3402 Do what it takes

to get the homeless off the streets. USA Today has a good article today (1-24-07) on what programs are working for the homeless in large metropolitan areas. Last week (1-18-07) the Wall St. Journal had an article about successful programs like "Ready, Willing and Able," which has saved NY a lot of money by getting the homeless into permanent housing and jobs. Getting the hard core 10% off the streets into safe housing units, not temporary shelters, without the carrot to reform their lives first, is working and is cheaper than other programs. It also helps restore businesses in the neighborhood, or at least gives them a chance. I know this irritates both the left and the right. Some on the right want the homeless to "earn it," and on the left, the do-gooders think we should expect nothing from them.

From a Christian point of view, Matthew 25 never says you do this (offering shelter, clothing, food) in order to reform someone. It might; it could; but probably won't. Homelessness at its root really isn't about being without homes, but being confused, sick, brain damaged from alcohol and drugs, mentally ill, mentally retarded and a prison system that dumps ex-cons on society with nothing to do. No six month government grant run by a 25 year old social worker is going to "fix" weird uncle Harry. We're reaping the harvest of misguided social ideas of the 60s and 70s which closed institutions and put people on the streets.

Some think if you make decent housing available without demanding the homeless change their lifestyle first, their numbers will increase. How many alcoholics do you know personally who stop drinking because someone tells them to? Do you know what we're getting with the present system? Public libraries with people who smell so bad they drive away anyone else who would use the newspaper or computer. Urine filled stairwells in the city. Hostile people begging. Cardboard shelters under by-passes. No accessible restrooms for the rest of us because stores or buildings don't want the homeless creating filth. Enclaves of mentally deranged people sleeping on heat grates. "How's that working for you?"

Permanent housing and assistance grants work better than shelters (which many homeless are afraid of because of violence). It will continue to work until it decreases the number of homeless so much that their advocates and the bureaucrats start losing government funding; then they'll find something else to ask for with their favorite phrase, "Yes, but. . . "

3401 Caring Service from Staples

Mr. Cloud wrote this past week about several incidences which indicated the little guy wasn't getting very good service from businesses and governments. I agreed with most of his points.

However, we had an odd thing happen yesterday that has restored my faith in the chain store, even though the clerk had made a mistake thinking we'd made a mistake.

My husband is going to Haiti on a mission trip in February, and in addition to helping with building and maintenance, he will be teaching a perspective drawing course for students studying English (although a very poor country, most of the children learn four languages). He doesn't know how many will be taking this optional unit, but he's preparing 60 packets of handouts, so I suggested he take the originals to Staples [office supply store] which has always done an excellent job on my blogs (yes, I have my blogs bound). He added a title page with the name of the school "Institution Univers" There were TWO messages left on our answering machine from the staff asking if we had misspelled Univers, and they wouldn't print until they heard back from us.

I smiled, but was touched to get that kind of service.

Are liberals ruining Wal-Mart?

And in another, unrelated item, I'll just mention my favorite giant American success store--Wal-Mart. I love Wal-Marts, and although I don't like the super stores as much as the older "just huge" stores, and nothing around here matches what you find in Arkansas, I visited the grand opening of one on Friday near here. I think Wal-Mart has been so pressured by bad publicity from the left, that they are losing their touch. Either that, or Columbus' unemployment rate is so low, it is hard to staff stores.

I actually had an African cashier who couldn't speak English. I only bought a bunch of bananas and thought it had rung up incorrectly and asked her to recheck the per pound price. She was obviously confused, so I repeated my question. She looked up, pointed at the ceiling. I again asked her to check the price. She smiled, took the label off and pressed some keys. She smiled and nodded. I smiled and nodded (didn't do well in math so had no idea if it was correct). I took the sales slip and the bananas to the customer service. The slip clearly said, TWO ITEMS, and I only had one bunch of bananas. That much math I know. I got my refund and left the store.

Then yesterday we stopped there again looking for various items on the Haiti list. Knee pads. Didn't have them. 12' measuring tape. Didn't have it. Carpenter apron. None. Bug repellent. Check in grocery. One young man we asked had a speech impediment and such poor English (but he was one of our own) that we could hardly understand him. I spoke to four or five staff people, and all were on loan from other stores in the Columbus metro area, one was from Delaware (north of Columbus).

3400 Best selling books for youth

How often is a best seller for young people actually written by someone under 18 or even 21? The USA Today Best-selling books for 2006 list for young people has Christopher Paolini's Eragon as number one and his Eldest: Inheritance Book II was fourth. I'm not sure I read books for youth even when I was a teen and I claim total ignorance on this genre and mysteries and fantasies.

What I find fascinating is Paolini's background. Farm raised, and home schooled, he finished high school by age 15. He'd also had a few failed attempts (by age 15) at novel writing. In this interview for other teens interested in writing, he mentions, sort of off hand as though everyone does this, the depth of reading he'd done (before age 15) in Teutonic and Old Norse history in order to have the background for his characters, language and country.

He says when he was little he didn't want to learn to read--didn't think it was important, but that his mother was persistent and patient (a former teacher).

"Then she took me to the library. It's easy to write those words now, but they cannot convey how that single event changed my life. In the library, hidden in the children's section, was a series of short mystery novels. Attracted by their covers, I took one home and read it eagerly. I discovered another world, peopled with interesting characters facing compelling situations." Can you imagine how busy he must have kept the Interlibrary or Regional Loan department at his public library?

When he had his first book self-published after years of drafts and editing, the family marketed it themselves--beginning with talks at libraries. These parents obviously had a lot of faith in their boy! I think I heard an interview on the radio where he said they'd mortgaged their home to do this. But don't quote me.

"The Paolini family spent the next year promoting the book themselves. Beginning with talks at the local library and high school, they then traveled across the U.S. Christopher gave over 135 presentations at libraries, bookstores, and schools in 2002 and early 2003." His webpage

Someone who bought it brought the title to the attention of a publisher, who signed him, and by mid-2004 Eragon had sold over 1 million copies.

3399 The Mexican model

More Albanians reside beyond Albania's present borders than within them. Remind you of anyone around here?
see "The Chicago Connection," by Allison Stanger, The American Scholar, Autumn 2006.

3398 Silly word choices

An article on full body scans for skin cancer for female veterans I noticed this odd phrasing, "We found that 16% of subjects would refuse the examination if the primary care provider were of the opposite sex, whereas 38% would not refuse but be less willing to be examined. "

Seems that whole sentence could be tightened up a bit by using the term, "male doctor."

And who knew our brave women soldiers were so squeamish around men?

Archives of Dermatology. 2006;142:312-316.

3397 Cooking the blog

No one cares what you had for lunch is a book for bloggers, the premise being that bloggers run out of things to write about when all they can think of is what they ate for lunch. This has never happened to me--having nothing to write about--although I have on occasion written about my lunch. Here's our dinner menu today.



Sweet sour meatballs (fully leaded)
Tender crisp fresh asparagus
Baked butternut squash with drizzled maple syrup (sugar free)
Chocolate peanut butter pie (low fat, low sugar)
To make the meatballs you first have to leave the computer--probably when Blogger.com is acting up. Go to the kitchen and mix in a sauce pan one 15 oz can of sauerkraut, one 12 oz. jar of chili sauce, and one 16 oz can of whole cranberry sauce (sizes make no difference). Remove half of it from the pan and put it in the freezer for another day. Makes a wonderful topping for a boneless pork roast. While the mix is warming up, check the computer to see if Blogger is working, and if so, download that picture before it quits.

Go back to the kitchen and tear and crumble in a bowl at least two pieces of stale bread and let it dry a little while you go back and finish your blog entry. Oh, turn off stove and remove the sauce because you might forget and it will scorch.

If you forgot to remove the Cool Whip from the freezer earlier (for the pie), do it now! Put cream cheese on the counter to soften. Later, add 2 eggs to the bread crumbs and 1/2 package of dry onion soup. It will have all the seasoning these meatballs will need. You now have a really disgusting looking yellow mess in the bowl and something yummy smelling on the stove. Return to computer for awhile.

Next, add one and a half pounds of ground chuck to the bread crumbs and thoroughly mix. Shape into 10 nice sized meatballs, and lightly brown for a few minutes. Spray a casserole dish with a non-stick (I use olive oil), and arrange the meatballs. Pour the sauce over the meatballs, completely covering them. Put in the oven at 375 for at least 45 minutes. Check your e-mail.

