3008 Fourteen super foods

I've been reading SuperFoods RX by Steven Pratt,MD and Kathy Matthews. It's interesting, but I can't imagine how one could eat all this stuff as often as the authors recommend. Here's the list, along with what the authors call their "sidekicks," or substitutions, which helps expand the group. But read the book for the details on the micronutrients, health benefits and the shopping suggestions.

• Beans--all beans such as pinto, navy, northern, lima, garbanzo, lentils, green, snap peas and green peas. Try to eat 4 1/2 cup servings per week.
  
• Blueberries--purple grapes, cranberries, boysenberries, raspberries, strawberries, currants, blackberries cherries, and all other varieties of fresh, frozen, or dried berries. 1 to 2 cups daily (!).
  
• Broccoli--brussel sprouts, cabbage, kale, turnips, cauliflower, collards, bok choy, mustard greens, swiss chard. 1/2 to 1 cup daily.
  
• Oats--wheat germ, ground flaxseed, brown rice, barley, wheat, buckwehat, rye, millet, bulgur wheat, amaranth, quinoa, triticale, kamut, yellow corn, wild rice, spelt, couscous. 5 to 7 servings a day.
• Oranges--lemons, white and pink grapefruit, kumquats, tangerines, limes. 1 serving daily (can be orange juice).
• Pumpkin--carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, orange bell peppers. 1/2 cup most days.
• Wild Salmon--Alaskan halibut, canned albacore turna, sardines, herring, trout, sea bass, oysters and clams. Eat fish 2-4 times a week.
  
• Soy--tofu, soymilk, soy nuts, edamame, tempeh, miso. At least 15 grams of soy protein, divided into two separate meals and not from fortified products.
  
• Spinach--kale, collards, Swiss chard, mustard greens, turnip greens, bok choy, romaine lettuce, orange bell peppers. 1 cup steamed or 2 cups raw most days.
• Tea--1 or cups daily
• Tomatoes--red watermelon, pink grapefruit, Japanese persimmons, red-fleshed papaya, strawberry guava. One serving of processed tomatoes or sidekicks a day and multiple servings per week of fresh tomatoes.
• Turkey (skinless breast)--skinless chicken breast. 3 - 4 servings per week of 3-4 oz.
• Walnuts--almonds pistachios, sesame seeds, peanuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, pecans, hazelnuts, cashews. 1 oz. 5 times a week.
• Yogurt--kefir. 2 cups daily.

I'm dizzy. I have a tummy ache. I can't imagine eating 2 cups of yogurt a day! A dollop on my fresh fruit, yes. And soy? Tofu? Eeeyew. I'm fine with the oats, OK with the OJ, turkey and pumpkin--terrific; but blueberries I might have 3 or 4 times during the summer.

And I'm crushed that apples aren't on the list! I eat an apple every single day. A day without an apple is just not worth waking up for. Tea I'll drink when I don't have coffee.

So today I had a big giant Honey Crisp apple, 6 oz. tomato juice, 1/2 cup of turnip greens/turnips mixed with about 1/4 cup of yellow corn (really makes the greens taste better), a 1/2 cup cantelope, 1/4 cup of sliced carrots mixed with 1/4 cup fresh pineapple topped with fat free cottage cheese. And of course, coffee with cream.

And it's Friday so we're going out to eat and I'll have my favorite sandwich (philly cheese loaded with onions and peppers) and french fries. You can imagine how great that's going to taste after mustard greens for lunch.

Friday Family Photo

Home on Hannah Avenue
My parents owned this home in Mt. Morris, IL from 1951-1958, then moved to Lincoln Street until 1996 when they moved to the Pinecrest Apartments. However, it was the third house Dad bought in Mt. Morris that year. It was his habit to buy a home for his family sight unseen by my mother. I think she got tired of remodeling old clunkers, and said NO to the nice new home on the east side of town because she thought it was too small. So then he bought a new two story on the east end of Lincoln Street, but it was too small also. So he traded that home for this lovely big old house on Hannah Avenue. It also had room for Dad's truck since it had a large barn/garage, a full basement, full attic, 4 bedrooms, and a den/office that doubled as a music room.


My brother and the barn on HannahThis was a great "kid" house. Within two blocks of us lived many children and it had an extra acre in the back yard. It had a tree in the front yard (not in photo) that was perfect for climbing, and I staked my horse in the back. Mom had a huge garden (although that wasn't so great for kids because we had to help) and for awhile we even had chickens (loose zoning). For slumber parties, I took over the living room and Dad's office/music room, and my sister Carol had hers in the attic which had a high pitch and windows on 3 sides. I could have the whole CBYF church group (probably 20 kids or so) on the front porch. When a girl friend moved to Florida after our junior year, I had all the girls from our class in the living room for a good-bye party. Different groups and classes from school used our barn for floats.

Although I wasn't around the summer the decision was made to sell this, my favorite house, it was sold after Mother remodeled everything! The next house, which they lived in for 38 years was cramped, small, had no style and only one bathroom. However, she spent about 1/3 of the value of the home just remodeling the kitchen, and Dad didn't sell it until they were ready to go to a retirement apartment! She used every clipping she'd been saving for years on this kitchen and had a carpenter custom make all the cabinetry because she was short. I call it her payback kitchen.

3006 Did you get your flu shot?

We got ours Sunday at church. I haven't had a bad case of the flu--the achy, breaky, two weeks and flaky kind since the epidemic of 1957 (Asian flu--about 70,000 died) when I was in college. But I do now get a flu shot. Some people don't believe in vaccines. I do.

I read in the paper that there will now be a vaccine, Zostavax, for shingles for people over 60. I will definitely get this. It is a terribly painful and debilitating condition. It emerges from dormant chicken pox in blisters and a rash, and it can turn into severe neuralgia or chronic nerve pain. My dad had it for awhile on his scalp (it is also ugly and leaves scars), and my Aunt PeeWee (yes, that's what we all called her) became a shut-in from it. Sometimes an outbreak is brief, a few days or weeks, and sometimes it can drag on for years.

"There are an estimated one million new cases of shingles in the United States each year, and the risk of contacting the disease rises with the aging of the individual. It is estimated that one out of every two individuals over 85 is at risk for getting the disease. About half of all cases occur in people over 60, but the risk is also extremely high for younger people with immune problems, AIDS sufferers and people with cancer." TheRubins.com

Read the FDA notice here.

Zostavax
Shingles
vaccines
flu vaccine

3004 Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen books going to the library sale!

Do you bite off more than you can chew? Are your eyes bigger than your stomach? No, this 13 isn’t about food, but a bad habit--buying books at used book sales, thinking they look really good. Last week in a frenzy (about 10 minutes) of office cleaning I pulled a stack of books off my shelves to take to the library sale. Bookshelves need a little breathing room to look good in a home. I just counted them. Thirteen. And all came from sales--$.25-$2.00.

Great, I didn’t have a topic ready like I usually do. One I actually read several years ago and thought it might be nice to own, but I never opened it. One was pretty marked up and I found a better copy. One was a duplicate of what I already had on my shelves. Several are how-to books for writers--the publishing information is out of date, but the articles in the front are still good--but I read them years ago and really am not interested in publishing anymore. Yes, Whoopie Ti-Yi-Yo, Get Along Little Volumes, it’s time for the last round up. In the box you go.

