Meeker Locals

MEEKER | After hearing about numerous cases of swine flu in town, and reports of whole families quarantined, Harold received an e-mail with simple health tips for avoiding the flu. Aside from not kissing pigs (oink!) most of them are obvious: wash your hands frequently, stay rested and well-hydrated, yada, yada, yada. But one of the suggestions was met with statements like, “Oh, my grandmother did that every day and she never got sick…” What is it? Gargling with warm salt water every night after brushing your teeth. The practice is rumored to kill off germs before they get a chance to settle in and built a nest in your throat. The same theory applies to snorting salt water up your noseónow quite popular with the use of a neti pot. Word to the wise? Don’t put too much salt in your water unless you want to feel like you stuffed jalapeno peppers into your sinuses and then attempted to drown yourself.
In Middle Eastern countries, and among very devout Muslims, do the women who wear the traditional face covering (burkah) have less incidence of contagious disease than western-attired women? Just a thought. If they do, maybe we should all go for the full body and face coverage. Men and women. It would be like a giant costume party.
Speaking of costumes, hot picks for this year’s adult Halloween parties include dead celebrities: Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze, Ed McMahon, infomercial star Billy Mays, or Kung Fu actor David Carradine. There’s likely to be any number of President Obama masks out there, and the upcoming release of “Twilight” sequel “New Moon” will likely spawn a rash of vampires and werewolves again. And if you have lots of children, or a lot of very short friends, Jon and Kate and their brood of eight are expected to be popular choices this year as well.
Top costumes for the kiddos include princesses, witches, Spider-man and pirates. Consumers, according to CNNmoney.com, will spend an average of $20.75 on costumes, which includes pets’ and children’s costumes. Sounds awfully cheap.
Happy birthday this week to Jamie Gillis and Karrin Mezarina, Oct. 22; Jason Back, Sally Johnson and Rhonda Cochran, Oct. 23; Rita Proctor and Cindy Nelson, Oct. 24; Jake Massey, Dennis Rohn, Nick Cojucaru and Linda Ebersole, Oct. 26; Davis Doan, Cole and Cody Purcell, Caleb and Corey Hearn, Oct. 27.
There is a dearth of anniversaries to announce this week. Does that correlate with hunting season?
Do you want to announce a family reunion? A wedding? Or just wish happy birthday to a friend? Please send birthday greetings, anniversary wishes, and other local social news to [email protected], or mail information to P.O. Box 720, Meeker, CO 81641.