Gleaning Facebook: Help CRBI!

Has your life or the life of your child or grandchild been enriched by the Coosa River Basin Environmental Quiz Bowl during the last couple of decades? Please make a donation to this effort. The EQ Bowl is just one of the many ways CRBI works toward informing and empowering citizens to protect, preserve and restore North America’s most biologically diverse river basin. CRBI is a very effective environmental asset to natural world of our unique home here in the ridges and valleys of Northwest Georgia (and a little of Tennessee and Alabama). Won’t you help? I believe that learning that takes place in the context of the real world around us sticks. The EQ Bowl involves fourth graders in observing, appreciating, researching the lush natural Eden where we live: its history, its geology, its plants and animals and the ways we can protect and preserve it.

Every donation will be used toward that mission. Please help!

Gleaning Facebook: Butterfly Weed

The Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is lush at Arrowhead this year.

 

Gleaning Facebook: Peenemunde to Canaveral

My sister Joan used interlibrary loan (I presume) to find a copy of Peenemunde to Canaveral by Dieter Huzel. After she read it, my mother started it. It is the fascinating memoir of a German rocket scientist of his work during World War Two and his transition to American scientist in the late forties and fifties. Huzel’s grandson (and namesake) is my son-in-law.

Comment
Virginia Tinsley
Pines interlibrary loans - Oh, yes! I read some well-traveled books. I will have to put this one on my list.

 

Gleaning Facebook: Where's the Clock Tower?

I have had NO guesses yet! Come on folks, give it a go...
Here are all five of the Where's the Clocktower? details so far.

Terrell Shaw

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner on #004! Yay, Laura L Adams! This metal Clocktower is incorporated into the fencing that corrals the sidewalk diners at Shroeder's New Deli, Rome's iconic eatery and Rome's iconic City Clock combined!

Gary Greene

I had no idea that was Debi's ?

Tony Pope

Was #5 painted by Debi Brown?

Terrell Shaw

Yes! Now, I'm not sure whether you or Laura L Adams answered first.

 

"A Better Dolly Parton than Dolly Parton"

I am so glad that we were able to take my Mother to see Lillian in 9 to 5 the Musical at Rome Little Theater. Lillian has a leading role as Doralee Rhodes, the character that was played by Dolly Parton in the movie on which the play is modeled. 

What fun! And my Mother was thrilled and amazed at Lillian's show-stealing performance. WHen Mother talks about it, which is common, she always comes back to "... I can just see Lillian stomping across that stage. She made a better Dolly Parton than Dolly Parton!"

Here are some pictures:

Lillian as Doralee with her mother.

Backstage pic posted on Facebook by Amy Scott.

Backstage pic posted on Facebook by Amy Scott.

Gleaning Facebook: It's Not Just Lillian's Father

 From J.J. Walker Seifert's Facebook:

Y'all - if you didn't get to see this show this weekend, I implore you (at the direction of Dolly Parton herself) to go see it next weekend! It is HILARIOUS, the music is amazing - Lillian Shaw's cleavage, I mean --- her VOICE makes it worth it alone.

Carson Claire and I had a great time! Good job, RLT Cast & Crew!

Gleaning Facebook: Dragonflies

Marion Dobbs is a dragonfly enthusiast and a wonderful photographer. She often visits Arrowhead where we have lots of wetland attractive to dragonflies. She has documented many dragonfly species at Arrowhead and shared her findings with us. 

Today she made this post to Facebook from a dragon fly trip to my home territory near Conyers.

From Marion Dobbs Facebook: 

This past weekend a group of dragonfly nerds gathered in Conyers, GA, for a meeting of the southeastern region of the Dragonfly Society of the Americas, the meeting itself organized and ably run by Fran Stiteler, immediate past abbott of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit. We spent two days at ponds, rivers, streams, swamps, forests, and fields on, or in the vicinity of, the monastery, and a number of folks went down to High Falls State Park. Some of us were digging for nymphs, some looking for exuviae, some in pursuit of photographs or specimens. I've posted photos to the southeastern Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) Facebook group, but I know there are other nature lovers who enjoy seeing what's out there, so I'll put up a few here, too. 

