These bloodsuckers aren’t just for Halloween!
Who is your favorite vampire? Do you swoon over Edward Cullen and Bill Compton, or are classic bloodsuckers like Count Dracula and Lestat de Lioncourt more your style? As fun as it is to obsess over and be scared by these fictional vampires, the real things are much more fascinating. Here is some blood-curdling information from National Wildlife Federation on living, breathing vampires that might just be stalking you.
Vampire Bats
Meet Desmodus rotundus and his cousins Diphylla ecaudata and Diaemus youngi, known respectively as the common, hairy-legged and white-winged vampire bats. Found only in the Americas, their collective range goes from Mexico down through Argentina. These bats feed exclusively on the blood of other animals. The common vampire bat typically goes for mammals, including domestic cows and horses, while the other two species prefer to feed upon birds—although the occasional human does make it on the menu. Thankfully, the bite of one of these bats won’t turn you into a vampire although the wounds can become infected.
Mosquitoes
For mosquitoes, it’s the ladies who are the bloodsuckers. Both sexes feed on flower nectar as their main source of nutrients. Only when she’s ready to reproduce does the female mosquito seek out a blood meal. She needs the added protein boost in order to lay her eggs and create a whole new generation of lady vampires.
Lampreys
These eel-like creatures are something right out of science fiction horror. Their disc-shaped mouths are filled with circles of razor-sharp teeth, which they use to bore into the flesh of their victims. They can remain attached for days or even weeks, all the while sucking in blood and body fluids. One species, the sea lamprey, has been introduced into the Great Lakes where it has become a problematic invasive exotic species. This lamprey can grow to almost 2 feet in length and the native lake fish it feeds upon often don’t survive the draining.
Bed Bugs
The goodnight rhyme “nite nite, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite” takes on macabre twist when you learn that in the last few years, these little vampires are on the rise. Nearly eradicated in the North America for 50 years, bed bugs are back with a blood-sucking vengeance, showing up everywhere from high-end hotels to college dorms to rural bedrooms. After their victims fall asleep, bed bugs emerge from their hiding places in cracks and crevices and insert their sucking mouthparts in a series of bites along the blood vessels, drinking as they go and leaving as series of red, itchy welts.
Oxpeckers and Vampire Finches
There are several bird species that form symbiotic relationships with larger animals. The larger animals tolerate the birds’ presence on their bodies, leaving the birds free to feast upon ticks and other parasites that are lodged in the skin feeding upon the animals’ blood. It’s a win-win situation. But oxpeckers are birds that take it one step further. Not only do they feed upon invertebrate parasites, they are happy to consume bits of flesh and blood of their host animals while they’re at it. Vampire finches inhabit the Galapagos Islands and supplement their diet of seeds, insects and nectar with the blood of other birds, usually the blue-footed booby. They peck a hole in the flesh of the booby to get the larger bird’s blood and strangely, the boobies hardly seem to notice.
Leeches
Few animals evoke the “icky-creepies” in people as much as worms do with their slimy squirminess and their faceless, legless bodies. When such a creature also feeds upon human blood, it only adds to the horror factor. Such is the case with leeches. These parasitic worms attach themselves to their host and bloat themselves on blood. While most leeches are external parasites, some species will swim into nasal cavities and stay there, feeding and growing. Capable of holding undigested blood in their stomachs, parasitic leeches can go months between feedings.
Candiru Catfish
There are several species of diminutive candiru catfish that inhabit South American rivers. Some seek out larger fish and use their spiny mouths to attach themselves to the gills of their victims, where they makes an incision with their teeth and drink their fill of fish blood. Some species actually burrow inside the bodies of their prey, leaving a wound that looks like a bullet hole. Once inside they suck blood from the internal organs. This is the fish that gained international fame recently when one swam up a man’s penis, where it fed for several days before having to be surgically removed. Few things are more horrifying than even the thought of that!
Even scary wildlife isn’t safe from habitat destruction, global warming, pollution and other human-caused problems. Read more about real life wildlife vampires and NWF at www.nwf.org/nationalwildlife.
Miracle of modern technology
Most of you know that I continue to become more pregnant every day! I am due in 8 weeks and can’t wait to see my baby! I did get a great preview of her pretty little face recently when I visited a genetic specialist. Since I am over 35, my insurance covers this type of check up to make sure the baby looks good and doesn’t seem to have any genetic problems due to my aging eggs!