Return to the kitchen to make the pie. Cream together one cup of creamy, natural peanut butter with one cup of Splenda and one teaspoon vanilla. Add half an 8 oz carton of sugar free Cool Whip. Mixture is a bit stiff especially if blogging has impaired your muscle tone. Pour mixture into a purchased chocolate graham cracker 9" crust. You can make your own if you don't blog. Put it in the frig to firm, 'cause you're running late now.

Go back to computer and check for errors. Now it is time to get the veggies ready. Put some water to boil in tea kettle. Peel and cut the butternut squash into small pieces, put in small casserole sprayed with non-stick, dab a bit of butter and drizzle some sugar-free maple syrup over it and put in oven with meatballs. (About 15 minutes, with the last 5 or so at 400 after you take out the meatballs.) Wash and cut the asparagus and put in small pan. About 5 minutes before serving, add the hot water to the asparagus and return to a brisk boil; turn off heat and cover. Remove pie from frig, warm a tablespoon of sugar-free hot fudge in microwave and drizzle it over the peanut butter filling; return to frig. Take meatballs out of the oven and reset at 400 to finish the squash for 5 minutes. Set table, feed cat, call husband to table.

Makes about 10 meatballs. Freezes well, or makes great sandwiches the next day.

3396 Who knew?

WASP is shorthand for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. It's a very useful acronym and I think sounds a whole lot better than SWAP, if you rearrange the word order*. I know it has been misused in a snarky way for certain rich northeastern presidential candidates, but as one whose ancestors were Scots-Irish, English and German and married to a Scot, it works well. So I was a bit taken aback to find out that WASP is used in the medical literature to mean "Wait and See Prescription," used with antimicrobial therapy.

That was definitely the medical treatment I had as a kid.

*Or, White Aging Saggy People.

3395 Are you living in the fast lane?

Karen Quinn wants to talk. She's got a contest and you can reach her by video, essay or e-mail, or just send one line, but you've got to get it in by February 16. I've looked through the list of prizes, and I'm here to tell ya, this is one fabulous contest. This is Karen's way to market her new book, Wife in the Fast Lane. Pretty clever.

Here's a sample of a one-liner:

"I was coloring my hair, sending a file to the office, answering a students question on the phone that “just can’t wait”, and helping a 2 year old heifer have her first calf."

If you're from the city you probably didn't know "heifer" is the word for a cow that hasn't been a mommy yet. Or that there are 55 different words in English for sheep. I guess cattle get to claim that word "heifer" right up to the time the little guy pops out. Sounds like the way some people use virgin, doesn't it?

I've never lived in the fast lane--don't even know where it is or how to get there. Anyone got a map? Keep it. I've spent my life carefully arranging my schedule, saying NO to things I really didn't want to do, and avoiding high maintenance people who would chew up my free time. As it says in my bio, somewhere, "My motto is you can have it all, just not all at the same time."

3394 Respect your brain

The library notified me that there was a book waiting for me that I had requested (placed a hold several weeks ago when someone else had it checked out). I had no recollection of the book, and didn't remember when or why I requested it. The title? Making a good brain great, by Daniel G. Amen, MD. Hmmm. Looks like I needed it, doesn't it?

I leafed through it and noticed the chapter on brain injury. In 1989 my daughter was in an automobile accident--hit by a drunk driver while waiting at a stop sign. I think I blogged about it some time back. Since you aren't told much on the phone at 3 a.m. except to come to the hospital, I was fully expecting to claim a body when we got there. Even as I type this, my heart rate has soared from the stress of remembering that awful night. She was in ER with a concussion, but was sent home after a few hours. She had years of trouble resulting from that "mild concussion" and a huge hassle getting the other driver's insurance company (Nationwide) to pay up. She started stammering, was depressed, tested very low on IQ tests (done for the court), and developed debilitating migraines. She told me the other day that she had a few sessions with a neuropsychologist (also court ordered) who taught her some cognitive skills to work around the injured area. Even today, she will occasionally use what he taught her if she feels a migraine coming on, and her speech cleared up and she's her old self at problem solving and intelligence.

So I was interested to read in Dr. Amen's book that many people have had brain injuries and don't know it--particularly from falls and sports like biking, snowboarding, sledding and skating. He writes:

"A concussion or mild "traumatic brain injury" (TBI) is far more than just a bump on the head. According to the American Academy of Neurology, "There is no such thing as a minor concussion." A study from UCLA found that "the level of brain glucose use in people who suffered mild concussions was similar to that in comatose, severely brain-injured patients. . . Even mild head injuries result in major changes to the brain's metabolism and could make victims susceptible to more serious damage from a repeated blow."

Dr. Amen advises parents to never let their child knock the soccer ball with his head--heading drills, in which a child's head is knocked repeatedly, are of greater concern to pediatricians than is the occasional head-punt in a game. A study of adult soccer players found 81% had impairment of attention, concentration, memory, and judgment when compared to non-players of similar age and circumstances. He says football players are struck in the head 30-50 times per game and regularly endure blows similar to those experienced in car crashes.

Dr. Amen, who has seen over 30,000 brain scans, says: "I would not let my children hit a soccer ball with their heads, play tackle football, or snowboard without a helmet. I encourage my own kids to play tennis, golf, table tennis, and track. Your brain matters. Respect and protect it."

traumatic brain injury

Monday Memories--Remembering Mother

January 24 will be the seventh anniversary of my mother's death. I remember getting the call at my office in the library at OSU and the overwhelming feeling of desolation and abandonment. But also I felt relief. She had died as she lived--with peace and dignity. Here's what I wrote about her in 2004 when her second cousin Marianne who lived in Iowa (their grandparents were siblings) returned a batch of her letters to me.

"I didn’t wait until Mother's death to canonize her as some have done with their parents. I've always known I had an exceptional mother (well, not counting those awful teenage years when I knew everything and she knew nothing!). And I've never known anyone who thought otherwise. She was, however, a rather private person, kept her own counsel, I think is the phrase. Didn't dabble in controversy. Didn't gossip. Didn't argue. So her letters from 1975 to 1998 are less than forthcoming. Weather report. Crop report. Grandchildren report. Health report (as they aged).

Each year Mother wrote Marianne promises or near-promises to travel to Iowa so they could see each other in person, but as far as I can tell from the letters, this only happened for Thanksgiving in 1988, although the Iowans did visit in Illinois in the late 70s.

Since Marianne was her cousin and also Brethren, she did share some thoughts on their common heritage on Christmas: "[at a 1978 retreat] no one of Brethren background could recall Christmas trees except at our country school programs. Most of us hung up stockings as children. Christmas dinners with relatives and programs at church and school seemed bigger than our present celebrations. Gifts were mostly homemade. We had lots of fun and excitement as we remembered."

She fretted a little on Memorial Day 1975 that she and her sister were the only ones left to place flowers at the grave sites of parents and brother, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, something their mother had always done. In 1987 she recalls visiting in Iowa her great Aunt Annie as a young child--"the comb honey served at meals and the fat feather mattress we slept on reached with a little foot stool. I wish I might have known them at a later age when memories wouldn’t be so dim and one could appreciate more."

Finally, in 1998, Mother writes Marianne that "I try to tell Amy (granddaughter, early 30s) stories about the family [learned from Marianne's mother] so someone remembers how the George family spread out and came west."

Remember to pass along those family stories to your children and grandchildren. Monday Memories is very useful for that.

View More Monday Memories Participants
My visitors and those I'll visit this week are:Anna, Becki, Chelle, Chelle Y., Cozy Reader, Debbie, Friday's Child, Gracey, Irish Church Lady, Janene, Janene in Ohio, Jen, Katia, Lady Bug, Lazy Daisy, Ma, Mrs. Lifecruiser, Melli, Michelle, Paul, Susan, Viamarie.

