Lantana's Latitude

iT'S BEEN AWHILE!   I FINALLY COMPLETED MY DENTAL...
Lantana's Latitude iT'S BEEN AWHILE!   I FINALLY COMPLETED MY DENTAL IMPLANTS!  I HAVE 2 ON THE BOTTOM JAW, CAME RIGHT HOME AND AT SOME MELON AND MIXED FRUIT AND BIT MY TONGUE.  HAVE TO LEARN TO KEEP MY TONGUE OUT OF THE WAY!  OTHERWISE, DOING FINE AND IT WAS WORTH ALL THE MONTHS OF WAITING!!  THE ACTUAL FINISHING PROCESS WAS PRETTY QUICK AFTER WAITING SO LONG.  WE ARE HAVING SOME...
Fri, Jun 13 2014

Hello All!A very busy time of year!    Got a few flowers...
Lantana's Latitude Hello All!A very busy time of year!    Got a few flowers planted in my tiny patio, with the help of my granddaughter, Leah and her 2 boys who helped pull weeds!    I am slowing down considerably and planted a lot less than I usually do.  Of course it is still early, not even June yet.Am having a problem keeping the front lawn looking healthy!  With 2 gardeners y...
Wed, May 28 2014

Sorry, Guys and Dolls!
Lantana's Latitude Since I receive so much feedback from my blog, I am going to try harder to post occasionally, just so I can read the comments made!Right now I am trying to wade through Windows 8.1.  I think that is correct, 8.1 or is it just 8.0?  I never was good at figures, and at 80 years old I am not about to improve.    My Hp Pavilion went belly up, it was way, way past it's...
Mon, Apr 28 2014

Thanks Everyone!
Lantana's Latitude I am truly amazed at all the replies I have been receiving even tho I have been very lax in posting in my own blog!  Thank you, thank you!  I will try harder from now on to keep up with my "fans".   Spring is here and spring in the Pacific Northwest is much appreciated, since we have such a wet winter.   September and October are our best months if you are inclin...
Sun, Apr 13 2014

HERE I BE!
Lantana's Latitude Wow it has been a very long time since I posted in my blog!    I miss doing it, but with FB, it seems that that there just isn't any time for anything else online.Not many changes in my life.    My daughter in law has terminal liver cancer, but she is responding well to chemo, etc. all the stuff they do for liver cancer nowadays.  She looks great and has a wonder...
Sun, Jun 02 2013

Better Late Than Never
Lantana's Latitude It's been awhile. Moving has it's drawbacks (to put it mildly), but right now, as of this moment, my computers, VP, AND the Blackberry are purring along as they should. I have NO patience with anything that is not perfect! (Wink, wink). 'Enjoyed La Ronda's video post on the new Sorenson's VP. I am sooo happy that SHE is satisfied with it, well, almost satisfied! Like ...
Tue, Aug 30 2011

OPEN Captions
Lantana's Latitude I live in Longview, Wa. and the Theatre Pub is in the next town, right across the bridge from Longview, "Kelso, Wa." They have a FB page and are on FB regularly, just go to FB and type in Kelso Theatre Pub and you will be right there with all of the information. The owner is trying for every Monday and Tuesday evening at 6:30. High end films. They also have a restaura...
Mon, Jun 06 2011

Open Captions
Lantana's Latitude At my suggestion, the owner of a local Theatre/Pub has begun showing Open Captioned movies on Monday and Tuesday evenings. First rate films, no oldies here! And since it is a pub, you can eat pizza and drink wine or beer while you are watching the movie. I have gone once so far, am going to try for this Tuesday again. Our summer arrived today, finally. Puff puff, I am...
Sat, Jun 04 2011

Looking For Spring!
Lantana's Latitude Wow, here I am again as big as life and twice as ugly. Or did I use that line before?!? At my age the memory is starting to fade, but perhaps that is a plus not a minus!?! I have lots of things I need to forget. So here I am in my new over-55 digs. So far so good. Many of my neighbors are still wintering somewhere else, and I do not blame them. I have yet to meet my n...
Fri, Apr 01 2011

