Thoughts from Rural America

How I Became An Online Writer: An Overview Of My Last Year Writing On The Web

I started working online in the 1990s as a medical transcriptionist when things were still sent over a modem and a dial-up connection. I taught special education for the better part of a decade. But, how did I end up as an online writer? I started, quite literally, at the bottom of the barrel. I had no experience with search-engine optimized writing or online writing beyond my own blog at this time last year. I knew I was a decent writer and that I liked writing. So, when I quit teaching this time last year, I looked all around online to find something that I could do at home.

Initially, I began writing for Examiner.com. I still have my column, but have not written for a very long time. This was my foot-in-the-door job that I volunteered to do just so I could build up a bit of a portfolio of writing.

Shortly after beginning for Examiner.com, I discovered Textbroker. I became a web content ghostwriter. The pay was not so great, but I had no experience in this field, wanted to give it a shot, and it was some kind of income. Writing for Textbroker has been a good experience. I still write for them occasionally. I cut my "online writing teeth" there and learned how to write articles with keywords.

I did a couple freelance jobs and wrote for another ghostwriting content site. The pay was horrible, but, again, it was all going towards building experience. I even answered questions for Ask.com. You can get on a team to do that at Livework.com's website. I write articles for Triond.com and a few of the other revenue-sharing sites, such as Hubpages.com.

I'm actually still doing all of the above, but have recently added a new feather to my cap. I tried out for WiseGeek.com and actually passed the test. So, now I'm making more money in less time and can proudly say I'm in an elite class of writers. Just 12% of everyone who applies to write for WiseGeek gets past their initial writing intake articles.

In the midst of the last year, my two college-age kids started writing for Textbroker. My son is now writing for Demand Studios at Ehow.com. That happens to be a direct competitor to mom's WiseGeek writing. We got a chuckle out of that.

In any case, advice I would give to aspiring online writers is mainly this. Don't be too proud to start at the bottom. The learning curve is fast and before you know it, you will be making decent money online. It does take persistence (and an ability to write), as well as commitment. To make it work, you have to do it every day. Over time, your writing will get faster and better if you keep writing. Write everywhere you can: in your blogs, for article directories and revenue-sharing sites. There are literally hundreds of places to hone your skills. You never know if you like it or can do it until you give it a go. Best of luck to you!

Related articles by Zemanta

• I want to crank my freelancing up a notch (ask.metafilter.com)
• How Content Farms Train Their Writers to Write for the Web (pbs.org)
• Want to be a Great Blogger? Start Reading. (theantisocialmedia.com)

A Review Of Freebiegeni.com's Freebie Search Engine

Who doesn't like freebies? Meet Freebie Geni, a search engine that you can use to find freebies in the US, UK, Canada and Netherlands. Freebie Geni aggregates several different freebie sites, including SampleADay.com, FreeSnatcher.com, Free-Stuff-Finder.com and others. You can search by entering your own term or by selecting from one of the 60 categories.

To see how well Freebie Geni works, I decided to browse the samples using the category tab on the home page. Food freebies are always good, so I clicked on the link. I was quickly taken to the list of food freebies.

The list began with all of the food (and other) freebies listed at Craigslist San Francisco Bay. If I lived in San Francisco, I could get myself a free hamster cage, free Merrick dog food, a 20-year-old food processor, Parakeet food, or Kefir grains. Hmm. Not all of those are food. Not so impressive.

I scrolled down the page a bit further and came upon the food freebie section offered at SampleADay.com. There were a couple of dog food treat freebies, some non-food perfume samples, and a free food pyramid poster. I'm not seeing any people food freebies though. That's what I'm interested in.

Moving down the page, I see freebies from iCraveFreebies.com. I scan their freebie list. Aha! People food! If I had a Pilot Travel Center nearby, I could pick up a free 32 ounce soda. There are several dog food sample offers, stickers and a coupon, too. Moving on...

The rest of the page had essentially the same freebies. There were more dog food samples, coupons, posters and stickers, but very few people food samples. Oh well. If you are looking for dog freebies, you're all set.

