Tidbits of Branson # 52

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2008

WHETHER SHE’S MOMMY OR MUM, TIDBITS® PRESENTS A

SALUTE TO MOM!by Sarah Bates

Celebrating Mom is an international tradition that spans centuries – and here at Tidbits, we like to celebrate that tradition with some facts, quotes and trivia dedicated to Mom.• The oldest woman to conceive naturally was Dawn

Brooke of Guersney. She gave birth to her son on August 20, 1997 at fifty-nine years old.

• Gaia, or Terra is the ancient goddess of the earth and is considered by many historians to be representative of Mother Earth.

• When John F. Kennedy, Jr. dated Madonna back in the 80s, Jackie would have nothing to do with it. John was quoted as saying, “I don’t want to string her along if I’m really just rebelling against Mother.”

• “When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.”

- Sophia Loren• Mother is an energy drink from the land down

under and is put out by the Australian distributors of Coca-Cola.

• August is the most popular month for women to give birth.

• All of Mr. Rogers’s cardigans were hand-knit by his mother.

turn the page for more!

Obstertrics - Gynecology - Infertility


Vol. 3, Issue 52May 1, 2009

Unique ImpressionsRubber Stamps, Brass Stencils,

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Come check out our new location.1819 W. Hwy 76 (in the far corner)

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1. Is the book of 2 Samuel in the Old or New Testament or neither?2. From 1 Corinthians 16, on which day did Paul tell believers to put aside money for

their offerings? First, Third, Fifth, Sabbath3. Which book (KJV) begins, “Blessed is the man

that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly”? Judges, Ruth, Ezra, Psalms

4. What was Matthew’s occupation before becoming a disciple? Tentmaker, Tax collector, Fisherman, Shepherd

5. In Esther 2, who foiled a plot to assassinate King Ahasuerus? Neco, Amaziah, Mordecai, Joshua

6. What did Ruth and Boaz name their son? Obed, Hushai, Abner, Jehu

ANSWERS: 1) Old; 2) First; 3) Psalms; 4) Tax collector; 5) Mordecai; 6) Obed

For more trivia, log on to www.TriviaGuy.com.(c) 2009 King Features Synd., Inc.

SALUTE TO MOM! (continued):• Mother’s Day is officially celebrated on May 10th

in India.

• Mother (1926) is a film about a woman’s struggle during the Russian revolution.

• A mother is someone who studies moths. It is pronounced moth-er.

• Jayne Bleackly gave birth to her daughter Annie (3/20/00) 208 days after giving birth to her son, Joseph (9/3/99). This is the shortest interval between births for one mother on record.

• Rhea is the mother of most Greek deities, including Zues.

• A celebration of mothers was practiced in early Europe on the fourth Sunday in Lent. On this day, Christians celebrated the church they were baptized in as their “mother church.” In the 1600s, this celebration was expanded to include all mothers and was called Mothering Day.

• Mothering Day was brought to America with the Pilgrims.

• The American celebration of Mother’s Day began with Julia Ward Howe’s 1870 Mother’s Day Proclamation. She called for an international Mother’s Day to celebrate peace and motherhood. Howe was the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

• In 1908, U.S. Senator Elmer Burkett proposed a National Mother’s Day. The proposal was defeated, but by 1909, nearly all the states held Mother’s Day services.

• In 1949, Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

• Elizabeth Ann Buttle gave birth to her son Joseph 41 years and 185 days after she gave birth to her daughter Belinda in 1956. This is the longest interval between births by one woman in recorded history.

Tidbits® of Branson Area Page 2 For Advertising Call 1.417.230.7055SALUTE TO MOM! (continued):

• Jenna Cotton has three children born on the same date: Ayden 10/02/03, Logan 10/02/06 and Kayla 10/02/07. What are the odds? 7.5 in every one million births.

• “I looked on child rearing not only as a work of love and duty but as a profession that was fully as interesting and challenging as any honorable profession in the world and one that demanded the best that I could bring to it.”

