#saline ohio

[middleland]

NS 911 by Todd Dillon

[covid-safer-hotties]

What It's Like Being COVID-Conscious in 2024 - Published Aug 26, 2024

Aug. 26, 2024 – On a warm July evening, Raleigh Rivera, 29, went to see a band play a backyard show in East Los Angeles. The audience – around 40 people – wore KN95 or N95 masks, tested for COVID beforehand, and agreed that they would excuse themselves from the rest of the crowd if they needed to take off their masks for any reason. Before they played, the band showed their negative test results to the attendees and asked their permission to perform without masks. They were lit with far-UV lighting, which has been shown to safely kill airborne viruses.

This might sound like a scene from three or four summers ago, when taking COVID precautions was encouraged by most health officials, policymakers, and community members – but it happened this summer. For Rivera and the rest of the crowd – who identify as COVID-conscious – life hasn’t gone “back to normal,” as it has for so many others.

Rivera and other COVID-vigilant people have cause for alarm: At the beginning of August, the percentage of people testing positive for COVID reached its highest level since January 2022, according to CDC data. The public health agency’s wastewater testing tracker shows “high” or “very high” virus levels in most U.S. states.

Many studies have shown that properly masking gives you an extra layer of protection against COVID. But Rivera, like others in the COVID-conscious community, is usually the only person wearing a mask in any given setting.

“Continuing to think and live this way kind of feels like you’re living in an alternate reality all the time,” she said. She has POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), a chronic blood disorder that can cause your heart rate to jump if you stand up. Along with masking wherever she goes, Rivera and her husband have air purifiers throughout their home and use a saline nasal rinse and an antimicrobial mouthwash before heading outside.

Despite her vigilance, Rivera caught COVID in the fall of 2023. She got on Paxlovid right away, yet she was hit with crushing fatigue that incapacitated her for a few weeks, she said. After she recovered, her POTS symptoms – which can include fatigue, lightheadedness, and nausea – worsened. She is just starting to get her appetite back, almost a year later.

“Everything is still a risk calculation, wherever I go. But at this show, I felt like my body could finally relax,” she said. “I felt very present and a part of something in a way that I haven’t been able to experience in a long time.”

Local governments in places like New York City and Los Angeles have considered imposing mask bans – mostly in response to protesters wearing masks at rallies to conceal their identities – regardless of the summer increase in COVID case numbers.

“It takes a lot of confidence,” said Rivera. “It gives up a piece of my social currency. I know there are places I’m no longer invited to because [wearing a mask] either weirds people out or bums them out that I’m going to keep this reminder of the pandemic on my face.”

For Rivera and others, much of the onus of community protection seems to fall on those with weakened immune systems. One of their biggest concerns is the lack of masking in medical settings. While some health systems have brought back masking policies since numbers have started to climb again, many have not done the same.

Aaron Friedberg, MD, a professor and internal medicine doctor with a specialty in long COVID at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, wears a mask in every clinical setting, even though the hospital no longer requires it.

“There are still some people who get very sick from COVID, even though it’s much less common now,” he said. “To me, wearing a mask is a relatively easy thing I can do to improve their health. It’s an important way of showing respect for your patients, to protect them.”

Bernard Camins, MD, an infectious disease specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, also understands this worry. The hospital still sees plenty of patients with COVID, he said, but the vaccinated and boosted hospital staff does not tend to see transmission of the virus because they continue to wear the right personal protective equipment.

Olivia Belknap, an associate marriage and family therapist in the Los Angeles area, is COVID-conscious and sees many clients with similar concerns. She said there is a lot to what it means to be COVID-conscious.

Nowadays, many might consider taking COVID precautions to be extreme, but Belknap herself (who was also diagnosed with POTS after a COVID infection) and some of her clients are not yet comfortable getting on an airplane or eating outside on a restaurant patio. She sees clients who aren’t willing to step indoors almost anywhere that isn’t their own home.

“A majority of [my clients] have sought me out because they know that regardless of what levels of precautions they’re taking, I’m not going to pathologize them for it or discourage them from doing those things,” said Belknap. “It’s more about finding meaning and connection in your life while still doing things in a way that is safe for you and makes you feel comfortable.”

Belknap said it’s not her place to tell people they’re being too prudent or too lax in their precautions. Sometimes, she works with clients who are anxious about taking the first steps in loosening their own restrictions; other times, she’s talking to people struggling to come to terms with what it means to have a substantially smaller social circle for what could be the rest of their lives.

Although it seems like the rest of the world has moved on, the worry is valid for those whose lives may be upended by a post-viral reaction from a COVID infection, Camins said.

“It may not be death, but it’s still debilitating. You’re alive, but it’s not a fun way to live life,”

While protecting yourself against what could be life-altering long COVID symptoms is more than justified, Camins said there is a potential downside for those with weakened immune systems: They might get sicker from other viruses than they would have before.

“The only thing I worry about for this community is that, since they’re very careful about COVID, they’re probably not getting exposed to other viruses that their bodies can build immunity against,” he said. “At some point, if you let down your guard, you’re going to get sick a lot.”

There are times when Rivera wants to give up on masking altogether, like when she attends a wedding. She still goes to many of them, and she puts in the time to do her makeup, despite knowing most people won’t see her face for most the night. She’d like to be able to take her mask off indoors, eat inside without worrying, or have a drink with friends.

There could be a future for Rivera that doesn’t include the same level of precautions she’s currently taking – but that comes with conditions.

“There are some places that I know I will continue to wear a mask forever, like in medical settings or traveling,” she said. “But I also know that there will be no more weddings for me if I am permanently and significantly more disabled than I already am, and that’s very possible with another infection.”

[cleanwaterchronicles]

Michigan adds watershed monitors to help keep algal bloom-inducing phosphorus out of Lake Erie

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Michigan is stepping up efforts to analyze the flow of harmful nutrients into the Western Basin of Lake Erie, which is plagued each year by toxic algal blooms largely attributed to phosphorus run-off from farm fields.

Water quality monitors have been set up in five sub-watersheds in the southeast corner of the state that either feed directly into the lake or one of its tributaries.

Three of the watersheds – Stony Creek, the headwaters of the Saline River and Nile Ditch – flow toward the River Raisin, which enters Lake Erie south of Detroit.

Another sub-watershed carries runoff directly into Lake Erie and a fifth – the Lime Creek watershed – takes farm runoff south across the border into Ohio and into the Maumee River, which begins in Indiana and flows across Northwest Ohio before emptying into Lake Erie at Toledo.

The Maumee is the primary contributor to the algal bloom problem in Lake Erie, which results when excessive amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen combine with warming waters to create a green scum that is both unsightly and potentially toxic.

Michigan and Ohio have committed to a 40% reduction in total phosphorus inputs into Lake Erie by 2025. But the states are not expected to come close to hitting that goal, said Tom Zimnicki, agriculture and restoration policy director with the Alliance for the Great Lakes.

