tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83563046289921280082024-03-18T20:45:09.950-07:00You said whatRogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.comBlogger286125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-25479167403379805362024-01-15T12:21:00.000-08:002024-01-15T13:23:07.206-08:00Sharritt New Years Letter 2024<div class="separator"></div><div class="separator"></div><p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Dearest friends and family,</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-8783c860-7fff-9c1f-a241-2a6db0cb2ae1"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We hope that your 2023 Christmas was full of wonder and blessings. On December 20th, our five year old granddaughter Maggie was lying in bed. 5 days away and already unable to sleep; too much excitement. There was a party at the Boys and Girls club. Her world stage debut in the elementary revival of a kindergarten Christmas program. Too much excitement. Sleep was a long way off. Maggie was laying beside Grace’s bed holding her hand, stroking it. Maggie looked up at Grace and said “Mommy, just 5 more sleeps before Christmas.” A few moments passed and Maggie said, “After that there are 4 more sleeps until Christmas.” A pause for silence, “Then 3, then 2, then 1 more sleep and then it’s Christmas.”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="border: none; clear: left; display: inline-block; float: left; height: 245px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 143px;"><img height="285.2946910130613" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/KGtZZeB4wnraaE0K5cShgUKzH6tofgEuRynK5dDpSEgfpqsNUfugUKF01byLeZAs0sUkBAvsFBFdcL8n6JnRZyu1Xfi-TbSSsJ-lE1OO24ap8gdTz8LS5Qd7jQ4Den7VryfF9iX-qYRCXAnj6KBuVOw" style="margin-left: -40.140350877192965px; margin-top: 0px;" width="213.8728070175438" /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I know. I know. We are living vicariously through the wonder of a five year old. In reality, the lovely Miss Beverly and I were exhausted by noon after we, Viki, and Vaeh had opened gifts and they were heading to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s for more gifts. They left for the party while Bev and Roger walked across the room and grabbed a couple of afghans, then headed back to our respective chairs and took a 2 hour nap.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="border: none; clear: right; display: inline-block; float: right; height: 203px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 216px;"><img height="287.4142419705125" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/GNlnTpUok81QUL5vzYcruq4iOJAZbVHFjnK-ghVImWLc8nRWFSQxOyHY42W84AxhO0LhU9XnfufG_6ybgeqUnRANv99Sqx0ia-54S_N1Tvinz4qjeYZimTTNrBXZc0CA6wRuP0sGLzISbPVI6EIoXk8" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: -84.41424197051245px;" width="216" /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We set this scene to highlight our belief that Monday Christmases are the greatest. Saturday to get the last of the shopping done. Sunday for church and candlelight service. Monday for the big event and Tuesday as another day off work. Yes, Monday Christmases are the best. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">2023 has been a great year for the Sharritt’s. </span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Maggie’s incandescent excitement for Christmas and just about everything else.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Watching grandson Quinn change through each infant stage into the sweetest contemplative climber. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">The lovely Miss Beverly visiting Chicago monthly to get grandma time with Quinn.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Maggie’s sleepovers doing farm stuff until she collapses. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Slivers of time up in the shop for Roger to put together a clacking roller toy. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">8 days up at the dunes for summer vacation as an extended family.</span></p></li></ul><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Viki graduated from PHHS in May and we celebrated with wings and hot fudge sundaes! She was the dried flower specialist for the farm over the summer, keeping up with bunching any blooms that came home from market to hang in the storage barn. This fall, she tried a joint program with Ivy Tech and Ball State, living on campus and decided to move back from the dorm after a semester, realizing she didn't like it—kudos for trying. She's currently living back at home and attending Ivy Tech for a dental assistant program. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; clear: left; display: inline-block; float: left; height: 298px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 192px;"><img height="485.5257110369438" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/djTYg7CWr_sYYhJIx8qoDz5x3hVhgT0U6p-DkPSWasjBLBMn0MBeD-P0mW1jm7jwV6xxpCqNhJXDjHg8YhMwYJ28FaJbFg-Ckv8mf4CNTuiDoOJVAPPYTnSqBOMyyerfCV1b0rtsVzlrz0C-FSfRM-8" style="margin-left: -24.00000000000003px; margin-top: -34.46085538297996px;" width="364.608" /></span>Vaeh is attending the county vocational program for welding as a junior. She was a sprinter and long jumper for the varsity track team last spring and even tried pole vaulting. She worked a lot of Saturday markets for the farm, honing her sales skills, keeping Maggie in line, or just looking for the best macaroons to purchase. She also wins the “let’s see who can tear down/load market fastest contest” so that she could go home and nap.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="border: none; clear: right; display: inline-block; float: right; height: 298px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 198px;"><img height="298" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/rHN2N4gOtKUYWUDSHI-zVQlxD-VlroPNjGDiMv_Repzd4dzskaJQtRXqgdy1hFyXED-Yt5jtk7Wv8pT_3fVTzR-U__AFca4mpKNZ2mPv19jPOYkm07bUlQjWoNGfvbajIlZ1FfCGQMIa_XKhWKwFhEE" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="198" /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The “slippery flower growing slope” that the lovely Miss Beverly and Roger embarked on six years ago is over . . . Psych! It is still growing strong. It’s just that it is no longer a slippery slope. It has morphed into a full blown Olympic luge course. We are careening downhill at ever higher speeds. From narcissus in late April to mums in November, Roger grew more flowers than you could shake a hoe at. And the lovely Miss Beverly, found even more inventive ways to get them into people’s lives than ever before.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We had a great snapdragon season. The cold frame kept them alive even through the 10 below polar vortex. They bloomed for more than two months. On the slippery slope of money flying out of the bank, we went out and bought an electric delivery van. We snagged the coveted vanity license plate “SNAPWGN” to haul all of those snapdragons to markets and customers.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There was the late June day when we had a U-pick event at the farm and severe weather rolled through. While the Ingalls sirens were going off, a mother and daughter expressed their angst on our front porch. Daughter, who had moved to the east coast and was visiting, was sure that the world was ending. Mom, a hearty Hoosier, said, “I know the siren is going off but it really doesn’t look that bad.” Mom was right. They made it to the hoop house right before it rained hard for a few minutes. Everyone got a quick steam bath and an armload of snapdragons. <span style="border: none; clear: left; display: inline-block; float: left; height: 187px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 152px;"><img height="187" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/7B7EiyOnP9zfurMauCNBCVFidC9jmX_b-t1vyq4W80k8TRioB-SPxBB2BxZ49XC9yzm4fuRlpiFafILzAWAqASJF1VfOFn5c7w7vL1KNpyiTL0PvYDmj0qBVJctymg3p3wa2oU1t5aADiZL3W2AWGN4" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="152" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The lovely Miss Beverly is rocking balancing her PATINS work with supervising the flower crew that has grown to 6 part time employees. Roger utilized technology to make video instructions for the crew each evening for the jobs needed the next day. The Gen Z crew quickly learned how to interpret “that patch over yonder” with the blurred upside down video or they texted Roger for clarification. Our crew member Jameson claims he can speak “Roger” and is available to interpret for the others. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Having a great crew has freed Bev up for those Chicago visits and helped with her luge ride into all things marketing on the farm. She really enjoys selling beautiful things that people love to have in their house.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="border: none; clear: right; display: inline-block; float: right; height: 281px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 221px;"><img height="436.0292951637796" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/PumhyPMiocwZsVcwtPLCt-SJXQmRg5TEvf0d2mHh3o72PrQBj_aHiMB_W_oxESeF9IGG1s4zBT52m-OqgUCLPLhSVBLp48M9Y9WW07ZveA5L2BS57rYjEnrnHkuQXwb8LQdpHVUUKAAom_Y4oUP2qng" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: -39.175808279958px;" width="327" /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Roger spent the early part of the year recovering from hip surgery. He and Marlin are happy that he can balance on his right leg while using the left foot to rub the dog’s belly for a minute at a time now. Everybody wins. Roger got his leg stronger. Marlin got his belly rubbed. The left hip, while a bit cranky, is behaving well enough that it doesn’t need replacing at this time. That is a big blessing. Retirement is still a distance in the future, but he can glimpse it as he careens down his luge run through all the aspects of production at the farm. Only a handful of tax seasons to get through before he joyfully shakes his hoe at flowers full time, and can get the crew good and confused in person. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That is about it. To paraphrase a bible story that I have always loved, basically John the Baptist was having a bad day so he sent his disciples to ask Jesus are you who you said you were. Jesus basically said the work is getting done (Matt. 11:2). While the question is different, know that the work of a blessed life is getting done.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Take care.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Roger, Bev, Victoria and Nevaeh</span></p><br /></span>Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-71190627686782586512023-01-08T11:22:00.000-08:002023-01-08T11:22:55.884-08:00Sharritt New Year's Letter 2023<p> <span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Sharritt’s!</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc72a1a5-7fff-5422-ff4d-e31b22c81efe"><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="border: none; clear: right; display: inline-block; float: right; height: 152px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 239px;"><img alt="house and barn lit up for Christmas" height="157" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/RvCJRGUgVgxLCn4-KZSYocdaLC9RpCsIAKefl1z674BzTUpeLzR4EBON-bXx3EusLJrFQ2s4mifxwWh0rC16HsWB3baUq461XP-hWYbC3I-XbwTmG2gPtyT7bqauMX4eMpy3UF_-g2uZmkRjvoB3QgJ-D2wYe2JHJswQrUxroQs8ZUKXCyyQbhy_mkO7oQ=w245-h157" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="245" /></span> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The house and garage/barn are decorated with fresh wreaths and lights for the season. Bev loves having plenty of lights in the winter. She assumed this is what folks driving by would notice about our property in December, but discovered otherwise when a car slowed, then stopped while she was walking out to bring the trash cans in.</span><span style="border: none; clear: left; display: inline-block; float: left; height: 161px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 215px;"><img alt="house and barn with view of mole holes in front yard" height="151" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/EkAJy9yvnjdFmlumGFxNGljUr3z8JAdm-k2V7nYsSB0YnFpm0uBNCDQoHihnwJRkPVzhMhmFaQb4nCseri2J10xfXGErK0CaHice5drmfK4SGVbWDNnqwv2PUvgVfht6cSNoHQWsSPG79LPR08-DjkZZ-4XR8AQ6TUQhrzOg7e7fYkq-HiKbiSOvXKKsPg=w200-h151" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="200" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You have a lot of moles.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While true—so many holes out by the mailbox due to a warm late November-- Bev was a little flabbergasted with how to respond.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Yes. Moles,” came out as a weak reply–(so many cleverer responses thought of while walking back to the house minutes later.)