• ARE YOU SOMEBODY? THE ACCIDENTAL MEMOIR OF A DUBLIN WOMAN by Nuala O’Faolain
  
• DATABASE NATION; THE DEATH OF PRIVACY IN THE 21ST CENTURY by Simson Garfinkel
  
• ELIZABETH I CEO; STRATEGIC LESSONS FROM THE LEADER WHO BUILT AN EMPIRE by Alan Axelrod
  
• HELPING PEOPLE THROUGH GRIEF by Delores Kuenning
  
• A HISTORY OF THE WESTERN EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE by Gerald L. Gutek
  
• HOW TO QUIT GOLF; A 12-STEP PROGRAM by Craig Brass
  
• THE INTERPRETATION OF HOLY SCRIPTURE by Walter M. Dunnett
  
• NOVEL & SHORT STORY WRITER’S MARKET 1995
  
• POET’S MARKET 1998
  
• PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen
  
• SHIP OF GOLD IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA by Gary Kinder
  
• TRULY THE COMMUNITY by Marva J. Dawn
  
• UNTO THE HILLS by Billy Graham

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! Leave a comment and I'll add your name and URL. View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Visitors and visited:
Amy, BabyBlue, Barb, Barbara, Beckadoodles, Blessed Assurances, Brony, Bubba, Buttercup and Bean, Carey, Carmen, Caylynn, Chaotic Mom, Chelle Y., Cheryl, Dane, Danielle, Darla, Dawn, Denise, DK Raymer, Domestic Geek, Dorothy, Factor 10, Faerylandmom, Expressing myself, Friday's Child, Gattina, Ghost, Irish Church Lady, It’s all about me, Jane, Janeen, JB , Joan,, Joy Renee, Just Tug, Kate, Kathy, Kaye, Kelly,Kendra, Lady Bug, Lazy Daisy, Mrs. Lifecruiser, Lyndsay, Lynn, Ma, Mar, C.A.Marks, Mary, Michelle, Mistress of the dark MommyBa, N.Mallory, Nat, Nathalie, Raggedy Randy, Ribbiticus, Shannon, The Shrone, Southern Girl, Sunny Days, Sunshine Blues, Susan, Tammy, TC, Test, Tigerprr, TNChick,

Clear Channel for Sale?

Saw this on the news. That's our local talk show channel, and just about everything else. I think they own 1100 stations.

3003 Family Living Courses in High School

Although I have no recollection of a course like this in high school, it may have been a component in the home economics course in the 1950s. If you were aiming for college, you took Latin (our only foreign language), math, all the sciences, and the required social sciences--with maybe one or two electives. I had to battle with the principal to take second year typing, but I think typing and Latin were absolutely the most useful courses I had in 12 years of public education--one taught me to read, spell and write, and the other how to get it down in lightening speed. Computers have slowed down my typing speed, but I can't recall a job where I didn't type for some reason.

But back to my point--family living courses. Today I came across an article "Family Life Education Survey" by Reuben H. Behlmer, in Marriage and Family Living, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Aug., 1961), pp. 299-301. What makes it so interesting (to me), it was offered in my husband's high school, Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, which in student enrollment was larger than the entire town where I went to school (76 acre campus with 5,000 students). I asked my husband if he was aware of this course, but he'd never heard of it.


The survey probably came to just the right conclusion for the author to get a grant--that's why people do surveys. But the other perk is you then publish them to pad the resume. Less than half the 950 returned the survey, but of those who did 98.2% said the course should be continued and 67.6% said they would not have received the information any other way, and those who got the information in other ways, said it wasn't very accurate (yeah, I can imagine!) Although the survey didn't provide for comments, they got them anyway, with some of them suggesting it needed to be offered before the senior year--maybe freshman--because values and attitudes about sex were pretty well established by senior year. And to think now they want to introduce sex education around first grade.

I've written about his school before--the 1997 reuions, and The SLOBS (social fraternity).

family life courses, surveys, Marriage research

3002 I love Michael J. Fox

but the press is having a field day because Rush Limbaugh dared to question him as an "untouchable" spokesman for Democratic causes because he has a debilitating, progressive disease. Rush believes that if you become a political advocate, you are fair game. Democrats and the media believe you need to tippy toe around completely capable people who have a problem and treat them like children. But only if they are on the left end of the right side. They don't tippy toe around women who've been scarred by the abortion experience, or families of drug addicts who want stricter laws, or vicitms of drunk drivers.

I've loved Fox's TV role as the conservative son in a liberal family in Family Ties, and his movies. Didn't care much for the Spin City role and didn't watch it. But I've read Fox's book, "Lucky Man," and enjoyed it. The reason he does not make a convincing case for stem cell research in his book (for this reader and fan) is because he doesn't tell the whole truth. First of all, it's not illegal, and secondly, it is not the great and only hope for PD that he makes it out to be in the book. Third, he says antiabortion activists opposed embryonic stem cell use even though the embryos would be discarded (i.e., aborted). He never deals with the ethics of using what amounts to the destruction of a potential human, to allow experimentation, nor where it would stop when there aren't enough aborted and "discarded" embryos [and now cloned in this lastest flap] for all the lab jockeys who want to ride them to fame and fortune. Democrats continue to spread these lies, and the media continues to lie about what Rush said. I was listening. I know what the conversation was about.

• Fox admits in his book that he is a political advocate for Democratic candidates, that he opposed George W. Bush in 2000.
  
• Fox admits he is pro-abortion and doesn't much like right-to-life Republican legislators.
  
• Fox tells in his book that he has written an Op-Ed piece for the NYT criticizing Bush as governor of Texas on this issue.
  
• Fox ridicules the concept of "compassionate conservatism" because of stem cell research.
  
• Fox tells he gets a lot of media coverage for his personal lobbying activities.
  
• Fox takes credit for getting President Bush to allow federal funding to go forward for stem cell research (which obviously reverses everything you hear about it being illegal).
  
• Fox's distain for the President literally drips off the pages of this book--sort of like Andrew Sullivan is about the President on gay marriage. There is no other issue.

So tell me, why a radio talk show host who discusses politics and sports, and is a Republican, and supports Bush on most issues (not immigration, and not his failure to rally the troops on Social Security), tell me why Michael J. Fox isn't fair game on his show?

Fox writes on page 247, "I made a deliberate choice to appear before the subcommittee without medication. It seemed to me that this occasion demanded that my testimony about the effects of the disease, and the urgency we as a community were feeling, be seen as well as heard. For people who had never observed me in this kind of shape, the transformation must have been startling. This is exactly the issue that Limbaugh addressed--had Fox gone off his medicine to produce the political ad which, according to Limbaugh, didn't really address a stem cell issue.

Michael J. Fox, Rush Limbaugh, Parkinson's Disease, celebrity advocacy, embryonic stem cell research, fetal research

3001 Sometimes you just need a little Anglo-Saxon

Now here's a segue--from toilet (previous entry) to 4 letter words.

Usually I eschew the four letter words on this blog--you'll be tossed if you leave any or de-linked if I go to your blog and have to hold my nose. They are way overused and lose their punch, but occasionally, they are the only words that work. They've mostly come to us from our impoverished peasant Anglo-Saxon ancestors (although scatolinquists quibble over this). However, it would be a bit difficult to read an account of this lawman's encounter with the drug culture using our more descriptive Latin based words.

