Monday Memories

Cousin Kirby, seated on floor, album cover, The Lincolns* Kirby and I at a family reunion in 1993 Kirby Johnson and I were first cousins and about the same age (I think my grandparents had 24 grandchildren). Our families would gather at my grandmother's home in Mt. Morris on Sunday afternoons, and the little house would be full of cousins. I remember he had terrible asthma and I think he took up trumpet to help his breathing. We both attended the University of Illinois, where we graduated in 1961--he in music and I in Education. He was a member of the concert band and was in a music fraternity, so our paths rarely crossed on campus. While at Illinois he and some friends formed a folk singing group called "The Continentals," and then changed the name to "The Lincolns." I was only vaguely aware of what they were doing, but I have one of their records (cover photo above). After college they headed for California and the "big time," touring the country with Donald O'Connor in 1962-63. Kirby by this time was playing many instruments and singing. Their album was the commercially viable pop/folk tunes so popular in the early 60s, with a number of the songs written by Rich Dehr, Frank Miller and Terry Gilkyson, of "Marianne" and "Memories are made of this" fame. Kirby stopped to see me in Champaign in 1963 after the death of my son, but I didn't see him again for thirty years. His home was in California and after 1967 mine was in Ohio, and when we returned to Illinois to visit family, our paths didn't cross. I knew the group performed on TV and changed its name to The Wellingtons. So through the magic of Google and the internet I looked him up this week. I discovered that he and his group (by then a trio) recorded the original Gilligan's Island Ballad. Rick Jarrard had left the group to become a producer. It was a rush job and no studios were open so it was actually recorded in someone's garage (according to one message board). Many sites still list them in the credits, but another said it was re-recorded the next season by a different group. According to Rick and Darva's Gossip page, the Wellingtons appeared on one of the episodes of Gilligan's Island as a band called "The Mosquitos," a take off on the Beatles, having added Les Brown, Jr. to the group. Kirby performed regularly with The Wellingtons on Hollywood Palace, a popular, long-running Saturday night variety show of the mid-to-late 1960's often hosted by Bing Crosby. They also performed 64 times on Shindig! according to a fan site. I found Kirby's name as a performer, conductor and arranger on the albums of some big name performers like Carly Simon [No Secrets, 1972; Another Passenger, 1976], Harry Nilsson and Bonnie Raitt. I think he probably had a fairly strong career in concert touring, TV and as a studio musician at least through the mid-1980s**. I never heard much after that, and didn't find many Google entries for later dates. I did find a 1986 film (music arranging) credit. It is difficult to tell, since many recordings are reissued and the credits run very long. We got together at a family reunion in 1993--in some ways he seemed the same sweet boy I knew as a child, but he was also world-weary. He died in 1999. Most of the pop music web sites and bulletin boards say that Kirby became an attorney, but if he did, no one in our family ever knew about it. And some web sites say a group called the Wellingtons recorded Disney's "Ballad of Davy Crockett," but if so it wasn't for the TV series (Mellomen one of whom was the voice of Tony the Tiger)--the guys in the Wellingtons wouldn't even have been out of high school in Illinois. Some sites say Wade became a producer, but I think it was Jarrard--but maybe they both did. The internet is fabulous, but there's a lot of misinformation too. And it's not much cleaner in the Wiki's. *Members of The Lincolns were Kirby Johnson, Rick Jarrard, Ed Wade and George Patterson **There is another musician also named Kirby Johnson, so more recent entries most likely belong to that person. 1. Ma 2. Natalie 3. The Shrone 4. Libragirl 5. Reverberate58 6. Shelli 7. Lazy Daisy 8. Old Lady of the Hills 9. Chelle If you'd like to join in on Monday Memories, leave a comment and I'll link back to you. Click here for the Monday Memories code Trackbacks, pings, and comment links are accepted and encouraged! View More Monday Memories Participants The Wellingtons Hollywood Palace Shindig! Kirby Johnson

2593 The cocoon where I live

If there was ever a statement that shows me my cocoon it's this one: "There is little difference between the amounts that Christians and non-Christians earn, spend, save, charge, or donate to charities." (John W. Kennedy)

Almost all my friends are Christians. They are married (or widowed), well-educated, prosperous and most tithe or at least are close. They are also very generous with their time, serving the larger community in many ways from boards of education to committees and races for the cure, city government, food pantries, hospitals, prisons, mental health agencies, Habitat for Humanity and inner city schools. Friends at Vineyard fan out and pick up the Homeless from the streets and bring them to church. There's a group of my friends who are doing an arts camp all summer "on the Hilltop" which includes meals for the children and neighborhood volunteers. Men I know are using business skills to reclaim a decaying neighborhood, house by house, for the poor. This month alone I know Christians coming home from rebuilding in Biloxi, distributing medicine in rural China, and Latin America, or going to Haiti to work in a school.

And probably because of our age, we know many people who are debt free and living well, after an early adult life of struggle and building. So I'll have to take a second look at that quote (forgot to write down the source, forgive me) and see why my life experience is so different.

2592 Front end or back end?

According to JAMA (285,no.16) Democrats are holding up the approval of Andrew von Eschenbach to be the Food and Drug Administration commissioner.

"Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D., was appointed Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs in September 2005. He holds that appointment concurrently with his position as Director of the National Cancer Institute, to which he was named in January 2002. Dr. von Eschenbach is a nationally recognized urologic surgeon, medical educator, and cancer advocate. He also is a cancer survivor.

Prior to his appointment as Director of NCI, Dr. von Eschenbach spent 25 years at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, ultimately serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer. In that position, he led a faculty of nearly 1,000 cancer researchers and clinicians." Full bio here.

If you read about him in the MSM (I checked WaPo), you'll first hear all about his friendship with the Bush family. That, in my guess, is what's really holding this up. No possible good could come of person with ties to the Bush family. It's apparently OK for him to fight cancer, but his views on over-the-counter sales of "emergency contraceptive pill" are not liked by Dems, who would rather catch potential cancer victims in the womb and eliminate them then, rather than treat them 50 or 60 years down the road.

2591 Out of the word closet

Every time I see JAMA or some other medical journal struggle to euphemistically describe men who transmit diseased results of homosexual behavior to women, I wonder if they need a committee working on a new term. Here's my suggestion.

The current term has three parts--the perp, the act and the victim. "Non-gay-identified men-who-have-sex-with-men who-have-female-partners could be shorted to prom-him-aids. That would mean a promiscuous bi-sexual moving very serious diseases back and forth (promenade).

2590 Are we drowning in red tape?

A clock repairman in South Charleston, Ohio refused a job with Lake County (Painesville, OH) to fix its 128 year old court house clock. The bid process was 20 pages long.
Phil Wright who is one of a handful of craftsmen who does this says he's used to doing work on a handshake, and it was just too much red tape. I can see having a contract, especially if you are a county or state agency, but 20 pages?

2589 My husband's new camera

He bought a Sony Cybershot H5. That means nothing to me since I don't know anything about cameras, but we thought we needed something before going to Europe in July. A neighbor who teaches camera classes at the Senior Center helped him pick one out, then sold him his brand new one when the source was out of that model, and he'll order a new one for himself. That way we'll have a little time to learn how to use this one. It tells me my computer doesn't have a hi-speed USB port. Will that matter? These are some practice shots:

Grilling burgers for Father's Day

Ready for burgers and bean salad

2588 Have you ever noticed

that if you do something well and are proud of it, someone else will second guess your decisions, outcomes or motives? Robert Fulghum (the guy who learned about life in kindergarten), a terrifically successful author, was recently asked:

"Why did I not address the political issues of our time, especially the actions of the present American government administration? Why did I not address the humanitarian issues of our day? Why was I not outraged as an American with the evil done on my behalf? Did I agree that might makes right, that the end justifies the means, and that God is on our side? How can I support the fundamental position of Zionist Israel? Did I really believe the American Way was the only Way? Did I have any real understanding of how America is perceived in the world now? How much hatred and contempt is felt? Why was I silent on these burning issues? Why did I not run for office and do something?"

