March 23 Links with Cat Sanctuary Update, Phenology, and Free Money

I typed something about posting "tomorrow"--on Friday. Well, duh, Priscilla King's "tomorrow" is the next day the person who writes under that name goes online, but I was interested enough in some things I was doing to consider going online on Saturday, as of last Friday. However...on Thursday I talked to a sponsor who'd pleaded illness, and then a family Continuing Crisis (the thirty-something forever-adolescent daughter drama, youall know how that goes I'm sure), as excuses for not using that Patreon page I set up just for her family business. I actually like their business and have snapped photos of their merchandise all ready to embed in blog posts! Just add money! But, anyway, on Saturday I found out about her illness. Repeated tests suggest that the latest batch of Planters peanuts is, once again, contaminated with glyphosate residues, so I had icky nasty celiac sprue reactions all last week, and lowered immunity...so after talking to this person in real life, sure enough, within 48 hours I was feeling the symptoms of which she'd been complaining. I wasn't "down" in bed between Saturday and yesterday, but I did take record numbers of naps, and when I lay down (especially on Monday) I did feel as if the bed were on a boat rather than in a house; sort of a pleasant nostalgic feeling for napping purposes, but I didn't want to risk a long walk, or getting chilled, or drinking coffee before eating solid food in a place where about the only formerly-safe food available would be Planters peanuts.

Anyway, this is Priscilla King's "tomorrow," as of Friday, and yes, full-length posts go live today too...and do I ever have a ton of e-mail to catch up with...after sorting out the spam, bacon, and "urgent" things that have already passed their "urgent" read-by dates, four pages of e-mail  (I recommend that everybody whose e-mail is expanding to fill their available time create a Bacon Folder for storing all the e-mails for which the headlines are probably all you want to read, like all those e-mails that came in on Sunday with headlines like "Chuck Berry died." I wanted that information; I probably don't need to read all the obituaries everyone Out There has sold to one or more'zines. So that's the sort of thing those of us who receive a lot of e-mail call bacon, as in the pet treat that smells so good you don't even need to eat it.)

First...

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Animals (Cat Sanctuary Update)

Polydactylism is a genetic mutation that occurs in several species, including cats and humans, causing individuals to be born with extra toes (or fingers). Sometimes the extra digits are incomplete or grow together, often they don't move independently, and usually, like the toe in the "thumb position" on a normal cat's forepaws, they don't work in full opposition to other toes and allow a cat to grip things in the way a human or raccoon does...

http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/polydactyl-cats-facts

My polydactyl cat Heather, however, is not an ordinary cat...not even an ordinary polydactyl calico cat. She's another one of those cats whose intelligence sometimes seems alarming.

Most cats don't "make hands" to grip things. Why should they? They have claws. If an especially intelligent cat really likes you, however, it may practice and develop the ability to hold your fingertip between the soft pads of its paw and toes. This won't be like, or feel like, having a raccoon or baby human grip your finger in its tiny hand; but it is a special kind of caress. Cats and sometimes kittens don't use this move when grooming themselves or one another. Insulated by their fur, they like being scratched in the standard claws-out kneading move. So if they extend the kneading move to hold your sensitive human skin between their sensitive hairless pads, they care about you and are paying attention to your reactions. This is the point at which most women can identify a cat as being smarter, in crucial ways, than a few guys we kissed when we were young and ignorant.

My cat Mogwai, who was not an ordinary cat either, seriously attempted to give me trigger-point massage with her toe and paw pads only when she was just four or five months old, an age when a normal kitten is barely figuring out how to retract its claws. Mogwai must have got the idea from seeing me pause what I was doing and give myself trigger-point massage, and stretching exercises, to relieve peripheral pain from the leg injury I had that year. Most cats never see that. However, none of Mogwai's immediate family made the effort to try to copy my massage moves. Obviously there's no way a kitten can apply enough weight to a human leg to do a successful trigger-point massage, and no use trying to do it anyway--but Mogwai's trying it was what convinced me that she was going to become a once-in-a-lifetime pet. (Even if she did eventually misuse her intelligence and have to become an indoor once-in-a-lifetime pet.)

Heather is Mogwai's great-niece in the direct maternal line, with a big tough feral polydactyl tomcat in her paternal line. Only a rat could possibly agree with the claim that calico cats, especially the ones with mostly black and orange fur that forms more mottled "tortoiseshell" than solid spots, are "mean" after knowing Heather. She's a great hunter who brings home full-grown squirrels and rabbits to share, but even in defense of her family she's never shown any direct aggression toward other cats. Her six-toed forepaws turn out when she walks and look like fully opposable hands, and she started gripping my fingertips with the pads as a kitten, but her paws never seemed fully opposable.

Until this winter. After five years of practice, Heather has built up the ability...they're still opposing toes, not fingers, and she'll never get as much use out of them as a human or raccoon does, but lately when she's stood on her hind legs and grabbed my fingers Heather has been opposing her toes to grip like a baby human. Her thumbs really are working like thumbs.

Animals (Generally) 

Mudpie's Human reports on unsuspected hazards to cats. The good news is that, although cats often make themselves sick by sampling human food or eating things they catch outdoors, the damage is usually limited to short-term indigestion and they usually learn not to eat the indigestible things again...except with poisons and "medications" and, if it tastes more buttery than sugary so that they eat a lot of it, chocolate. (Some vets think a majority of cats actually have lactose intolerance, although most cats like milk; some lactose-intolerant cats will persist in lapping up milk or cream even though it upsets their digestion.)

http://www.mochasmysteriesmeows.com/2017/03/the-purrfect-10-most-reported-pet.html

Wendy Welch tackles LOLcat dialect...I'm not keen on dialect writing generally, but I'll put up with it because the true kitten story is so cute. If you're in Big Stone Gap, drop in and say hello to the kittens. If not, it's worth going there to visit the Little Bookstore...take a couple hundred dollars and a backpack, if not a rolling suitcase.

https://wendywelchbigstonegap.wordpress.com/2017/03/22/in-which-maeve-is-elected-spokeskitten/

So, adorable cat day?