3392 A spanking law proposed

Democratic assembly woman of California, Sally Lieber, wants an anti-spanking law. As near as I can tell, she has no children, but is a "guardian" of a cat which is very smart. What do you want to bet she believes in "a woman's right to choose" and all sorts of animal rights. OK to kill the little duffers if it's inconvenient for them to be born, but not swat their bottoms if they're smacking another kid in the head with a shovel on the playground. I just love the consistency of liberals, don't you? Spanking bill

15 questions to ask if you want to marry

These questions appeared in the New York Times. Maybe we were too young, but I don't think we asked any of them--we sort of went on faith that the other was a good person--and being a woman I just figured I change what I didn't like. We talked about short term stuff--what was his draft number, should we rent a furnished or unfurnished apartment, which one of us would use the car and which would take the bus. Was there enough money for the first month's rent. However, we married young. If you are 35 or 40, there's a lot of water under the bridge and mountains out of molehills to cross, so you'd better ask some questions. I've rearranged them for my priorities based on over 40 years experience, and added my comments in brackets. All these questions are asked only if you believe you truly love the person, of course.

December 17, 2006 New York Times
Questions Couples Should Ask (Or Wish They Had) Before Marrying

Relationship experts report that too many couples fail to ask each other critical questions before marrying. Here are a few key ones that couples should consider asking:

9) Have we reached a clear understanding of each other’s spiritual beliefs and needs, and have we discussed when and how our children will be exposed to religious/moral education? [Is she/he a committed Christian? Does she/he commune on the golf course or with a congregation and clergy?]

6) Can we comfortably and openly discuss our sexual needs, preferences and fears? [Does she/he expect a cohabitation probationary period before marriage--a sure route to divorce? If she/he has been unfaithful, will it change?]

2) Do we have a clear idea of each other’s financial obligations and goals, and do our ideas about spending and saving mesh? [How much debt does she/he have? Is she a shopaholic who needs to spend for mental health? Does he/she gamble? Has she/he been looking to the future or just likes to spend as you go?]

1) Have we discussed whether or not to have children, and if the answer is yes, who is going to be the primary care giver? [Does she/he already have children; what kind of parent is she/he; will you be expected to be a parent or just a stand-by babysitter with no say; what are the custody arrangements?]

11) Do we value and respect each other's parents, and is either of us concerned about whether the parents will interfere with the relationship? [Is he/she in a family business? Do her/his parents live close? Are her/his parents married to each other? Are there siblings?]

3) Have we discussed our expectations for how the household will be maintained, and are we in agreement on who will manage the chores? [Whose standards will determine "fair," or "clean," or "on time."]

4) Have we fully disclosed our health histories, both physical and mental? [Does she/he have health insurance? Unpaid medical bills? Preexisting conditions for which you'll be responsible? How much time spent with a shrink?]

5) Is my partner affectionate to the degree that I expect?

8) Do we truly listen to each other and fairly consider one another's ideas and complaints? [Don’t forget the non-verbal communication--sulking, slamming doors, driving like a maniac, flirting, procrastinating, etc.]

10) Do we like and respect each other's friends? [Does she/he even have friends or are you it?]

12) What does my family do that annoys you? [Get over it.]

13) Are there some things that neither are prepared to give up in the marriage? [Does he/she hate your hobbies and leisure activities? What about your pets?]

14) If one of us were to be offered a career opportunity in a location far from the other’s family, are we prepared to move? [Are your job skills and training readily transferable to another geographic area? Mountain guide in Iowa; scuba diver in Nebraska, for instance.]

15) Does each of us feel fully confident in the other's commitment to the marriage and believe that the bond can survive whatever challenges we may face? [How many times has she/he been married and what's your limit?]

7) Will there be a television in the bedroom? [Huh? Is this a which way to roll the toilet paper question or a sex question?]

3390 One more thing I have to remember

Folic Acid.

"A randomized, placebo-controlled trial has shown daily folic acid significantly improves cognitive performance in older adults — specifically as it relates to memory and information processing.

The study, which included 818 subjects aged 50 to 70 years who were folate deficient, showed that those who took 800 µg daily of oral folic acid for 3 years had significantly better memory and information processing speed than subjects in the placebo group.

Furthermore, serum folate concentrations increased by 576% and plasma total homocysteine concentrations decreased by 26% in participants taking folic acid compared with those taking placebo." Medscape story here. “Effect of 3-year folic acid supplementation on cognitive function in older adults in the FACIT trial: a randomized, double blind, controlled trial” Lancet 2007; 369: 208-216.

Three years of treatment with folic acid conferred on individuals resulted in the performance of someone 4.7 years younger for memory, 1.7 years younger for sensorimotor speed, 2.1 years younger for information processing speed, and 1.5 years younger for global cognitive function.

World's Healthiest Foods chart
World's Healthiest Foods site has an article on the important of Folate. Calves liver is right at the top. Yuck. I don't kill or eat babies.

My vitamin supplement has 400 mcg, but that's obviously not doing the trick, since I can't remember what mcg stands for. Let's try some of my lunch mixtures, of which I would mix maybe 1/4-1/2 cup of each: corn: 76 mcg per cup; greens (either collard or turnip) 177 or 170 mcg per cup; bell peppers 20 mcg per cup; tomatoes 27 mcg per cup; black beans 256 mcg per cup; onions 30 mcg per cup; brown rice zero. Looks like black beans are the winner if I avoid the liver.

I'm guessing that senior vitamins will increase the folate content (currently at 400) if this research continues to be so positive. It's obviously very difficult to get 800 mcg just through eating.

folate
healthy eating

3389 What they were saying 70 years ago

"The farm family [previous paragraph was on divorce rate being much lower in rural areas] remains also the cradle of the nation, whereas the urban family is its grave. Births have declined so rapidly in the cities that urban populations are no longer reproducing themselves. Without the migration of rural youth into the cities to make up the deficit of necessary births, cities would find their population depleted by two-thirds within a century, assuming that the rate of decrease will remain what it now is; and as a matter of fact the trend is to a greater and greater decline." . . .

"Among social institutions that touch upon the material well-being of people, postulate high moral qualities, and produce rich social by-products, few, if any, are the equal of private property. Basic to peace, order, and progress is the security of private property. On this account, Pope Leo XIII, almost fifty years ago, in his celebrated encyclical, Rerum Novarum — On the Condition of Workingmen, developed at length arguments in behalf of private property. 'The law, therefore, should favor ownership,' he wrote, 'and its policy should be to induce as many people as possible to become owners.' "

Aloisius Muench, Bishop of Fargo, North Dakota, Catholic Rural Life Objectives, St. Paul, 1937, pp. 16–19. Annals of American History, accessed Jan 21, 2007.

3388 Common sense consumption, pt. 1

We'd better develop a taste for it, because the lefties, greenies and tree huggers are hooking up with socialized medicine and Democrats for more regulations and laws about food.

If only solvent white people were obese, we'd be safe from the food police. But unfortunately for all of us, non-white and poor individuals are more obese than wealthier and Euro-gened folks. I'm a retired WASP (Irish-German-English 9th generation American) with a decent pension, two homes and investments. No one cares if I'm fat (and I'm not).

Even Asians, who can skew our academic and educational achievement graphs and statistics, pack on the pounds by the second or third generation of living in the USA. It's world wide, and it is primarily economic, but because Europe is about a decade behind us in weight gain, and there are fewer fast food restaurants and less marketing to children there, we're told these are the reasons. (We've been in Germany, Austria, Finland, Estonia and Russia in the last two years, and I can assure you they are gaining on us even without a McDonald's on every corner.) I'll tell you what I think the reasons for USA obesity are in pt. 2.

Just keep this in mind. Lawyers are salivating. Sociologists and anthropologists are rubbing their hands with glee waiting for the grant money. Foundation CEOs, people with zero regulation and accountability, see a steady income stream--if only they can get on the obesity bandwagon. And the medical community--looking at 20 million of us with diabetes--to say nothing of stroke and heart problems--well, you're giving them a very nice lifestyle. And Congress is gearing up. Hear the distant parade music? Folks, all we have to do to stop the biggest invasion of our wallets and privacy in the history of this country, is eat less and move more--shed those pounds you wrote about in your New Year's resolutions. Don't let the government take your French fries and Twinkies. Be pro-active!!!! Dump them on your own.

Source of irritation: JAMA 297:1:87 (January 3, 2007)

3387 Finally, some snow!

Our neighbor across the creek and ravine (we can wave at each other when there are no leaves on the trees) told me today that after they moved here from New Orleans after the hurricane, they agreed with one of their neighbors to outfit a riding mower with a snow plow for their shared use on their huge drive-ways. It was ready three weeks before Christmas--and the huge investment sat in the garage with nary a snow flake in sight. Finally today it is snowing. We should have a total accumulation of 3". They are ecstatic!

