RRN Online Volume 20

October 28 '96

Volume 20

Illumination Trick Or Treat

What is your fascination with Halloween? You don’t have one, you say. Perhaps, that’s true, but look around your neighborhood. Look at the amount of square footage of the retail discount stores such as Wal Mart devoted to candy, decorations, costumes, and such. By early October outdoor decorations begin cropping up in neighborhoods. I just don’t get it. Have we become such a malleable group of consumers that marketers can throw anything at us, and we will buy it? Yes, I am afraid so. As long as disposable income increases, I suppose we shall see an escalation in the marketing of this event.

Just a few years back, I began to see an increase in outside decorations for Halloween. For the actuarially inclined, please note the increase in decorating is disproportional to the increase in population. Now, it is not unusual to find lighted plastic ghost and goblins, trees decorated with ghosts and pumpkin lanterns, pumpkin heads adorning rural mailboxes, baled hay and shocks of cornstalks as props for ghoulish scenes, and painted two dimensional cutouts of Halloween figures to add to the traditional lighted Jack-O-Lantern. If it has been thought of, somebody has either done it or bought it. Exterior illumination for Christmas is one thing, (also taken to extremes by some) but exterior illumination for Halloween is too much for me.

I don’t condemn the observance of Halloween, but for a so-called Christian nation, we are on thin ice. I don’t mind the trick

or treat’n by masses of children under the age of 12. Having taught High School Mathematics, I

learned that both students and parents could stand some improvement in the category of respect for the personal property of other individuals.

I discovered first hand that authority figures, especially in the teaching profession are virtually harassed by the celebrants of Halloween. The rashest of acts is often passed off as "small pranks". The lack of respect for the property of others has escalated in the past 30 years, to the point that parents often transport young people to trash yards with streamers of toilet tissue or worse. Harmless fun is how they justify their actions. "You are a nobody, if your lawn does not get rolled," say some. My own children, as teens, felt spurned by their peers if our lawn did not get rolled. My, my, how times do change.

Blever Fisters

The days spent fishing in Chauvin were a welcome departure from work, but I suffered a tremendous number of mosquito bites on my ankles. In fact almost all my mosquito bites were on the ankle areas. I attribute this to socks that allow easier penetration than the docker style long pants or double layering of shirts. I suppose the lack of wind along the floor of the boat could also contribute, as well as a declining sensitivity to pain in an anatomical region of poor circulation. If you don’t see them and can’t feel them, you can’t knock them off of you. By late Wednesday, my ankles were heavily spotted with bites, and slightly swollen. The swelling worsened on Thursday and Friday to a point of discomfort while standing. I remember the associated itching was not as bad as I expected, and by Sunday the condition was much improved.

Every day was a bright sunshiny day. All members in my boat were liberal users of sun blocker. For my fair complexion, even the sun blocker rated a 30 was not enough to prevent some burning. For the second time this year, my lower lip sunburned. It was not very noticeable to anyone but me. At Church on Sunday when the congregation was singing hymns, I discovered some vowel sounds were hard to shape with a stiffened lower lip. In the late afternoon and evening, I began to develop a fever blister on my lower lip. While on the subject of Church, I recall that last Sunday our pastor made a statement indicating he had some fishing experience when he described the audience that Jesus was speaking to in the Sermon on the Mount as "down’n out and cast’n out." The bit about casting out made me think of fishing.

I cannot recall the first fever blister I ever had, nor can I recall the first time I heard of blever fister, but I hated the former and laughed at the latter. In an average year I might have one, and during some years, I might even have two. What I have noticed is that they always recur in the same spots year after year. It seems that they consistently alternate between right upper lip and left lower lip. Usually the duration is a week to ten days if treated daily with topical ointments, and about the same if relatively little treatment is rendered.

What began on a Sunday evening was fairly well developed by lunch on Monday. After lunch I was talking to Richard Pennington, a friend at work, about my fever blister and sun-blistered lower lip. Richard said he had a remedy to rid my lip of the fever blister or at least prevent it from worsening. According to Richard, a large dose of 500 mg. Lysine tablets would arrest the fever blister’s progress, if the dosage instructions were followed. The instructions were something like 6 now, 6 tonight, 3 the next morning and 3 that evening, afterwards drop to 1 and 1 each day.