Turtle from Atlanta...they listed her as black and white but she's actually a dark calico, and actually that's not uncommon: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/35139165

Kahn from Arlington: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/35770538

Oreo from New York: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/18594390

Bad News That's No News 

Not a link because you've already heard/read about it, but this web site officially observes a moment of silence and extends condolences to survivors of the attack on London. Youall already did that.

But I will comment on this tidbit: "Atheist prayers"? Awww. Be gentle with the poor Twit. Grief can trigger episodes of foot-and-mouth disease. Once upon hearing that a good friend had died (after having missed the funeral) what I immediately blurted out to her grieving father was "What are you going to do with her house?" And that's not nearly as bad as it gets; "civilized" people often verbally attack a family member or health care provider, claiming or implying that the loss was the other person's fault; there are countries where, within living memories, the norm used to be for bereaved families to scatter because one family member was likely not only to blame but to kill others. So help me...and may God help poor Laurie Penny. People who are normally articulate and not feeble-minded don't do things like this in order to aggravate other people's emotional pain. They do them because, due to their own emotional pain, they're not thinking.

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/03/22/british-writer-bewildered-by-backlash-after-offering-atheist-prayers-for-attack-victims/

Books 

+Ruth O'Neil (I hope that's the right Google + link) reports on Melanie Snitker's Christian romance novels, with an excerpt from Finding Peace:

http://ruths-real-life.blogspot.com/2017/03/homeschool-mom-and-author-melanie-d.html 

Etiquette 

+Mona Andrei defines "trashy" manners and gives an example...if I ever hear of any of The Nephews doing this, so help me, I will go to your school, sing out loud, and breakdance. And the words of the song will include "I am going out of my mind because [name] is embarrassing me to death." Yes.

http://www.moxie-dude.com/2017/03/22/dear-millennials-yes-you-are-important-just-like-the-rest-of-us/

Free Money 

The computer shows renewed interest in this old post, and yes, it's relevant again; on the way into town this morning I saw lots of aluminum cans.

http://priscillaking.blogspot.com/2015/04/free-money-in-scott-county-virginia.html

Health 

Here goes another blogger in a blaze of good resolutions. Cheers to the Barefoot. Exercise will kick diabetes' you-know-what if you work with the diet and meds as needed! I'd rather see and share posts about people hanging in there with walking or bicycling resolutions, but starting is good.

https://thebarefoot.wordpress.com/2017/03/22/motivation-beyond-the-money/

Phenology Links 

The March re-freeze has come and gone. It wasn't even redbud winter because, although ornamental Prunus had bloomed and was frostbitten, most of the dogwoods and redbuds (which usually bloom first) haven't bloomed yet. Warm weather returned on Monday night. On Tuesday, the daffodils, dandelions, crocus, and vincas that hadn't already been frostbitten started blooming, and a really weird sight popped up in the not-a-lawn under the privet hedge...my cell phone wouldn't even do a picture that focussed enough to show how weird it was. What it was was a morel--but a frostbitten morel. The slightly grainy but basically smooth stem was distinct from the wrinkled cap, but the cap hadn't developed fully enough to form the deep wrinkles that form the cap of a normal healthy morel. It looked like Morchella diminutiva (as shown at the link below), only even smaller. The whole thing, stem, cap, and all, was about two-thirds the size of the end of my little finger. (Actually, the morels that grow on the decomposing hardwood around the shed are normally the larger and darker of our two common types.)

Here's what M. diminutiva are supposed to look like:

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/morchella_diminutiva.html

Mycologists have changed the species names for North American morels since the last time this web site considered them. There was a straightforward system based on identification with similar-looking European species, but in the last couple years DNA tests have suggested a completely different taxonomy for North American morels, with what may be genetically distinct species that look identical as well as genetically identical species that can look different. Here's the kind I usually find near home, in years when I find any, which depends on the weather and the tastes of the current possum in residence. (Possums are night feeders; morels pop up through the ground at night; some possums like morels, some don't.) I grew up thinking of them as the big dark-colored later-season kind.

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/morchella_angusticeps.html

Here's a kind I have found, but not on my own property...I think of these as the-late-season-kind-I've-found-even-in-Maryland.

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/morchella_virginiana.html

Here's a kind that's actually more common in my corner of Virginia, not (so far) found in the not-a-lawn at the Cat Sanctuary, but common in the woods above them. I think of these as the normal kind. I've not harvested them since a relative's headaches were diagnosed as multiple sclerosis, in time for the disease to be brought under control while he still has some ability to walk and work. Morel picking is his favorite thing and I've taken the emergence of morels on my property, which my father wanted to see but never saw, as an indication that I should leave the woods between our grandparents' homes to him.

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/morchella_esculentoides.html

Numbers of the common, early-in-the-season species may turn out to be overestimated if more extensive DNA studies provide a clear distinction between esculentoides and cryptica, described as looking identical, growing identically, but genetically disparate. This is the kind of thing that makes us wonder whether field biologists are having fun at our expense...