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The couple quickly explained that they drive by frequently on their way to a restaurant in Pendleton and had stopped last spring to buy ranunculus. Bev let down her defensiveness after remembering their large purchase and generous tip. They had a nice chat about good barbeque before the couple drove on, and Bev took a detour through the yard to roll over some of the mole hills with the trash cans.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So much depends on where you aim your line of sight—you can focus on the moles or the pretty porch just beyond. Here’s our lens to show you our year:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="border: none; clear: left; display: inline-block; float: left; height: 205px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 154px;"><img alt="Roger standing in the yard with his flying dirt farm shovel with wings" height="200" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/oa5zXJ0s1Cy32AHsbyuJ2unxkuOD7TlVvMBh7MsMIFOJ4NDamgVB_JUTcXpexpN_rk3e6lEyo5e0uu62jhZLgOHi3HSxHgQBD2dmZZkh9zfwpxT3df_NX95eKATGO-ogk3lZr8SiymPdMTpmJwI86DUAhtJg73W92mTM23U23GMFTR7JlJHFP5OW8F3FdQ=w150-h200" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="150" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Roger crossed the 60th year threshold. When he spins the “date born” wheel on an internet application, his thumb has been cramping. Way back in April, Roger also began complaining about his hip. It hurt all the time. It was difficult to get a good night’s sleep. After going to the doctor and getting an MRI (not a fan), the doctor said you need a new hip. Roger responded that if it wasn’t for flower farming, he would follow the doctor to the operating suite right then, but November 8</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was penciled in. The procedure went great, and Roger woke up with 9 inches of staples in his leg and a walker to use to get home. Bev was a trooper. She mapped out the medicine and put the compression socks on over Roger’s gnarly toes. Roger left the walker behind after the first day, and has recovered well.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="border: none; clear: right; display: inline-block; float: right; height: 138px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 183px;"><img alt="Ben Lisa and Quinn family portrait" height="151" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/yb-JEaYp6JikyHGL31DNPMhbsX279BBNVEzFqPdcuwtFSxe-h7qfvtJ84syKACswPPRQx8CN1WGAu3k16jwQgyOhhGZakKDPebzpJj4LT9iQC0B2TasMoa4wjDdcss571aKJF4zcYBIBEX9Z-8XZlf-NC_PnKySGgwJ65cQw_RzE3BrCPnMLFXTxNqNLzA=w200-h151" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="200" /></span> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Quinn Asher Low-Sharritt was born in a Cincinnati hospital on May 25 to Ben and Lisa. As of this writing, he is already crawling around and causing grandma considerable angst while standing in his crib taking a selfie. These kids and their phones these days. Ben and Lisa are doing great. Lisa completed her PhD in poetry in the summer, then they loaded up the truck and moved to Chicago, still close enough for monthly visits from Grandma. Ben is teaching in a school only blocks away from their place in Little Village and can walk, bike or skateboard to work. Unfortunately, the winter weather conspired to delay Christmas in Ingalls. Fortunately, Quinn has wise parents and they stayed safe in Chicago.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="border: none; clear: right; display: inline-block; float: right; height: 151px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 269px;"><img alt="Chris and Maggie at the Children's Museum" height="184" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/EW5c0ISv5hBhOu0PHaavR_f0_dDlzNYjHEe27w9SjhCkZVl7BBCTg4KIaeWj1PSPycVdc14BVL47cQglX9Hh6BQT2WL-4cua0PA1JnlH1IaK4x3ntkfGe4g-AhDIr6c_sLFaZRZHAsDwH-4xXnDhvVGj965Kmjdvq7zZgBLKk2r0vQgT1C1jUUuJIVIjyg=w249-h184" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: -32.68395824766457px;" width="249" /></span><span style="border: none; clear: left; display: inline-block; float: left; height: 162px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 149px;"><img alt="Grace at ordination" height="200" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/LSHogCRXr0_pE3nTvYXJGQYcE65UVe3uuvDqIhokTZ7uja8vgsD5w-78_DC3aqGdjBpmQrWy4Z08z7hd4SKShQajDxQK7O3WdqL1vDpud7Ye8aRdN47UHBcZrwo0vmasDn70vlhSfU-_sY9Vh7IVTmltTBFxBk03XDBUnAieVMT4WrEzCA1VtCaMKlFBOg=w184-h200" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="184" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We rejoiced with Grace as she finished seminary this year and was ordained as a pastor in the Disciples of Christ Church. She took a position at </span><a href="https://www.bread.org/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bread for the World</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> where she is a lobbyist and community organizer for the state of Indiana to end hunger. Chris continues his work as an attorney and has joined the Worship and Wonder team at church, much to Maggie’s delight.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="border: none; clear: right; display: inline-block; float: right; height: 202px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 149px;"><img alt="Nevaeh's track portrain" height="200" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/rF7efuEK7bwn1YSyxd7nZi49HKpcpadAZWzDb7C_fTQBac5DKUXEWjsyEalvcY68zlrlZY8JVEUQBMWN-Rfe9jRqt9_-VX7lcQK5cQMd-BOtuRmua0KWz1kOPIeMnhuljqefMlE04q8fZGslLDhvEwn5XKVPMp2jzXzyr_DIG04yFeenXsgRsv1d42zArw=w148-h200" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="148" /></span> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="border: none; clear: left; display: inline-block; float: left; height: 204px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 139px;"><img alt="Victoria's senior portrait leaning against the red barn" height="284" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/f_D_nIQnkoWe2QGggWUaclvlIszzskvZHbzmHukPfiETA0sR5WUCf3SOcqDgidV8smRSuWSSb-DkfCAN0zhCSTvELoKLJInElQyk-sIDBwkC-ZP0fd5E89iGmNKX0DA166zFp5bY8JtabzD9a_drCZKd9yL1hvQMHf3jz7u7l0oOWi7QPQ_1HJAnWRxq-A=w190-h284" style="margin-left: -38.082191780821915px; margin-top: -60.67478225993915px;" width="190" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">State rules kept us from writing much about Victoria and Nevaeh in our Christmas letters for the last few years. That changed on July 14 of this year. The state granted guardianship after placement with us as fosters since 2018. They have been part of our lives for 6 years total. We are grateful to God that they have become a part of our family. We are also grateful for all the folks he sent our way to help guide us through some tough transitions. Liberation from monthly check-ins with DCS has made us all breathe easier, and helped the girls move forward. The girls have also been able to begin to reestablish a relationship with their dad—an answer to prayer as we were anxious about how this would play out after guardianship.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Viki and Vaeh are doing great. They are becoming good students through a combination of hard work, stability and figuring out what motivates them. “I don’t want to work at Steak and Shake when I am 30” is a good motivator. Viki is a senior and is leaning heavily towards becoming a dental hygienist. We are waiting with bated breath for the IUPUI acceptance letter in the next couple of weeks. Vaeh is looking at the possibility of one of the trades, maybe welding, but still has a couple of years to explore. She is a sprinter for the track team, and Roger is recognized by all on the team as the dad who wears the fluorescent orange jacket and yells the loudest, “Run, Vaeh, run!”. There are love interests. Roger is recognized by them as the one scowling directly at them. With two drivers, there are negotiations for keys. There was a new car, a wrecked car, a totaled car (same car) and then another new car, all with the hard lesson on questions like “what’s a deductible?” They are both doing well, and we are so proud of the young women that they are becoming.<span style="border: none; clear: right; display: inline-block; float: right; height: 151px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 166px;"><img alt="Victoria and Nevaeh looking out over a beach to the Pacific Ocean in Hawaii" height="160" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/TlWSf1_VNtUQDnlsvDXZavGl7V1EkDOOed61rNIpXuskrs14pw24J82Zof9B7LqbZbOXPW4wEaWShRYd_BMAxGMJ4W-x6T5SzDOOeBFXyRZIRljMvVc8coLuwnwYX67NwNqshXyvQ7mk__lz4dfC_6mY6kiaGxP_N6Y13LNLQTadVCpCQoTvpGvMWyjVzg=w175-h160" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="175" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We celebrated guardianship prior to the fact by taking the girls to Maui for spring break. It was their first experience flying and our first experience looking for the best shaved ice for 9 days straight.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; clear: left; display: inline-block; float: left; height: 205px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 232px;"><img alt="early fall bouquests featuring Queen zinnias" height="177" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/KfxIdwInx7SMXw94w11_P26byi57_6X6cZu6wOL8T5xWuGnywzs6lPBTqbmUDyw9wPBSDROIeC7fWNbh2IhjV3mhKtl87P2Mu6OlQAX3sz8iIgMne6knl_al79cQ1rymll7AGuHyhrktgF67gOk72-CRnu0bt5PZj4RJyF3CofAVgtWVNJ4uZctKSpBTtw=w200-h177" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="200" /></span>Dirt continues to fly at Flying Dirt Farms. We were fortunate to find several part time field workers this season to help with our expansion into another farmer’s market and growing 40% more flowers. It made quite a difference from changing our usual October prayers begging God to bring on the frost to being able to enjoy a beautiful autumn. We even worked through November with the addition of heirloom mums grown in the hoop house for Thanksgiving sales. Grace still helps a ton with managing social media, creating many of the wreaths we offer, and selling at the Garfield Park Market. Maggie and Grandma Bev continue to love their Saturday market time together getting their weekly treats and exploring the park, pool or library. We are expanding for 22/23 with the construction of a 90 by 30 ft greenhouse. It has no supplemental heat, but the sunny but frigid Christmas day had the inside temperature up to 50 degrees when outside it was a high of 12. You are invited to bring your beach chair on a sunny February day and get to work on your tan.</span><span style="border: none; clear: right; display: inline-block; float: right; height: 142px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 353px;"><img alt="hoophouse" height="128" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/3hj7DTqauGq0a28Xyh4gCoAucZGjf3i77KxWCsu-Oz4KYn7zyJhCDXhv3mQsn2O-OqFs6civ4onTMKzVodUnPRUOAecGRswoNf-xv66T24XUIXSTwIm2CkqNd_qq6DaleoSNEXeMcOreHAn6Tui0hmEn7lm3AXD1seD2cqPglJkdrbCBuYjjX7S8vZTXyA=w320-h128" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="320" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The lovely Miss Beverly ponders retirement as she reaches the rule of 85 for her teaching pension. She is working on a plan to combine PATINS, flower farming, and mom to the girlies as they launch, while sprinkling the delight of visiting grandkids into the mix. Then in a couple of years, she’ll be happy to be an empty nester flower farmer.</span><span style="border: none; clear: left; display: inline-block; float: left; height: 153px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 105px;"><img alt="Bev holding a large bunch of celosia" height="200" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/MSSGvTk2usCtr--ql8EtSLEH0QQsKWOsfHgvslKvwM_TVYudCXYkNSPpZYhT0qohTwEAvu1JnSKgjpfiFRM1PIFJJd0TVSQ_uuCev_fDL1bQ1xMQwL-McO8-p2iOL34B7_IWA53J67VDjQ5r_5m2Lgdh2VU8cVI81L3gju5mrFMAzRyMstl7T5vgysMMUA=w180-h200" style="margin-left: -57.31651376146788px; margin-top: -27.338557993730404px;" width="180" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’d love to see you at the end of our driveway in 2023. You don’t even have to tell us you’re coming. The moles will be there to greet you, and we’ll pull out the leftovers or order take out from that great barbeque place down the road. If you’re lucky, you’ll experience a teenager sighting as the elusive creatures dart downstairs for food, and we’ll hand you a bouquet as you head out the door. </span><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 342px; overflow: hidden; width: 514px;"><img height="342" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/M_JbOyXuaWFQ4D3ATK7FpkYrF0a07ROT8kxtCfBHwhC8lL9itfJ9ZCK7dnK5RdTHClkk7aLS0jCniLywDUFl0APgUa7klSM2eMXO5G9lPVc1IyfVRoTfTxvIpgOKfs1bEAr3EJ1WTscZCk4bZU3n4FmjT2LoulncE3NTYN7mXertCC9tOetLm3Acp313PQ" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="514" /></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Much love and peace, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Roger and Bev</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-90667010773639757142020-04-03T04:56:00.003-07:002020-04-03T05:00:17.521-07:00Too Much Time on my Hands<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Dear Blog Reader.