From the fourth grade on, I worked. Job upon job, plus school which, as we know, if done right, is work too. I didn’t stop until I was seventy-five and, even then, it was with mixed emotions. Of course, as the great Lily Tomlin once said, the problem with the rat race is that, even if you win, you’re still a rat. So I came to regard retirement as time to hang it up, box it up, and give it up: hang up my suits, box up the accoutrements of my trade (don’t ask), and give up trying to impress anybody with my hard-earned profe...

A short drive from my house is a nice walk leading to a lake. I park my car and cross a field before heading into the woods along a wide path leading to a point where the trail splits off in two directions. “When you come to a fork in the road, take it,” said the great philosopher Yogi Berra. The two choices are either clockwise, or counter-clockwise, around the lake. I go left and immediately there is a long, wooden pedestrian trestle that ascends and crosses over a railroad track and continues into a large grove of spreading ...

DAILY ROUTINE. Why are we all by routine bound?Why do our lives revolve aroundmundane habits we displaywithout question every day? What is it predisposes us to act routinely without fuss,and not rebel about the fact we can predict the way we a...

Country music rarely appeals to me, but Toby Keith wrote a song for Clint Eastwood’s film “The Mule” that I found very appealing. The name of it is “Don’t Let the Old Man In.” Being an old man myself, I took the song personally (plus, it was perfect for the movie). I’m about to turn 78 years old but, most days, I don’t feel my age. I begin each day with an hour walk from 6 AM to 7 AM. I’m no speed walker, but I’m not ambling either. Anyway, there’s a line in Keith’s so...

I offer you this vision since uploading a photo was just too much. I shake my head and wonder what is happening to my southern neighbor in these tough times ... and now this.  Which bothers you more - Colin Kaepernick kneeling at an NFL game or the cop kneeling on George Floyd?  I am lost for words - which may be a good thing. I know one thing for sure; I would be a protester. Just saying ...  Karen  

Good Morning, O'mates~ I was just looking back through all the Topics that have been posted since I joined this site; the first was dated 9/6/2020, so I joined a month ago! During this time, I have read so many interesting posts regarding not only ostomy-related topics or dating, but Life.  From thoughts about daily miracles, to observations on seemingly mundane subjects, to laughter-evoking reflections, each item and each response are jewels. A couple of weeks ago I was on the website when what got my sudden and undivided att...

   In Nov 2018  Kitty had a Gallstone removed and was back in the hospital with major abdominal pain  a day after being released . The possible problems associated with this "Keyhole" surgery  had not been fully explain...

   Many people ponder the viability of a long distance relationship and with good reason . I can tell you without hesitation that it works . My long distance is between SIlicon Valley in California and a small town called Ballina in t...

Yo Yo Ostomates...........did you miss me?  Sorry for not giving advanced notice, but I had to take an unplanned abscence, so what did I miss?  My Mom had a really tough time with her cancer treatments, as I think she thought those wouldn't be such big deals, but it's definitely put her back on her heals, so to speak.  So I loaded up the pooch and a couple shirts and some underwear and trucked on up to the wonderful state of NJ to spend some time with her and my family.  And upon my arrival I found out she had her ...

“When did the future switch,” wrote Chuck Palahniuk in Invisible Monsters, “from being a promise to being a threat?” That’s exactly the state of affairs into which the USA has been led by the dishonest, corrupt, incompetent, Twitter-souled Donald Trump. We face today the certainty of chaos in November, attended by rightwing violence, and it appears there is nothing that anyone can do to forestall it. Deranged heads of state always end badly but, unfortunately, the nation falls to its knees with them. It disgus...

I finally changed clothes in the locker room at my Fire Department. It's been over 2 years; and even though I was in there alone, and I did not anticipate anyone coming in, I still did it. I'm sure most of you are light years ahead of me when it comes to how you think of your bag in a situation where you may be "seen". But for me, and how I feel and cope, I'm proud of myself.

Just found out my ex Narc significant other is trolling on the same Ostomy sites ....AWKWARD! I really thought he was my Ostomate for life.. Honest people are hard to come by and the World is seeming like a MUCH smaller place. I have been on the...

Many of us are hotdog lovers. Easy to fix, simple to eat. Just shove it into a fresh bun, plop on your favorite additives (mustard etc. – no self-respecting hotdog devotee would sully it with ketchup), and you got your meal. But most people don’t know how the hot dog came to be so named. Despite being ever present at American picnics and holiday gatherings, the simple hot dog was originally a unique Far Eastern delicacy. In Viet Nam, where they have eaten dog for centuries, they used to just roast it on a spit like a rabbit (on...

Who doesn’t hate flies? Useless, disease-carrying insects, it is hard to think of a worst pest than the common housefly (Musca domestica). In the summer, when we are opening our doors and windows and coming and going more than in the wintertime, houseflies come into their own. Flies, of the order diptera, have been around since the Cenozoic era, some 65 million years ago. They begin reproducing within just 36 hours of emerging from the pupa, which kind of redefines prepubescent sex. Fly copulation takes between a few seconds to a cou...

      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 ...

The turkey coop I built is pretty much a big square box with a flat roof that overhangs on each side a good deal.  The front of the coop roof is about 6' off the ground and it slopes backward down to about 3 1/2 feet at the back end.  So I'm out there in the dark chasing my 3 gals around the yard trying to get them into the coop for the night.  I got the first two in no sweat.  But the third one is getting smart.  So when I go to grab her she runs behind the coop, where it's too low for me to chase her.  There...

So what’s it all about? Most of us are born, live any number of years, then we die. So what’s it mean? Did we take someone else’s place? Will someone take our place? Was it mostly fun? Was some of it too difficult or was it a b...

GET OFF MY BACK! Bob recently reminded me that folks with disability can fall foul occasionally of those who think judgementally.  These folks are often ignorant  of anything that’s different. So, tend ...

DIGNITY AND STOMAS. Prior to my colostomyit never did occur to methat people differed in this wayas stomas are not on display. So, you’re not likely to behold,and stoma stories are untold,because it seems embarrassingto be talking about ...

An ostomy is a pre-existing condition, a secret one, living under our clothing and not allowing us to forget it is there, like an intrusive old aunt who keeps phoning, wondering when we’re going to come visit her again. It became a part of me after five terrible months of hospitalization and a last-ditch surgery. That I survived all that is not something that I regard with reverence as a bridge to some deeper purpose, for I put no store in fate or faith. There is another f-word which I have relied upon with some frequency, along with...

“Rhapsody in Blue” is not only George Gershwin’s most famous piece, it is also the name of the 1945 biographical film. I happened to be in a St. George, Utah hospital, getting a couple of days’ worth of IVs for dehydration, when the flick came on just before midnight on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). As everyone knows, sleep doesn’t necessarily occur in hospitals at night. Terrific movie; sad ending [spoiler alert: the hero dies]. Old movies are often fascinating things. You have to be able to handle the black &...