The concept of a freebie aggregator is good. It's an easy way to pick out the freebies you want. Rather than going from freebie site to freebie site, you can just do a search and you will get a listing of freebies at Freebie Geni's partner sites. Unfortunately, there are only eight sites that the search engine searches, but since it appears to be a relatively new site, more freebie websites will probably be added to the database as time passes. Would I recommend paying a visit to the site? Sure, why not. You really have nothing to lose and it only takes a minute to scroll through the results. Who knows, you might find something you (or your dog) would like.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Freebies4Mom Offers Some Good Freebies 4 Moms (inquisitr.com)
• Review: Point, Click, and Save (thesimpledollar.com)

Dearly by Nicki Jackowska

The still small voice cleaves
like thin smoke from a bed
deep in arcadia; there is
an arrow true and straight
to her, not to be spoken
as though the jaws gobbling
up my life have had their
fill at last; as though
my own fast is broken
upon this note, my mother's
song a falling scale of bone.

Sinking so far into herself
she's no one, yet I hear it borne
upon the wind, ancient voices
of the child she was, marking
time to save herself from moaning.

She chews grapes, spits them.
They have landed on my skin
and turn it green, it is
green fire speaking upon me
a burn too fierce to see.

That was the bed, the island;
hands stray like crabs
to find the shoreline; there is
an expedition in this visit
though the nurse won't catch it.

I hold the receiver tight
use a lover's words to
fold her loose and too-wide
wish her back unto its own,
take out my hard-won stone
and sharpen up love's knife;
late now for feeble gestures
send my heart hot down the line
for chewing on, knowing it lands
but no geography, nothing of that
boundless offering left to see.

Too far out she is for any
contemplation; there are laws
it seems, beyond cognition, too
vast and tremulous not to obey her
nor submit this moment's grace to
                             things undone.

From Poems.com

The Girl Effect

From the Care2.com website:

"This powerful video uses simple language to showcase the ability of adolescent girls in developing countries to bring unprecedented social and economic change to their families, communities and countries.

"The Girl Effect movement was started by the NIKE Foundation and Peter and Jennifer Buffet (Warren's son and daughter-in-law). Here's how they explain the issues and solution:

"In impoverished communities, lack of resources drives girls out of school and into early marriage, childbirth, and HIV infection at rates dramatically higher than boys. The results are irreversible for girls, and devastating to communities caught in intergenerational cycles of poverty. Yet when girls gain a different path – supported, educated and empowered – everyone benefits.

“Investing in the girl effect offers the potential for tremendous economic impact, which leads to more stability, less poverty and more opportunity for economic growth,” Peter writes. “Just one component of the girl effect – the increase in family income associated with an additional year of a girl’s education – nets more than a 40-fold return according to conservative calculations. The intergenerational benefits, however, go far beyond this to impact a range of issues including declining fertility rates and improved health and nutrition for the next generation. That’s a return on investment we can’t ignore.”

Get Car Repair Estimates Without Leaving Your Couch

Going to a car repair shop alone, if you are a woman, can almost guarantee that you will be charged more than if a women went in with a man or if a man went in alone. Unbelievable in 2010, you say?  Not so fast. A study looking at this very subject was done a few years ago. What did it find? A staggering 90% of auto shops charged a woman alone more for the repairs. That's nine out of 10 shops. Interestingly, women bring cars to the shop for repairs 65% of the time.

Women have known for years that they get treated differently when conducting business in typically male fields when they are alone versus when they are with a man. The study just validated that sad fact in the auto repair business. Sure, things have changed, but there are still miles to go...

The Internet has made it easier than ever for people to share customer service horror stories and to warn people away from businesses that have particularly poor service. On the flip side, businesses who provide stellar service, can find a good bit of free advertising from happy customers.

Now, the Internet can even remove gender from the car repair equation. A site called RepairPal lets a car owner get an estimated price range for any auto repair done in his or her area. It's free, so I decided to give it a try and see what it was all about.

