Recurring Bladder Infections Caused by Post-Menopause Sex

Got what seems like a chronic bladder infection (also known as a urinary tract infection, or “UTI” for short)? Are you a woman of, er, a certain age? Because if you are near, in, or post menopause, and experience frequent urinary tract infections – as in “I can’t believe I get a UTI every time I have sex” – it turns out that one of the top frequent urinary tract infection causes in women over a certain age is, well, having frequent sex!

That’s right – it seems that the UTI – sex link is stronger than ever in women who are of menopause age. As in, every time you have sex it could leave to a bladder infection! Good bye, birth-control, hello recurring bladder infection.

Yuck!

So if you have what seems like constantly reoccuring bladder infections after constantly reoccuring sex, well, that’s the reason!

And, it turns out, according to my doctor (not, ahem, that I am saying that I am anywhere near that age!), this is not only well known, but there is a prophylactic protocol to avoid “frequent sex = chronic bladder infection” syndrome.

Here, in my doctor’s own words, is the protocol:

“We recommend that you empty your bladder before and after intercourse, increase fluid intake for several hours after each intercourse, avoid anal intercourse, and take a single dose of an antibiotic such as Septra-DS, Cipro, Macrobid, etc. before or after each intercourse. If the problem persists, a urologist should be consulted.”

Wow. Isn’t menopause supposed to be the time of carefree sex? I mean, for the woman?

An Organized Tuppeware Cupboard is…

An organized Tupperware (Rubbermaid, plastic containers, take your pick) cupboard is surely the sign of a sick mind. Don’t you agree?

Happy Birthday, Blanquita!

Baby Blanquita is exactly one month old today!
Here are a couple of pictures of mother and baby – aren’t they awesome?

The Clean Escape – The Most Unsanitary Way to Open a Bathroom Door

In a Whole Foods, of all places, I encountered the most dunder- headed, unsanitary device ever contrived as a way to make opening a bathroom door ‘more sanitary’.

Let me introduce you to the “Clean Escape” foot-operated bathroom door opener.

The idea is to keep you from touching that icky, dirty, germ-infested, disease-bearing door handle when exiting the bathroom.

Instead, as you can see, there is a latch at the bottom of the door – the idea is that you put your foot under it, and press up on the bottom of the device with the top of your foot.

You know, with the part of your foot that, when you’re a man standing and peeing, all the urine droplets land on.

Because walking around with someone else’s urine on the top of your shoe is so sanitary.

Now, if you’re not convinced by that visual – just look at the cleanliness level of the door handle, as compared to the “Clean Escape”.

I think I’ll take my chances on Door Handle #1, Alex.

The Goat Pez Dispenser

It’s no secret that dogs like to eat goat poop. There’s nothing wrong with it – it’s mostly just pulverized, digested hay, and hey, if you can drink cat poop coffee, there’s no reason that a dog can’t eat goat poop.

But it was very interesting to observe this today:

Goat comes up to near where there is a little bit of goat poop.

Dog sees poop, thinks “Yum!”, samples it, and confirms “Yum!!”

Then goat turns around, with dog watching, and lets out a load of fresh poop.

And, as our dog’s eyes got bigger and bigger I could swear I heard him say

“Wow! Pez dispenser!”

Pork on a Stick

Yum yum..pork on a stick… there’s nothing like it (thank goodness).

The Man Groomer

This is just such a horrible name for a product – The Mangroomer – I mean, really, who thinks this stuff up???
“Hey baby, want to touch my man groomer?”
I mean..just… ewww!

Intentionally Flooded and Buried Town in “The Sentimentalists” Based on True Story

The new award-winning book, The Sentimentalists, features the fictitious town of Casablanca, Ontario, Canada, which has been intentionally flooded, and submerged and, well, buried under water, as part of the Saint Lawrence Seaway project, back in 1958. While the town of Casablanca is not real, the fact that ten towns were actually intentionally flooded, submerged, and forever buried under water is all too real. Yes, the St. Lawrence Seaway project actually killed 10 towns. Known as “The Lost Villages”, the flooded and buried villages were Aultsville, Dickinson’s Landing, Farran’s Point, Maple Grove, Mille Roches, Moulinette, Santa Cruz, Sheek’s Island, Wales and Woodlands.

The background is that as the construction of the Moses Saunders Power Dam was being planned, negotiations to relocate the families who lived in the ten villages were underway. In the end, these families were compensated, and relocated, and their villages went to a watery grave.

The negotiations weren’t all smooth, however. Many felt that the value of real estate had been depressed by the upcoming construction of the dam and the Saint Lawrence Seaway, and the compensation awarded to those relocated was based on those deflated property values.

In any event, it is the history of the Lost Villages that gave birth to Skibsrud’s flooded Casablanca, as one of her main characters, a Vietnam vet, is relocated to the shore of the lake that is Casablanca’s final resting place, by his daughter.

The critical reviews of the book, which is a first novel, have been superlative (if often with the caveat “for a first novel”), while reader reviews have been mixed. Frankly, we think that the reason that Skibsrud’s novel one the coveted Giller Prize is because it treats the issue of the Lost Villages as an integral underlying theme, but that’s just our hunch.

You can get The Sentimentalists from Amazon, where you can buy The Sentimentalists in hard copy or a version of The Sentimentalists for Kindle