Alpha gal strikes again!

Ate monkeys - and dogs - in the mountains of northern Luzon, the Philippines. Dad was a great one for he and I visiting indigenous tribes; we stayed with Igorots, an almost Stone-Age tribe. I was 12, 1957. The dogs wereraised for food.
One chief had a shelf with about 22 skulls on it, each with a Japanese officer's rank badge. He had killed them with his spear, and took his "souvenirs".

Codger Craig Wilcox said:

Ate monkeys - and dogs - in the mountains of northern Luzon, the Philippines. Dad was a great one for he and I visiting indigenous tribes; we stayed with Igorots, an almost Stone-Age tribe. I was 12, 1957. The dogs wereraised for food.
One chief had a shelf with about 22 skulls on it, each with a Japanese officer's rank badge. He had killed them with his spear, and took his "souvenirs".

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Wowser. Dats some heavy stuff there, bro!

ETipp said:

Wowser. Dats some heavy stuff there, bro!

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In the mid-50's, there was still really bad feelings towards the Japanese and the atrocities that were committed during their occupation i WW II.

Codger Craig Wilcox said:

In the mid-50's, there was still really bad feelings towards the Japanese and the atrocities that were committed during their occupation i WW II.

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I was referring to eating monkeys.

However, you are correct on the hard feelings. Understandable considering what so many had to go through.

That Lone Star tick gives me an uneasy feeling. I know several people who can no longer eat meat after being bitten by one. Might as well dig a hole and bury me. I’m a meat eater.

Patocazador said:

Never heard of it. Is it everywhere in the U.S.?

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I can tell you for certain that the Lone Star ticks are in KY.

As a "Boy Scout of the Philippines, I ate a lot of weird stuff. One item I could never handle tho was "balut".
A duck egg, at about 14-18 days after being laid, would be taken from the roosting hen and buried in the dirt. Ducks, like chickens, incubate about 21 days. By two weeks, they have pinfeathers, and the bones are beginning to solidify.
The buried egg ferments, and after a few weeks really smells, to me, of death warmed over.
Never was able to taste one, couldn't get past the aroma.
On camping trips, each two boys would be given a live chicken, a paper bag of peas or corn, and a 1/4 lb lump of butter. Some of my fellow American military lads went hungry - I never did, as Granny had taught me how to separate head from body, and body from feathers.

Yup. I had Alpha Gal about 3 years ago. Unexplained hives/rash every morning I'd wake up. Finally went to allergist and I tested positive for Alpha Gal.

Burned out for me after 2.5 years.

Codger Craig Wilcox said:

Ate monkeys - and dogs - in the mountains of northern Luzon, the Philippines. Dad was a great one for he and I visiting indigenous tribes; we stayed with Igorots, an almost Stone-Age tribe. I was 12, 1957. The dogs wereraised for food.
One chief had a shelf with about 22 skulls on it, each with a Japanese officer's rank badge. He had killed them with his spear, and took his "souvenirs".

Click to expand...

The Borneo people also hated the WW2 Japanese; they abused people right and left. People should read Iris Chang's book, The Rape of Nanking (China) to see what the Japanese Army did; and these were for the most part, common Pre-War Japan citizens led by educated officers from Japan's population; tea ceremony, my butt!

My friends wife is from South Korea. Trust me- they STILL hate the Japanese!

Codger Craig Wilcox said:

Sorely afflicted by a famous (?) defoliant lovingly named "Agent Orange", I tend to stay away from herbicides, etc. Which is kinda difficult for a wetlands and wildlife biologist.
But I didn't always know about the AO.
Seems the defoliant dripped off the trees and such, and eventually washed into the Tonkin Gulf. Navy ships distill freshwater from saltwater, but did not remove the defoliant. So daily, we drank, and showered in the damn stuff.
2008, I got sidelined by severe spinal problems and two heart attacks. No more 2-week field trips in swamps, forests, and jungles. Still miss that that to this day!
On a wildlife survey in the Amazon, I camped solo for three weeks. There had been a sloth in the trees above my campsite, and after the third day, she came down and met me. Did you know they descend to go potty? She also came down to watch me every morning. Very good, fast swimmer!
So, I miss all that.
In 2018 I started going to the VA. They discovered the heart attacks, and found a hole in my left atrium - fixed all in a long open-heart procedure. And my neurologist diagnosed me as an Agent Orange patient. Dang stuff has my neuro system, joints, and pulmonary all fouled up. And every sailor aboard that carrier has been approved for disability ratings.
So no permithrin, etc., for me. A light dusting of "Off", and a good search for ticks.

