Karen Loftis Rankowitz

Summer, Kids, Chaos…It’s All Good Summer is almost here. The kids will be out of school and if yours are like mine, they will come off the bus for the last time this year, already bored. What to do? I have a few fun ideas to keep the boredom at bay while trying to maintain everyone’s sanity. Going to the park can be fun as well as healthy. Be sure to bring scooters or skateboards, sunscreen and plenty of water. A first aid kit is always a good safety measure to fix up any minor boo-boos. Your children will love the outing. They will ride the scooters, wearing the appropriate padding and headgear, steering clear of hills and trees. They will let you apply sunscreen knowing it is healthy to avoid exposure to the harmful rays of the sun. They will drink the water to keep themselves hydrated as they take in the sights, sounds and various plant life. My children - they will find the steepest hill, apply the sunscreen to this hill, add the water to hydrate the sunscreen, and then ra...

Did You Know? May 27th is Heat Safety Awareness Day. I can only guess that this pertains to either your pets or barbequing in the back yard. As for your pets, National Spay Day (I kid you not), well, that is the in the last week of February so I will get back to you on that. Memorial Day weekend is almost upon us and grills will be firing up all across the country. The aroma of burgers, hotdogs, chicken, chicken that actually tastes like chicken, will awaken the primitive carnivore that sleeps in most of us. In the spirit of this heat safety awareness, there are only two things that people have a primal fear of. One is fire, the other is water. Both are needed to ensure success and safety while grilling out doors. Experts advise not to use a spray bottle of water on ‘flare-ups’. I tend to agree, and the garden hose does provide a safer distance in which to douse the flare-ups that lure enthusiastic firefighters. The spray bottle can, however, be used to keep stray tomcats aw...

Prologue Humidity's stifling blanket is gone and each breath comes easier. Squirrels scurry to gather a harvest before the snows of winter shroud a frozen landscape in pristine whiteness. Awakened is the smoke, exhaled from chimneys not used since March and families get cozy in the midst of the shadows cast by dancing flames; the warmth wrapped around them. While most celebrate this transformation of the seasons, I do not. Overwhelmed with feelings of anxiety, fall's vivid colors seen on the trees, is a dreadful reminder that they will soon seek me out. As though I will be the one to unburden them and move them beyond the interim - between here and now and heaven or hell. Like life that has been sucked from the lushness of summer, autumn falls dead. The daylight slips away and darkness steals its splendor. Only shades in gray are left behind the closed shutters. I will no longer hear the peep frogs or crickets that lulled me to sleep only a few short weeks ago. Instead, I w...

Though the warm weather here in Connecticut will give way to cooler temperatures, motorcycles will still be on the roads, often into November. Since the streets are busy with bikes and BMW's, trucks and tractor-trailers learning to travel together sensibly is a positive step in ensuring the safety of all. Generally, motorists know to look for other cars on the roads, not motorcycles. To share the road safely drivers need to be watchful of motorcyclists. Research has shown that 75% of motorcycle fatalities have involved another vehicle, and two out of every three were the fault of the driver in the other vehicle. What can you do to avoid being part of these statistics? Give the motorcyclist a full lane to ride in and allow the same room when passing as you would a car. Pay attention when making a left turn, at intersections and when changing lanes. Most crashes occur when the cyclist is traveling straight and the other vehicle is making a left turn. It is difficult to judge the ...

Potty training is not about the progression from diapers to big boy underwear. It's a process that continues into adulthood, especially for boys, and sad to say some never become fully trained. Lift the seat and aim. Though this combination may necessitate some study of geometric angles, it isn't rocket science. The task requires no more effort than raising an arm, yet it seems my boys' arms do not move this way. Not unless this action involves hitting or eating. So I thought if eating moves arms then drinking must too. However, the signs I stuck to the seat, "Flip-Top-Lid" gave them no clue. They must have assumed it was a target, since aim only counts in sports and video games. I do dream of some day having my own bathroom, a sanctuary where offenders are ban. Fingers, notes, and cat food don't fit under the door and the dog does not drink from the faucet. The "I have had enough" moment came in an eruption, literally. My child, the one that never ...

I asked for a hysterectomy for my 40 th birthday. What I got instead was bronchitis, a double ear infection, and a mammogram. I had put it off for long enough. I finally made the overdue appointment with my gynecologist. I was told that a mammogram was in order because I am, of course, 40. I took the detailed information the receptionist, so kindly, gave to me even though it wasn't what I asked for. As I sat in the waiting room, I read the pamphlet but couldn't fathom why, after everything else I've gone through with them, would they subject me to more nastiness. "Is there no limit?" I asked while patting my chest in reassurance. I was sure the words printed were encrypted. A secret code my mind readily translated from "It will be fine, it's really not that bad" to "Good, LORD, you want what?" The Procedure: Do not apply deodorant/antiperspirant on the day of the procedure. But, it was here in the decoding process where I began to sweat. ...

Cut me from the cloth once spun By poets great and apt I've read Thoreau and even Donne For course I may adapt Dickenson, Walt Whitman too Love poems and the dreary Perusing I have read them through Selfish for a theory Meter count and rhyming flow But naught has been refined Insight fed will ever grow Sighting eyes once blind Perhaps to travel world by train And view a tranquil scene But skill it seems to have no reign On thoughts without routine In front of me the first, the best I am the lone caboose Oh, to hell with this and all the rest I'll stick with Dr. Suess