Pender-Topsail Post & Voice
Opinion Thursday, January 16, 2020, Page 3A
Welcome to my world
Regina Hill Post & Voice Columnist
Money pit My fellow Americans, we are being duped. Special credit card offers and deferred payment plans give the illusion that we can have whatever we’d like immediately-if not sooner. After all, we deserve it. It matters not that the bank account suggests otherwise. For most, out of sight means out of mind. We enjoy the little luxuries until due dates loom and payments accrue. Financial literacy has gone out the window and I have fallen prey to this mentality. The most basic of human needs, coffee, has even become big business. A regular cup of coffee is no longer up to par for our palates. We must have frappuccinos, cappuccinos, lattes and mochas-all of which come with a hefty price tag. $10 is debited to my account as I sip on my cup of milk froth. The line wraps around the business, so it must be okay. What are we thinking? As a teacher, I am paid once a month yet, after three days, I’m down to double digits. I’m troubled by my ease of spending and trace my downfall to eating out. The convenience and ease make a trip to the drive through an attractive option. I reason to myself that I’ll cook dinner the rest of the week and that we are not throwing money at ridiculously overpriced options. After all, in some places consumers shell out big money to eat miniscule amounts of foods that make me mentally gag. Escargot is one example. While the act of eating snails dates to prehistoric man, the Romans were the first to hail it as a delicacy. The French, not to be outdone, took this gourmet gastropod to the next level. Plates with snailsized indentions along with snail tongs and snail forks for easily extracting slug meat were designed to provide yet one more reminder that a snail was about to grace the palate. The effort to hunt, cook and adorn a fancy plate seems to be a heavy investment for such a meager payout. Granted, snails are rich in protein and low in fat—perfect for Naked and Afraid contestants who might have limited options – snail versus a rotten ox leg. If you’ve never tried escargot and are willing to throw away 20 bucks for the tiny appetizer, be my guest. But, if I were you, I’d save the gag reflex and cash as escargot tastes just as you would expectlike snail dipped in garlic butter. I’m sure an earthworm dredged in a similar sauce would be comparable in texture and taste and Continued on page 4A
Jefferson Weaver
A love of words, history, and Coca-Cola Around 2015 or so, Ray Wyche leaned around the corner of his cubicle and waved a pair of dollar bills at me. “Jefferson, if you’ll go get us a Coca-Cola, I’ll split it with you. You can keep the change.” I did get the drink (and gave him a dollar in change, against his wishes). This became a routine for us. Between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m., if Ray was at the office, we would split a Coke. Ironically, I had just stopped drinking soft drinks, period, except for an occasional Sprite, which he considered “nasty.” So we each drank one to two Cokes a week, total. He finally explained one day that at his most recent doctor’s appointment, he was instructed to cease his 60-plus year habit of drinking a Coke a day. On his own, Ray decided that drinking a half-a-Coke was acceptable. I was not supposed to tell Miss Melba, but I suspect she knew, somehow. Ray Wyche went home last week; he was “only” 79 when I met him on my first full day at the News Reporter. He passed last week at age 92. “We need some new blood around here,” he sometimes said. “I’m too old for this. You’re here, so I can go home now and take a nap.” Ray joked constantly about being old. I don’t think he ever really recognized his age until the state told him (“Very politely,” he said) that he could not longer safely drive. I had the privilege of chauffeuring him to work a couple times a week, where he still proofread the paper, wrote an occasional feature or column, and kept up with the agriculture beat as long as he could. Our brief conversations on the way to and from the office were like opening a chest of gold coins. He would share stories about this house or that business, or the person who lived there who did something unusual or funny or tragic.
Jefferson Weaver When we moved to Hallsboro, it was like tearing the lid off that chest and throwing riches everywhere. I couldn’t keep up with everything he shared about his beloved community, where he was born and reared, survived the Depression, raised a family, was the postmaster, built a home and earned a reputation as a true Christian gentleman of the old school. When he finally got in his mind where we lived, he related a story about how before World War II, a railroad worker was trapped under the train one night, almost in what is now our front yard. Another man fetched the doctor, but ran away as an emergency amputation was performed right there on the tracks. The problem was that the nervous good Samaritan ran away carrying the lantern providing light for the surgery. The victim survived with one leg, but never forgave the runaway railworker. Mention a community, in Southeastern North Carolina, and Ray likely had a story about it. When I mentioned covering a meeting in Atkinson, Ray immediately related how a friend “from a well-respected Columbus County family” almost had an
embarrassing run-in with the law. Sugar was strictly rationed at the time due to the war effort, and having more than the law allowed was frowned upon. The gentleman in question was buying sugar in bulk for his illicit whiskey still; he was returning to Columbus County from a similarly-shady character near Burgaw when he had a tire blow out near Atkinson one rainy evening. The bootlegger had his spare tire on a “Continental” rack on the bumper of his car, to make room for more sugar as well as the finished product, which was in demand among the shipyard workers in Wilmington. The problem was that he lacked a tire tool. Who should come along but a Highway Patrolman. The trooper changed the tire (in the rain, no less) shook the bootlegger’s hand, and continued on his way, either oblivious to a half-ton of sugar in the trunk, or not wanting to deal with the extra paperwork. The bootlegger changed his ways a short time later. In his typical manner, Ray downplayed his service in the last months of World War II. He never saw combat, per se, but