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">I hope that this finds you doing well. I am fine. The family is still asymptomatic. The lovely Miss Beverly and I are finally starting to ease our anxiety levels. You see way back in early March the lovely Miss Beverly and I went to Hawaii to get away from it all. Yes the Covid storm clouds were gathering but nothing had changed yet. Change it did and quickly with each of our 10 days in paradise. One day the lovely Miss Beverly was sunning herself (ooh la la) on the beach. The next day, our fellow sun worshipers from Europe were reading texts that travel to their continent was ending. The day after, the mall was closing and we had to plead with a native in the drive thru of Star Bucks to buy a grande 2 pump mocha because we weren’t being allowed inside. I suddenly felt the sting that shirtless, shoeless Americans have endured for 70 years.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Bev and I started this strange disconnect from time while in Hawaii. We had booked it after Christmas as a needed respite from foster parenting. Things rapidly cascaded soon after we arrived, 10 days left. 9 days left. What day are we leaving? Was that the day we hiked to a gorgeous Pacific overlook, or the day the president declared a national emergency. Or both? Will they shut down domestic travel? Can we get home? It looks like LA is a hotspot. We are traveling through LAX. Should we? Shouldn’t we do this? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">We did, and in the year since we have been back, our two week incubation period has passed. That has been a weight off of our shoulders. However, in waiting for those 14 days to pass the Sharritt train of time has completely gone off the track, as we’ve heard it has for many of you. Early in the fortnight, Chris, Grace, Maggie, Viki, Vaeh, the lovely Miss Beverly and I were sitting around the table wondering which of us we should eat first if we didn’t find something sweet to eat soon. Thankfully, the lovely Miss Beverly remembered that we had one can of pumpkin from last fall. It was agreed that a pumpkin pie would spare the weakest and slowest of us.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Then someone pointed out that it wasn’t October. We have a hard rule at our house. No pumpkin pie except for during pumpkin pie season; October. Sweat broke out on some of the foreheads around the room. I was hoping that I could change into tennis shoes before the great race began. Then Grace spoke up, “Its okay. Time is now meaningless.” Its true. How many days before the weekend? It doesn’t matter. While I may not sit in front of a work computer in the corner of my bedroom on Saturday and Sunday, I am not going any place. I will stay on the same acre of ground. I venture out to the 17 miles of asphalt on a bike, but the same 4 walls will be my landscape. Time will continue to mean nothing.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">I hope that we have reached our nadir today. It was noon on WhateverDay and we hear the garbage truck down the road. “Oh no! We forgot it was trash day!” I looked out the window and the trash man was coming our way. We live 150 yards from the end of the drive—it would be close, but we had to try. Run Beverly Run! Off she sprinted to the garage. It was a hobbled sprint since she was only wearing socks and the limestone drive is brutal on anyone’s feet this early in the spring. The driver caught site of her, and waited. Thankfully, I could not find my phone or I would have taken a video and posted it under #ItCan’tBeThursdayYet #MonTueWedTRASHDAY. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Another set of days erased. Will we ever start tracking days again? Will we ever gain our rhythm again?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Very good questions. But we shouldn’t be surprised. I was listening to someone yesterday who described what we were going through as a collective national (international) grief. As R.E.M. once sang “Its the End of the World as We Know It.” When will we get back to normal? Will we get back to normal? Have we been thrown back to the dark ages? Do you know how to butcher your own chicken? Grief, grief and more grief. We know that we lose time when first immersed in grief.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">We have experienced it a million times or at least dozens of times. Can you remember any of the days between a loved one’s death and the funeral? It was all a blur. Can you remember the days between that big break up and your fourth pint of ice cream? Can you remember what you did last weekend or any of the big projects you’ve plodded through at work to save the world this past last week? Of course not. It is grief. Grief erases time.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">It is grief and it will pass. Time will come back. Sand of the hourglass will flow like the days of our lives again some day. (Did Salem suffer from a Covid outbreak? That would have been a good soap opera plot.) No this too shall pass and while we will not get the days back, time will restart. And in the mean time? Put some cool whip on that slice of pumpkin pie.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Take care.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Roger</span></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-72069920015975813592020-03-29T11:36:00.002-07:002020-03-29T11:36:21.251-07:00Shelter in Place<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Dearest Blog Reader.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">I hope that this finds you doing well. We are fine and asymptomatic. Which really is about all that you can say during these times. They say we can be carrying and asymptomatic for two weeks. So who knows, we may be a percolating cesspool of Covid 19 waiting to leap out at the world. For now we remain untested wondering if that sudden sneeze is a harbinger of spring allergies or the of the world as we know it.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Speaking of testing. How in the world can an actor get on social media and say I tested positive for Corona (virus not beer) but am asymptomatic when people who are hacking up a lung, on a ventilator can’t get tested and are presumptive positive for Covid 19? Don’t answer that. I know. It’s because he’s and actor and his poop doesn’t stink.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">I have decided to pick up some blogging (at least for today) while staying at home. It is an effort to connect with people again. While being an introvert, I have a really strong baseline of the human contact that I desire. It is as if by limiting social contact all of these years for my emotional comfort any reduction in its level throws me into panic. So I am taking up an old hobby for a while to connect in a one-sided manner with you. We can make it two-sided if you comment back on the face book post.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">The extended Sharritt’s are camping out around the lunch table right now trying to figure out how to get our 19 month old grand daughter, Margaret (or as we like to say Marge in Charge) (actually we call her Maggie); trying to figure out how to get Maggie to eat left over beans and Thai chicken. She loved them 18 hours ago. Ate 3 helpings. We all thought, this is a keeper recipe. And now 18 hours later it is kryptonite and her name is Maggie-El. (Look it up. You’ll figure it out) She squawks when you put it down in front of her. I kid you not she just threw an expression on her face that looked exactly like Jack-Jack on the Incredibles. I said a little prayer; “Lord I pray she is wearing the asbestos diapers!” She is not liking the Thai chicken. At 19 months, her significant others are wondering how to increase the palatability of any vegetable based meal. Nothing doing. Those fancy French cut green beans were not gaining access to her digestive track. Success was finally found via the quesadilla Trojan horse. Success until she tasted a green bean and started to perform queso dissection. Our nefarious intentions were discovered and queso hit the floor.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">I know what your saying, “why are you visiting your children and grandchild during these times of social distancing and quarantine?” Well decisions were made early on to shelter in place together. Grace and Chris brought Maggie and Kevin the cat to quarantine with grandma (the lovely Miss Beverly), grandpa, Viki and Vaeh, our foster daughters, Marlin the dog and Jacques the cat. There are lots of expectations of child care, elearning, and work from home. So the hope is that we can help one another out. It really does feel a little bit like we are in the middle of a three hour tour that went wrong.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Just like Gillian, the weather started getting rough and our tiny ship was tossed. But the courage of our fearless crew and passengers has kept our tiny ship from sinking. As we enter the second week of this stay at home thing. We are doing pretty good. Viki and Vaeh wish that they could visit friends and are doing the calculus budgeting social media time between TicTok and FaceTime. Adult children and parents are doing a good job breathing deep and thinking “not the way I’d do it but no one is going to die from that method.” The stranger cats are having a stare off at times and small skirmishes at other times. And the dog is laying asleep underneath the kitchen table.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">I am coping by writing about what is clacking around in my head. I was telling my counselor the other night via FaceTime; “this would be a great time to be a sociology PhD candidate. You could freeze all of your data points during a calamitous time and spend the next forty years writing scholarly papers about it.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">So stay tuned. The Sharritts, Kozaks, and Becks have placed a tablet and pen on the dining room table and we are writing down possible topics for another day’s blog. Who knows? If this lasts, we may create a virtual tablet and I may write about the things you put on it.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">I want to leave you with a great story that I saw in the paper this morning. A pregnant woman was due April 8th. However, she started having contractions yesterday morning. With social distancing and its challenges, they intended to stop by a gas station on the way to the hospital to hook up with grandma and grandpa to drop off the soon to by oldest sibling. The paper said in the couple of minutes it took for the handoff to take place things progressed in the car with mom. I’ll say! When dad got in the car, he looked over at mom and saw the baby’s head, How shall I say this; sticking out, making an appearance, coming through the door, oh crap (my personal fav.) Let’s stick with the medical term crowning.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">So the baby was crowning; dad shouted out to the Pilot employee “call 911”. He ran around to the other side of the car, opened the door, and at 7:45 a.m. on Saturday March 29, 20Covid, made a diving catch in the outfield. Baby and mom are fine. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">As you are want to do after catching a baby, you stand around the parking lot waiting for the emergency personnel to arrive, the Pilot employees ran inside, grabbed a blanket, a couple cups of coffee and cigars for the new father and grandfather. I read that story and started to cry. In the midsts of dark times we need some new birth, some regeneration, some hope. Just like Jeremiah once wrote about a plague of Babylonians. “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters.” Shelter in Place.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Take Care.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Roger.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-44561069744986714292019-08-11T09:54:00.000-07:002019-08-11T09:54:16.279-07:00Winner of the 2019 limerick contest <div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Blog Reader.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">It is my distinct pleasure to announce the winner of the 2019 Hoover family/friend/acquaintance limerick contest. This year marks the 7th anniversary of the event to honor Doyle Hoover, Bev’s dad. Doyle loved things like skipping with his grandkids, taking the grandkids to the state fair, ripe tomatoes, and a rhyming poem that makes you smile or even laugh out loud. This year's theme will be BABIES AND EARLY CHILDHOOD MEMORIES. