Missouri Courthouse Photo Exhibit.

The Powers Museum will feature an exhibit of images and history of Missouri Courthouse architecture until May 29. The photographic survey will be available for viewing during regular visitation hours which are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. A companion book is available at the museum’s gift shop.

Curated by art historian Carol Grove, this exhibition is a photographic survey of 40 of Missouri’s 114 county courthouses as illustrated in the publication Missouri Courthouses: Building Memories on the Square, with photographs and text by Dennis Weiser.

Although a number of historic Missouri courthouses are listed in the National Register of Historic Places, many are currently threatened by lack of funding and the availability of sufficient maintenance budgets.

In 2008, the Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation included Courthouses across Missouri as a category on their "Most Endangered Properties" list.

For more information call the Powers Museum at 237-0456.

There is a theory presented in a book I was browsin’ through that says if ya want a new couch, throw out your old one and just leave the space empty. Eventually, some way or another, the couch will be replaced.

The person promotin’ this theory seemed to imply that there was some mystical reason for this. I’m suspectin’ that the practical answer may be closer to the fact that after a while, even havin’ your old couch back starts lookin’ better after a while.

In my experience, if ya got an empty shelf, somethin’ will eventually be put on it. Just a matter of time. Nothin’ mystical, just more stuff than ya have places to stick it.

‘Course you can have less stuff or more shelves. But, who ever has enough shelves?

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

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To Your Good Health

By Paul G. Donohue, M.D.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I’ve had severe high blood pressure for many years. I have tried all the medicines you can think of. I am 62 and have had one ministroke. I’m not looking for another. I used to weigh 235 pounds. I lost 100 pounds. I watch my salt. I have tried everything. My family has a history of high blood pressure. Can you recommend anything? -- F.

ANSWER: Blood pressure that doesn’t drop by making life changes (weight loss and diet) or by taking three or four blood pressure medicines is called resistant high blood pressure (hypertension). Your weight loss is admirable. It should have reduced your pressure.

Watching your salt intake is also important. That entails more than not using the salt shaker. It requires you to carefully look for the salt content (listed as sodium or sodium chloride) of all your foods. Commercial soups, frozen dinners, many canned goods and luncheon meats often have a high salt content. Your diet should be one of fruits, vegetables, whole grains (unrefined wheat, barley, rye and oats) and one where meat and fats are eaten sparingly.

Increase foods with lots of potassium in them: tomatoes, potatoes, prunes, lima beans, kidney beans, navy beans, bananas, oranges and orange juice, spinach, peaches, cantaloupe and broccoli. Potassium lowers blood pressure.

Exercise for 30 minutes every day. Get your doctor’s approval first, and start out modestly. Brisk walking is fine.

For resistant high blood pressure, your doctor has to look for the less-common causes of it. Sleep apnea (loud snoring with pauses when there is no breathing), adrenal gland tumors, Cushing’s syndrome, narrowed kidney arteries and rare tumors such as pheochromocytoma are cases in point.