Before the big three

there was still hatred in the region. Backstory. My New Year's resolution, made because of a man I met New Year's Day at a coffee shop, is to read The One Year Bible (NIV). It's January 21 and so far, I haven't missed a day, which makes this a more successful resolution than most. So, I'm still in Genesis, the book with all the great stories. These stories are some of my earliest memories. As I read, I can hear the scrape of wooden chairs on the basement floors of the two Illinois churches (Mt. Morris Church of the Brethren and Faith Lutheran in Forreston) I attended as a child and see my faithful Sunday School and VBS teachers in my mind's eye. Even so, every time I read them I see something new.

In today's passage (Gen 42:;18-43:34), Joseph is welcoming back to Egypt his brothers who had sold him many years back (they don't recognize him, but he knows who they are). This is their second trip to get grain for their families and father Jacob (renamed Israel) only this time they had to bring along Benjamin, Joseph's full brother. Joseph, who is very well placed in the government, prepared a banquet for the brothers, who are terrified, because they have no idea what is going on. Joseph had to momentarily leave and collect his wits because he was so emotionally overwhelmed at seeing Benjamin. OK. That's the setting.

"After he had washed his face, he came out, controlling himself, said, "Serve the food."

They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians."

God had not yet chosen the Jews (he had, but they hadn't been told); Jesus was in the plan but not yet revealed; and Mohammed who would investigate both Judaism and Christianity for a replacement of the pagan gods of the region, was many centuries away. And still there was hatred.

Happy birthday, First Baptist.

3385 Deadline for passports

Just as it wouldn't occur to me to go to the public library for a very loud Playstation guitar game for middle schoolers, I didn't know I could apply for a passport at a public library.

There are 9,000 individual sites such as post offices and libraries accepting applications for passports. At present 27% of Americans have passports and next Tuesday is the deadline if you plan to enter or leave Canada, Mexico or the Caribbian. It used to be a driver's license or birth certificate would do.

Too bad, isn't it, that we're not as careful with illegals as we are with our own citizens. Currently, boarder guards who try to stop illegals, go to jail and the perps go free.

passports
public library
Playstation guitar hero

3384 How the left led

Dinesh D'Sousa writes in the LA Times OP ED:

"Pundits on the left say that 9/11 was the result of a "blowback" of resistance from the Islamic world against U.S. foreign policy. At first glance, this seems to make no sense. American colonialism in the Middle East? The U.S. has no history of colonialism there. Washington's support for unelected dictatorial regimes in the region? The Muslims can't be outraged about this, because there are no other kinds of regimes in the region. U.S. support for Israel and wars against the Muslims? Yes, but the U.S. has frequently fought on the side of the Muslims, as in Afghanistan in the 1980s or in the Persian Gulf War.

But in a sense the liberal pundits are right. The U.S. made two gigantic foreign policy blunders in recent decades that did sow the seeds of 9/11. What the liberals haven't recognized is that these blunders were the direct result of their policies and actions, and were carried out by Democratic presidents — Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton."

I don't know how useful it is to look back 10, 20, 30 years and point fingers, because hindsight is always 20/20. Even so, it is odd that Jimmy Carter still displays timidity, awe and even a strange respect for the Iranians even with the benefit of history and their role in bringing him down. And Clinton dawdled and dabbled, but didn't act. But it's a mess now, and we're part of it, which makes it our obligation to not abandon the people we pledged to help. Our left wing still has no plan to counter Bush's build up except maybe to withold money which will be pretty rough on our troops.

Muslims are blowing up each other; that won't improve if we leave. At least at this stage in their history--and Islam is a much younger religion than Judaism or Christianity--their wrath is for their co-religionists. If they have so little respect and love for a fellow Muslim and countryman, imagine what they'll do to one who converted to Christianity after years as a Muslim, like Barack Obama.

3383 Friday Family Photo

This is family in a larger sense. This is an unidentified photo of a Church of the Brethren congregation in 1917, celebrating some sort of a clean life meeting, perhaps a revival? "Our aim a new life and a clean life" says the sign on the right. The building's sign says "Church of the Brethren Preaching 11 a.m. 7 p.m., several lines I can't read, then "All Welcome." It appears to be summer time--or at least May or June--from the clothing, open windows and doors and trees.



This photo is in a collection of a 3rd cousin. We don't know what congregation or who might be a relative. I'm posting it in hopes that someone among the Brethren will recognize the people or the building. The cousin is a descendant of Daniel Weybright and Nancy Kinsey Weybright of Ohio, but so are several hundred other people, and doesn't know the origin of the photograph. But because it was saved and passed down (unidentified), we're assuming there is a family connection.

Note to self: label your photographs and date them.

Church of the Brethren
old photographs
genealogy

Which Children's Author Wrote You?

Laura Ingalls Wilder
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3381 Does this ever happen to you?

Eggs-actly! As I've mentioned here numerous times since the end of September, I needed to lose 20 lbs--gained since we got broadband and I started blogging. I've lost 18 pounds, the last one pound taking six weeks, and am eating healthier with more fruits and veggies than ever in my life. I don't have a physical until early March, so I figure I can do 2 more pounds before the blood pressure and cholesterol checks. I'm in size 8 slacks, and there's no cleavage hanging over the top of my necklines, so if it never happens, who cares? But I digress.

Eggs weren't on my list of food triggers to avoid, but everything I enjoy with them was--cheese, toast, butter, jelly, muffins, bagels, bacon and so forth. So I just hadn't eaten an egg since September. Tuesday I cooked a very nice ham. It was far more than we could safely eat in a few days, so I asked my daughter to stop by on her way home from work and pick up a generous package. Still too much ham; and our son didn't stop as he sometimes does on his day off so I couldn't give him any.

Brilliant idea! I'll make an omelet for dinner like I watched being prepared on the Good Morning America show. I grilled some onion and red pepper and chopped up a bunch of the ham. I found a skillet I hadn't used for awhile, sprayed it, dashed in some olive oil and put in 5 eggs mixed with a little milk (GMA said water). When it looked firmed up I gently placed my ham and veggies on one-half, just like I saw on TV. Then I carefully folded the other half over it. At this point, it diverged a wee bit from the chef's version on GMA. It didn't want to move; only went half way. Oh well. I put some bread in the toaster for my husband. Then after the omelet firmed up a little I cut it in half and moved the halves to our dinner plates. Ooops. My goodness. Sort of messy. Sure didn't look at all like the one on TV.

After grace, my husband look at his less than lovely omelet and said quietly, "I had eggs for breakfast."

Omelets
eggs
food triggers
healthy eating
dieting

Poetry Thursday #3

Today’s poetry challenge is to reuse a line from another blogger’s poem which has been posted at the site, and then leave one of mine for someone else to use. There were about 40 possibilities when I stopped by to look, and I chose the line “resting in a clean white bowl.” [Megan] I carried the sentence with me on a scrap of paper. At one point, I was going to fill the bowl with steaming ears of sweet corn, and then write a lament about ethanol--preferring not to see golden grain streaming out tail pipes. But it was truly an awful impulse and I squelch it.

When I was at the library yesterday I noticed there were 30 cookbook titles on the new book shelf and another 18 in the nearby nutrition classification. Certainly overkill in a society concerned with obesity. (The more variety, the more you eat.) I jotted down a few titles, on the same scrap with my line--i.e., "The Kitchen Diaries," and "Wrestling with gravy." Today when I got out my clean white bowl, it was filled to overflowing with gravy! Gravy has been on my list of foods to avoid for the last 3 months. I moved the word “resting” to another line.

The Kitchen Diaries

Wrestling with gravy
in a clean white bowl
my finger wipes a smudge
on resting lips.
I swoon.
My tongue is pleased
to hold a moment of
sensuous memories
from waiting hips.

3379 Is Ireland in our future?

I know it's in our past--I've been doing genealogy this week.

After meeting with his Cursillo group, my husband poked his head in my office and said, "How would you like to go to Ireland?" "Who's going?" I asked. "The priest at Jim's parish takes tour groups, and this would be the week of our anniversary," he said. "Well, why don't I look it up at the Alumni Association site and see if they are offering anything," I suggested. "I really like their format."

