So you think you might own a Sears house?

Sears sold about 75,000 pre-cut homes that would arrive in 30,000 pieces at the nearest train station, and all the owner had to do was round up a few friends and family, read the instruction booklet and build his home, also financed by Sears. But according to what I read, about 80% of the people who think they have a Sears home don't. Here's an interesting film about a woman who is an expert. These homes look like many you'll see in small Illinois towns, at least to my eye.

Learn about Sears Kit Homes

Lakeside Cottage architecture, pt. 2

Side gable with shed dormer to the street houses, pt. 1

Next to the farm house and two story camp cottage style, I think the side gable cottage with a shed dormer over the porch or set back in the main house must be the most common. Some have been badly mangled; others lovingly restored. Some await a fairy godmother with a fat wallet or good architect. Here are some in excellent condition, probably looking close to the original.


This is one of my favorites--in beautiful condition. Appears to have native stone for the porch and chimney. I'd say this is very close to a bungalow/arts and crafts design because of the chunky porch columns, brackets and window panes in threes. It has a view of the lake, but isn't so close that it gets damaged in Lake Erie's storms. My recollection is that this home has been restored within the last 20 years and has large open rooms and natural floors inside. The bump-out is in the dining room, I think. A storage shed for bikes and yard equipment was added at the back a few years ago (time gets rather compressed here). The shape of the porch columns, the very low profile and the overhang give it an arts and crafts appearance. See the house next to it? That's what I'm calling a Ross Hip until I find otherwise.

Here's another one--very similar, but different. The shed dormer is taller, and seems to be in line with the main house. The porch hasn't been screened, and the entrance is to the side. There is no wide overhang like the traditional bungalow style, but has the windows in threes both on the porch and in the shed dormer. Those molded concrete blocks were very popular in early 20th c., but I don't know if they are original to the house. The roof line is steeper and there are extra peek-a-boo windows on the side to let in more light. Looks like there might be a basement--fairly rare around here because of the rocky ground.

Here's another one in beautiful condition--a real stop and stare cottage. I heard the tour guide say it is a Sears home, and if so, I didn't see a plan in the Sears archives, but not all are shown. It's different than the two above, and I'd call it a classic arts and crafts bungalow, and probably the only one around here. It has a very low profile, windows in three, a very shallow shed dormer (living was meant to primarily be first floor), wide overhangs, brackets, chunky columns, and the flat porch roof isn't a part of the roof of the main house. This has been a beautiful home for the 35 years I've been coming here, but a few years ago had a burst pipe and suffered interior water damage and mold, and had to be totally redone.

Side gable, shed dormer, pt. 2

A home is not a financial investment

This is one of the myths our government, regardless of party, has told us. That's how we got Fannie Mae, FHA, VA loans, etc. That's why the government, not the banks, gave us the subprime mess.

A home you purchase with a mortgage can be an investment in many things--your family, your neighborhood, shared values with the community, an idea, etc., but if you want a building as a financial investment, buy one and rent it. Then it's an investment.

We own two homes (until last year we owned three because we held the mortgage on our son's home). Right now, both our primary residence (a condo) and our summer cottage (on leased land) are undergoing repairs for water damage. One indication of how desperate the economy is: the Lakeside contractor we hired was 1) able to get here within weeks of calling him, and 2) when he found roof damage, he was able to get a sub here within hours. Normally, (i.e. during the Bush boom years) we could wait months, or even have a no-show.

At our condo, the guy we hired to stain the deck is also a general "handy-man" and he found that our hose connection in the rear under the deck was leaking inside the house when we watered the flowers! Well, that could certainly account for the mold on the books!

So with home values declining, our upkeep is on the incline. But your primary home really always required upkeep--but you have to live somewhere, right? A summer home, however, (or winter if you go south) is just a step above a boat, which is a hole in the lake into which you throw money.

