June 14th rolls around this time each year, and some people get very excited about Flag Day. Maybe June 14th is your birthday, or anniversary. Or maybe your connection to June 14th is the flag.

I’m not one to put the flag out every day, although some in my family do. I keep the flagpole in the front closet, and bring it out for patriotic holidays. I don’t fly the flag on Christmas, but it’s waving on Memorial Day. It goes up on Independence Day, and, on Flag Day.

I’m not really clear why there’s a special day for the Stars and Stripes. But I like it. Don’t really celebrate except to fly and salute the flag, but it feels right nonetheless. It is a nice-looking emblem, and I have many memories of reciting the pledge of allegiance while saluting the flag that was hung in the corner of every elementary school classroom I attended.

Flag Day? Bring it on. And order up a nice breeze to let that flag really fly!

If you read our mini-bios at the top of the page, you know I’m in radio. What you may not know is I’m been in radio since before audio-visual signals were delivered to our homes via satellite. (Cable’s been around longer than I have.)

Back in the day, to receive broadcast signals, you’d use a little set-top antenna, consisting of two pieces of metal sticking up like an elongated “V.” Somebody thought it looked like rabbit ears – and the term stuck, although it’s not as common these days to see them. (Actually, right now, we don’t have satellite or cable, so we have a “rabbit ears” antenna on each TV.)

That’s why I thought it was funny when I came to work at the radio station and saw this fellow (adjusting his rabbit ears for best reception?).

Well, I guess you had to be there.

I’ve had trouble getting enough sleep, really feeling rested, for quite some time now. My doctor even referred me to a “sleep lab.”

At the lab, I was given a comfortable sleep outfit consisting of a couple of strap-on sensors and some oxygen tubing, connected to a battery-powered recorder. After spending a (mostly) restful night thus encumbered, the lab tech downloaded the information from the recorder, and informed me that I had a mild case of sleep apnea.

Next step, the sleep class. With a group of similarly-afflicted and somewhat haggard people (we don’t sleep much), I met with a doctor for a two hour class where the group of us were told, among other things and much to our surprise, that one of the devices available to us by prescription could be (should we balk at the $150 price tag) made instead with common household items.

Biggest takeaway from the class: many cases of mild sleep apnea can be cured by losing some weight. In the meantime, avoid sleeping on your back.

This only applies to mild sleep apnea. The range (AHi, or Apnea/Hypopnea index):

< 5       normal

5-15     mild

15-30  moderate

> 30    severe

Even though those in the class had all registered with mild sleep apnea, several treatment options were shown (including surgical options for more severe cases), but with the exceptions of positional therapy (don’t sleep on your back) and weight loss (to a BMI of 23-25), all of them had side effects to contend with. In the “con” column for weight loss – it’s difficult. But given the options, I’m going to give it my best try.

101 degrees on the front porch, in the shade, for the past two days. And it’s not even mid-June. I hate to think what August might be like. Of course, August might be cooler than usual.

The thing about climate change is, you never know how it’s going to change. California’s having a drought. Other areas are having a wetter than normal year. After having more intense tropical storms over the past few years, now I’m hearing there may be fewer storms this year.

Who can tell what might happen next. Meteorologists? They’d be the natural choice, but they don’t have crystal balls, and frankly, even the short-range forecasts don’t seem as accurate as they have historically been.

Chalk it up to climate change. And don’t try to tell me there’s no such thing. “Global warming” was the misnomer that got some folk thinking this was all a fabrication, because climate change changes differently in different parts of the globe. Warmer, drier here may mean wetter, colder there.

The only constant is change. There is no stasis. You’re either growing or withering. With climate change, individual choices we make have small, perhaps imperceptible (think “The Butterfly Effect”) influences on our surroundings. Which is not to say it’s not worth making the effort. Meteorologists’ batting averages may be down, but they’re not giving up. Nor should we. We may be having a heat wave, but nobody knows exactly where (or when) this wave will break.