In this account, he'd just stripped down and left all his clothes outside so he could shower after a drug bust and wonders why anyone would glamorize the drug culture. He's a bit more graphic than what you see on TV. Jack at Texas Music is always a good read. I thought about this when I heard on the news today of yet another city (or state) trying to legalize pot in small amounts.

"Fuck all those who profit from and glorify and rationalize the daily horror show that is the American drug abuse epidemic, from the cartels to NORML to the recreational pot smoker. You all have blood on your hands.

You want to know why my boots are outside?

Because they have shit on them.

I tried to be careful, but it was splattered around pretty good by the door, where he wrestled with the two mid shift cops. That dude was multi-tasking. Wrestling with the cops, crapping all over the motel room floor, and shooting up.

All at the same time."

Writes about bagging the evidence, and he concludes. . .

"There's some people who badly need an education on the truth about drug use in America. They need to walk a mile in my boots sometime.

They're the ones that are outside. With the shit on them."

3000 What's in your toilet tank?

Because I had blogged about having emergency kits, I was checking on our stored drinking water, wash water, and flush water. We'd been thinking about getting water conserving toilets, when it occurred to me I could store the flush water in the tank! I filled a plastic 1/2 gallon jug, and opened the tank and inserted it where it wouldn't bother the arm. I flushed it with the lid off to make sure everything was working correctly. Then I noticed a lot of black mold under the lid. So I cleaned that up, and replaced the lid.

Then I went to my husband's bathroom to do the same thing. However, when I took the lid off I found a pile of stones inside the tank--maybe 1/4" diameter each. I fished them all out, placing them on the counter, and put the 1/2 gallon container filled with water into the tank. There weren't enough to displace a meaningful amount of water--maybe 20 small stones.

Now my mind has been busy today thinking about those little rocks. Could they be valuable nuggets of something like gold or silver, stored there and forgotten by some previous owner to fool the burglars?

water conservation
toilets
emergency kits
disaster preparedness

2999 Women at the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893

My grandmother was a teen-ager attending Ashton High School in Illinois at the time of the Chicago Columbian Exposition. Along with 27 million other people, she strolled through the exhibits and marveled at the sights from foreign lands, and the fabulous architecture of the "White City." One of the most stunning books you'll ever read about murder, mayhem and architecture is Devil in the White City. I'd seen many knick-knacks, guidebooks and souvenirs in her home.

It was very easy to get to Chicago from their farm--much easier than today. In fact, I think the train came through Franklin Grove depot 5 or 6 times a day and the family often shopped in Chicago, visited friends and saw a doctor there. Her father owned property in Chicago and it was later donated to the Church of the Brethren for the Bethany Sanitarium and Hospital. So I just love to read about the fair, and in 1993 when the Medical Library Association had its annual meeting there, I thoroughly enjoyed all the exhibits of the 100th anniversary of the fair.

Libraries and Culture, Vol. 41, no. 1, 2006, has seven essays on the Woman's Building of the Exposition. The Woman's Building [floor plan]contained a library with 7,000 volumes authored, illustrated and edited by women,(including 47 translations and editions of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin) produced between the 16th to 19th Century. If you are from Illinois, you'll be interested in the article about the 58 novels in that collection which were authored by Illinois women. Libraries and Culture (which will be changing its title to Libraries and the Cultural Record, which seems a bit redundant to me and will mess up serial records in thousands of libraries with vol. 42, is available on-line if you have a login to a library that has a subscription. Or you can ask for it from interlibrary loan at your local library.

2998 Delicious pumpkin recipes

As announced publicly here 4 weeks ago (after a summer of wonderful travel and even more wonderful eating on the run) I planned to cut back on the calories and step up the exercise. I posted my 13 food triggers. So far, that has worked very well. I'm not a list maker by nature, but this is working for me, and I would probably throw out my shoulder again patting myself on the back. I'm feeling something I haven't experienced in a long, long time--space in my jeans.

But it is boring! Say what you want about fruits and vegetables, all their health benefits and antioxidants, vitamins, etc., they just don't satisfy the way a cracker with butter and cheese would. However, let me tell you about pumpkins.
Photo borrowed from "on the rock."
Pumpkin doesn't have to be cut from the vine and cooked and mashed. No, Libby's has done that for you! If you're the mother earth type, be my guest. One serving (can label) has only 40 calories, 20% of your fiber needs for the day, and a whopping 300% of Vitamin A (80% as beta carotene), and also has small amounts of C, E, Calcium and iron. And there's nothing in the can except pumpkin.

"The key nutrient that boosts pumpkin to the top of the SuperFoods Rx list is the synergistic combination of carotenoids, powerful antioxidants which have been shown to decrease the risk of various cancers, including those of the lung, colon, bladder, breast, and skin, lower the rate of heart disease, and decrease the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration. Pumpkin contains one of the richest supplies of bioavailable alpha-carotene and beta-carotene to be found. Canned pumpkin is one of those foods that give the lie to the notion that fresh is always best." SuperFoods Rx.

So here's what I did:
1 8oz. fat free cream cheese blended with
3/4 C. Splenda
drop or two of vanilla
pinch of salt
2/3 can of pure pumpkin (about 10 oz.)
1/2 8 oz. carton of sugar free Cool Whip
Use spices accordingly--label calls for cinnamon, ginger, cloves in varying amounts--because this isn't cooked after you mix it, I'd go easy.

Put in a graham cracker 8-9 in. crust, or to reduce calories more, use small dessert cups. Top with some Cool Whip after letting it set-up in the frig for a few hours.
I drizzled some sugar free hot fudge on top--yummy combination. Neither chocolate nor graham cracker crust are food triggers for me, even so this is so yummy, next time I'll put it in a dish.

Then because I had 1/3 of a can left over, I decided to try pumpkin egg nog. I wasn't sure how this would work out--had never even thought about it, but here's what I did, and it is yummy too.

1 qt. low fat milk
2 eggs
4 Tbsp Splenda
1 tsp vanilla
teeny pinch of salt

Beat with egg beater until eggs are thoroughly mixed.
Put 5 oz. pumpkin puree in the blender and add about a cup of the milk/egg mix.
Whirl a few seconds. Canned pumpkin is sort of thick and this smooths it out. Add back to the milk/egg mix.
Cook at low heat for 5-10 minutes or so. (Don't ever eat raw or uncooked eggs--I was a vet med librarian and trust me on this! The stories I could tell!)
Sprinkle to taste with cinnamon and/or nutmeg.

Chill. Although warmed up is good too. Enjoy a healthy, low fat, refreshing and seasonal drink in front of the fireplace.

Elevator accident at Ohio State

You probably saw this story on the national news--about the freshman at Ohio State who was crushed by the dorm elevator. According to the report I heard yesterday, there were 24 students jammed in the elevator, about 1100 lbs. beyond the weight limit. The accident is under investigation, but the version I heard was that the doors wouldn't close as it started to move, so Andrew Polakowski, a freshman pre-business major, tried to escape by climbing out. The other 23 were stuck in the elevator and I just can't even imagine their horror as they watched him struggle. I know they get counseling for elementary kids after school disasters, but surely this is an image that will stay with them the rest of their lives.