3D ultrasounds are amazing… they show so much detail, it’s almost like looking at an actual portrait of my baby. In this photo, you can see the umbelical cord… you can see that she has my husband’s nose and my cheekbones. She has such cute chubby cheeks.
If you’re pregnant, I highly recommend getting a 3D ultrasound! There are retail shops where they do “non-medical” 3D ultrasounds. A friend of mine did that and she said it cost about $150 for a 30 minute session.
H1N1 clinics to be held at two Oklahoma City schools
The Oklahoma City-County Health Department along with the Oklahoma City Public Schools and other partners will distribute H1N1 Influenza vaccine at two locations on Saturday, October 24th from 10 am to 3 pm. The locations are, U.S. Grant High School, 5016 S. Pennsylvania and Southeast High 5401 S. Shields Blvd. in Oklahoma City.
Following Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines, these clinics will be open to ONLY pregnant women, school-age children, pre-K through grade 12 and children 6 month to 18 years with underling health conditions. There will be no seasonal influenza vaccine given out at this clinic. Additional clinics will be scheduled across the Oklahoma City Public Schools and other locations based on vaccine’s availability.
Adequate parking and Spanish translators will be available at both locations. At the U.S. Grant location please enter through the west door; the vaccine will be administered in the cafeteria. At the Southeast High School clinic location please enter through the south door, the vaccine will be administered in the cafeteria as well.
Anyone bringing a child to the clinic who is not the parent must have a signed permission slip from the parent authorizing the shot. The slip must read:
I (Full Name Parent) give permission for (Full Name of Person) to obtain the H1N1 vaccination for: (All children must be listed with full names and date of birth). This slip must be signed and dated with the date they bring the child to the clinic.
The immunizations are free of charge from the health department; however the health department will accept donations to help cover the cost of administering the vaccine.
For information on both seasonal and H1N1 influenza please call 419-4123 or go the OCCHD website at: http://www.cchdoc.com
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate?
For pregnant women, deciding whether to get a flu shot and the H1N1 shot is tough. I am pregnant and a bit hesitant. It seems you can’t watch a newscast or read an article about H1N1 without reference to the elevated risk to pregnant women.
Getting a pregnant woman to take a shot is a tough sell.
I’ve had doubts about getting the vaccines— I’m healthy and have never had a flu shot in the past. I did get the flu two years ago but that was the only time.
I’ve heard the statistics — since April at least 100 pregnant women have been hospitalized with H1N1 and 28 have died. According to the American Pregnancy Association, there are about 6 million pregnancies each year in the United States, resulting in more than 4 million live births. Those numbers make the number of H1N1 hospitalizations seems minute.
But, the more research I have done, the more I tend to agree that the shots are a good idea.
One worry I have about the vaccines concerns thimerosal, a controversial preservative that some activists link (without proof) to the high rates of autism. With new statistics stating that one in 100 kids could develop autism, I can’t help but be wary. But, you can request a seasonal or H1N1 flu shot without thimerosal.
Research indicates that not only can the flu vaccines protect you, they can protect your baby. According to Babycenter.com, anti-flu antibodies that you develop after getting the shot are passed to your baby, providing her with immunity that may be protective until she’s 5 or 6 months old.
“This is important because young babies who catch the flu are at particular risk for serious illness, but they can’t be vaccinated themselves until they’re 6 months old,” the site states. And by getting vaccinated, you lessen the chances of spreading the flu to others, doing your part in stopping the worldwide spread.
Talk to your doctor if you are sick and have a fever or have ever had a rare condition called Guillain-Barré before getting vaccinated.
RIP Bicycle Bob
“Bi
cycle Bob” was found dead near the Edmond Farmer’s Market Sunday. Anyone who has lived in Edmond for any amount of time knows this man. His real name was Dwite Morgan and he was homeless. It’s a shame. Apparently, another homeless man was arrested on a murder complaint. We’ll miss you, Bicycle Bob. RIP.
Dress your pet for Halloween!
Here are some adorable pet costumes to give you some inspiration for dressing your pet! My silky terrier will be a glow-in-the-dark skeleton, as he is every year:) 
Send me pics of your pets dressed for Halloween and I’ll feature a few in the you! Section’s pet page!!! Send to Hwarlick@opubco.com.