– Rose Kennedy• Another film titled Mother (1996) stars Albert

Brooks and Debbie Reynolds. Reynolds’ role of Mother was originally offered to both Doris Day and Nancy Reagan.

• Omkari Panwar of India is the oldest recorded woman to give birth. She was estimated to be about seventy years old when she gave birth to her twins– it was an estimate due to the fact that she does not have a birth certificate. She conceived through in vitro fertilization and delivered the children in 2008.

• Although it is currently unverified, a Polish record shows Margaret Krasiwa (1655-1763) married for the third time at age ninety-four and had three children in that marriage.

• In Yugoslovia, Children’s Day is celebrated three days before Christmas. Mother’s Day is the following Sunday and Father’s Day is the Sunday after that.

• Rosinete Palmeira Serrao volunteered to be the surrogate mother for her daughter, Claudia de Brito, who could not have children. Rosinete gave birth to her own grandchildren on September 20, 2007.

• Liza Minelli and Lorna Luft both come by their talent honestly as the daughters of Judy Garland - but did you know that Garland was the daughter of the vaudevillians Frank and Ethel Gumm?

Hormone Changes Can Generate MigrainesTO YOUR GOOD HEALTH By Paul G. Donohue, M.D.

(c) 2009 North America Synd., Inc.All Rights Reserved

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My daughter, who is 41, has been getting really bad migraine headaches just before her periods. Is it due to menopause? -- V.M.

ANSWER: Her headaches are not due to menopause. They come from her menstrual cycle, and they’re called menstrual migraines. A migraine sufferer often can identify things that give rise to a headache -- foods, alcohol, physical exertion, too little sleep, too much sleep, hunger, bright lights and loud noise. For quite a few women, menstrual periods trigger the headache. The sudden drop in the female hormone estrogen that takes place at the time of a menstrual period precipitates headaches in these women.

Your daughter can take medicine prior to her anticipated menstrual period to prevent the headache. Naprosyn or one of the many other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, taken two days before the period begins, often can avert menstrual migraines. They should be taken for as long as the headache has lasted in the past.

Another approach is birth-control pills. The ones that stop periods for six months to a year are particularly useful. Seasonale and Lybrel are two such preparations.

Most migraine sufferers are aware of the triptan drugs -- medicines that have had a huge impact on migraine treatment. There are seven such drugs, and I won’t mention them all. Maxalt and Relpax are two of these drugs. The triptans should be used as the anti-inflammatory drugs are used -- two days before onset of periods and continued for the length of the usual migraine.

The headache booklet describes the common kinds of headaches and their treatment. Readers can order a copy by writing: Dr. Donohue -- No. 901W, Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Enclose a check or money order (no cash) for $4.75 U.S./$6 Canada with the recipient’s printed name and address. Please allow four weeks for delivery.

***DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My 21-year-old grandson has

weighed 130 pounds for the past six years in spite of drinking protein shakes, taking weight-gain pills and eating rich, calorie-laden foods. He is 6 feet 1 inch tall. Why can’t he gain weight? His self-esteem is zero because of his appearance. He loves to swim but is ashamed to appear in bathing trunks.

A doctor told him to live with it. Is that the answer? Any help you can give will be appreciated. -- D.T.

ANSWER: Your grandson isn’t on the lean side. He is truly skinny. If this isn’t a family trait, it needs to be looked into more seriously.

Malabsorption syndromes should be considered. These are illnesses where nutrients cannot pass through the intestinal wall into the body. Celiac disease is an example. There are many more. Granted, most of these illnesses have other symptoms but, at times, those other symptoms can be so mild that they’re ignored.

Trouble with endocrine glands is another possibility. The thyroid gland, the adrenal glands, the testes and the ovaries have important roles in growth and development.

Genetic illnesses constitute a group of disorders that can manifest with nutritional signs.

I have many pat answers on how to gain weight. Your grandson needs more than pat answers.

***Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475.

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(c) 2009 King Features Synd., Inc.

Where to Get Help

It doesn’t matter if you’ve been back for days or decades. If you need readjustment help to transition to civilian life (and that’s possible, even if it’s been years), help is available.