Keeping tabs with a video monitor Dear Savvy Senior, Can you recommend some good home video monitoring devices that can help my sister and me keep an eye on our elderly mother? Over the holidays, we noticed that her health has slipped a bit, and would like to keep a closer eye on her. Worried Daughters Dear Worried, There are lot’s of great video monitoring cameras that can help families keep a watchful eye on an elderly parent from afar, but make sure it’s OK with your mom first. Many seniors find this type of “I’m watching you” technology to be an invasion of privacy, while others don’t mind and even welcome the idea. With that said, here are some top monitoring devices for keeping tabs on your mom. Video monitoring As the technology has improved and the costs have come down, video monitoring/surveillance cameras have become very popular for keeping an eye on your home, business, child or pet (via smartphone, tablet or computer), but they also work well for monitoring an elder loved one who lives alone. Most home video monitoring cameras today are sleek, small and easy to set up, but do require home Wi-Fi. Although camera capabilities will vary, the
best devices all provide wide-view angles, HD quality video, night vision, built-in motion and sound detection that can notify you when something is happening, and two-way audio that let’s you talk and listen. And, they also offer a video recording option (for an extra fee) that saves past video to a cloud, so you can rewind and review what you missed. One of the best products available today that does all this and more is the Nest Cam (nest.com), which costs $199, but if you want their video recording option, it’s an extra $100 per year for a 10-day video history, or $300/year for 30 days. Also check out the Piper NV (getpiper.com), which – at $279 – is more expensive than the Nest Cam but allows free Internet cloud storage. And the Simplicam (simplicam. com), which is the cheapest of the three but the video quality isn’t quite as good. They charge $150 for the camera, or $200 for the camera plus 24-hour video storage for one year. Sensor monitoring If your mom is uncomfortable with video moni-
toring, and doesn’t want you to be able to peek in on her whenever you want, another less invasive option to consider is a “sensor” monitoring system. These systems use small wireless sensors (not cameras) placed in key areas of your mom’s home that can detect changes in her activity patterns, and will notify you via text message, email or phone call if something out of the ordinary is happening. A great company that offers this technology is Silver Mother (sen.se/silvermother), which provides small sensors that you attach to commonly used household objects like her pillbox, refrigerator door, TV remote, front door, etc. So, for example, if your mom didn’t pick up her pillbox to get her medicine or didn’t open the refrigerator door to make breakfast like she usually does, or if she left the house at a peculiar time you would be notified and could check on her. You can also check up on her anytime you want online or through their mobile app. Silver Mother costs $299 for four sensors, with no ongoing monthly service fees. Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior. o rg. J i m M i l l e r i s a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.
was part of the European Army of Occupation, a tense period after the Nazis were defeated, but outlaws and the Russians were an ever-present threat. He often mentioned how his unit had strict orders not to share their rations with the hungry German civilians – but naturally, Ray and some of the others did, anyway. That was just Ray’s heart. Ray loved to tell a story, and he loved the English language. He had a particularly pained, disgusted sound that he would make when he found an egregious error, and he was not shy about thumbing through his massive old dictionary to chase down the proper spelling or use of a particular word. It became a game for us sometimes, as I tried to find more archaic words to challenge his vocabulary and his dictionary. I didn’t win very often. Ray had no problem questioning anyone about anything that came up in conversation; he had an insatiable desire for all knowledge. He wanted to know how things were done, why, who did them, and what happened afterward. Ray Wyche had a love of the Bible. He regularly borrowed my office Bible, a large print King James, to double-check a passage he knew by heart. He noticed me reading one day, during a very dark time in 2012, and asked where I was. I told him I was in II Timothy. He quoted, almost word for word, from Chapter 4: 5 But watch thou in all things. Endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. 6 for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Ray then added, with a smile, “But I’m not ready to go right
My Spin
Tom Campbell
The transformative twenties The 1920s were known as the “Roaring Twenties,” a decade when electricity, telephones and radios became commonplace in most homes and automobiles were not just for the rich. Aside from the unfortunate (for some) introduction of prohibition and the disastrous (for most) Great Depression that closed the decade, the twenties was a decade of great innovation, growth and prosperity. For what will the decade of the 2020s be known in North Carolina? It’s one thing to predict
Continued on page 4A the coming year, but altogether another to make forecasts for a decade. To do so I consulted with a number of futurists I respect. One, Mike Walden, the NC State University Economist, said this will be known as a “transformative” decade. Individuals will be empowered through dramatic changes, a prospect both exciting and daunting. While improved technologies will increase information, products and services available, they will come with challenges to our privacy. More information about you, your spending, preferences and location will be known by others. Walden says our national economy has experienced the longest period of economic expansion in history - 11years - and foresees steady, but not dramatic growth for the coming decade. He predicts an average 2 percent increase of the gross domestic product. North Carolina suffered more during the recession and was slow rebounding but has made a steady and strong recovery, notably growth in the number of jobs. Walden doesn’t Continued on page 4A
Letters to the Editor Send Letters to the Editor to posteditor@post-voice. com. Letters must be signed to be considered. Columnists opinions are their own and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the newspaper or its advertisers.