Vaccines

There is a growing concern of the increase in autistic children showing up in recent years.The question is,"Are childhood immunizations the culprit?" It's a legitimet question and I hope research will find the answer soon.SID's and ecxema were also cited in the past as being possibly linked to immunizations,Pertussis (Whooping cough) in particular.Would I risk my child contracting any of these horrible diseases to avoid the remote chance of autism or SID's? No.
I read a very interesting account in Carla Emery's book,"THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COUNTRY LIVING".She, like many other concerned parents,decided not to immunize her children.Then she almost lost a child to whooping cough.She gave up sleep and peace of mind and could not leave her child's side. She said,"Your child of any age-infants can get this!-will have a literally life threatening coughing attack,desperately battling to dislodge the constant dangerous buildup of the most thick,copious,ugly masses of phlegm you can imagine,every 8 to 18 minutes, day and night for the NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS-and longer.The child can drink light liquids like 7-UP.There won't be much other eating going on because the constant battle with phlegm predisposes to vomiting,though you have to try to get food down.....YOU HAVE TO BE PRESENT FOR EVERY COUGHING ATTACK TO GET THE CHILD SITTING UP AND LEANING SLIGHTLY FORWARD SO THE EXHAUSTED VICTIM CAN GET THE PHLEGM OUT OF THEIR MOUTH.LITERALLY SCOOP AND PULL THE LONG STRINGS OF PHLEGM OUT OF THE CHILD'S MOUTH WITH YOUR FINGERS if the child is choking on them and is unable to get them out without help."
A friend of mine at work had whooping cough as a child and it lasted until the following spring. There is no medical treatment for whooping cough.Supportive care is all you can do. Consider the weight loss a child will experience and how important adequate nutrition is in combating disease .Inadequate protein intake cripples the immune system.Perhaps the combination of inadequate sleep,exhaustion and poor nutrition is the reason this disease lasts as long as it does.
D.P.T.~ Diptheria (a demon of a disease that closes off your airway), Pertussis(whooping cough) and Tetanus. Don't get me started on tetanus! Two years ago I learned of a poor fellow who died of tetanus.Something got jammed under the nailbed of his thumb.He thought nothing of it until he became symptomatic and sought help when it was too late. A miserable way to die.
While I don't believe every vaccine out there is beneficial (some I question if they really are effective), I absolutely believe in the childhood immunizations for the deadly diseases.

Devastating Epidemics~ what HAPPENED to them??

Do we miss them?? Oh, NO!! I received an email from a dear friend expressing his concerns about vaccines. A little flavour of gov't conspiracy was peppered in the information I was given to read & consider.You may already know that I am from a steady line of generations of nurses (given that women who worked in health/medical field in the 1860's were considered nurses).Anyway, my great,great grandmother (Moore) was the town midwife & also cared for the sick in the 'smallpox house' in Plymouth/LArksville, Pa. back in the late 1800's. I checked out what I could find and found that those infected were infected by used clothing sent from relatives from upstate NY. Around the same time(early 1900,s~~ 1909?) "rummage" clothing started a smallpox epidemic in Bayonne, NJ. When was the last time YOU met someone with smallpox? Hmmmmm? ~ I remember getting immunized before I started kindergarten.The World Health Organization (WHO) has so successfully immunized the world that this disease is now eradicated.
Tonight I watched an old movie about Sister Kenny, an Australian nurse who had an effective treatment against some forms of polio.It was a great movie .She came to America and to Jersey City Medical Center when my mom was in nursing school.(My mom brought her birthday cake to her.) When I was small, polio was the big scare, especially during the summer months.My Aunt Rose brought me to the park playground one summer day, let me strip down to my 3 or 4 yr old panties and play in the spray in the wading pool. My mom would have gone nuts! But, I interviewed every child & asked,"Do you have polio ?". Of course every kid said "NO!!"OK~ I was safe (in my 3 or 4 yr old mind). Now, polio was at its' worst in the summer months and spread thru water & contact thru oral/fecal means. I had a child neighbor,'Rhoda' who had polio and was left with a lame leg. Also, my father-in-law, a nursing school mate and a preacher friend all had polio. One day,when I was in first grade(1956) we all stood on line and a doctor gave us a shot in the arm to protect us from polio. Then in 1961 we received the sugar cube boosters.~~ By the way, when was the last time you came across a recent occurrance of polio in THIS country??
Check out the gravestones in OLD cemetaries and take note of the 2 year olds & younger that are laid to rest there.NO immunizations~~~