The Vet Centers -- there are 233 centers scattered across the country -- provide counseling and services to any veteran who saw combat. Additionally, there is bereavement counseling after the death of a loved one (which extends to the families of service personnel who died during military service), as well as sexual-trauma counseling for events that occurred during military service. You can get the ball rolling during business hours at 1-800-905-4675 (East Coast times) and 1-866-496-8838 (West Coast times).

America’s Heroes at Work is a Department of Labor program that helps veterans with traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder by providing the tools needed to gain employment. Some of those tools include interface with employers to get adaptive technology and lighting adjustments, scheduling rest breaks, job sharing and mentoring -- whatever is required to put a veteran to work. Servicemembers who’ve been in Afghanistan and Iraq are especially served by this project. For more information, call 1-866-4-USA-DOL.

With warmer weather here, Stand Downs across the country are gearing up and will likely be well-attended. Services are geared to the homeless and include clothing, shelter, health screenings and food, as well as information, counseling and referral for employment, Social Security and VA benefits and substance-abuse treatment. To find a Stand Down in your area, check the VA’s Web site (www.va.gov) and put “stand down” in the search box. The page includes a list of locations, dates and contact info.

Write to Freddy Groves in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475, or send e-mail to [email protected].

Tidbits® of Branson Area Page 4 For Advertising Call 1.417.230.7055

• In the mid-1990s, a Thai man who kept peacocks was killed by one of his pets when the sole male in the flock clawed him viciously. In retribution, the man’s family killed the bird and cooked it in curry.

• Four-time Pulitzer-winner and American poet laureate Robert Frost was named after Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

• The neck of the trumpeter swan is the same length as the rest of its body.

• You might be surprised to learn that air conditioning in private homes was available in the United States as early as 1929. Of course, that was the same year as the great stock market crash, so few people availed themselves of the newfangled -- and expensive -- convenience.


• You may recall the character of Tarzan from movies and cartoons as somewhat lacking in language skills -- “Me Tarzan, you Jane.” In the novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, however, Tarzan was quite a linguist, speaking French, Latin, English, German, Dutch, Portuguese, several dialects of Arabic and ancient Mayan.

• It was expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist and travel writer Lawrence George Durrell who made the following observation: “There are only three things to be done with a woman. You can love her, suffer for her or turn her into literature.”

• Researchers have determined that infants tend to react strongly to the color red -- and to no other color.

• If you suffer from entomophobia -- the fear of insects -- you might not want to read the following tidbit of information: Those who study such things say that there are more than a quarter of a million different species of beetle.

TIDBITS ALL OVER THE WORLD:

URUGUAYThis week Tidbits hops back across to our side of the

Atlantic Ocean and takes you on a little trip down the eastern coast of South America to the Latin American country of Uruguay.

• Uruguay is officially titled La República Oriental del Uruguay.

• Oriental means Eastern in Spanish.• Uruguay is home to 3.46 million people, 1.7 million of

whom live in the capital of Montevideo.• Uruguay is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Brazil,

the Uruguay River and the estuary of Río de la Plata. Argentina is to the South West and can be reached by a short boat trip across either of these two waters.

• Europeans arrived in Uruguay in 1516 and a majority of modern Uruguayans are of European descent.

• Uruguay hosted the first FIFA World Cup in 1930 and won, 4-2, against Argentina.

• Prior to European settlement, Uruguay was inhabited by the indigenous Charrúa people.

• Uruguay declared its independence from Brazil on August 25, 1825.

• Uruguay is slightly smaller than the state of Washington.

• The highest point in Uruguay, a country with no mountain ranges, is Cerra Catherdral at 1,686 ft (514 m).

• ¡Garca! is slang in Uruguay for disgusting.• 1 U.S. Dollar = 20.438 Uruguayan Pesos.• Uruguay has a population density of 50 per square mile,

or 20 per square kilometer.• Uruguay is a word from the Native American Guaraní

language that means “river of painted birds.”• Colónia del Sacramento is a coastal city in Uruguay that is

329 years old. It was founded by the Portuguese in 1680.