Straightway, I went to Wal Mart and bought a bottle of Lysine from the vitamin section in the Pharmacy. An hour later, the Lysine actually seemed beneficial, and by the next morning I could see that my condition was no worse. Though things started well, by Thursday the fever blister had spread to 4 new areas on my lower lip. The next day I decided to up the dosage to 2 tablets 3 times daily, a general practitioner’s favorite allotment. This seemed to be the correct dosage for me, since my condition improved on a daily basis, and by Sunday night was almost normal again.

Another friend, Richard Burkart, was in the office on Friday, and we went to lunch together. Richard explained that once he was in the office of his eye doctor when the doctor noticed a fever blister on Richard’s lip and suggested a daily dose of one Lysine tablet to prevent fever blisters. That visit was several years ago, and to this date, Richard has not had another fever blister.

Friday night, Barbara and I were dinner guests at the home of her boss, Billy Haney. I asked Billy and his wife, Jo, if they had any remedies for fever blisters. A second smallpox vaccination was their suggestion.

That pretty much sums up my preventative knowledge for fever blisters. Please share this good news with anyone you know who suffers from blever fisters. If anyone responds with other remedies, I shall pass the information along to everyone on this mailing.

In remembering our dinner at the home of Billy and Jo Haney, as we gathered on love seats and chairs in the sunroom to allow our steak dinner to settle, I recall how odd it seemed, that a TV was on in that area. I suddenly realized that TV still existed on Friday nights. For the past two or three years, my sister has visited with us on Friday nights in Pontotoc. We never seem to get away from the kitchen table, since Sarah’s tales of the events of the week keep us chained to our chairs. I also remember thinking I had not missed Friday night TV in the least.

Mother's Other Day

For as far back in time as any member of my family can remember, my mother prepared a batch of chicken and dressing for dinner (lunch) on the Sunday closest to her October 27th birthday. Mom was not much for preparing such a meal in the warmer months of the year, so by late October all of her family were ready for the chicken and dressing dinner. Mom was noted for cooking more than we could eat, and the leftovers were welcome for at least a couple of days. By Thanksgiving, all of us were ready for the same kind of feast all over again, and most of us looked forward to similar fare for Christmas at Mom and Dad’s home. We did not always go traditional and have ham for Christmas, but chicken and dressing could always be expected. Chicken, preferable a good sized hen, not turkey was the meat of choice for the dressing. Mom used to say that turkey meat did not have enough fat that was needed for giblet gravy and properly made cornbread dressing.

Barbara decided that she would continue our family tradition by having family members come to our home on that special Sunday each October. What with my brother, Fred, now living in Florida and my younger brother, James, declining prior invitations, the family that gathers is smaller in number. Sarah and her children are still faithful, and often Mom’s sister, Aunt Jo, as well as Barbara’s mom, complete our family’s gathering, remembering and celebrating this special time of the year.

This year Rayanne, Anson and Anna were present, but Aunt Jo was physically unwell with yo-yoing blood pressure, and almost immobilized by pulled muscles or tendons in her hip. The aforementioned others were present. Mom, of course, just watched from afar as we enjoyed the food and the family fellowship. Which, come to think of it, was pretty much what Mom did when she was our cook and hostess. She would say to us, "go ahead and help your plates." (that’s deep country for I’ve got it ready, ya’ll can eat it) "I’ve just got to rest a minute, before I can eat a bite." Mom often said and did just that at our noon time gatherings.

Shortly after we had eaten, I carried a plate and a half of food to Aunt Jo. She appeared to be feeling a little better, but still complained of hip pain. I stayed about 15 minutes before returning to our house. Rayanne’s crew and Sarah’s crew soon departed. Barbara’s mom, Lillie Belle, and Barbara remained in Pontotoc Sunday. They will be lending moral support to Barbara’s brother, Gene Crouch, who will undergo hip surgery in Tupelo early Tuesday morning.

I explained to our family in Pontotoc this weekend, that with the change back to normal time, we part-time Deltans would be adjusting our traveling schedules. Because of darkness arriving earlier, and the highway traffic increasingly bad between now and Christmas, not to mention the ever-present and hectic Friday night high school football traffic, would be enough reasons to keep us in Greenville on Friday nights from now until Christmas holidays. We may find it necessary to return on some Fridays over the next 8 weeks, but those will be exceptions to plan.

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