Good News Tuesday for March 30, 2021: Saving Birds, Bald Eagle Comeback, Better Roads, Recycling Waste, and Teen Saves Friend with new CPR Skills

Seeking Balance One Tuesday at a Time

Village Gives Up Streetlights for 45 Days to Save Bird Family

In the village of Potthakud, in southern India, a robin built her nest in a main lighting switchboard for the 120 homes and 35 streetlights. The nest was discovered by bird lover Karuppu Raja who turns on the streetlights each evening, He convinced the village to observe a blackout for 45 nights until the baby birds were old enough to fly. “I explained that so many bird species have become extinct and we should not let Indian Robin go the same way,” said Raja. Here’s the story from the Good News Network.

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Bald Eagle Comeback

US Bald eagle populations have quadrupled in the last decade. In 1963, bald eagles were on the brink of extinction with only 417 known nesting pairs in the lower 48 states. Now, due to focused conservation work and the banning of DDT pesticide in 1972, there are reportedly more than 71,4000 nesting pairs and “an estimated 316,700 individual bald eagles in the contiguous United States.” Here’s more from CBS News.

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Roads Built with Plastic Waste Are As Good or Better than Asphalt

12 Countries have built roads containing plastic waste. Studies show these roads “…can last longer, are stronger and more durable in respect to loads and rutting, can tolerate wide temperature swings, and are more resistant to water damage, cracking, and potholes.” We still need to greatly reduce our use of plastic, but recycling and reusing will help keep some plastic waste out of the ocean. Here’s more from the Good News Network on paving with plastic.

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Developing Jet Fuel from Food Waste

Researchers in the US have found a way of turning food waste into a paraffin that works in jet engines and could “cut greenhouse gas emissions by 165% compared to fossil energy.” While it is currently more economical to convert these wastes to diesel or methane, researchers report they have developed an alternative method to “turn food waste, animal manure and waste water into a competitive jet hydrocarbon.” Fore details, including the science behind this discovery, here’s an article from BBC News.

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Teen Saves Her Friend’s Life One Day After Finishing CPR Course

One day after finishing CPR training, Florida teen Torri’ell Norwood was in a serious car accident with three friends. Two passengers were unhurt, but A’zarria had hit her head and was unconscious. Torri’ell pulled A’zarria from the car and used CPR to save her life. Read details from the Good News Network. You can meet Torri’ell in this short video:

Got Good News?

Please share your own good news story or a link to your GNT post in the comments!

Just Jotting about Hospitals

When I saw today’s prompt was, “hospital,” I thought, I don’t want to write about that. I don’t particularly like hospitals. I don’t mind visiting people there, but the last time I stayed overnight was when my daughter was born 23 years ago, and they kept waking me  and sticking me with things, though they were nice about it. And the grapes had mold on them! But I really should let that go. Okay. I forgive whoever was working in the hospital kitchen and didn’t notice the mold on the grapes 23 years ago. I will not mention it again.

Maybe I  don’t like hospitals because I had a series of hospital overnights as a young child with pneumonia. I remember feeling alone and having trouble sleeping until a nurse gave me a back rub. Thank you, sweet nurse, wherever you are!

I am thankful that I haven’t had to stay overnight in the hospital in a long time. I should count my blessings and knock on wood. And I’m thankful for all the people who work in hospitals! All those long hours don’t sound very healthy to me. Thank you, nurses and doctors, orderlies, maintenance, receptionists, and laundry and food service people… and the billing department, who can forget them? They all have tough jobs – listening to complaints and cleaning up messes. Thank you.

The funny thing is that, while I don’t like being in a hospital, I’m drawn to TV shows that take place in hospitals. They’re educational, right? And yes, exciting.  It’s too bad the hospital show I used to love turned into too much of a soap opera. But there are always more hospital shows on TV.  My all time favorite hospital show was MASH – a poignant drama with ample comic relief. My dad stayed at a MASH unit after being wounded in Korea, and he told me the show was pretty realistic.

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And here’s the comic relief:

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I hope that making my health a priority will keep me out of real life hospitals. I know there are things beyond our control, but hopefully, if I walk more and eat healthier, meaning avoiding sugar, I’ll increase my chances of staying well.

Speaking of priorities, my January newsletter gives 6 tips on honoring priorities, especially creative ones. If you’d like to receive my monthly newsletter, feel free to click on the sidebar link under the category cloud.

Be well and thank someone who works in a hospital.