• Colónia del Sacramento’s Barrio Historíca, (historic district) is a World Heritage site and to this day retains many of its 17th century cobblestone streets.

• Uruguay as a 98% literacy rate.• 88% of Uruguayans are European (mostly Spanish and

Italian), 8% are mestizo and 4% are black.• Over half of Uruguayans classify themselves as

Roman Catholics.• The motto of Uruguay is “¡Libertad o muerte!” which

means “Freedom or death!”• Artiga Mausoleum is the final resting place and

monument of José Artigas, a Uruguayan hero often called “the father of Uruguayan Independence.” The mausoleum is in Plaza Independicia in the capital of Montevideo.

• Artigas’s birthday, June 19th, is a national Uruguayan holiday.• Uruguay is the second-smallest South American country

after Suriname.• There are three branches of the Uruguayan Armed

Forces: Ejercito (Army), Armado Nacional (Navy) and Fuerza Aerea Uruguaya (Air Force).

• Uruguay only recognizes Spanish as its official language, but many Uruguayans also speak Portuñol (or Brazilero), which is a Portuguese-Spanish mix.

• The average temperature in Uruguay is 54º F (12º C) in the winter, the coolest month being June, and is 75º F ( 24º C) in the summer, with the warmest month being January.

• The standard work week in Uruguay is forty-four to forty-eight hours.

Perhaps you’d considered your paid-off home to be the nest egg you’d sell and use for retirement funds. Or, maybe you had all your money invested. Because of the state of the economy, you might be thinking now that it will be necessary to go back to work.

If that’s the case, here are some Web sites that can help.

--Retirement Jobs (www.RetirementJobs.com) is a free service with a database loaded with jobs for seniors. Put in your ZIP code and a few keywords and click GO. Or click the category links for positions in Sales, Real Estate, Customer Service, Admin/Clerical and more.

While the job bank is free, by signing up for membership, you get more than just access to the job listings. You’ll get a free 50-page job seeker’s guide (via download) that covers topics such as planning your job search, finding employers friendly to seniors and polishing up your resume. Additionally, with a paid membership you get access to live online career workshops on Tuesday nights.

--Experience Works (www.experienceworks.org), a Department of Labor program, puts low-income seniors over 55 to work in community-service jobs in 30 states.

--Don’t forget AARP (www.aarp.org). Put “jobs” in the search box, and you’ll find a wealth of articles and helpful information about finding jobs.

--Senior Community Service Employment Program (www.doleta.gov/seniors), through the Department of Labor, operates in all 50 states. It provides training for seniors who seek employment.

Does it make you nervous to think about applying for a job and competing with those who are many years younger? Consider this: We have experience; we don’t need as much training for jobs; we’re responsible and often we’ll take a part-time job. That makes us perfect as job candidates, don’t you think?

Going Back to Work

Matilda Charles regrets that she cannot personally answer reader questions, but will incorporate them into her column whenever possible. Write to her in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475, or send e-mail to [email protected].



Non-Profit Thrift StoresMAP

1. Re-Tail Shop (Humane Society) 306 N. Bus 65 298-47242. Salvation Army 203 W. Atlantic 337-82693. By the Way (Branson Christian Church) 209 S. Commercial 336-67974. Boys and Girls Club E. Hwy 76 334-37705. Pink Door (Skaggs Hospital) Turkey Creek Center 335-69906. Taneyhills Library 4th and College 335-22237. Church Army 614 W. College 339-39978. United Methodist Church 1208 W. Hwy 76 334-24599. Hiding Place 1205 W. Hwy 76 337-9898

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by Larry CoxAs we approach Mother’s Day, I would like to comment on

a disturbing trend in the field of antiques and collecting: The looting of our cemeteries, and especially the markers from children’s graves.

