3 Worst Gadgets by Rasta the Wonder Dog

June 9, 2016March 3, 2017 / Laura Lee Carter / 4 Comments

Rasta as construction assistant

Helping my crazy parents out with our home construction…

My mom Laura and I were recently watching the TV show: 101 Gadgets That Changed The World, when it suddenly struck both of us at once that there are a few of these supposed “top gadgets” that have changed the world in a very BAD WAY!

We can go either way on most gadgets. Like a picnic ice chest, what’s not to like about an ice chest except that they are far too heavy to carry sometimes when you drink too much beer, and they never hold enough dog treats!

What’s not to like about a blender, I mean really…

But there are a few supposed improvements in modern life that have simply made life worse. The number one gadget in this list is the Mobile/SmartPhone.

It all started with the Blackberry, introduced in 1999; by 2009 50 million of these devices had been sold. Originating in Finland and Japan in the 1970s, mobile phones have fast become the most widely used gadget in the world. Today over 75% of the world’s population use them. However, that does not include me.

I have witnessed far too many people who have become slaves to their phones. Some even ignore the person (or dog!) in front of them, and just play with their phone non-stop. People can be so stupid sometimes!

Me, I’ve never used a phone so I just don’t get it. I prefer the up-close and personal approach, like jumping in the car with whomever appears in my driveway. Yes, that does include the UPS man.

I think number two, the radio is OK, but I’m not so sure about number three, the television. It seems to me it just gives everybody a great excuse to veg-out. People can be so lazy! Some can even sleep as much as I do, and that’s too much!

One thing I really don’t like is number five, the personal computer. My mom spends far too much time on hers. She sometimes won’t even let me sit on her lap while she’s typing. Totally a BAD IDEA! Anything that takes her undivided attention away from me stinks!

I’m a newcomer to rural southern Colorado. After two years I decided to compile a short journal about the ups and downs of moving from a good-sized city to rural America to build a passive solar retirement home in the foothills: A Memoir of Retirement: From Suburbia to Solar in Southern Colorado

Please share this information with your friends if they are considering similar life changes. Feel free to contact me directly to discuss any of these challenges, and to order your own signed copies of any of my books! Cheers, Laura Lee (email me: MidlifeCrisisQueen@gmail.com)

My biggest rain and hail storm ever!

June 7, 2016June 7, 2016 / Laura Lee Carter / 5 Comments

Last evening it started pouring rain around 6:15 pm and didn’t stop. Then the hail started falling on our steel roof and scared the cat. Half-inch diameter hail started pelting us with a vengence!

It just kept coming for over an hour, with larger hail ever more threatening. The county road outside was running down hill like a river!

When it finished we had 3.4 inches of rain in one hour!

P.S. Just learned about this great video about Southern Colorado!

The Best of the Boomer Blogs – June Edition

June 5, 2016June 6, 2016 / Laura Lee Carter / 9 Comments

The wildflowers are just taking off in this part of southern Colorado. Springtime here is truly glorious! Check out the yellow flowers on my header, taken last June near our home. We think this beats the hell out of mowing a lawn!

And speaking of spring, here comes a few great blog posts from my boomer friends. Meryl Baer says: Baby boomers grew up during the turbulent 1960s, not so long ago in the minds of those of us who lived through the era. Yet the 60s decade came and went over 50 years ago. This week Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting faced the harsh fact that the 60s not only occurred over 50 years ago, but are ancient history to younger generations. Read about her revelation in I am History.

cute puppy

Doing a little bowl-sitting…

It feels like the dog days of summer early in her part of the country, so Carol Cassara at Heart-Mind-Soul presents us with some dog posts. Here are her tips for traveling with your dog this summer or any time. And because everyone loves cute dog photos, which of these gorgeous pups are your favorites?

On The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide, Rita R. Robison, consumer journalist, writes about two pieces of news for consumers. A federal agency is proposing a rule to end payday loan debt traps. And, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is issuing voluntary guidelines in an effort to work with food companies and restaurants to gradually adjust sodium levels in food. While the payday loan rule has the potential to save consumers nationwide billions of dollars in unfair fees and interest, the salt guidelines are voluntary and only will be helpful if companies decide to follow them.

This week Tom Sightings takes on the issue of men and women. In Part I — What Happened to the Men? he discusses recent trends in employment and education, and concludes with one hope for his children.

One Terrible Side Effect from Marijuana Use

June 2, 2016June 2, 2016 / Laura Lee Carter / 6 Comments

I learned something amazing this week. After a few years of cyclic flu-like symptoms and horrible stomach aches, a friend of ours finally got a useful diagnosis for his problems.

