The Social

I HEARD SMASHING as I approached the corner of Walk & Don’t Walk the other day. There was a distinctly sodden aspect to the noise, as if someone was pounding melons with a sledgehammer. And so it was! It was Gallagher, wielding his trademark weapon of choice, splattering watermelons that were stacked next to a little sign that read “FREE.” “I thought you were dead,” I told him. ...

I just had to have a colostomy. I'm nervous about a lot of things and would love some "make my life easier" advice!

A REUTERS REPORT on May 7 creeped me out. Four men were caught in Kenya attempting to smuggle thousands of ants out of the country. Wildlife experts refer to it as biopiracy, a new word for me. These guys had roughly 5,440 giant African harvester ant queens concealed in syringes. Apparently a market exists among ant worshippers who maintain large transparent containers called formicari ...

Hi folks. Creative, Actor-Teacher-Choreographer.
Ileostomy since emergency surgery Jan 1 2025. Very new to this.

They tell me its probably reversable. So I’m in it for the LOLs.

tim

NEVER GO TO THE GROCERY STORE when you’re hungry. In our favorite supermarket, I am like Oscar Wilde, able to resist anything but temptation. If I walk down the aisle displaying cookies, I pick up Nilla Wafers or animal crackers. The candy aisle then beckons me where Caramel Cremes await my eye. Two minutes later, an entire community of snacks and chips puts out a siren call that catches ...

GROWING UP IN FLAT FLORIDA, I always dreamed of seeing the west. In 1974, I almost made it. We were set for an exploratory trip until my wife discovered that she was pregnant. Many years later, we drove around Arizona, then New Mexico, then Utah, with which we fell in love. We moved there, and I started reading ‘western’ writers. Wallace Stegner wrote Beyond the Hundredth Meridian ...

"Whispers of the Wooden Realm"

In the veil between worlds, where shadows dance,
A cupboard whispers tales of old romance,
February's moon, a silvery eye,
Witnessed our bond 'neath the star-studded sky.

Ancient oak, keeper of secrets untold,
Your grains map journeys both brazen and bold,
Angles askew, like time's crooked path,
Defying the straight lines of mortal math.

In corners where re ...

FRISBEE IS THE TRADEMARKED NAME for a plastic, concave disk used in catching games between two or more players who spin the disk off into the air with a flick of the wrist. As I was walking through a local park the other day, I saw some kids tossing one back and forth. Their throws seemed effortless and the flight of the Frisbee floating through space from one to the other was almost mesmeri ...

Wit and wisdom, with a side of cocktails.. its Flabby. Helping the lovelorn and just plain stoopid.

With a flare for irrelevance and a healthy appetite for bubbly... Flabby at-cher service.
Let's rummage through the ole mailbag. Ha! A letter with the stamp upside down. Winner!!

I'll label this missive.... Stomal Magic

Hey you GOAT Flabby!

Yeah... you BE to me..Greatest Of All Time. But enough about you. Let's dig into my man trouble.

Chet and I met on a blind date set up by ...

ODE TO A NURSE
Sick people turn me on,

They get my care-a-lot juices flowing

And I learned early on

That caring is my Camelot,

My special place, I’m glowing

When I’m making patients better,

I’m a real go-getter

With needles, bandages and gauze,

I do it because

It makes me feel good

And hopefully them too,

So I can cope fully

With the pain I see.

I’m ...

I forgot how much dogs love to go into the bathroom with you ... I mean, ALL the time.

I'm currently pet-sitting a good friend's senior dog that is now deaf. Hand signals, treats, and loving strokes used to be the only ways to her heart.

UNTIL she discovered that I didn't close the bathroom door all the way ... after all, it was just the two of us in the house, right?

Well, now after s ...

At Alamitos Marina near Seal Beach today. Looking at the boats... this caught my eye.
Ahoy matey

Today we drove from Marco Island on the Gulf coast to Everglades City. Taking a boat tour of Ten Thousand Island National Park. Wonderful day, sunshine with little wind. Ignoring the backseat driving of Mrs B, we soon arrived and boarded our tour boat. This area is where fresh water mixes with salt water. Take a look:

Airboat heading out

Our comfy tour boat dockside

Leaving Everglad ...

Hi friends. Surgery is now just 4 days away. Shit (pun intended) is getting real. You know, like all the phone calls about pre op, pharmacy, arrival time… and the dreaded bowel prep. Please pray for my family, this will be ugly. A trip to the hardware store for plastic sheets is a serious request!!

As a way to find humor and get me through my poop anxiety, I thought about music that pairs ...