The elevator passed inspection in July, but now the local news is finding students who report problems they've had in the past. The crowd around that freshman dorm is probably made up of lawyers.

Columbus Dispatch account

Monday Memories

October is National Roller Skating Month! Take the family skating. When I was a young girl, there was a roller rink across from the White Pines State Park, about 7 miles south of our town, near Dixon, Illinois. There is still a rink at that location, but I don't know if it is the same building. The rules certainly look the same. The floor was made of terrazzo, there was an audience seating area, a place to check out skates if you didn't own them, a changing area with nice murals of the area, and a snack bar. I'm not sure when it was built but I remember that my mother used to take us there on Saturday afternoons when I was in grade school, and if she would fall down, all of us would rush over and help her up.

White Pines Rink in early 50s

Borrowed from the rink site
On Sunday afternoons, someone would beg a parent (often my father who didn't seem to mind even though he drove a truck 6 days a week) to drive a carload to the rink. When I was a freshman in high school I dated a senior from Polo, Illinois, called "The Cisco Kid" by my schoolmates because he wore a leather fringed jacket and cowboy boots. He was a wonderful, graceful skater, so in order to keep up, I had to learn too. My skating days outlasted the relationship.

There was a short, plump woman who played the organ. The sides of the rink rolled up in sections like garage doors and the gravel drive way was slopped allowing people in their cars and watch the skaters. Sometimes in the summer you might look out in the dark and see a disgruntled boy in a car, and the ex-girlfriend was skating with someone else. Oh, it was very exciting! In the winter, the rink was all closed up, so you skated in extremely dusty conditions, and when you got home, your hair was gray!

The rink manager would announce certain "skates," and the really good skaters would show their skills--a waltz, or backward skate, or ladies choice, or a progressive skate, where you skated in a large circle and the men moved forward to a new partner. I don't remember the name of the owner, but for awhile in the 1970s my cousin Ron owned it.

First I used my mother's skates, then she gave me my own pair in a fancy blue case for Christmas one year. I think I kept them for over 40 years, and probably donated them when we move here. Skating isn't like riding a bicycle, I discovered. It's a skill that must be used or you forget how to balance. If I were to get on skates today, it would be the same as the very first time--but the bones are not quite as flexible. The last time I was on roller skates was probably in college.

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My visitors and those I'll visit this week are:Ma, Viamarie, Mrs. Lifecruiser, Debbie, Lazy Daisy, Lady Bug, Janene, Michelle, Anna, ChelleY. Jen, Melli Becki, Paul, Friday's Child, Irish Church Lady,Cozy Reader

National Roller Skating Month
roller rinks
1950s

2995 American families are unprepared

"Drs. Richard Dagrosa and John McManus, both emergency physicians in the military, surveyed people in San Antonio, Texas, including patients in two military hospital emergency departments. The survey results show no significant differences among military, retired military and civilian families in regard to having a disaster plan, designating a meeting place or having a disaster kit. Only half the families in the survey had prepared any kind of disaster plan, and only one-third possessed a disaster kit." Their survey was released during the annual meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in New Orleans, October 15-18. Dagrosa is stationed at Wright-Patterson near Dayton.
Story from Responder Safety.

You can get the Emergency guidelines and recommendations from the American Red Cross which provides a list for Disaster Supplies Kit.

2994 Two day golf tournament

Friday when I was returning from a few errands, streets around here were filled with cars and the golf course was crowded with young people. It was a 2-day, 36 hole tournament, and the Upper Arlington (our community) team beat the defending Division I Dublin Jerome team. UA had two powerhouse members, but they couldn't have won without the full team.
The sun came out the second day

Same scene with zoom
As I've mentioned before, I think golf is as much fun as watching ice melt, but I have to admit, it makes more sense for a young person to build their eye hand skills and team rapport in golf than in basketball or football, or in computer gaming, because they can play well into their 80s, if they like the game. My father-in-law had knee replacements from punishing his legs in basketball long after they should've been benched, and my brother-in-law has done the same thing in hand-ball. Not that you can't throw out your shoulder or back in golf, but most of the life time injuries I've seen from sports have been from over use and under smarts.

Newly renovated Scarlet course, which was built in 1938, and completely revamped supervised by Jack Nicklaus in 2005-2006.

golf tournaments, high school sports, leisure activities

2993 The New York Times Editor admits to being a blabbermouth

Now he admits the terrorist banking data surveillance program was legal and that there's no evidence that anyone’s private data had actually been misused, so the story shouldn't have been leaked! Well, isn't that just so special. Michelle Malkin takes him to the woodshed. His reason--that the Bush administration had been critical of the Times--makes no sense at all. It's not like the Times hasn't been dishing it out. Besides, it's a newspaper, not a kid getting bullied on the playground. Riehl World View suspects the NYT wants Hillary in the White House, so they don't want the uber-left mucking around for 2 years.

New York Times, Byron Calame, surveillance program

2992 The Foley Follies

Flipping through the channels yesterday, I skipped c-span's coverage of the Foley investigation. I noticed there was a WaPo story in the paper today. Buried in it was:

"No one interviewed could cite any instance in which Foley had sex with a former page."

Three dozen interviews.

. . .his behavior was within "well-accepted norms of the page program."

Three dozen interviews.

"one page played along" because he had political ambitions. He never considered reporting Foley.

Now, when does the investigation begin of Congressmen who approached female pages and staff with inappropriate or sexual remarks, innuendo and little side trips to death? You know, those who know how to drive a car and use a phone, but might not be capable of IMs or who follied in the days before e-mail? Massachusetts seems to have a corner on the sex with staff and page problem--Kennedy and Studds.
Even so, I award this to the media, who just can't get enough of this non-story.

Media bias
Mark Foley
Liberal MSM

2991 The scariest blog out there

Last night blogger seemed to be down--so if your site meter took a hit, that's why. I couldn't read a single blog hosted at blogger.com--not my own, and not yours. So I flipped through my bookmarks just to see if I had some that were not located on this blog's links (which is usually how I find my favs). Sort of wish I'd watched TV instead. I read through 5 or 6 items in Counterterrorism Blog, and folks, I gotta tell ya, that's one scary website. You won't need any Halloween preparations--just read that one.

Scanning the list of biographies of the contributors, I thought this author has an interesting perspective, having been a member of all the "big-3" religions, and on both sides of the terrorism fence.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross is a senior consultant for the Gerard Group International, a Massachusetts-based counterterrorism and homeland security firm. He frequently works with federal and local law enforcement, providing analysis of possible terrorist threats and activity as well as conducting topical training seminars. Daveed brings a unique perspective to his work. Born into a Jewish family, he converted to Islam in his early twenties and ended up working for the head U.S. office of the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, an international Wahhabi charity that served as a major al-Qaeda financier. Prior to 9/11, Daveed left the Islamic faith for Christianity. By the time the FBI raided the Al Haramain offices where he worked, he was ready to assist the investigation. The experience is detailed in Daveed's first book, My Year Inside Radical Islam, which will hit stores in February 2007.

counterterrorism
Homeland Security
War on Terror

2990 Halloween Party

It's probably been 20 years since we've been to a Halloween Party, so when my husband asked yesterday if we still had our masks and costumes to wear to T & J's, I was pretty sure we didn't. When we were celebrating our son-in-law's birthday Friday night at the Rusty Bucket, they mentioned their friends T & J were having a party and would we like to tag along as their guests. We had nothing going on, so we said yes. It was within my husband's 24 hour range for being spontaneous.