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2,4-D is half of what comprises Agent Orange. 2,4-D aka Weed-B-Gone and is in many if not most dandelion killers. The VA in Minneapolis, which is huge, stopped using 2,4-D on their vast grassy areas because of the health issues associated with Agent Orange.
Keeping "cides" out of your life is a great idea...and a healthy idea --esp for any youngins that might be playing in your yard. -- Herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, etc.
Not fun fact, non-hodgkins lymphoma has become a major cause of death in dogs...attributed to Round-Up use. Just like it does for people -- imagine that. Link= https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3267855/
When my youngest was 4 1/2 yo he was diagnosed with leukemia...a close relative of lymphoma. We were part of a 10 country multi-national study to try to find causes. One of their biggest concerns was the use of yard chemicals -- they told us a family dog/cat walking across a treated lawn and coming inside with chemical transfer to rugs and carpet was enough exposure to be an issue for our children. We live a chemical free life as much as possible. Dandelion makes for a good salad and dandelion jelly tastes like honey! As for those pesky driveway weeds, vinegar works just as good as Round-Up and no risk of cancer. 30% Garden vinegar will kill anything. Or I can fire up my propane Weed Torch...kids loved to use it when they were younger.
I'll get off my soapbox now
ps. Cancer survivor turning 36 and has 4 kids of his own!

springfield art said:

The Borneo people also hated the WW2 Japanese; they abused people right and left. People should read Iris Chang's book, The Rape of Nanking (China) to see what the Japanese Army did; and these were for the most part, common Pre-War Japan citizens led by educated officers from Japan's population; tea ceremony, my butt!

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My step mother was a captured along with her family when Guam fell to the Japanese. She only survived as she was a late bloomer. The other teenaged girls did not. Her father was beaten to death as well.

The Japanese colonized Korea, and treated the Koreans like s---. Unlike some recent 'wars' we've been in, the Korean War was a great success in spite of the DMZ division. The thriving South Korea is a testament to Western values, compared to the hell-hole that is commie North Korea.

Codger Craig Wilcox said:

Sorely afflicted by a famous (?) defoliant lovingly named "Agent Orange", I tend to stay away from herbicides, etc. Which is kinda difficult for a wetlands and wildlife biologist.
But I didn't always know about the AO.
Seems the defoliant dripped off the trees and such, and eventually washed into the Tonkin Gulf. Navy ships distill freshwater from saltwater, but did not remove the defoliant. So daily, we drank, and showered in the damn stuff.
2008, I got sidelined by severe spinal problems and two heart attacks. No more 2-week field trips in swamps, forests, and jungles. Still miss that that to this day!
On a wildlife survey in the Amazon, I camped solo for three weeks. There had been a sloth in the trees above my campsite, and after the third day, she came down and met me. Did you know they descend to go potty? She also came down to watch me every morning. Very good, fast swimmer!
So, I miss all that.
In 2018 I started going to the VA. They discovered the heart attacks, and found a hole in my left atrium - fixed all in a long open-heart procedure. And my neurologist diagnosed me as an Agent Orange patient. Dang stuff has my neuro system, joints, and pulmonary all fouled up. And every sailor aboard that carrier has been approved for disability ratings.
So no permithrin, etc., for me. A light dusting of "Off", and a good search for ticks.

Click to expand...

My brother was on the gun line offshore Vietnam in 1966 aboard a destroyer and 1968 aboard a heavy cruiser. I believe they came in close to shore many times, including close in at Da Nang. He developed a rash while aboard the cruiser. The corpsmen thought he had some kind of a tropical fungus. The crew used to have fun saying when he came into his compartment — "The fungus is among us..."

About six or seven years after getting out of the Navy, he was diagnosed with psoriasis (so much for the fungus) and psoriatic arthritis. From then on for the rest of his life he was plagued with various ailments. The VA, of course, refused to recognize any Agent Orange exposure because he was a "Blue Water Sailor". His marriage fell apart because he was unable to keep a job because of his health. The joints in his hands swelled so much he was unable to hold tools. He improved some over the years and was able to work short hours. The VA eventually gave him a Disability Pension, but it took years for them to finally see he was 100% disabled. He was his own worst enemy in that he worked as much as he could because he hated to be idle. So the VA's attitude was, "See? He can work."

Fast forward to the end of his life (he died in 2018) he had developed an extreme and progressive curvature in his spine called Scoliosis that bent him over sideways so it became difficult to walk without a cane.

Eventually he needed a walker. AND he had finally developed Non-hodgkin's lymphoma. THAT finally killed him, May 2018. He had a lifetime of illnesses and suffering because of his Navy service offshore from Vietnam.

Then a year or two after his death, the VA FINALLY acknowledges what my brother knew all along — that the U.S. Navy ships on the gun line offshore Vietnam came in close to shore many times where runoff from the land certainly contained Agent Orange. And the ships had to make fresh water from the seawater offshore and there was NO WAY that water would not be contaminated.

My brother's widow (second wife) gets a little extra in the pension from the VA. But she would rather have him instead.