He adequately answers, I think. But I did all this or addressed all these questions in the past 3 years except the last sentence (I wouldn't run for office of anything), and trust me, no one is beating down the door to my blog. The problem with people who ask these questions is usually that they don't like your answers and they'll still have a tantrum and flood you with "Yes, buts."

His response is beautifully appropriate for his style, beliefs and skill set:

"When people ask why don’t I do this and this and this instead of that and that and that, I can only say that I am a man who has found his league and scale, who goes about trying to be awake to the news of the immediate ordinary world; to make sense of what I see; to pass it on with the implied question: have you seen what I see? Look! Don’t miss the good stuff – that is my message."

Thank you, Mr. Fulghum, for being the best you.

2587 Which one would you believe?

I'm with the Starbucks folks on this one. I've yet to see a tattooed coffee clerk who would raise a studded eyebrow or flare a nose ring and bust some one (no pun intended) for breast feeding. But changing diapers? Yeah, that should get them tossed. Go to the rest room and use the one with the Braille instructions if you're too dense to know why other customers eating and drinking coffee don't want you near by. Someone's just a little too anxious for the lime light.

"Though the South Beach, Florida store in question was closed for renovations this past Sunday, some mothers gathered at a Starbucks and held a "nurse-in" to protest the expulsion of a woman named Nicole Coombs from the store. Coombs claims that she was asked to leave for breast-feeding her 4-month old son. The Starbucks manager, however, maintains that Coombs was asked to leave for changing her baby's diaper on one of the tables in the cafe." . . .

"Management and employees of that Starbucks store have never had any problems with nursing mothers in the past and have many women with infants as regular customers. This tends to support the store's side of the story, though the protesting mothers clearly support Coombs. They believe that Starbucks may have broken a Florida law that allows mothers to breastfeed anywhere they are legally allowed to be." Full story here.

Happy Father's Day

Usually I post my coffee shop stuff over at my other, other blog, but this one was just too good to allow it to languish in blog basement.

My regular Sunday coffee shop had a newbie on duty, and at 6:35 a.m., the coffee still wasn't made, so I hopped back in the car and went to another one about a mile away. While sitting by the window I overheard the two guys behind the counter who were making the coffee and waiting on customers:

Clerk #1: "There was a guy in here yesterday--had four kids and his wife is pregnant with the fifth. All girls."

Clerk #2: "Oh God. I'd have to shoot myself."

2585 Kroger battles Wal-Mart for food shoppers

according to a story in last week’s paper. I used to be a loyal Kroger shopper--I knew where everything was, I knew the staff, and I knew the specials--then they asked me to start playing games with a little plastic card, Kroger Plus. Well named, because it sure did up the price on everything. Jack it up, then give a special lowered price for using the silly card. They are not rewarding you for shopping there; they are penalizing you with data mining which is very expensive.

The worst thing about the loyalty cards isn’t just the cost increase in every day non-special items (about 49% higher than non-card stores), but the snooping they do on your shopping habits, which in turn “dumbs down” the choices to please the 20% of the customers they figure are making 80% of the purchases. Selling your information instead of food is also now part of the business. And in case you think you’ll just lie on the address and personal information, or borrow a friend's or the card of the person in line with you, some are going to finger scanning. With all the news about data being stolen recently (VA, AIG, Ohio University), you’d better know that a “privacy policy” is your own personal surrender flag.

So now I shop at Meijer’s or a neighborhood non-chain, neither of which use loyalty cards.

Loyalty cards

2584 Sadness mixed with joy and relief

My daughter called about 2 hours ago to tell me that her mother-in-law died early this morning. She had a rare form of dementia and had been in a nursing home for about 18 months. We last visited her in August, and although she was weak, she knew us and could carry on brief conversations. Each time they thought they were losing her, she would rally and return to the world of the living. She had physical problems too which the wonderful staff at the Lutheran Home (I've forgotten the name) controlled completely with proper diet and good nursing care--nothing extraordinary. My son-in-law had gone up Friday night, not because she was any worse, but just because he's such a super sweet guy who was helping out his parents. They were called after midnight because she was "in distress" so his father and brother were with her when she quietly slipped away. Her other three children are making arrangements to come home to Cleveland.

Yet, when a Christian dies, we are comforted by knowing there is more, much more. Mixed with relief because her illness is over, there will be sadness that now there is a hole in the family, among friends and in the church family. She directed a children's choir for many years at her Missouri Synod Lutheran church. She lost both her parents at a very young age, and I know a reunion will be on the agenda.

2583 The importance of a father

Ruth has a lovely message about the importance of fathers, and our heavenly Father. She lost her father at a very young age. She is the mother of several of the bloggers to whom I link. Check here, you will be blessed by her full message.

"The influence of a father cannot be over emphasized. Studies have shown that when a father is missing, absent from the home, there is a hole in the child, especially in a son, that cannot quite be filled

Fortunately, the Bible teaches there is a remedy. Many of the great leaders of past generations have filled this space, this hole left by an absent father with the Heavenly Father. The Psalmist David tells us even if my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. God is able to take all kinds of tragedy and bring about good when we commit our live to him."

2582 Episcopalian sound bites

About 1500 Episcopalians have been in Columbus this week, but you'd think there was only one, the gay Bishop Eugene Robinson. If I heard sound bites from him once, I'll bet I heard ten on our local radio and TV, admonishing others to believe the Bible, not about gender or marriage or judgement for sin, but about love and relationships. Most Anglicans (77 million worldwide) outside the U.S. take the Biblical view that homosexuality is an abomination, but he and a few hundred others have another agenda for their church. Did no one else but Robinson have anything to say?

Because ELCA (Lutheran synod to which I belong) cooperates with the Anglicans on things like disaster relief and social issues, a few years back it was proposed that Lutheran pastors be a part of the "historic episcopate" through the Episcopal hierarchy in order to be ordained. I've checked a few web sites to see if I could figure out where this stands today (it was a late 90s issue), but if there is anything more obfuscating than a federal government document, it is one done by the church where the elephant is just putting his trunk inside the door to see if he'll be invited to sit down.

2581 Environmental issues I believe in

Al Gore is just trying to rebuild his political base. The real action has to take place locally and by American business, not globally by government fiat. My goodness, in 2004 the airborne particulates in Beijing were more than 6 times as high as in New York City. And Ohio used to be under a glacier. So here's what I support, in no particular order:

1. Cleaner burning coal and safer mines.
2. Drilling for oil in Alaska, which is what Alaskans want.
3. Don't allow western and southern states to drain the Great Lakes so they can farm non-agricultural land.
4. Rebuild the barrier islands while restricting coast-line communities--even for the rich. Or the poor.
5. Don't allow mega-Casinos by Indians or Cajuns or Hispanics or the Mafia or people of any special interest in coastal-tourist areas. Work on developing "real" jobs that produce something.
6. Restore the fence rows in the Midwest so the birds can eat the bugs and less pesticide will be needed, plus it is just prettier and more colorful. Encourage living snow fences to protect soil from erosion in winter.
7. Get rid of welfare for farmers (price supports) which encourages mismanagement and misuse of the land and creates ever larger farms.
8. Strict enforcement of keeping out agricultural and waterway pests. (Actually we do a better job of restricting harmful bugs that hurt our economy than we do illegal people who do it by stealth.)
9. More solar power; forget wind turbines--looks ridiculous, kills birds and changes air currents which will have long term bad effects on agriculture.
10. More bicycle paths and set asides for parks. More sidewalks for walking. Discourage culs-de-sac to reduce congestion on feeder roads.
11. Give small, efficient cars a tax break instead of trucks, or eliminate it all together.
12. Reduce the government's dependence on oil by cutting gasoline taxes at the pump.
13. Have Hollywood's falling stars let squatters use their land for gardens for the poor.