Enallagma daeckii (Attenuated Bluet), male

These images are of Attenuated Bluet, one of a sub-group of damselfly species, and one of our longest and bluest ones! A male and a mated pair.

Enallagma daeckii (Attenuated Bluet)

Gleaning Facebook: For Profit Prisons

From Ronald Cain's Facebook:

 For-profit prisons

President Obama issued a directive stopping the use of private prisons. President Trump has now reversed Obama's directive after groups donated to his campaign.

Private prison companies, which stand to make big gains under President Trump’s tough new immigration orders, have contributed big sums to pro-Trump groups, including the organization that raised a record $100 million for his inauguration last month.

GEO Group, one of the nation’s largest for-profit prison operators, donated $250,000 to support Trump’s inaugural festivities, Pablo Paez, the company’s vice president of corporate relations, told USA TODAY.

That is on top of the $225,000 that a company subsidiary donated to a super PAC that spent some $22 million to help elect Trump. Another prison operator, CoreCivic, gave $250,000 to support Trump’s inauguration, recently filed congressional reports show.

For-profit prison companies' hopes for significant gains under the Trump administration already are coming to fruition. The Justice Department rescinded the Obama administration order to phase out the use of private-prison contracts in the federal Bureau of Prisons.

Gleaning Facebook: Keys to Rome

If you explore the hashtag #keystorome online you'll discover some fun photos and videos of a project that teamed Rome area artists with pianos placed strategically around the downtown. What fun!

 

Gleaning Facebook: Monarch on MIlkweed

The Monarch caterpillars are pigging out on Curly Milkweed at Arrowhead.

Comments

Patricia Winters York
Terrell Shaw, where did you find curly milkweed?

Terrell Shaw
At Arrowhead Env Ed Cntr

Terrell Shaw
There us also some in the powerline right of way beside Armuchee Elem

Laurie Craw
Did you take this photo? It's amazing.

Terrell Shaw
Not bad for an iPhone pic, huh? 

 

Gleaning Facebook: When The Political Gets Personal...

 From Sarah Fedchak...

I try to avoid getting political on here, as I believe the best conversations happen in person. But right now, the personal is political. I understand, as our current Congresswoman Elise Stefanik Representative (who voted for the bill) has repeatedly said, there is still a long legislative process ahead. I also understand that there are things in the current health care system that need to be fixed. But I honestly cannot understand the idea that "health care is a privilege, not a right," as I have been hearing over and over again in interviews with members of the House and Senate. Our own Declaration of Independence states that we have the "right to LIFE, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Is it just the right to life if you are born healthy and have no mishaps along the way?

Friends, my husband almost died because he couldn't get the care and insurance he needed to manage a chronic illness. Not just once, but several times. I watched him starve himself in attempts to reduce his debilitating symptoms so he could continue to work. I saw him go to the hospital every four to six months because of severe anemia due to internal bleeding. We joke that we started dating because I saved his life, but it isn't actually funny. It's true. I've sat the hospital waiting room countless times while he endured hours of surgery, only for there to be complications and the need for another surgery days later. Yes, this happened multiple times.

Want to know a confession? My oldest daughter's middle name is Dare, after her daddy. While it's not unusual for children to carry some part of their parent's name, the reason she does is. When Darrell and I were first talking about our dreams for a family, I had this fear that we would have a child and that Darrell would not live long to watch her grow up. So in my head, I decided that she would be named after him, so he would be a constant presence in her life. Sounds macabre, but on the day we said our wedding vows, Darrell was bleeding internally so much he could hardly stand, In our wedding pictures, he is as white as a ghost. I honestly thought my future would be that of a widow.