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">You’ll remember the announcement for the contest. It include an internet GIF of a baby having its poor little cheeks squeezed. Did you find that disturbing? I did. How does the little baby ever outrun that memory? When the memory fades, Facebook will throw up “remember 7 years ago post” and he or she will run from the room screaming “I hate the name sweet cheeks!” </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Hasn’t social media changed the way we remember things? Rather than “I was sitting in the living room of our house watching the town cop hassle my dad for lighting fireworks celebrating man’s steps and mankind’s leaps on the moon”, we get pictures of a bunch of geriatrics posing for the 50th anniversary of moonwalkers.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Memories are complicated. They get more complicated as the years roll by. Speaking of rolling by, my iPhone has pointed out another disturbing reminder of days past. Every time an application asks for a date of birth, it provides a virtual wheel for me to scroll back to my birthday. My thumb gets tired rolling that far back. I feel like I am on the wheel of fortune really having to put my back into it to get the big wheel to spin an entire rotation so I can qualify for the big show case. (Chevy Nova $3950)</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Memories are complicated and so hard to wrap up in five AABBA rhyming lines with an anapestic (thanks Lisa Low for a PhD word to impress my friends) rhythm. Memories free us or trip us up and often come unbidden. To that end, I would like to thank everyone who went for the gold or pie this year and did such a great job encapsulating their memories in those 5 lines of witty humor. There were trike rides, fudgesicle stains, accidental 911 calls, water slide rides, and birth order recaps. Everyone did a great job putting themselves out there.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">But as will all great contests, winnowing must take place, points assigned and a winner’s pie selected and made.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Drum roll please ! ! ! </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">In third place . . . Cyndi Rohlf “rohlfing” a banana.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Time after time drives to see Nana</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I remember throwing up a banana</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The Rathmacher Kin</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Say pass the trash bin</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Many memories in Indiana</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">In second place . . . Grace Kozak evoking vivid memories of a slobbery game of fetch.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Busi brought me a slobbery ball</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I can’t have been four feet tall</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Threw with all of my might</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The dog’s eyes were alight</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">As she obediently heeled to my call.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Finally winner of the pie of her choice and one of the many apples of her father’s eye . . . Cindy Pyle pulling all of the grandparent strings of this grandpa.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">As a mom I truly was blessed</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">With little to zero days rest</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">But then came the day</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I was happy to say</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">“Being a Memaw is simply the best!”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Until next year, may your pie winning dreams fuel a host of Doyle’s 5 line ditties, share them with your friends, neighbors and kin. As Johnny Cash once sang, May the Circle be unbroken.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take care,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger</span></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-46285073959945909112018-12-27T17:20:00.002-08:002018-12-27T17:20:14.565-08:00Sharritt Christmas Letter, 2018<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/dsXRs_Aqc1eW-Dsk3VOZgIDFQDD4t5Upe48-YVkCB-y3_DzScS_Ikt5g8tDBAmIrxgxR_q-M39jCLRB7hCdb6W6H3wfNeas1msM9g-uM7iBt2wrbHsfZTS-j_vK2n0zcpQWWbv8H1MXJe2ZzIQ" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/dsXRs_Aqc1eW-Dsk3VOZgIDFQDD4t5Upe48-YVkCB-y3_DzScS_Ikt5g8tDBAmIrxgxR_q-M39jCLRB7hCdb6W6H3wfNeas1msM9g-uM7iBt2wrbHsfZTS-j_vK2n0zcpQWWbv8H1MXJe2ZzIQ" style="border: none; cursor: move; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="298" /></span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dear Friends of the Sharritts,</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ajlnele lnljenion. Jnaiijj[ji[, kkkkiehhihl. Jjio . . .</span></span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wait a second! Wait a second! Let me get the assistive tech activated without waking </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grandpa (Arch Duke Ferdinand—as he likes to be called)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I can’t believe that it is the 27th and he and Grandma have not started their Christmas letter. Who lets the adults decide what we, the hope of the future, would call them? Mom and Dad didn’t even let me name myself. Instead, I came out Margaret Rosemarie on August 12. Don’t get me wrong, Margaret is a great name. Especially when they shorten it to Marge. Marge in Charge as I like to say. Don’t believe me? Let me loosen my vocal cords and Mom and Dad will snap to attention. Ssshhh! They're crashed on the couch after a big Christmas brunch.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Isn’t this assistive tech great? At 4 1/2 months, my hands are just starting to grab things and shove them in my mouth, so without it, it is all Ajlnele Inlienion, Jnaiiij[ii[, kkkkiehhihl. Jjio. With it, I can start and finish Grandma’s and Arch Duke Ferdinand’s Christmas letter. They say they’re busy. But really, its just 1000 words of narrative that practically writes itself. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/yyCW4brREuSBAETGPeccDnPQSoMWjOjq8pleHdmEacZV_ppgyYA1GJBgLXTQriGmOVzCbokA2-gdVhUI50cIXhZvEhtCp7VpDKVhzPgLzbYxFdmUASjCQlM3ZAp46kXQSim012Qlx6_wy0eDNQ" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/yyCW4brREuSBAETGPeccDnPQSoMWjOjq8pleHdmEacZV_ppgyYA1GJBgLXTQriGmOVzCbokA2-gdVhUI50cIXhZvEhtCp7VpDKVhzPgLzbYxFdmUASjCQlM3ZAp46kXQSim012Qlx6_wy0eDNQ" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="240" /></span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaking of assistive technology, Grandma Bev continues to work at PATINS, the assistive technology specialists helping schools test, install and utilize many gizmos that help kids with blindness and low vision and their pals navigate their academics. It is a great job that takes her all over the state in search of the perfect piece of diner pie. She also spends weekends from May through October putting together cut flower bouquets for Garfield Park’s Farmer’s Market. Stop by Flying Dirt Farms booth next summer on Saturday mornings and meet the cutest member of the sales force (me). See you then.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gran . . . “Arch Duke Ferdinand” has too many hobbies. Besides his day job, he continues to make dirt fly tilling the flower gardens. He may be going a little bit deaf as I heard grandma’s admonition on several occasion as clear as day, </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“No more perennials for the flower beds out east. We have too many the way it is.” </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next week he would be sneaking out to the perennial garden with another box full of plants and a hoe. An hour later he would come back in, the box empty, with dirty knees and a smile on his face. That’s not all. There are bees, and sometimes bike riding, and less often blog writing. Finally, he just finished off Christmas presents in the shop for practically everybody. Well not exactly finished. He still has a couple of tables to finish for Mom and Dad and Aunt Lisa and Uncle Ben. He says that he is close and that he would love nothing more than to visit us in Indianapolis and Lisa and Ben in Cincinnati to deliver the goods in the new Honda Pilot.</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What do my Grandma and Gr . . . Arch Duke Ferdinand need with a big ole Honda Pilot? They should be thinking about downsizing. What about saving the planet for little ole me in a Prius? Well even though they know better, their family just keeps getting bigger. Last year you met their foster son J.D. and this year Viki and Vaeh, two sisters returned to the end of the driveway in June after being with their dad for a couple of years. The Subaru Forester was suddenly full with five people. Any time a friend came over (and what jr. high or high schooler doesn’t want friends to come over) the family would have to take two cars to the destination to transport everyone. </span></span></div>
<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/zGvXoCluXwothvlTlWlHtptPBoK-fNn8HjGf98VWb1i1ttAF5TrrXZxGQjZfdbBDgHcs1s3ObARfztk4MKBCV8VkOc6xNDvkjmGZ9_ULQKP4MWzRsUS2A7nP874g7vGIoQXzwKzokp8qtWKQlA" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/zGvXoCluXwothvlTlWlHtptPBoK-fNn8HjGf98VWb1i1ttAF5TrrXZxGQjZfdbBDgHcs1s3ObARfztk4MKBCV8VkOc6xNDvkjmGZ9_ULQKP4MWzRsUS2A7nP874g7vGIoQXzwKzokp8qtWKQlA" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="400" /></span></a><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can’t wait to get in the back seat to watch Little Mermaid on the in-car entertainment system. In the mean time, making sure that homework is done, going to band concerts, and monitoring Snap Chat with the fosters makes time fly by for G & ADF and eliminates all of those ridiculous questions about “what were they going to do when they were empty nesters?”</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know what you are thinking. What about you Maggie? What did you do during the past year? Well I started out January the size of a raspberry. I bet you’re wondering, “what can a raspberry get up to?” As it turns out, I was very good at making my mom sick and tired. As I grew through the spring I mastered bladder kick boxing—delighting mom and dad as they anticipated my arrival. Admittedly, even I was a little bored in the summer months while I waited to become a fully cooked watermelon and apparently with me it took nine months and 9 days. Those last few days were pretty stressful. </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/ho9EE1hbZtyzcXqG3vBLLrUsrvVS9zGbLct6Lg9dMWhWAsdNyJcOIT0ppZqKSUcDx8jm-Z3FVrPMRf6SREuyLKM4d6tN2NNwe1ITnHG6oD329PvHNo_loZSF0Yp1PXJ0BKTE82QLyAsXHR3Dig" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/ho9EE1hbZtyzcXqG3vBLLrUsrvVS9zGbLct6Lg9dMWhWAsdNyJcOIT0ppZqKSUcDx8jm-Z3FVrPMRf6SREuyLKM4d6tN2NNwe1ITnHG6oD329PvHNo_loZSF0Yp1PXJ0BKTE82QLyAsXHR3Dig" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The families came to Michigan for my big debut and I was a little shy. While the fam was starting to feel like witnesses in a safe house, I grew to be 7 pounds, 4 oz with a 98th percentile head by the time I was born. Since August, I have slowly but steadily been learning new tricks. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-caeb2e67-7fff-274c-384f-28f94a7b72fd"></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can smile, laugh, spit up on my mom and dad with incredible accuracy, and I’ve already moved to a new state and visited two more. Mom in particular enjoys my sleeping all night trick, which I’ve been doing since I was six weeks old. Currently I am working on my first tooth and my Uncle Ben is teaching me cool dance moves, photoshop fun, and the difference between wood, yarn, and drywall. My best trick is getting grandpa to fall asleep when he gets cranky. Shhhh, he’s asleep he’ll never know that I called him Grandpa. That Arch Duke Ferdinand stuff is such a wacky mouthful.</span></span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/J3BMJGP4GGn0__X-qWaLfVmf4T4qr6YR5sJwir9GCvW82B-sgMLqthFPFcr99rCvjBHfWIJIzuI_ndS7xr7uCroyKFKv-EmIQ1VSsiIxZehOKCwrcftic1lR62rdZYHF2yVAWQcv3hKr9MKY0Q" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="382" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/J3BMJGP4GGn0__X-qWaLfVmf4T4qr6YR5sJwir9GCvW82B-sgMLqthFPFcr99rCvjBHfWIJIzuI_ndS7xr7uCroyKFKv-EmIQ1VSsiIxZehOKCwrcftic1lR62rdZYHF2yVAWQcv3hKr9MKY0Q" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jdgghsj kki nnnnhy,b dddd us. Well it looks like jioyhlkjljl technology is about to run out of llttrnny, battery. It has been a lovely and blessed year. I am pretty happy to throw my lot in with this bunch for it is a house of many blessings.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Merry Christmas, Maggie Kozak</span><img height="476" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/vsuSQLqaLIlTOiveUu3cchJSvxtBLes3KyrHFLoZor54wa6RZ-J9NKcTYjnWrbSMQVGRN6l0CcxqZKDoQGX1FWHQaKfCQ2t8suQLQjH1SmwSTQenXuwfwzE16Q65YgCaS0IFeaOMct7gUsEqIA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="635" /></span></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-13802768963114907502018-11-12T16:37:00.000-08:002018-11-12T16:37:58.566-08:00Limerick Contest 2018. . . And the Winner is?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s time to announce the winner of the 2018 Limerick Contest. This year we thought we’d build the suspense way past when you’d even remember entering or reading the entries. We’ve waited a full season just to make sure. Also, our lives have been overcrowded with the joys of abundant flower harvests, and new grandparenthood. Our buckets and burp rags surely overflow. </span><br />