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/morchella_cryptica.html

+Beth Ann Chiles has an Easter lily in bloom...but it's indoors! Do indoor plants, or plants moved in and out depending on the weather, count for phenological purposes?

http://itsjustlife.me/wordless-wednesday-spring/

+Martha DeMeo shares a virtual walk on a South Carolina beach, noting an unusual find:

http://themarthareview.com/sunrise-at-the-beach-wordless-wednesday/

Political Correctness 

Today's e-mail included, from a "conservative" contact, the headline "The Business Case for LGBT[ETC.] Inclusiveness." This web site isn't going to link to that, but it is going to respond, thusly: This web site is inclusive of people who are, among other things, members of "sexual minorities." This web site prefers, and is arguably obligated by its contract, to stay away from discussions of what constitutes a "sexual minority," how intense your preference has to be, how much it has to complicate your life, etc., for reasons of taste and family-friendliness. This web site does not generally endorse anybody whose public discourse focusses on their sexuality or anyone else's. (Parenting, yes; the act by which young Christian couples become parents, no.) The only "sexual minority" that interests this web site as exemplary for my teenaged Nephews are the asexuals. However, this web site does, not infrequently, endorse people who've actually accomplished something that is sex-free and interesting, who also belong to "sexual minorities." We actively promote, e.g., books like this one, which contains not one word about sex, but nobody ever got any points for guessing what "The Master" later admitted in a book this web site is not promoting:

Glorious Color

Apart from a few nods to Black History Month and Women's History Month, the links and endorsements at this web site are generally organized by topic, not by demographics. I don't always know what authors and other creative types look like, much less what they get up to in their own homes. Nor do I care.

This web site does, however, support religious freedom for those who believe either (a) that anyone whose lifestyle noticeably displays any sexual choices other than monogamous marriage or celibacy is disqualified from representing a religious group, or (b) that God wants them to withhold their social support from other people's sexual choices. (Fwiw, I agree with (a) although not (b).) I think it's inappropriate to apply any kind of pressure to religious people to do anything that offers "business advantages." Tim Keller, also, has this web site's support.

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/03/22/famed-pastor-was-slated-for-award-then-seminary-got-heat-over-his-objection-to-gay-ordinations/

Seniors 

+Alana Mautone reports on a splendid old lady:

http://ramblinwitham.blogspot.com/2017/03/a-real-life-hero.html

Sports 

I've mentioned knitting orange things for Tennessee fans. What about burgundy for Virginia Tech or blue and white for Kentucky sports fans? (Gate City is the home of several of each.) Well, duh...burgundy is also for the Washington football team, and blue and white is for, er um, Gate City, not even to mention Duke. Anyway, for blue-and-white college basketball fans, Bing predicts the U. of K. will beat U.C.L.A. tomorrow night, but it should be a close match. Statistics:

http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/statistics/UCLA.html

Weird 

This poor stupid "Sheila" doesn't have grief for an excuse. She's just lashing out at the women who disagree with her, rather than trying to use the power of sisterhood. She also doesn't seem to have noticed that in most of the technologically "advanced" countries there aren't enough jobs for all the women and men who want and need them, while in the poorer countries there may be plenty of unskilled labor jobs for people to do but they don't pay enough to send the children to school. How weird is it that it's possible for an article as stupid as hers to get published?

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/03/22/columnist-it-should-be-illegal-to-be-a-stay-at-home-mom/

Writing 

Before spending the first half of this week in flu-fighting mode, I'd hoped I might be able to use it to generate two distinct conceptual fiction stories for two distinct contests. I wrote one story last week but haven't thought of any more stories this week...I don't usually think in science fiction. Elizabeth Barrette does. Here's a selection of short-stories-or-free-verse-poems, from existing series, you can sponsor...the way these story/poems work is that she's already written them ahead of posting time, and she posts them as sponsors pay to see them.

http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/4289200.html

Yougov 

Once again: legitimate survey site will slowly but surely reward you with giftcards to use with major chain stores (or even tax-deductible charities, if you prefer). You can join Yougov all by yourself, but if you use this link both you and I will get a few extra points toward our next shopping spree, and I want to play with that "Scarfie" novelty yarn I saw at Michaels while it's still on the shelf.

https://today.yougov.com/refer/brglBv6yISldXGeAQbYXBg/

March 17 Links

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Gentle Readers...I had a pretty, summery green dress hanging in the closet this morning, but when I saw the thermometer resting right on the 20-degree mark (20 degrees F approximately equals = -7 degrees C), I decided the green yarn in my blanket-weight shawl would have to do. And today, thanks to a sponsor, you get complete posts...actually, because I also had a poem and the Patreon post of the week to do, you get complete posts tomorrow too. Categories: Read This First, Animals, The Economy, History, Yougov.

Read This First 

Here's where you click to get more complete Link Logs and articles:

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4923804

Here's where you click to buy a guest post to put on your site:

https://www.fiverr.com/priscillaking

Animals 

Despite the shock of seeing the prettiest cat in Atlanta still up for adoption when I clicked onto Petfinder...

Somebody ought to have adopted this cat-who-resembles-my-Heather-and-poses-even-better by now. I'm tempted to post that Heather "said" to our Atlanta readers, "You can always send her to us if she doesn't work out with you," but that's inaccurate. Heather has nonverbally told me that she thinks the Cat Sanctuary could use a few more cats but she's never expressed any interest in specific cat pictures on a computer screen....cats go by scent and body language, not "looks." Anyway, somebody should give this little Southern Belle the adoration and lap of her own she deserves: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/35193756

...it's time this web site Went to the Dogs. In the dog world, at least one three-colored coat pattern is a recognized breed. Non-pedigreed Black & Tan hounds are actually one of the hardiest, healthiest, friendliest, generally nicest types of dogs on Earth...and are highly likely to be euthanized at shelters for that reason: they're not a fancy breed that keeps puppy mills and veterinarians rich, they're a natural breed that thrive on their own and can even go feral and successfully degenerate back into coyotes. Hmm. Let's see how many Black & Tan hounds are up for adoption...

