Monday, February 22, 2021

Monday and More Reading

 I slept well again last night and am ready to fix my breakfast now. I am dressed and ready for the day...whatever it may bring. 

I have fixed my breakfast now and will eat it while I blog. It's only 6:08AM and I haven't texted Bob yet. I will wait awhile since he sleeps a little longer when it's cold. I haven't checked on the cats yet either. I will get to that after breakfast and "the weather on the 8's". It's only 28 degrees out there this morning. I imagine they will be pretty cold if they are out there.

I finally looked out front and there were two cats out there. Scruffie and Blondie were out there waiting for their breakfast. I  fixed all four bowls...figuring others may come when they see the garage door up. 

In about a week...or maybe earlier...I will need to buy more cat food. I get that at Orchelons either in Coffeyville or Independence. I think those bags are 30 pounds. But it's much cheaper to buy it in bulk then in 3 1/2 pound bags at Dollar General or Walmart.

It's getting light out now and it's 6:45AM. It's 29 degrees now. It's supposed to be 59 degrees today.  It looks like Friday and Sunday rain next week.

It's 8:11AM  now. I ended up feeding three cats. Scruffie,  Blondie and the neighbor's yellow cat. They are all gone now and I put the garage door down again. 

I am watching the CBS news now.  I see in this morning's news that a Boeing 777 had an engine explode and parts of it rained down on neighborhoods. The pilot managed to get the plane landed safely with one less engine and they have pulled all 777s until they check out their engines.

My kids from Phoenix intend to fly here when they come for the family to celebrate their anniversary in April with them. I texted them both to not use a 777 for their flight. United is the only American company using the 777s so maybe they can avoid using one of them.

Problems....

Today a half million American patients will have died of the Coronavirus. Luckily the new cases are slowly going down but until most people are vaccinated,  it will continue to take lives. I get my second shot on Friday at 9:30AM.

More later..

I have watched the CBS news this morning. Next I will read in my Kindle book. There is nothing else on TV that I am interested in. 

One of my readers bemoaned that some people don't want to take the immunization for the virus. After the Tuskegee Institute experience with our government I certainly understand their reluctance to trust it.

The Study Begins

In 1932, the Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee Institute, began a study to record the natural history of syphilis in hopes of justifying treatment programs for blacks. It was called the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.”

The study initially involved 600 black men – 399 with syphilis, 201 who did not have the disease. The study was conducted without the benefit of patients’ informed consent. Researchers told the men they were being treated for “bad blood,” a local term used to describe several ailments, including syphilis, anemia, and fatigue. 

In truth, they did not receive the proper treatment needed to cure their illness. In exchange for taking part in the study, the men received free medical exams, free meals, and burial insurance. Although originally projected to last 6 months, the study actually went on for 40 years.

A tragedy that's for sure. I saw a special on TV last year that also told about experiences blacks had with the society at large. After blacks were freed, many terrible things happened to them. One story found in the new black museum  in Washington DC was of a mob looking for a black minister they wanted to lynch. They searched everywhere for him and when they couldn't find him, they hung his wife and children instead.

From our own experience with racism:

Bob and I made friends with a black couple in Bartlesville in the 60's about the time of the civil rights beginning there. The Episcopal church there sponsored  interracial discussion groups and we attended.The black couple invited us to visit their church and we went. Then when their minister went on vacation, they invited Bob to preach in his place. The young man was among the first black persons hired by Phillips Petroleum Company. His wife was a nurse. We then invited them to visit our church and they came. Everyone was very cordial except one couple from Florida. They left by the back door of the church rather then to have to shake hands with the black couple.

Later that month, I always had a big Christmas open house at our home   and the Florida couple lived right down the block from us and I invited them as usual. She called me to ask if I had invited the black couple and I told her I had. She told me they would not be attending. It was their loss. Everyone else attended and we all had a great time.

Just an example of the times. Obviously nothing much has changed. 

More later... 

Inky and Blondie came back about 10:00AM for more food so I reopened  the garage door and let them eat again. I had a feeling Scruffie ran them off earlier. They ate again and then left so I put the door back down again.

About 10:30AM I called Nancy and she answered on the second ring.  I was amazed! I asked her if she wanted to go to Independence and eat at Sam's and she was ready to go as soon as she got her bath and dressed. I told her I would came back at 11:30AM and pick her up.  That's what I did. We stopped at the bank on the corner and Dale saw us there and went in and got Nancy some money from her account. Then we went up to Sam's and got lunch. She insisted she pay for our lunch.  She said we used my gas and I drove. I let her get by with that this time. We then drove around Independence awhile and then stopped at a gift shop and she bought some greeting cards.  We came back to Caney and drove around here too. She has been cooped up for so long at her house she was delighted to go somewhere away from her home.

I brought her over to my place and we visited for over an hour. Josh sent his younger brother over to pick up my car and put that sensor in the tire on the passenger side front tire. I gave him a check to pay for it.

At 5:20PM I took her home. Now I am watching the CBS news and it is 5:34 PM. 

I will take my bath at 7:00PM and plan to go to bed at 9:00PM. 

It's shortly after 7:00PM  now and I have had my bath. I will read for awhile before going to bed.

 

5 comments:

Galla Creek said...

It saddens me that many refuse to be vaccinated. They’re lots of people who are just ignorant. That’s the only explanation I can see.

Margie's Musings said...

Some remember what our government did in the past with the syphilis test fiasco. Did you know about that? The army during the second world war gave it to black soldiers to see what the results would be and if they could cure it. The soldiers they experimented with all died of it and even gave it to their women who also died.

They have had just bad experiences with our government and even police that it is hard to trust them.

Margie's Musings said...

The Study Begins

In 1932, the Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee Institute, began a study to record the natural history of syphilis in hopes of justifying treatment programs for blacks. It was called the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.”

The study initially involved 600 black men – 399 with syphilis, 201 who did not have the disease. The study was conducted without the benefit of patients’ informed consent. Researchers told the men they were being treated for “bad blood,” a local term used to describe several ailments, including syphilis, anemia, and fatigue. In truth, they did not receive the proper treatment needed to cure their illness. In exchange for taking part in the study, the men received free medical exams, free meals, and burial insurance. Although originally projected to last 6 months, the study actually went on for 40 years.

susie @ persimmon moon cottage said...

How horrible that such cruel experiments were done to black people. I cannot think of any reasonable excuse for such experiments going on in our country. Disgusting and heartbreaking.

Margie's Musings said...

Yes, it is horrible. Our country has not always been as squeeky clean as we would like it to be.