Lakeside cottage styles

Walking through Lakeside since 1974, I've seen a lot of changes. For some of these changes I've held the end of the tape measure, since my husband is an architect, who as a sole practitioner in 1994 said he'd never do a Lakeside house, and has now done over 30. Promises. Promises.

I see these cottages/houses a little differently than an architect, or even another homeowner or renter. I see people, sort of, or at least individuals. Mainly I see older women who used to have great bones, a trim figure and hair with a sheen who now have arthritic knees, a few love handles, a hip replacement, colored hair, and an outfit that doesn't flatter their figure. But if you stop and talk (or stare) you see the same sparkling eyes and smile they had 60 or 120 years ago (speaking figuratively here of a building).

So I thought I'd write a few blogs about cottage styles. We do have an archive here and I could just go there and see if there's an original photo or deed, but for now, I'm just going to look. I'm not super terrific on architectural terms, so I'm just starting with what I do know. Hip. Gable. Gambrel. Mansard. Four-square. Dormer. Shed. Porch. Board and batten. Bungalow. Shotgun. Ranch. Modular. Eclectic. And of course, Mish-mash.

Bungalows. Lakeside doesn't seem to have Chicago bungalows (with a stoop) or a true California bungalow (sort of arts and crafty), but there are some wannabes. I've seen every imaginable definition for bungalow, and American Bungalow, the magazine, has a very lengthy, and confusing definition. I'll hold judgement on this.

Hip roofs that are built on square-shaped structures look like pyramids. Those that protect rectangular dwellings end up with two triangular slopes covering the width of the house and two trapezoids running along its length. There are cottages at Lakeside with hip roofs on an almost perfectly square house, and I'm calling those Ross Hips, because a builder by the name of Ross built many of them at the east end and facing the park and tennis courst. I've checked with the current owner of one, and she says Ross went bankrupt during the Depression. I have a 1927 Lakeside program guide with an ad for Ross Cottages. Many have been remodeled and the porches enclosed, but if you stop and look and if the roof hip seems almost to come to a point, that's probably a Ross. When I see a cottage with some funny, odd shaped gables to the side under a hip roof, I suspect it is an early 20th c. remodeling of an old 1880-1890 classic cottage. I'm just saying. . .

Gable roofs are formed from two sloping sides that meet in a ridge at the top. Gabled roofs are common in the midwest with heavy rain or snowfall because they can shed the moisture. They were the most common beginnings here because they are easy to build and allow for ventilation from the lake, with some cottages laid out like a cross, to catch the breezes from the north or south, and allow a pass through.

Since I don't know how many Lakesiders read my blog, or who might be owner or renter, I'll have to keep quiet on really ugly, bodacious, outlandish do-overs, but there are still a few my husband hasn't rescued. I'll try to stay with the good bones, and original intent.

And we're off. The first item will be "Gable to the side, shed dormer to the street."

Broadcast TV searches for the new bottom

We thought they couldn't debase themselves any further than the 2008 campaign, and then came the 2009 death and memorializing of Michael Jackson.

“ABC, CBS and NBC are supposed to be the last bastions of sober broadcast news reporting, but the flight of viewers and advertisers to the Web and the no-holds-barred slugfests of the cable nets have thrust "real" journalism into a deep identity crisis. Like your 50-year-old moonwalking uncle, they tried to be hip with their coverage of the Michael Jackson memorial, and it was a sad sight to behold.”

I heard it on the street while sitting on my porch at Lakeside. It was storming and our power was out. People were walking around surveying the damage and I heard someone on a bicycle say, “Michael Jackson died.” But millions found out via the internet (they had power).

“We were all treated to the awkward sight of ABC's Charles Gibson and NBC's Brian Williams having to preside over a commercial-free memorial for an entertainer -- not a dead president, pope or princess to be found for miles. CBS's Katie Couric was a little better prepared, thanks to her previous "Today" experiences; in the first hour of her former NBC morning show, she would interview princes and kings; in the last hour, personalities like Prince and Don King. Tuesday didn't have to happen. The Web was ready to step in and save Charles, Katie and Brian from cable news hell.” Story at TechNewsWorld

Today at the Rhein Center

This is our watercolor class with John Behling, OWS, who also teaches in Columbus, and is retired from the Social Work Department at Ohio State. He likes bright colors in sharp value contrasts.