Zimnicki said voluntary efforts to have farmers curtail nutrient runoff from their fields have not been successful in either state in addressing the algal bloom problem, and that a more holistic approach should be considered.

“It’s hard to see a path forward with purely voluntary approaches,” he said.

The increased monitoring of upstream waters in southeastern Michigan should help provide more data that can be used to forge a more effective way to deal with the nutrient runoff, Zimnicki said.

Hopefully, efforts will be less scattershot and more targeted so that the money is spent on the problem more efficiently, he said.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is kicking in $4.86 million to pay for the expanded network. Another $600,000 is coming from the Erb Family Foundation.

The expanded network includes monitoring equipment at 50 locations that will measure water levels; turbidity, which measures the amount of suspended sediment in the water; and conductivity, which measures total dissolved solids in the water, said Ed Verhamme, principal with LimnoTech, a water technology company based in Ann Arbor, Michigan that is providing technical assistance to the project.

Ten of the locations also will have autonomous phosphorus analyzers producing data every two hours, Verhamme said. The plan also includes taking water samples at all 50 sites and having them tested in a lab.

While Ohio has a much broader area that drains into Lake Erie, Michigan has a greater density of sampling stations, Verhamme said. The benefit of multiple locations upstream is that farmers can receive meaningful information more quickly as to how their actions are impacting water quality,

A denser network of monitors in Ohio would be nice, said Nate Manning, interim director of the National Center for Water Quality Research at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio, “but I think we do a pretty good job as it stands right now.”

Having more sophisticated sensors that are triggered during heavy storms would be beneficial as such events are the primary drivers of phosphorus loading, Manning said.

The National Center for Water Quality Research monitors the watersheds of several Ohio rivers that empty into Lake Erie, including the the Maumee, Sandusky, Portage, Huron and Cuyahoga.

In June, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted that algal blooms in the western basin would be 5 on the severity index, which is at the top end of the moderate range, but with a broader potential range of 4.5 to 6. Manning said he expects the final assessment of the year, which is due soon, should fall somewhere in that range.

Source: cleveland.com contributor Peter Krouse, Nov. 09, 2024

[dublinmetrodental123]

What to Do When You Need Same Day Dental Emergencies

Life is unpredictable, and dental emergencies can strike when you least expect them. Whether it's a sudden toothache, a knocked-out tooth, or a broken dental crown, knowing how to handle these situations can save you pain and stress. At  Dublin Metro Dental, we understand the urgency of dental emergencies and are here to provide you with prompt and compassionate care. Here's a guide on what to do when you need same-day dental emergency care.

Recognize the Emergency

First and foremost, it's crucial to identify whether your situation qualifies as a dental emergency. Common emergencies include severe toothaches, broken or chipped teeth, knocked-out teeth, lost fillings or crowns, and soft tissue injuries. If you experience any of these issues, it's essential to seek professional help promptly.

Contact Dublin Metro Dental

For residents in and around Columbus, Ohio, our team at Dublin Metro Dental is always ready to assist with Same Day Dental Emergencies. As an emergency dentist in Columbus, Ohio, we prioritize urgent cases and strive to provide immediate care. The first step is to contact our office as soon as possible. Explain your situation clearly so our staff can assess the severity of your condition and schedule an emergency appointment.

Stay Calm and Manage Pain

While waiting for your appointment, it's essential to stay calm and manage any pain or discomfort. For toothaches, rinsing your mouth with warm salt water can provide temporary relief. If a tooth has been knocked out, try to keep it moist by placing it in milk or a saline solution. Applying a cold compress can help reduce swelling and numb the area if you have a broken tooth or soft tissue injury.

Bring Necessary Information

When visiting Dublin Metro Dental for an emergency appointment, bring any relevant dental records if you have them. This information can help our team quickly understand your dental history and provide the best possible care. Additionally, ensure you have identification and insurance information to streamline the process.

Prevent Future Emergencies

After addressing the immediate issue, it's crucial to discuss preventive measures with your dentist. Regular check-ups and maintaining good oral hygiene can help prevent future emergencies. At Dublin Metro Dental, we are committed to not only treating dental emergencies but also educating our patients on how to maintain optimal oral health.

In conclusion, dental emergencies require prompt attention and care. At Dublin Metro Dental, we are dedicated to providing fast and efficient services for Same Day Dental Emergencies. If you find yourself in a dental crisis, don't hesitate to reach out to our team. Your oral health is our priority, and we're here to ensure you receive the best care possible.

Content has been Taken from: https://bit.ly/3A6iVUv

[plasticsurgerycolumbusohio]

Stratus Plastic Surgery and Dr. Haruko Okada provide full-service cosmetic and plastic surgery procedures in Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Okada is an ABPS board-certified plastic surgeon in Columbus with experience performing thousands of surgeries, including breast augmentation (mammoplasty) , breast lifts (mastopexy) and reductions (mammaplasty), liposuction, tummy tucks (Abdominoplasty) and mommy makeovers, facelifts, chin or cheek augmentation, earlobe repair, mole removal and more. Working with world-renown plastic surgeons, Dr. Okada learned techniques to perform surgeries in the most aesthetically pleasing way while minimizing scarring, especially for highly-visible surgeries like on the face. All surgeries are outpatient procedures performed in a hospital with patient safety and infection control at the highest priority, using all PPE safety equipment like gloves, masks, gowns, sterile tools, IV's, saline, forceps, surgical sutures, and more. Dr. Okada educates all her patients so they understand all aspects of the medical procedures, what to expect before, during and after surgery to ensure the best possible recovery. If you're interested in a cosmetic procedure to help match your outward appearance with your inner beauty, give Stratus Plastic Surgery a call at 614-956-5757.

stratusplasticsurgery.com/plastic-surgery-columbus-ohio Google Sites WordPress Goodreads Blogspot Unsplash Weebly IMDB TED SoundCloud

[beardedmrbean]

@nerdylilpeebee linked in the article you linked

link doesn't want to format right

https://www.ksn.com/news/ohio-man-faces-charges-for-a-child-sex-crime-in-salina/

SALINA, Kansas –  An Ohio man is behind bars in the Saline County Jail for having sex with a girl under the age of 16 according to KSAL.

Police arrested 27-year-old Jacob L. Pina on a warrant request for an incident that allegedly occurred in 2014.

Police say the victim contacted authorities after she was held against her will and sexually molested at a house located on South 2nd Street in November of 2014.

Pina, who lists his residence as Toledo, Ohio is now facing charges that include aggravated indecent liberties with a child under the age of 16. ______________________

Then we move on to the conviction, which is not in the article you linked.

A 28-year-old Ohio man was sentenced in Saline County District Court on Monday to four years and four months in prison for one count of indecent liberties with a child.

Jacob L. Pina, of Toledo, Ohio, pleaded no contest to the count in May and an additional charge was dropped, according to court records. He was ordered to have lifetime post-release supervision, as well as pay $193 in court costs, an $800 Kansas Bureau of Investigation fee, a $400 child advocacy fee, and $350 for the services of his attorney.