Creature Feature Cupcakes
Thanks to Sharon Bowers, author of “Ghoulish Goodies” and publisher Storey Publishing for allowing me to publish a few of the wonderfully creative recipes she offers up in the book.
Creature Feature Cupcakes
These alarming sea monsters, with waving tentacles and a single, staring eye, require a bit more effort than the other goodies in “Ghoulish Goodies” but if you’re feeling crafty, children are delighted by these green frights. The tentacles are made from purchased marzipan, an almond paste available in the baking section of most supermarkets. Marzipan provides a sort of ready-to-eat play dough that you can color green by kneading in paste coloring. Author Sharon Bowers strongly recommends paste coloring when working with marzipan — liquid color will change the texture and the marzipan tentacles won’t stand up correctly on top of the cupcake.
Cupcakes:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter at room temp
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
1/2 cup hot milk
For assembling the cupcakes:
1 recipe Cream Cheese Frosting (from the book page 85) or your own recipe
Green paste coloring
12 orange or lemon gummy fruit slices
12 chocoloate-covered sunflower seeds
2 (7-ounce) cans marzipan pearl or siver dragees
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line one 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice into a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and creamy. Beat in the molasses and the egg. Add the flour mixture and stir just until combined and then blend in the milk. Spoon the batter into the liners.
4. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, and then turn the cupcakes out onto racks to cool completely.
5. Color the cream cheese frosting green with a dab of paste coloring. Put the frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a plain, midsize tip. Pipe the icing on top in wide, concentric circles, starting at the outside and sprialing inward to a slightly domed center, like a coiled rope. (You can also use a ziplock bag with one corner cut off, but your coil won’t be quite as evenly rounded.)
6. Use a bit of frosting to stick a chocolate-covered sunflower seed in the middle of each gummy fruit slice and set the aside.
7. Set up a stain-proof work surface, such as a large, flat platter or a large sheet of parchment and, wearing latex gloves to protect your hands from the coloring, knead the marzipan until it becomes softened and malleable. Make a dent on the surface and dab on some green paste. Knead the color through the marzipan, adding more as necessary to achieve a lurid shade, and pat the marzipan into 4 disks about 3 inches in diameter.
8. Use a rolling pin to roll each disk out to a thickness of 1/4 inch. With the tip of a sharp knife, cut each disk into 12 triangles 3 to 4 inches long and about 3/4 inch wide at the bass. Press dragees all over one side of each triangle.
9. Stick a gummy fruit slice, rounded edge up, in the center of each cupcake.
10. Using the blade of a knife or an offset spatula to lift the marzipan triangles from the cutting board, place 4 tentacles on each cupcake, around and behind the fruit slice eye, curling and twisting each tentacle downward as you place it (the dragees should be on the underside of each curl).
11. These are best eaten within 24 hours, before your tantacles begin to droop, but they can be stored, tightly covered, for up to 4 days.
Autumn brings nostalgia
Ah, the cool, crisp weather, the warm and cozy sweatshirts, the football games, falling leaves and the smell of pumpkin pie. It’s fall!
I’m one of those people who truly loves the changing of seasons. But fall is special. For me, it brings back vivid memories of when I was a student and headed back to school. I loved school, so fall was a time of great excitement. Back-to-school clothes, the plastic smell of new binders and backpacks, clean white sneakers, even bundles of new socks made the season a favorite.
It was a fresh start for everything — I could reinvent myself however I wanted. Some years I decided I would be a prep; some years I was a punk rocker. Grades started over, and the new school year meant I was that much closer to being free.
Looking back, and with my 20-year reunion next spring, I wish I could have stayed in high school forever. Some new television programs are bringing back that nostalgia for me even more. Has anyone seen “Glee”? I’m a total “Gleek.” The show, which centers on a high school show choir called New Directions, is practically the story of my high school existence.
Though the show is full of stereotypes — the jocks, the cheerleaders, the nerdy music kids — it’s not too far from the truth as it was when I was in high school in the late 1980s.
I was a music nerd and proud of it. Like the show’s character Rachel, who wants the solo in every song, I would spend hours in my room, singing the hits of “Les Miserables” and “Phantom of the Opera.” OK, that’s a little embarrassing to admit, but it did lead to a lucrative part-time job as a wedding singer as an adult.