Other classes today near by were glass and calligraphy. The classes are mostly in one big room, with some on the stage, or the porch and some in the yard.

Social(ism) programs, not the economy, matter most

There's an excellent explanation why the "stimulus" isn't working--it was never intended to. It's sop for the voters--at least the voters who voted for Obama. I've said it from the beginning--i.e., last July when he became the actual president and began touring the world asking for the bowed knee or at least a nod and handshake if that didn't work. I jumped right over socialism and pointed to marxism. And throw in a hefty amount of narcissism, too. Others are catching on and the whispers building to shouts.

Jason Furman owes an apology to Michael Boskin, the Stanford economist who wrote a year ago on these pages that Barack Obama would raise American income tax rates nearly to 60%. Mr. Furman, then in the Obama campaign and now at the White House, claimed this was wrong and that Democrats would merely raise taxes back to their Clinton-era level.

House Democrats are now proving that Mr. Boskin had it right, and before it's over even he may have underestimated how high taxes will go. In the middle of a recession and with rising unemployment, Democrats have been letting it leak that they want to raise U.S. tax rates higher than they've been in nearly 30 years in order to finance government health care. Read article here ". . . A new study by the Kaufman Foundation finds that small business entrepreneurs have led America out of its last seven post-World War II recessions. They also generate about two of every three new jobs during a recovery. The more the Obama Democrats reveal of their policies, the more it's clear that they prize income redistribution above all else, including job creation and economic growth."

The sooner the opinion writers, radio talkers, and academic just drop the "let's pretend" jargon and get down to basics, the faster we can get him out of office and on his way with other failed marxists. They don't belong here. Keep them in the halls of ivy and in the non-profits where they belong in their fantasies about "income redistribution."

Those damnable cooking and recipe sites

Lady-Light posted a new blog link today on kosher cooking, but I'm not going there. Fabulous recipes and cooking sites, even the ones that promote healthly, organic, globe-friendly and/or religious/spiritual recipes are really demonic. They just tempt me to leave the computer and go to the kitchen, open the fridge, and eat something, anything, because their blog or website was so tastefully designed and tempting, it made me hungry.

Sometimes, it doesn't even have to be a recipe. Yesterday after art class I rushed to the Farmers' Market before it closed: 2 ears of sweet corn (others can buy a dozen, but my husband hates corn), a bag of dark leaf lettuce, a bag of baby spinach, and a quart of green beans. All of it probably picked within the last 24 hours, grown right here in northern Ohio by local growers, and lovingly trucked to Lakeside, Ohio. So I fixed a fabulous lunch of sweet corn, and tender cooked spinach and since I'd missed my morning apple and carrots (I was out with the bird watchers where I learned binoculars 101), I also ate an apple and carrots. That was so tasty and healthy, I grazed the rest of the day on anything that wasn't nailed down.

Michigan needs more than a CYA speech

Up here where I get different radio stations and newspapers, folks have buyer's remorse big time. Even union members. Yes, folks, they can figure out that happens to water (Great Lakes leisure industry) in the north, and coal in the south, when cap and trade and green-goes put them out of work. There aren't enough green jobs in the world to replace what petroleum has contributed to jobs in Michigan and Ohio. He flies around the world giving purty speeches defending his socialist/marxist programs that can only be put in place if the economy remains in the pits. There are still those around who think he's a good speaker (I never have except for that very first one at the Democratic convention, and even that was a retread of his Illinois senate campaign speeches), but now would be the time for action if he had any intention of saving this country--and he doesn't.