Pina was arrested on a warrant in February for allegedly having sexual relations with a female acquaintance between 14 and 16 years old without her consent in a Salina home in November 2014, a police department spokesman said at the time. ___________________________

NPR article about her doesn't mention anything to do with what years all this took place and there was two stints in jail so I can't comment to that but the no contest plea to "indecent liberties" is there and all the other details line up as well

So ya claims about the crime seem to be true.

[jjstew22]

I think I have found a connection between episode 3 and the last scene in episode 11

 In the "location" text that we get with every scene change, we saw that the Dahkeya (the guy in the last scene) was around Sedona, Arizona. This led me to believe that he was a part of the Hopi or Navajo.

Doing some searching I found the creation story of the Jicarilla Apache people which aligned perfectly with the color directions, but not with the objects or figure that was mentioned in the story. I thought that the show was being inspired by this story.

Then u/TDLink found this video of the Bylas Apache people's creation story that is a word-for-word match to the story introduced in episode 11.

Here it is: https://youtu.be/k5ZmdaUOsdI

I was rewatching episode 3 and found something really interesting.

This is the location of the portals/ access points that we dealt with in episode 3. Since the point for Ohio is not on Millersburg, I am assuming that this map is for the last sighting.

Looking at the Ohio access point we can see that the little marker isn't actually on Millersburg, Ohio (This is Millersburg below)

It is closer to the aptly named Centerburg, Ohio. This means that the access points on the map may not be exact to where the locations are now but where they were last detected. *However, the point in Michigan where Nicole Heggman disappeared (Saline, Michigan) seems quite accurate.

So what does this mean for Arizona?

This is Sedona, Arizona

A little bit off the mark right? Especially considering that the Navajo and Hopi reservations are northeast of Sedona

Remember the Bylas Apache?

This is Bylas, Arizona. Much closer to the access point, but still a little off! I don’t think we are done with these access points just yet! Any thoughts?

[hagleyvault]

To get you through the home stretch of a tough week, we’re using this #ThrowbackThursday to remember a time when ginger ale advertisements were bold in both design and claims.

This ca. 1890 trade card for Sachs-Prudens & Co. ginger ale encouraged buyers to bring home one (or a dozen) bottles to “please the wife and children”. The soft drink was also marketed as a dyspepsia remedy, promising to be “[a] pleasant Cordial Medicine and Stimulant, of great value to Lawyers, Preachers, Writers and Business Men, who are troubled with the loss of Nerve Power. It makes the languid and debilitated feel bright and cheerful. Indispensable to restore patient after Alcoholic Excess.” Sounds good to me!

Sachs-Pruden & Co. was a Dayton, Ohio wholesale and retail business founded by chemists Edward Sachs (1851-1901) and David Pruden (1854-1910) in 1874. In addition to ginger ale, they sold other tonics and patent medicines, including Saline Lemonade and Sach-Pruden's A. T. 8 Agaric Tonic.

By 1888, the company had expanded to include a brewery for lager beer and reincorporated as the Sachs-Pruden Ale & Co. By 1895, however, Edward Sachs had left the company to found the Sachs-Pruden Ginger Ale & Co. and the brewery was sold to the Dayton Brewing Company when the Sachs-Pruden Brewing and Ale Company  failed and filed for bankruptcy.

This trade card is from Hagley Library’s Advertising cards and calendar collection (Accession 1992.229) in our Audiovisual Collections.  

[theriverlandspodcast]

The Dark Woods of Hardin County

I met with the Gallatin County Illinois Historical Society in Old Shawneetown, down along the Ohio river. I heard alot of stories that day. Tales of murder. Tales of mayhem. Of floods and destruction and death. Of Masonic banks and haunted hangmans trees.

But I heard one story that I think you’ll like:

Sometime back in the day they were building a road down in Hardin County south of the Saline River. They were supposed to cut a road through one particularly dense chunk of woods. So the bulldozer operator drove into this area trying to push a road through. In a few minutes he backed out. Got down off his machine. Said he wouldnt go back in there. That the woods was “as dark as midnight 20 feet in there” and eventually they built the road somewhere else. 

 Is this a chunk of Primordial Forest? A fae area? Perhaps a window area? The last refuge of forest spirits? A blot of darkness left from the sacrifices of the Mound Builders? 

Or something even darker and more ancient?

Im hoping to find this woods one day. To see for my own eyes what mysteries await there in the darkness. 

[life-observed]

The Crane Wife

Ten days after I called off my engagement I was supposed to go on a scientific expedition to study the whooping crane on the gulf coast of Texas. Surely, I will cancel this trip, I thought, as I shopped for nylon hiking pants that zipped off at the knee. Surely, a person who calls off a wedding is meant to be sitting sadly at home, reflecting on the enormity of what has transpired and not doing whatever it is I am about to be doing that requires a pair of plastic clogs with drainage holes. Surely, I thought, as I tried on a very large and floppy hat featuring a pull cord that fastened beneath my chin, it would be wrong to even be wearing a hat that looks like this when something in my life has gone so terribly wrong.

Ten days earlier I had cried and I had yelled and I had packed up my dog and driven away from the upstate New York house with two willow trees I had bought with my fiancé.

Ten days later and I didn’t want to do anything I was supposed to do.

*

I went to Texas to study the whooping crane because I was researching a novel. In my novel there were biologists doing field research about birds and I had no idea what field research actually looked like and so the scientists in my novel draft did things like shuffle around great stacks of papers and frown. The good people of the Earthwatch organization assured me I was welcome on the trip and would get to participate in “real science” during my time on the gulf. But as I waited to be picked up by my team in Corpus Christi, I was nervous—I imagined everyone else would be a scientist or a birder and have daunting binoculars.

The biologist running the trip rolled up in in a large white van with a boat hitch and the words BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES stenciled across the side. Jeff was forty-ish, and wore sunglasses and a backward baseball cap. He had a winter beard and a neon-green cast on his left arm. He’d broken his arm playing hockey with his sons a week before. The first thing Jeff said was, “We’ll head back to camp, but I hope you don’t mind we run by the liquor store first.” I felt more optimistic about my suitability for science.

*

Not long before I’d called off my engagement it was Christmas.

The woman who was supposed to be my mother-in-law was a wildly talented quilter and made stockings with Beatrix Potter characters on them for every family member. The previous Christmas she had asked me what character I wanted to be (my fiancé was Benjamin Bunny). I agonized over the decision. It felt important, like whichever character I chose would represent my role in this new family. I chose Squirrel Nutkin, a squirrel with a blazing red tail—an epic, adventuresome figure who ultimately loses his tail as the price for his daring and pride.

I arrived in Ohio that Christmas and looked to the banister to see where my squirrel had found his place. Instead, I found a mouse. A mouse in a pink dress and apron. A mouse holding a broom and dustpan, serious about sweeping. A mouse named Hunca Munca. The woman who was supposed to become my mother-in-law said, “I was going to do the squirrel but then I thought, that just isn’t CJ. This is CJ.”