When the mail came today, guess what dropped through the slot? A brochure. University of Illinois Alumni Association sponsored tour to Ireland, 12 days covering both my birthday and our anniversary. And I hadn't even looked it up.

Seems like a sign, don't you think?

3378 A beautiful quilt story

Two weeks ago this Saturday the Visual Arts Ministry of UALC hung a quilt show at our Mill Run location. I'm looking forward to seeing the descriptions and stories that go with each quilt, prepared by the leader of the group. But nothing can match Daddy's Roses sensitive retelling of this lovely quilt from the 19th century.

3377 Even I was shocked by this

Recently, someone left a comment at one of my critiques of the direction of public libraries saying I wasn't a very good researcher [i.e. what liberals and humanists say when you don't cite their favorite pundits or sources]. But Tomeboy always digs deep and finds things I wouldn't even notice--like his analysis of the American Library Association's bibliography on homeschooling. I've been critical of ALA (I've never been a member), but even I was shocked. It's a fine report as always, Mr. Tomeboy.

In 2002 Midwinter in New Orleans, ALA's Association for Library Service for Children voted to establish a Home School Task Force to;

...investigate what action or activities, if any, ALSC needs to take to meet the needs of children's librarians serving home-schooled children and their families....

The product of this resolution? An exhaustive bibliography comprising of one internet resource, two books and two articles. The latter four published in the last century. Need I mention the breadth and timeliness of ALA's Task Force on the Environment page?

A middle school student probably couldn't get away with this! I'm almost afraid to check the Environment bibliography. I've seen homeschooling reports and resources at my public library, although for its size and focus on other topics (movies, cookbooks and scrapbooking) probably not as good as it could be based on local interest. Although this might explain why my PL's science fair reference shelf for children is so out of date (by 20-25 years in some cases).

Tomeboy speculates on why ALA would do such a poor job for an important topic. Might it be that about 70% of homeschoolers are evangelical Christians and ALA is hostile to religion?

homeschooling
libraries
bibliographies
American Library Association

3376 Looks like a crouching cat

This is a screen capture of my statistics for the past year for Collecting My Thoughts. Sort of looks like a crouching or sleeping cat outline. See the perky ears on the left, then the rounded back on the right. Oh, you don't see it? Well, I also like to paint when I'm not blogging, and am working on a poetry assignment which is much tougher than either painting or blogging. This week we're supposed to use a line from someone else's poem (at the Poetry Thursday site) and work with that.


I've been blogging since October 2003 and have written about 4,220 entries at this login (8 blogs), and about 30 at another blogger account (2), and about 450 at my LIS journal/weblog. I'm so over-blogged that blogger.com hasn't been able to move me to beta blogger. I've deleted perhaps 50 or so entries that after they were up for a bit, I didn't like. However, I don't know if they ever go away or are floating out there trying to connect. I changed the name of one of my blogs after it was up for about 3 months--that's a mess, try not to do that. I've blogged about what I blog about. I'm nearing 140,000 hits/visits to this site. I don't have site meters at all my blogs--and some I rarely look at. My Family Tree Maker stopped me in mid-19th century relative yesterday to tell me that I'd just hit 3400 entries in that. So I stopped and googled a 3rd cousin once removed and found she is a lawyer in DC who has argued cases before the Supreme Court. Don't we live in amazing times for information and communication?

Prayer Request

Not much blogging today. This is a photo of my brother's grandson and his daddy, who has been injured. About 10 days ago he was working on the ranch he manages in northern Illinois and got a small thorn in his palm, but being a hard worker continued with his chores. The hand became inflamed, and then dark streaks were running up his arm, so it was off to ER. He's had a week in the hospital with powerful antibiotics, but whatever pathogen is attacking him, they haven't been able to identify it or stop it completely. He's home now with my niece doing the IV drip and he daily goes back to have the open wound repacked.

But the nightmare continued.

While he was still hospitalized, some of the horses got out. Most stayed near the barn but two went out to the road where they were hit by a car with three people, all seriously injured about 4:30 in the morning. One horse, the ranch owner's, was killed on impact, and the other, my niece's horse, had to be put down from his serious injuries. She cradled its head and said good-bye. Tears are running down my cheeks as I think about her then rushing off to the hospital to tell her ill husband before he saw it on the news.

Please pray for my family and the injured family from Leaf River.

3374 How much does it cost?

to support a single adult who isn't going to college?

There was another scare story in USA Today last week about rising costs of college.

"For academic year 2006-07, the average cost of tuition, room and board at a public university was $12,796; for a private school, the total averaged $30,367."

Just two years ago the same paper reported the good news that rising costs were making more students eligible for government aid!

So, let's take the college experience out of the equation. How much does it cost you in real 2007 dollars if your young adult didn't go to college but you were shelling out for the apartment, utilities, transportation and parking, food, clothes, leisure activities, cable, computer, broad band, and insurance?

3373 Americans and health care

Something to consider when thinking about demands for government health care. This writer takes a slightly different direction.

"There’s ample evidence that Americans don’t care very much about their health. They grouse about copayments at the doctor’s office or pharmacy and may leave an office in high dudgeon if expected to pay a reasonable bill not "covered" by their insurance. They often refuse to buy medical insurance even if they can afford it. Aside from a subpopulation of health fanatics, many Americans constantly defy the grandmotherly advice* that is the proven basis for effective health maintenance. They smoke, drink, take drugs, engage in casual sex, and/or overeat. They do not exercise, eat their vegetables, or conscientiously wash their hands. They may be willing to take lots of pills, but appear to be allergic to anything that interferes with instant gratification or requires self-discipline."

*Like mine at this blog, which is--eat less, move more; eat all the colors; don't smoke.

from Your money and your life.

Monday Memories--What Shirley told Ann

It's hard for me to resist a used book sale at the public library, a used book store like the fabulous Acorn down on Fifth Avenue in Grandview, or a box of giveaways at the church library (picked up 4 after church yesterday). About a month ago I was paging through a $1.00 hard cover book at the Friends of the Library book sale that had the slight odor of basement storage. I don't recall the title, but it was an early 20th century imprint, nearly 100 years old. A fragile, yellowed 4" x 5" note from Shirley to Ann fell out. The handwriting reminded me of my grandfather's when he used pencil, although he had a beautiful calligraphic style when using pen. There were no misspelled words; the apostrophes, commas and hyphens were all correctly placed. I know I've heard this before--maybe in a sermon--or read it on the internet. But here's what Shirley told Ann.

Ann--Did you know about the minister that told a certain man that if he didn't stop flirting with another man's wife, he would tell who he was to the whole congregation.

The next Sunday he told the congregation that the man whom he mentioned should put a $5 bill in the collection and he wouldn't tell. Well, they took up the collection and found 15 $5 bills and two ones with a note attached that said he would pay the rest pay day.

Shirley

View More Monday Memories Participants
My visitors and those I'll visit this week are:Anna, Becki, Chelle, Chelle Y., Cozy Reader, Debbie, Friday's Child, Gracey, Irish Church Lady, Janene, Janene in Ohio, Jen, Katia, Lady Bug, Lazy Daisy, Ma, Mrs. Lifecruiser, Melli, Michelle, Paul, Susan, Viamarie.

The nice men in the ambulance

Can you imagine her horror as she listens to her voice mail from her aged mother who tells her she had a fall, but the nice men in the ambulance have transported her, and then doesn't say where? This nurse practitioner brings you into the story of eldercare. . . a public health nurse, a family nurse practitioner, and an academic who taught family and community theory but learned she was completely unprepared to be a caregiver.

"I finally located her and was told that no information could be given as she had not yet signed a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) form. This was the first of many frustrations with our healthcare system. I finally succeeded in reaching a nurse at that hospital who was known by a member of our family. She told me that radiology studies revealed a right hip fracture and 2 pelvic fractures: thus began our family's journey through the intricate web known as elder care in America, a journey with many peaks and valleys, and one that resulted in the reshaping of our family structure in ways I could never have foreseen."