President Barack Obama travels to Macomb Community College in Michigan today where he will unveil $12 billion in aid to the nation’s community colleges. According to Politico, the President’s message will be that “in a competitive global economy, the country’s economic viability depends upon the education and skills of its workers, who will increasingly need to have college experience.” True enough, but who exactly does the President believe will be hiring all of these workers?

The unemployment rate in Michigan is more than 14% and the state is projected to lose more than 310,000 jobs in 2009. A recent study by the Kaufman Foundation found that small businesses have led America out of its last seven recessions generating about two of every three new jobs during a recovery. Unfortunately the President’s top domestic priorities are set to cut off small business growth at the knees." Continue reading at Morning Bell, July 14, 2009

Inside story on the teleprompter failure

"My White House designated operator, Felix, clearly has to go. Today, Big Guy and I were scrolling and speaking to an interest group that supported us, and during the middle of the speech, one of my screens collapsed. Turns out Felix didn't tighten one of my screen's bracket rods, and one of my screens collapsed. It was kind of embarrassing, and the accident looked alot worse than the may have seemed on video.

All that said, I think I tweaked something. It may be my ACL, or maybe my MCL, or my "T" joint. Regardless, the Secret Service sent me first to George Washington University Hospital, where there is a special ICU and care facility for senior administration officials. But a good friend of mine, I'll call him Browny for legal reasons, ended up in a coma there after having "minor sinus surgery" if you get my drift, and there was no way in hell, I was going to put up with that."

More at the Teleprompter blog.

Pillows and Politics--the price we pay

This morning I was changing the sheets on the bed at the cottage, and realized the pillows I purchased in early June were coming apart and shrinking. They look like they are half the size they were just 6 weeks ago. Admittedly, they were cheapies. Maybe $3-$4 dollars at K-Mart. But when I bought them, they felt and looked just like the $6 (whoopee) kind. They seem to be made of layers that come apart. So I switched them with the older pillows (maybe 20 years old) from the guest room, which I think are what we used before. I used to always use a down pillow, but after my rotator cuff problems in the 90s (I'm not an athlete, but librarians lift a lot of heavy material) I found foam more comfortable.

The opposite is true in politics. There too, you get what They pay for, but it is the heavy donors and lobbyists contributing massive amounts that override your common sense when you go into the polling place. The big corporations--energy, health, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing--knew who to spend on this last go around. How do you think they became the players? They do that not out of political or economic philosophy--socialism, marxism, capitalism, etc.--but because then they can influence regulation. In order to be at the top of the heap for cap and trade, or universal health care, or wind or coal, they need to be in a position to 1) influence the administration which appears to be in charge, and 2) destroy all the smaller firms, corporations, businesses, and non-profits which might be interested in the health and wellfare of the American people. And then of course, there is the foreign vote money. We all know it's out there, we just don't know who, what, when, or where, and since we no longer have responsible, investigative journalism, we'll probably never know.

Monday Memories--my brother

This is the most recent photo I have, taken at his class reunion on July 5. He was president of the class and seems to be the MC. There was another photo of him wearing a crown, but there's just too much of that going around these days, so I'm not posting it.



This photo was taken at my grandparents farm, probably around 1948 because my cousin Dianne appears to be about a year old. The arrows are my sisters and me. My uncle Leslie must have taken the photo because he's the only one missing. My brother now lives on that farm after 30+ years of living in Bradenton, FL. He's the little guy in the plaid coat with the big smile.

Faith based prostitution

Gov. Strickland had a problem similar to Pres. Obama’s in finding ethical, honest officials. An earlier story I did on McFadden had a lot of hits recently, so I checked and found this and this in the July 9 and 10 Columbus Dispatch .

A former director of Gov. Ted Strickland's Faith-Based and Community Initiative pleaded guilty this morning to two felony counts after police said he tried to pimp a 17-year-old prostitute.

