Quillbilly Haven

I'm not a good dental patient. I get tense, hyperventilate, and grab the chair's arms with bone crushing strength. Yesterday, my hygienist canceled, because she's in Hawaii of all places.

My husband's hygienist offered to take me, since a patient cancelled on her. I accepted and chuckled inside. This one was a wimp. Years ago, she cleaned my teeth like Glenda, the Good Witch.

Now, she must be menopausal. The woman was vicious. She started out with an ultrasonic piece of cleaning equipment that sounded like a drill. The noise is whirring in my head twelve hours later. I dug in, but ended up having a topical numbing applied and ear plugs inserted.

About halfway through, she stopped with the sandblaster and started with the conventional shovels and picks. OMG, she dug and scrapped. I'm surprised the enamel did chip.

One might ask, "How bad are your teeth?" My answer is look at this smile ;). Plus, my teeth are cleaned every three months, instead of the traditional six. So, what gives?

Turns out my husband put a bug in her ear. "She needs a periondontal cleaning."

"I can do that," she assured him. Now, he's whining about needing a tooth pulled. He he he. I put a bug in the dentist's ear.

The election may be over, but the citizenship controversy is not...at least according to my inbox. Here are a few questions posed in a recent email.

If Barack Hussein Obama arrived in NY without money for a room, how could he afford a ticket to Jakarta and Karachi one month after he landed?

During this international flight, what passport did Barack Hussein Obama use at Customs and Immigrations? The email offered these statements. Barack Hussein Obama could not use a US Passport, because, in 1981, Pakistan was on the "no travel" list maintained by the US State Department. If he used a British Passport, he was born in Kenya. If he used an Indonesian Passport, he gave up either his US citizenship or his British citizenship, when he was adopted by his Indonesian step-father.

I did not do any research to confirm or deny the email statements. I'm interested in your opinion about the citizenship issue. Do you care about it?

My friend Writer Queen Bee just had a story published in a local magazine. The story is called "Fairy Dust," and is complete with her picture and biographical information. Getting published is quite a feat. Ask any writer you know. If any say it's a piece of cake to get in print, I'd like to have his / her email address for a mail to mail chat.

Queen Bee has one of the most creative writing minds I've ever met. She can think of more story lines, plots, and characters than stars in a Montana night sky. She's talented. She's published. She's in my writing group. She's my friend.

Congratulations, lady. Keep up the good work.

This post is difficult, because it's personal. I've put it off too long. It's about elder abuse, which is closely related to child abuse. Both are toward weaker human beings who can't defend themselves.

Oftentimes, we think of elder abuse as taking place in nursing homes or other health care facilities. And it can. But, elders can be abused at home, too.

Any one who controls an elder's access to family or the outside world is an abuser. Any one who curses, manipulates, yells at, threatens, or humiliates an elder is an abuser.

My heart is aching for a close friend who is not allowed to visit her 85 year old mother. The mother lives with a son who is controlling his elder mother's visitors and access to outside contacts. He must approve every visitor. This man is an abuser, and the caller is not the only sibling denied visitation. The mother has another daughter, grandchildren, and great grandchildren who are denied visits.

If you speak to a suspect abuser about your concerns, do not believe their excuses or explanations. Report the suspect abuser and let qualified trained professionals investigate.

I encouraged the caller to report this abuse. I hope she does. Elders deserve to spend their remaining days or years in peace and tranquility. The type of abuse described above is NEVER justifiable. Join the fight against elder abuse. Please. To report abuse in Tennessee, call 1-888-277-8366.