I'm sure you have ideas from your industry.

2580 Algore's vision of the future without harmful emissions

Just kidding. These photos of North Korea were taken recently by a Russian web designer. Text has been translated.

HT Purpleslog

2579 Finances, taxes, consumerism and materialism--what I've blogged

This isn't everything, but it may take a while to find them all.

Alternative Minimum Tax Creep
The burden of student loans
Buy real food
Cashing in on going green
Charitable gifts Joe Biden
Charity CEOs’ salaries
College costs
Coupons TT
Debt management groups
Depression, Great
Donating to the United Way

Economy sad stories
Entitlement crisis
Ethanol and the energy crisis
Families in economic statistics
Fannie Mae
Fees, taxes and surcharges on utilities
Food stamps--what they will buy
The free breakfast
Gambling--the house always wins
Household income
Income tax preparation
Index of Economic Freedom
Love and Money
Loyalty card rant

The marriage gap and poverty
Material well-being of Americans
Minimum wage smoke screen
Mortgages and discipline
New face of homelessness
Petroleum based products--it's not just gasoline
Poverty in America
Poverty series, yet another one
Poverty, who helps
Retiree organizations

Retirees, income sources

Send Mom on a cruise
Six figure incomes--I feel their pain
Social Security
Student debt
Student loans
Taxes--Obama's Plan to save the economy
Taxes, Do the Rich pay their fair share
Thrifty food plan

Vacation home taxes
Wal-Mart and Ted Kennedy
Wal-Mart’s low prices help the poor
Wealth distribution
What I know about wealth and poverty
Why coupons don’t save you money
Why librarians salaries are low
Women’s wage myths
Worst Economy in 70 years
Young people in debt

Excerpts
"Liberals don't want the poor to be happy; they want them to be angry and feeling victimized--dependent on the government and Democrats for special programs. Not programs that lift them out of the bottom quintile, mind you, but programs that keep them right there where they belong--as their power base. The left is getting very aggressive with law suits against WalMart--and it's not just their deep pockets they're lusting for, they truly want WalMart to fail. Gimme back my po' folk!." Wal-Mart’s low prices help the poor

"My gripe is simple: Ellie Kay writes a column on finances, and the question she is responding to is about how to save money on food. According to the question, this family of four spends $700 a month on food. So how does Ellie Kay respond? She claims her family saved more than $8,000 last year on food and household goods by using, 1) manufacturers' coupons, 2) double coupons, 3) store coupons, 4) loss leaders, 5) price comps, 6) sales and clearances, and 7) comparison shopping.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. She's dancing with the guy who brung her. The advertisers. Food companies are not in business to give away their products, but she knows that most American shoppers believe they are. She knows that food companies are heavy advertisers in Meredith's publications." Why coupons don’t save you money

"Whenever you hear liberals whining that the rich aren't paying their share, but they will if we just increase taxes (like Friedman talking about raising gasoline taxes to reduce driving, which would probably hurt the poor the most), they ignore that the very wealthy can hire legions of accountants to protect them with all the loopholes Congress writes into the tax law, loopholes none of the the rest of us can qualify for or afford accountants and lawyers to interpret." Retiree organizations

2578 Student debt reply

Jody Minor gives this advice to the student (story in USAToday) at Rutgers who accumulated $116,000 of debt by graduation. "What did I do wrong?" the graduate whined? Mr. Minor supplies the answers in his letter making these points:

1. You didn't have to attend an extremely expensive college.
2. You could have spread your education over more years.
3. You could have worked part time or full time.
4. You could have worked before applying for graduate school.
5. You could have scrimped and saved (like he did).

Incidentally, Mr. Minor's parents' income was too high for him to qualify for government induced debt, so he followed this outline and graduated in 5 years with zero debt.

Friday Family Photo

Even most of my family couldn't tell you how these two photos are related. I'm guessing the b & w is 1940, but I have no idea what the occasion was. The children are my paternal cousins Kirby* and Melvin, Evelyn and Jimmy, my uncles Derril and Gene (my father's brothers), my two sisters, my uncle Ken (dad's brother-in-law) and a family friend who I think was Bud Wilson (I'm sure if Dad were alive he could provide a positive ID). However, my cousin Gayle, who is a maternal cousin, is sitting in the front. So perhaps Mom was babysitting, and maybe she took the picture, because the format size looks like hers--and it was in her box of photos.

But did they all get in that little car? Probably not. I'm thinking it was a family picnic--maybe the annual "Tennessee Reunion"--held at a farm, and the car was just parked along the road.



The second photo shows the children (with spouses) and grandhildren of my two sisters (who are in the b & w photo) almost 60 years later with my Mom in 1999. My niece Karen, who's the family photographer, set it up and then got in the back row.

*More about Kirby and his music career on Monday Memories next week.

2576 Fat Doctor's Scary Story

This is one of the scariest stories I've ever read on a blog. In her defense, I'll add that at 37 she is recovering from a recent stroke.

2575 Yet another poverty series

The Wall Street Journal is running another series on poverty. It is very anecdotal (they all are), but inserts statistics, like how the welfare rolls have fallen from 3.9 million in 1997 to 1.9 million in 2005. Or that 4% of the population was "rich" in 1969 and now 18% are rich. (I think that's supposed to be bad, even though the percentage of poor has also decreased since 1969, and most poor people desire to be rich.) The first installment was on hunger, despite a booming economy, and talked about "food-insecure" households. No mention of the millions of illegals with no education or family assets we're forced to absorb into the economy and government social services at the federal and local levels each year.

"Those who play by the rules ought not to be poor" is one of the most stubborn myths about the poor that I've ever read, but it is pervasive in our culture. I've personally been in four of the five quintiles, and we're moving back down because we are retired and living on pensions. But I think I read a U.S. Census site that provided 48 formulas to figure out if we are poor, so somewhere who knows, despite our wealth, we may be poor.

One hard and fast rule is, that if a woman graduates from high school, doesn't have children until she is 21, and marries the father of her children, she and her children have a very small chance of being poor. Women are in control of the poverty statistics in the United States. But does that mean if she's followed this rule she won't ever be poor? Of course not. What if she marries an alcoholic who's a good daddy, but a terrible employee with a spotty work record? What if she is a heavy smoker and develops a cardiovascular condition before she's 35 incurring big medical debts? What if she is obese, or is a hoarder? What if one of the children has ADHD or is mentally ill and she has to miss a lot of work for school counseling? What if her home was in Katrina's path and was underinsured? What if programs are available for her to better herself, but she as no desire to go to school--maybe she hated school?

Want to know why I was never in the top quintile? No desire. Nope. Not once did I want to put out the kind of effort required to be "rich." Now, maybe if I'd had the desire, and failed, I'd have been disappointed. But I thoroughly enjoyed a career as a librarian, being married to an architect, and those two professions are at the bottom for salaries based on years of education. I suppose one of the richest (in salary) librarians is the Librarian of Congress, and he isn't a real Librarian.

You can't sell newspapers with my life story.