Since last autumn, I have received several letters asking about marble statuary. One reader claimed she had found a small, carved lamb in “an abandoned cemetery” in Utah and had brought it home, since she had a perfect place for it in her rose garden. Another letter revealed that while “salvaging an angel,” it broke off at the base. I was contacted to find out who could repair the damage.

Victorians used symbolism on many of their grave markers. For example, an anchor reflected hope of eternal life; a broken chain, a family loss; a broken column, someone who died in the prime of life; a column that is draped, mourning; a sheaf of wheat, someone who lived a long and prosperous life; a palm tree or frond, victory over death; and a willow tree, sadness. A sleeping child, a small an-gel, an empty chair and a small lamb were all used to memorialize the burial plots of infants and children.

More than likely, the damaged angel and the marble lamb ref-erenced in the letters written to me were originally used to mark graves in a cemetery. These letters, plus at least three or four others I’ve received in recent weeks, are deeply disturbing.

The time has come for us to confront this matter. Although it seems like it should be a given, perhaps it needs to be repeated in print: It is never right to steal from a cemetery.

Even though a cemetery might appear to be abandoned, it isn’t. Despite weeds and neglect, burial sites remain sacred ground. People who heist statues, Victorian fencing, urns and other items are thieves. If you have taken such an item, return it. It isn’t yours to keep. When a grave marker is taken, especially in older, rural graveyards, it often becomes impossible for family members to locate burial spots.

You can do your part to discourage this practice. The next time you see an angel, a lamb or an obvious piece of cemetery art at a flea market, garage sale or in a shop, ask about it. Let the seller know that you disapprove of cemetery thievery.

Perhaps by working together, we can reverse this vile trend. How anyone can enjoy a looted figurine knowing that a griev-ing family once buried a child beneath it is beyond me.


Write to Larry Cox in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475, or send e-mail to [email protected]. Due to the large volume of mail he receives, Mr. Cox is unable to personally answer all reader questions. Do not send any materials requiring return mail.

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1. When was the last time a World Series featured two franchises that had never won a championship?2. Three major-league players with more than 4,000 at-bats have batted right-handed but thrown left-handed. Name two of them.3. Name the last time before

the 2006 season that both home teams won NFL conference championship games in the same year?

4. Who was the SEC men’s basketball player before Florida’s Nick Calathes in 2008-09 to have at least two triple-doubles for his career?

5. How many times in Dany Heatley’s seven NHL seasons has he tallied 30 goals?

6. Name the first driver to win two NASCAR national touring series races on the same day.

7. In 2009, tennis players Bob and Mike Bryan became the winningest U.S. Davis Cup doubles team ever. Whose mark did they surpass?


SALUTE TO MOM! (continued):• Bast is a goddess of Egypt and is called the “mother of

all cats.”• First Mom Michelle Obama won hearts back in

the summer of 2008 by telling supporters she only spent two days a week on the campaign trail and made sure to be home by the end of the second day to be with her kids.

• “God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.”

- Jewish Proverb

• The Greek myth for the origins of the seasons all started with the sorrow of a mother. Peresephone, the daughter of Demeter and Zeus, was kidnapped by Hades and taken to his kingdom in the underworld. After many difficulties, Persephone was only forced to stay with Hades for one season of the year and it is said that Demeter, the goddess of grain and fertility, makes this season the most barren and desolate of all the seasons as a sign of her mourning the time her daughter is away.

• The Egyptian goddess Isis is one of the earliest known celebrated mother figures. She was the wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus, the first ruler of a unified Egpyt. She was worshipped as the mother of all Pharaohs.

• Mother’s Day is celebrated on the first Sunday in May in South Africa and the last Sunday in May in Sweden.

• Feodor Vassilyev was a Russian peasant who was married twice. What is most remarkable about him was that his first wife set the record for most children born of a single mother. According to the Guiness book of World Records, Feodor’s wife gave birth twenty-seven times and sixty-seven of her sixty-nine children survived infancy. How is this possible? Feodor’s wife bore him sixteen pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and

four sets of quadruplets!

