Dead things and other true stories

I gasped as I entered the large room and surveyed the horrific scene before my very eyes. There were hundreds of them. Motionless. Still. Carcasses littered the area as far as the eye could see. Their arms and legs lay motionless at their side; they had stopped dead in their tracks. I was overwhelmed with disgust and my body fought the wave of nausea that threatened to breach the borders of my stomach. My mind quickly flashed back to a time in my youth. It’s funny how an entire memory can be relived in mere seconds. I was eleven. We were at a restaurant with my family ordering from the menu when my cousin interrupted this routine event with a shrieking scream. I immediately looked to see why such a sound of fear had been squeezed from deep with in her soul when I saw them. There were three of them. Dead, not too far from where we sat. At the time I was unmoved and a little embarrassed by her shrill cry. My cousin couldn't understand why I wasn’t filled with the same sense of horror that she was. I had seen dead bodies like these before. Truth be told, I had even killed a time or two myself. Even at my young tender age I knew that killing was sometimes necessary. Sometimes,
it was even . . .satisfying. I distanced myself from my cousin quickly not wanting to be a part of the commotion that would inevitable come next. The clean up.

Decades later I finally felt the complete and utter horror that my cousin had felt that day in the restaurant; as I stepped onto a scene where hundreds lay dead before me. The only difference between now and other time was the shear number of dead and broken bodies and of course that this time it was on my turf and not a restaurant. How could this happen? How could so many of them penetrate the walls designed specifically meant to keep them out? These intruders must have found the weak link in our armor and it was up to me to locate it and increase our defenses. I have to protect my family. This was supposed to be my safe place. I didn’t know what had caused them to gather and die in this location and I might not find out in the near future but I knew I had to compose my self. I knew I had to think- to move myself to action. I cleared the fog of disgust from my head and got to work. I rolled up my sleeves, went to the kitchen sink, grabbed a paper towel and began squirting it with dish soap almost simultaneously. I wrung out the excess water and began wiping, cleaning and removing the lifeless bodies of ants that had invaded kitchen counter.

One more Dead topic:
I got a phone call from a member of our ward. He needed help at work and wondered if Kai was available. He wasn't. I asked if I should have Kai call him back. He said he would call back if he couldn't find anyone else to help. I didn't know what he needed help with. He called back 20 minutes later. Kai had returned home by this time. Turns out this guy works at the morgue and needed help going to pick up a body. Kai's a good sport. I am sure that is one thing Kai thought he would never do. He dressed up in a white shirt and tie and helped the man in our ward do his job. Could you do that?
I have so much to post about . . . nothing special, but lots of little moments that I don't want to forget.

H1N1
I thought I would share just a little bit of the
data I gathered regarding the H1N1 shot.
Dr. Marc Siegle (for vaccine) and Dr. Kent Holtorf (against vaccine) had differing views and this is what they had to say:

Dr. Siegle said:
-5-24 year olds more likely to contract H1n1
-The older generation seems to have a better resistance to H1N1
-H1N1 seems to be killing people in the age range their 20's-40's (which doesn't seem to fit with the whole 5-24 year olds most likely to get it)
-pregnant women at higher risk
-14 year olds are more at risk than 60 year olds
-people with asthma or other illnesses should NOT be vaccinated for H1N1- you MUST be totally healthy. (this Dr. said he will vaccinate all in his family except his 4 year old son with asthma)
- Says thimerisol should NOT be used in any vaccine.
Dr. Holtorf says:
-Thimerisol should not be used in any vaccine also
-says he is worried about how well vaccine has been tested
-says there are multiple versions of H1N1 and vaccine will not work for all strains
-We don't know what future consequences of vaccine could be since it has only existed for 6 months
-In 1976 an H1N1 vaccine was created and it killed hundreds and caused severe neurological damage in many others who were not killed by vaccine.
- There have only been 24 clinical trials. (The reg flu shot only goes through 2 clinical trials.)
- He says he would never give his children anything that contained thimerisol, but he would consider giving the nasal flu vaccine.