2574 Desperate smoker counts pennies

For 5 days I've craved Frito's Corn Chips. I knew there was a Speedway store close to the church, so when I was on my morning mail run, I stopped and checked my resources. $.74. Safe, I thought--I don't have enough. But then I remembered the mitten (lost the other one) I keep with change for coffee emergencies. I dug around until I found it and took out two quarters. On my return trip, I slipped into a parking place and hurried into the store, found the chips and took them to the check-out. There stood a lady counting out pennies in piles of five from a little lozenge tin and a pack of cigarettes on the counter.

Is this the pot calling the kettle black? At least I had quarters.

2573 Recruiters outnumber students in accounting

This week I'm puppy sitting because Abby, my daughter's Chihuahua has a big stapled incision. She's not happy to be here, and our cat isn't pleased either. BUT--to get to the point, I'd run out of newspapers to put under the "puppy pad," so on my walk yesterday I picked up a June 13, still-in-the-bag, Wall St. Journal, from a neighbor's recycle bin. As I was laying it down this morning I noticed the article "Student shortfall pushes up salaries." Actually, I can't tell if it is advertising or essay, but it quotes some interesting statistics.

Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) has caused firms to expand their audit departments.

SOX compliance is so tough, it is driving people out of the field.

Firms are losing 40% of their partners and senior managers in the "big four".

There's no one to replace them with the experience they need, so salaries are 30% higher than pre-SOX.

2006 base salaries for senior managers in public accounting firms range from $85,000 to $130,000 a year.

In the 1990s, mathematically minded students chose to major in business instead of accounting and headed for dot.com companies.

When Enron unraveled, interest dipped again.

There is now a campaign to interest high school students in this career field.

300 recruiters went to Notre Dame last fall to woo 125 graduates.

Women accountants tend to drop out to start a family around the time they would be up for partnerships, further reducing the pool. So companies are beefing up their services to attract and keep women (i.e., more babies will be left at day-care so mommy can get her partnership).

2572 Fraud proof identity cards

Holman W. Jenkins in yesterday's WSJ proposed a "fraud proof identity card" for ALL workers, not just immigrants. Setting aside all concerns about loss of privacy, 9 year olds would probably learn how to hack it faster than adult criminals, but there is no such thing. Can you imagine the chaos if everytime you moved or changed your phone number you had to go find the right government agency to reprogram your ID card? The government couldn't even issue credit cards to Katrina victims without losing billions to the crooks. And how about that "secure" information that was recently stolen on all veterans and current armed forces members? Whether it was an employee or a burglar who didn't realize what he was stealing, it definitely wasn't in good hands.

Thursday Thirteen

13 things that puzzle me. It's not that I don't KNOW the answers, but I just don't get it. My WHY list is much longer than 13, but I can always do a second edition.

1. Why people ride motorcycles--especially without helmets. Ben's bike and the damaged car

2. Why young women smoke--especially when they see the effects on the saggy, crepy, spotted skin and gravely voices of older women who have smoked over half their lives.
3. Why young people (up to 35) are always in such a hurry when they drive--they have a lot more time left on the clock than the rest of us.
4. Why people throw things out of car windows--pop bottles, dirty diapers, cigarettes, fast food containers.
5. Why women think it is so cool, sexy and attractive to swear, cuss and be loud potty mouths in public or on the internet.
6. Why women think moving in with the boyfriend (or moving him in) will be a sound foundation for marriage.
7. Why college students will go into massive debt for social science degrees, but then want CEO and scientist salaries when they look for jobs.
8. Why city zoning boards, urban planners and developers continue to approve neighborhoods with culs-de-sac (French for bottom of the bag) when they just create more traffic problems on the feeder roads.
9. Why rich people continue to build homes on coasts in hurricane paths and on fault lines.
10. Why the customer who calls is always more important than the customer standing there (me) waiting to check-out.
11. Why the relative/friend/employee who is always late thinks we still believe the excuses.
12. Why people adopt infants and/or give birth after years of trying and immediately both parents go back to work and let someone else raise it.
13. Why pet owners refer to themselves as "mommy" and "daddy" when baby-talking to an animal but won't take the "parental" responsibility to train it.
(If you participate, leave your link in the auto-link and it will post here, but please leave a comment.)

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It's dead, Jim

Checking my blog links. These library blogs are dead, dying, struggling for content, or are totally discouraged. I'll have to think about unlinking.

Distance Education Library
Blonde Librarian
Conservator
Excited utterances--merged into another site
Family Man Librarian--spotty, but has a good excuse
Feel Good Librarian--seems to be posting about once a month
Infinite Library--just plays games
Jay Kegley, no idea what happened to him
Lethal Librarian--not much since March
Right Wing Librarian--only occasionally posts, but there are so few of him, I'll probably keep the link up
Random Thoughts--does a meme on Friday
Sonderman--nothing since December about Google Scholar (the topic)

2569 How to write your Congressional representative about illegal immigration

It's important that you let your Representative know today that the Senate bill, (S. 2611)the largest immigration increase in U.S. history, was rushed and cobbled together in a paltry 500 pages and is a mess. NO bill is better.

"The House may take the unusual step of conducting hearings on the Senate's immigration bill, which includes the opportunity for citizenship for illegal immigrants, before negotiating on final legislation, House Speaker Dennis Hastert said Tuesday.

Hastert's position appeared to reflect a growing sense among some House Republicans that they are better off seeking re-election in November without a new immigration law than with a version that includes parts of the Senate's." Houston Chronicle

1. Make sure to use "The Honorable" before their names--even if you have to choke when you write it. (Senate zip is 20510 and House is 20515), i.e.

The Honorable Deborah Pryce
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

2. Write only your own elected official. If you live in Cleveland or LA, don't write Ms. Pryce. Letters sent to members of Congress for another district will be forwarded to yours "as a courtesy."

3. Identify yourself in the first paragraph, as well as your state and district, city or county where you vote. Please reserve profanity for your blog or the local pols.

4. Identify the bill by number and/or title. Remember, they have been trying to solve this immigration issue since WWII, so it's possible they've forgotten already, or were around in 1986 when they passed the last amnesty legislation which created even more illegals.

5. Be concise and brief. Specific and succinct letters are more persuasive and show respect for the official's time, even though they aren't showing you any. No longer than one typed page. Something longer and more specific than "You F-ing S-O-Bs", however.

6. Support your case. Citing my blog won't do it--200 hits a day hardly makes me an expert. But include relevant facts. No jokes. They've heard them all.

7. No form letters. You don't like them--why should they?

8. Suggest an alternative (like, No bill until you've at least read this one). These guys and gals aren't any more experts on this than you and I, and 30 years of legislation and hand wringing proves it.

9. Sign your name.

10. If you are SOMEBODY, include your title. It won't matter, but if they get to use "Honorable" you'll feel better if you have one too.

Addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers

2568 Thank you, Mr. President

"My message to the enemy is, don't count on us leaving before we succeed," Bush said. I took him along on my walk this morning listening to his address at the press conference after his Iraq trip. Now let the "Kos, Defect and Death" bloggers begin. I'm sure they aren't happy with anything they heard, particularly about how we're not going to abandon the Iraqi people (like we did the Vietnamese).

2567 AMA Panel Says Physicians Cannot Ethically Participate in Prisoner Interrogations

"Helping with interrogations, including the planning of the interrogation or monitoring the prisoner with the "intention of intervening in the process" are actions that are outside the bounds of ethical behavior, CEJA (American Medical Association's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs) said here Sunday." CHICAGO (Reuters Health) June 12, 2006

Seems it undermines their role as a healer. But it’s OK to abort babies and clone human embryos to reuse body parts for another human being? Ethics councils frolic in strange beds, don‘t they?