It is only by the grace of God, and His provision of hardworking physicians, the compassion of many people who helped us afford to go through this ordeal, and eventually Darrell's ability to get government sponsored health care that he is alive today. But all of this could have been avoided if he had been able to get insurance and afford the medicine that would have kept his symptoms in check. The ACA's provisions protecting pre-existing conditions literally changed everything for us.

Darrell's version of the story is below. I couldn't share his original post, but here it is shared (with some extra notes) by our good friend Mr. Shaw. I am sorry for being overly emotional and writing a book, but this issue is close to my heart. Thanks for reading.

Click the picture to read Darrell's story...

Healthcare: What does your heart say?

Some of my former students from our years at Nature's Classroom on Lookout Mountain will fondly remember the many wonderful camp field-group leaders there. Those who were lucky enough to be assigned to the field group led by D.J. will always remember him. He's the guy splayed out at the bottom of the steps in front of the group. 

The staff at NC was always outstanding but none were better loved than D.J. The kids were thrilled to find that D.J. was engaged to beautiful fellow staffer Sarah!

Well now Sarah and DJ are still doing outdoor education (as am I!) and happily sharing their commingled lives with two daughters.

But the journey of the last decade has not been an easy ride. Read D.J.'s story as he wrote it today on his Facebook page.

---------------------------------------------------

What does your heart say?

by Darrell Fedchak (alias DJ)

I'm going to tell you a story only a few people know. I've kept my silence until now, and recent events have led me to believe this story might open people's eyes.

In February 2007, I stood in an office and had an insurance rep look me dead in the eye and tell me I was denied health insurance based on a pre-existing condition.

I remember asking him why. He replied that since my condition "sometimes required surgery," I was ineligible for benefits. Benefits that would make it affordable to get the medication that would let me avoid surgery. I told him this, and he responded (and I'll never forget this exchange as long as I live): "Doesn't matter, it's your problem."

I was diagnosed with advanced stage ulcerative colitis is 2006. Short version: every so often my body would decide to bleed internally. I nearly died several times over the next three years.

----------------------------- 

"Doesn't matter, it's your problem."

-----------------------------

In 2009, it got so bad I could barely get out of bed. I couldn't work. The meds I needed would have cost me over $300 A WEEK. People don't pay that much in rent. But I couldn't work, and my family couldn't afford that kind of cost. I was too old to go back on my parent's insurance, even though I heard them on the phone a few times, fighting to get me covered.

It never worked out.

I got lucky. I qualified for a clinic that helped people in my situation. They helped me get Medicaid, and then helped me find a doctor and a surgeon who helped me with the initial surgeries. I needed three because I almost died in the hospital while recovering from the first one. I was in Buffalo General for a month. A MONTH.

Three years, eight surgeries, and a whole lot of good Samaritans later, I walked out with a clean bill of health. It was the hardest time of my life, and not just for me, but for my family and friends as well. There are still complications, still hardships, everyday. But I'm alive.

Today, the House of Representatives voted to remove Obama Era protections for those with pre-existing conditions. They voted to allow insurance companies to charge sick people more for their coverage, coverage they may no longer be able to afford. Coverage that could keep them alive and able to contribute to society.

I almost died because a man who did not know me denied me access to medication that would have allowed me to keep working, to keep contributing to society. I picked up $30k in medical debt just to stay alive; I'm still paying it off. I pray every single day that this condition isn't genetic; I'm deathly afraid that I may have passed this hardship onto my daughters.

It's too late for me to change what happened to me, but I can try to make things better for my kids. I can try to help build a world where they can get help if they need it. Not for me, for them.

----------------------------- 

"There are still complications, still hardships, everyday.

But I'm alive."

----------------------------- 

Put your politics aside for a moment and ask yourself this: 

"If I were sick, how would I feel about this new legislation?" 

"If it was my child, would they be able to get care?

