Flying_Donny for democracy

Retired biostatistician. Iowa and U.S. politics, pro-democracy, public health, science, Covid-19 mitigation, DIY air purifiers, dogs

Pronouns: she/her

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npub1feengfucgj7krstr87f7rzq2vjd66j9v9428l3ythl3akaef42uqqn8j30

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsyuue5y7vyf0tpc93nlylp3q9xfxadfzkz64rlcj9mlc7mwu564wqprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmnt0v5ffg

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

Author Public Key

npub1feengfucgj7krstr87f7rzq2vjd66j9v9428l3ythl3akaef42uqqn8j30

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Last Notes

2025-12-24 19:03:39 GMT

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Wow, how scary! I take it this was an electric stove so you could unplug it? I'm glad you can get a replacement promptly, but sorry it's so much hassle.

2025-12-24 16:43:11 GMT

I've been struggling a bit to re-establish a daily meditation practice. I recently discovered a website of guided mindfulness meditations and am finding it very helpful. Today I sat for the meditation on cultivating daily gratitude. It took me through a review of the day, noticing every small (or large) thing to be grateful for. I will aim to notice the small and large things to be grateful for as I go through the rest of today.

2025-11-19 23:15:47 GMT

Iowa City Made Its Buses Free. Traffic Cleared, and So Did the Air.
Ridership jumped, people cut back on driving and, over the summer, the city extended the program another year.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/climate/iowa-city-free-buses.html?unlocked_article_code=1.2U8.YCt4.wI0iDLcXfmE-&smid=url-share

2025-10-15 22:20:19 GMT

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Hoping both of you avoid getting sick. Did your husband have to have his mask off for very long at the appointment?

2025-10-05 00:13:34 GMT

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Interesting. Golytely is the same stuff (polyethylene glycol) as Miralax; you just drink a ton more of it and in a short time.

2025-10-05 00:00:19 GMT

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You can do this! It is very unpleasant but doable, and then it's over!

2025-09-13 00:31:49 GMT

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I am so sorry that you have to deal with this. I hope your mom comes through her hospitalization without catching anything. It is crazy that hospital staff do not mask. For what it's worth (not much!) I had surgery last month and was in the hospital for 6 days afterward. I couldn't mask for the first couple of days because I had a nasogastric tube. I masked as much as possible after it was out. I didn't catch anything -- whew!

2025-08-19 22:54:31 GMT

Seen on Donny's walk this morning. It's not a perfect photo with the wilted bloom behind and the leaf peeking over the top of the blossom, but the flower was so beautiful that I can't help sharing.
#BloomScrolling
https://cdn.masto.host/medmastodoncom/media_attachments/files/115/057/882/756/324/059/original/16965efb5ac1af25.jpg

2025-08-18 21:02:40 GMT

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So did Zelenskyy and the other European leaders get to listen during the call?

2025-08-09 18:06:00 GMT

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Please share as many Summer photos as you can! We all need some happy labrador cheer!

2025-08-01 23:51:52 GMT

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Thank you for the daily Summer photos! They make my days better!

2025-07-22 20:46:14 GMT

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You did amazingly for your daughter and yourself. I am happy if she finally will have her real name on her birth certificate.

2025-07-18 23:44:15 GMT

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Don't push too hard! (I know that's difficult, but it's still necessary!)

2025-07-18 03:36:12 GMT

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Thank you and your relatives! I very much admire the people like you who protest in small groups in red areas. For my husband and me to march with several hundred others in our blue-dot town was much easier and safer.

2025-07-11 17:26:14 GMT

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I'm sorry that you woke up too early but happy that you and Summer had such an excellent adventure!

2025-07-10 22:54:05 GMT

Hello again, Mastodon friends. I did get the dogs walked this morning -- it wasn't terribly hot but SO sticky-humid. There are small severe thunderstorms moving across eastern IA now. I hope they'll cool things off and that everyone will be safe..
Yay, us! This is the 2nd week since the end of our exercise class, and both weeks my husband and I have stuck to our plan to do two workouts per week here at home.