<span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e946771e-7fff-ffe9-9fc9-1770b5a4e8b5"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-d30444ee-7fff-ae69-327d-8f71a191085a"></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuYsGAFFjwB5eflMIucP1SwFsTlRbfDmn5mmSeJbgkNAX-CzqAEHmfAzlC51kqyQJTqvidg8Q4sfikg96fzEENxJCLyZKbmCz4wGv6FAIS42HCeGF5Qgg_VAzgtxf3iFv5-hauRsGuMQ0/s1600/IMG_5971.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: blue; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="photo of Grace and Margaret Kozak" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuYsGAFFjwB5eflMIucP1SwFsTlRbfDmn5mmSeJbgkNAX-CzqAEHmfAzlC51kqyQJTqvidg8Q4sfikg96fzEENxJCLyZKbmCz4wGv6FAIS42HCeGF5Qgg_VAzgtxf3iFv5-hauRsGuMQ0/s320/IMG_5971.jpg" title="Hint: One of these two beauties was the winner" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Hint: One of these two beauties is the winner!</span><br /><br /><br /><span id="docs-internal-guid-82cf5411-7fff-7f27-b88e-354bb2768604"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This year’s theme was . . . hold on, I’m going to need to look it up on my July timeline: “Summer Festivities”. Today, November 12, when the last of the leaves are blowing down in advance of tonight’s first snow, is a great day to hear these again. Here’s a </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/bev.sharritt/posts/10217598142644434" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">link to the post</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> if you’d like to get sweaty reading them all. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">We always do a first round rubric with all the limericks, and the ones that score the highest make it to the finals. This year, seven entries scored 18/20. All good, but no clear frontrunner as in other years. So we contacted these finalists, and gave them an opportunity to edit their work, tweak their rhythm, and give that ending line some extra zing.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Here are those finalists, with the WINNER listed last:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Joyce Young</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Dave Dziabas, Chris Burke, Mikey Benton, </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
grew more hunky as summer went on, </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
the balers of hay </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
to gaze at all day </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Dad's hay camp had all of my attention.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Danielle Grandholm</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
While most are out campin’ and fishin’</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I am at home rhymin’ and wishin’</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
That this might be the July </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
that I finally win pie</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
That Aunt Bev is bakin’ and dishin’</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Jake McKowen</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Wake up late barely feeling alive</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
But I know that I still have to thrive </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Check traffic and shout</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The schools are out!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This summer has shortened my drive.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Jacob Rathmacher</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Five weeks smelling like pigsty</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Fighter jets high in the sky</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Marching hut, two, three, four</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Keep those blues off the floor</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Now please give me that damn pie</div>
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Lyn Ellis</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
So humid you can swim from here to there,</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
It’s totally affecting my hair,</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
It’s really so big</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I’m considering a wig</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
But that’s really too hot to wear!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Kelly Moe</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Roger celebrates his birthday in June</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Eating pie under the Strawberry Moon</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
He will whoop, holler, and cheer</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
With news that Maggie is here</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Baby cooing is his favorite tune</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
WINNER! Grace Kozak</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Grandpa Doyle turning seventy-five,</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
We played kickball when all had arrived.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Johnny Cash cover band</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Pie and ice cream at hand</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Sharritt’s yard was a buzzing beehive</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Congratulations Grace! We’ll bake an extra pumpkin pie just for you this week as we prepare to feast and give thanks. We are grateful for poetry to make life richer, and friends and family who are patient with deadbeat judges.</div>
</span></span></div>
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-f159be1d-7fff-55ec-b646-b3be86ee720c"><div>
<span style="background-color: #eff1f3; color: #1d2129; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
</span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-cb3c748f-7fff-02f0-a087-1d17d2eb683f"><div>
<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></div>
</span></span></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-85908822274673296932018-08-19T07:38:00.000-07:002018-08-19T07:38:48.481-07:00Ah What a Smart Little Monkey<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Blog Reader</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I hope that this finds you doing well and ensconced in blissful air conditioned environs. I am doing fine. I have not written for a while. It is all my fault. I am to blame. Look no further, the buck stops here. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I have three different ideas floating around in my head and none have crystallized into </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 18pt;">the </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">blog topic du jour. I spent yesterday writing in my head while working in the garden; remembering each of the three ideas. I was weighing the pros and cons of each; cataloging each of their major points and then setting them aside. No one was proving to be a clear winner of an idea. I do not pretend that three non-winners will coalesce into the blog of the century. While mixing three blood lines will make a great dog, it will make a blog of hash. However, it is time to stop procrastinating, stop the dithering and put finger to keyboard and see what happens.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">First, I just want to point out that Twitter is making once Shakespearean quality monkeys stupider and stupider. I feel for them. I had held out such great hope for monkeys everywhere. This hope was fueled in high school by Mrs. Gray. Old Lettie Gray as we slyly called her behind her back. However, it appears that she had the last laugh on us. She is still teaching 38 years after I graced her classroom. This causes a great conundrum for me. She had kids who graduated with me. So obviously, I have no idea how long she has taught or how long she will teach. I should probably find a current student and find out if they call her old energizer bunny Gray.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Mrs. Gray had a belief that high school kids should be exposed to issues surrounding death. The desirability of that exposure may or not have been true. It may or not be true today. It was a very effective use of literature to teach lessons about life and in this case death. I remember reading James Agee’s “A Death in the Family” and Nevil Shute’s “On the Beach.” I do not remember reading Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying” until college. It has my favorite chapter in the world “My mother is a fish.” That’s it. The rest is blank space. Turn the page and on to less psychotic characters. I don’t know why we didn’t read As I Lay Dying in high school. Probably, because some in Pendleton, Indiana might have recognized certain family traits in the Bundren family tree or wreath as I like to joke with my Kentucky readers.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">For what ever reason, we did not read Faulkner. Which is fine. I do remember “On the Beach” to this day. It was an apocalyptic story using the Russians as the vehicle for our destruction. The Russians were the only villains we knew in prehistoric times for you youngsters out there. No zombies for us. Our villains were real and had the intent of blowing us up. No fabricated dystopia for us.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">In the book, it appears that the Northern Hemisphere had an itchy trigger finger and pushed the button. Russia and the United States did have enough nukes to destroy the world many times over or at least the upper half. Their work was successful and the superpowers destroyed one another. However, it appears that no one in the Southern Hemisphere had the bomb, so they were spared the gruesome millisecond vaporization that had kids of my generation hiding under desks during our bombing prep drills. “Put your head between you knees, your hands behind your head and kiss your a#### goodbye.” </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">No the Southern Hemisphere was spared and had to suffer the exquisite death of 200 pages of decent prose while coming to terms with their lives and death; thereby teaching future generations of high schoolers a little bit about their own mortality. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">One of the devices in the book was an American Submarine that was stationed in the Sydney Harbor awaiting orders that would never come. While they were waiting for the lethal radiation cloud, they were scanning the airwaves for any possible communications from survivors. It is doubtful but everyone thinks that it could be possible. Maybe the President made it to the mountain bunker and was getting information out. Maybe only the private who made sure that the lights were on in the mountain bunker. Who knows but they were hopeful. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Then one day the Australians heard the distant tap of Morse Code coming through the radio waves. Although it was mostly gibberish, hope sprung eternal because one of the words that came through most often was “Help”. So the Americans loaded up their radiological suits, got into their submarine, and headed north. As they got closer to Seattle, the transmission’s origin, speculation rose to dizzying heights. One of the hypothesis was that someone with horrible Morse code skills was typing and doing a decent job at getting something close to help tapped out. Of course they didn’t have the skills to answer when the Australians tapped back “who are you and where are you at?” The coder knew just enough to code out help sporadically. Others thought that it was just random banging on the telegraph key. Who knows? </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">So Nevil spent a chapter having his characters argue back and forth. One of the arguments that has stuck with me through the years. In answering the hopeful arguments, the skeptics argued that the repetitive “helps” meant nothing. It was just random. In fact taking the argument further, they maintained that if you were to set an infinite number of monkeys in front of an infinite number of type writers (60 years ago you whippersnappers), one of them some day would type the complete works of William Shakespeare. Every time I hear that analogy I picture a giant room of Curious Georges sitting at type writers with one teacher looking over one of the monkey’s shoulder saying “No I am sorry it is “To be or not to be that is the question not what was the question again?” “You’ll just have to start over and please George, be careful this time?”</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I find it striking that the measure of great communication 60 years ago was Shakespeare. Now it is 140 character tweets. What monkey couldn’t quote Beyoncé, the Kardashians or even the President if they only had to pound out 140 character’s in the proper order. Shoot! we even lower the bar by giving you credit for LOL, OMG and WTF. Don’t even get me started with emoticons. “Ah, is poor George feeling sad today?” “Well turn that frown upside down and put on a happy face.”</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">No wonder the cretins are coming out of the wood work and onto our phones, and iPads. Sooner or later they are going to say something that makes a little bit of sense, and we will all go rushing over to them and coo, “What a smart little monkey.”</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take care</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger</span></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<br /></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-3441585744386551812018-05-21T17:46:00.001-07:002018-05-22T07:55:46.616-07:00Loneliness Kills<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Blog Reader</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I hope that this finds you doing well. I am fine. We at Flying Dirt Farms have nearly exhausted the lilac supply. With January lasting 127 days this year, we are pretty late with the peonies, nigella, sweet peas, larkspur and other hardy annuals that get us to that magical second week of June time when we can coax sunflowers, and zinnias into our flower pallet. I know peonies are perennials not hardy annuals but work with me here all of you Master Gardeners. So we have relied heavily on the lilac supply. Each week going to our favorite abandoned farm houses, skulking around back and finding the old dilapidated outhouse. It never fails. You walk around to the backside of old farm houses and there will be the outhouse and its lone sentinel; a dark purple lilac bush. It does look the worse for wear. It could use a restorative pruning; a hacking away at the old growth allowing fresh growth to come in and produce more blooms.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">All of the outhouses had them. Can you image how much you would look forward to the end of winter and the start of the aromatic magic of the lilac? That sweet fragrance so strong that it meant your poop didn’t stink for two whole weeks. Our grand parents (unless you are my children’s ages; then our great grand parents) were made of sturdy stuff. To imagine that two weeks of relief would make it worth spending your Mother’s Day loot on a sweet smelling, flowering shrub is a bit amazing in this day and age of instant gratification where playing “Fortnight” will consume our children’s time for the next month before the newest craze hits the gaming universe.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Enough about the sweet smelling, beautiful flowers that the lovely Miss Beverly is selling that the Garfield Park farmers market every Saturday from 9:00 to 12:30; May through October. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I am here to share the concern that I have for you, my dear blog readers. Over the past two weeks or so a new epidemic has had the bright media spot light shined upon it. No fewer than four media eruptions have occurred highlighting this societal nemesis. According to the experts, it is deadlier than obesity but not as deadly as smoking; proving once again that if it isn’t one thing its another. How am I ever going to live to be one hundred and fifty years old with all of these longevity stalkers trying to track me down?</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">So naturally my thoughts turned to you blog readers. Are you okay? Are you lonely?</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Who is this new stalker? It appears that loneliness is the latest thing dragging us down. The first article was published on May 1. I am thankful that the editor showed restraint and didn’t give the article the headline “May Day! May Day! We are All Going to Die!” The article lays out the following premises:</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">1: Loneliness has huge impacts on public health.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">2: Loneliness is particularly bad in the US with most people (more than half) feeling lonely.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">3: The young appear to be most vulnerable.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">4: We need a systematic approach (read big government program) to overcome loneliness.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">This study was conducted by Cigna, a mega big insurance company, and reported in Business Insider; written by Kevin Loria.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Around the same time the same statistics were spewed forth from our local Indianapolis Star. I was also listening to a pod cast where the Buddhist author was antidotally reporting that 78% of all people were lonely and . . . all of them were going to die. Unlike all other bad news coming in threes, the loneliness bad news train had four cars. Mattie Quinn reported on “The Loneliness Epidemic” in May’s issue of Governing. In the article, Brigham Young University “found that weak social connections can shorten a person’s life at roughly the same rate as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. In England, they are planning to establish a minister of loneliness. OMG.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">How did this epidemic sneak up on us? I was busy exercising, riding down lonely roads on my bike at 5:00 a.m. and shunning my favorite bars that allowed me to continue smoking on guys night out, all in an effort to live a long healthy life, and I suddenly get ran over by the loneliness bus. Or, should that be the loneliness unicycle?</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Let’s face it. Loneliness isn’t new. The Beatles sang their tribute to the lonely 52 years ago with Eleanor Rigby on the Yellow Submarine. Were she and Father McKenzie were patients zero and one in this epidemic. Father McKenzie was the guy in verse two but received no naming rights in the deal; lonely and no royalties. The father really got screwed.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The reason for their loneliness? I would appear that they spent too much time in church. Thankfully, that organization’s relevance has been eroded to the point that the church can’t be the loneliness virus. I guarantee that regular church attendance is less than 40% in America now. So don’t go blaming the church for this one. Marx said the religion is the opiate of the masses way back in the 1840’s. Thankfully, we have turned that corner and heroine and fentanyl are the opioids of the masses now. Phew! It is good to get that religion opioid problem solved.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I know what you are asking. “So what do you suggest that we do about it Mr. Smarty pants?” </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Two answers:</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">1: The answer isn’t a systematic (government program) approach. Remember the war on poverty, the war on drugs, the war the end all wars, no child left behind? The systematic approach only institutionalizes the problem and forces it’s continuation in order to maintain the infrastructure of the solution.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">2: This is not my idea. In a recent reading Love Does by Bob Goff, I was impressed by his practice of making a difference. He put his cell phone number on the last page of the book. The opportunities brought about by that openness were inspiring. So here goes. My phone number is 317 519 5902. If you are prepared to carry on a conversation with an extreme introvert, I am prepared to do my part and answer the phone.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Or even better, if you show up at the end of our driveway, knock on the door. We can go out to the garden and hoe this long row . . .</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Together.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take Care</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-80917689147290660652018-05-06T08:14:00.000-07:002018-05-06T08:45:44.941-07:00Scratching Post<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Blog Reader.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I hope that this finds you doing well. I am fine. I am managing the sudden increase in Vitamin D production; no overdoses yet. Sure I had gotten a few minutes while walking along the canal at lunch the past week. However, it was nothing like an entire day in the garden at Flying Dirt Farms. We are way behind. I had bundled up for a few Saturdays and gotten the perennials set out; arms very protected with SPF sweatshirt and a knit hat pulled low on my head to protect the tips of my ears. Now, it is time to get the bi-weekly rotations started. The winter rye has to be tilled under. Potatoes, onions and peas oh my. Dirt is flying everywhere.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Speaking of walking along the canal at lunch time, it is bittersweet. The realization that you have allowed the educational system to bundle up your eight and nine year old put them on a bus and sent them to a downtown greenscape, is nice. They get to see western history at the Eiteljorg museum. They can jump up and try to climb the mastodon sculpture outside the Indiana State Museum. Or maybe they are aping the orangutans at the zoo as they careen into my path and shatter the peace and quiet of my daily walk. It is a wonder that any eight and nine year olds ever reach mature adulthood. But we manage to hover, to watch, and to chaperone them until they can exhibit some manifestations of self preservation. Plus, I have plenty of time for peace and quiet on those January days when the high temperature was - 5 degrees.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I must admit to a bit of a mean streak when I mention the following. This is for all of the helicopter parents who look at your young’s inability to manifest self preservation tendencies and decide to protect them from all possible harm and or hardship. The ones who buy hand sanitizer by the boat load and then fret when you hear that the lack of germs suppresses their little immune systems so you make them eat probiotic yogurt by the tub full. This is for you. Your children while wondering around this beautiful greenscape; chasing one another, knocking one another down trying to get to a makeshift ball rolling across the ground are doing so in about an inch of goose poop. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Yes, the geese have been walking around on this three acres of green space for the past two months. The surrounding buildings provided protection from the wind and held a bit more heat. The canal provided a good source of water without any alligators to eat the geese. And about three acres of slowly growing grass to provide nutrition. And where you have goose nutrition, you also have goose poop. Because, geese poop right where they eat. I have no idea why. Maybe it is a circle of life kind of thing, or maybe they have little tiny brains on top of a really long neck and they are just stupid. But they are pooping all over the place and your children are having the time of their lives frolicking in it. So helicopter parents have an nice day doing your Lucy VanPelt imitation.