A New Community (New to Me, Anyway!)
Lantana's Latitude After living 20 years in the same community, trying to settle down in a new location def has it's trials and errors, particularly for a deaf person. 'Not necessarily MY errors, but I guess I have made a few, I admit!On the Coast, everyone knew me, or if they didn't actually have the pleasure (hee, hee!), they had heard OF me! I had no problem down there being ac...
Thu, Feb 24 2011

Moooving (ugh)
Lantana's Latitude Just a brief note this time to let my friends know that I am all moved but still have full cardboard boxes everywhere. I am looking for a person who sells estates, because that is what my stuff amounts to, an estate! I now reside inland, no more coastal living -- not quite. I bought a condo in a 55 and older gated community which so far is good. The weather ...
Fri, Feb 04 2011

Speechless
Lantana's Latitude My age is no secret, so I am being frank here. I have been with the same medical provider for over 40 years, in fact when I retired from the State of Washington, I was grandfathered in, and was assured by all concerned that I would ALWAYS have this medical plan. When I turned a certain age, this Plan (K) became my secondary provider and Medicare the Primary provi...
Thu, Jan 21 2010
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A New Deaf Author
Lantana's Latitude I would like to make everyone who reads my blog aware of our newest deaf author, Stacy Canter. You can Google her name up, but I have known her for quite a few years as a close online friend and confidente, thus, I thought I would give her a plug here on my blog.Stacy is deaf and has a CI. She mainly lives in the hearing world, has a hearing husband and children, but...
Sun, Jan 10 2010

A New Year, a new profile?
Lantana's Latitude I made a pact with myself that I would start being more loyal to my blog. 'Looking over my profile here, it almost doesn't sound like me! Something happened, I CHANGED, or got old, or something, perhaps both? Nodding.I keep in touch with a majority of my former students via Facebook, and I find that I enjoy this a great deal, perhaps because I can get by with sh...
Tue, Jan 05 2010

A Typical Day
Lantana's Latitude I am beginning to wonder if anything ever goes right?I recently paid $150.00 to have my fax machine brought up to date. Thanks to Sorenson and the new numbers, my distinctive ringing is all fouled up. Impossible to straighten out. After I paid, I found out that my fax still does not ring appropriately. I cannot tell it from any other call. :(So, my dentist fa...
Tue, Jul 14 2009

Heavy Hearts
Lantana's Latitude This old gal has been around for a long time. I have outlived many of my students! And I can truthfully say that I have never seen so many people with depression and heavy hearts. You turn on the t.v. and you get 99 1/2 % bad news. You try to change the channel to something light and cheerful (such as Jon and Kate Plus 8) and find that the news media has ruined t...
Sat, Jun 20 2009
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Driving Daze
Lantana's Latitude All of us wonder at some time or another how long we will be able to drive. I recall my dad behind the wheel at age 90+ without an updated drivers liscense and when we children tried to intervene, he had a fit! My dad was a farmer and mechanically inclined, so there was no way my brothers could dismantle the pickup without Dad knowing exactly what had been done!...
Tue, Apr 28 2009

More Interesting Tidbits
Lantana's Latitude When you have a large family, the excitement never seems to diminish. Bless our Blackberries and our laptops, etc. for enabling us to keep in close tough with one another. No longer are we second class citizens, depending on others to do our communicating for us during a serious and difficult situation.As some of you know, my youngest son JJ has Ankylosing Spond...
Sat, Apr 25 2009
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AnotherExperience to Share!
Lantana's Latitude Here I am again, big as life and twice as ugly. I guess it is about time that I share my CTS surgery with my fellow bloggers.First of all, what made me go to the doctor in the first place? Well BOTH of my hands went numb during the night, EVERY night. I mean COMPLETELY NUMB and the feeling did not go away until I had been up and around for several hours. There w...
Sat, Mar 07 2009

