Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound. No, it is not Easter. I have a wedding to attend. My sister’s son is getting married in Kentucky, and I figured it would be nice to lose a few pounds before the big event. Unfortunately, my fat is very determined, which means it is easy for me to gain weight but it takes forever to lose it. I despise those folks who say “Oh my! In 30 days we are going to the beach and I need to lose 10 pounds.” Sure enough, they drop it like a…
Browsing: Commentary
Mike Lainge shows curtain and flooring designs and colors for the new arts center to the EDA on July 18. (Caleb M. Soptelean photo) Richard Smith (Pat Dvorak photo) Last November, Richard Smith and his wife, Monique, installed the largest US flag in the state on their property off Interstate 95 as a way to honor current and retired members of the military and law enforcement. Smith said he offered $100,000 of stone aggregate (crushed concrete) to the Chesterfield Cultural Arts Foundation for use in building an arts center in Chester in 2016. However, art center project manager Mike Lainge…
By guest author David Thompson One year ago, I was blessed with modern medicine and God’s grace to have a successful quadruple bypass. The story that I have been asked to share is: yes, cholesterol levels can lead to coronary artery disease, but heredity is considered one of the greatest factors. My doctors pointed out that coronary artery disease does not just hit older people, it can happen to young, in-shape athletes. I met two such athletes in my cardiac rehab. One was 32, and the other was 36. The 32-year old was of Indian descent. He was a tennis…
Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound. It’s hard to believe that we are almost through the month of July. I have to admit that I was never a big soccer fan. Where I grew up, we had the basic sports: baseball, football, basketball and track. Soccer was something for the big city folks to do. However, I watched the women’s World Cup lately. I have gained respect for soccer. One observation though, there are a lot of “headers,” and some have real heat behind them (not counting the occasional head-on-head collisions), and yet there does…
By David Thompson This story, my story, began one year ago. I had not had a heart attack or any serious symptoms that would indicate a heart condition. I had lost 23 pounds over six months and had walked over 400,000 steps in the five weeks preceding my diagnosis. My level of business travel had remained high. My only symptom was occasional shortness of breath when taking a short walk. There would also be other occasions of shortness of breath as I zipped around doing my usual activities. This I ignored. My diagnosis was nothing short of a miracle because…
Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound. As I mentioned previously, Big Dog (my neighbor’s dog) and I were going to have a conversation about some unnecessary behavior around my house. We had that talk, but it appears it did not stick. Before I proceed, I need to issue an apology to Big Dog. She is not a he, my bad! Some people are very touchy about those things! Anyway, Big Dog came over for a visit, and after our ritual of dog biscuits and belly rubs, I went over to the garage to get some…
You may have heard terms like “leaky gut,” “gut bacteria,” “healthy gut floral,” etc., but what does it all mean and how important is your gut to your overall health? The answer is: more important than you probably realize. Skin rash? It may be related to your gut health. Other signs of concern may be bloating, belching and burning sensations in your abdominal area. These are the more obvious signs, but some you might not think about are; weak or cracked fingernails, dilated capillaries in the cheeks and nose, iron deficiency, easily bruised skin and fatigue. These are just a…
For the last 40 years, I have been attempting to educate people about the need to have a proper number of properly located and functioning smoke alarms in their homes. A couple of smoke alarms with a residential sprinkler system and the chance of survival in a residential fire is as close to 100 percent as one can get. Smoke alarms are the most inexpensive piece of the puzzle. The cost goes up a little when you purchase electric alarms with battery backup. For what is being protected, the costs are minimal. In regard to smoke alarms, building codes base…
Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound. I hope you had a nice long and safe Fourth of July weekend. We only get one day off, but I took Friday as a vacation day, since the following day is usually dead anyway. I guess the presidential election has finally started in earnest. Well, I guess it never really ended, but we now have all the players on the playing field. We have two dozen Democratic candidates on one side and the incumbent president on the other. What I can find on Google: only five sitting presidents…
With July 4 coming, it is important to discuss how we can and cannot celebrate the holiday. The Fireworks Regulations page of the Chesterfield County website states: “The sale, possession, and use of fireworks by anyone other than a licensed and permitted fireworks professional is prohibited by the Chesterfield County Fire Prevention Code.” Section 5602.1 of the Fire Prevention Code defines fireworks in this way: “Fireworks shall mean any firecracker, torpedo, skyrocket, or other substance or object, of whatever form or construction, that contains explosive or inflammable compound or substance, and is intended, or commonly known, as fireworks and which…