2566 The kitchen massacre

Last night I was "inventing" a new dish for supper. It had half a pound of ground sausage, a partial envelope of dry onion soup, some rice, and I was preparing to add a small can of tomato sauce. When I clipped the can opener into the side of the can, the tomato sauce squirted in the air, across the room to the other counter, to the floor and all over the pale cabinetry. I had to get down on my knees so the sunlight could reflect on the marble which is very dark, mottled brown. I got all traces of red mopped up, finished mixing the casserole and then looked at the doorway. Across the room, about 10 ft. was tomato sauce all up and down the louvered doors. I don't know how chain saw murderers ever get the place cleaned up.

Monday Memories

Have I ever told you about the summer we bought our little Lakeside cottage?

The summer of 1988 was ghastly hot--and a drought in Ohio. We'd rented a small cottage north of Fifth Street in Lakeside for our summer vacation. We thought it a blessing that it had recently been renovated and had ceiling fans. Even a walk along the lakefront brought no relief; a night cruise on Lake Erie felt like a door slammed in your face when the boat stopped moving. One day we were walking the perimeter of the town, whether for exercise or from an attempt to get away from the oppressive heat, I don't remember. And there it was. A little cottage with a "for sale" sign that we'd never seen. I climbed up the broken concrete steps to the back door--"Oh my goodness," I shouted, "it has a real kitchen, and a basement!" We walked around to the front and tried the porch door--it was open. We peeked into the living room. "It has a fireplace," I gasped. "This is a house, not a cottage."

Being the practical sort, I figured if you had to pay a mortgage 12 months of the year it would be nice to be able to use it 12 months. So we contacted the realtor, but also looked at two other cottages, one a large "4 square" from the early 20th century and one a small red 19th century farm house style. Both looked very nice on the outside, but were very cottagey on the inside, with either board thin walls or cut up tiny rooms. When we finally got into the "Thompson place" (cottages are always known by the long time owner's name), we were smitten. The widow who had started to renovate after her husband died had been diagnosed with cancer and moved to Florida. But she had already installed a.c., storm windows, new bathroom fixtures, and additional kitchen cabinets, so we knew that as long distance owners, we wouldn't have that worry.

Our mortgage on our home in Columbus had recently been paid off, so we weren't too alarmed by taking on a new one, except that in 1988 mortgages were 10.5%. I had taken a tenure track position in 1986, so we had that cushion. Still, I had a month or two of sleepless nights worry about debt, but it gave me something to think about other than my kids who had recently left home. We love living there in the summer, which we are now able to do, and have always enjoyed the cultural events (Chautauqua circuit) which include a month of symphony, summer theater, opera, ballet, pop music, lectures, Bible studies, vespers and art classes.

A summer home is rarely a good investment when you figure you only use it a few months of the year, but in the early years of owning it, we did go up more frequently off season than we do now. It's paid for now and has appreciated considerably (5 or 6 times more than the purchase price)--in fact, we couldn't afford this house if we were looking today. However, we've replaced the roof, added a deck, replaced the HVAC, landscaped and completely redecorated inside and out.

The one thing we were going to replace the first season, is still there, and that's the funny little porch that doesn't fit the 1940s design of the cottage. You just have to have a porch at Lakeside, and although this one is ugly, it is tight, easy to heat or cool, acts as passive solar in the winter, and protects the main house in the summer. We sure haven't forgotten that first hot summer of 1988, even though it's never been that bad again--and today we wouldn't be able to get a variance to replace it.

If you'd like to join in on Monday Memories, leave a comment and I'll link back to you.

1. Ocean Lady 2. Libragirl, 3. Yellow Rose 4. Mysterious Lady, (bring along a hankie) 5. The Shrone, 6. Carol, 7. Lazy Daisy 8. Melli, 9. Flip Flop Floozie 10. Ma

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Lakeside, Ohio

I remember when

librarians used to do this.

2563 Sticks and stones

will sell more books. David Carr of NYT writes (seen at Editor and Publisher):

"Without the total package, Ms. Coulter would be just one more nut living in Mom's basement. You can accuse her of cynicism all you want, but the fact that she is one of the leading political writers of our age says something about the rest of us."

So referring to someone from your opponent's side as a "nut living in Mom's basement" and a person of "pirate sensibilities" with a "mouth uninterrupted by conscience, rectitude or logic" is OK, but calling someone else a "Harpie" from your team (who said NY's mayor hadn't suffered any loss) is cynical? You gotta love the liberals--they are certainly consistently speaking out of both sides of their collective mouth.

2562 Job Evaluation Comments

Mr. T, who doesn't seem to remember how to post at his own blog, sent me these and I had a good chuckle. He writes:

These are actual quotes taken from Federal Government employee performance evaluations:

1. "Since my last report, this employee has reached rock-bottom and has started to dig."

2. "I would not allow this employee to breed."

3. "This employee is really not so much of a has-been, but more of a definite won't be."

4. "Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat no a trap."

5. "When she opens her mouth, it seems that it is only to change feet."

6. "This young lady has delusions of adequacy."

7. "He sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them."

8. "This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot."

9. "This employee should go far, and the sooner he starts the better."

10. "Got a full 6-pack, but lacks the plastic thingy to hold it all together."

11. "A gross ignoramus - 144 times worse than an ordinary ignoramus."

12. "He doesn't have ulcers, but he's a carrier."

13. "He's been working with glue too much."

14. "He would argue with a signpost."

15. "He brings a lot of joy whenever he leaves the room."

16. "When his IQ reaches 50, he should sell."

17. "If you see two people talking and one looks bored, he's the other one."

18. "A photographic memory but with the lens cover glued on."

19. "A prime candidate for natural de-selection."

20. "Donated his brain to science before he was done using it."

21. "Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming."

22. "He's got two brains cells, one is lost and the other is out looking for it."

23. "If he were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week."

24. "If you give him a penny for his thoughts, you'd get change."

25. "If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean."

26. "It's hard to believe he beat out 1,000,in other sperm."

27. "One neuron short of a synapse."

28. "Some drink from the fountain of knowledge; he only gargled."

29. "Takes him 2 hours to watch '60-minutes'."

30. "The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead"

2561 Ann Coulter is harsh

But she's not a former President criticizing a sitting President during wartime. She's not a former Vice President shaking a fist and snarling at political realities. She's not a presidential rainbow coalition wannabee flitting off to other countries to act as a foreign minister ad-hoc of the moment. She's not a child of a corrupt Massachusetts political family trying to destroy the reputation of Ohio's gubernatorial candidate. She's not even a Country and Western singer appearing on national TV as a martyr. Nope. She criticized four women promoting the Democratic agenda on the graves of their husbands. Perhaps she's brought a little balance to the table and the Democrats can't take it? She's called their bluff.

Time e-mail interview with Coulter at Sweetness and Light.

"Name calling? The use of language is "name calling." Harpies and witches is what I think they are, which is why I used those words. And I must say, I certainly have spotlighted the issue with my alleged "name-calling." The entire country is now riveted on the left’s device of using victims to advance their half-baked, unsaleable ideas. From now on, every time the left showcases another sobbing, hysterical woman as their spokesperson, people will say — "gosh she looks like she’s having a good time." So I’d say my "name calling" has been a smashing success. And by the way, I’ve got a few more names in my bag." Ann Coulter in Time interview

Comment from AmericanIPA: "Coulter is tough with her language at times, but grow up lefties. Some of the people she mows down have been long getting a free ride from the press, these widows included. They and anyone else who lost someone on 9/11 have the right to know why their loved ones were killed. And here it is, whether they want to hear it or not: Militant islamists hate America, you included, and want you and your way of life wiped from the face of the earth. They don’t just hate George Bush (they burned Clinton in effigy ad nauseum). They don’t just hate FOX News or National Review like you spoiled, dreamworld, greenpeace libs. They hate western culture as a whole and any religion other than their own. They want the Jersey Girls, Michael Moore, and Al Franken dead just as bad as they do George Bush."