Thimerisol is a neuro toxin- also know as mercury and it is used in all/most multiple dose vaccinations (this includes childhood immunizations). To get any vaccination that does not have thimerisol in it you must request it and often you must pay more for it. (I actually did this with Cambria's vaccinations) Along with being a neuro toxin that actually collect and stores in you brain, some there is much debate as to whether or not this ingredient causes autism and Alzheimer's.


Bull Dog Pride
There is no mistaking that I live in a small town. I can't say that I completely hate it anymore, but I still won't say that I love it. There are some really perks that come with small town livin'. One of those things being that teachers have connections- so do principals for that matter. Kai's mom in the Principal for the elementary school that Cambria attends. If you know Cambria, then you know that she likes parades. She doesn't just like parades, she longs to be in them.
Good old Grandma (or Maama as we call her) called and invited us to be in the homecoming parade with her. I don't think she wanted to walk alone:) I hesitated for a moment (because it is not my dream to be in a parade) and finally agreed knowing what it would mean to my eldest. It was fun. We even threw candy out to the adoring crowd.

Mini Cheer

Those of you who know me know that I come from a world of boy. The girl thing is new and exciting to me. My girls got to participate in a fundraiser event that the cheerleaders put on for the one and only high school in our town. For a week the girl's got to learn two cheers and perform at the football game's half time.

When I say that my kids learned two cheers I should put that in quotes or italics or something, they had fun, but I don't know how much was really learned. They couldn't do the cheers for you today if you asked them to and it has only been two days. I need to put them in a really good dance class so they can learn to move like girls. Kai loves to dance and he has been very generous in passing on his knowledge to his children. They can do the funky chicken, the sprinkler, some scary modern dance moves and the dance where you shake your knees back and forth while moving your hands in front of them, OH and don't let me forget the ROBOT. Big sigh.

Aren't these two really funny faces. They make me laugh. I just love these little girls!

Oh yeah, the other good thing about small town teacher stardom:

As parents we weren't allowed to go down onto the field to watch the performance until one minute before half time started. I didn't like this idea because it hardly gave me a chance to set up a good place to take pictures and watch the show (turns out my pictures turned out bad anyway). I walked to the ticket booth hoping for leniency when I saw our ward primary president taking tickets. She said I could probably get in just because I was Kai's wife. I walked to the ticket place and asked about getting on to the field with my pink mini drill ticket. She said I would have to wait until half time (even though I saw a cup on her table where she had already accepted other pink tickets identical to mine.) I said "Um, I'm Kai Davis's wife do you know him?" She said a little to loudly "Oh you're Kai's wife, well then you get to go right on in!" She promptly stamped my hand with a bull dog paw and sent me on my way. I was glad it worked.

Until the next time . . .ALoooooooooooooooooooooooha!

I guess I better add this:

I have decided not to vaccinate. I never get the flu shot and I have never given my kids the flu shot. I didn't know if I needed to make an acception this year or not but I have decided not to. I know that there are risks in getting sick, but I just don't feel comfortable the vaccine.I don't think it is bad to ask why someone decided to get the vaccine. Who knows, the reason that made them decide to vaccinate might be something that would make you consider it. That is why I asked in the first place. I am sorry you had that experience.This is why I decided not to:1. I don't like thimerisol and where I live you can't get a vaccination without it2. You have to be completely healthy to get the shot- we have all had colds for the lst two weeks3. I just feel uncomfortable getting a vaccine for something like the flu. I know people have died from it, but I wonder what their current health situation was like in the first place. Were they relatively healthy? Were they dehydrated? Were they unable to control their fever? Were there other complications?4. I just don't feel comfortable with the actual make up of the vaccine. 6 months is not along time to be tested. We have no idea about long term effects. In the late 1800's one military doctor used to give a spoonful of arsenic to cure malaria. If he had know what we know now- that would never had happened.This is long and I hold no feelings of contempt for those who choose to vaccinate. I won't even think bad thoughts in my mind:). We all have our own reasons to do so and who really knows who is right. Only time will tell.