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Speaking of bird poop, causing havoc with somewhat compromised immune systems, we are finally emerging from two separate huge food scares. With the first, our federal government was so flummoxed by where the romaine lettuce came from that was poisoning us that they were actually in my garden trying to recall my home grown heads of romaine. Any romaine grown any where? How can you lose track of the food supply so completely? But it would appear that we don’t know where romaine lettuce originates from and that it is commingled in huge vats of lettuce mix so throw it all out.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The second incident involved 200,000,000 eggs from one farm in North Carolina. The owner of the farm, Rose Acres an egg conglomerate, is headquartered right here in Indiana. Makes you proud doesn’t it. The eggs went to seven states and were sold wherever cheap eggs can be found. It appears that eggs are tracked better than heads of romaine lettuce so they have lot numbers and know the point of sale by state and stores. 200 million eggs is a lot of eggs. I am mind boggled just a little bit by the size of the pile that would have to be to throw all of those away; not to mention the 16,666,666 egg cartons. That is a mountain of yolks, folks. The king is going to have to get more men to put that one back together.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I took the opportunity to look a bit further into these already impressive stats. The farm has 2.3 million hens and they lay about 2 million eggs a day. This tells me that Mrs. McGreedy of Chicken Run has some culling to do. Chickens should lay one egg a day. Sure some days are going to be missed from time to time but a 15% rate would seem to me to be a bit high. Get ready for some really cheap pot pies. So 2 million eggs a day and 200 million eggs recalled that means we have eggs out there that are three months old. The seems a bit old to me. That is quite a long time for salmonella to get its tentacles into a moist, protein rich, environment and multiply even if it is in cold storage.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Thankfully the media dug into the issue and provided clarity and an explanation. A couple of weeks ago the Indianapolis Star interrupted my work day with the following headline:</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 17.9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 17.94pt;">FDA inspectors found rodents, filth and butt-scratching workers at farm tied to egg recall</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">You newspaper people crack me up. Sure there was some “touching of the inter-gluteal cleft” without subsequent hand washing going on according to the inspector’s report. Do you realize how much touching of the inter-gluteal cleft would have to go on to contaminate 200,000,000 eggs. Let’s just say some one may want to have a doctor look at that. No the problem here lies in the fact that the workers continually wiped the sanitizing solution from the eggs before the prescribed time on a regular basis. Let’s face it chickens produce two things; poop and eggs, and probably more of the former than the latter. Also not to put too fine a point on it, they use the same vent for both operations. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">You need to leave the sanitizer on the eggs for the proscribed period of time. That was the problem. It is described elsewhere in the FDA report. Also the report is only describing conditions as they existed prior to the outbreak. It had little ability to assess the actual source of the bacteria that made so many people ill. However, that doesn’t sell papers like butt scratchers. I know there are newspaper people out there screaming right now “but touching the inter-gluteal cleft is butt scratching.” Yes, but it doesn’t contaminate 200,000,000 eggs. It only drives page views and clicks.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">In the end, (pun intended) understanding food safety in an landscape dominated by huge agribusiness concerns whose interests are served by cutting corners with the few minutes it takes to leave the eggs in the sanitizer for the proscribed time is too important an issue to have the news media just scratch the surface.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take care and enjoy the sunny side up.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger</span></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-46721626299213009472018-04-08T13:00:00.002-07:002018-04-08T13:00:35.100-07:00a picture is worth a thousand words <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
New feature for the blog.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Caption this. Add captions in the comments or on Facebook </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
It makes a nice follow on from last weeks blog.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNQI0GC_dw11Sl4XvMrWkFokCj6C5083757lY_UyXB22OZh7Xo2IbDWdP5JKW2i0POsZGJd3dEK2zSidxj3G0lgJZwJAr1USYJEPcIxxo6fMI8lSoKyfP36j68dCXGVcX1-SCrW7SD4d8/s1600/IMG_0523.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1223" data-original-width="1600" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNQI0GC_dw11Sl4XvMrWkFokCj6C5083757lY_UyXB22OZh7Xo2IbDWdP5JKW2i0POsZGJd3dEK2zSidxj3G0lgJZwJAr1USYJEPcIxxo6fMI8lSoKyfP36j68dCXGVcX1-SCrW7SD4d8/s320/IMG_0523.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Take care.<br />
<br />
RogerRogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-75917661547584279372018-04-01T12:24:00.000-07:002018-04-01T12:24:07.541-07:00When Will It End<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Blog Reader</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I hope that this finds you doing well. I am fine. I started writing this from the third floor penthouse of a little apartment building in Long Beach, California. The view was spectacular. We were looking out on 600 yards of sand lovingly groomed to the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Strong winds made for great kite flying. A strong sun and midwestern hardiness made for some back of the legs sunburns. An eclectic beach community made for some great people watching. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The lovely Miss Beverly and I were on vacation and had tag teamed it with a nephew’s wedding: two birds with one gift so to speak. I do want to give a shout out to Janice, Bev’s sister who put herself out there and went on line and found a great place for 11 of the spawn of Bonnie to get together for the week. You will remember the spawn of Bonnie was described in a recent blog called “Go Your Own Way.” To date, the total stands at 54 of the most intelligent and attractive offspring and in-laws the world has ever known. So 20% is a pretty good start.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">But I could not finish the blog. I had all week. The weather was great. The view was fabulous. However, every time I sat down my brain would scream I am not at home. I am turning into more and more of a homebody. I enjoyed the vibe of California, seeing shoppers in Trader Joe’s in shorts, a winter vest, and Uggs. All the while, wiping sweat from my brow because 62 degrees was quite the change from what we had left and what you all were experiencing in that 60 mile wide band of snow that ran from Iowa through Rushville. I am so used to seeing the “bizarre weather picture” from the NE, or tornado alley that I grew a bit nostalgic when the airline passenger took the snow demarcation picture on the Weather Channel over INDIANA.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Four take always from California: 1: I enjoy the time difference. My news queues were all full by the time I woke up because things have been happening for three hours. I also really like that the NCAA games are over in a decent time. 2: You get all of the best fruit and vegetables. Since your strawberries don’t have to travel 2,600 miles they aren’t picked until they are ripe. We ate a lot during the week. Not a one of them were white and the consistency of a ping pong ball. 3: If you live in a place where you think that a high of 62 is a cold snap, do you really deserve a spring break. Toughen up buttercup. You are not going to be eaten by a polar bear in 62 degree weather. 4: I don’t understand the off shore oil drilling kerfuffle. All of your cars (and there are billions of them in the valley) run on gasoline and the off shore rigs are no less unsightly than the 14 cargo ships lined up off shore waiting to unload their cargo to take to an Amazon warehouse to wait until I order that doodad that I will be incensed about if it doesn’t arrive two days later via Prime. Logistics!</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">As I sit here writing, my phone is warning me of 2 to 3 inches of snow tonight and are not following the warning with “April Fools.” Speaking of warning, I warned you. Look at my blogs from October. I was telling you to chill out about Augtober. Remember? It was an unusually warm fall. The leaves didn’t turn very much. One day they were hanging there, holding on by their finger tips but still green. The next day they just gave up and fell off. We were sweating and playing golf. The children didn’t have to wear jackets playing soccer. There were no hypothermia cases in local hospitals. I was even temped to start tomatoes to over winter. In fact, we were begging frost to set in to stop the flowers that the lovely Miss Beverly was selling at the Garfield Park farmer’s market. (We are going to be selling there again this year. Saturdays; May through October. All of the profits go to braces for a couple of neighborhood kids whose parents would have a hard time being able to provide them. Nature’s beauty and straight teeth to boot.)</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">During the middle of talking about Augtober, I admonished everyone not to worry about it. It would all work out. I was sure that we would all be complaining about Janpril. Here we are. We buckled down. We knew that we had to get through March. That horrible month of thaw. One day a week of tolerable weather surrounded by six days of gray, cold, damp weather. Every step off of a sidewalk is into ankle deep mud. The wind is blowing that damp air into the marrow of your bones. We desperately try to remember if the ground hog saw his shadow in Pennsylvania. Then we try to call grandma, “how many more weeks of winter is it until spring if he sees his shadow?” She can’t remember. So we made it though warnings about the Ides of March. We watched the Irish co-opt the stage a couple of days later so the canal, river, or some other similar mud puddle can be turned green. We endured it and more. I don’t blame you. We just want spring to come.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">While waiting for that day when the birds are singing, the sun is shining, and the flower’s break their dormancy, we finally succumb to March’s madness. We crawl into our man caves for three weeks. We make sacrifices to our alumni gods and burn them on pyres fueled by the smoke from our busted brackets. And as the good sister’s hopes die with her hopes for her Loyola Chicago, we are faced with another 2 to 3 inches of snow on April 1. This is not an April fools joke. As the announcers of March Madness started to cry when Sister Jean rolled from the floor 2 minutes before the final shot, we start to lose hope. Our reserves from spring break are as faded as our tans.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">While it is hard to remember, we are just paying the bill for all of that wonderful Augtober weather. Mother Nature isn’t out to get us. We just get used to a rhythm. We become so habituated to that average that we think we will die if more than the average is to be endured. We are dipping our toes into the far edge of the bell curve. That’s all. We will be okay. Maybe we should learn to adapt like our friends on the Left Coast. We just need to learn to put on our winter vest with our shorts and wear a pair of Uggs to keep our toes warm. And since I am home, maybe throw another log on the fire to be on the safe side.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take care</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger</span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-48959837540630266042018-02-25T10:54:00.000-08:002018-02-25T10:54:00.270-08:00Why can’t we have nice things?<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Blog Reader</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I hope that this finds you doing well. I am fine. Finally, the days are getting noticeably longer. It is nice to see that all of the parts of our landscape are still there. It has been quite a while since they have been seen in the light of day. Leave in the dark, home in the dark, that mid-November to mid-February always seems to stretch on and on. To all of my Greenland, or Norway fans, I apologize for the whining. We all have our cross to bear. I recognize that yours is bigger than mine.