Visit Healthy Exchanges at www.healthyexchanges.com, or call toll-free at 1-800-766-8961 to sign-up for our FREE monthly newsletter. All you pay is the shipping and handling. This is the only national food newsletter for diabetics, heart/cholesterol concerns and healthy weight loss.

A great quick and easy meat and potato dish that is sure to please everyone at the table.

4 3/4 cups (24 ounces) diced cooked potatoes8 ounces extra-lean ground sirloin beef or turkey breast3/4 cup chopped onion1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained2 teaspoons chili seasoning1 tablespoon Splenda Granular1 (8-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained1 cup cubed Velveeta Light processed cheese

In a large skillet sprayed with butter-flavored cooking spray, sauté potatoes for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in another large skillet sprayed with butter-flavored cooking spray, brown meat and onion. Stir in tomato sauce, undrained tomatoes, chili seasoning and Splenda. Add kidney beans and Velveeta cheese. Mix well to combine. Continue cooking until cheese melts and potatoes are browned, stirring both often. For each serving, place 2/3 cup potatoes on a serving plate and spoon about 3/4 cup chili mixture over top. Serves 6.

• Each serving equals: 268 calories, 4g fat, 18g protein, 40g carbs, 683mg sodium, 166mg calcium, 6g fiber; Diabetic Exchanges: 2 Meat, 2 Starch/Carbs, 1 1/2 Vegetable; Carb Choices: 2 1/2.

Meat and Potatoes



a quick swipe with clear nail polish. It’s also handy for dabbing on button strings to keep them from unraveling. I keep a bottle in my sewing kit.” -- I.L. in Oregon

• If you have a sticky closet rod, try this neat trick: Grab a sheet of waxed paper, and rub it over the top of the rod. Your hangers should glide more easily. There’s no mess, and you can do it section by section without even removing all the clothes from the closet!

• “When we go on family trips in the car, I put a folded flat sheet over the back seat where the kids are sitting. When we stop, I can take it out and shake it out. No more crumbs, eraser shavings, lost crayon bits, etc. It keeps the upholstery much cleaner.” -- S.K. in Virginia

• Go Green Tip: Today’s dishwashers don’t require you to clean your dishes before loading. Scrape food off and save water. Run dishwashers with a full load.

• “When we cleaned out our closets, we decided to use some old T-shirts as rags for spills around the house. We threw them in the washer with some bleach as a way to mark them, and now when we have a big spill, we just grab some of these and wipe it up; then they go in the wash to use again. They’ve really come in handy.” -- M.M. in Florida

• “When trimming the skin from a pineapple, grab an oven mitt. It’s perfect to grip the pineapple securely while you cut away the spiky outer layer.” -- E.E. in Alabama

• “To keep ribbon ends from fraying, give them (c) 2009 King Features Synd., Inc.

Send your tips to Now Here’s a Tip, c/o King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475 or e-mail JoAnn at [email protected].

1. It was 1980, with Philadelphia facing Kansas City. 2. Hal Chase, Rickey Henderson and Cleon Jones. 3. In the 1996 season, hosts New England and Green Bay won. 4. Alabama’s Roy Rogers had two triple-doubles in 1996. 5. Five times, with a high of 50 goals twice. 6. Kyle Busch in 2009 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. (Camping World Truck Series, Nationwide Series). 7. The teams of John McEnroe/Peter Fleming and Wilmer Allison/John Van Ryn each had 14 Davis Cup victories.


Performing Arts Academy


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DEAR PAW’S CORNER: Our family adopted a puppy just a few weeks ago. “Shep” is adorable and playful, but when we’re playing, he will nip at ours or kids’ fingers. Is this something he will grow out of? -- Sharon in Tallahassee, Fla.

DEAR SHARON: When playing in the litter, puppies will often nip at each other, and this behavior often comes along with a puppy when he leaves the litter. However, it’s not acceptable for Shep to continue doing this. If it’s encouraged, he will playfully nip at the fingers of most anyone who pets him or plays with him, and in a grown dog it’s no longer considered funny or cute.