T's father brought along some emergency costumes, so my husband did dress up a bit after we got there in a pink hat and glasses--actually a good disguise--I pretended not to know him! The food was catered--yummy brisket, bbq pork, baked beans and cole slaw, with a dessert contest, contributed by the guests. The hosts have a home with a big yard in our old neighborhood with lots of activities for the children--karaoke, one of those inflatable play gyms, a haunted house, and even a porta-potty to take care of the beer that was passing through. Free standing log burners provided us some warmth for the night chill. With the catered meal and the activities for children incorporated, the hosts were able to mingle and have a bit of fun with their guests.

I visited What Geeks Eat this morning and found a recipe for bbq and cole slaw--just in case you want to have a party.

Halloween Costumes
party ideas

2989 Ranting about Safire

One of my links, Language Hat, doesn't much like William Safire's columns on language. Here's a recent rant. . . about the word rant. It's a word that bloggers use frequently, so you need to compare and contrast the two versions.

"Today's column is about the word rant. I'm used to his pretending that whatever word or phrase he's decided to pick on is "enjoying a boom" and having a "sudden, unforeseen blossoming," so that's not what bothered me. No, it was this, from his obligatory paragraph on etymology: "The German verb ranzen, 'to dance about gaily, to frolic,' was picked up in English in Richard Brome’s 1641 play, 'The Joviall Crew': 'The more the merrier, I am resolved to Rant it to the last.'" There are two species of idiocy here. The first, the Common or Garden Variety of Safire Idiocy, is the pretense that the first citation in the OED is the very first time the word was used in English, so the user (in this case Ben Jonson's pal Richard Brome, pronounced "broom," whose comedy A Jovial Crew was the last play performed before the closing of the theaters under the Puritans) is said to have invented it or personally imported it, whichever applies. The second is the claim that it is from German ranzen. Every dictionary I have says it's from the (obsolete) Dutch verb ranten, which (as you will note) looks and sounds a lot more like the English word; the OED (presumably where Safire or his assistant went for the information) adds "cf. G. ranzen to frolic, spring about, etc." Cf. means 'compare,' and the German is added as a related word; it clearly was not the direct source. And whatever the source, the word was presumably borrowed by somebody who hung out with foreigners and liked the word enough to start using it; it caught on and was used by an unknowable number of merrie olde Englishmen before Brome put it in his comedy and became the First Citation. Please, Safire & Co., use your heads before repeating this tiresome error!

William Safire
English language
blog rants

2988 Fiddling with the template

I subscribe to Boogie Jack's Almost a Newsletter. He's really writing for those of you who have web pages for business, and he's got a new book just about due, but I often find little tips I can use for my blog. Today, I learned how to bold an italicized phrase or quote. It's pretty simple, and is imbedded now in my template, so you'll probably be seeing it often if I can remember to use it. I also learned how to make an outlined indented list of items, but I don't have any particular use for tha at the moment.

Also I've created another blog! This one will have a limited audience and will disappear sometime during 2007 because I made it for my class reunion next July. I'm hoping to find some other class members to be on the "team" but it will be my first time at creating a blog with other writers. The instructions at blogger weren't all that clear. Here's the site for the reunion.

The Flower Quiz

I am a Sunflower What Flower Are You?

The explanation on the quiz said something about my smile (that part doesn't print), however, this site says some not very nice things about sunflowers.

they are passive aggressive
they kill other flowers
they keep gardeners from reaching their full potential
their husks can be used as a weed killer, so don't compost them

Maybe I should try for a different flower.

The Circleville Pumpkin Festival

Congratulations to our neighbor to the south, Circleville (est. pop. 13,559 in 2005), which is celebrating its 100th festival honoring the pumpkin. We took our children to this about 30 years ago. I had never seen so many food stands in one small space in my life. . . except everything was made from pumpkin. It's cool and rainy this week--as it often is for this celebration.


This image is from "daily dose of imagery," ©2006 sam javanrouh used with permission. He has some terrific photos and he was sweet to let me use this very appropriate photo.

2984 New Cybils award for children's and YA lit

There are many bloggers that review children's literature. Kiddie lit is something I never got into--never had a course in it, didn't care much about it when I was a child, and preferred reading "My Bookhouse" to my own children. But I do adore the illustrations and like reading the reviews. These very talented bloggers have inaugurated their own book award, honoring books published in English for children in 2006. Anne Boles Levy, of Book Buds, launched the site this week and will administer the awards process. I link to her. As I understand De Rewels, anyone can nominate a book--you don't have to be a blogger, and you can even be an author.

There are 8 categories and nominations close November 20--some of the categories already have quite a few titles suggested, others are wide open for suggestions.

Cybils Award
Children's literature
Children's Books
blog awards
book reviews

Thursday Thirteen--13 of my favorite posts

In no particular order, here are 13 of my favorite posts I've written. Actually they aren't THE 13 favorite, but I don't have time to reread all 3,000 of them. You don't need to click on all, maybe try just one.

1) Where were all the allergies when I was growing up? So I try to figure it out. See what you think of my unintended consequences of progress as the cause.

2) The premiere issue of Wired. My hobby is collecting first issues of magazines. To track them I started a blog. However, I'm behind in this blog. Wired started in 1993 and I'm still subscribing, although I didn't think much of the first issue.

3) Sewing for sons is on my sewing blog which I did for one month last year. The pictures on this one are some of my favorites.

4) Thirteen things I blog about. Until I wrote this one, I didn't know it would work out to 13.

5) Dance with the one who brought you is about the myth of "budgeting" with coupons. Oh how people hate to hear that retailers aren't in business to give their products away! I may be the only person to tell you the truth about coupons!

6) I feel their pain is my rant about people with 6 figure incomes who can't balance their budget. I've got some good advice for them that you might agree with.

7) Good reasons you shouldn't be feeding the birds. If you've got a bird feeder in your yard, you probably will be shocked!

8) 10 things you might want to know before opening a bookstore (or any small business). Ah, these are great memories of the year I decided I'd give up librarianship and think about opening a bookstore.

9) Health issues. Don't talk to me about the dangers of bird flu or mad cow 'til you read this one.

10) Consistency Counts. This one's really brief and quick to read. Add something if you find an item I forgot.

11) How to donate books to a library. If you're doing a big clean out of your books, take a look at this. I used to get really stinky donations (I was a veterinary medicine librarian). This journal I do not keep at Blogger, but I think anyone can read it.

12) Safe salads and safe sex. I was way ahead of the spinach scare on this one.

13) The value of a college education. This was just about money, and even though no one could disprove it, they still disagreed and tried to shift the topic to non-monetary values of education (it got picked up and discussed at another blog).