What does your heart say?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Terrell's Amen

The 24 million folks who may lose insurance because of the repeal of the Affordable Care Act are actually individual people like Darrell. Each has a bloved child, a wife, a husband, a sweetheart, daughters, sons, jobs, churches or synagogues or mosques, favorite walks, hometown teams they support, best friends, favorite pets, songs they love, pet peeves, aggravating faults, great skills, and/or any of the plethora of abilities, disabilities, loves and hates that you and I have seen in our acquaintances. I will be thrilled for my taxes to go toward the healthcare of all my fellow citizens, even Klan members and Brietbart staffers.

Universal healthcare will:

-save lives

-lessen pain

-reduce suffering

-reduce costs

Call your Senators and Representatives.

Tell them you support the ACA.

Tell them you want Medicare and Medicaid protected and expanded.

Tell them you want Social Security protected.

John Henry Choate

Under Construction

Today I was privileged to sing for the funeral of John Henry Choate, the father of my friend Don Choate. I sang "In The Garden".

I did not know Mr. Choate well, but was honored to be a small part in arranging for him to be interviewed for the StoryCorps Veterans Project about his experiences in World War II. Mr. Choate was a part of some fierce fighting, and even many decades later had a hard time discussing those days without becoming emotional. How I respect those young men who left their families to travel all the way around the world to defend our freedoms. I pray that we as a nation will never disrespect their sacrifices by allowing our democratic values to erode.

The following is from the website of Henderson and Sons Funeral Home:

----------------------

Mr. John Henry Choate, age 94, of Rome, passed away on Saturday, April 29, 2017, at a local assisted living facility. Mr. Choate was born on June 22, 1922, in Chattooga County, Georgia, the son of the late John Riley Choate and the late Vivian Clara Housch Choate.

            He is survived by two sons, Don Choate and wife, Sarah, and Arthur David Choate and wife, Carolyn; granddaughters, Natalie Choate Edwards, Beth Choate Grossman and husband, Rob, and Bonnie Choate Cockrill and husband, Chris; great grandchildren, John Abernathy and his wife, Haley, Branson Edwards, Max Cockrill, and Eliana Grossman; great-great grandchildren, Lexie Abernathy, Summer Bowman, and Kylee Abernathy; sister, Glenda Bullard, Tampa, FL; brothers-in-law, Vernon Morris, Arthur Morris and wife, Lena, Harold Morris, Roy Morris and wife, Virginia, and Thurmon Morris and wife, Martha; special friends, Deborah Smith and her son, Bobby Smith; and several nieces and nephews.

            He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Nettie Helen Morris Choate, daughter, Deloris Choate, grandson, Jeff Abernathy, great granddaughter, Heather Abernathy, sister, Betty Dawson, and brother, Riley Choate.  Mr. Choate served his country honorably during World War II in the United States Army receiving both the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.  Of his 34 months of service, 26 of those were spent in overseas duty. He fought and served in the Asiatic Pacific Theatre (five campaigns), Aleutian Islands, Marshall Islands, Philippines (Philippines Liberation), and in Okinawa, Japan.  He, along with his beloved Nettie, devoted a lifetime to helping others.  Nobody would ever be turned away.  They would always make room for one more person at their table, or find one more place for someone to sleep. He was a member of Enon Baptist Church and practiced his faith through the way he treated others.  His friends and family always appreciated his great sense of humor.

Funeral services for Mr. Choate will be held on Tuesday, May 2, 2017, at 2:00 PM in the Chapel at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, North Chapel, with the Rev. Scott Lambert officiating.  Interment will follow in Oaknoll Memorial Gardens with military rites presented by the American Legion Post #5 Honor Guard.

The family will receive friends at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, North Chapel, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017, from 12 noon until the funeral hour.  At other hours, they may be reached at their respective residence. 

             Pallbearers are asked to assemble at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, North Chapel, on Tuesday by 1:30 PM and include:  Kenneth Mann, Johnny Morris, Ben Morris, Robb McCullough, Jonathan Morris and Bobby Smith.

            The family expresses gratitude to the dedicated and caring staff at Riverwood Retirement Center and Homestead Hospice.

            Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, North Chapel, has charge of the arrangements.