Robert E. McFadden, 46, of 6290 Hyland Dr., Dublin, pleaded guilty to two counts of compelling prostitution for computer activity he conducted between September and October last year. Five other counts of pandering obscenity and promoting prostitution were dismissed.

Who vets these guys? Does no one who advises the governors and presidents check them out? Maybe they don't need the scrutiny of SCOTUS appointees whom we'll have for their lifetimes, but usually if you've got a funny uncle, an alcoholic, or bigamist hanging around, someone knows about it. I think it's more a reflection that "faith based" offices don't really matter that much and are mainly for show and tell. Still, for $36/hour someone reliable, honest, experienced, etc. should be available. Strickland, a former Methodist pastor, ran on a "values" ticket in 2006 because the former governor's staff didn't vet some golf outing tickets properly.

Activities for Week Four

The morning seminars are on Stuggles of the Early Church and the afternoon is Hot Button Political Issues, so I'm skipping both. At 9:30 I'm in a Watercolor class at the Rhein Center, a class I think I was bumped from other summers (all classes have a limit and there is a "lottery"). The teacher paints in a style I've never tried. Then Tuesday morning at 8 there is a bird walk, and Wednesday at 8:30 is herbs, and we're learning about Vietnamese Cilantro this week. Also today at 3:30 is the nest egg talk and I thought I'd check that out--although not much left of the proverbial nest egg and not enough years left to recover from Obamanomics. Friday at 3:30 Rick Dziak a local artist and gallery owner will speak on plein air painting--that group will be out and about the grounds next week end during the wooden boat show.

Yesterday I attended "Boating on Lake Erie; current issues and concerns." I'm not a boater and don't even like to ride in them, but it is critical to Ohio's economy. Even a short hop to Kelley's feels like riding in a porch swing being slammed against the wall. I learned that it adds $3.5 billion a year to our economy. The speaker from the ODNR told us the big boats and the little boats are still out there, but the mid-size (middle class) are scarce on the water this summer. I see a lot of them still in wraps in storage. It must be the boat owners who are anticipating using their boat gas money to pay the higher taxes on "the rich." Meanwhile hurting all the small businesses that depend on boat traffic in the summer and fall. The ODNR is responsible for 451 miles of Ohio River, 1/2 of Lake Erie, 605 inland lakes, and 60,000 miles of inland streams and rivers.

The other half of Lake Erie is controlled by Canada, and he told a funny story about our Congress. Apparently during hearings about border security after 9/11, some of our brilliant elected officials thought the Great Lakes were a "natural barrier" for illegals and terrorists to cross. I guess they never heard of boats. Just for the record they checked, and found in one year 273 vessels coming from Canada into U.S. waters. No one has yet figured out what to do about the new passport rules, but he said most Canadians they come in contact with do have their passports.

Slow news day

Now that Michael Jackson has been memorialized (not sure where the body is, so don't know about burial) and President Obama is in Africa telling them how to create a democracy, it is a slow news day. The big story was a barking dog in New Hampshire. Apparently that town had a rule that if a dog had barked for 30 minutes the police would intervene. That's probably to protect the owners. Yesterday I heard a barking, barking, barking dog. It sort of came and went. Later I passed one of those huge travel trailers and looked up to see the little yapper in the lap of the female passenger. Neither human was paying any attention to the dog, but even over the noise of the motor with the windows up and door closed, you could hear it. Several blocks away.

The best way to address the barking nuisance is exercise--helps the owner and the dog, particularly big dogs. Next, the owners need training in dog care--discipline, nutrition, kindness and health. It might even improve their relationships with people. Behavior problems, not disease or accidents, is the leading cause of death of pets--i.e. euthanasia.

Here are some doggie photos taken at Lakeside this week.

Lorenzo looks like he might almost be a full Lab, but he was a "rescue" dog, so I suspect not. The first year he barked at everyone, but his owner has settled him down a lot. He was getting up for a stretch as I approached.