My Scion xA's check engine light came on a couple weeks ago. It's due for a tune up and an oil change. What better thing to try on this site. So I did. I also entered my zip code and hit enter. The next screen brought me to a general price range for the service and showed me how dealerships in my area stacked up against independent shops. Local shops were located on Google maps.

Seeing that I live in a teeny, tiny town that got its first stop light a couple years ago, I thought for sure the application would come back empty-handed. The results came back with eight shops pegged on the map. Not bad.

Just for kicks I decided to try the application out on an Acura Integra. The estimate was broken down into labor costs and necessary parts and what they cost. I had the option to register (free) and save the estimate to my account. If you're registered with the site, it will email you when your car is due for service. Oh, and there's an encyclopedia that explains all about different car service procedures and answers questions like how to get a California smog inspection and why could my car be leaking fluid.

If I lived in a larger city, I can see how the RepairPal service would be a huge time saver. It certainly is a lot easier than calling five different shops and wondering if you're getting the same price as the guy that just called in five minutes ago with the same car problem. I'm going to be scheduling my car's checkup in the next couple of weeks. I'll let you know how well the estimate from the RepairPal service matched with what I actually paid.

This post is brought to you by RepairPal.com.

Me, My Soggy Nikes And The Hike From Hell

With summer approaching, I got to thinking about the hike I took a couple summers ago on the Arethusa Falls trail in Crawford Notch, New Hampshire. We picked this hike because it is easy, with a well-maintained trail that's done in a stair-step fashion. That means tree roots won't jump out and trip you - which is definitely a good thing when you haven't been hiking in a very long time. The trail ends at the gorgeous and secluded Arethusa Falls, where we planned to have a picnic lunch.

We arrive at the trail head about 11 a.m. and set out. Somehow my husband, my younger son and I lost sight of our older teenage children, who both had hiked the trail when they were in 8th grade. We saw a sign that looked somewhat old, but like good little hikers we went the way it pointed because we certainly did not want to get lost!

As we're walking along, tripping over tree branches (We weren't supposed to be doing that, remember?), I thought to myself that this was no easy hike with a nicely maintained trail that I'd been led to believe. But on we went, being grateful that I'd worn my low-cut Nike hiking shoes instead of my old heavy hiking boots.  I also wondered why we weren't coming up on any other people, but figured since we were on the trail...

I used to teach special education to kids with severe disabilities. In 8th grade, they had managed the trail. As we forded a small stream and jumped across a small chasm, I couldn't figure out how that could possibly be. After all, they didn't have the best coordination. Maybe I was in worse shape than I thought. Soldiering on, over slippery rocks, up hills, through trees and overgrown shrubs (Where was my machete when I needed it?) we finally came to a river. We had to be close to the falls now, right?

Wrong!

How on earth were we going to get across this river - about 25 feet across - without killing ourselves, or worse, breaking a leg? There was no way to do it without getting my new Nike hiking shoes wet. (I hate soggy shoes!) We gingerly picked our way across the river, climbed (yes, climbed) the embankment (What the heck was going on? Where were my other kids -- I hope they're not lost. Whose idea of a well-maintained trail was this anyway?) and plodded on. We were sweating and dirty. I was tired and hungry and worried. Our short 45 minute hike had turned into two hours!

At last we made it to the falls. To our surprise, other people were there. People who were not my other children. After about 20 minutes of waiting, we started to ask around to see if anyone had seen my kids. Nobody had. I noticed that more people were arriving and leaving the falls from the other side of the river. None of them were sweating. None of them were dirty. None of them had soaking wet Nikes.

My husband and I conferred. Should we go back the way we came or try the other trail? We decided that at least we knew what to expect on the trail we had hiked in on. What if the other one was worse. Looking back, I have no idea why we didn't just go to the other side of the river and check out the other trail! The bug spray we were coated in must have short-circuited our brains.

Back we went, on the same trail we'd taken in. Back over the river, over slippery rocks, through overgrown shrubbery, across mini-rivers with mini-chasms. It was not any easier the second time. In fact, in some ways it was harder and more treacherous.

