Lakeside Labor Day week-end

So much excitement in Lakeside today. Reminds me of a day in June when we watched our neighbor Tom install a window. But today, another neighbor was giving away some furniture--a very nice oak chest. So 3 ladies stopped to investigate, and left their car parked in the middle of the road and 3 other cars had to stop and wait. Right outside our house--we could see it all from our porch. Lakeside is really rocking.

This is Labor Day week-end and there will be a lot of people here for a final good-bye.  But many people are staying because there is more here than their primary home town.  Like traffic jams.

Winding down the 2018 season

Seventy days certainly goes by quickly.  We’re into Labor Day week-end and the place has come to life.  It was so quiet without children.  And I was in bed for 3 days with a cold this past week. Tonight is a Neil Diamond tribute program by Jay White, and then fireworks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1gMGZ5yexw

So this summer we’ve had Elvis, and John Denver, and Karen Carpenter and Neil Diamond tributes.

I love my new hair style (curly perm), even if Bob is less than enthusiastic.  Especially like that I can walk in the wind or rain, quite common here on the lake, run my fingers through it and I’m ready to go. I’ve had a lot of compliments, got one today a month after the fact, which are rare these days.

I’d been having some foot problems with all my walking and exercise, so I looked up the symptoms, thought back to my change in size about 6-9 months ago, and decided to drive to Sandusky and buy an 8.5, same style, and it seems to help. I’m also going barefoot in the house.  Not sure why I had changed to an 8—maybe the 8.5 wasn’t available plus the 8 felt fine when I wore it.  It’s hard to find the shoe style I like—don’t like the ones with mesh.

I went to a great talk on the change in the nutrition labels on Monday and am now noticing—Bob bought me some cans of chicken noodle soup so I could eat something, and there it was!  The rest of the week’s programming looked good too, but I was asleep in the guest room.  A friend said the foreign films were among the best she’d seen (part of a program).

Yesterday I did walk to the rummage sale, and got a great deal on a painting/print (not sure which until we take it apart) by our deceased artist friend James DeVore. Tomorrow everything will be half price, and I saw a small mirror I’d like to pick up to keep in the bathroom vanity so I’ll probably go back.  One year at the ½ price sale, I got an 8 place setting of white china for $5! I can’t buy paper for that. Plus it was lovely. 

Our daughter and son-in-law have been living in our home while theirs is being remodeled, and she sent me a photo of the mums she planted at our condo. There’s no color yet, but it should look terrific later in the fall.   The impatiens had been decimated in a storm.  Looks nice.  They’ll be moving out this week-end now that their house is finished.  Well, finished for now.  In October they are getting new floors, but they won’t have to move out for that.  I think he starts upstairs and works down.  I would love to have our marble tile floors replaced, but Bob says no, too expensive. They are cracked, and there’s no sheen left.

I have to figure out how to use up our leftovers. A neighbor is having something this evening—pizza and we’re invited.   Bob was doing the shopping when I was sick, so we had to find someone who could use the milk we didn’t’ need that he bought--a half gallon of 1% milk. I think Sunday there is a barbeque on the hotel lawn. Monday evening we’re invited to the Barrises for dinner. We’re not leaving until Tuesday morning, but have a lot to do on Monday.  We’re usually not here for the holiday, so I’m watching the schedule and the frig.

Happy No-Labor Day

“As Americans celebrated the Labor Day weekend, nearly 94 million people of working age actually had nothing to celebrate. That’s because they aren’t in the labor force. They’re not working and they’re not looking for a job. The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the labor force participation rate is now 62.6 percent, a 38 year low.”

“A mother with two children participating in seven common welfare programs would enjoy more income than what she would earn from a minimum-wage job in 35 states, even after accounting for the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. In Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia, welfare pays more than a $20-an-hour job. “

http://www.forbes.com/sites#/sites/johngoodman/2015/09/09/why-does-anyone-work/

Government aid is bi-partisan—Republicans vote for increases almost at the same level as Democrats.  It means VOTES!  But obviously it’s not best for the individual, the family or the country.

It’s Labor Day, and many people are working today

Labor Day. There's a lot of support for an increase in minimum wage, because it makes good politics and sounds generous, but not much economic sense, therefore we know it's from the left. Very few hourly wage earners are at minimum and if they work full time, they are above the poverty line and lose benefits. (Maybe you think that’s good, but it could be a huge drop in the tax free, spendable income.)

Only about 30% of teens today are employed, so compare that to my era (1950-60s) or the 1970s—45-60%. That hurts them down the road. But politicians still get to hire at subsistence wages and call it "internships." Only about 11% of the work force is in a labor union, but in many states (like Ohio) you have to pay dues to a union to teach school even if you aren't a member (unions contribute almost 99% to Democrats).

I've been listening to Dennis Prager interview people about their jobs and why they love them. One guy writes for a motorcycle magazine (34 years) and gets to test the new models. Another sells ads for the back of the grocery tape--makes an unbelievable income. A woman called and said she homeschools and takes care of her husband and loves what she does, especially the research. One man designs one of a kind gift boxes. They were all so excited about their work it's been a fun program for Labor Day.