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! Leave a comment and I'll add your name and URL. View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Visitors and visited:
Amy, BabyBlue, Barb, Barbara, Beckadoodles, Blessed Assurances, Bubba, Buttercup and Bean, Carey, Carmen, Caylynn, Chaotic Mom, Chelle Y., Cheryl, Dane, Danielle, Darla, Dawn, Denise, DK Raymer, Domestic Geek, Dorothy, Factor 10, Faerylandmom, Expressing myself, Friday's Child, Gattina, Ghost, Irish Church Lady, It’s all about me, Jane, Janeen, JB , Joan,, Joy Renee, Just Tug, Kate, Kaye, Kelly,Kendra, Lady Bug, Lazy Daisy, Mrs. Lifecruiser, Lyndsay, Lynn, Ma, Mar, C.A.Marks, Mary, Michelle, MommyBa, N.Mallory, Nat, Nathalie, Raggedy Randy, Ribbiticus, Shannon, The Shrone, Southern Girl, Sunny Days, Sunshine Blues, Susan, TC, Test, Tigerprr, TNChick,

2981 Am I a loser?

Not as much as the guy where I saw this quiz! I scored as normal.



internet quizzes
personality tests
Surveys

2980 The adorable, perfect birthday card

Yesterday my husband asked for a birthday card from my stash. I poured pored through them. Not much in the birthday category--lots of get well, thinking of you, and sympathy (must be our age group). Yes, I still send cards and letters via the U.S. mail and don't e-mail them. Nothing thrills me more than a first class letter coming through the mail slot, and I'm assuming it is the same for others. If I get sick--don't send an e-mail--send me a REAL card.

But I found just the right card--two dalmatians (my favorite dog) sitting on a couch together with a dark blue envelope. "You have to sign my name too," I said, "because it is a 'from both of us' card." And he did, and this morning set off for Bob Evans Restaurant with our photos from Russia and the birthday card for Tom. (This group meets weekly.)

Cuter than this
When he came home he had a sad story to tell. He had propped the card up at the edge of the table next to a divider, and it dropped down a crack where the divider can be lowered or raised! Gone forever until the next time Bob Evans is remodeled. I'll bet those workmen will find a lot of junk--including money.

And it was an expensive card too! Next time, he'll get one of my homemade cards from one of my paintings if he wants to say "Happy Birthday."

2979 How do you count a dead Iraqi? As many times as possible.

Steven E. Moore points out in today's Wall St. Journal the many holes in the methods and conclusions of the Johns Hopkins war dead study done in Iraq. Instead of an error margin of plus or minus 3 or 5%, he estimates 1200%.

"[T]he key to the validity of cluster sampling is to use enough cluster points. In their 2006 report, "Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional sample survey," the Johns Hopkins team says it used 47 cluster points for their sample of 1,849 interviews. This is astonishing: I wouldn't survey a junior high school, no less an entire country, using only 47 cluster points."

Other studies, other cluster points, pointed out in the article:

For its 2004 survey of Iraq, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) used 2,200 cluster points of 10 interviews each for a total sample of 21,688.

A 2005 survey conducted by ABC News, Time magazine, the BBC, NHK and Der Spiegel used 135 cluster points with a sample size of 1,711. . .

The International Rescue Committee in the Democratic Republic of Congo, used 750 cluster points

Harvard's School of Public Health, in a 1992 survey of Iraq, used 271 cluster points.

Another study in Kosovo cites the use of 50 cluster points, but this was for a population of just 1.6 million, compared to Iraq's 27 million.

Let's have a do-over.

2978 Have you ever been polled?

I seem to get polled so often, I'm getting suspicious. What am I, the sampled Republican? Mrs. Average Retiree? Next time, I'll ask, and write down the name of the polling company and look them up. Today it was just 2 questions: 1) If the election happened tomorrow, would you vote for Pryce (R) or Kilroy (D). Answer: Pryce. 2) Are you pro-life or pro-choice? Answer: Pro-life. Thank you. Click. The one before this was so skewed to the left, it was almost laughable. I suspect today's was to determine if I needed further encouragement to go to the polls or needed more literature.

Still it might have been a trick question. I think the pollster asked about the Senate race, and Pryce and Kilroy are running for the House (Congressional District 15, Ohio).

political polls
poll questions
poll bias

2977 A pool of peace while driving

I enjoy listening to the radio in the car. My car radio gets better quality sound and more distant stations than anything I have in the house. But sometimes I don't want to hear Glenn Beck screaming, or Rush opining, Paul Harvey's rest of the story, or the clanging rock of contemporary Christian music, so I listen to the Catholic station. Sometimes it is the soothing sounds of the rosary, or a liturgy I'm not familiar with. This morning I heard the best sermon on baptism and confirmation that I think I've ever heard. Some parts were a bit different than Lutheran, and certainly different than Anabaptist, but excellent in presentation and thought. After that there was a touchy-feely chat call-in show by a woman talking about sex roles that wasn't much different than what you'd hear elsewhere, but for a few moments---ah, there was peace.

One of the advantages of listening to Latin hymns is there aren't any new ones. Link to Heretical hymns.

St. Gabriel Radio
Catholic radio
Christian programming
am radio

2976 Help for military families

You'll see a different side of the military experience at Spouse Buzz, virtual Family Support Group, where contributors celebrate and embrace the tie that binds them -- military service. Good stuff here. Issues many of us can identify with even if we've never said good-bye/hello at the base or airport. You'll see the war on TV; now see what's going on at home for the families

deployment
military spouse
marriage
parenting

2975 Searching for your lovey?

That's not your old boyfriend. It is a stuffed or plush toy or animal that you remember and would like to replace. Plush Memories is a blog set up to help you find that little treasure and is written by Dirty Butter who also keeps a memory blog, Yesterday's Memories. My kids both had Snoopy plush dolls when they were little--soft as pillows and almost as big as they were. My husband's parents gave them to them and they really got the use. We still have them someplace.

2974 Lawnmower injuries and children

Billo has an interesting story at his blog about children injured by lawn mowers. Over 9,000 injuries a year, and more from power push mowers than riding mowers. 80% of the injuries are to boys--are we surprised? And compare this to the 260 children a year that are injured by firearms. Are there any requirements for parents to lock up their mowers like there are for guns? Can kids ride a lawnmower to school? Should Brian Ross do an expose on lawn mowers? Billoblog has the stats and cites.

2973 Conservative Blogger DJ

There's an interesting play list at Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler. I think he keeps 15 up on the site at a time. No changes since July. Everything from Dean Martin to The Byrds to Alice in Chains. Right now I'm listening to "Cotton Eyed Joe" by Rednex.

2972 On parenting

Are you a good parent? I noticed this at The Corner--can't vouch for the statistics--don't know the author:

"Your life outcomes are determined 45-50 percent by genetics, 45-50 percent by outside-the-home socialization (which is affected by parental decisions about housing, schooling, etc.), 0-10 percent by in-home socialization (=parenting). That's what the evidence tells us, as I read it. Parenting has been WAY over-sold. And Freudianism (in-home socialization determines 100 percent of life outcome) is dog poop." The Corner, July 26, 2006

I agree--although I'd put genetics (personality, intelligence, physical attributes, talents) a bit higher, and parenting (values, discipline, religion) I'd put at about 1-2%. You've pretty much got the game plan when the baby pops out of the womb. If your daughter is 5'8" and a size 10, she just will never work for Abercrombie & Fitch no matter what you do. You can chose a good school, or have a good health plan to help things along, but the kid will grow up to be the one God gave you at the beginning. If you're a parent, it would be smart (and gracious) to not take the credit and never take the blame.