And 5 months down the road and through the thicket of various mishaps,

"When discharge time came, there was no placement planned, and I found mother fully dressed and waiting for me with the IV still running. There were no wheelchairs available for transport, no person available to get her to the car, and no paperwork completed. I found a wheelchair and transported her myself. We made quite a picture -- mother in her wheelchair holding on to her overnight case and purse with me pushing from behind with her walker over one shoulder and my briefcase and purse over the other. Not one person offered to help us as we made our way to the hospital lobby."

She gives some rather gloomy statistics and predictions, given the age of the baby boomer generation. However, one thing bothered me a bit--although not as bad as the article I posted about the clueless doctor and his mother in December, this nurse puts her own patients above her mother's care at a critical time. She also had access to an amazing array of top notch services, yet says there needs to be more. Would a waitress or school teacher put her job ahead of her mother? But I digress. It is a very moving article and her mother is truly amazing, but if you have a frail or elderly parent, YOU NEED TO READ THIS, just to be prepared.

"The Cycle of Relocation: One Family's Experience With Elder Care" story at Medscape.com [free site, but may require registration--it's rather lengthy, so click on printer version even if you don't print, which will make scrolling much easier

eldercare

3370 Let's rethink baning DDT

It's not really worth killing all these people, is it? For you folks counting bodies in Iraq, I remind you that these mothers and children are just as dead.

Q. How many acute attacks of malaria are there each year?

A. There are up to 500 million estimated attacks of malaria and 1 million deaths due to malaria each year.

Science Trivia from Scientific American.

3369 Boxer's no champion for women

A commenter and story reported over at Amy's blog wrote:

"OK, Rice has no children serving in the military because she has no children. But Boxer also mentioned she has neither children nor grandchildren in the military. Therefore, why the hell does she get to serve Foreign Relations?"

Another news maven called Boxer's comment a giant step backward for feminists. It's the Kerry foot-in-mouth, garden variety, Democrat, double standard.

3368 The public library as lyceum

In the 19th century, before the era of a tax supported, public library there were lyceums--public lectures, concerts and entertainment. The content of the speeches and debates were often then republished in the local papers. When I was doing research on the writing of 19th century women in agricultural publications, it was interesting to follow their activities on the lyceum circuit. Then came the Chautauqua movement--both the permanent that still exist in places like Lakeside, OH, Bay View, MI, and Chautauqua, NY, and the traveling ones which used to stop for a week or so in towns as small as Franklin Grove, IL and perform plays, operas, and provide political debates. The Chautauqua movement also published material and offered home study courses, and award certificates of completion. The largest continuing education movement in the United States was provided by the federal government through agricultural and home extension.

Although towns had libraries as our population moved westward, they were private, usually maintained and paid for by the local women's clubs, which also offered their members educational events, debates, and social gatherings. Some cities had benevolent book collecting patrons who made their learning available to the general public, but they weren't "public libraries" as we know them. When my parents were children they lived on farms in two different counties, both close to Dixon, IL. People who lived outside Dixon could pay a fee and use the library. It is still that way in many townships today that don't have libraries. One of the wealthiest communities in Arizona has no library--they pay a fee to use the one in the next suburb because it is much cheaper that way and doesn't bring outsiders into their gated communities. It is pay-to-play because you aren't within the taxing district.

The public library I used as a child was established about 1931--my mother's library card was #14 because she was a college student in that town at the time. I worked there when I was in high school, and hung out there with my friends in elementary school because there was no place else to go.

My knowledge of the time line is fuzzy here (I didn't have a course in library history), but in the 20th century public libraries decided to revisit the lyceum concept so popular in the 19th century. (Some also provide day care for after school children and circulate garden tools and paintings and sculpture for your home--a bit far afield even for the lyceum concept.) Today's public librarians see themselves as educators and social workers on a mission to improve the lives of their patrons instead of "just" adjuncts to the educational system. I think this is wasteful overlap. Here's what I posted at a library discussion today:

"Those of you who work in public libraries think I don't understand the educational mission of the public library. Actually, I do. I just don't agree with it. Calling me uninformed or anti-library won't change my mind. I'm a big user and fan of my local public library, but I also depend on Ohiolink because much of my taste and research go beyond what is available, such as my pick-up yesterday from Ashland University, I don't have enough faith to be an atheist by Norman L. Geisler. It really belongs in our PL, but I'm so tired of fighting with them over their selection policies I just drive over to OSU and pick up my religious and political titles there. You wonder why you lose readers to Amazon or Barnes and Noble? My library's web site doesn't even have a slot to plug in a suggestion for purchase. But I digress.

Instead of teaching library patrons how to cook, quilt, dance, play guitar and scrapbook, I am a strong believer in libraries offering bibliographic instruction and user education both by genre, topic and format, be it digital or paper. I think libraries should teach about preservation, copyright, business sources and investment tools, how to find complex sources locally and statewide, tracking down local history sources, and assist the community businesses, churches, foundations and schools in developing their own archives. I think the meeting rooms in the building should be available to community groups who may or may not be using library materials.

I think there should be more staff (friendly and outgoing) on the floor to help patrons maneuver the increasingly complex on-line catalog and purchased packages from suppliers who know digitizing but diddly about how people learn and remember. Waiting for patrons to come to a desk of scowling or chatting staff just doesn't cut it in my book. I think library staff should be encouraged to go out into the community and give presentations, I think they should write book reviews for the local papers, and organize reading groups. I think they should ask the public if they are doing their job and what parts of the collection are not meeting community standards.

As I've said many times, if libraries don't do their job, who will?"

3367 Do you start your meetings on time?

The thought occurred to me this week I have probably wasted a month of my life waiting for meetings to start. If the meeting is at 10 a.m., I'm usually there at 9:55, hanging up my coat, picking out a chair, opening my notebook and settling in. Around 10:10, the chair says something like, "Well, we'll just wait another minute or two." I look around at the other 7 or 8 and think, "Don't we count?" One by one, the stragglers wander in, bustling, hustling and whispering. Finally, about 10:20, we're on our way.

YOU can put a stop to this by just starting on time. Enabling procrastinators does not cure them. They will be late the next time, too. Changing the start time to 10:15 just means they will arrive at 10:30. Changing the day won't work either. They will have as many conflicts for Tuesday as they had for Wednesday.

Starting on time may not change them either, but isn't it worth a try?

time management
meetings
procrastination

3366 Investing in real estate

David Crook who writes for the Wall Street Journal has a new book, Wall Street Journal Complete Real Estate Investing Guide Book, which came out in December. The WSJ has its own convoluted system on when to insert a hyphen, but I'm not playing along. Anyway, he had an article in the WSJ on Jan. 10 that really knocked my socks off (can't stop using cliches since it was the assignment for Poetry Thursday).

Using two columns to illustrate hypothetical investments in two houses both costing $200,000 in 1990 with a $160,000 mortgage, identical improvements (kitchen remodeling, new roof, and $150,000 addition) and both refinanced 3 times to lower rates, and both sold for $650,000 in 2006, he shows column one with a loss of $86,424 and column two with a gain of $403,397. Column one was the owner-occupied home with the usual deductions and expenses, and column two was a rental with the usual deductions, expenses and income.

It was eye opening to see that the fabulous gains people think they make on their homes probably aren't. Even if you play the devil's advocate and deduct what the owner of the rental would pay in rent for a place to live for 15 years while he rented out his own property, column 2 house is still ahead.

I don't know if this particular example is in the book, or if Crook wrote it specifically for the paper, but his writing is clear and well paced. This would be a good title to recommend to your library.

3365 What puzzles me about libraries

Keep in mind that I was never trained to be a librarian in a public library (there are four types--academic, public, government and private/special/business). I didn't receive the official indoctrination, and never joined the American Library Association. However, I use the library maybe twice a week, and get great benefit from it.

What I've never understood in all my years of using a public library is why they are adjunct lyceums, chautauquas, amusement parks and community centers for meetings. It's not like our community has no outlet or opportunity for activities. Our suburb (and others in the Columbus area) has a "Life Long Learning" program, tax supported through the city, and federal grants, I believe. These classes meet in a variety of community buildings from churches, to fraternal halls and public schools. You can take accounting, furniture refinishing or Swahili--there's a huge variety. Various universities and colleges in the area also offer continuing education or credit for college courses. The local churches also offer both religious and non-religious programing on everything from politics to art to financial management, plus personal growth classes and lectures on marriage and parenting. The Columbus Museum offers classes as do local environmental and history societies. There are community art groups all over the place--the Worthington Art League, Dublin Community Arts Council, etc. who bring in speakers and programs. The mega-lumber sites like Lowe's and Home Depot offer home maintenance and interior decorating classes. The whole foods stores teach cooking and health classes. The local hospitals and medical networks send out quarterly announcements about their classes on everything from cancer to coping with stress. Every imaginable sport training and league is offered through the community programs, or you can go to a local sports mega-store and climb their indoor mountain. Our senior centers located throughout Columbus offer a wide variety of lectures, how-to-classes, and recreational opportunities.