The trail got narrower. (I didn't remember it being this narrow the first time.) We had to skirt around a pine tree where the trail was a sloping six inches wide. I decided to get as close to the ground as I could, thinking that a lower center of gravity would be helpful. Not a good plan. Before I knew it, I was hanging onto a skinny tree root trying to keep myself from slipping down a 40 foot drop. It was a near miss. If my husband had not been able to grab my arm, I wouldn't be writing this today.

Eventually, we made it back to the trailhead, my soggy new Nike hiking shoes squish, squish, squishing as we walked back down to the parking lot. I fully expected to see my other kids. They were not waiting at the car! Good grief! Where were they? After another half an hour, they arrived, demanding to know where we'd been all this time, like it was us that had gotten lost. Kids.

*while the story is true, the names of the shoes have been changed to protect the innocent :) (and because this is a sponsored post).

Tomorrow it is supposed to be 39 and snowy!

It was almost 60 today with lovely sun.

Ah spring.

photo by oliveralex

Food For Thought

Long ago we abandoned the idea of having a life’s work, a calling; those that still do their work from that sense of calling or vocation, will be unbeatable.

- David duChemin, world & humanitarian photographer,

best-selling author

photo by ionushi

Punxsutawney Phil Was Wrong

Everyone's favorite ground hog, Punxsutawney Phil, predicted six more weeks of winter back on February 2nd. It looks like he was right on target for most of the country, but not us. You'd think being in New England that we would get the brunt of cold weather, but not always. When the rest of the country was being assaulted by cold, snowy weather we were not. Oranges were freezing in Florida, but everything was a-okay here in the north. Sure we got cold weather down into the -20s, but overall I could go outside without a coat; temperature stayed mostly in the high teens or 20s.

Yesterday I was bracing for the delivery of a good 10" of snow. Brown grass gets ugly to look at after so long. Did it happen? Nope. Not up here just an hour south of Canada! Today it is nearly 40 degrees and the little bit of snow we did get has turned to a slushy mess. I heard today that Mr. Weatherperson said we are going to get up to 16" out of this storm that is heading our way tonight and tomorrow. So far not a drop, but then it's only a quarter to eleven in the morning.

It's not that I'm complaining really. I don't enjoy the hassle of snow. Even having lived in snowy areas for the last 22 years I still think the best snow is on the mountains where it belongs (not in my driveway). Six more weeks of winter as Phil predicted (how does he do that anyway) does not look like it will happen in our neck of the woods. Then again, we're supposed to be getting that 16" of snow tonight and tomorrow. We'll just wait and see. Maybe Phil will redeem himself after all. If he doesn't, I'll still like him anyway. I'm a sucker for fat, furry animals.

photo by mandj98

What is One Life Worth?

As you know by now, mammogram recommendations changed this week. No longer are women supposed to get mammograms once a year starting at age 40, women need to wait until they are 50, and then only have a screening mammogram every two years! This is supposedly to cut down on unnecessary biopsies. Right. The god doctors are saving women pain. I have heard this song and dance before. Throughout history women have been on the receiving end of such "benevolence" (think chastity belts, hysterectomies, forced sterilizations). Thank you, but no thank you.

I heard a proponent of the new recommendations talking about the supposed reasons for the change. He said, basically, that it took too many mammograms to find the one woman who had cancer in her 40s. I believe it was something like 1900 mammograms to find one case of breast cancer in a woman in her 40s. The reporter pointed out that at age 50 it took around 1300 mammograms to find one case of breast cancer. She wondered why it was okay to screen 1300 50+ year old women, but not worth it to do 600 more 40-49 year old women. The doctor said that the data simply did not support doing the test in a woman's 40s.

Next week I turn 43. Under the recommendation of my doctor, I started having mammograms at 36. A year ago this past July I got a call from the mammography department at Dartmouth. They had seen something on my mammogram. I ended up having a biopsy. Fortunately, the sample was clean. I guess that makes me a poster child for the new mammogram recommendations camp. The new recommendations could have saved me from the biopsy. Do I care? Do I feel imposed upon because my biopsy turned out to be okay? No, of course not. I think most women would rather be safe that sorry, especially if you are the one woman out of 1900 whose biopsy picked up cancer.

