Uncle Ted and the importance of earplugs

This past week, I got to go see Ted Nugent.  The last time I saw Ted was in 1978, I think, at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver.  Ted is a little older, but his music still sounded the same. LOUD. Although I cannot believe it, I am a little older, too.  I know unfathomable.  We had earplugs with us. Walt was holding mine. The girls and I went down to the front of the stage, while the guys stayed in our reserved seats. I was not going to give up my place to go back and get the earplugs. Normally, I take very good care of my ears. I always wear earplugs at concerts.  Even as a teenager, I never played my music loud.  Yes I was THAT irritating friend always turning down your music and telling you how you would have early hearing loss. So there I was about 3 feet from the speakers listening to Motorcity and Cat Scratch Fever.  I will digress for a moment,  my youngest child actually got this disease when she was little. You get it from cat scratches. When the doctor told us that is what she had I actually answered, “I thought that was just a Ted Nugent song.” As I was saying, there I was 3 feet from the speakers, caught a guitar pick too! When the show was over and the sound turned off, I felt as though I was under water. 3 days later, I still have some slight ringing and muffled sounds. The moral of this story is:  Protect your ears, especially when you are young, but more importantly when you are old.  Then you won’t be like me this week and keep repeating, “Huh?  What did you say?” I am annoying myself immensely and most likely those around me. Okay so more than usual.  But this is important.  Sound levels at concerts can be in the range of 120 to 140 decibels (db), well beyond the 100 db normally recognized as the threshold at which short-duration exposure can cause hearing loss. The loss is caused by damage to fragile tissue strands within the cochlea. These strands resemble tiny hairs. They move with the fluid in the cochlea to stimulate the electrical impulses in the auditory nerve. The hair cells become damaged in the presence of loud noise. To understand better, it’s like stepping on your grass, doing it occasionally your grass can recover, but if you have frequent traffic (or in my case a dog that uses the same path for his morning chase the chipmunks) and the grass becomes permanently damaged.  Damage to your ears happens the same way.  So even if you do not want to appear uncool or lose your place at the concert get those earplugs in.  It will be more enjoyable during and after the concert.

I have also updated the loss log, recipe, fashion and beauty pages.

As always, breathe chic