My Encounter with a Brown Recluse Spider . . . Maybe

This is a Public Service Announcement!

Three days ago, I was working on my cars in my garage. I reached down to toss some leaves out into the alley and got bit on the wrist by something, presumably a spider. The bite flared painfully up over the next 48 hours. Today has finally crusted over and the surrounding redness is finally receding, though it is still painful. I used ice and anti-biotic ointment.

Here is my advice: 1) If leaves are lying around in your garage, use a rake or gloves if you're going to touch them. 2) If you get bit, if it's painful, if redness starts expanding around the bite, and if you look up "brown recluse" on the Internet, you'll have an "oh, shit" moment. They are common in Missouri (where I live) and many other states to the south and east of Missouri. Most people will be OK in a few days, but it can be a big deal for which there is no anti-venom and it can inflict a small minority of people with serious long term medical complications 3) many articles tell you to bring the spider to the doctor so they can ID it. This leads to comical images of going out and looking for a spider you never actually saw. You'll imagine looking at their little spider-faces and trying to decide which one looks guilty (even though it was just minding its own business when you trashed his/her home. Which brings me back to Rule #1: Next time I touch a pile of leaves in my garage, I'm going to use a rake or wear gloves. I've never got bit before but I should have thought about it, because a good friend of mine (you know who you are!) had some serious medical treatment for a brown recluse bite several years ago while cleaning out her garage.

I have an acquaintance who works in pest control. He told me that every house in St. Louis has brown recluse spiders in the house. They go about their business and you might not see them. If you'd like to have fewer of them in the house, you can spray pesticide, but I don't like the idea of spreading those chemicals around given that my two teen-aged daughters live here. Instead, a few years ago, I bought a pack of sticky pads that people sometimes use to catch mice. They catch bugs too. If you leave them out for a few months and then inspect them, you will be AMAZED at how many spiders and other bugs end up glued to your trap.

Or rule number 4: Don't ever clean out your garage.

Continue ReadingMy Encounter with a Brown Recluse Spider . . . Maybe

Life on the Farm



Annie Miller and I are still recovering from too much fun at Forevermost Farm in Arkansas, courtesy of "Happiness Advocates," Steve Grappe and Kelly Grappe. Wow, fresh artistically arranged food - in the form of a "Meraki Charcuterie," chickens, turkeys, pigs, fainting goats and Newman the 19 years old Dog. Goats and Chickens trying out the pajamas Ann Beck Miller designed for them. We played lots of music (Steve and I had a band while he lived in STL) and we took lots of photos (Steve was my mentor re photography). Such an oasis away from life in the city. Thanks, Steve and Kelly! Visit the website of ForeverMost Farms to learn more about Steve and Kelly's new way of life.

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No information, no problem. See no evil.

If you're worried about the effects of pesticides on honey bees, simply stop collecting information to solve the problem. That's the position of the Trump administration.

On the heels of the EPA's June approval of a bee-killing pesticide, the White House said it would stop collecting data on declining honey bee populations—potentially making it impossible to analyze the effects of the chemical and the administration's other anti-science policies on the pollinators.

The next step might be to stop collecting criminal justice statistics, statistics related to failing schools to "solve" those problems too. That strategy would be in line with our tendency to start wars based on faulty intel and lies. And we've already cut the budget for gathering climate data and analysis. No information, no problem.  See no evil.

Continue ReadingNo information, no problem. See no evil.

Bill Moyers: The EPA is about to be destroyed.

Donald Trump has nominated Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who has made a career of attacking the EPA on behalf of his fossil fuel contributors, to be head of the EPA. Based on his past conduct, including his denial of climate change, Pruitt's mission will be to destroy the EPA, thereby putting the American public at great risk of living in a toxic cesspool, the conditions leading Richard Nixon to create the EPA in the '70's.

Continue ReadingBill Moyers: The EPA is about to be destroyed.

Election of Donald Trump will Expose our Empty Rhetoric

Donald Trump is surrounding himself with people who appear to be obsessed with short term profit taking, disregard for Constitutional principles, the trampling of the environment and military-minded xenophobia. As this plays out for the next few years, we’ll be better positioned to see how much of the DNC governance of the past 8 years was empty rhetoric on these same issues. I’m not saying that there aren’t differences. In fact, I’m terrified that we are about travel backwards on many serious issues. On the other hand, we’ve come from 8 years of an administration that was quite friendly to Wall Street, Health Insurers, Telecoms and other big industries that have essentially become consumer gouging monopolies or worse. Where was the DNC-led outcry as fracking became commonplace, as drones hit numerous innocents abroad, as we waged undeclared war on at least 6 Middle Eastern countries, and where government spying on U.S. citizens in the absence of probable cause continued to be business as usual? Did we cry out in protest as our state and federal governments approved budgets that crushed the abilities of schools to hire excellent teachers and provide them with necessary supplies. Did we speak out on the “war on drugs,” which destroys the lives of many non-violent users who crave street drugs that for the most part have legal equivalents peddled by Big Pharma?

Continue ReadingElection of Donald Trump will Expose our Empty Rhetoric