This little cutie, a Chihuahua fawn and gray, is wearing a summer pinafore. She just had a baby in October, so maybe she hasn't got her figure back yet. She's about 4 lbs., just a snack for Lorenzo.

I don't see many fat Springer Spaniels--either they run in front of cars, or drag their owners on long runs and wear everyone out. They get their name from "springing" at their prey, or the person with the camera. This one was all over the place until she grabbed his collar.

This is a Lab doing what they love best, chasing something in the water. I don't know how she exercises this dog at home, but at Lakeside they are together at the lakefront every dawn for about an hour. The dog never gets tired of chasing that red knotted rag and eventually the owner has to go back to the cottage and get a nap. Today I also saw a golden in the water, but she was so wet I decided not to get within shaking distance.

Adirondack chair auction today

There will be an Adirondack chair auction at the Steele Memorial Bandstand this afternoon at 5:30. Approvimately 30 chairs have been decorated by various groups, businesses and individuals, some for silent auction and others a live auction. They are all very clever, but my favorite is the one done by the Beckers (Becker Marketing Group), who used various pieces parts of their old cottages, and turned their model into a chair of nostalgia and memories.

This Chair-ity will raise money for a yet unannounced recreation need. Our neighbor, Steve Bemiller, is the auctioneer.





At the auction: Huge crowd, free popcorn, lots of fun


Update: I've read that over $7,000 was raised through the chair auction.

Melissa Manchester performs at Lakeside

And what a spectacular show it was. I rarely stay for an entire performance, but hers was lively, well-paced, respectful to our heritage here (many entertainers don't "get it"), good patter, and a mix of the old and new, so that the boomers got to groove and remember and the younger set (and older) were also entertained. I went back and looked at a few YouTube performances when she was younger and racier, and I must say, I think her voice is better now that she is nearing, dare I say it, 60. She says she spent a few summers as a child at Lake Chautauqua NY because her father was a musician, so she got into the Lakeside spirit as soon as she came through the gate. (Lakeside is one year older than the Chautauqua NY community, but both are built on the same concept--a summer renewal through education, the arts and religion.) A prolific song writer, Ms. Manchester even sang to us a special song she wrote that afternoon about "Lakeside Ohio." The audience was eating out of her hand and gave her a standing ovation.

The whole week has had great performances. Last Friday (July 3) we enjoyed the Lowe Family who usually perform at Branson, MO. If you happen to be within driving distance of any of their road shows, you won't be sorry you made the effort. Then on Tuesday we heard the King's Brass, with so many trombones I thought I'd died and gone to musical heaven. I think all but the encore were Christian selections, another group that "gets it" about Lakeside and what we enjoy. Nagata Shachu, Japanese drummers, enthralled the Lakeside audience at Hoover Auditorium on Thursday night. I think the week of July 4, or its cross over, are big days here and the Vice President of Programming, Shirley Stary really pulls out all the stops.

Speaking of Hoover Auditorium, last Sunday we dedicated a Hoover Potato Digger, now enclosed in a little memorial outside the building near 4th street. The auditorium is named for A.L. Hoover, not President Hoover (although about the same era), and the Hoover family of Milan, Ohio held the patent on the Hoover Potato Digger, selling it to the John Deere Co., and donating money to complete the auditorium and thus rescuing Lakeside financially.

It's reunion time

We see lots of reunions at Lakeside. Families. Classes. Clubs. There's a group of friends here this week who attended grade school together in Peoria, Il some 60 years ago. I've updated my class reunion blog, which had a mini-reunion over the fourth (I wasn't there), and then clicked over to see my brother's class reunion at the White Pines. Only recognized four people. And my brother was one of them. Sigh.