What she was offering was so nice. She was so nice. I thanked her and felt ungrateful for having wanted a stocking, but not this stocking. Who was I to be choosy? To say that this nice thing she was offering wasn’t a thing I wanted?

When I looked at that mouse with her broom, I wondered which one of us was wrong about who I was.

*

The whooping crane is one of the oldest living bird species on earth. Our expedition was housed at an old fish camp on the Gulf Coast next to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, where three hundred of the only six hundred whooping cranes left in the world spend their winters. Our trip was a data-collecting expedition to study behavior and gather data about the resources available to the cranes at Aransas.

The ladies bunkhouse was small and smelled woody and the rows of single beds were made up with quilts. Lindsay, the only other scientist, was a grad student in her early twenties from Wisconsin who loved birds so much that when she told you about them she made the shapes of their necks and beaks with her hands—a pantomime of bird life. Jan, another participant, was a retired geophysicist who had worked for oil companies and now taught high school chemistry. Jan was extremely fit and extremely tan and extremely competent. Jan was not a lifelong birder. She was a woman who had spent two years nursing her mother and her best friend through cancer. They had both recently died and she had lost herself in caring for them, she said. She wanted a week to be herself. Not a teacher or a mother or a wife. This trip was the thing she was giving herself after their passing.

At five o’clock there was a knock on the bunk door and a very old man walked in, followed by Jeff.

“Is it time for cocktail hour?” Warren asked.

Warren was an eighty-four-year-old bachelor from Minnesota. He could not do most of the physical activities required by the trip, but had been on ninety-five Earthwatch expeditions, including this one once before.Warren liked birds okay. What Warren really loved was cocktail hour.

When he came for cocktail hour that first night, his thin, silver hair was damp from the shower and he smelled of shampoo. He was wearing a fresh collared shirt and carrying a bottle of impossibly good scotch.

Jeff took in Warren and Jan and me. “This is a weird group,” Jeff said.

“I like it,” Lindsay said.

*

In the year leading up to calling off my wedding, I often cried or yelled or reasoned or pleaded with my fiancé to tell me that he loved me. To be nice to me. To notice things about how I was living.

One particular time, I had put on a favorite red dress for a wedding. I exploded from the bathroom to show him. He stared at his phone. I wanted him to tell me I looked nice, so I shimmied and squeezed his shoulders and said, “You look nice! Tell me I look nice!” He said, “I told you that you looked nice when you wore that dress last summer. It’s reasonable to assume I still think you look nice in it now.”

Another time he gave me a birthday card with a sticky note inside that said BIRTHDAY. After giving it to me, he explained that because he hadn’t written in it, the card was still in good condition. He took off the sticky and put the unblemished card into our filing cabinet.

I need you to know: I hated that I needed more than this from him. There is nothing more humiliating to me than my own desires. Nothing that makes me hate myself more than being burdensome and less than self-sufficient. I did not want to feel like the kind of nagging woman who might exist in a sit-com.

These were small things, and I told myself it was stupid to feel disappointed by them. I had arrived in my thirties believing that to need things from others made you weak. I think this is true for lots of people but I think it is especially true for women. When men desire things they are “passionate.” When they feel they have not received something they need they are “deprived,” or even “emasculated,” and given permission for all sorts of behavior. But when a woman needs she is needy. She is meant to contain within her own self everything necessary to be happy.

That I wanted someone to articulate that they loved me, that they saw me, was a personal failing and I tried to overcome it.

When I found out that he’d slept with our mutual friend a few weeks after we’d first started seeing each other, he told me we hadn’t officially been dating yet so I shouldn’t mind. I decided he was right. When I found out that he’d kissed another girl on New Year’s Eve months after that, he said that we hadn’t officially discussed monogamy yet, and so I shouldn’t mind. I decided he was right.

I asked to discuss monogamy and, in an effort to be the sort of cool girl who does not have so many inconvenient needs, I said that I didn’t need it. He said he thought we should be monogamous.

*

Here is what I learned once I began studying whooping cranes: only a small part of studying them has anything to do with the birds. Instead we counted berries. Counted crabs. Measured water salinity. Stood in the mud. Measured the speed of the wind.

It turns out, if you want to save a species, you don’t spend your time staring at the bird you want to save. You look at the things it relies on to live instead. You ask if there is enough to eat and drink. You ask if there is a safe place to sleep. Is there enough here to survive?

Wading through the muck of the Aransas Reserve I understood that every chance for food matters. Every pool of drinkable water matters. Every wolfberry dangling from a twig, in Texas, in January, matters. The difference between sustaining life and not having enough was that small.

If there were a kind of rehab for people ashamed to have needs, maybe this was it. You will go to the gulf. You will count every wolfberry. You will measure the depth of each puddle.

*

More than once I’d said to my fiancé, How am I supposed to know you love me if you’re never affectionate or say nice things or say that you love me.

He reminded me that he’d said “I love you” once or twice before. Why couldn’t I just know that he did in perpetuity?

I told him this was like us going on a hiking trip and him telling me he had water in his backpack but not ever giving it to me and then wondering why I was still thirsty.

He told me water wasn’t like love, and he was right.

There are worse things than not receiving love. There are sadder stories than this. There are species going extinct, and a planet warming. I told myself: who are you to complain, you with these frivolous extracurricular needs?

*

On the gulf, I lost myself in the work. I watched the cranes through binoculars and recorded their behavior patterns and I loved their long necks and splashes of red. The cranes looked elegant and ferocious as they contorted their bodies to preen themselves. From the outside, they did not look like a species fighting to survive.

In the mornings we made each other sandwiches and in the evenings we laughed and lent each other fresh socks. We gave each other space in the bathroom. Forgave each other for telling the same stories over and over again. We helped Warren when he had trouble walking. What I am saying is that we took care of each other. What I am saying is we took pleasure in doing so. It’s hard to confess, but the week after I called off my wedding, the week I spent dirty and tired on the gulf, I was happy.

On our way out of the reserve, we often saw wild pigs, black and pink bristly mothers and their young, scurrying through the scrub and rolling in the dust among the cacti. In the van each night, we made bets on how many wild pigs we might see on our drive home.

One night, halfway through the trip, I bet reasonably. We usually saw four, I hoped for five, but I bet three because I figured it was the most that could be expected.

Warren bet wildly, optimistically, too high.

“Twenty pigs,” Warren said. He rested his interlaced fingers on his soft chest.

We laughed and slapped the vinyl van seats at this boldness.

But the thing is, we saw twenty pigs on the drive home that night. And in the thick of our celebrations, I realized how sad it was that I’d bet so low. That I wouldn’t even let myself imagine receiving as much as I’d hoped for.

*

What I learned to do, in my relationship with my fiancé, was to survive on less. At what should have been the breaking point but wasn’t, I learned that he had cheated on me. The woman he’d been sleeping with was a friend of his I’d initially wanted to be friends with, too, but who did not seem to like me, and who he’d gaslit me into being jealous of, and then gaslit me into feeling crazy for being jealous of.