New to the site, 7 weeks post op. Still about a stone down on my weight, appetite back so eating my way back to it

OVER THE EARLY YEARS, I had a few odd jobs. Just out of college, I drove a cab on the night shift in Miami, where I grew up. I thought that I was going to get robbed or killed by one fare, but he gave me a big tip, which was a relief. I did a stint as a pizza chef. It took a while for the oven burns on the tops of my hands to heal. For a few months, I participated as part of a doctoral th ...

INSTEAD OF WATCHING THE OSCARS last night (I don’t get ABC), I watched one of my favorite Oscar-winning flicks, the 1987 film about love, “Moonstruck.” It won Best Picture, Cher won for Best Actress (they called the female actors actresses back then), and Olympia Dukakis won for Best Supporting Actress. IT IS A FLAT-OUT WONDERFUL MOVIE. No violence, no shooting, no car chases, and I d ...

My interest are tattoos animals sports and cars I collect hot wheels and other diecast cars I love RC cars You name the sport and I’ve got a team lol I’m a simple kind of man I’m here looking for friendship and whatever

At Seal Beach today, spotted a Hawk. Got some great pictures.
Right after I took these, 3 Crows and a Seagull showed up and started dive bombing the hovering Hawk. The Hawk zipped off into the distance with his antagonists in hot pursuit.

I named mine Sylvester Stalloma, he’s now my ring man fighting through this labyrinth called life.

for the most part he’s well behaved apart from the odd battle cry he lets out at 2am some nights, startling me into action in the darkness, I think he does it just to remind me that he’s still there fighting my corner.

NO ONE WOULD CONTEST that Winston Churchill was a master of the English language. His written work product was enormous, in addition to his careers as soldier and politician. It has been estimated that he wrote 8 to 10 million words in over forty books, plus thousands of newspaper and magazine articles. His work included a six-volume history of W.W. I, a six-volume history of W.W. II, and A ...

TOLERANCE.

Tolerance, it should be said
is governed largely in one’s head
but, perhaps, it may just start
as seedlings sprouting in one’s heart.

Emotions can control what we
prefer to hear, to touch, and see,
so though we think we‘re in control
sometimes things spring right from the soul.

Tolerance is not a given,
for in life, things may be riven
with divisions that can still
prove ...

AS MY LIFE STRETCHES INTO its octogenarian period, I find myself outliving contemporaries who were friends or acquaintances. It is hard to know quite how to deal with this discomforting phenomenon. Funerals can present one with competing, contradicting, and confusing reactions. I’m reminded of the scene in Heller’s great novel ‘Catch 22’ where Yossarian is seen perched nude in a nea ...

I'm new here, semi-new ostomy (8/2023). Found this wonderful community on BlueSky! Super excited to be here after I left Facebook (and an amazing ostomy group there). Looking forward to learning my way around the site and chatting with other ostomates!

I ADMIT TO BEING AN UNDERCOVER grammar cop. Usually I manage to restrain myself, but when one of my daughters persists in using the word “like” inappropriately over and over, it’s all that I can do to keep from jumping all over her. While I recognize the natural inclination of language to change over time, there remains a proper way to put words together and precise definitions for the ...

T

I GOT THE PHOTO A FEW YEARS AGO OF A VERY RAIR THREE EAERD KANGAROO.

Regards IGGIE

Hi there fellow ostomy friends… I’m new to all of this & just happened upon this site hoping for advice, help, support, friendship, encouragement & I mean this ALL in a reciprocal manner…. Wishing all The Very Best in a Journey that I never dreamed that I’d be taking

HOLDING THE HOSE IN MY HAND yesterday, I realized how important I am. I have plants that depend upon me. The native red maple that I planted in March, the tupelo tree that is beautiful every day since I brought it home from the nursery several years ago, both thrive as a direct result of my care. The rose bushes and the other plants in the courtyard, I see them and care for them every day l ...

Hello

my name is peter and I am 73 years old. I had surgery 3 months ago for rectal cancer and had no follow-up treatment. In connection with the surgery I unfortunately got an abscess which took 8 weeks to recover from
I started irrigation a week ago and have already managed to be continent for a day. I irrigate every morning at 7 am and I have only succeeded because I have ...

Hello,

Just home from hospital with Ileostomy today. Looking support as I navigate this new way of life.

Looking forward to hearing everyone's tips and tricks!!
Thank you,

Megan

Loving all of the beautiful spring colors
Haven't painted in years. Love how this turned out

WE ATE OUT THE OTHER NIGHT but that is becoming more infrequent because both my wife and I enjoy the kitchen. “Food is celebratory,” said Leo Buscaglia. “People who don’t cook don’t know how much fun they’re missing.” Besides, restaurants make me nervous. I’ve heard horror stories about the kitchens. In addition, when we’re cooking at home, we know what’s going into an ...

