IN MY LATE seventies, I didn’t need to come across this article. As reported in THE WEEK magazine, research regarding the effect of aerobic activity on age-related brain deterioration indicated that after people hit forty years of age, their brains commence to shrink by about five percent every ten years. Even though I was an English major, I can do that math, and it is unnerving. Some scientists set out to study the impact of exercise on the hippocampus, that area of one’s brain where memories are created and stored. What they...

Just when you start to see a light at the end of the tunnel.........you realize it's an oncoming train!  Think I'll make a conscious effort to NOT buy anything made in China anymore.  Even if I need it.  I'll make do.  Enough is enough.   Sorry for the bad news folks; https://nypost.com/2020/09/24/covid-19-mutation-ma y-be-evolving-to-bypass-masks-hand-washing/   Hang in there, bob

It has recently come to my attention, on this very website, that some of you – people that I previously assumed were reasonable, serious people – have actually assigned human names to your stomas. Really?? You have named your stoma?? I’ve had this ileostomy since effin 1964, and it has never occurred to me to do such a thing. I must say, with all due respect, that I find this to be perhaps the grossest, most flagrant act of anthropomorphistic nonsense ever. I’m assuming that these are the same ones of you that, upon...

KIND GESTURES 6. (Stoma nurses) I feel it is now past the time, that I should put my mind to rhyme about the stoma-nurses who  helped me when they needed to.   I’ve been about for long enough, to know m...

      Hi there , my name is Eamon , born in The West of Ireland , transplanted to New York ( Bronx ) too many years ago to contemplate . I loved America as soon as I sat in the gigantic convertible on the way from the airport to ...

Hi there Ladies and Gents,  I hope my previous purplish private prose didn't shock or offend any sensitive souls out there . I embellished a bit but not much . I believe we should never pass up an opportunity to make people smile or laugh ...

Hi Gang,   With all the discussions COVID is producing...........such as do masks work (current day Europe would indicate they do not)......who came up with 6' as the correct spacing for social distancing.......so 5'11" is unsafe....but 6' is fine???  Have you seen those ridiculous face shields they're selling that are open on all sides???  If you smoke....inhale and put your mask on in front of a mirror.  Then exhale.  If you see any smoke you just proved wearing a mask is pointless.  But that's just one dis...

JANUARY. January’s that time of year   in the northern hemisphere,  with shorter days and longer night  when winter’s wind will pack a bite.   With all festivities now done,  the gl...

Ok.......where is everybody?  With everyone stuck inside and bored out of their minds I thought this place would be a rockin'.........but it's just crickets chirping. Oh well........guess I'll go back to painting the bathroom.  See ya.   regards, bob

BETTER TO DIE IN JEANS, I thought as I labored up the long hill, than in one of those hospital gowns. I had missed a couple of days of my normal walk routine. I was feeling it. The day before had been a bad day. I had a screw loose. In an oral implant, that is. It had to be fixed, which was disturbingly more complicated, apparently, than twisting a loosened light bulb. More stressful and more immediate than the daily national news.My habit, following a bad experience, is to open a favorite book at random and start reading, often by just th...

Don’t you just want to go crazy sometimes? We lead such restricted lives, partly out of concern for our own safety, partly due to fear of the unknown, partly as a result of the moral ceiling under which we reside so traditionally. Some days (I know you’ve thought about this) you would like to go jump off that proverbial cliff and see what it feels like to paraglide, or hit the water 150 feet down, or maybe even sky dive. And there are crazier things as well. That’s why they say “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...

‘Twas the night before Xmas and all through the blogs,/Not a creature was stirring, not even the dogs;/The wordsmiths had hung up their plotting of posts,/And shelved all the diaries, the stories and boasts;/It seemed all the ostomy articles slowed/While outside in some places snow swirled and blowed/(If you’re thinking that “blowed” should have really been “blew,”/That’s okay, ‘cause I’m dealing with rhyming – who knew?)./Anyway, it’s tomorrow, that glorious what’d-yo...

W. C. FIELDS WAS EXPRESSING an aversion for innocence when he said: “Anyone who hates children and animals can’t be all bad.” Fields unwittingly was touching upon the very reason that I like animals better than people: their inherent innocence. The company of a good dog or cat, in my experience, grows into a bond that is simply absent with most humans. Even watching a movie, one becomes inured to the violence between humans, of which there is often way too much, but don’t let anything happen to the dog!Because I gre...

First off, I'm a gay man with a very healthy mojo who was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2015. My colostomy was not made permanent and my surgeon has indicated that he will be willing to see if he can surgically remove scar tissue that could poss...

G'morning Ostomates, With so much happening in the world today you never know how small actions can impact the next person. We talk about our experiences and hardships and sometimes seek answers and help from other ostomates. We often say when a member is approaching surgery or a hardship keep us informed. Do we mean it? At one time this was a place where we could discuss different topics yet now there stipulations. The beauty of this group is there many topics to read. So if one don't like the topic...

Everyone knows that when aliens come to our planet, they always land in some desolate place like Roswell, New Mexico or Yucca Flat in Nevada. When I lived in Utah, the vast wilderness called the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was in my very backyard and, one day, while wandering out there with a daypack and a hiking pole, I heard a sudden noise behind me, like air being sucked out of one of those liter-sized plastic soda bottles, and then I got the fright of my life. It was a spacecraft just like those in the early Fifties sca...

   After my long flight I would quarantine for 14 days but because of the rash I had developed on my back and side , heading straight to my SToma , I decided that another week was called for. My final day was to be Sunday 25th Oct. &...

My wife always hated the rabbitbrush that grew all over our property in Utah. She would have torn out all of it. While I will admit that it is an invasive plant, it has benefits that she just doesn’t appreciate. Rabbitbrush blooms a gorgeous golden yellow from mid-summer to early fall, and in September it is in its glory. This plant, chrysothamnus nauseosus, was useful to the native Americans who lived out west. They made chewing gum with it, cough syrup, and yellow dye. It can also be used to make rubber but that process is not cos...

I live in a part of the world where fiery spices are widely used, but I have to stay away for obvious reasons. If you think Mexican chillies are hot, you have to try some of the ones available here. My appetite is not what it used to be, perhaps...

Howdy folks,   Ok, so this virus crap isn't going away anytime soon, so it looks like masks will continue to be required fashion thru the hottest part of summer.  Has anyone found a really good mask?  I don't mean good enough......they're all that.....I mean one that you actually don't mind wearing.  I've tried a number of types and still haven't found any one to standout.  So I'm hoping one of you guys has stumbled onto, or made, something that does the job and isn't a total nuisance to wear.  If you have......

Today we witnessed a travesty of our justice system.  WHY ANYONE would ever consent to sit on a jury after this display of disrespect for the law displayed by our highest court of elected legislators is beyond me.  I think it disgracef...