Ricco from Atlanta: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/37550943

Clyde, like most Washingtonians, is "originally from" some other place, in his case North Carolina: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/37132011

Sandy Lee from New Jersey is just a cute little puppy, but she won't stay little for long. Lab + Black & Tan + who knows what else...she ought to grow into those paws and then some. She's guaranteed friendly with most other dogs, cats, and humans including children. https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/37510914

Economy, The 

Dan Lewis makes it sound as if young men aren't bothering to find jobs because they can stay home and play video games. I suspect the reality is somewhat different: They're applying for jobs online, not getting jobs, and spending the rest of the day playing video games. Well, if Mother and Daddy have unlimited Internet access at home, at least the young men aren't doing their parents any more economic damage; wearing out an existing game box, which if they're lucky will last until they finally find a job, costs less than wearing out Mother's and Daddy's car, or wearing out expensive name-brand-to-impress-friends shoes...as long as the young men are maintaining enough balance of activities to stay fit and healthy, this might be good news.

http://nowiknow.com/the-weekender-march-17-2017/

History 

The poem I polished up and sent off this morning was about my favorite Confederate relative, Colonel William Peters. In the quickie overview of history most kids get at school, they're taught that General Lee was too nice to kill noncombatants. He was, but not before Colonel Peters had set him straight about this. Lee had ordered Peters to loot and burn the town of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Peters refused. In the poem I consider some probable reasons. Here's an official historical document that's made it into cyberspace...in view of the longer post that went live earlier today, yes, note the Colonel's impressive beard. (He was a relative of mine, but a distant one, as that beard proves.)

http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=36079

Yougov 

A lot of sites promise to pay you for taking surveys, but either (a) they generate an intolerable burden of spam and nuisance sales calls and possibly even worse (never never never but never give out your real name, home address, home phone number, etc., online), or (b) they don't actually pay, or (c) they don't actually send you surveys. Yougov is the real deal. They pay in giftcards you can use at many popular chain stores, including Wal-Mart and Amazon; I've consistently chosen Michaels giftcards, since I knit, and that's where all my recent yarn purchases have come from. Payment is as reliable as your mail drop is and, since my e-mail spam filters are already on the highest setting, I've never actually seen a single piece of spam related to Yougov activity. You can join Yougov all by yourself, but if you are referred by an existing member of Yougov, such as me, the sponsors will give both you and me some bonus points toward our next shopping spree. 

https://today.yougov.com/refer/brglBv6yISldXGeAQbYXBg/

Beards, Fashion, and Fiction

Today I spent some time...frankly, guy-watching, as these thoughts on beards, fashion, age, art, and literature outgrew the Link Log. I had thought about putting a brief comment on the beard fashion, and my Duck Dynasty-watching Nephews, and the fact that I've not yet read Si-Cology (although I've wanted to) and now there's even a sequel, Si-Renity, all under "Fashion." Or "Fashion & Fiction"? Or, as Ozarque's thoughts on beards, and the way they logically must have led to thoughts on lacy shawls for women but she must have been too modest to blog about those, leaped to mind..."Fashion, Fiction, and Age"? Oh, why not just make a separate post out of these thoughts? Right. Here's the post:

These days a beard is a major fashion statement for some men. A long, full beard is not absolute proof of Whiteness, since some non-White men can grow one, but the gene for luxuriant beard growth does tend to be correlated with genes for fair skin and body hair and so on. So, what do women think about men with beards? Sexy or scruffy? Survey says..."sexy," if the beards have a clean, well groomed look. Beards literally separate men from boys; a thick gray or white beard all but literally says "patriarch," which is why almost all Bible heroes (and, regrettably, God) are often drawn with luxuriant white beards.

Without the beard, how would you recognize Moses?

(Would Moses really have had a beard? Probably. Beards were an important fashion statement in the courts of the Pharaohs. While historians believe many Egyptians actually shaved their entire heads, for comfort and hygiene, and strapped on both beards and wigs, the idea of a beardless Pharaoh was so unthinkable that the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut is known to have strapped on a fake goatee.)

Photo of official sculpture of Hatshepsut: By Keith Schengili-Roberts - Own Work (photo), CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1635240

Beards can be very kind to aging faces. The writer known as Ozarque rather famously lamented that women couldn't cover up wrinkles with beards, too. (I was and remain sure that she was waiting for people to say, "But women can knit or crochet lovely white shawls"; she was a crocheter and, in the few photos she allowed publishers to add to her book covers, she wore lacy white crocheted shawls.) Here are her most memorable observations on this topic:

[On August 7, 2004, at http://ozarque.livejournal.com/4795.html :]

"
You have to wonder.... Suppose that Ursula K. Le Guin (or any other elderwoman of your choice) looked like Gandalf. The mane of glorious thick white hair. The superb white beard that covers the raddled neck and the jowls and the lines around the nose and mouth. The tall straight body in its beautiful robes. The strong white teeth and the wonderful hands. Even if you modernized the robes and eliminated the white horse, when she walked into a room she wouldn't be invisible. 