So why is the public library offering writing classes, or music lectures, or quilting discussions, or this noisy gathering for middle schoolers:

The library “turns it up to 11” as we invite guitar heroes of all ages to join us in our first all-new videogame themed events. Play the Playstation 2 versions of Guitar Heroes 1 and 2 on our giant 12-foot screen as we transform our Theater into a Virtual Rock Venue, complete with sound system and lights. Sign up is limited to 50 and we expect to be “sold out.” We’ll provide snacks and everything needed to play. Feel free to bring in your own custom Guitar Heroes controllers.
UAPL program for winter

There may have been a time long ago--maybe during the Great Depression--when people didn't have much to do in their leisure time. But those days are gone.

I think it is time to privatize the libraries. They've lost their mission and are searching for something to do with their staff and money.

3364 Friday Family Photo

Kleppinger Clippinger Klepinger--that's a family name in my genealogy (maternal side). I wish I had a photo of Anna Maria Klepinger, also called Polly. But Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre didn't invent the daguerreotype process until 1839, 11 years after she was married. I'm guessing it was considered a bit worldly in their conservative religious group, even when it became popular.

Insert here
a photo of
the lovely

Anna Maria, b. 1808, d. 1875
and
her husband
Christian Wenger, b. 1805, d. 1885
on their
wedding day
August 14, 1828

Christian and Polly were successful farmers--owning over 1,000 acres of land near Englwood which is near Dayton, Ohio. However, they started married life with almost nothing. My grandfather's older sister, the woman we called Aunt Allie (Mrs. J. Edwin Jay, later President of Wilmington College) related this tale for the Kleppinger researcher: "It is said that when Christian and his bride came to their new home on horseback and dismounted to enter their cabin, he said, 'Polly, this is all we have.' and showed her the coin. It is said to have been 50 cents."

Christian was a Deacon in the River Brethren (Brethren in Christ) which I think was a split off and mix of Mennonite and Dunker Brethren. They had 12 children, and the one I do have a photo of was Nancy, my grandfather's mother. That's probably where Aunt Allie heard the story of her grandparents' 50 cent start in life.

Although I had Christian and Polly in my database (the Wenger family I've written about before), I was able to find this anecdote by using Heritage Quest Online at my public library. You can search census data, or people, places and books. The book Kleppinger-Clippinger Klepinger family history by Stanley J. Kleppinger (Allentown, PA: George P. Schlicher & Son, 1956) 351 p. with its index had been completely scanned and was easily searchable. The next time you have a question about someone hiding in your family tree, ask your librarian if there are any on-line sources available.

Kleppinger
Klepinger
Wenger
genealogy
Brethren
Brethren in Christ

3363 Send Mom on a cruise

Although my children might tell you otherwise, I'm not one of those high-maintenance mothers. I rarely say, "give me grandchildren," "train your dog better," and "stop smoking" all in the same sentence. Even so, maybe your mom is a bit cloying and needy--dentist appointments, grocery store shopping, and lonesome. Maybe she doesn't drive anymore, her house needs painting, the gutters are full and most of her friends have died or moved away?

You've seen those stories about how luxury cruises are cheaper than nursing homes? It's true--I just noticed a story today in the travel section--and cha-ching, I just couldn't resist thinking about sending good old mom on an extended cruise as an alternative to assisted care.

Now, assisted care isn't a nursing home; it's independent living, usually in a nice apartment but there are people around to serve meals once or twice a day, and help with personal care and entertain even if it is in North Dakota or Kansas. They can play pool, or bridge for hours on end. It can be pricey--maybe $5,500 to $6,000 a month depending on the facility. But you can send mom on the maiden voyage of the Queen Victoria, 106 nights, for $20,304. That's 3.5 months--there will be staff to clean the room (every day), change the linens, 3 fabulous meals a day, entertainment, a nice library, a doctor on call all the time, new friends, exercise facilities, swimming, massage, hair dresser, cable, TV, wireless, and so forth, plus stops in interesting places like Copenhagen or Amsterdam where there will probably be bus tours with a guide just like the ones to the malls in Fargo close to her assisted living unit. Let's see, 3.5 months x $6,000 = $21,000. Wow. The cruise is cheaper! Where do we sign up.

Ooops. Sold out.

cruises
assisted living
retirement
care givers

3362 Any stick will do

when Nancy Pelosi pounds the President. I was looking back through searches for her exact words when she was claiming our troops didn't have enough equipment or boots on the ground to win, but although I found it reported, I think it's been removed from her web page. But scanning the 2003 and 2004 statements (with photos), her plastic surgery is quite evident, anticipating I suppose how much she'd be on camera, and also that she may be the biggest, shrillest shrew ever to hit the fan. I think we can give her credit that we are where we are in Iraq because she certainly has been giving comfort and aid to the enemy. Someone please hand her a history book of the Vietnam War, the one where the Communists praise the American war protestors for giving them hope and courage.

3361 Is it cold somewhere?

It's back to the young 50s in Ohio, but my tips on frozen car doors has had 13 hits today.

3360 Librarians and Nurses, peas in a pod?

The American Library Association has great difficulty minding the store--er--the library. Is it too boring figuring out why Google and Amazon left them in the dust? The ALA spends its time fretting over the Bush administration, poverty, crime, gay and women's rights and war while handing Castro and Chavez a library get-out-of-jail-free card. I guess all the library problems have been solved (except how to get an increasingly non-reading public to use libraries).

Then I was looking something up in a nursing journal, "Journal of Professional Nursing." I think it was something about handwashing and how hospitals and medical staff are infecting people because they've become careless. And I came across this challenge--nurses should prevent war, not just treat war wounded.

"Nurses have a distinguished history of caring for the wounded during wartime without regard to ethnicity, nationality, religion, and other personal factors. Although it is important that this tradition continue, nurses can individually and collectively take a more active posture in preventing war and armed conflict. "Journal of Professional Nursing," Nov-Dec 2006. Now what direction do you suppose that "active posture" will take?

Here's a radical concept. How about if the librarians collect, preserve, promote and dispense information (from all view points, not just their own), and nurses protect and care for our health with the highest proven standards (like hand washing). Then after doing a highly professional job for 8 hours or a shift, they could leave work with a clear conscience to tackle those projects of their own religious and political persuasion.

Poetry Thursday

Indiana claims James Whitcomb Riley as the "Hoosier Poet," and there is a collection of his manuscripts at the Lilly Library at Indiana University. You really only need one poet like Riley to enchant the school children with the rural dialect and old stories, so there probably wasn't much demand for Harry S. Chester, the "Elkhart County Poet," who also enjoyed and wrote poetry in this style. He was the Clerk of Courts, and although I've browsed through the Internet, this poem, "The Wakarusa Band," is the only title I can find. I didn't actually find it on the Internet either--I was doing genealogical research at the public library, and it is in the Elkhart County History. I have few ties to this county, but don't you get a little misty eyed thinking about old Harry behind the desk scratching out the marriage licenses, and tapping his toe while he passed his time writing poetry.

The Wakarusa Band
by Harry S. Chester

You talk about your Brooks's Band and Boyer at his best
An' Thomas's big orchestra, an' Sousa an' the rest
Their hifalutin' music, I suppose, is good enough
For city folks who educate on operatic stuff;
But when you want to reach the heart and make it laugh an' sob,
An' be in touch with nature like, and make it thrill an' throb
With melody an' music that a child can understand,
You ought to hear a concert by the Wakarusa Band.

They ain't up on concertos an' cantatas an' the like
But you can't beat 'em grindin' out a quickstep on the pike
An' when they play "Old Nellie Gray" an' "Where the Daisies Grow,"
My memory goes slidin' back to the long, long ago;
An' music that'll work like that an' strike your very soul,
An' flood you full of memories an' all your past unroll
That kind of music playin' fills its highest mission and
That's why I like to listen to the Wakarusa Band.