To train Shep out of this behavior, signal to him that his biting is unacceptable. How do you do this? Easy -- when he starts nipping at your fingers, say “No” or “Ouch” loudly, turn away and stop paying attention to him for about a minute. He’ll go a bit crazy to get your attention back, but after several repeats, Shep will make the connection -- if he bites or nips, your reaction will be negative.

The entire family needs to be in on this training. You can’t be the only one turning away from Shep, as he’ll just bounce on over to the next family member and start up again. So explain it to the children and practice a few times.

Now, how can your family play with Shep in a positive way that reduces biting or nipping? Toys, balls and braided tug chews are great ways to keep him engaged and work off his extra energy.

Teaching Puppy Not to Bite

Send your tips, questions and comments to Paws Corner, c/o King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475, or e-mail them to [email protected].

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By Samantha Mazzotta



The true price of a major appliance is what it costs to take out of the store, plus what it costs to run it once you get it home. Since appliances can account for a hefty portion of your monthly power bill, the lower price of an appliance on sale might not be much of a bargain if you end up paying higher electric bills for the next 10 years.

Before you buy a new major appliance, look at the energy-rating info. Laws require that manufacturers put Energy Guide labels on all major appliances. The labels must include the results of independent laboratory tests and information such as the capacity and estimated annual electrical consumption for a particular model, as well as for comparable models. EnergyStar appliances must additionally be much more effi cient than other average models. (For more information, see www.energystar.gov.)

The U.S. Department of Energy has a Web site loaded with energy-saving information. At www.energysavers.gov, click on Appliances and Electronics, and look for Estimating Appliance and Home Electronic Energy Use. Apply the formula to calculate the energy used by your current appliances and electronics, as well as any you intend to buy. Remember to add in your “phantom” loads: appliances that use electricity even when they’re turned off. Examples of this are televisions and computers. (To turn them completely off, cut the power via a power strip.) A big question among computer users is whether to turn the computer off during the day or to leave it on. A rule of thumb is to turn off the monitor if you won’t use it for 20 minutes, and both the monitor and computer if you won’t use them for two hours.

At EERE.Energy.gov, you can download a PDF booklet that covers saving energy, your home’s energy use, heating and cooling, windows, lighting, appliances, major appliances shopping guide and more.

Before you buy a major appliance, look online for ratings. If you subscribe to Consumer Reports, you can purchase yearly access to its online database of test results and recommendations. (It’s a few dollars less if you already subscribe to the magazine.) You can also buy a one-month subscription if you’re not likely to use the service for a whole year.

David Uffi ngton regrets that he cannot personally answer reader questions, but will incorporate them into his column whenever possible. Write to him in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475, or send e-mail to [email protected].


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American/OkinawanKempo Karate

The Hidden Costs of Major Appliances

I have 16 years of experience as a mom, so you can understand why I thought, “easy A,” when I signed up to take a college-level child-development class.

It didn’t take me long to realize that experience doesn’t make you an expert, according to my textbook. My haughty parental confidence was shredded by the time I finished the class. I went in thinking I had the parenting skills of “Supernanny” and came out feeling like Joan Crawford as portrayed in “Mommy Dearest.”

“We’re going to have to start over,” I told my husband. “We’re doing this all wrong.”

But how do you start over from the beginning? How do you rewind to the moment your children were placed in your arms at the hospital through the stages of weaning, walking, talking, potty training, sending off to school?

“Don’t tell the kids; they’ll never know the difference,” he said. “Besides, they’re almost raised.”

I left class each day with pangs of guilt for putting them in front of “Sesame Street” before their eyes could focus, not nursing them until they were old enough to play organized sports, making them sleep in their own beds at night, which according to research, if we would have had a “family bed” our kids would have been better sleepers at an earlier age. (Moms don’t get much deep sleep, but the children do. Side note: During the first year after having a baby, new mommies lose approximately 700 hours of sleep, according to Louann Brizendine, M.D., author of “The Female Brain.”) I think it’s

Mother’s Day


more like 7,000 hours of sleep, but I’m no expert.Obviously, it’s too late to correct my mistakes. My

kids actually caught on a long time ago to my mothering bloopers. “We’re not being raised right,” a line from the movie “Carolina” that my kids like to repeat to each other when they disagree with my parenting skills.