Ann Coulter

2560 Zarqawi

He was a human being, created in the image of God. He was evil and not a child of God, but there were moments in his life of joy, love, kindness, beauty and laughter. God could have created a world in which he had no choices between good and evil--but He didn't.

God doesn't grade on a curve--life is pass/fail, and eternal life depends on our position in Christ, not our personal laundry list of good qualities or deeds. And it's a good thing too, because dancing in the streets or on the internet when someone dies in a bombing raid would not put us on the right side of the ledger, would it? It would wipe out all those pro-life marches, all those animal rescues, cleaning up the environment, visits to the nursing home and the making of AIDS quilts if we were judged on our own merits.

Zarqawi

2559 A Prairie Home Companion, the movie

We did it--we paid full price to see a movie, the fictionalized account of the closing down of a 30 year old radio show on WLT (with lettuce and tomato). A few minutes into the show and something started to sound familiar (other than the radio show which we'd listened to years ago). "I think these people were at Lakeside," I whispered to my husband when Robin and Linda Williams were performing. I just had some vague recollection that someone who performed last summer had mentioned they were making a movie with Garrison Keillor. So when I got home I checked my blog, and there they were. I knew this thing would come in handy some day. Never mind that I'd totally forgotten their performance until I saw them in the movie and had forgotten there was going to be a movie until I read the review in a local paper. Their web page with a synopsis of the movie.

My husband thought it was funnier than I did. It takes the usual pot-shots at Christians, but what else is new? I would have felt much better if it were at the dollar theater where we usually go (on the rare event we see a movie), but you never know if a film will turn up there. I just find it hard to believe people will pay $8.50 for a first run movie.

The woman sitting next to my husband was rather large--tall and plump--and brought in a huge bag of food, so she was rattling snack packages, and munching and shaking the whole row when she moved. The adverts are way too loud and ridiculous. It's a lot of money to pay to watch 15 minutes of commercials. Even at the one dollar theaters.

2558 What Gen-Y wants

"For young people, a good job means doing something you love... For youth seeking work, the most important factor, by far, is finding a job they enjoy (60 percent). Others say the most important factors are making a good amount of money (17 percent) and having an opportunity to advance (11 percent). Despite a national discussion on health care and Social Security, youth do not worry about good health benefits (3 percent) or retirement benefits (1 percent) when looking for a job. For youth, a job they enjoy does not include traveling; in fact, a majority calls travel one of the least important factors in a good job (55 percent). This generation, at least for now, seems fairly well sheltered from the economic downturn of the past several years," Read the rest at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner report on MySpace Generation. (four parts so far)

Not to worry. Once they start applying for mortgages, having a family, experiencing a major illness or sensing some emptiness in that "job to love," their priorities will change. They might learn that the only way to move ahead in the "job they love" is to move into management, and telling other people what to do wasn't on their "to do list." Life happens.

2557 Agnes Sanford belongs in a public library

but not in a church library. I was browsing our Mill Run campus library today (I volunteer at and use the church library at our Lytham Road location) and saw her autobiography on the shelf. I don't know why Christians think Sanford is a Christian, but they do (God has the final say, but I don't think she recanted her writings). Even pastors who don't appear to make serious errors about other teachings see no harm. Sure, she was a sweet, dear lady (died in 1982) who said and wrote "spiritual" things, but if you get a paperback of one of her titles and underline the nonbiblical drivel in red, and the Gospel based material in green, you'll see my point. About 25 years ago I actually did that, and hid her books in my laundry room packed inside an old briefcase. And although I don't believe her nonsense about vibrations, and auras and spirits, I could swear I felt a heaviness unrelated to the ironing basket when I entered that room. So I threw them out. Better she should give off her vibes at the dump rather than inside my house or the church building--if you believe that sort of stuff, and she does. What makes her so harmful is that she has so many spiritual descendants who are still speaking and writing on the inner healing circuit. It's snake oil folks. Don't be taken in.

You get the same reaction from church librarians, pastors and staff that you do from public librarians and library boards if you suggest they've made an egregious error in the collection. The Book of Concord, however, was recently withdrawn from our church library (I've given it a home). Perhaps a new edition is available, or people will just check it on-line. "Just as the church has the promise that it will always have the Holy Spirit, so it also has the warning that there will be ungodly teachers and wolves." [Book of Concord]

Agnes Sanford
inner healing
church libraries

2556 This should alarm librarians

Although public library staff consider blocking or filtering certain sites to protect children to be against their ethics, their budget and their technological know-how (see comments at #2542), I'd read in Wired that Gina Trapani had created a simple little hack for her own computer to block MySpace so she wouldn't waste time at work. So while browsing that site, I came across the story taken from New Scientist, that the data on MySpace and other social networking sites might be used for data mining. Government snoops really get librarians' shorts all twisted. So that, and not protecting children, could raise an eyebrow about these sites. Heaven forbid the NSA be lead back to a library computer.

"Pentagon's National Security Agency, which specialises in eavesdropping and code-breaking, is funding research into the mass harvesting of the information that people post about themselves on social networks. And it could harness advances in internet technology - specifically the forthcoming "semantic web" championed by the web standards organisation W3C - to combine data from social networking websites with details such as banking, retail and property records, allowing the NSA to build extensive, all-embracing personal profiles of individuals."

I don't bank or buy on-line, but I think there are way too many public records online--like photos and floor plans of our homes with neighborhood maps at the state auditor's site. How handy is that for burglars? And Ohio State University hasn't been able to figure out how to stop using my social security number for ordinary transactions like checking out a book.

data mining

2555 Will Haditha story go the route of Dan Rather and Mary Mapes?

So it wasn't a "respected" anti-American international human rights group (Time magazine has corrected its error) and there was no photograph by a marine (Time regrets the error) and it wasn't a journalism student who videotaped the incident, but a 43 year old who had created the 2 person "human rights" agency that sprung the story. Hmmmm. Interesting. Story here at Sweetness and Light. And the Time reporter who broke the story has some unusual, anti-American motives, and lobbied for use of the word massacre? More details here.

All we know is that the Haditha problem is being investigated by the appropriate authorities, and that our honorable media have rushed in to assume guilt, destroy reputations and put the lives of all our military in danger. Business as usual.

2554 Territorial rights

My cat as gradually been spending more time in my office today. Now that I have on my black skirt (going out for dinner tonight), she's decided on my lap. The problem was, well, puppy pee. Yes, little Abby had a few bladder issues yesterday. I mean that is a very big incision, and she was unhappy at being left in a strange place (although she knows me, it has been a traumatic week for her). I'm strongly hoping my cat doesn't decide to reclaim her territory by marking it.

Over at Librarian's Guide to Etiquette, there is a suggestion for librarians who have this problem. I think it might have merit.

2553 Watch out for religion

Unfiltered computers at the public library and religion at the movies. Is no child safe to be left behind? I saw this at Considerettes who notes it is from WorldNetDaily.

"A new family film featuring miracles and a pro-God theme has earned a rating of "PG" from the Motion Picture Association of America due to fears it might offend people who have no faith or a different faith.

The decision surprises many who believed the "parental guidance" warning was reserved for the likes of violence, foul language and nudity.

"Facing the Giants," the story of a Christian high-school football coach who uses his undying faith to battle the giants of fear and failure, was given the rating by the Motion Picture Association of America, the group which brands films according to their content." Apparently, they pray in this movie, and you know how dangerous that is.