Despite denials that the recommendations were  changed to save money, I personally have my doubts. I am even more suspicious that money is involved in the decision making since the PAP smear test recommendations are also being changed. Couple that with the health care legislation being debated and the fact that insurance companies are looking at potential loss of revenue, I am not one bit surprised that these two foundational screening tests are under fire.

Take one look at the news and you can see I am not alone in my opinion. The new mammogram recommendations have created a furor among doctors and women. I am glad to see that people are not taking this supposedly independent panel's recommendations completely at face value. If we, as women, are not advocates for our own health care, we will see other screening procedures scaled back and eventually may not be covered by insurance at all.

photo by merfam

Over One Quarter of Pet Products Tested Contained Detectable Amounts of Lead

What is Santa bringing your pet this Christmas? A new bed? A chew toy? What about a ball or new collar? Let’s hope Santa and his elves have read the latest information on pet products over at HealthyStuff.org or your furry friend may end up being exposed to hazards any responsible pet owner would frown upon.

The pet product industry is booming. People love shopping for their pets almost as much (or maybe more than) their children. Of course, nobody would deliberately expose Fluffy or Fido to toxic chemicals. The question is whether or not you are exposing your pets to toxic materials, such as lead, arsenic, mercury, chlorine, or bromine. Chances are there is at least one pet product you’ve purchased over the last year that contains one or more of these toxic compounds.

HealthyStuff.org tested over 400 pet products, including collars, beds, chew toys, stuffed toys and tennis balls. Since there are no restrictions on hazardous materials being used in the manufacture of pet products, it was no surprise that HealthyStuff.org found varying levels of highly poisonous elements, especially lead, across all of the different types of pet products they tested. Twenty-five percent, that’s 100 different products, had detectable levels of lead. More than half of all collars contained detectable levels of lead. Tennis balls sold as dog toys contained the most lead, while tennis balls sold for playing tennis often had no detectable levels of any toxin. (At this writing I tried to locate the reference I’d read a year or so ago stating that a dog should not play with tennis balls meant for the tennis court because they have metal embedded in them; unfortunately, I couldn’t find the reference, but will keep looking and post it once I find it.) Take a look at the results of the research over at the HealthyStuff.org website. It’s user-friendly and easy to understand.

A word to the wise as we approach the holiday season and you are buying goodies for your pet’s stocking. Keep your pet healthy. Make sure all the products you use are free of any toxins.

photo by Cindy Funk

It's Time for More Moms to Breastfeed, U.S. Officials Say

Deb's Note:  I think it's about time breastfeeding becomes the norm. This article is from MedicineNet.com.
*************
By Amanda Gardner

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- With breastfeeding rates still not at the levels health-care providers and policymakers would like, two U.S. health agencies have decided it's time to take action.

Latest Womens Health News

Representatives of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Office of Women's Health, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, are spending much of Thursday at CDC headquarters in Atlanta listening to breastfeeding experts tell them what needs to be done to get more women to breastfeed.

Then, by the middle of next year, the agencies say, they plan to issue a "Call to Action" -- a federal document that recommends specific policies and activities to address what they refer to as "an urgent public health priority."

"Helping women breastfeed is a no-brainer in the health and well-being of mother and baby," said Dr. Sheela R. Geraghty, medical director of the Center for Breastfeeding Medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "It's a completely cost-effective mechanism to improve maternal and infant health in the U.S. And, it's an economic benefit, with less formula costs, less bottles."

"Everybody welcomes this," Geraghty said of the government's efforts. "Basically, they are trying to gather information to identify the need. We know moms in lower socioeconomic categories don't breastfeed as often as other moms and that the workplace environment [can be a hindrance]."

In the decade since the federal government issued a "Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding," some gains have been made but not nearly enough, say many experts.

According to CDC statistics, about 68 percent of women in 1999 breastfed in the days right after birth, increasing to about 74 percent in the 2005-2006 period.

