Water Alert

This message qualifies as a health notice, rather than wealth or wisdom contribution - although maybe parts of those may be applicable by the end of the post.

As luck would have it, our water softener gave up the ghost recently and the handy dandy Culligan man came by to see what he could do about it.  Our options were rebuilding the current nineteen year old unit, purchasing a reconditioned unit, or buying new.

The most cost effective was rebuilding, but it comes without a guarantee and costs multiple hundreds of dollars.  Second choice might result in parts of several different models being combined into a refurbished unit, with a warranty, which costs only a couple of hundred dollars less than a brand new bottom of the line unit, which comes with a really great warranty.  It was a no brainer.

The salesman did his little magic demonstration which revealed how hard our water is compared to treated water and also revealed we didn't have some of the really dangerous things in our water that some of the surrounding communities do - that was a relief.  I had been concerned about sewage sludge migrating down into our water table as a result of run off from a nearby farm that gets their 'fertilizer' free from waste treatment facilities - that's another story. He assured me that the farm in question drains the other direction towards the river that is a popular recreational area for kayakers and tubers!  The only thing we have to worry about if we don't replace the unit is prematurely ruining the new water heater we had to purchase a few months back, as well as the brand new washer, which also bit the dust this past week, and is being delivered next week, the same day as the new water softener unit.

I'm sure everyone reading this post is relieved to know my water and my wash will be sparkly clean soon.  But the major reason for this post is the information passed onto me by the technician about water quality all over the US.  I would like to share a few of things he shared with me.

Did you know that municipal waste water treatment facilities all across the US are finding it increasingly difficult to filter out prescription drug residues deposited from toilets across America?  These diluted drugs are showing up in our drinking water, and have also been found in fresh water and saltwater fish that we consume?

Did you know that hard water deposits build up in your water heater, reducing its life by 70%; cause you to use 50-80% more detergents and cleaners than necessary; use 100% more bleach and fabric
softeners; cause clothes to fade and wear out 15% faster; reduce appliance life and plumbing up to 50%; increase "dry skin and eczema" conditions; reduce pressure and flow rates in your home; cause you to continually clean up after hard water spots, stains and damage by using more sprays and harsh detergents - which then are dumped into the municipal water supplies?

Did you know that chlorinated water increases the risk of developing gout, accelerated aging, vulnerability to genetic mutation, maybe lead to cancer, or cause difficulty metabolizing cholesterol, hardening of the arteries and a whole host of additional problems?  Your skin is your largest organ.  Taking a shower in chlorinated water allows the sponge of your skin to soak up lots of dangerous chemicals besides the chlorine found in municipal water.  In addition to that, you get to inhale the chloroform vapors released from the water during your shower.

Did you know that "squeaky clean" really means you have a soap-curd film on your skin?  This can lead to dry and itchy skin.  It's the same film left on your bathtub that is so hard to scrub away.  Hard water is the culprit.

The top of the line way to protect yourself and your loved ones is to have a reverse osmosis system in your house - a bit more expensive than the water softener approach.  Since we are moving in a couple of years, we opted for the softener approach and will invest in the more expensive approach in our new home in Texas.

I know a lot of the things he told me are accurate, because the scale build-up and soap-curd film were the signals to me that my old system might be in need of attention.  It wasn't a big leap to understand the other information he imparted.

If you've stayed with me this far, then you get to hear about the really scarey thing I learned that has nothing to do with water softeners.  It's the brain eating bug that is killing people and is found anywhere there is muddy water.  It's actually not a bug, it's an amoeba, called Naegleria fowleria, that lives almost everywhere in lakes, hot springs, even dirty swimming pools.

People become infected when they wade through shallow water and stir up the muddy bottom where these creatures feed on fish and turtle excrement.  They enter your body through the nose and eyes and attack the brain where they feed until you die.  There is no other option than to die because there is nothing science can offer to kill it.

The Centers for Disease Control knows of only several hundred cases worldwide since its discovery in Australia in the 1960s.  From 1995 - 2004 Naegleria fowleri killed 23 people in the United States.  However, this past year, its destruction and frequency has increased with six cases reported - three in Florida, two in Texas and one in Arizona.

Possible signs of infection include a stiff neck, headaches and fevers.  Later stages include signs of brain damage, such as hallucinations and behavioral changes - symptoms that can be related to other health issues, but if the person has recently been in muddy water, these symptoms might be linked to this killer amoeba.

If you enjoy freshwater sports, and can hop from the dock into the boat, and then motor out to do your skiing, etc. you should be okay.  Wading along the shoreline and stirring up the mud is not something it seems would be wise.

On the positive side, they cannot survive in salt water, so those activities - like long walks on the beach with your special person - are safe......for the time being.

Wisdom In A Pinch

Three men were hiking through a forest when they came upon a large, raging violent river.

 

Needing to get on the other side, the first man prayed, "God, please give me the strength to cross the river."

 

Poof! God gave him big arms and strong legs and he was able to swim across in about two hours, having almost drowned twice.

 

After witnessing that, the second man prayed, "God, please give me strength and the tools to cross the river."

 

Poof! God gave him a rowboat and strong arms and strong legs and he was able to row across in about an hour after almost capsizing once.

 

Seeing what happened to the first two men, the third man prayed, "God, please give me the strength, the tools and the intelligence to cross this river."

 

Poof! He was turned into a woman. She checked the map, hiked one hundred yards up stream and walked across the bridge.

At the risk of alienating any men that might be reading this post, I will add that the genders in the story were intended to make a point.  However, I look at the story as a more universal approach to problem solving.

How many times do we come upon a problem and decide we're well qualified to meet the challenge, but realize that asking for a little help might be appropriate.  We only ask for a little help because either our ego, or our feelings of self worth are limited and we don't want to risk being turned down, or dismissed out of hand.


Then there are the times that we have seen others attempt to solve the problem, incorporated some of their wisdom into our approach and then understood that asking for help might shorten the time to resolve the problem.  So, we do that and are pretty proud of ourselves for having the wisdom to ask for more expanded help in order to reach the goal.


On the other hand, what might happen if we approached the problem open to all the possibilities for resolving it and asking for what might appear to be more help than needed at first glance.  Would we be flooded with unlimited feedback that would be overwhelming, or trust that only the best solutions would be forthcoming?


The world today is far more complex than any other time in history.  We're pulled in a thousand different directions, each promising to be the best for our current needs.  How do we know what is best?  We go to that quiet place within and ask simply to have a hand up, a light bulb moment, a pathway opening up to show the way.  Then we trust the stillness to provide the best solution and act upon it.


No angst, no wringing of hands, no weariness about making choices, just the confidence that we are perfectly in tune with the Divine and capable of finding our way to the other side almost effortlessly.