Sheep Dogs

In our Western world, or lush green field, most people are peaceful sheep, contentedly mulling about and never feeling the need to look over the shoulder. Fortunately there are a few sheep dogs with one eye on the sheep and one on the wolves. The sheep don't like the sheep dogs and bitch at them, sometimes snapping at their ankles and ganging up against them. They can't understand why they don't just chill out and enjoy the sunshine and grass. They hate the constant reminder the sheep dogs bring of impending danger from the wolves; they would rather live in denial, a give-away sign of a sheep. The sheep dogs also look or act a bit like the wolves, something the sheep find disturbing despite the fact no sheep was ever harmed by a sheep dog.

The sheep dogs just ignore them and carry on regardless knowing it's a tough job but someone's got to do it for these ungrateful but lovable lumps of fluff. Fortunately, they're not aiming to be popular.

The sheep dogs don't expect or want the sheep to become as them. That would mean the sheep dogs' job had become pointless; what's the point in defending a nice herd if all or most of the herd has become defensive and potentially hostile? A field full of sheep dogs and no sheep would be a meaningless place with nothing good to defend; a field full of sheep and no sheep dogs would be a perilous place doomed to destruction. The sheep dogs simply want the sheep to realise the threat posed by the wolves and accept the need for the sheep dogs.....and vote for them on voting days and not for fellow sheep.

A signal to the solution

My air conditioning units have not worked since the end of last summer. I'd tried replacing the remote control batteries, but to no avail. I initially thought it would be an easy problem to fix, seeing as both units, plus the exterior fan, were all very new.

However, when my phone line went, and the engineer informed me that mice had squeezed up my electrical tubes and eaten through my cable, I had a long hard look at the hole on my outside wall where the air con tubes went in. Unfortunately I had never gotten around to plastering the wall closed around the tubed. Lots of tubes from the fan went into my wall, under my tiled floor, up an interior wall and down an interior wall. Visions of electrically fueled mice parties riddling my shop ensued.

For several months, I have envisioned my walls hacked out and my floor tiles up-lifted in a mad hunt for the party-goers, and my hands holding a horrendous bill. I've also pictured the other option of not getting it fixed: me having heat stroke in my sun filled shop and no customers from anywhere but sub-Saharan Africa to dare step into the oven.

Then, today, there was a blessing in disguise. A council worker arrived at my shop door with my giant arrow sign I'd only recently set into cement outside Bar Anita. The government is removing all private signage and replacing it with the bare minimum municipal signage. Oh great! Just what us small retailers and bars needed to hear. Is Ibiza really the place for standardisation and monotony? Has a tourist ever complaigned about the individuality and creativity of island signage? All that work for nothing and now stuck with a giant sign with nowhere for it to go. I dismantled my sign and lent it against my outside wall, under my air conditioning fan.

My annoyance was swiftly replaced by jubilation when my eye caught what my arrow was now pointing at: the fuse box dedicated to my fan unit. It was the first time I'd noticed it. I dragged a chair out, stood on it and read 'OFF'.

So, in my mind, I am now several thousands of Euros richer, albeit with a gigantic arrow sign pointing to nowhere. I will, no doubt, find an unsuspecting tree and put it to good use.

The playground of San Carlos, Ibiza

The new playground in San Carlos, thanks to the priest for giving permission to use the land.

Boobies

Lottie still loves my boobies. If she's upset and tired, she'll still sometimes want to snuggle up to them as though they are still her source of comfort. Poor kid having a mother with such tiny boobs!

When I think about breast feeding, I get a hideously painful sensation on my breast, very close to the nipple, a bit like a love bite but much worse. Lottie often missed the spot! Sometimes I picture myself gazing down on my beautiful suckling bubba to see blood all over her face after feeling needles being drawn out of me. I did love doing it and missed it a lot when I stopped but the painful memories are the most accutely remembered....ouch!