The full course of the gaslighting took a year, so by the time I truly found out what had happened, the infidelity was already a year in the past.

It was new news to me but old news to my fiancé.

Logically, he said, it doesn’t matter anymore.

It had happened a year ago. Why was I getting worked up over ancient history?

I did the mental gymnastics required.

I convinced myself that I was a logical woman who could consider this information about having been cheated on, about his not wearing a condom, and I could separate it from the current reality of our life together.

Why did I need to know that we’d been monogamous? Why did I need to have and discuss inconvenient feelings about this ancient history?

I would not be a woman who needed these things, I decided.

I would need less. And less.

I got very good at this.

*

“The Crane Wife” is a story from Japanese folklore. I found a copy in the reserve’s gift shop among the baseball caps and bumper stickers that said GIVE A WHOOP. In the story, there is a crane who tricks a man into thinking she is a woman so she can marry him. She loves him, but knows that he will not love her if she is a crane so she spends every night plucking out all of her feathers with her beak. She hopes that he will not see what she really is: a bird who must be cared for, a bird capable of flight, a creature, with creature needs. Every morning, the crane-wife is exhausted, but she is a woman again. To keep becoming a woman is so much self-erasing work. She never sleeps. She plucks out all her feathers, one by one.

*

One night on the gulf, we bought a sack of oysters off a passing fishing boat. We’d spent so long on the water that day I felt like I was still bobbing up and down in the current as I sat in my camp chair. We ate the oysters and drank. Jan took the shucking knife away from me because it kept slipping into my palm. Feral cats trolled the shucked shells and pleaded with us for scraps.

Jeff was playing with the sighting scope we used to watch the birds, and I asked, “What are you looking for in the middle of the night?” He gestured me over and when I looked through the sight the moon swam up close.

I think I was afraid that if I called off my wedding I was going to ruin myself. That doing it would disfigure the story of my life in some irredeemable way. I had experienced worse things than this, but none threatened my American understanding of a life as much as a called-off wedding did. What I understood on the other side of my decision, on the gulf, was that there was no such thing as ruining yourself. There are ways to be wounded and ways to survive those wounds, but no one can survive denying their own needs. To be a crane-wife is unsustainable.

I had never seen the moon so up-close before. What struck me most was how battered she looked. How textured and pocked by impacts. There was a whole story written on her face—her face, which from a distance looked perfect.

*

It’s easy to say that I left my fiancé because he cheated on me. It’s harder to explain the truth. The truth is that I didn’t leave him when I found out. Not even for one night.

I found out about the cheating before we got engaged and I still said yes when he proposed in the park on a day we were meant to be celebrating a job I’d just gotten that morning. Said yes even though I’d told him I was politically opposed to the diamonds he’d convinced me were necessary. Said yes even though he turned our proposal into a joke by making a Bachelor reference and giving me a rose. I am ashamed of all of this.

He hadn’t said one specific thing about me or us during the proposal, and on the long trail walk out of the park I felt robbed of the kind of special declaration I’d hoped a proposal would entail, and, in spite of hating myself for wanting this, hating myself more for fishing for it, I asked him, “Why do you love me? Why do you think we should get married? Really?”

He said he wanted to be with me because I wasn’t annoying or needy. Because I liked beer. Because I was low-maintenance.

I didn’t say anything. A little further down the road he added that he thought I’d make a good mother.

This wasn’t what I hoped he would say. But it was what was being offered. And who was I to want more?

I didn’t leave when he said that the woman he had cheated on me with had told him over the phone that she thought it was unfair that I didn’t want them to be friends anymore, and could they still?

I didn’t leave when he wanted to invite her to our wedding. Or when, after I said she could not come to our wedding, he got frustrated and asked what he was supposed to do when his mother and his friends asked why she wasn’t there.

Reader, I almost married him.

*

Even now I hear the words as shameful: Thirsty. Needy. The worst things a woman can be. Some days I still tell myself to take what is offered, because if it isn’t enough, it is I who wants too much. I am ashamed to be writing about this instead of writing about the whooping cranes, or literal famines, or any of the truer needs of the world.

But what I want to tell you is that I left my fiancé when it was almost too late. And I tell people the story of being cheated on because that story is simple. People know how it goes. But it’s harder to tell the story of how I convinced myself I didn’t need what was necessary to survive. How I convinced myself it was my lack of needs that made me worthy of love.

*

After cocktail hour one night, in the cabin’s kitchen, I told Lindsay about how I’d blown up my life the week before. I told her because I’d just received a voice mail saying I could get a partial refund for my high-necked wedding gown. The refund would be partial because they had already made the base of the dress but had not done any of the beadwork yet. They said the pieces of the dress could still be unstitched and used for something else. I had caught them just in time.

I told Lindsay because she was beautiful and kind and patient and loved good things like birds and I wondered what she would say back to me. What would every good person I knew say to me when I told them that the wedding to which they’d RSVP’d was off and that the life I’d been building for three years was going to be unstitched and repurposed?

Lindsay said it was brave not to do a thing just because everyone expected you to do it.

Jeff was sitting outside in front of the cabin with Warren as Lindsay and I talked, tilting the sighting scope so it pointed toward the moon. The screen door was open and I knew he’d heard me, but he never said anything about my confession.

What he did do was let me drive the boat.

The next day it was just him and me and Lindsay on the water. We were cruising fast and loud. “You drive,” Jeff shouted over the motor. Lindsay grinned and nodded. I had never driven a boat before. “What do I do?” I shouted. Jeff shrugged. I took the wheel. We cruised past small islands, families of pink roseate spoonbills, garbage tankers swarmed by seagulls, fields of grass and wolfberries, and I realized it was not that remarkable for a person to understand what another person needed.

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/07/16/the-crane-wife/

[until-theend-oftheline]

Second Chances - Part 3: Leave or Stay

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Wounds. Hinted surgery. Memory Loss. Returning memories.  

Square Filled: The clock is ticking (Y3) for @buckybarnesbingo and Go Through Me for @badthingshappenbingo

Word Count: 2100ish

A/N: This series is done for @thorne93 and heavily inspired by tow songs by The Chainsmokers which is This Feeling and Paris. Please go listen to them since even if I don’t reference them specifically they heavily decided the mood and plot of this fic.

There is no sex in this part but there will be in later parts so the rating for the series is mature.

Betaed by: @jewels2876 - thank you, hun!

***My fics are not to be saved nor posted on any other sites without my express written permission.***

Second Chances Masterlist

Antibes, 2016

It had been a long four hours. You had been playing a guessing game when it came to the tech that was attached to the nerves of his left arm. The man, you had learned was called T’Challa, seemed to know a little about it so in a joint effort you had managed to stop the bleeding, hopefully without destroying any motor control that he needed if he was to use a prosthetic the same way again.