2025-06-25 21:02:57 GMT

Report from Inside Medicine on the first day of ACIP (the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) meetings. It includes this tidbit, which I hadn't known: "[F]ederal insurance programs like Medicaid and Medicare are tied to these votes, so they would not be permitted to cover vaccines that are not endorsed by ACIP votes."
https://insidemedicine.substack.com/p/chaos-at-cdcs-vaccine-meeting-one

2025-05-18 21:40:48 GMT

Of possible use to some of us: how to get up off the floor without kneeling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlNm19JvUQI

2025-05-04 00:37:49 GMT

The problems married women are having with obtaining RealID are precisely what the SAVE Act has in store for them with registering to vote. The Republicans know exactly what they are doing. https://www.foxnews.com/travel/married-women-face-real-id-documentation-hurdles-i-cant-accept-this

2025-04-19 20:50:16 GMT

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Ours was definitely smaller today, but still several hundred. It's possible that this being Easter weekend was another factor reducing attendance.

2025-04-19 18:56:27 GMT

#HandsOff #Indivisible #FiftyFiftyOne
Iowa City, IA, USA
https://cdn.masto.host/medmastodoncom/media_attachments/files/114/366/140/657/168/735/original/933374847d35279d.jpg
https://cdn.masto.host/medmastodoncom/media_attachments/files/114/366/140/672/499/789/original/a0e786ef02538dfe.jpg
https://cdn.masto.host/medmastodoncom/media_attachments/files/114/366/140/661/299/016/original/185c10f2149cc99c.jpg

2025-03-15 13:39:39 GMT

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Wow!
A friend who was in Missouri yesterday posted that the dust was so thick that when rain started, it rained mud.

2025-02-25 21:39:03 GMT

I just called my representatives with 5 Calls. Try it:
5calls.org

2025-02-17 14:28:37 GMT

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Oh my goodness, how intense your feelings must be.

2025-02-05 04:34:38 GMT

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Not just outdoorspeople but everyone will be pissed off (and endangered!) if the National Weather Service no longer can put out weather warnings and advisories at no charge. Part of the plan is to privatize that kind of data and make warnings fee for service.

2025-02-02 14:24:33 GMT

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Thank you for the lovely, peaceful photos.

2025-01-10 23:19:16 GMT

I'm looking forward to a quiet evening of reading @npub1hsh…fvhr's Whitsun Market, along with some rest, ice, compression, and elevation. I am very lucky. While walking Donny, I slipped on some snow-covered ice. I was pretty sure I'd broken a bone in my foot, so we went to the ER. Sure enough, there's a small, nondisplaced fracture in a metatarsal. I came home with a boot and a referral to orthopedics. A fall could have been so much worse.

2024-12-30 23:28:43 GMT

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Multiple trips to the VA clinic doesn't sound good. I hope your husband is ok. Apple pie is sure to help!

2024-12-28 16:40:09 GMT

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The WaPo article: "Elon Musk, enemy of ‘open borders,’ launched his career working illegally"
https://wapo.st/3VZtyR5

2024-12-25 02:47:44 GMT

We now have a confirmed case in Oregon of a cat who died of H5N1 of a strain matched to the frozen raw pet food he had eaten. This is in addition to the cats in the Los Angeles household who became ill and died of H5N1 likely contracted from frozen raw pet food. If H5N1 virus is in the meat in raw pet food, this suggests not only avoiding feeding raw pet food but also thoroughly cooking meat for human consumption.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/portland-pet-food-recalled-washington-221658512.html

2024-12-16 02:31:06 GMT

Holly Holy
#MakeAnySongAHolidaySong
#12DaysOfChristmas
#HashtagGames

2024-11-28 14:17:24 GMT

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That sounds like a grand day! Enjoy!

2024-11-15 21:24:55 GMT

A cheering happening on today's walk was Donny's encounter with a tiny girl (maybe 2 years old), who was absolutely thrilled to get to interact with him. He was very patient, and her mom and I made sure that she didn't pull his ears or do other inappropriate things. The girl's mother and grandfather also got turns petting him.
The girl's grandfather asked what kind of dog Donny is, and I said a mixed breed from the shelter. I'm proud of my little shelter ambassador.
#DogsOfMastodon

2024-11-07 00:01:32 GMT

Yesterday I made pita for the fun of it. Then I made hummus to go with the pita. I ate all the pita, but there was leftover hummus, so today I made pita again. Now I have leftover pita...
https://cdn.masto.host/medmastodoncom/media_attachments/files/113/438/495/198/974/132/original/60fe2b1826703b69.jpg

2024-11-06 19:48:18 GMT

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And Howard Dean had the 50 State Strategy. Imagine where we'd be today if we'd spent all these years carefully building the party infrastructure in every state.