He had made a couple trips to the ER for severe stomach pain, had numerous medical tests, cat scans, you name it, for the same symptoms that kept coming back regularly. In this case, it was hit or miss until he finally ran into the right doctor.

The right doctor told him about “Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome” -(CHS). This is a little known side effect of consuming a lot of THC over a number of years. “Hyperemesis” means continuous nausea and vomiting over many hours with severe stomach cramps. Apparently many ER doctors don’t know about this so they do the usual blood tests, urine tests, cat scans of the stomach, over and over again without finding a cause for this cyclic illness.

Many patients are using marijuana for nausea or the inability to eat properly, so the contradiction in this diagnosis is obvious and to some unbelievable. The paradoxical nature of these symptoms perhaps has made it more difficult for the medical establishment to recognize CHS. It was first reported in the medical literature in 2004. Go to Google to read all about it.

My friend did research but never found it because of its paradoxical nature and strange medical name. He is so glad to finally meet a doc who is up on these things!

The only short-term relief to be found to these horrible stomach cramps is long, very hot showers. One article mentioned a patient who used up all of his hot water at home and then went to a motel for more! The nausea and vomiting can last for over 24 hours.

Unfortunately, the only long-term solution is to stop THC consumption immediately. This is much easier said than done by the heavy weed consumer. Perhaps literature from Marijuana Anonymous can help.

I plan to get the word out on this in every way I can. These symptoms are horrible, and will keep coming back over many years if you never get the proper diagnosis.

Post Script: We had a beauty of a double rainbow here last night!

With the best of intentions, change can still be hell! Trust me, I know…

May 25, 2016October 13, 2016 / Laura Lee Carter / 16 Comments

“Even in seemingly dormant times, we are in transition. Losses and gains are in constant play. We are the change-agent, and we are changed. Even without toil, we transform. So, wisdom advises us to open our hearts to transition; to honor fully what is passing, to learn from all that unfolds, and to welcome what arrives at our door each day with courage and curiosity.”

As all who have been reading this blog for the past year or so know, I have had many doubts about this big, dramatic move Mike and I started on two years ago. Especially when we first moved to Walsenburg, and I basically hated it.

But then if you took anyone from a beautiful, suburban home in Fort Collins, and moved them into a tiny, dirty 100-year-old house in a sad, rundown town an hour away from any decent sized city, the shock would be total, and it was!

The challenges we have faced in the past two years have been daunting for both of us. For me the biggest challenge was simply adjusting to such a different world than I was used to. For Mike it was the many extra expenses, frustrations, and delays in building a passive solar home in a rural environment.

I am now quite happy that we made this choice, while Mike says he wouldn’t have done it if he had known how unhappy I would be in the process of adjusting to something so different.

In retrospect I wish I had not worried so much about everything and trusted more in Mike’s vision for us, because this place is heaven. I fully appreciate how much courage and vision it took for Mike to push this whole project through to completion.

Now we live in a beautiful home that is supremely quiet, with fantastic views in every direction, and our direct-gain passive solar is working great! Plus I now feel like I’m making a few friends and slowly starting to feel like I belong here.

In summary: This place is perfect, but change can still be hell!

imgp5354

How did this happen? How did I end up here, feeling so fortunate? It’s a long story, one I can now share with you in my new memoir…

How do we choose what to write about?

May 21, 2016May 21, 2016 / Laura Lee Carter / 6 Comments

This morning I found myself wondering why we find some topics so worth writing about, while others would never make the cut? Why, when I’m sitting around thinking about nothing in particular, will I mark one idea in my mind as something to go back to when I’m writing, and all other thoughts aren’t worth mentioning?

How do we choose what to write about next?

The only answer I could come up with was personal taste. Sometimes I simply say to myself, “That’s an interesting thought.” or “I’ve never looked at things that way!”

Internal thoughts like these actually do determine whether readers come back, because they find my choice of topics or thought processes more interesting than others. But why? I can only surmise that my readers and I share certain values or views on life. Perhaps they find me curious, or in some way similar to them.

I decided a long time ago, when I first started writing a blog, that if a topic was interesting enough to me to cause me to research and write about it, than there certainly must be other readers who would find it interesting.

I started out writing about my own midlife changes. By writing on this topic I met others who had also discovered what a perfect time midlife was to take a long look at your life thus far, and then perhaps change a few major things, before it was too late. Do-overs before it’s all over!

With research I learned exactly how healthy midlife change can be. Who knew? Not me when I first started suffering through a divorce, job/career loss, etc. I thought this was just my own personal hell. Not so!

IMGP4009

Somewhere over the rainbow…

Midlife crisis is the gift that keeps on giving! I went from my sad and lonely, unemployed position to finding love, a new career I love, and moving to a fantastic solar home in the southern Colorado foothills.

How’s that for some serious do-overs?