2552 Ethics and human cloning

Sounds like an oxymoron to me. Harvard announced this week that they are beginning to clone human embryos for making stem cells. I saw the item in the WSJ, but it appeared in many newspapers. WaPo weighed in with the typical left slant using phrases like "culture wars," "vocal conservative movement," and "ethical wrangling."

"The work, aspects of which have already begun, involves creating embryos not by the usual fusing of sperm and egg but by fusing a patient's body cell -- such as a skin cell -- with a human egg whose DNA has been removed. The resulting embryo would be genetically identical to the patient who donated the skin cell, so stem cells derived from it and transplanted into the patient would probably not be rejected by the immune system."

As near as I could tell from reading the article, the "ethics" decisions involved how to pay the women for their eggs, how to advertise for eggs, and how to get left over eggs from failed fertility efforts. Didn't see much about the destroying of human life aspect of it. I'm sure the Nazi doctors of Germany must have debated certain aspects of experimenting with Jews, who were also not considered human.

Friday Family Photos

Today I picked up my husband's paintings at the Upper Arlington Art League Spring Show at the Church at Mill Run. This is the show that got "all" the publicity from the Columbus Dispatch. Which ignored us for years. I forgot to take my camera, so then I tried to get some photos at home. The reflections and the lighting didn't work at all. But this is a painting of our niece Heather in the hayloft of my mother's barn. I think she was about 12 years old.


exterior of the barn, ca. mid 1970s

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things on my to-do list for Thursday night dinner.
1. First, take care of the hostess, because as the saying goes, "if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

2. So, have everything ready by Wednesday evening, and most of the food by Wednesday noon.

3. Plan the menu--keep it simple with limited number of dishes, easy shortcuts.

4. Buy the food on Tuesday and remember to thaw the meat.

5. Boneless pork roast with orange/cranberry sauce (keeps it very moist), potato salad (I buy a tub at Meijer's deli and add more potatoes, eggs and olives), sugar free orange jello with shredded carrots and crushed pineapple with cream topping (instant vanilla pudding mixed with milk, orange juice and sour cream, stuffing (box mix) with corn, onions and celery added. This gives the guests a mix of hot and cold, vegetable and fruit. Dessert at this writing is a bit up in the air. None of us in this group needs Chocolate peanut butter pie, but that might be it--with an alternative of mixed fresh fruit.

6. Assign the "pot luck" portion. This dinner is for our church's visual arts group--total of 6 family units, some couples, some singles total of 10 people.

7. Three get to bring wine, 2 red and 1 white, one a tray of snack crackers with cheese, and one a specialty bread from Great Harvest or Panera's. This will keep everyone out of my small kitchen and is no work for me.

8. Clean up as I go. On Thursday afternoon, everything will disappear from counter tops so I will look like Mrs. Clean (even though I'm not). For some reason, people like to hang out in kitchens, but I'll be on the deck with the snacks.

9. Vacuum and dust, clean bathrooms and mirrors.

10. Check paper goods, serving dishes and utensils.

11. Set the tables--while praying it doesn't rain because 4 people will need to sit on the deck (right next to the dining room window which will be open). Plan B will be to bring in a small table for the living room. Put the roast in.

12. About 6 p.m. Thursday, warm up the stuffing, take out the meat to let it "rest" before slicing. Put out the cold items.

13. 6:30, lock up the cat, open the door, welcome the guests and enjoy their good company.

1. Benjamin Solah 2. pupski 3. Lazy Daisy 4. Friday's Child 5. reverberate58 6. Aileen 7. carmen 8. trish 9. Mary 10. Uisce 11. EmilyRoseJewel 12. Diane 13. Christine 14. Jane 15. heather 16. Jenny 17. Scone 18. laura 19. angie 20. Tey 21. Kendra 22. Empress Juju 23. Susan 24. Pink Chihuahua Princess 25. anneberit 26. Froggie 27. Titanium 28. Lesly 29. ivan girl



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2549 Puppy sitting a Chihuahua

I have no grandchildren, but my daughter has a puppy who has just had surgery. So in addition to getting ready for a dinner party tonight (actually everything's ready), I'm puppy sitting. She dropped off a cage, a gate, a carrier, two kinds of special food, food and water dishes, a place mat for the dishes, a special blanket, puppy pads, plastic bag and papers to put under the pad, a carpet steamer in case the pup has an accident, toys, and two raw green beans, which is apparently a special treat.
Many, many staples in her tiny tummy
She has her own OSU blanket

I got a long list of instructions, and what to expect. She practiced on the puppy pad. She shows no signs of napping, which I was told she would do, but after hearing on the radio that the President of OSU has resigned (or will), she did poop on her OSU blanket. My daughter didn't tell me she knows English.

Chihuahuas
Karen Holbrook

2548 Our Summer Frank Lloyd Wright Tour

We'll be doing another Frank Lloyd Wright tour this summer--this time in Ohio and Indiana. Ohio has some really interesting restorations. This three-day tour includes FLW’s Burton J. Westcott House in Springfield, OH which we've already seen, but is worth going to again. He brought the Westcott Motor Car Company to Springfield (founded by his father in Richmond, IN). The house was completed in 1908 and is in a neighborhood of large Queen Anne, Victorian and Romanesque Revival houses. I'll bet the neighbors weren't thrilled.

We'll also visit the Meyers Medical Center in Dayton, which is now called the Plastic Surgery Pavilion (1956). In Cincinnati we'll see the Cedric G. Boulter house near the Gaslight District, the Gerald B. Tonkens home dating to 1955 in Amberley Village (Usonian) and the William Boswell residence (from 1957, completed in 1961) in Indian Hill, recently renovated. We'll also visit Louis Sullivan’s People’s Federal Savings and Loan Association in Sidney.

Overnight accommodations in Columbus, Indiana, will be at The Columbus Inn, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and formerly Columbus City Hall. I don't know if you've ever been to Columbus, IN, but it is a small city with amazing architecture. We were last there in 1968. The second night will be spent in Historic Madison, Indiana, at the Hillside Inn, nestled in the rolling hills of Southern Indiana and overlooking the majestic Ohio River.

There will also be architectural/historical walking tours in Springfield and Columbus, Indiana, a trolley tour of historic downtown Madison, Indiana, and a tour of the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati.

2547 Children of Hoarders

There's help for you on the Internet here. Their stories will amaze you, but not if you are the Child of a Hoarder--the photos will look like your home. Children who grow up with hoarders feel that "things" and "stuff" matter more than they do. As adults they live in fear that something terrible will happen to their parent because of the trash.

Excerpts from 5 different stories:

"We've dug her out so many times, but it never made any difference. The last time I dug her out we filled 200 lawn size trash bags. It didn't make any difference."

"I think it is amazing how every hoarders house looks the SAME!!!!!"

"I remember my sister and I confronting her with the parish priest when we were teenagers she sat with a stone turtle in her hands petting it. ALL WE ASKED IS THAT SHE TRY TO HELP US CLEAN UP. The priest suggested making a pile of things to sell or donate. She pet the stone turtle and said "but these are my things, they are important to me, I can't give up my THINGS" Yet she was quite ready to loose my
sister and I. JUST DON"T TAKE MY THINGS."

"[for] Dad it was junk, so-called antiques, motorcycles in the living room (we used to put Xmas lights on them) broken power tools, bottles the list goes on & on & onnnnn. Mom's favorite was clothing. I’m talking mounds and mounds mixed with all that important paper work."

