, and disabled, not being able to work for more than twenty years.  I too, live on Social Security.  I have three dogs, and one cat, all have been spayed or neutered.  While I no longer take in animals in need of being placed in new homes, I do refer people who call me to other legitimate rescuers, who are still able to help in such situations.

What's The best Age To Retire?

Would you like just doing nothing all day and all night? What a boring existence.

Retired But Busy

Have you ever heard: "Different strokes for different folks?" Retirement, like so many things is very individual. I was forced to retire when I was only forty-six years old, due to a serious accident that prevented me from ever working again. My father, on the other hand, refused to retire until he was seventy-two. Even after he officially retired, he still worked part-time, helping anyone who needed his help. 

It's a well recognized fact that people who work longer in general, also live longer. "A body in motion tends to stay in motion, and a body in idle, tends to stay idle." Our bodies were meant to keep moving. That is how our muscles stay stronger, and how our body removes waste from our organs and tissues. When we are inactive, we build up more toxins, which is detrimental to our well being. That alone shortens our life. Keeping one's mind active, also protects our mental faculties.

I have two friends, who retired, one at sixty-two, and the other also had to retire early, due to health problems.

Some people retire because they have made plenty of money, and really no longer need to work to support themselves, while other retirees are returning to the work force out of necessity. 

"Busy people are happy people." 

"Idle hands are the devil's workshop."

Stay busy, and stay happily alive and vital.

"The Bible states the following advice: Go to the ant, you lazy one; see it's ways and become wise." Proverbs 6:6.  Modern English version of the scriptures (NW).