Yes, you can lose a kid at Lakeside

Lakeside is a safe place for children, maybe too safe, because a parent can become careless in supervision. Last night I decided to take an evening walk about 7 p.m. and headed east along the lake. About half way to the far end, I saw a little boy approaching who appeared to be alone. As he passed me and looked up with big blue eyes, I just on a chance said, "Are you alone?" He said something that was completely unintelligible--either he has a speech impediment or has delayed speech, I thought. So I knelt down, and asked him, "Are you looking for someone?" He told me he was following his mom and asked if I had seen her (at least I think this is what he said). I hadn't seen a woman alone, and I told him, and suggested he might want to go back and wait for her at home. Because I was kneeling, he then knelt too. "Do you stay in a cottage?" I asked. "No." "Do you live in a house?" "Yes." "Do you know your last name?" He told me his last name, and when I repeated it, I had it wrong the first time, and he corrected me. "Do you know what street your house is on?" He told me the name of the street and the color of the house, and then ran off to continue looking for Mom.

So I continued on my way and turned on that street and looked for that color house. The first one I came to that matched those two things had a yard cluttered with toys and bikes for a boy about his size (maybe 4 years old). I knocked on the door--the living room was dark except for the glow of a CRT--and I could see there was as much clutter inside as outside. A gray haired man came to the door. "Are you missing a little boy?" I asked. He looked puzzled, and said he had a little boy who was probably with his mother. So I told him about the boy on the lakefront. He put on his slippers and headed out the door. I turned down Third St. but kept peering through to the lakefront to see if I saw them. I never did. I'm afraid the little boy might have been punished, but that's better than falling on the rocks or into the lake. No child should be alone on the lakefront.

Health and Wellness Week at Lakeside

All the programs I attended (5) were excellent with qualified speakers, good graphics, and prepared hand-outs. The problem, as I see it, is in the audience. In most cases, they were preaching to the choir. Also, as I look around and observe people within 10-20 years, up or down, of my age, I see two really common problems that could have been successfully addressed if we'd started 20 years ago. Bones and Obesity. When I see an 82 year old woman who is still 5'10" and walking briskly, with attention to fashion, tall and proud, I want to take a photo and interview her. Is it genes? Nutrition? Exercise?

Dr. Kitty Consolo who spoke on "Exercise is Medicine" had a graphic on stroke which divided the pie into 50% lifestyle, 21% heredity, 7% health care, and 22% environment. I'm a huge believer in the importance of heredity which includes your ethnic make-up, and I think on any scale for any disease it needs to be at least 50%. After the little one pops out of the womb, the parents can only contribute a smidgen of values, and possibly access to a better life than the family next door, but even then, junior or sissy can turn their noses up at that too. After all, you inherit your personality, your intelligence, your talents, your skin and eye color, your athleticism, your body stature, and with two parents and four grandparents, you can inherit just a host of problems that no matter what your environment or health insurance says, are going to be a problem. And all that influences who you will marry, so that adds another piece to the puzzle. We have friends, neither of whom have cystic fibrosis, whose two daughters were diagnosed as adults, after very healthy, high income, athletic childhoods. Both parents were carriers.

And look at all the children born these days with a wide array of life threatening allergies--things almost no one had when I was growing up. Is it later life pregnancy (older eggs and sperm)? Good health care that has allowed carriers to survive that might have died 50 years ago? Something in the food or water? Women exposed to more hazards who work right up to delivery? Who knows? But each generation seems intent on creating a threat-free life, and I don't think it is going to happen.

Yesterday's speaker, Dr. Wendy L. Stuhldreher of Slippery Rock University spoke on supplements, and the take away was, most of them we don't need because extensive testing has shown no benefit. The speciific substance is always better ingested as food. She recommends fish twice a week, more calcium (I just may have to start drinking milk again), eating a lot of variety and color, and always, always tell your MD if you are taking an herbal supplement. She offered some good web sites: www.nof.org, www.eatright.org.

The things we can do something about--like food, alcohol, cigarettes, exercise and the marriage bed--we try to work around by buying pills, supplements or club memberships, or joining a "rights" group which can cover the guilt. Or we expect the government to do it, so we don't have to.