I saw the great directors in Chicago at the Fair,
With all their fine musicianers annihilatin' air;
A drum'd bang, a horn'd blat, a clarinet's shriek
An' ef you call that music, say, you ought to hear me speak;
I want the kind of music, that'll melt into the heart
I wouldn't give a picayune for all their classic art;
Let educated critics gulp it down an' call it grand
But I’ll just sit an' listen to the Wakarusa Band.

There are several photos of the Wakarusa Band (not to be confused with the music festival in Kansas) in the archives at the Public Library in Wakarusa, Indiana, here and here.

While I was at my public library, there were some middle school “musicianers annihilatin' air" with bang and blat and shriek.

My Turn
You ramble in your Myspace on why you do that stuff--
Your fuzzy youtube I 'spose is good enuf.
But still I'd rather read your words and text
without that noise ef from you gen-next
which don' melt my heart or strike my soul
as your past and future you unroll.

Poetry Thursday
Wakarusa, Indiana
dialect poetry

3358 What a nice idea

Burning the clocks. A little late for 2006; maybe next year. We've got a creek. . . I could make a lantern.

3357 Are you from Podunk?

For you non-USA'ns, "Podunk" is a synonym for the town from nowhere--too small to matter. Except to the people who live there. I grew up in two lovely Podunks, Forreston and Mt. Morris in Ogle County, Illinois, in the northern part of the state, close enough to Wisconsin and Iowa that we sometimes took Sunday afternoon drives to those states. Here is a website that's lots of fun, called epodunk.com where you can search out information about your little town. There are also Podunk sites for Canada and Ireland.

It appears to me now in 2007 that Forreston is the more attractive of the two, but when I was living there (1946-1951), Mt. Morris was twice the size and had the better business district, nicer homes, paved streets and more advanced schools. In those days Mt. Morris had a thriving publishing and magazine distribution industry--actually they are still there--but experienced a devastating strike in the 1970s, and the town has been slipping since. Even today, many libraries have subscriptions addressed to Mt. Morris. Statistically, the 2000 census still shows Mt. Morris with the higher median income and home values, but it essentially no longer has a school system, which really gutted the town of community spirit. Meanwhile, Forreston has diversified with small businesses, rallied its voters for bond issues, made itself a wonderful place to buy real estate and settle down, and has moved on. Both towns have housing stock with median range far below the national average.

The funny little picture on the Mt. Morris epodunk site is actually a post card of Pine Creek, IL where my dad grew up. It is closer to Dixon (home of Pres. Reagan) than Mt. Morris. Not sure how they select the graphics.

3356 Are you a tea drinker?

Although I’m not particularly fond of tea, I do drink it first thing in the morning because I am awake about an hour before the coffee shops open.* I thought this study of the affects of milk on the vasodilation benefits of tea was interesting. I always add a bit of orange juice to kill the taste. I wonder what that does to tea? It seems to be something in the milk--rat cells being tested to find that out.

"In a study of 16 postmenopausal women, those who drank about two cups of black tea without milk had a greater than four-old increase in flow-mediated vasodilation from baseline in the forearm brachial artery (P<0.01), said Verena Stangl, M.D., of the Charité-Universitätsmediz in Berlin, and colleagues.

However, those who drank a mix of 90% black tea with 10% skimmed milk had no more of an increase in vasodilation than if they had consumed two cups of hot water, Dr. Stangl and colleagues reported online today in European Heart Journal." Reported at Medpagetoday.

*Although I'm a coffee drinker, I don't like the taste of my own brew (or yours either), so I've been going out for a cup since I was a teen-ager. While there, I draft my blogs.

3355 Fat pills for dogs

Can you believe it? People are going to drug up Fido so he can lose weight. My solution is much cheaper and healthier. If you own a dog, get up off your fat butt and take him out for a walk or run for 30 minutes a day. You'll both be much healthier. Just remember to take the plastic bag for the feces. If you don't have the time, hire a dog walker--our travel agent, who is also an exercise nut, does this to stay svelte and trim. And if you have a fat cat, take a string and play chase with her for 15 minutes a day. The cat will lose weight, and you'll feel like a kid again and go to bed with a smile on your face.

3353 Ten phrases I would not miss

I've seen end-of-the year lists of over used words, list of new words, and of course, Wired always has it's own list of tired and fired words. Here's my list of meaningless gobbledegook, phrases I'm sick of seeing primarily because they promise more than they deliver.

1. tax initiatives
2. voting irregularities
3. renewable energy
4. bipartisanship
5. mission statement
6. vision for change
7. experts say (also its first cousin, informed sources say)
8. interface
9. segue
10. Islam is a religion of peace

3353 What's going on in Stockton?

Do you ever read those full page ads in the paper called "legal notices" where the confiscated belongings are listed from criminal busts? No? Must be one of my odd quirks. The Drug Enforcement Administration of the U.S. Dept. of Justice lists seized property--there's lots of legal mumbo jumbo so it isn't clear to me if the listed parties can reclaim it or if it will be auctioned. On the list are lots of weapons, watches, currency, vehicles, airplanes, boats, bank accounts, jewelry, and some furniture and electronics. Then there was Strockton, California, and the property seized was grow lights, fans, carbon filters, all kinds of special boxes, etc. Apparently Victoria Chu, Ngai Chung Hung, Roex Hung, Michael Lee, Wing Chou Chan, Wayne Feng and Ka Wai Yu were dabbling in some unauthorized agricultural venture to the tune of a quarter million dollars.

3351 Monday Memories--Grandmother's Hymnal

One of the books I inherited that means a lot to me is my maternal grandmother's hymnal. Here is what we librarians call the bibliographical information and a description of it. I have a 115 page list of my grandparents books which I used for various publications I wrote when I was working. (Aren't you pleased I'm not listing them all?).

The word "Brethren" refers to "Church of the Brethren" an Anabaptist group, although at the time this title was printed, they just referred to themselves as "Brethren." The official term was German Baptist Brethren at that time. My family spoke German for about the first 100 years they were in this country (giving it up around the 1820s) and the Brethren printed the first European language Bible in the colonies--but it was in German, not English.

I used a wonderful program called "Notebook" to make this list, which I no longer have or know how to use (lots of DOS type commands), and could sort by author, title, date, publisher, subject or keyword. Any time you complain about the hymns your church is using--just take a look at what your denomination was singing 100 years ago. It's an eye-opener.

Brethren's Tune and Hymn Book: Being a Compilation of Sacred Music Adapted to All the Psalms, Hymns, and
Spiritual Songs in the Brethren's Hymn Book. Carefully revised, rearranged and otherwise improved. Mt. Morris, IL: The Brethren's Publishing House, 1894. no. 11

Subject: Brethren--Hymnbooks

Notes: Script: "Mary L. George, Ashton, Illinois."
This is a reprint of the 1879 "The Brethren's Hymnbook"
edited by J.C. Ewing, the first hymnbook with four-part
harmony, copyright by Quinter and Brumbaugh Brothers.
James Quinter selected songs from earlier editions.
Today we would recognize few of the hymns in this book.
The Brethren's Publishing House was privately owned.
In 1897 all rights and titles were turned over to the
Church's General Missionary and Tract Committee and it
moved to Elgin. When the Kable Brothers started their
printing venture in Mt. Morris, they used the printing
plant. ("Brethren Press," Brethren Encyclopedia, Vol.
1:193)

View More Monday Memories Participants
My visitors and those I'll visit this week are:Anna, Becki, Chelle, Chelle Y., Cozy Reader, Debbie, Friday's Child, Gracey, Irish Church Lady, Janene, Janene in Ohio, Jen, Katia, Lady Bug, Lazy Daisy, Ma, Mrs. Lifecruiser, Melli, Michelle, Paul, Susan, Viamarie.

3350 Oh lady, you don't want to know!

She wanted to know what sort of cold hearted bitch she was, and I was ready to respond, but didn't want to sign in for one more password. So I moved on, but I really, truly wanted to call her exactly what she'd already named herself. Other words that come to mind. . . whiny, spoiled, self-centered, childish. But maybe it's depression. I think it's what started the women's movement in the 1970s. And children's lives have been going down hill since.