It's time to be humble.

On the weekend, while watching the Professional Golf Association’s Zurich Classic on television, I learned the tournament’s second day play was delayed due to the inclement weather in New Orleans. The lightening came along with a thunderstorm that struck a tall tree on the course. Fortunately, no one there was injured from this mishap. But some residents in a neighboring state were not that lucky. A tornado swept through the State of Mississippi left ten people dead and many homeless. Not mention the devastating earthquakes that shook the world from Haiti and Chile in Americas and Tibet in China. Then a volcano in Iceland continued spewing out its deadly hot lava into the air and stopped all air travels at many European airports for many weeks.

All of the above mentioned destructive phenomena happened one after another since January of this year. The world has become smaller. And bad news does travel fast. But in the years past natural disasters had never occurred one after another like what has happened so far this year.

I do not know if these are the ways Mother Nature tells us that enough is enough. But I do know no one can decipher what exactly the nature has in stores for us. Perhaps it is time that we take a back seat to reflect and be humble. So we can assure ourselves that the next carbon footsteps we are about to take are smaller and gentler ones. - Ayee

An Eye-Opener

The other day Sweetie got to try on two new things.

First, he got to use a new cat carrier. The old one we had is made of wood with a rigid steel wire dome. I had many good uses of it. But because of its solid sturdy construction and size, it is quite heavy. So I decided that we should get a new one that is smaller and lighter. The new one I got from a supermarket is made of canvas-type clothes with mesh on the sides. The floor of this pet taxi is padded with soft fleece material. Usage of velcro on the handle plus the adjustable long shoulder straps make travel with our pets a less strenuous exercise. That day I did not have to use any trickery to get Sweetie inside the cage. Putting him down into the carrier through an opening on the top is a cinch. He seemed to be quite at ease sitting up inside his new cab. This is the first time that he rode in his cage all the way to the vet’s office without much whimpering.

Then, believe or not Sweetie, our sweet old chap, got to have his blood pressure tested for the heart murmurs the vet detected during our last visit.

Since I never heard or read of checking b/p on animals, it is something entirely new to me. But for the sake of my kitty’s good health, I decided to put my poor cat through this testing procedure. I also stayed with Sweetie and observed what the vet had to do to get an accurate b/p reading from a fidgeting cat.

The measuring device on animals is a smaller version of the manometer our doctor used but it reads diastolic pressures only. It did not take long to fasten the cuff onto one of Sweetie’s front leg. But it took the vet and his assistance an embarrassingly long time to locate the right spot to stick a probe between the toes of the same leg. Apparently, this is not a frequently practiced diagnostic procedure. Then once the probe was at the right place, we could hear a rhythmic swishing sound emitted from a metal box labeled "Ultrasound Profiler." After many gentle squeezes of a rubber pump, the dial in the round-face meter settled on a couple of readings in the range between 118 and 120. According to the vet, Sweetie’s ticker seemed to be all right! And he also became the first cat in our feline family who had been tested for blood pressure! - Ayee

Arm-Chair Golfer

Spring is always a welcome season when warm sunshine returns and cherry trees blossom to their best. It is also the time when the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) starts to air its competitions on television regularly on weekends. This armchair golfer has once again geared up for the world’s best players to show case their incredible shots on beautiful but challenging courses.

Talking about the incredible shots, the PGA tour players with the latest model of over sized drivers on hand plus their equally large biceps can send a tiny little object into stratospheric distance with the utmost accuracy. What a feat! It looks easy when they were playing the shots. I suppose being a pro golfer golfing becomes a job. They must always play well in order to earn a decent living and to be qualified to play in the next season.

However the recent revelation of the world number one player’s discretion off-course did change my view of professional golfers somewhat. Perhaps in my humble opinion the tournament’s monetary prize is getting too rich. Pro golfers are human beings. So they are no different from other well-paid sports figures. After the game it is party time for everyone. But I do hope golfing remains a gentleman’s sport in which integrity is always the most important component of the game. Fore! - Ayee