Finally Some Sunshine!
Lantana's Latitude One really must actually SEE a flood before they can believe it. EVERYTHING is various shades of grey! If I were an artist, I would try to paint what I have seen, but I cannot draw a cat sitting backside!The wonderful neighbors surrounding our farm have been a blessing. And the fact that we can text and email back and forth is something I thank God for every day...
Sat, Jan 17 2009

2008 ~~~Sigh~~~
Lantana's Latitude My brother and I share a birthday, 08/08 and we were kind of excited because in 2008 we would celebrate on 08/08/08! We had heard that young couples rushed to reserve that date to be married on because they felt that it would bring them luck. I hope these couples fared better than I did.Well, before 08/08/08 rolled around, I had become a widow. The creek on our fa...
Wed, Dec 31 2008

Oil Can Henry's
Lantana's Latitude A few years back, Hubby and I were thrilled when we read that Oil Can Henry's was building a brand new site just a few blocks from our beach home. We formerly had to go all the way to Astoria to have an oil change, so this big news made us feel warm and fuzzy inside. What an improvement for our town!!I was thrilled to death the first time I used these new facilities, ...
Mon, Aug 25 2008

Epilogue
Lantana's Latitude "It is always something that happens to someone else". Don't you believe it.Luckily for me I have always been well-read, from the time I went deaf at age 10 until the present, I read everything I could get my hands on including "Death and Dying". 'Losing a spouse cannot be compared with other family deaths, such as those of your parents or a cherished child. My b...
Sun, Aug 24 2008

The Death Of A Spouse
Lantana's Latitude (I took some time off to drive up to the Hood Canal and attend a 100th birthday celebration of my former childhood housemother. Yes, she turned 100, and I turned 75 on the same weekend!) (Part 6) Soon after we moved to the Coast, some 17 years ago we met a new friend. Actually, he worked in our yard and did the heavy stuff for us, and it was a long time before we actu...
Tue, Aug 19 2008

The Death Of A Spouse
Lantana's Latitude (Part 5) Joe and I of course often joked about old age and frequently made wisecracks about life in a nursing home,and what might or might not happen if and when we possibly wound up in one. Joe made me promise that I would be sure to scratch the "Crown Jewels" when he became too old to do so (or to find them, as he often wisecracked). He loved his beach hom...
Wed, Aug 06 2008

The Death Of A Spouse
Lantana's Latitude (Part 3) Luckily for me I had chosen the right funeral home. While still in the hospital with Joe and being quizzed by the nurses and Social Worker, (when I replied to give me the Mortuary that had been in business here the longest), I sensed good vibes from my choice. 'Having sharp senses is one of the greater benefits of being deaf!In the past, Joe and I had a...
Sun, Aug 03 2008

The Death Of A Spouse
Lantana's Latitude (Part 2): Right on the heels of the police came the medics, including one team from the fire station. Our street was full of emergency vehicles. And, (to my surprise) along with the medics came a woman from the Women's Crisis center. She remained with me for the rest of the evening. The medical team asked me if Joe wanted to live, and I showed them his Will and ...
Fri, Aug 01 2008

The Death Of A Spouse
Lantana's Latitude Finally I feel the urge to share my story with a younger generation who has (probably not) shared my experience. The loss of parents, a close friend, etc. cannot compare with the loss of a spouse. I hope that some of you can benefit from my encounter and my logging it. I mean well, I assure you. I am merely a few steps ahead of you and if I can ease your pa...
Fri, Aug 01 2008

Traveling With a Disability
Lantana's Latitude Our dear friend, Geo recently brought up the "hazards" facing deaf folks who are traveling. Geo was mainly referring to flying, but I myself have bumped into some serious irritations while using other modes of travel!Several years ago we joined a two-week long escorted train trip across Canada, from Vancouver, BC to Nova Scotia. It was a wonderful "fall foilage" trip,...
Sun, Apr 06 2008

His? Hers?
Lantana's Latitude I have enjoyed reading about a few deaf peoples' embarrassing moments. I can imagine that being who we are, and with the disabilities that we have, those moments come quite often for most of us. Quite a few years ago when I was teaching Sign Language at the local community college, I had a very nice person in my class who spoke up often and asked intelligent and i...
Thu, Mar 13 2008

