Severe Weather Season can be ANYTIME!

News Release: Jasper County has an extensive Skywarn Network of communications, spotters, concerned citizens, and sirens to warn of approaching severe weather. While more effective technology becomes available every day to help forecast approaching severe weather, it is still the trained eyes on the sky that are needed to give that precious warning time so vital to save lives. According to the Skywarn organization, the more trained people, the more efficient the warning network becomes.

The Skywarn annual severe weather class will be held on Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. The class lasts approximately 90 minutes and is being held in the Basement Conference Room.of Joplin City Hall, 602 Main Street. Enter at the West door. The class is free and open to the public. No reservations are needed to attend.

A meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Springfield will be conducting the class. The presentation is formatted to outline the types of weather conditions that may develop into severe situations and thus need to be relayed to the National Weather Service.

It seems of little surprise that folks might differ on the pronunciation of Missouri (ah or ee). With a language where Pete and sweet rhyme, but sweat and peat don’t.

As a youngster I often questioned the English teacher about how a person was supposed ta learn to spell with such inconsistencies in the language.

"You just have to learn the exceptions," I was reminded.

‘Course the i before e except after c and when it sounds like "a" as in neighbor and weigh is typical of the irregularities in the system. Who made this stuff up?

Wouldn’t naghbor and wagh be a lot simpler? I don’t know of those spellings already bein’ spoke for. No one would consider watchin’ Beigh Watch, or care to give you the time of deigh I suppose.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

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Weekly Columns

To Your Good Health

By Paul G. Donohue, M.D.

Heart Failure Can Cause Feet to Swell

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Please explain why I have to take my shoes off late every day because my feet and ankles have swollen and don’t fit into the shoes. I flop around in slippers without heels. In the morning, after a night’s sleep, my feet are back to normal. I am 77 and take no medicines. -- K.M.

ANSWER: I can’t give you an unequivocal response because there are numerous causes of foot and ankle swelling.

The medical name for such swelling is edema. Even in relatively healthy people, it occurs if people sit or stand for any length of time. Gravity pulls fluid out of the circulation, and it accumulates in the feet and ankles. This is especially true at older ages, when the circulatory system becomes somewhat leaky.

For this kind of swelling, the solution is to elevate the legs when sitting. The most effective elevation is raising the legs above heart level, something that can be done only by lying down with pillows propping up the legs. Getting up and moving about is another way to prevent fluid accumulation in the feet.

Heart failure is a more serious cause of such swelling. When the heart’s pumping action becomes feeble, fluid escapes from blood vessels and again accumulates in the ankles and feet. Kidney disease with retention of body fluid is another cause of edema. Liver disease does the same.

Another condition called lymphedema produces the same picture. Lymph is fluid that normally escapes the circulation to percolate around tissues and organs to provide nourishment and to wash away germs. Small vessels called lymphatics vacuum up this fluid and return it to the circulation. Anything that disrupts lymphatics can lead to ankle/foot swelling. An old infection and surgery are two such disruptors.

Since ankle and foot swelling is a sign of many urgent medical conditions, don’t fool around with this. See your family doctor.