They figured out my flaws together one afternoon when they were small and discovered me hiding from them. We [SET ITAL]weren’t[END ITAL] playing a game of hide-and-seek, although I was seeking a moment of solitude in my closet with my blanket and pillow after a particularly hard day of on-the-job parenting.

“Are moms supposed to hide from their children?” my daughter asked.

Probably not, but Bill Cosby put it this way, “Look at anything that gives birth: eventually it will run and hide. After a while even a mother elephant will run away from its child and hide. And when you consider how hard it is for a mother elephant to hide, you can appreciate the depth of her motivation.”

Most of us weren’t raised by child-development experts, and most of us will never qualify as one. We’re too busy in the trenches, gaining experience that doesn’t necessarily make us experts in the end, but certainly gives us a front-row seat to how difficult and important the job is. And let’s be honest, it doesn’t take a child-development class to bring on the mother guilt.

It simply takes childbirth.Happy Mother’s Day.

Write to Taprina Milburn in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475.

FORWARD MARCH!Armed Forces Day honors military forces over twenty-five countries around the world. It is celebrated on May 16th in the U.S. this year, and on the first Sunday of June in Canada. Here are some more military facts! • President Truman first proclaimed Armed Forces Day on

May 20, 1950.• Originally, the height and width of American battleships

was determined this way: they had to be able to sail beneath the Brooklyn Bridge and through the Panama Canal.

• In WWII, the Comanche Indian code for Hitler was posah-tai-vo, or crazy white man.

• Did you know that the first U.S. Service Academy to admit women was the United States Coast Guard in July of 1976?

• Navy uniform shoelaces are laced from the inside out, through all eyelets and tied.

• The first and only woman to receive the Medal of Honor was Dr. Mary E. Walker, a surgeon during the Civil War.

• The first woman to receive a Purple Heart was Annie G. Fox in 1941.

• William Carney was the first African-American to earn the Medal of Honor, though he did not receive the medal until 1900, thirty-six years later. Robert Blake was the first to receive the medal in 1864.

• On June 11, 1970, Anna Mae Hayes became the first woman to obtain the status of general in the Army.

• In 1855, Congress voted to appropriate $33,000 to the War Department to fund the import of camels in hopes of better supplying their troops in the American West. Thirty-three camels were acquired originally, followed by forty-two more. The War Department spent less than $8,000 on the camels and returned the rest of the money.

• In 1857, the Secretary of War ordered the formation of the First US Army Camel Corps. The project of importing camels had been considered a wide success and there were plans to secure 1,000 more camels, but the onset of the Civil War shelved the project and it was ultimately forgotten.

• The Confederate theme “Dixie” was composed in New York, New York.

• Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, was a nurse for the Union.

• A band played “Auld Lang Syne” after the surrender at Appomattox.

• Seven US Presidents served as officers in the Civil War: Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester Alan Arthur, Benjamin Harrison and William McKinley.

• The first American submarine was used in 1776 and was called the Turtle. It was supposed to drill into British ships and plant explosives, but on its first mission they found the drill wasn’t sharp enough. It never got a second chance, as it was lost when the ship transporting it sunk.

• The Battle of Bunker Hill wasn’t fought on Bunker Hill. It was actually fought on Breed’s Hill.

• Mary Hays McCauly of New Jersey was delivering water to the Continental troops when she saw her husband get shot. Instead of panicking, she took up her husbands position at the cannons and was later made an honorary officer by General Washington.

• The gas mask was first introduced during World War I. James Garner, an American chemist, invented it in 1915.

7th Annual Faith Promise Banquet

Friday, May 1, 2009Reception at 6:00 pm

Dinner at 6:40 pmBranson Convention CenterTaneycomo Ballroom “A”

FREE Dinner and Entertainment

Tidbits of Branson # 52

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