Parenting comes at you in stages. What works at 2 definitely doesn't fly at 12. I was a fabulous parent for the early years--not so great for teens. The kids are 38 and 39 (or is that 39 and 40?); just ask 'em. Had the proverbial eyes in the back of my head, I did. Although most of the time they were growing up, my hair was too long to peek through. Now, we socialize occasionally and help each other out--my husband's helping our son paint his house and our daughter has been taking care of our cat during all our travels lately. I do try to mind my own business, and only nag occasionally--usually about health--but it's tough considering I was very over protective. Afterall, I want them to take care of me in my old age!

As children they never missed church; never even asked. As adults they attend on Christmas Eve. I think my husband and I said prayers with them every night practically until they left home--or at least until they were bigger than we were. As the saying goes, God has no grandchildren. My husband still prays for them every day!

I was room mother, choir mother, Campfire leader, and VBS teacher. I took them to art shows and libraries. Heck, I taught them to read before kindergarten, and supervised all the homework. I used to storm into the school and demand that the teacher keep my kid after school until the work was completed! (They were sooo happy to have my kids graduate!) I gave up all sorts of perks I probably didn't need and ate macaroni at the end of the month just so we could live in the best school district in Columbus. I made sure they always had holidays with the relatives so they knew what an extended family was (we have no relatives here).

I taught them to cook, clean and sew (don't bother with the sewing--Wal-Mart is cheaper). We took them to restaurants for family time, but also they learned how to behave in public. They ate better than most of their peers and we always ate meals as a family, so they learned good table manners. Fast food or pop? They didn't get it in our home. I remember the shocked look when they were adults and found pop in our refrigerator and learned we occasionally went to McDonald's.

They took piano lessons and one even had 2 clarinet lessons! Our daughter took voice lessons for awhile. I hired a really neat guy to teach my son to play the guitar by ear; and 25 years later he still plays and once had long stringy hair and played in bars with other guys who thought they'd be famous some day.

My kids were in every imaginable sport activity when they were young, and one is a natural athlete. But I was on the job and didn't let them join up until at least 3rd or 4th grade because I thought I was smarter than the other mommies and that kids needed time to be kids. Of course, that meant no one else was around to play with--so you're fighting a losing battle there. Swimming, tennis, and ice skating lessons. Neither one of us plays golf, but we talked a golfer friend into teaching our son a few basics as a teen, and I think he still goes to the course and throws his back out from time to time.

I said "No," a lot. Much more than was necessary. "No, 6 weeks in France in 5th grade will not benefit your education." "No, you can't go to Florida on Spring break with your friends." "No, you can't leave the house until you write Grandma a thank-you note." "No, that outfit is too expensive." "No, you're not leaving the house looking like that." Playing with matches with friends? I called the fire chief and arranged a little chat while the other mommies said their little sweeties would never do such a thing.

We laughed and played a lot--went on picnics down by the river, bike rides around the neighborhood, put on records and danced, played dress ups and made forts, had overnights with friends, family camp, birthday parties, made a zillion crafts at the kitchen table, dressed the cat in doll clothes, went to Tullers for fresh cider and donuts on Saturday mornings, ice skating, movies--the same kind of stuff I did when I was young. In fact, except for the TV and the community sports, I was surprised by how similar the activities were.


Oh sure, I made mistakes. They could probably tell more than I know about. The teen years I would never want to do over. But if I could have a "do over," I'd never sign a permit for my teen-ager to work. This wasn't the 50s or 60s; it was the 80s. Fast food and retail jobs don't build character, work ethic, or good values, etc., it just puts them under the influence of 22 year old assistant managers, and in close association with school drop outs and kids you'd never let through your front door. Let's see, what else. I'd never put a child in a special class unless the regular work was totally out of reach--and even then I'd tighten the belt and go for tutoring. If the school says your daughter doesn't pronouce a consonant correctly, just lisp at the teacher and tell her that's how it's done in your family. No one wants to be your pet project--children don't like to feel like they need to be fixed, and they hate being different.

Another mistake I admit to--I'd never let a minor living under my roof own an automobile, not even with their own money. Because of insurance laws, you actually have this decision in your hands. A 17 year old that can afford a car, probably can't afford the insurance. You might think it will help transportation problems, but trust me, mommies and daddies, you want to keep them driving 4 door sedans as long as possible. Some things need to be done or not done just to help the parents!

But we hope it all pays off. Parents try to raise up adults, not children. They grow up, come home to visit, invite us for dinner, visit when we're sick, call just to chat and make us proud. The Bible says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it." Scripture is a bit vague about just when "Old" takes place, however.

parenting, children, family, Education, children's sports

Monday Memories

Brethren Volunteer Service, pt.1
Brethren Volunteer Service was started in 1948 training young people and adults in groups to help in a variety of community projects in many countries. Service might be in a hospital, a small struggling church, Appalachia, a migrant camp, blighted urban area, nursing home, or school. Both my sisters had served, so I signed up for a summer unit in 1957 and left for California right after high school graduation, traveling to Fresno by myself on the Greyhound Bus. This memory is not about all the strange people I met on the bus, but rather I want to post some photos because my album has fallen apart after almost 50 years. I've adjusted the posting time so you can scroll down, instead of up. There are 3 parts, otherwise it would take too long to load.

I was assigned to a community center that served Black agricultural workers. The community looked rural and had tidy little houses; the house in which the volunteers lived looked much the same as the rest of the community. We had 4 rooms, no air conditioning. The director of the project and his family lived next door in a slightly better house. All the land for the center and the two houses had been donated by a Hoff family who were members of the Church of the Brethren.
121 West North Ave., Fresno 6, California, front of the volunteers' residence
Back of our house on W. North Ave. There was a large garden, but I don't think we took care of it. Laundry is on the line--wringer washer, no dryer. Addition to the back was the laundry room and tool shed. Addition on the side was two bedrooms, one for four women, one for four or five men. With 9 people living in a tiny house we had to be scrupulously neat; beds made up first thing; dishes washed and put away after meals; no clutter at all.
Our BVS group, but I don't remember all the names. Judy Haldeman, Imogene Traughber, in front, Rufus Wagner, Terry Thoreen, back. The other three guys are Don Jordan, next a relative of the director, Clare Stein (can't remember his name) and possibly Tim Guest. We had a "housemother" a few years older than me whose name was Barbara, but she isn't in the photo. From the clothing, we must have been at church. I was the photographer using my little Brownie Hawkeye. Only 3 of us were summer workers--the rest had been through regular training in Maryland.

Check the two previous posts for pt. 2 and pt. 3, rather than scrolling up.

View More Monday Memories Participants
Trackbacks, pings, and comment links are accepted and encouraged!
I don't use Mr. Linky, so your links will stay put!
My visitors and visited this week are:Ma, Viamarie, Mrs. Lifecruiser, Debbie, Lazy Daisy, Lady Bug, Janene, Michelle, Anna, ChelleY. Jen, Melli Becki, Paul, Friday's Child, Irish Church Lady,

Brethren Volunteer Service
Church of the Brethren
Fresno, California
community centers
volunteerism

Monday Memories

Brethren Volunteer Service, pt.2
To make this load faster, I'm dividing the photos into 3 entries. Go up one for the first part.