Mental Health Hot Line
Lantana's Latitude Hello and welcome to the mental health hotline. If you are obsessive-compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.If you have multiple personalities, press 3.4.5. and 6.If you are paranoid, we know who you are and what you want. Stay on the line so we can trace your call.If you are delusional, press 7 and your call w...
Thu, Jan 31 2008 · Moved from DeafRead Extra

Lest We Forget
Lantana's Latitude So many controversies lately. Not only in the deaf culture, but everywhere. To quote a not-so-famous man, "Can't we all just get along"? We will not go there -- politics. Ugh. When I was a young girl and not yet deaf, I can recall my dad exclaiming , "Those so and so Republicans!" . But then later on in his life he became one of them. ...
Mon, Jan 28 2008

My First Full Body Massage!
Lantana's Latitude 'Not particularly a hearing impaired/deaf/Deaf issue, there is a link here that might make sense to alot of deaf folks. I hope. I live mainly in a hearing world. My kids are all hearing, as is my DH. I have an "affliction" that many of you may or may not recognize: A sore neck! Even if you only speak ASL and nothing else, you STILL have to move your head! ...
Sun, Jan 13 2008

Oil Change Syndrome
Lantana's Latitude Oh no! DH says it is time for an oil change! I knew that subject was coming up and I always dread it and put this painful chore off as long as possible! "It's way past due" says DH frowning crossly as if the world might soon be coming to an end. ' Ask any woman! And for a deaf women it is even more hectic. I'd rather have a root canal! These guy...
Tue, Jan 01 2008

What Did I Expect?
Lantana's Latitude Because of my stepson's premature death (he was my husband's only child) it became necessary for us to go and make out new Wills. Everyone (*not* excluding lawyers!) is kind of backwoods around here, and I keep busy setting everyone straight about how to treat a disabled person. Of course I strike out occasionally, and I just did again! Imagine my surprise when w...
Sun, Dec 16 2007

The Usual Hospital Quagmire
Lantana's Latitude I was thrilled when a friend from the east coast recently informed me that she had the use of a video phone during a recent stay in the hospital in her area. 'Thanks to a very large deaf population in the east, our deaf friends, family and acquaintances there are fortunate to have such up to date technology. But I live in the "toolies". I recently foun...
Mon, Nov 12 2007

The KKK Incident And Davila's CNN Interview
Lantana's Latitude When I first read about the KKK incident at MSSD, I thought to myself, "Well at least this one was not swept under the rug." It was reported, the culprits sent home AND news media got ahold of it, all of which are good. These kinds of incidents are pretty common in a dormitory setting. WHERE WERE THE ADULTS? Were they punished and sent home too?? I certainly hope so....
Fri, Oct 05 2007

~~Sigh~~ Not Again!
Lantana's Latitude My husband and I have been in the middle of making out new Wills. We did have a Will, but it was showing signs of old age and definately not acknowledging the new "laws of the times". When a married couple flies the friendly skies hither and yon, it is comforting to know that if you wind up shark bait, that your estate(s) will be dispersed in a timely and appropriate [...]
Sat, Sep 08 2007

Going Deaf In Middle Childhood --Prologue
Lantana's Latitude I lost my hearing at the end of May, 1943. I was then enrolled in the state residential school in September of the same year and by Christmas my mother noticed a big difference in my voice and with my speech. I had an uncle by marriage that was very hard of hearing and I maintained a good recollection of what his voice was like, so realized regretfully what was [...]
Wed, Sep 05 2007

Going Deaf In Middle Childhood Part 9
Lantana's Latitude Dear Friends, I took time out to go to our farm and pick string beans from our garden and give the whole shebang a little TLC. We are also over burdened with zukes and lemon cucumbers! It looks like it will be a good tomato year. I hope you all are having a pleasant holiday --- 9, Going Deaf In Middle Childhood:Soon after I became deaf, our dentist told my family [...]
Sun, Sep 02 2007