Using an old ultrasound scanner, you had found a bleeding in his abdomen that didn’t seem to be closing itself as fast as it needed, so you had opened him up much to Steve’s objections but you hadn’t let him get a say. He was Bucky’s best friend but this was your specialty. It needed to be done no matter how much you both hated it. Steve had helped you when you needed him though, just the same as T’Challa and now four hours later, Bucky laid on the table with a drip in his arm and all sutured up as you washed your hand in the kitchen sink.

Your back was turned to the men in the living room as you allowed yourself a moment to breathe. You allowed yourself to feel everything you hadn’t the past four hours. While operating, Bucky had just been another patient. You needed your focus to make sure you did your best work. Now that there was nothing more to do than watch over him and check his vitals as well as provide him with plenty of fluids, he wasn’t just a patient anymore. He was Bucky Barnes. The man you had first seen three years ago while you still believed you were working for the good guys. He was the man you had been on the run with for the past two years. Your only friend and family. He was all you had left in this world and he was lying on a dining room table in the middle of nowhere, because he trusted you, fighting for his life.

You took a deep breath clenching the edges of the sink. Bucky was going to pull through. He was a super soldier. But it was more than that. He was strong and he wanted to live. He wanted to live a life that was his own. He deserved it too. This wasn’t the end for him. You were going to make sure of that.

You took a deep breath, drying your hands before heading back into the living room to check his vitals. On your way you passed T’Challa, he gave you a short nod, telling you he was going to go check on the jet.

You also passed Steve on your way to check on Bucky. His gaze followed you and you tried to hold your head high as you went to Bucky’s side. Being silently judged by Captain America was slightly terrifying but you pushed that thought aside as you started tending to Bucky.

His pulse was weak but it was to be expected after the ordeal you had just put him through. The wound in his abdomen hadn’t started healing yet, but as you used the scanner there also wasn’t any signs of new bleeding.

All the while you worked, you felt Steve Rogers watching over you like a hawk. He was every bit as intimidating as Bucky had told you he could be. Not just because of his size either, he hadn’t always had that. No, it was the gaze. He was sizing you up and trying to get a read on you. You were scared to move one hand wrong and lose his trust for good. You knew that Steve Rogers had once been in the same position you were in now. Bucky had once been all he had too and there wasn’t anything Steve wouldn’t do for the man lying in front of you. You knew that, but you also knew Steve Rogers didn’t trust you as far as you could throw him. You needed to earn that first, the only problem was you didn’t have time to earn that trust.

“When is he going to wake up?” Steve circled the table like an eagle zoning in on its prey.

“I don’t know. When he is ready,” you answered Steve truthfully. You had never sugarcoated anything for Bucky and you assumed Steve would appreciate you were straight with him as much as Bucky always had.

“I’m not keeping him under,” you glared at Steve when you saw him eyeing the drip on the coathanger next to the table. “It’s only saline now. He needs fluids. He lost a lot of blood.”

Steve gave you a nod. “Either way we should get going. Thank you for helping him.”

Your eyes widened at Steve’s words. He couldn’t be serious. Bucky had just undergone surgery lying on a dining table in a French farmhouse. Super soldier or not, there was no way in hell you were letting him be moved for the foreseeable future.

“He’s not going anywhere,” you spoke before thinking and Steve’s eyebrows raised as he stared you down.

“Excuse me?”

You could tell by his stance that he was vigilant. He didn’t fear you, but he seemed to be halfway expecting an army to bust through the door any moment by the looks of it.

“You can’t move him, Captain,” you answered, trying to sound as respectful as possible. The truth was you did respect him. You liked Steve and trusted him even if he didn’t return the sentiment, but you couldn’t let him move Bucky like this. Even with the best intentions, Steve could end up killing him.

“He just had surgery. I need to keep an eye on his healing. If you move him, his sutures could break and his pulse is still weak. You can’t drag him on board a jet like this,” you tried to reason with the man in front of you.

“There are people looking for him. People that want to kill him. I need to get him somewhere safe,” Steve stepped towards Bucky and the dining table, but you moved faster taking him completely by surprise as you pulled out another handgun you had tapped under that table.

“Dr. Pierce what are you doing?” he asked, for the first time revealing to you he knew exactly who you were. You didn’t care. You already sensed he didn’t trust you and you knew that had probably been why.

“I’m not letting you move him, Captain Rogers,” you aimed the gun at his chest.

“And why is that? Who is coming here?” Steve asked without blinking and you felt the anger start building in your chest. You weren’t the enemy, why couldn’t he see that?

“No one. I am alone. I am not waiting for anyone. There isn’t anyone,” you hissed. “If you move him, you’ll kill him.”

“He’s strong,” Steve assured you, taking a step forward and you released the safety on the gun. Steve stopped, staring at you. You could see the anger and worry in his eyes but you didn't move. You couldn’t. If he wanted to get to Bucky he had to go through you first.

“I don’t want to hurt you Captain, but I’m not moving,” the strength and stubbornness in your voice almost surprised yourself, but you held your grounds, staring down Captain America with a gun pointed to his chest. Even knowing you weren’t a match for him you still had to try.

Ohio, Mid 2014

After raiding your apartment for anything edible, Barnes had led you to a most likely stolen jeep, but you hadn’t cared. You just wanted to to get out of town. Before making a run for it, however, you had guided Barnes to the Smithsonian and by some stroke of luck, you had managed to get both in and out completely undetected.

Barnes hadn’t done a lot of talking before the museum, but after you had tugged him out of there, he had practically been a zombie. You had decided it was time to get the hell out of Dodge before someone recognized him from the giant pictures on the wall, a cap only did so much after all.

You had jumped into the driver’s seat, starting to head out of town with no sense of direction as you nervously looked over at him once in a while. You had no idea where you were heading and Sergeant Barnes didn’t answer you. You just sat there staring out the window as his eyes flicked like crazy. A few times you worried he was having a seizure but his demeanor was calm and his motor control didn’t seem off. So you just drove, hoping he would pull out of it sooner rather than later.

You kept your feet on the gas, talking you both as fast and far away from DC as possible before you felt your eyes starting to get heavy. You needed food and somewhere to rest for the night. Bucky had withdrawn as much from your bank account that four different ATMs would allow before you went to the museum, which meant you had enough money to last for a few weeks. Given you chose cheap motels along the way.

You pulled off the main road going through a drive through, picking an array of greasy foods for the two of you. You figured even if Barnes didn’t talk he had got to get hungry at some point. It took you about fifteen minutes after that to find a motel and book the two of you a room with two queens. It was cheaper that way and besides, you didn’t like leaving Barnes out of sight as long as he was acting like this.

He walked into the motel on his own and ate the food you put in front of him. He didn’t answer any of your questions so instead, you started talking. You told him about the kids that had followed you around when you had worked in Africa for Doctors without Borders, and how you had punched some pharmaceutical guy in the nose when he had tried overcharging you for medication.

The last story had earned you a tug of his lips and he finally looked at you. His blue eyes weren’t flicking all over the place anymore. They rested on you for a bit before he spoke for the first time in hours.

“Thank you.”