Generally, the girls did all the shopping, cooking, cleaning and laundry for the whole unit; the guys took care of the grounds, maintenance and vehicles. We all had playground duty; taught classes to the children; did surveys in the community about needs. On Friday nights there were movies for the community, and candy was sold at the center. There were sports teams coached by our volunteer staff, and the children were in leagues and transported around the area to play. Also ping pong tournaments. The BVSers worked hard and played even harder. We took some interesting trips to the California parks and mountains, agricultural areas, miniature golf, and to Sacramento in the center's van. For someone from a tiny town in Illinois, there was a lot to see and do. But I was only 17 and had never been away from home except for camp; so I think I would have been more useful had I been older.

Making ice cream; Barbara standing on the pail and Rufus churning. I believe this block building was built by the BVS-ers who came before us by a year or two.
Enjoying the ice cream. This looks like we were in the director's house and one of his small children is in the foreground. I think I see a Bible or two, so maybe we had a lesson before the treat?
We didn't have a TV, but we had a record player and we sang. The fan in the living room window was connected to a hose which helped cool the house with running water.
My Bible class. We had made potato head puppets (I learned this from my mother) and put on a play we wrote. I believe they performed for the community and parents, because usually they wore play clothes when they came to the community center (built by the volunteers).

Brethren Volunteer Service, Church of the Brethren, Fresno, California, community centers,
volunteerism, Monday Memories

Monday Memories

Brethren Volunteer Service, pt. 3
Here's a few more photos. Scroll up for pt. 2 and pt. 1 and the explanation of what you're seeing. I reversed them.

The kitchen was really pretty nice, and we had great meals--many of the Cal-Mex type things I'd never had before. Lots of beans, rice and onions, smothered in cheese, seconds on bread and milk. We had one tiny bathroom off the kitchen and 9 people living in the house. We must have had assigned times. I think the women got up first. Someone would turn on Mahalia Jackson gospel and blast everyone out of bed in the a.m.

I doubt that we could all sit down at the same time in the living room, and I'm certainly taking up more than my share here, so perhaps some were out this evening at a ball game with the kids.

It must have been my day to cook because I have on an apron--the same one Genie is wearing in the above photo. I'm showing off my new shoes bought in Fresno. Our pay was $7.50/month (or was it a week?), which actually goes pretty far if your board and room is taken care of (or it did 50 years ago), so I probably saved mine and bought new high heels. And yes, that is a sun tan because we were outside much of the day.

Please check out pt. 1 (above) for the beginning of the story.

Brethren Volunteer Service
Church of the Brethren
Fresno, California
community centers
volunteerism
Monday Memories

2968 There is no media conspiracy

They aren't colluding. They are just liberals doing what they do best. Reporting what they truly believe. That's not conspiracy; it's ignorance. Recent media bias stories that report otherwise are analyzing "talking heads," not the basic news stories. Anybody can scare up a few minutes of a former Republican senator or a fading moving star. The only professionals more liberal than journalists (4:1) would be university faculty (estimates range between 7:1 and 30:1) and librarians (224:1). I'm not counting Hollywood because most aren't professionals; they are unemployed a large part of their working life.

Mark Foley stories: NBC 56; ABC 50; CBS 46. Via Glenn Beck radio, 10-16-06. So far, the only sure thing is the Page was no longer a Page and was over 18. It was e-mail and IMs, not sex with a minor like Congressman Studds, who mercifully died last week before his tawdry behavior and the Democrats' support of him (including Nancy Pelosi) gets any more publicity. The other charges against Foley, which are coming to a call-in line, until they are investigated may be at the same level as the rape charges against the Duke la crosse players, all of whom proved innocent with DNA tests, and the "victim" says no condoms were used.

Death and taxes. Politics and sex. Democrats with no program. Sigh.

"Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS' "Evening News," The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal." UCLA study

Brian Ross
Media bias
Mark Foley
Liberal MSM

2967 Voting for King and Queen of Homecoming

Doesn't that sound--I don't know--so retro? I noticed a photo of the court in today's OSU Lantern. I discovered I actually can vote by using my university login, but I didn't--didn't seem fair. I really don't consider myself a "Buckeye" even though that's where I spent most of my working years.



But back to the court. This is one good looking bunch! Wow! I've clicked under their photos and read the little bios. They seem to be limited to listing 5 activites while on campus. A number are in sororities or fraternities, and Stephanie Wiseman is President of Panhellenic. I was never a greek, but that's a big deal! Three seem to be of middle eastern or east Indian ethnicity, and one appears to be Asian, despite a Scots Irish surname. No one is overweight--chubby maybe, but just a bit. Considering Ohio is one of the fattest states in the country, I find that awesome. Maybe I'll post this at my Hugging and Chalking blog.

None of the girls have short hair and none of the guys have long hair. These hair styles look right out of the 1970s for the women. Pressed and straight. Put heavier mascara on them and you probably can't tell them from their mothers. The majors are interesting too (all are seniors)--criminology (2); international business, finance, marketing and economics (3); political science (5); sciences--microbiology, biology, geriatrics, nutrition, physics; special education (2). Two are from my community; four are out of state. Looks like a very bright, beautiful, and socially alert group. I have no idea how the court was selected, but the country looks to be in good hands.

Ohio State University, Homecoming, Buckeyes, college students, college majors, hair styles

2966 The Education Myths

"Few people are aware that our education spending per pupil has been growing steadily for 50 years. At the end of World War II, public schools in the United States spent a total of $1,214 per student in inflation-adjusted 2002 dollars. By the middle of the 1950s that figure had roughly doubled to $2,345. By 1972 it had almost doubled again, reaching $4,479. And since then, it has doubled a third time, climbing to $8,745 in 2002." The American Enterprise.

If spending more money on education worked, why don't we see better results? Instead, we just get asked for more money. Sometimes they don't even pretend they need it, like Danbury in Ottawa County, OH. That's where we have our summer home. They've just raised our taxes by 30%--but most of us don't live there and don't send any children to their schools. They must have gold plated computers--two for each child.

"Economist Eric Hanushek of Stanford University examined every solid study on spending and outcomes--a total of 163 research papers--and concluded that extra resources are more likely to be squandered than to have a productive effect."

Feeling sorry for poorly paid teacher? Don't.

"Data from the U.S. Department of Labor show that in 2002, elementary school teachers averaged $30.75 per hour and high school teachers made $31.01. That is about the same as other professionals like architects, economists, biologists, civil engineers, chemists, physicists and astronomers, and computer systems analysts and scientists. Even demanding, education-intensive professions like electrical and electronic engineering, dentistry, and nuclear engineering didn't make much more than teachers per hour worked."

Read the whole article for more myths about class size, school choice, insurmountable social problems and the effectiveness of certification.

2965 Sprint to the Finish

"I just went through the list of all 40 competitive House races on Real Clear Politics, and I found only 8 clear pickups for the Democrats."

Read the whole blog, then go up and read Dafydd at Big Lizards Manifesto