"What scares me more than the past is seeing some of my siblings becoming the same way. I see the stuff creeping into their lives and their inability to part with it. I don't want to nag them, but I do mention our parents... They don't see any resemblance (because the stuff is theirs) I am in the middle. I regularly purge
my home when I see myself getting too much. I guess I have Knee jerk reactions. I have 1 sister that lives like a monk-SPARSELY out of fear ending up like we grew up. It is sad that we have to insulate ourselves."

2546 Wanted: a sense of humor

Do you suppose if the writer of the want ad specifically mentions candidates who are cooperative, warm and have a sense of humor, she's possibly saying something about the person who vacated the position? Hmmm. Or maybe the last director was such a stitch, they want to continue that trend at staff meetings?

I've met many librarians who have a wonderful sense of humor, some of them like Tunia and Annoyed also write blogs, but I'm not sure but what a lot of what we find amusing would be a bit under the radar for the rest of you.

Read the ad for the Director of the Kennebunk Free Library.

2545 More on media mush brains

So, the Globe and Mail got it [see previous entry] but. . .here's a humorous piece by blogger Greg Strange on how this was written up by another Canadian paper.

"As reported in the Toronto Star, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were certainly puzzled. About the terror suspects, it said this: "They represent the broad strata of our community. Some are students, some are employed, some are unemployed." And, said the Star article, "Aside from the fact that virtually all are young men, it's hard to find a common denominator."

Yep, this is a real puzzler alright, but let me see if I can make some kind of breakthrough here. Hmm . . . Now let me think for just a moment . . . Okay, I'm going to look at the suspects' names first and see if I can detect any sort of pattern. I'm seeing names like Mohamed, and Ahmad, and, let's see now-- Oh, there's another Mohammed (with a slightly different spelling), and Abdul, and, well, what a coincidence, another Ahmad.

Okay, I think I'm zeroing in on a clue here. Wait a minute . . .

Okay, I've got it. They're all Muslim! That's the common denominator! Somebody alert the Canadian authorities because this could be really significant!"

2544 The difference between the 2nd paragraph

and the 32nd is the Canadian border. I was listening to Glenn Beck rail against the NYT coverage of the Canadian bomb plot by Islamic terrorists. He couldn't find a word about Islamic anything until the reporter quoted a Canadian Muslim source who said he was relieved they'd been caught. I think it was around paragraph 32--or maybe 28, but it was way down. And then it was a quote. Then a caller to the show from Canada reported that in the Globe and Mail, hardly a conservative paper, it was actually mentioned in the second paragraph. So I looked and here's what I found--although it may not be the same article.

"The ammonium nitrate was delivered. The targets were set. After two years of a stealthily assembled counterterrorism web of surveillance, wiretaps and informants, police were ready to swoop down.

The operation was so complex and tightly shrouded that everyone involved — including all the roughly 400 police officers who scooped up the 17 suspected Islamic extremists Friday and Saturday — had to sign the Official Secrets Act, pledging total discretion."

I guess it all depends on whether Toronto or New York is being bombed. Did NYT get 9/11 and Islamic terrorists in the same story back in 2001?

2542 Will librarians ever think "children first?"

This is so tiresome, it makes me glad my children are 37 and 38, but I sometimes wonder if we're graduating LIS students who are 12.

"There have been multiple stories in the news in the last few months about schools, libraries, and colleges banning MySpace for reasons of bandwidth-hoggery (which in a select few cases could be well-argued) or what's being sold as "safety concerns," "behavior issues," or "user protection." That last one makes me sick when I hear library staff touting it. Physically sick. Why? Because it's censorship. Plain and simple." Librarian in Black

Because it is censorship. You betcha. Bad for bandwidth and she can support that, but not the protection of children. Someone doing cancer research won't get to look up body parts, maybe. No library is required by its mission statement to distribute entertainment free circ newspapers (like my P.L. which has made this a censorship issue) or to promote chat rooms or even e-mail. It defeats their information mission in many cases, if the CRTs near me are any example. Librarians will eventually kill the public library system, I predict, with their leftist gibberish. Not a peep when a librarian is sued for suggesting a conservative book, however.

Have these librarians never strolled through a room full of geezers and geeky kids side by side at computers? Parental control? Who are they kidding? They don't notice the parents who use the library as a free latch key program? Do they go online and check the addresses of the sex offenders? In MySpace they might as well reside IN the library. Do they have such great eyesight they can spot an 11 year old in MySpace pretending to be 20? Or that sweet 75 year old rubbing his privates while pretending to be a teen?

Really. My profession is such an embarrassment.

Monday Memories

Have I ever told you about Aunt Dorothy's Taco Salad?

We're heading into summer so this is a good time to tell you about "Aunt Dorothy's Taco Salad." As a new bride, Aunt Dorothy moved to California near the end of WWII, and never returned to Illinois except for visits. One of my earliest memories is her wedding which was held in our home, and I was allowed to attend. I was probably about 4 years old and was just stunned with the excitement and thrill--I thought she looked like a movie star with red lipstick and nails (although I'd never seen a movie, we had movie star paper dolls.) Later that month my Dad, left for the Marines and our quiet life changed overnight because we soon left for California too, leaving behind our house, friends, relatives, neighbors and pets--my whole universe. She and Uncle Charlie made a home in Long Beach and raised their two boys there. But I saw her from time to time over the years, most recently in 2003, and always enjoyed her lovely personality and cheerful Christian spirit.

High School graduationShe sent me this recipe in 1993 for a family reunion cook-book which I compiled. Of course, I had to try most of them (I didn't do the complicated ones like yeast rolls for Christmas morning) and added my own personal touch for our use. This is her version. I double this for company--doesn't seem to matter much what the proportions are how how many other ingredients you use.

1 lb. hamburger
1 medium head lettuce, shredded (chopped)
1 large tomato chopped
1/4 cup minced onion
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup KRAFT Catalina dressing (this makes it!)
1 1/2 cup mashed taco flavored taco chips
Kidney or garbanzo beans may be added

Saute hamburger as you would for tacos. Drain, set in refrigerator to cool. Mix together shredded lettuce, onions, tomatoes, cooled meat and dressing and mashed chips. Add chips just before serving.

I don't follow these instructions. I arrange all the ingredients in serving bowls and let the guests create their own salad. I don't like the taco flavored chips, so I use the regular yellow or white corn chips, and let the diner decide what to do with them--either put them on the bottom or the top or use as a scoop. I serve the meat hot cooked with the dressing and I use heated Brooks Hot Chili Beans. I put out a cup of sour cream to spred over the top. Shredded cheddar also comes with a taco flavoring. In fact, I've made so many changes, at our house, it is Dorothy and Norma's Taco Salad.

My husband liked this salad so much he used it for some of his week-ends at the Lake with his friends--making about 3 or 4 times the basic recipe. The guys would eat this the entire week-end. That may be why we haven't used it for several years.

Because we hadn't had it for awhile, I made it for our Memorial Day week-end at the Lake with Bill and Joyce two weeks ago. It was good, but not fabulous. Oh well, I thought, I'm probably just disremembering how good it was in the 90s. The following Monday on the drive home, I remembered that I'd left the lunch meat and cheese in the refrigerator at the lakehouse. And then it came to me. I also had neglected to put out the shredded cheese for the taco salad. No wonder it didn't taste, feel or look right.

If you've enjoyed this Monday Memory, leave a comment and I'll link back to you.

1. Wandi has no MM, but good stuff, 2. Ma Tutu Bent 3. Uisce 4. Lazy Daisy, 5. Mysterious Lady, 6. Shrone, 7. If Life were perfect, 8. Yellow Roses Garden, 9. Lifecruiser, 10. Chi, has no MM, but a cute quiz, 11. Purple Kangaroo, 12. Chelle, 13.

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