But she'd have to keep the beard, I'm afraid, or it wouldn't work. It is men's great good fortune, and a mark of unfair Divine Favoritism, that men are able to grow beards and moustaches that cover up almost all their lines and wrinkles -- leaving visible only the ones around the eyes that signal laughter, and wisdom, and hunting and fishing and sailing and warrioring.
"

[On September 11, 2006, at http://ozarque.livejournal.com/304689.html :]

"
It was very unfair of God to give only men the ability to grow beards. An old man can grow a magnificent full beard, so that all that's on public view is his twinkling eyes with their lovely crinkly lines at the outside corners, and everything else -- including his neck, be it ever so raddled -- is hidden away. Let his hair grow a bit long in the back, he's all set; no neck to be seen, and he's gorgeous. Not fair. You can tell that all the Psalms were written by men because there isn't a single one in which someone is railing and ranting at the Almighty about how unjust it is that only men can grow beards.

I object.
"

At Etsy most of the knitted and crocheted shawls shown on models, live or not, are draped to call attention to a young woman's sleek young neck...but the thing about these lacy shawls is that they give women a choice. They can be drawn up tight and cover as much as a beard; they can be draped around the shoulders to add a dramatic alternative neck line to whatever is worn under them; they can be tossed over one shoulder to wave in the wind like a flag. One thing that's hard to do with a hand-knitted or crocheted lace shawl, though, is ignore it. Lace shawls are prettier than the blanket-weight shawls I wear instead of overcoats in winter, girlier, but if anything more dramatic.

The back issue knitters fight over...

Good luck getting that pattern magazine at any price...the shawl shown isn't on the front cover, but the pattern is reprinted inside this book, along with about twenty more:

Instead of being reprinted, the much-coveted Knitter's Issue #9 was expanded into a book, with even more patterns for knitted shawls. The shawl shown on the front cover, for instance, was not in the magazine.

For the men...well, that's why neckties and collars were invented, but which way do you think President Lincoln looked his personal best? (He wasn't considered handsome either way, and being 6'4" was only part of his fashion problems in his contemporaries' opinions.)

A. Lincoln, 1860

A. Lincoln, 1865

There's also much to be said for a Cherokee-type grandfather with just a sprinkling of random white hairs among the thick black hair on his head and a few stray hairs, white and black, on his smooth copper-toned face, but since even Cherokee men can't count on getting that gene...repeated surveys of women who can't have my Significant Other suggest that they like men with clean, well groomed, full beards. Here is a cool commercial-type web site for men with beards and women who like looking at them:

https://beardgains.com/

For men like most of my relatives, who could give up shaving for six months and at the end of that time have only the stubbly-looking "three-day beard" that seems to be typical of White/Red crossbreed types, I particularly recommend scrolling down to the "Dad Hats" link at the bottom of the page. Very cool hats to go with either bearded or beardless faces. Women can wear them too; readers in Kingsport may be surprised to find out what they can wear this particular style in aid of:

No, they're not just Grandma Bonnie Peters' trademark style! She looks good in hers, and I've been known to borrow one when walking with her, but...according to the link at https://beardgains.com/ , this is the official hat for ovarian cancer fundraisers. Buy yours in aid of the cause!

The Ozarque posts cited above, plus the appearance of a French edition, prompted me to reread Lord of the Rings as an adult. As a child I hadn't noticed, but...it's radically different from your standard fantasy story where restless young men are proving themselves worthy of pretty princesses, or vice versa. The difference? In Middle Earth, all the main characters are old. Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin are all would now be called middle-aged, though well enough preserved that letting them be played by dark-haired actors doesn't ruin the story. Aragorn is old enough to regret things that went wrong in the past. Gandalf "the Gray" is "aged, grey-haired and grey-clad." The evil characters are so old they can only be explained as undead. Bilbo, and of course Gollum, are so old that even people who know what's keeping them alive still find them uncanny. Tom Bombadil brags of being older than any human or hobbit can imagine. Glamorous, romantic Galadriel has beautiful long silver-white hair! Tolkien was middle-aged, and he was writing for middle-aged people.

Wikipedia and posthumous Tolkien collections offer tons of additional material about the Rings story...

For men of Tolkien's type, aging does have perils (consider the stuff that happens to Gandalf!) but loss of visual appeal is not among them. Men who look good with a full beard can keep that dramatic look going from age 20 to age 90...

Beards for all ages in real life...

March 15 Keywords

Yesterday's Link Log might have been a dry one for some e-friends. I owe them a juicy one. I'll try...let's start with some adorable fluffy animals, a long rant that The Nephews may read free of charge, lots of links to Google+ friends....and here's where you go in order to read my comments on your links:

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4923804

If you prefer to pay specifically for something done just for you, and deal directly with me without receiving bids and pleas from a lot of other people, you can go here...

https://www.fiverr.com/priscillaking

...or just e-mail salolianigodagewi, or send a real postcard (I like postcards, especially +Ruth Cox 's dog picture postcards) to the Boxholder at P.O. Box 322.

Here are the keywords to today's hidden post:

cute animal pictures
+Beth Ann Chiles 
Mudpie
Siberian cat breed
Siberian and Manx mixed breed
Siberian and Maine Coon Cat mixed breed 

Craig Shirley's biography of Ronald Reagan 

Reagan Rising

Jim Geraghty

California

secession

water 

air pollution 

radiation from nuclear plants 

epidemic of rare childhood cancer

thesmittenedlife.blogspot.com

censorship

Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook

Cracked.com 

Cracked magazine

young and poor in the United States

Judaism 

Dan Lewis

refurbishing an old house

Steve Milloy 

China

flawed scientific research

McDougall Webinar

digestive health

people who are gluten-intolerant but continue to feel sick after going gluten-free

people who get some benefit from going gluten-free but are not actually gluten-intolerant

people who don't digest animal fats and proteins well

mental health

Snoop Dogg 

Ice-T 

Run-DMC 

Queen Latifah 

Larry Elder's not a musician, he is in radio.