Going Deaf In Middle Childhood Part 8
Lantana's Latitude No tale of a residential school childhood would be complete without the mention of the school dining room! Everyone loves to chow down and the deaf with their incredibly sharp taste buds are eager eaters. Like I mentioned before, the dining room had a central location in the middle of the campus with doors leading out to each side, on direction for the boys and in the [...]
Tue, Aug 28 2007

Going Deaf In Middle Childhood Part 7
Lantana's Latitude The years passed swiftly. In December of 1944 my parents gifted my brother and I with a brand new baby brother. Perhaps this new offspring made up for the hole I created in the family unit when I was away at school (in those days the term "Whoops Baby" had yet to be created). Since the deaf students were not allowed to go home every weekend, the staff found it [...]
Mon, Aug 27 2007

Going Deaf In Middle Childhood Part 6
Lantana's Latitude When reading over my blog I can see that probably evening is not the best time for me to be writing. This time I will try it in the afternoon when my mind is more clear and not fogged from a busy, active day! Thanks to everyone for being patient with me.There have been many thousands of words written hashing over the pros and cons of residential living for the deaf. [...]
Sun, Aug 26 2007

Going Deaf In Early Childhood Part 5
Lantana's Latitude The State School For The Deaf is situated on a bluff high above the Columbia River on some of the most prime real estate property in the county, perhaps in the whole state. It began it's life in a huge Gothic building dubbed The State School For Defective Youth. By the time I arrived there it had become a deaf school and the grounds were a mish mash of various [...]
Fri, Aug 24 2007

Going Deaf In Middle Childhood, Part 4
Lantana's Latitude When I awoke from my long and treacherous coma and found my mother writing to me on our little blackboard with chalk I lacked just 10 weeks of being 10 years old. I had just completed the 4th grade. I was still very much a little girl.My mother continued to scribble quick messages, "Are you hungry?" "Do you feel like getting up"? "Grandma is here, do you feel like [...]
Fri, Aug 24 2007

Going Deaf In Middle Childhood, Part 3
Lantana's Latitude Our mother,while a wonderful,kind and caring woman did not react well to illness. She had lost a sister to kidney disease when the sister was just 15 years old and I have always felt that this trumatic childhood experience left her feeling helpless around anyone who was unwell. Any major medical crisis knocked my mom for a loop.My brother, who is 4 years younger than [...]
Thu, Aug 23 2007

The Original Farmers Daughter, Part 2
Lantana's Latitude So we became farmers. This was my dad's big dream. He had quit school very early, around the 8th grade to go to work and help out his struggling family. Back in those days, getting a job did not require a great deal of protocol, if you were good at what you did, you got the job! Schooling and education were the least of anyone's worries. My dad was highly [...]
Tue, Aug 21 2007

Going Deaf In Middle Childhood
Lantana's Latitude We all enjoyed reading LaRonda's story so much, that I thought it would be neat if some of the rest of us shared a little about what happened to US. We had to finish out our childhoods with the "hearing on the forehead" Sign, which in itself makes us "different".I will not attempt to write everything in one installment, because I know that important tidbits will keep [...]
Mon, Aug 20 2007

The Gestapo
Lantana's Latitude This morning I got busted by Sorenson.A couple of weeks ago I was notified that the Sorenson rep would be here "Sunday morning" on August 19th. Then more recently I was contacted and told to be ready at 9:00 a.m. with phone numbers of the hearing people that I call. ' 9:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning!? Hello? We finally compromised on 10:00 a.m. ~Sigh~Yep you [...]
Sun, Aug 19 2007

A Little of Everything
Lantana's Latitude Whew, summer is getting right along and I have to admit that I am looking forward to the winter months so I can recuperate! When you live at the beach like I do, your grandkids seem to grow roots in the sand! My youngest grand daughter is now 11, so I can look forward to them ALL GROWING UP and realizing that sand is supposed to stay outside. I took my grandkids [...]
Sun, Aug 19 2007