2024-11-03 00:48:38 GMT

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Terrifying! Thank goodness you and the cyclist were quick enough to avoid disaster!

2024-10-12 13:37:09 GMT

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This morning Facebook gave me a memory from 8 years ago of the first time that Donny and I came across the dragon. My husband was walking with us and got this photo, which shows how unfazed Donny is by the dragon.
https://cdn.masto.host/medmastodoncom/media_attachments/files/113/294/708/614/203/497/original/eeab63081532e643.jpg

2024-10-11 19:34:36 GMT

Donny's Facebook post today:
Dear World,
Yay! When me and my mom walked past the dragon's yard this morning, he was there! Can you see him flapping his wings and breathing fire? I hadn't seen him for a long, long time. My mom says he probly sleeps in the people's basement when it's too cold or too hot for dragons.
Love,
Donny
https://cdn.masto.host/medmastodoncom/media_attachments/files/113/290/453/244/679/590/original/5e88eb5f352e076e.mp4

2024-10-04 16:11:15 GMT

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Oh dear, no fun for you or Summer.

2024-10-04 01:33:40 GMT

Atari!
#TechAMovie
#HashTagGames

2024-10-04 01:21:08 GMT

Three Days of the Commodore 64
#TechAMovie
#HashTagGames

2024-09-27 15:56:28 GMT

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Good morning to you and Summer! Muffin lessons? Are you teaching someone to bake them? My dogs have that same kind of orange ball, but a smaller size. 😀

2024-09-21 00:04:44 GMT

When I went to Costco this week, the holiday decorations on display were for

2024-09-04 18:01:27 GMT

PBS is being a lot more straightforward than WaPo and NYT, e.g. this feature: "How Trump has made election lies a key feature of his campaign."
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-trump-has-made-election-lies-a-key-feature-of-his-campaign

2024-09-03 19:05:26 GMT

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Happy early birthday! Taking care of yourself by protecting your health is a wonderful way to celebrate! I trust that Summer has something special planned for you for tomorrow.

2024-08-31 12:53:37 GMT

Good morning, Mastodon friends! It's a delightful sunny morning with a temp of 57F! I'll get out to walk Donny soon to enjoy the coolness. We're expecting a high in the mid 80s today, then several days in the 70s. I'm looking forward to training the dogs in the yard again!
We didn't hear anything yesterday about whether the appeal of the insurance company's denial of my husband's next round of hyperbaric oxygen therapy succeeded, so we wait until Tues.
Have a safe and good day, all!

2024-08-31 00:06:35 GMT

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Thank you for the tip on the sale! The only negative about ReadiMasks IMO is their cost, and this helps. 😀 I've worn ReadiMasks for haircuts, MRIs, and dental appointments. I find them comfortable to wear, although peeling them off my face is not as comfortable. The hack for dental visits was introduced by [@findmeabluebird](https://zeroes.ca/@findmeabluebird ) on her Twitter account.

2024-08-29 01:20:42 GMT

Donny gave me a bit of a scare this morning when he refused his morning walk. He wasn't limping, and he didn't yelp when I palpated his abdomen, but he definitely was not himself. However, he perked up as the day went on and seemed fine by the afternoon.
I still haven't gotten results on the virtual parkour entries for either dog, which I submitted on 8/18 and 8/24. There must indeed have been a ton of submissions close to the 8/31 deadline. I'm not worried, but it will be fun to find out.
https://cdn.masto.host/medmastodoncom/media_attachments/files/113/042/672/846/463/380/original/f2ab51bf43ccdeb3.jpg

2024-08-03 00:20:19 GMT

Well, Donny looks pretty comfortable at the moment. #DogsOfMastodon
https://cdn.masto.host/medmastodoncom/media_attachments/files/112/895/148/264/220/460/original/e31a0a3ac1714600.jpg

2024-07-30 23:07:52 GMT

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Getting a new roof is tough on everybody. Donny and Joule have a ball just like Summer's.

2024-06-28 13:17:03 GMT

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Here's a gnome home that Donny and I found on our walk yesterday.
https://cdn.masto.host/medmastodoncom/media_attachments/files/112/694/426/498/021/564/original/21bbf050699ad2a9.jpg
https://cdn.masto.host/medmastodoncom/media_attachments/files/112/694/427/530/047/751/original/876d4052d0edc3ae.jpg