Stupid Black Men

Phenology
snow pictures
+Alana Mautone
Carol from Indiana
Washington Post
+Sandy KS from Ohio

snow survival tips
Democratic Party is the party of "the donor class"
Penny Nance
Judge Gorsuch
Venezuela
writing
opening line from an excellent book

March 14 Keywords

Although I'm feeling healthy and cheerful again, this has not exactly been my day. The cell phone's alarm function failed to wake me in time for the time change, both of the people to whom I talked this morning annoyed me intensely, then when I was taking the computer out of the storage building snow started to fall...Here are the links to use to see what I read today, and keep me posting for the rest of the week. Use them. I really did stretch $30 (from real-world sales of knitted hats) out to cover meals, including coffee and road food on the days when I was online, for eleven, count them, eleven days...but now I'm down to pocket change again. Unless I make a real-world sale on the way home, I won't be back.

To sponsor what you've already seen:

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4923804

To order something different:

https://www.fiverr.com/priscillaking

Animals 

chickens
Change.org
Subway
weasels
health
book
Two of a Kind by Celesta Thiessen
Twitter
Dave Barry
Social Security
Mario Pei
words
English language
fun facts
Canada
daylight saving time
Mary and John McDougall
California
spa vacation
Jim Geraghty
Madonna

film clip
Lloyd Marcus

U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith
U.S. Senator Rand Paul
Obamacare replacement
Popvox link
pretty purple flowers of spring
crocus
violet blossoms
vincas

Scott Adams
global warming theory
local warming facts
Nazanin Ratcliffe is still behind bars
#FreeNazanin

Morgan Griffith's Progress Report: Health Care Reform

From U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA-9):

"
This week, the House of Representatives achieved the first steps in the repeal and replacement of Obamacare.

As a bill moves through Congress, as you may remember from Civics classes, the bill starts in the committee with jurisdiction over the content of the bill. The committee reviews the content and votes on the bill.

The American Health Care Act is comprised of two parts. The financial side that repeals and replaces most of Obamacare finances went through the House Ways and Means Committee. The Energy and Commerce Committee, on which I sit, worked on the other part, health care policy.

In a marathon 27 ½ hour long debate, lasting through the night and only pausing to vote, my committee, Energy and Commerce passed our part of the American Health Care Act.

Unlike Obamacare, which was rammed through without giving Members of Congress, or the public, time to read the bill, we are following a step-by-step, deliberate and transparent process. Republicans are keeping Americans informed each step of the way.

Both parts of the bill were posted online (www.ReadtheBill.gop) on the Monday prior to the committee votes.

Last Wednesday morning, Energy and Commerce committee began the review and amendment process of the bill. This process in D.C. is called a markup. From the beginning, the Democrats aggressively fought to defeat the bill.

During opening statements, they complained and protested. They claimed the American Health Care Act would completely dismantle and destroy the Obamacare exchanges, and thus destroy Obamacare.

Republicans promised during the last several campaigns to repeal and replace Obamacare. As we have begun that process, the Democrats are fighting at every turn to keep Obamacare, even though it has failed.

As we worked through the bill, Democrats fought to block our progress even on the most minor of items. They took hours to debate the title of the bill, mostly as a delay tactic. But these tactics were fruitless.

Throughout the night we continued working through the bill, dealing with amendment after amendment. Finally, on Thursday afternoon, we voted to pass this portion of the bill.

Although there is no official record, it is believed this was the longest continuous markup of a bill in Congressional history.

The American Health Care Act repeals Obamacare and begins the process of replacement. The replacement plan is designed to lower costs and give patients and families more choice and flexibility in their health care. Furthermore, it allows the states to have more power and gives less power to the bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.

As we promised when campaigning, the American Health Care Act does provide protection for those with pre-existing conditions and the ability to stay on your parent’s insurance until you are 26. Further, some parts of Obamacare aren’t being repealed either because we can’t do so under the Senate rules related to the budget reconciliation process or because we promised to keep the policy.

As an aside, many of you know that I have fought to keep the three pages out of roughly 2100 pages of Obamacare that deal with black lung protections. These protections are not repealed by the American Health Care Act.

Also, the new plan includes a Patient and State Stability Fund to assist those who are higher risk and therefore can’t afford traditional health insurance. This fund can also be used by states to lower other costs.

Additionally, the American Health Care Act reforms Medicaid as well. It is important to provide a safety net for the needy, but Medicaid is flawed and can be improved. Medicaid funding is not unlimited and the law directs the funding to those most in need.

Republicans are delivering on the promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, with transparency at each step of the way. The bill that passed the Energy and Commerce Committee is now headed to the Budget Committee to be combined with the Ways and Means portion of the bill.

As the bill works its way to the floor of the House for final passage, I expect additional amendments will be adopted. I even have an amendment of my own which would allow states to require those receiving Medicaid who are able-bodied and do not have responsibilities for a young or disabled child to work or be retrained.

I look forward to continued improvements in the bill. I believe that working with the Administration, we can better control the costs of health insurance. The bill will bring reform that allows American families to buy an insurance policy that fits their needs.

If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov.
"

As regular readers know, my concern with health care reform is putting everything on a solid, primarily cash basis. I think any reform that's still based on the insurance gambling racket is going to fail those who've put their faith in it, but my sole concern with such unsuccessful efforts will be with keeping myself out of them.