I breast fed for seven months and only stopped because there was almost nothing left of me. I went down to eight stone, which is pretty low for someone five foot seven inches tall. I went from being a big mama with lead-weight Zeppelin bosoms (which on day one were like fully automatic water pistols firing indiscriminately around the hospital bathroom like leaking high pressure water pipes) to a flat chested waif in seven months.

I'm writing this because of the new mother who threw herself off the New York building recently, due to not being able to breast feed. I remember in hospital feeling very frustrated while trying to express my colostrum and feed Lottie. It took a long time to get it right but, I remember, it was a case of mind over matter; I had to really force out the negative speak, 'You're not going to make it. You're not going to be able to breast feed. You're rubbish. You're baby is going to suffer while others flourish.'

Apparently the US had recently aired a TV advertising campaign trying to get women to breast feed. The advert suggested that women who do not breast feed are akin to women getting on a bucking bronko while pregnant, as though they are choosing to harm their babies. Maybe a better tact would be to say it's only rarely not possible to breast feed as it's perfectly natural, with the main message being, 'Don't worry....you can do it.' Positive reinforcement rather than negative deterant.

The negative speak is due to the massive amount of pressure on women and the negative attention paid to those who cannot breast feed as opposed to those who choose not to....there is no differentiation in the opposition. If nothing was ever said about it, I'm sure women would have it in their heads that they WILL be able to breast feed. 'This is difficult but I will be able to do it. This is normal. This is natural. I am just doing what all other mothers do. It's not easy but I will make it.'

Maybe this woman had so much pressure on her before even trying that not being able to breast feed became a self fulfilling prophecy. Whoever invented powdered milk has a lot to answer for!

I can't wait to breast feed again, just with a less ferocious eater. Ouch!

Link

Flu shots

Interesting videos on flu shots, what they contain and whether or not they are effective. Always good to see both sides of the story!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az5aAwr4ugE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCBlxqmOMKM&feature=related

Botox

Botox is the cosmetic name for Botulinum toxin , one of the most lethal naturally occurring substances known to man and the bacteria that causes Botulism, the potentially fatal paralysis illness. Only one micro gram is needed to kill a human. It causes flaccidity of muscles; it stops muscles from working. Botox injections are the most common cosmetic operation.

In September 2005, a paper published in the Journal of American Academy of Dermatology reported from the FDA saying that use of Botox has resulted in 28 deaths between 1989 and 2003, though none were attributed to cosmetic use.[24]

On February 8, 2008, the FDA announced that Botox has "been linked in some cases to adverse reactions, including respiratory failure and death, following treatment of a variety of conditions using a wide range of doses," due to its ability to spread to areas distant to the site of the injection.[25]

In January 2009, the Canadian government warned that botox can have the adverse effect of spreading to other parts of the body which could cause muscle weakness, swallowing difficulties, pneumonia, speech disorders and breathing problems.[26][27]

Several cases of death have been linked to the use of fake Botox.[28]

It is now possible to buy DIY Botox kits on the internet. This sounds seriously dangerous to me as the kit could be bought by someone with ulterior motives.

I have never had Botox, although I am tempted given my new frown lines. However, I have faith that all I need is a roof on my car and my forehead and crow's feet will smooth out a bit. Even if Botox injections do not do any long term biological harm (no-one knows what the long term effects might be on the millions of women who have been using it), one thing is for sure; Botox will stop your facial muscles working.

I've always believed that to keep a youthful face, you need to keep your facial muscles working. If you never smiled, laughed or expressed yourself to the point of stretching your muscles, surely they would just sag and shrink. Facial muscles are like all other muscles; if you stop using the, they disappear. Isn't it better to have lines than sagging muscles? If Botox is one day deemed unsafe, and millions of women suddenly stop using it, will we start to see women with horribly sunken and lined faces?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulinum_toxin

Treats!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA5MtAmT24g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeG-hNXXy6I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbBn4_yHcpI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTJ1hRaElyE