Show choir ruled my life. I lived for character shoes and stage makeup. My parents spent many a weekend hauling me around town to performances, rehearsals and contests. My dad still tells people, “If you want to keep your little girls out of trouble, put them in choir.”
I don’t know how true that statement is, but I did walk the straight and narrow. I had to keep my grades up to stay in show choir. And even though I may have been considered a geek by the “in” crowd, I was happy and having a great time.
Reader response:
I’ll bet you get a lot of response on “Autumn Brings Nostalgia.” I don’t get much excitement about the season changes, nor did I enjoy getting back to school. School was something that was required. The practice nowadays of buying a bunch of new clothes, books, backpacks, etc in preparation just wasn’t done… I do remember that I would get a new pair of shoes before starting to school because I wore mine out over the summer, playing football, scouting, running around… But the thing I do remember was choir and music… Your father’s comments about keeping out of trouble might be a trulsm… I was in choir in the 6th grade in California during WWII… learning “do-re-mi” (whatever……) Singing for an hour a day… In the 7th grade I was in a required glee club class.. I loved it.. Included in the curriculum was “music appreciation,” learning about the great “old” composers, Strauss, Bach, Rossini, Brahms etc… plus singing.. I did not understand the meaning of “part singing” but I just sang what the teacher told me to… After the war we moved back to Texarkana where I entered high school.. There was no music program there… only Band. But that was no problem… I was in every church music group available to a growing boy… I was in a quartet, junior choir, adult choir (after I was 16). My cousin was four years younger than I was but she could play piano..!!! Every Sunday she would come to our house along with eight or ten other kids in my church “clique.” We would gather around the piano and sing …. And ….sing….and sing… Hymns, solos, anthems, anything we could find. There was no “show choir” in those days…I went to college, studying engineering, but took as much choir there as was available in addition to church choir activities.. I could go on an on… Choir played a great part in meeting my wife… I was in the Army in Ft Belvoir, Va when I joined a base chapel choir. There I became acquainted with the chaplain’s assistant, then in lieu of being shipped to Korea, he used his influence to have me permanently assigned to the base… From there I met my future wife in Washington, DC.. So in addition to singing in the chapel choir, I sang in a kind of special “TV Choir” that practiced once a week in DC and sang on Sunday…(I was pretty rushed of get all of this done sometimes…) After I moved back to Arkansas, I immediately got back into the “swing” of things at church.. Not only did I sing in choir there, but my wife took up children’s music programs and eventually became the children’s choir coordinator here in OKC at Olivet Baptist Church…..Then……and then….22 years ago I heard about a choir forming in Edmond. I immediately checked on this and found I would have to audition….!!!!…. What is that??? In spite of all the singing I did, I hated solos….but I survived the audition and joined the Edmond Community Chorale Clearly the best opportunity I had and I have loved all of it every year … It is a lot of practice for only 2 concerts a year, but practice is my thing… I love it… So you can see … I could not agree with you and your father more… Music is my life….
Thanks for writing this article, and bringing back all those memories….
Jerry Lavender
Wii love ‘Project Runway’
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Project Runway” is strutting to Nintendo’s Wii.
Atari Inc. is developing a video game based on the popular reality TV fashion competition. The game, set for release next year, will cast players as aspiring fashion designers tasked with creating designs and outfitting models.
Gamers will then be able to showcase their virtual fashions while walking down a catwalk using the Wii Balance Board controller.
“Project Runway” is airing its sixth season on Lifetime.
Gloria Estefan buys concert tix for PR jobless
AP–Thousands of laid-off government employees in Puerto Rico will be doing the conga for free, thanks to Gloria Estefan.
The Cuban-born singer bought some 2,000 tickets for her weekend concert and they will distributed by raffle among the nearly 17,000 workers who learned last month that they will lose their jobs beginning Nov. 6.
Stefan bought all the remaining upper-level tickets — at $40 each — as a gift to those who were affected, said Harold Rosario, the singer’s spokesman in Puerto Rico, said Thursday.
Officials have begun distributing the tickets to various government agencies, which will raffle them.
The government announced the layoffs in late September as it tries to close the gap on a $3.2 billion deficit. The U.S. territory is struggling with its third year of recession with a 15 percent unemployment rate, higher than any U.S. state.
Tickets to hear the seven-time Grammy winner sing Saturday range from $40 to $125.
Almost 8,000 tickets have been sold so far, Rosario said.