March 9 Keywords

Not even very many links today, but here's what I made the time to find:

Priscilla King's health problems
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4923804
phenology
cat toy
cute cat pictures
The Djinn Falls in Love
how to spell "djinn/genie/jinni/etc"
 +Beth Ann Chiles
Plan Cee
yard flowers in Illinois:
Elizabeth Barrette

Anger Management Posts Keywords

This reaction to +Beth Ann Chiles ' blog post outgrew the Link Log and is long enough to become this week's Patreon post...so this time even LJ friends are getting just the keywords. If it goes live, on LJ or on Blogspot, it's long enough that it will probably be formatted as a series. Embedded links go to books cited; on Blogspot those (and more, especially the movies cited) will appear with Amazon photo links.

http://itsjustlife.me/letting-go-anger/
long brain stem
emotional repression
depression associated with brain damage
Priscilla King's depressive sister
how to use PMS for fun and profit
Virginia Satir's communication style analysis
Blamer Mode
verbal abuse
celiac disease
Priscilla King's experience in baby-sitting and tutoring
spanking children, the controversy
left-wing "snowflakes"
the 1980s as Age of Therapy
semi-objective way to measure anger-proneness
Novaco Anger Inventory
potential abuse of Novaco Anger Inventory
how to understand Novaco Anger Inventory
McDougall Webinars and Weekends
emotional abuse, example in Joseph Heller's novel Good as Gold
preventing depression by reframing "depressing" news
news reports as call to action
glyphosate contamination in gluten-free food
Shiva Ayyadurai
Mothers Against Drunk/Dangerous Driving
Priscilla King's anger inventory score
do amateurs overstate your anger-proneness, and if so, why
age and anger
money and anger
gender and anger
typecasting in popular movies
Agent Clarice Starling with bigger shoulders
people who are "too nice" to correct their teen employee
people who are not "too nice" to hit their own child for copying their teen employee
Beatles song "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"
lawsuits
bill reading
Prozac
Tegretol
dangerous prescription drugs
John Holt as past master of education
Suzette Haden Elgin (Ozarque) as past master of communication (Bill Clinton's teacher)
Scott Adams as master of persuasion
Washington Post 
real Washingtonians enjoy their morning Post, how possible
how to use anger without raising blood pressure
women have cardiovascular disease too
Anger Busting

And, as a bonus for Blogspot readers who've read several references to my work with that intimidating old blind gentleman, George Peters...the series also references the role Tegretol played in the horrific final illness of George Peters. He was too mature and responsible to commit suicide, but...let's just say I would never let anyone give that drug to any person under age 70.

March 7 Keywords

I spent the weekend in Disney Dwarf Mode: mostly Grumpy with a hint of Sneezy on Saturday, totally Grumpy on Sunday, and less Grumpy but very very Sleepy on Monday. I'm feeling human again now. However, the laptop computer got damp on the way to work this morning--not wet, merely damp--and went into a sulk and wouldn't connect to the Internet for the first hour of the work day... (more of this rambling at the pay-per-view post)

Dan Lewis
Washington, D.C., public schools
need for more good Black male teachers
non-Black men are needed, too
Fred Rogers
adoptable Rex cats
Petfinder.com
cute cat pictures
homeless cats
solution for cat allergy problems

The Book of Barkley

+LB Johnson 

retriever dog pictures

funny

spam

hacking

cybersecurity

Google

Yahoo

Turkey

hackers should be locked up for life

panhandling

day labor

government job

Salvation Army 

Social Services irrelevant to those willing to work

language learning

which language is easy to learn

Scott Adams 

how to win bets

how to take money from stupid gamblers

how to draw pictures

still life pictures

Stephanie Johnson's murals

+Alana Mautone 

Johnson City, New York

Johnson City, Tennessee

city planning

local zoning regulations

U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development
Kingsport, Tennessee
Bristol, Tennessee
Washington, D.C.
Sacramento, California
U.N. Agenda 21
+Lloyd Marcus
Trump Rally
+Beth Ann Chiles
road trip
highway safety
good example of product placement
honest product endorsements
Elizabeth Barrette
poems
science fiction poetry
speculative fiction
speculative fiction poetry

March 3 Keywords

Gentle Readers, I am puzzled. The local couple who claimed to want to make payments online have made their feeble excuse for weaselling out...well, I didn't know them all that well and we should never trust people who don't pay cash when they can...but where are your payments? Some of you know how to click a button. That's nice. Unfortunately, clicking buttons doesn't keep the electricity on, nor does it buy groceries or pay taxes. I'm feeling discouraged. Patreon will allow you to pay one dollar a month; that's why I set it up. I don't believe that's more than you can afford. Clearly you don't appreciate your e-friends, readers, or signal boosters. I've not heard from any of you, even at Fiverr, all week.

This web site's Terms of Service are changing again. March is here. March weather is not to be wasted on the Internet unless the time a person spends on the Internet is greatly appreciated. Until I start seeing e-mail from Paypal, I'm not willing to commit to more than one visit to cyberspace each week...and each time I come online and don't see e-mail from Paypal, I'm adding another source of e-mail to the spam list.

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4923804

long-haired gray cats
adoptable cats
adoptable dogs
chickens
puns
cybersecurity
FBI
Freedom of Information Act
Dwight D. Eisenhower
New York Times
Dan Lewis
Youth Behaving Well:

Malawi

wind energy

+Sandy KS 

gluten-free recipe

health benefits of keeping pets

Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai

safety standards for Monsanto's GMOs

phenology

early spring

long thaw

killing frost

Minnesota
poem
JP Sixbear aka Jaipi aka Jeanne Frost
Weebly shop for pretty pictures
partisan politics
reasons not to buy airline tickets
Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI)
Rachel Dolezal
Amadou Diallo
major newspaper headline blooper
earn free stuff at Yougov
https://today.yougov.com/refer/brglBv6yISldXGeAQbYXBg/

March 2 Keywords

"I don't understand the 'Keywords' posts," an e-friend complained. Why have I gone to posting lists of keywords instead of articles, Link Logs, and book reviews?