What was your first job? Mine was a newspaper carrier for the Rockford Morning Star. My sisters actually had the route which was almost the entire town of Forreston, IL, but I got the edges of town which included a least 2 farms down a scary lane with no homes. In my mind's eye I can remember the route. I was in second grade, I think. The worst part--collecting; the best part--getting gifts at Christmas from my customers.

• Tom Blackburn: Columbus Dispatch carrier, it was an afternoon paper back then.
• James Isenhart: While still in HS in Mt. Morris was mowing lawns, then Kable Printing!
• Melissa Nobile: Baby sitting, lifeguard at the lake, dental office receptionist. And then I went to college.
• Kelly Sanders: Babysitting was my first job then came McDonalds.
• Jeanne Poisal: Babysitting then Woolworth’s.
• Mike Balluff: I too carried and delivered Rockford Morning Star in Mt Morris, then stocked shelves at M&M Market and lifeguard at Camp Emmaus. I got paid 69 cents/hr at Messers. That was just enough to keep my '51 Buick in gasoline.
• David Keck: Carrier for The Toledo Blade. Almost identical likes and dislikes. One dread at the end of the route: having a paper left over, or being short one.
• Roland Lane: Carrier for the Columbus Citizen.
• Anna Loska Meenan: Babysitting, then a maid at a Holiday Inn
• Sue Noll: Counting inventory or cleaning out an abandoned, filthy house for a perspective tenant, can't remember which was first
• David Meyers: Subbed on a Columbus Citizen route. Fondest memory was walking on the crust of frozen snow, seldom breaking through it. Also the feeling that I was the only one awake in the world.

Labor Day 1963—Monday Memories

Fifty years ago Labor Day was also September 2  and I went into labor—I remembered that today reading Abby Johnson’s account of a medication abortion (mifepristone and misoprostol), her second. She and her husband were getting a divorce, and she was a volunteer at Planned Parenthood, and “chose” this option based on what counseling she received and thought it would be easier than a surgical abortion (she’d already had one of those).  She was lied to about the amount of pain and bleeding she should expect, and she was afraid she would die as she bled and passed clots for hours.  Alone.  She returned to PP later and asked why she hadn’t been warned and was told that the pain and bleeding is played down, or no one would choose it (I suspect that medication abortions are much more lucrative, and don’t require qualified medical people to be on hand).

After 50 years, I’m a little vague on the details, but I do remember that my second pregnancy had been uncomfortable from day one. . . like someone were pressing needles into my abdomen.  In this photo I was about 6 weeks pregnant and not feeling good at all.  I can remember a few weeks before the miscarriage having sudden bleeding, going to the hospital in a taxi accompanied by a nice man (don’t remember his name) who worked down the hall in the communications office (University of Illinois), and he stayed with me in the emergency room being mistaken for my husband. But after a few hours the bleeding stopped and I was sent home only to have it happen again on Labor Day week-end when I was home.

My first clue that something was terribly wrong was that the stabbing needle pain I’d had for three months was completely gone when I woke up in the morning.  I think now the pain ended because the baby was dead and my body was no longer trying to reject it, for whatever reason.  After some hours on the couch, talking on the phone with my sister in Indiana who was an RN and my OB, we decided to go to the hospital.  I don’t remember if I was given drugs or not, but after a few hours of fairly mild labor pains, the nurse came in to check, and then showed me what looked like a bloody softball in the bed pan.  She pressed all over my abdomen to make sure everything was expelled and examined all tissues carefully before sending it to the lab. She hugged me, too.

Like Abby, I bled a lot too with my miscarriage, but was in the hospital, so although I knew I’d lose the baby, I didn’t fear for my life and I wasn’t lying on the bathroom floor covered in blood, urine, feces and vomit, violently ill from powerful drugs that induce a miscarriage. And I wasn’t alone.

For Abby’s account of her “safe, legal, and quick” medication abortion check her story.

Monday Memories--a visit from Lynne and Genie

Friends from Illinois came to visit on Labor Day Week-end 1972 and "Aunty Lynne" brought two handmade Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls (which I still have) for our children. We had a dinner party, according to the newspaper article, attended the Upper Arlington Art Show, an ice cream social, a band concert and the fireworks at Northam Park. Our friends had also visited in May that year and we toured German Village where we ate dinner at Schmidts, attended a Couples Circle group of First Community where we heard a presentation by the church choir director, and attended church on Sunday at First Community Church.

These little bits of history all arrived in the mail this afternoon. I think I have copies somewhere, but these are really good memories. I'm glad Lynne saved them.

Labor Day Detour

Usually we go to the Upper Arlington Art Show on Labor Day, but this year we'll be at my daughter's home to help with building the deck, the decorating and whatever else needs to be done before our party next Sunday. So I've got some bratwurst grilling on the stove top which I'll reheat there; made some cole slaw with carrots and pineapple; about 2/3 of my pumpkin coffee cheese cake (made without the pumpkin since there's none to be found); and I'll swing by the store for chips and buns.

Not that I didn't know this, but I'm not an "event planner." Oh, I have great ideas 6 months going into it, but as the day draws nearer whether a luncheon, dinner, bridal shower or 50th anniversary party, I lie awake at night thinking about the "what ifs." In this case, where will everyone park. Well, at least we've cancelled the one in Illinois--I've been awake since mid-June. I need some sleep!