By the time their babies were 6 months old, only 32 percent of women were still breastfeeding in 1999, compared with 43 percent in 2005-06. And by the time the babies were 1 year old, the number had declined even further: to 15 percent in 1999 and 22 percent in 2005-06.

"We have come a long way in helping moms start," Geraghty said, but "those are still pathetic numbers."

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization recommend that mothers exclusively breastfeed their infants for the first six months of life and then continue the practice with other nutrition thereafter.

But just 12.3 percent of mothers exclusively breastfed their babies for the first six months of life in 2005, according to the CDC.

Breastfeeding has been shown to benefit both babies and mothers. Breastfed babies, for instance, have a lower risk for sudden infant death syndrome, diabetes, obesity and asthma. And by breastfeeding, women can reduce their risk for ovarian and breast cancer along with hip fractures and osteoporosis later in life.

But there are obstacles to getting more women to breastfeed. A big one, according to Geraghty, is the American "culture of maternal-infant separation," which she said is partly driven by women working and going to school. Also, many hospitals separate mothers and babies.

"If you want to be successful with breastfeeding, you need to keep the mother and baby together as much as possible," said Dr. Michael Giuliano, director of neonatology at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. "There are routines in hospitals that do not do that very well."

Most women of childbearing age in the United States now work, and some women return to their jobs as early as six weeks after their baby is born. That can interfere with breastfeeding, Geraghty said, because "it can take a month to six weeks just to establish breastfeeding."

To deal with this, women sometimes "pump" their own breast milk so their babies can be given breast milk while they are at work, but this can be difficult for some.

"Pumps are expensive, and often people don't have a place to pump at work," Geraghty said.

In addition, many women becoming mothers today were not breastfed as babies, nor did they see their mothers breastfeeding siblings, so they have few role models. "Women are just starting from scratch, and that's very hard," Geraghty said. "You add all of that together, and women are having such a challenging time."

Giuliano seemed to agree. "Lots of moms have difficulties breastfeeding, and most don't have three generations of family members around to help them," he said. "We've found that lots of mothers need support, and that takes lots of time and specialized training. Our institution has just hired another lactation specialist."

The goal, Geraghty said, is for "moms to breastfeed as long as they can and ... to have a good experience."

SOURCES: Sheela R. Geraghty, M.D., medical director, Center for Breastfeeding Medicine, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati; Michael Giuliano, M.D., chief, neonatology, Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, N.J.; American Academy of Pediatrics, Elk Grove Village, Ill.

Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

From cutewithoutthee.tumblr.com

I'm Too Young to Have Breast Cancer, Aren't I? (part 3)

 Is there anything a young woman can do to prevent breast cancer? Like with older women, the chance of developing breast cancer is determined by risk factors. The more risk factors, the higher the chances of getting breast cancer. Some risk factors, like genetics or gender, can’t be changed. Other risk factors, such as consuming the so-called “meat-sweet” Western diet (high fat, meat, sugar, milk, bread, dessert), lack of physical activity and obesity, are changeable. Exercise alone has been shown to decrease risk 30-40% for average and overweight women! Eating a diet high in soy foods has been shown to decrease risk in premenopausal women, including teenagers. So, simply taking care of your body will go a long way to minimizing your risk of breast cancer.

Yes, young women, including teens, can develop breast cancer. But, the odds are low. The best advice to minimize your risk is to live a healthy lifestyle. Eat right, don’t do drugs, don’t smoke, don’t drink, exercise regularly, and keep your body fit.  Pay attention to your body, so you will recognize any changes. If something seems suspicious, see your doctor right away.

I'm Too Young to Have Breast Cancer, Aren't I? (Part 2)

So, although breast cancer is the main cause of death for females between the ages of 15 and 54, the younger you are, the less likely it is for you to develop it. In fact, if you are younger than 19 years old, you have a 0.00025% chance of developing breast cancer. In other words, out of 100,000 females under 19, 25 of them will develop breast cancer. This is according to the National Cancer Institute.