Answer: "Keywords" posts are not for reading, just for indexing. Each "Keywords" post identifies a post, of the type I've been putting up here for no charge, that is currently visible to "Friends Only" at Live Journal. ("Friends" is LJ-speak for paid-up subscribers.) Non-paying readers who visit cat_sanctuary.livejournal.com will see my Twitter archives; once subscribers are set up as LJ "Friends" they'll see actual blog posts too. For $1 per month at Patreon, you can read all the complete posts at LJ and unlock one complete post here. Keywords show up here to help you and me keep track of which post you want to unlock...that means that, of course, you can unlock the ones that link to your articles, or your products or the general category of products in which yours fall.

As mentioned in the Greeting post, which people coming in from Google + aren't seeing, this web site has gone into pay-per-view mode. The archives are still available for free. To see new content, you can pay online at

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4923804

or send a U.S. postal order to Boxholder, P.O. Box 322, Gate City, Virginia, 24251-0322. (Since postal employees are occasionally retired and replaced, it's more efficient for you to address mail to the Boxholder at Box 322 rather than for me to explain to each new person that "Priscilla King" is a business.)

Now, Keywords for today's Links, and I found some juicy Links today...

photogenic collie-mix-type dogs seeking homes
Priscilla King's cat Heather
Priscilla King's cat Tickle
Priscilla King's new cat Suzie
Priscilla King's possum Pally
social cats
pale orange cats who crave love
adopt a pet from a disabled neighbor
adopt a pet before it "has to" be put in a shelter

+Sandy KS
Mournful Sphinx Moth
+Thelma Alberts
tropical butterfly pictures
"The Personal Moth"

Dr. Seuss Day
+Lady in Read
Haroun and the Sea of Stories 
+Andria Perry
Laura Ingraham
The Hillary Trap, 
The Obama Diaries, 
Shut Up and Sing, 
Of Thee I Zing,
Power to the People 
Laura Ingraham's charities
USO
New York City Marathon
can you see Priscilla King live in NYC Marathon? (Yes...but it'll cost a minimum of $2500.)
Stephen Moore
Ash Wednesday
McDougall-endorsed recipes
John McDougall's advice to young doctors:
Devona Bell
celiac sprue
glyphosate and gluten intolerance
cerebral palsy and food intolerance
phenology
Alabama
raising tomatoes
Naomi the Nature Nerd
Illinois
crocus in Illinois
tornado in Illinois
Publius Huldah speaks in Lewis County, Tennessee, Monday
the most influential libertarians in the United States
Thomas Sowell
Congressman Dave Brat
Dave Barry
other influential libertarians meeting in Las Vegas
National Review 
+Beth Ann Chiles
cruise as medical checkup and treatment option
McDougall cruises (California-Hawaii-California)
McDougall vacations (California)
cancer hazard in California
Kellyanne Conway
unflattering photos
Washington Post
shopping for dresses in Washington, D.C.
L.L. Bean dresses (catalogue link!)
Talbots dresses (catalogue link!)
find these dresses in charity stores

March 1 Keywords

March is expected to come in like a lion. People are watching for a tornado--which means, 99% of the time, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, we'll get rain. So far today that's what we've had.

Keywords from the post at Live Journal:
cat pictures
adoptable cats from Petfinder
brown tabby cats
dog food recall
Cassidy Fletcher
Lord of the Rings
+Beth Ann Chiles
Honduras
Naomi Parkhurst
needlework chart
knitting stitch pattern

Sarah Posner
Rolling Stone 
Trevor Loudon
Team Grace Ellen
nuclear waste
rare childhood cancer
Southern California
Phenology
+Alana Mautone 

forsythia
snowdrops
Artistes Only Blogspot
Austria's Gruener See park
Dan Lewis
Veterans Administration
hospitals

Unlock this post here:

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4923804

To All Republican and Democrat Correspondents

Attention all political correspondents: I don't know the people President Trump is appointing to cabinet positions, ay? (That's a Northeast Coast "ay?" with a tiny hint of a Mexican "ay!" behind it.) I know some people need to vet them. I know they're the ones who'll be making a lot of decisions, and being blamed for decisions not entirely their own, during the next four years. I am not qualified to vet them.

With the sole exception of Ben Carson, all I know about who these people are and where they're from is the partisan messages the political parties have been cranking out. Since I don't believe any of Trump's nominees is either the Messiah or a rabid coyote, those messages haven't told me much. I might have liked to have been paid to get out there and investigate all the facts, favorable and unfavorable, about just one of those nominees, the way I did with Bill Clinton in 1996...but I wasn't. So I didn't. So I know nothing about these people and I will not be signing any petitions to confirm them, block them, promote them, fire them, give them medals, send them to Siberia, or send them out into space. So please stop spamming me about them.

Black History Month and the D.C. Public Schools (Keywords)

Walter Williams' name attracted me to read his latest post at Townhall.com; the photo at the top of the post set me up in a nice nostalgic mood; the post ticked me off. The rant it triggered isn't fresh enough to be this week's Patreon post. I've posted similar things here. It's on Live Journal, though. Paid-up subscribers can probably guess what I had to say using the keywords below.

Allen West
Walter Williams
urban public schools
Washington, D.C., public schools
Louis Armstrong
Langston Hughes
gangsta rap
feminist rallies
college degree programs
painting
digital images
hypertension
Common Core math
Reuben Jackson
Washington Post 
Washington, D.C., demographics
Washington, D.C., rent rates
all able-bodied Black male retirees should be teaching