Hi everyone…

Does anyone have a success story or a positive statement they would like to share? I am in the thick of my testimony I see the light, but I am not there yet. I love the support and networking these sites have to offer, but sometimes I get scared by the unsuccessful stories.

I could use some positivity right now

SO MANY LITERARY TALES are out there, it’s hard to select a favorite. Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, the tortoise & the hare, the ugly duckling, and they all have important morals. I always liked ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ by Hans Christian Andersen. It’s about an emperor who has an obsession with fancy new clothes, and spends lavishly on them, at the expense of state matters. O ...

THE BUDGERIGAR
It is native to Australia and at the height of the feeding season they can be seen in flocks of thousands.

The are all green, other colors are man manipulated by special breading. If you buy one get a Green one only

Regards IGGIE

I have to ask, how many of you ended up making the Lemonade Scones.

IGGIE

AS I APPROACHED THE CORNER of ‘Walk’ and ‘Don’t Walk’ on my morning outing, I ran into one of my favorite actors. It was the great Alan Arkin. “I thought you were dead,” I blurted out. “Nasty rumor,” he told me with his usual smirk. “What are you doing here?” I asked. “I think I made a wrong turn in Biloxi,” Arkin said. I had to ask him: “You were in over a h ...

Hello. i am new here. I will be getting a loop ileostomy later this month. I am honestly terrified. I don't know anyone with an ostomy, so I don't really know much about what's coming. I have several chronic health conditions, and several implanted devices. I enjoy reading, crafting, board games, and being with my partner and our new dog. I'm here looking for support, friends, and tips on liv ...

After a wunnerful day in St. Thomas, Gert & I needed a rest. Fortunately next up, a sea day! Stumbling back to our cabin, we crashed early, with my vintage Walkman belting out the B-52's. Can you say.. Rock Lobster?

Woke at 11:00 in the morning. Took a shot of Pepto, then slipped out onto our balcony to a postcard perfect scene. Ocean, sun, scattered clouds. Yes, I bellowed, "this...i ...

It seems the Americans have been learning a bit of Australian slang like Bugger.

So here is a little something I have put together for you to hang on the wall.

Bloody Ripper Mate = Really Good my friend. Another new one for you
Regards IGGIE

After a hard night with an upset tummy and shots of Pepto Bismal.... I was ready to rock the beach. Ship was docked at St. Thomas Virgin Islands. I kicked started Gert, who groggily wondered what day it was. "Rise and shine sunshine" I thundered. "Time for for this bod, to blaze the virgin beach." Gert rolled her eyes. "Oh Flab, you is a kooky one." I threw an olive at her.

I whippe ...

DID YOU KNOW THAT what most distinguishes us humans from the lower animals is our willingness to blame others for our faults? That’s why you never see your dog point a paw at your spouse. The poor dog just gets a guilty look on its face and slinks into the nearest corner. Whereas, had it been human, it would have said something like ‘John must’ve eaten it’ or, at least, ‘I don’t ...

Bolsa Chica wetlands today.
Was a little foggy. When the hundreds of Terns started flying around hunting fish, their squawking was so loud. I also had to run for cover. You don't want to be underneath a cloud of birds.

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA is a two-and-a-half-hour drive on I-10 from Tallahassee, Florida, a boring stretch of concrete highway through pine tree forestation surrounded by speeding 18-wheelers and other travelers. We make the trip every so often to visit our daughter and her family. I hate the drive but make it willingly to see my daughter and granddaughter. My son-in-law is an added benefit, ...

Well…I originally thought Snow was a Princess, but now that Snow is a little bigger, she is not a Princess, but Prince Snow. He can be so sweet and loving, but there are days that he is our little demon brat cat. Hopefully, once he is fixed, he will calm down. I love him dearly.

A good friend of mine has just offered us the use of her AIRBNB home for 5 nights. It's a beautiful house with all the amenities, plus it's in a nearby tourist town that I've yet to explore.

Dear husband and I haven't had a vacation long since before my surgery, so we're due for a little getaway.

This will be my first time away from home, so I'm a little nervous about the whole ostomy pack ...

Some would proclaim it to be the wheel. Others say batteries, or air conditioning. The printing press ranks high. In my humble opinion:
The couch.
Epitome of utility and convince. A simple comfortable refuge from the stress of modern life. Morphing a once harried human into a content potato.
Enlightened others advocate for the so called, La-Z-Boy chair. In this writers opinion... too mu ...

Hi
I’m Sammi new to this page I’m looking for friendships as I’ve been quite isolated
I have been an ostomate for 11 years permanent colostomy
looking forward to getting to know you all