What we take into our own hands can be so immense and is often greater than and outside our awareness – or even our doing. The hands of others play deeply into our lives and even if you’ve done everything right, it certainly isn’t healthy to repeatedly punch yourself for every inequity.

* * *

"Then away out in the woods I heard that kind of a sound that a ghost makes when it wants to tell about something that’s on its mind and can’t make itself understood, and so can’t rest easy in its grave, and has to go about that way every night grieving."

From: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

The first week of this month and this weekend were deer hunting gun season days here in Ohio. There are also deer archery hunting days that run for a few months in the fall and winter.

While I understand the right to hunt and understanding that this method is probably more humane than what transpires in most factory farms, it is still difficult for me.

Being a vegetarian for over five decades, I know that animals perish even in the fruit, vegetable and dairy industries, so I'm not completely separate from animal demise in the production of food.

During last year's hunting season, the buck who I called "Fuzz Head" and that was the son of "Star", perished. I haven't seen Star for a few weeks now and I'm afraid she is gone now too.

She bore four sets of beautiful fawns and I had grown quite attached to her. Yes, she was a wild animal but still... if she is gone, I am going to miss her and her pretty face a whole lot.



* * *

While many enjoy it, I just cannot find a way to like any of the music produced by The Trans Siberian Orchestra. It just seems so over-produced, synthetic, and migraine inducing. Maybe I'm just getting to be a cranky old man.

These things seem to appear everywhere: roadways, sidewalks, parking lots, parks, floors, playgrounds, creeks, stairwells, etc.

Being rather non eco-friendly, especially in terms of being a single-use plastic, they also apparently can be a major cause of gum damage. As my dentist put it, a user tends to "saw" into their gum line. Plus, since the string is rigid, it is difficult to properly work the floss around the tooth, especially at the base of each tooth.

Beyond all of this, I just can't imagine performing dental care in my car or while strolling down the street and then simply tossing said tools on the ground. Dental care just seems better done at home.

Now that you've read this, according to the aforementioned phenomenon, you will more than likely start seeing these dental picks everywhere (usually in a dull bluish-green color) as I do.

You're welcome.