“I’m not sure for what, but you’re welcome,” you sent him a small smirk and Barnes lowered his eyes for a few seconds before looking back up at you.

“Driving. The food. Talking,” he answered.

You shrugged. It was nothing. You hadn’t been able to help him back when he had needed you too, so this was the least you could do.

“How are you feeling?” you asked tentatively.

“I’m remembering. Bits and pieces. Things I’m not sure I wanna remember, but also other things…” Barnes words trailed out. You didn't say anything. You just let him think as you ate, watching him carefully until his eyes met yours again.  

“I want to remember everything. I wanna know what I did,” he said, the pain evident in his voice and eyes.

“What they made you do,” you corrected, before nodding. “If you don’t mind company… I worked for them. My… Alexander. He ran it. I need to know everything I can.”

Barnes looked surprised by your words and for a second you thought he was going to argue with you but then he nodded. You both had your reasons, but you understood each other nonetheless.

Barnes’ past was a mystery to him and yours had been a lie. You both needed knowledge in order to heal and move on, if you were ever going to get there. You knew the path might be dangerous and a part of you knew you could never go back home. As you sat in the middle of a hotel room in Ohio with a man that was practically a stranger to you, you weren’t even sure you wanted too. This was the most at home you had felt in years and the thought of losing that was scary to you.  

Please reblog; help me spread my work - Leave a comment. Feedback is fuel

Bucky Barnes Tag Team

@feelmyroarrrr @littlebittcrazy @sleepretreat @roxyspearing @jewels2876 @hellaqueerangelofthelord @blacktithe7 @danijimenezv @rumoured-whispers @becs-bunker @smoothdogsgirl @avengerscompound @grace-for-sale @scarletlingeries @averyrogers83 @sebs-potato @sorenmarie87 @docharleythegeekqueen @erosbellarke  @the-wayward-robot @super100012 @myfanficlibrarium @lucifersbird @achishisha @awkwardfangirl2014 @igotkatiepowers @dottirose @panicatttckiss @kimmiestrawberrykiwi  @deathofmissjackson

Second Chances 

@frankiea1998 @ambientsmells @mysweetcookie99 @yes-captainstark

[daltonbus0]

Your guide to an (almost) allergy-free home

Allergies can make you feel miserable, and treating the triggers can sometimes feel like a losing game, especially if you have multiple family members with struggling with allergies. Reducing your household allergies on a daily basis is an effective way to manage your family’s health, and during allergy season it can make all the difference.

More than just a single method of treatment, really reducing your family’s exposure to allergens often requires a multi-faceted approach.

This allergy-proof process includes the following:

Keep track of the pollen count.

When pollen counts are high, allergens floating around in the air can easily flow into your home and cause an increase in asthma attacks and allergic reactions. If you or your family members struggle with allergies, closely monitor the pollen count in your area. Take measures to avoid exposure by closing windows and doors, especially in the afternoon when the pollen counts are at their peak.

Ramp up your cleaning.

Sure, you keep a pretty clean house, but in order to reduce household allergens you might need to step it up a notch. You might not be able to see it, but outdoor and indoor allergens can end up all over clothing, carpeting, rugs and surfaces inside your home. To keep allergens at bay, make sure to wash all clothing, bedding and linens at least once per week, vacuum all the rugs and carpeting in your house at least twice per week and wipe all surfaces around your house multiple times per week. Use a High-Efficiency Particulate Air, or HEPA, filter in your vacuum and in your bedroom, which helps remove allergens from the air and from carpeting.

Become a mold detective.

Mold loves living in Georgia homes. They thrive in warm, humid environments and grow quickly. To reduce the level of mold in your home, examine and regularly clean shower curtains, bathroom and kitchen tile and grout where mold loves to set up camp. Avoid storing clothing and bedding in the basement where it’s often damp, and consider installing a basement dehumidifier to reduce this moisture. Inspect all curtains, rugs, carpeting and furniture in your home for signs of mold. If you find any, clean with a bleach solution or discard completely.

Utilize home remedies.

While home remedies won’t reduce your exposure to allergens, many experts think they might reduce reactions to them. Raw, local honey, for example, is often used as a natural treatment to regional allergens in the air by helping your body build up a tolerance to them. The idea is that by increasing your exposure to pollen, unprocessed, local honey could help reduce your reactions to these pollens, but only for adults, teens and children 12 months and older.

RELATED: Considering the water diet? Here’s what you need to know?

Use of a neti pot, a traditional Ayurvedic remedy, can also minimize your reaction to allergens by flushing them out of your nasal passages. According to Ohio State University, saline water used in a neti pot both soothes the delicate tissues in the nose and actively removes allergens like pollen. When using a neti pot, it’s recommended to use distilled water and sea salt, which won’t contain unwanted contaminants.

The post Your guide to an (almost) allergy-free home appeared first on Air Allergen and Mold Testing.

from Air Allergen and Mold Testing https://www.airallergen.com/your-guide-to-an-almost-allergy-free-home/ from https://northgeorigapowerconnectors1.blogspot.com/2018/11/your-guide-to-almost-allergy-free-home.html from https://northgeorigap.tumblr.com/post/180349364239 from https://daltonbusiness.blogspot.com/2018/11/your-guide-to-almost-allergy-free-home.html

[northgeorigap]

Your guide to an (almost) allergy-free home

Allergies can make you feel miserable, and treating the triggers can sometimes feel like a losing game, especially if you have multiple family members with struggling with allergies. Reducing your household allergies on a daily basis is an effective way to manage your family’s health, and during allergy season it can make all the difference.

More than just a single method of treatment, really reducing your family’s exposure to allergens often requires a multi-faceted approach.

This allergy-proof process includes the following:

Keep track of the pollen count.

When pollen counts are high, allergens floating around in the air can easily flow into your home and cause an increase in asthma attacks and allergic reactions. If you or your family members struggle with allergies, closely monitor the pollen count in your area. Take measures to avoid exposure by closing windows and doors, especially in the afternoon when the pollen counts are at their peak.

Ramp up your cleaning.

Sure, you keep a pretty clean house, but in order to reduce household allergens you might need to step it up a notch. You might not be able to see it, but outdoor and indoor allergens can end up all over clothing, carpeting, rugs and surfaces inside your home. To keep allergens at bay, make sure to wash all clothing, bedding and linens at least once per week, vacuum all the rugs and carpeting in your house at least twice per week and wipe all surfaces around your house multiple times per week. Use a High-Efficiency Particulate Air, or HEPA, filter in your vacuum and in your bedroom, which helps remove allergens from the air and from carpeting.

Become a mold detective.

Mold loves living in Georgia homes. They thrive in warm, humid environments and grow quickly. To reduce the level of mold in your home, examine and regularly clean shower curtains, bathroom and kitchen tile and grout where mold loves to set up camp. Avoid storing clothing and bedding in the basement where it’s often damp, and consider installing a basement dehumidifier to reduce this moisture. Inspect all curtains, rugs, carpeting and furniture in your home for signs of mold. If you find any, clean with a bleach solution or discard completely.