Thank you to Charlene Bullard of FaithtoRaiseNate.com for today’s prompt. It was a good one. Charlene’s blog is inspiring, comforting and well worth a  visit!

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda Hill at:

https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/13/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-13th17/

Also well worth a visit!

The rules for Just Jot It January are as follows:

1. It’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. The prompts will be posted every day at 2am my time (GMT -5). You don’t have to follow the prompt word, but this will be where you leave your link for others to see. Make sure you link your post to the correct day’s prompt. There will be a post like this every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday, and Saturday, when you’ll find the prompt on my usual Friday Reminder post for Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS).

3. As long as your blog is on WordPress, you’ll be able to link via pingback. To execute a pingback, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! If you’re participating from another blogging host, just drop a link into the comment section. Note: The newest pingbacks and comments will be at the top.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. The prompts are here both to remind you and to inspire you to write. However, you don’t have to use the prompt word of the day. You can link any kind of jot back here. Even your shopping list. Note: If it’s 18+ content, please say so in a comment with your link.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge (above) in your post so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!

Back to Better Health

Our stream of consciousness post today, from Linda Hill’s substitute teacher, Pavowski, is the word: “back.”

As I sit here, it’s hard to ignore my back, which coincidentally has a sore muscle. I have no idea why, but every now and then, there’s a muscle that starts to ache, lately on one side or the other, then it turns into little spasms. Not incapacitating, but quite distracting, and limiting my ability to turn and look behind me when I’m driving and want to back up or change lanes.

Thankfully these mysterious aches always go away in a few days with those heat rubs and a little TLC and maybe some ibuprofen. Yesterday I used a herbal patch that helped a lot, but the annoying ache is back again this morning.

I write this on Friday so I can post Saturday morning. No that’s not cheating!  It’s okay to do your homework the day before its due.  It just so happens that today, 12/12, is my birthday. So with my back and my birthday, I’m going back to my annual tradition of a birthday massage. Because I deserve it!

I wonder if my back is doing this every couple of months because I’m not in the best shape. I used to due -I’m leaving this typo because I’m due for some- yoga regularly and have gained at least ten pounds since getting married two years ago. And there is that age thing creeping steadily up now as close to 60 as it could be without being there. One more year of not being 60. I’m okay with the  number. Just being silly. I do have to get back to taking better care of myself. It seems that as our bodies age, we have to work harder at taking care of our health.

So, back to stretching and yoga and mindful eating. EVERY DAY.

…..and loving my body with kind words instead of irritated complaints.

Starting NOW!

If you’d like to join the Saturday Stream of Consciousness prompt response, go here:

http://lindaghill.com/2014/12/12/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-december-1214/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” or “Begin with the word ‘The’.”

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments, for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. Have fun!

Making a Difference In spite of the system

I’m not really surprised that the new Health Care plan website is not user friendly.  I’ve spent many years working in a health care field at the mercy of a growing bureaucracy. It doesn’t matter what political party is in charge. Those at the top with big ideas don’t have much understanding of how things work on the front lines. Trying to help people in spite of the “red tape” is often challenging.

Some of my substance abuse clients were not showing up for their appointments one rainy afternoon, so I got to wade through the abundant “paperwork” that only moves toward getting caught up when I have no shows. When the front desk person told me someone was there to see me without an appointment, I didn’t ask who it was. I was willing to talk to anybody.

It turned out to be a former client who I had not seen in years. He said he just came by to tell me he was moving to a different state. He told me he wanted me to know that I had helped him, that I had given him hope and had helped him see things as not quite as depressing as he thought they were. He was not a “success story” by the usual standards, but the fact that he was still walking around on this earth (and  even able to give thanks) was a miracle.  Since this person was not currently enrolled in the program, he could not be counted under my productivity for direct services for that day. But he still counted. I had made a difference in his life.

My vistor reminded me of the starfish story of the boy/girl or whoever throwing starfish back into the ocean. A passerby pointed out that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the shore and that no one could possibly hope to make a difference. The hopeful soul tossed another starfish gently back into the ocean and said, “I made a difference for that one.”

There are so many ways we can make a difference. Big ways and little ways. We plant seeds with the hope that they will grow. And some do. Sometimes slowly and sometimes without our knowledge. Sometimes it seems like people aren’t listening to us, like we’re not getting through. If you parented or worked with teenagers, you know what I’m talking about. But we can continue to be an example of hope. Don’t stop believing. Keep giving those encouraging words, even when it seems like they aren’t being heard. Keep planting seeds of hope. And thank people who have made a difference in your life. Your gratitude will make a difference.

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