When a young woman is diagnosed with breast cancer her concerns tend to be different than the issues and concerns facing older women. In a younger woman, the cancer is more likely to be very aggressive, more advanced and have a lower survival rate (see my article, You Don’t Have to Have a Lump to Have Breast Cancer).

Body image is more of an issue. Should she have reconstructive surgery or not? How will she pay for it if she doesn’t have insurance? Cancer treatment can mean time out of work. How will she survive without an income? If she’s planning a family, what is chemotherapy going to do to her fertility? What if she does get pregnant after her breast cancer is cured? What if she’s pushed into early menopause by chemotherapy? That’s a problem if she wants children. Early menopause may also raise the risk of osteoporosis and heart disease, which are typically seen in older post-menopausal women.

(to be continued)

I’m Too Young for Breast Cancer, Aren’t I? (Part 1)

 The American Cancer Society estimated that in 2008, 182,460 females in America will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Approximately 10,000 of these females will be under age 40, and 23,000 under age 45. The incidence for females under 20 is even fewer. Young women can and do get breast cancer.

For females ages 15-39, breast cancer accounts for 26% of all cancer, and in the 35-39 year old age group, breast cancer accounts for 39% of all cancer. The leading cause of death in young women between the ages of 15 and 54 is breast cancer. These statistics sound scary. But before you panic, let’s take a closer look.

To make this simple, let’s say we have 100 females in our 15-39 year-old age group. Every one of these 100 female has some type of cancer (breast, lung, leukemia, etc.). Out of these 100 females with cancer, 26 of them will have breast cancer. The remaining 74 females will have some other type of cancer. Out of those 26 females with breast cancer, 10 of them (39%) will be between 35-39 years old. The remaining 16 females will be 15-34 years old.

(to be continued)  

You Don’t Have to Have a Lump to Have Breast Cancer?

What? What are you talking about? What about those self-breast exams I do regularly every month? And my yearly mammogram, what about that?! I feel fine, except for my breast is itchy and hot. I must have an infection. Or a bug bite. I do a lot of stuff outside. Cancer? Of course it’s not cancer. There’s no lump.

What do you mean, there’s more than one kind of breast cancer? I can have breast cancer without any lump? Nobody ever told me that! Why not?

Why not? That’s a question women all over the world are asking when their doctors tell them they have Inflammatory Breast Cancer, or IBC.

IBC is not a newly discovered type of breast cancer. it’s been there all along. It’s just that the push has been to get women checking for lumps, which is good and needs to be done, but that’s tended to sideline the other forms of breast cancer that don’t have lumps involved, like IBC.

Out of all breast cancer cases, about 6% of people with breast cancer have IBC. But, out of all the deaths from breast cancer, about 25% of people who die from it have IBC. So, it’s rare in terms of total number of cases, but not so rare in terms of total number of deaths.

IBC is extremely aggressive and fast moving. All cases of IBC are stage III (locally advanced) or stage IV (advanced, spread to other organs) when diagnosed. IBC strikes younger women, rather than older women. Sometimes it’s noticed in pregnancy or when nursing a baby. A lot of times it’s “written off” as mastitis or something relatively mundane. African American women tend to get IBC more than Caucasian women.

If you notice anything out of the ordinary with your breast, get it checked out. Don’t wait. Some things to watch out for are red, swollen, itchy or warmth of the breast. Skin may be dimpled like an orange peel, the nipple may be inverted. The breast may be sore, ache, burn or feel heavy.

For more information on IBC visit the IBC Research Foundation, the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Foundation or the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Association.

The Sauerkraut Runner

What was your first summer job? I bet it doesn't compare to Bob Goodale's first summer job! According to Bob, one day his father came in and said he (Bob) needed to get a summer job and that working at the cannery would be good. Bob's mother agreed. Bob was 13 at the time and started working at the factory soon thereafter.

His first assignment was a sauerkraut runner! Now, if you know what a sauerkraut runner is, give yourself a pat on the back. I had no idea this job even existed.

Apparently, on the way to becoming sauerkraut, shredded cabbage is put into huge vats along with salt. This mixture sits around in these vats for about six weeks before it's ready to be bottled. If it just sat there without being stirred thoroughly, it would get moldy and rot.

