About two years ago, my in-laws called to inform us that our niece, 3 years old at the time, had been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. Like many, we had no idea what this disease was or what it meant for her.

From the Web site for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, we learned this: ”Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States. A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections.”

My brother- and sister-in-law were both carriers of the CF gene but had no idea.

Fifty years ago, people with CF rarely lived past childhood. But advances in medicine have helped them routinely live into their 30s and 40s. But the treatments that have vastly improved the quality of life and life expectancy of CF sufferers aren’t cheap or easy. Twice a day for around 30 minutes my niece dons a custom-made vibrating vest that helps keep her lungs clear but cost more than $10,000. Every meal she takes a fistful of medications. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has been a source of tremendous support for her and her family.

Libby Riddles

Later this month, a major mushing event will come to our area with some of the proceeds going to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

San Juan Stage Racing, Feb. 24-28, will hold two stages in Mancos, one in Silverton, and one on Hermosa Creek Road at Durango Mountain Resort. Organizers are keenly interested in finding sponsors to make this event as successful as possible. Last week, Libby Riddles, the first woman to win the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, was in town to help raise money for event. Whether you give or attend, this race is worth paying attention to.

Below is an interesting article on vitamin D from the New York Times’ Well blog. This is another one of the medical quandaries that so bedevil parents: not enough may be bad, too much may be bad and they don’t know how much is good. It’s easy to get yourself twisted up about these matters, but a friend of mine gave me great advice shortly after I first become a mother: listen to the experts but when it comes to making a decision, trust your instincts. You know your child better than anyone.

 The Miracle of Vitamin D: Sound Science, or Hype?

By TARA PARKER-POPE

Imagine a treatment that could build bones, strengthen the immune system and lower the risks of illnesses like diabetes, heart and kidney disease, high blood pressure and cancer.

Some research suggests that such a wonder treatment already exists. It’s vitamin D, a nutrient that the body makes from sunlight and that is also found in fish and fortified milk.

Yet despite the health potential of vitamin D, as many as half of all adults and children are said to have less than optimum levels and as many as 10 percent of children are highly deficient, according to a 2008 report in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Read more.

The countdown is on, say the minds behind Discovery Museum at the Powerhouse.

After years and years of planning, they have scheduled a grand opening for October of this year.

Haz Said, director of marketing and communications for the museum, called it exciting and “slightly terrifying.”

“The time is passing very quickly, and we’ve got so much to do,” he said in a phone interview Monday.

The power plant, located on Camino del Rio right before its junction with Main Avenue, was built in 1893 shortly after Durango’s founding and was one of the first steam-powered alternating-current plants in the country.

It had been shut down for decades and faced possible demolition when the city signed a deal to lease the space for a museum that emphasizes energy and science.

Phase I, which included exterior renovation and environmental remediation at the site, was completed a couple of years ago for about $1.1 million.

Since then, organizers have been busy with Phase II, which included drawing up designs, planning exhibits and raising funds.

Construction on those plans is scheduled to begin at the site later this month. In all, the estimated cost of Phase II is $2 million. Read more.

When a college friend recently posted on her Facebook status that her tween girls are “full-on obsessed” with Lady GaGa, I was a little disturbed. Personally, I’m in those gap years, when I’m too old to know what’s hip firsthand and my kids are too young to show me the light. But Lady GaGa made it even to my radar, through an AP article about her music being included on a list of songs deemed to espouse unhealthy relationships. This is who young girls idolize? I decided to investigate.

After watching the video for GaGa’s “Bad Romance,” my first thought was “Madonna circa 1984.” Madge was pretty racy back then with her sacrilegious rosaries and writhing on the ground dressed as a vampish bride. “Gonna give you all my love, boy. My fear is fading fast. Been saving it all for you, ’cause only love can last,” she crooned in ‘Like a Virgin.’

Though I credit Madonna back in the day with influencing me to wear black lace up boots, black rubber bracelets and a single dangly star earring, I don’t think she led me into any imprudent behavior, at least none that I probably wouldn’t have engaged in anyway. If anything, her old songs seem almost sweetly simplistic now.

So is Lady Gaga more of the same? She certainly has many of the same hallmarks. Booty shaken music, sexy moves and outrageous outfits. But there is something darker, more troubled there. “I want your ugly, I want your disease. I want your everything as long as it’s free,” she sings in “Bad Romance.” At the end of the video, she’s pictured smoking a cigarette next to her love object’s smoldering corpse.

I have to admit, it’s visually engrossing. And I like a performer with the moxie to take some risks. But is that who I would want my tween daughters fawning over? Not no, but hell no.

Which is precisely a big part of her appeal, I’d imagine. The teen years are when we begin developing an emotional life outside our parents protective embrace. Parents, loving us as they do, often resist this process. By picking fashions and music that drive our parents crazy, we prove to them our independence, albeit in a very peer-influenced, trend-following sort of way.

It’s important for parents to respond — the whole point was to send a message, after all — but too little says “I don’t care” and too much can stick kids in the mode of permanent rebellion.

In the end, I think the parent’s answer to Lady GaGa should be to watch what they’re watching, talk about what it means to them and know that at the end of the day, you the parent represent a much more significant role model that any scantily clad pop star.

While Durango’s annual winter festival is often known for its bawdier events, like the Follies and Fashion Dos and Don’ts, it also offers a lot in the way of family fun. This includes a spaghetti dinner Friday night at the Elk’s Lodge followed by a night-time parade downtown. On Saturday, the beach-themed Snowdown ball is open to princes and princesses of all ages. For a detailed listing of events, go to www.snowdown.org. Party on!