Steamroller

I'm glad I don't have one of these big bubba's on the farm, otherwise I have no doubt these 2 varmints would be stoking it's boiler with every piece of wood they could find ."Watch me race this baby!"~~ yes, you can be sure.Don't take yer eyes off these guys.Nope~ not for one minute!

More Country Fair

I love old farm machinery.The first place I go when I hit the Fair is the animal exhibits, then the Farm Museum.This was a big thresher.Or a combine.Maybe it was a milking machine. Heck, I don't remember.I just like the way these contraptions look!That's Kyle~ he'll probably know and tell me the whole story (:>

Fall Canning

I'm not a competative person. I could care less if your waxbeans are more perfect than mine! Who cares?? Let's have supper, is all that makes any sense to me.
When I go to country fairs, I always go to the Agricultural buildings to see the displays of canned goods and their Blue Ribbons. I don't care if they placed their waxed beans or stringbeans in the jar just right and pretty~~ I'm just GLAD that more gals are out there doing for themselves and their families, instead of depending upon giant big agri~ business to provide for their families. Have you ever read Proverbs 31 ? I also like to scan through the canning jars of fruits and veggies to see what's been canned?? Maybe there's something out there that tastes real good and I should be canning it up!

Country Fairs

Finally we had a sunny day, here in Pa. The entire Fair week has been gloomy, rainy & cold.Therefore, when the 50 mile radius of counties awoke this AM, we all decided to "Go to the Fair!".Just too,too many people. At least for me.However, we made our way to the agricultural buildings and observed pigs, goats, sheep and cows all napping with the afternoon sun shining into their stalls.Fresh clean straw matressed each stall and every barnyard animal seemed content with a half smile as it slept in the afternoon sun.Holstein cows have udders the size of tractor trailer sized gas tanks! They are the favored milk cows up here for obvious reasons. Yet, I have an affinity for Jersey Cows.They give less milk, but higher cream content.I'm not a milk drinker, so I don't have a cow. Less than 100 years ago, families had cows for their personal use. This is an oddity for us nowadays. DON'T let it be!! A milk cow can be a small community provider.

Thrice in One Week!

It's been a gloomy week for sure this week, due to rain.It's Fair week but I haven't had ambition to go due to the cold and wet.However, not only did I see half a rainbow Sunday, but Wednesday I saw two more (seperate) rainbows! Wow!! If I do catch sight of one it's usually years apart from my last sighting.I was on my way home from Selinsgrove and driving north.As I started driving on RT 642 I noticed a rainbow beginning to form across the charcoal colored clouds .It continued to arch until it's span resembled the Bayonne Bridge (or the Sydney,Australia famous bridge span).I let out a scream of delight into my daughters ear as I spoke to her on my cell phone. About 20 minutes later, as I was crossing the mountain in Jerseytown, what do I see again? Another rainbow!! Full span. This one was a beaut! The base of it landed in a harvested hayfield going up the mountain in Millville and the colours engulfed a white farmhouse and out buildings! What a beautiful sight! No, I didn't see the treasure at the foot of that rainbow, but as the LORD God said unto Abram,"I am thy shield and EXCEEDING great reward".(Gen 15:1)

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness ,hath shined in our hearts,to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this TREASURE in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us". (2 Corinthians 4:6-7)
Since I wasn't able to download a picture of a full fledged rainbow,the above pic is a reminder that God promised,"Behold, I make all things new".