Enter the sauerkraut runner. The sauerkraut runner's job was to put on a pair of fisherman's waders and get into the vat with all the cabbage and salt. He would then proceed to run around for 8 hours, stirring up the brine. Now, Bob says it was a lot of fun because "it was his first job" and he got to talk with all the other guys running around the other vats.The money wasn't bad either. He got $.75 an hour.

I'm not going to tell you the whole story here. It's definitely worth hearing in Bob's own words. You can listen to it at American Public Radio's The Story. website.

It's from the June 22, 2009, show called Back from Afghanistan and linked to here.

You'll never look at sauerkraut in quite the same way again.

By the way, if your kids need something fun to do this summer, you could make sauerkraut with them. I found a recipe for sauerkraut at the Wild Fermentation blog. If you're really feeling ambitious, you could make a whole bunch of sauerkraut in one of those kiddie pools. Hmmm, I see some really good (?) holiday gifts coming out of this project...Bye for now.

Should Backyard Car Washing Be Banned?

Can you believe that around 150 gallons of water are wasted each time someone washes their car in the driveway and leaves the hose running! I was shocked when I found this out, too.

Now we all know that this run-off is full of nasty chemicals that can eat away at our car. Imagine what they can do to the environment. And where do those chemicals end up? Yep. They’re being sent straight into the water supply for us to drink. Yuck!

So, should we ban backyard car washing altogether? Personally, I think that’s a bit drastic. For some people, washing their car is a weekend ritual, more of  a past-time than a chore. So, what’s a person to do?

First of all, make sure you use an eco-friendly, biodegradable cleaner. It needs to break down readily.

Second, don’t leave the hose running. Fill a bucket with some soap and water, wet your car down using a hose with a spray nozzle, and then turn off the hose. This way, you’ll use the least amount of water possible and still get to enjoy your weekend car washing ritual.

Third, after you’ve thoroughly scrubbed your car down, give it a quick rinse. Then turn the hose off.

Fourth, once you’ve completed all of the detail work with your microfiber cloth, and your car is nice and shiny, get the hose and wash away the puddles of soapy water. Yes, this takes water, but birds, neighborhood cats, dogs and squirrels will appreciate not having this toxic watering hole around to tempt them.

Now before you go take a nap in your hammock, you'd better put your car in the garage. And, grab the umbrella on your way out to the hammock. It looks like it's gonna rain.

photo by wjarrettc

Introduction to No-Dig Gardening

The idea of no-dig gardening was developed by an Australian named Esther Deans. Esther is the author of Growing Without Digging. (As an aside, as I was preparing this article, I did a quick check on Amazon.com to see if this book was still available. I found two used copies for $96 each.) No-dig gardening was originally developed as a labor saving idea and a method to rejuvenate badly depleted soil in a vegetable garden.

The process involves starting with layers of newspaper. Then by adding lucerne hay, straw and compost in succeeding layers, you can create a nutrient-rich growing medium without resorting to heavy digging. This will simplify weeding and encourage your much-desired plants to grow. The layers compost together, and greatly encourage earthworms. The gardens are maintained by adding manure, compost, etc., and should not be dug up, as this will undo the good work.

Below is an illustration of the various layers of a no-dig garden. I found this at Homage to Esther Deans website.

Some followers of permaculture and organic gardening have translated no-dig into never-dig, which I believe is sadly mistaken. If you start with a base soil that is badly compacted, then your no-dig garden will initially work well, but you may find your garden does not continue to perform well. The fertile layer you have built up will encourage the earthworms, but we do know that the worms need to shelter from excessively hot, dry, cold or wet conditions. Worms seek shelter from extreme conditions by burrowing more deeply into the soil, sometimes many feet down. If they cannot shelter in this way, they will either die out or move out. An initial cultivation of the soil before you apply the no-dig system will guarantee a better environment for the worms, and thus a better garden for growing your plants, over the longer term.

For more information on no-dig gardening visit the Gardening Australia website here or the No-Dig Vegetable Garden.