Utilize home remedies.

While home remedies won’t reduce your exposure to allergens, many experts think they might reduce reactions to them. Raw, local honey, for example, is often used as a natural treatment to regional allergens in the air by helping your body build up a tolerance to them. The idea is that by increasing your exposure to pollen, unprocessed, local honey could help reduce your reactions to these pollens, but only for adults, teens and children 12 months and older.

RELATED: Considering the water diet? Here’s what you need to know?

Use of a neti pot, a traditional Ayurvedic remedy, can also minimize your reaction to allergens by flushing them out of your nasal passages. According to Ohio State University, saline water used in a neti pot both soothes the delicate tissues in the nose and actively removes allergens like pollen. When using a neti pot, it’s recommended to use distilled water and sea salt, which won’t contain unwanted contaminants.

The post Your guide to an (almost) allergy-free home appeared first on Air Allergen and Mold Testing.

from Air Allergen and Mold Testing https://www.airallergen.com/your-guide-to-an-almost-allergy-free-home/ from https://northgeorigapowerconnectors1.blogspot.com/2018/11/your-guide-to-almost-allergy-free-home.html

[icartant]

I bought this unsigned, Ohio (?) landscape in 1988 at the Saline, Michigan Antique Show (while in Graduate School at the University of Michigan). A wonderful show. I decided to take it out of the frame after 34 years and clean it up. I think that this was the first painting that I bought for myself. Likely worth the $30 that I paid for it. Available. DM if interested. #oilpaintingoncanvas @iowacityart (at Iowa City Art & Antiques) https://www.instagram.com/p/CZBA03nIygD/?utm_medium=tumblr

[scifigeneration]

Embroidering electronics into the next generation of 'smart' fabrics

by Asimina Kiourti

Archaeology reveals that humans started wearing clothes some 170,000 years ago, very close to the second-to-last ice age. Even now, though, most modern humans wear clothes that are only barely different from those earliest garments. But that’s about to change as flexible electronics are increasingly woven into what are being called “smart fabrics.”

Many of these are already available for purchase, such as leggings that provide gentle vibrations for easier yoga, T-shirts that track player performance and sports bras that monitor heart rate. Smart fabrics have potentially promising uses in health care (measuring patients’ heart rate and blood pressure), defense (monitoring soldiers’ health and activity levels), cars (adjusting seat temperatures to make passengers more comfortable) and even smart cities (letting signs communicate with passersby).

Ideally, the electronic components of these garments – sensors, antennas to transmit data and batteries to supply power – will be small, flexible and largely unnoticed by their wearers. That’s true today for sensors, many of which are even machine-washable. But most antennas and batteries are rigid and not waterproof, so they need to be detached from the clothing before washing it.

My work at the ElectroScience Laboratory of the Ohio State University aims to make antennas and power sources that are equally flexible and washable. Specifically, we’re embroidering electronics directly into fabrics using conductive threads, which we call “e-threads.”

Antenna embroidery

An embroidered antenna. ElectroScience Lab, CC BY-ND

The e-threads we’re working with are bundles of twisted polymer filaments to provide strength, each with a metal-based coating to conduct electricity. The polymer core of each filament is typically made out of Kevlar or Zylon, while the surrounding coating is silver. Tens or even hundreds of these filaments are then twisted together to form a single e-thread that’s usually less than half a millimeter across.

These e-threads can be easily used with common commercial embroidery equipment – the same computer-connected stitching machines that people use every day to put their names on sports jackets and sweatshirts. The embroidered antennas are lightweight and just as good as their rigid copper counterparts, and can be as intricate as state-of-the-art printed circuit boards.

Our e-thread antennas can even be combined with regular threads in more complex designs, like integrating antennas into corporate logos or other designs. We’ve been able to embroider antennas on fabrics as thin as organza and as thick as Kevlar. Once embroidered, the wires can be connected to sensors and batteries by traditional soldering or flexible interconnections that plug components together.

So far, we’ve been able to create smart hats that read deep brain signals for patients with Parkinson’s or epilepsy. We have embroidered T-shirts with antennas that extend the range of Wi-Fi signals to the wearer’s mobile phone. We also made mats and bedsheets that monitor infants’ height to screen for a range of early childhood medical conditions. And we’ve made foldable antennas that measure how much a surface the fabric is on has bent or lifted.

Foldable antennas made with textile electronics.

Moving beyond the antenna

My lab is also working with other Ohio State researchers, including chemist Anne Co and physician Chandan Sen, to make flexible fabric-based miniature power generators.

Printed on fabric, metals can generate power. ElectroScience Lab, CC BY-ND

We use a process much like inkjet printing to place alternating regions of silver and zinc dots on the fabric. When those metals come into contact with sweat, saline or even fluid discharges from wounds, silver acts as the positive electrode and zinc serves as the negative electrode – and electricity flows between them.

We have generated small amounts of electricity just by getting the fabric damp – without the need for any additional circuits or components. It’s a fully flexible, washable power source that can connect with other wearable electronics, eliminating the need for conventional batteries.

Both together and individually, these flexible, wearable electronics will transform clothing into connected, sensing, communicating devices that mesh well with the fabric of the interconnected 21st century.

Asimina Kiourti is an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The Ohio State University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. 

[goalhofer]

2020-21 Bowling Green State University Falcons Roster

Wingers

#6 Alex Barber (Dublin, Ohio) A

#8 Chrystopher Collin (Montreal, Quebec)

#11 Taylor Schneider (Lakeville, Minnesota)

#12 Gavin Gould (North Vancouver, British Columbia)

#13 Adam Conquest (Brighton, Michigan)

#15 Evan Dougherty (Kalamazoo, Michigan)

#16 Cameron Wright (Richmond Hill, Ontario)

#20 Connor Ford (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) C

#22 Adam Pitters (Grosse Pointe, Michigan)

#25 Sam Craggs (Elmhurst, Illinois)

#28 Brandon Kruse (Saline, Michigan) A

Centers

#10 Max Johnson (Lakeville, Minnesota)

#17 Ethan Scardina (Surrey, British Columbia)

#18 Trevor Saint-Jean (Findlay, Ohio)

#21 Seth Fyten (Didsbury, Alberta)

#29 Raymond Danol (Westland, Michigan)

Defensemen

#2 Will Cullen (Pelham, New York)

#3 Carson Musser (Grand Rapids, Michigan)

#4 Garrett Daly (Lakeville, Minnesota)

#5 Cam Babiak (Saline, Michigan)

#7 T.J. Lloyd (Lloydminster, Saskatchewan)

#14 Justin Wells (North Canton, Ohio)

#23 Max Coyle (Tillsonburg, Ontario)

#27 Timmy Theocharidis (Scarborough, Ontario)

#33 Anton Malmström (Österhaninge, Sweden)

Goalies

#31 Eric Dop (Orange Township, Ohio)

#32 Brett Rich (Bowling Green, Ohio)

#40 Zach Rose (Paradise, Newfoundland)