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">We have turned the corner. The seed order has arrived. The snap dragons and celosia seeds have been delivered to the greenhouse to get starts going. The pruning is nearly done at my favorite orchard. The sap in the maple trees is starting to rise. And speaking of bears, I suppose they are starting to stir from their hibernation. I know that I am starting to rouse from bed a bit easier everyday. All we have to do is get through that mud pit called March and the two weeks of Janpril. Then, it will be off to the grass mowing and gardening races.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The topic of today’s missive presented itself about 4 weeks ago. A lot has happened since then. The American’s solidified their claim on most boring people in the world by winning Olympic Curling gold. The spring floods have returned to the mid south. And the national gun debate has been reignited at the cost of 17 lives. This time the debate is clouded by failures of local and federal law enforcement with a bit of cowardice to make us all shake our heads.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">No, about 4 weeks ago it exploded on the news. It appears that a consumer advocacy group called a news conference in DC and took on big detergent. You would have thought that the holy grail had been found. It was all over my Facebook pages for days to come. However, in doing the exhaustive research that goes into this blog, I found out that it has been a hot topic, making an annual reboot, since 2012 when Chuck Schumer proudly proclaimed “I saw one on my staffer’s desk, and I wanted to eat it.” A little self control Chuck, not to mention take a refresher course on office etiquette. What are you doing rummaging around a staffer’s desk for snacks? That staffer probably makes $30,000 a year. Go buy your own d&#%ned snacks.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Of course, the emphasis has shifted. In 2012, the focus was on young children and adults with dementia eating them and getting sick and in 10 cases dying, a tragedy. Any steps that can be taken to eliminate those deaths are a good thing. Those steps have been taken. Child resistant packaging, PSA’s, etc. But now the focus is on high school and college kids creating a social media sensation called the Tide Challenge. Google it. I refuse to try to use my wordsmithing skills describing idiots. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">As you can tell, I feel no sympathy for this iteration of the Tide menace. I like those little, squishy, transparent packages of grime busting goodness. I fill up the washer with cloths. I reach in to the container throw one in and am off to write my blog. I don’t have to worry about where the measuring cup is. Did I take it to the barn to measure herbicide, or poke a hole it one corner and create a funnel hack for pouring oil into the car? And who hasn’t had a puddle of detergent eating the enamel paint off of the top of the dryer because the no spill spout wasn’t no spill when you twisted the measuring lid back on top of the bottle? </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">No detergent pods are a nice thing and they are about to be taken away because of the youth of America. As the lovely Miss Beverly said, “once again another nice thing we can’t have because of kids.” Thankfully, the lovely Miss Beverly went proactive and bought a dozen packages to “Tide” over this little crisis.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Grace our lovely daughter was pretty excited and pointed out that this may be the first thing that her mom and dad couldn’t blame on the millennial generation. It’s true. This one is on the un-named generation. Actually, it has been named. The internet just hasn’t settled on a name. Gen-Z, iGen, post-millennial are in the running. I am currently voting for post-millennia because you have to be dumb as a post to eat detergent.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I do want to step back for a second and question the idea that this is a story. To the best of my knowledge gained from less than exhaustive internet analysis, 10 people have died since 2012 from the ingestion of detergent pods. A little perspective; last year over 20,000 people died from synthetic opioid overdoses. The trend on that disturbing number looks like a Sherpa going up the side of Everest. Why aren’t we taking on big synthetic opioids? It is hard. Addiction is hard. There are no easy answers there. Rather than talk about a difficult problem, society spends four weeks wringing its hands that Johnny and Mary walked around spitting bubbles for a few hours. When I was growing up, that is how we identified who got caught cussing by their mom. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Maybe the mom’s of America were doing more than cleaning up our language or encouraging us to think about lying to her again. I think inadvertently they were helping us keep nice things.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take care.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-22707210007379113132018-02-04T06:45:00.003-08:002018-02-04T06:45:16.293-08:00Go Your Own Way<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Blog Reader</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I hope that this finds you doing well. I am fine. I sit here thankful that I didn’t go all Bill Murray after the 2nd. It would have been an especially difficult day to finally get right because the lovely Miss Beverly was at a conference in Florida. It would have taken self-actualization galore to get missing Beverly to turn out okay.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Thinking about this blog has caused an old Fleetwood Mac song to run on a continuous loop inside my head. Two months is long enough. It is time to exorcise it from my noodle. It is a good song. I just knew that I should copy its title for this blog. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Nearly two months ago the lovely Miss Beverly received word that Bonnie, her mother, had suffered a severe stroke. Bonnie was 85 years old. Twenty years ago she had received 2 new hips. Well the warranty had expired and one hip had deteriorated and was causing Bonnie a great deal of pain. The doctors counseled that the surgery would be very risky. Bonnie decided that a chance of being pain free or even in less pain was better than the prospect of increased pain going forward.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The surgery went well but as they say there were complications. Repeated procedures left her weaker each time as her body had difficulties metabolizing the anesthesia. The stress on her body grew to the point that she suffered a stroke. She was mostly unresponsive at that point. Doctors were unable to do anymore for Bonnie so hospice was called. We used to call it the Grim Reaper. But apparently, he went corporate and needed a new image and so we call hospice now. Family and friends gathered and reminisced and said goodbye. A few days later she succumbed.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">We try to capture our loved ones live and essences in a few paragraphs in the newspaper. But as Abraham Lincoln once said in the Gettysburg Address “We cannot consecrate . . .” However, the lovely Miss Beverly did a pretty good job catching the essence of her mom in this obituary.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">“Bonnie will be remembered for her love for her husband and family, her prowess for making pie, and her skill at knitting. She drove her kids thousands of miles to basketball, cheer clinics and 4H meetings. Only her well-worn black cast iron skillet knows how many potatoes she fried. Millions of inches of yarn passed through her clever fingers, transformed into sweaters, afghans, mittens, and hats. So many hats for so many beloved heads.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Bonnie’s highest renown, though, will be for her kindness and generosity to all, as her family’s boundaries did not end with her 8 children. Neighbor kids hopped in the van for rides to town. Hired hands sat with us at our table. Nieces and nephews confided in her. Co-worker’s waited for their birthday pie from Bonnie. Her friends shared mischief, nights on the town, and all of the heart-crushing griefs life brings. Her listening ears and giving heart will be missed by all who loved her.”</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Two months later the jobs that Bonnie tended to are being shifted. The mantles of responsibility, for finishing knitting projects, bearing witness to heart crushing griefs, and maintaining and initiating the grapevine needed to keep 8 children (brothers and sisters) 46 nieces and nephews, great grands, and in-laws connected when they are spread out across the country, are being picked up and carried on. Plus, there is always more birthday pie to be baked. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I think that I missed her most of all on January 28th when Purdue played IU. It must have been very difficult through the years for Bonnie. All of those children and only Bill going to IU. Not only that but all of those daughters going to Purdue and marrying somewhat rabid and obnoxious Purdue boys. That afternoon, I missed the one ring phone calls announcing a particularly good IU play; a late game surge, or hopeful anticipation. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">One ring phone calls really were the prehistoric text messages. Back when there was such a thing as rotary dial phones, and long distance phone charges, our grand parents would let their brood know that they were thinking about them by dialing, letting the phone ring once and hanging up. No completed call, no long distance charges. I missed that on the 28th. However, as I said the mantle of responsibility has shifted because the lovely Miss Beverly’s phone blew up with text messages all afternoon.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The other mantle that has shifted or is shifting during the past two months, and has been a little difficult for me to put on, is that we are next. I didn’t realize how comforting it was to know that my great grandmother Keenan would pass before Grandma and Grandpa would pass. And she did. It was comforting believing that Grandmas and Grandpas would depart before moms and dads did. And they did. For the past 20 years, deep down in my lizard brain, I have believed that I wasn’t my time yet. Lloyd, Stell, Doyle and Bonnie were all much more mortal than I. It is no wonder that the grief is so much greater when the order isn’t followed. It is an unmentionable expectation. And the unmentionables are often the strongest.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">No, when hospice comes calling, I can no longer stand there hands in pockets, eyes on the ground, shifting from foot to foot kinda nodding my head towards the generations before me. “Take them. They have lived their life.” If I were an Inuit, I would be the one getting on the ice flow when times got tough. No, he will be here for me. It has been a sobering realization, and yet another gift from this remarkable woman.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Bonnie went her own way. I’ll go mine.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take care.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger</span></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-63404188913314466582018-01-21T13:53:00.002-08:002018-01-21T13:53:51.068-08:00Leave the stick on the ground.<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Blog Reader.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I hope this finds you doing well. It leaves my computer doing just fine. I am in the middle of a beer and Oreos weekend as the lovely Miss Beverly has traveled to Austin, Texas to further hone her superhuman teaching skills. What is a beer and Oreos weekend? A previous post in this blog provided a complete treatise of the topic a few years ago. Look through the archives; March 31, 2012 to be exact. It does give you pause to think that you have been entertaining yourselves by reading these missives for more that 5 years.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The lovely Miss Beverly’s absence marks a perfect storm. A political event has happened this past week that makes me want to explode and low and behold there is no moderating influence from Bev.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">So be forewarned. I am getting ready to let it rip about a political topic. If this is not your cup of tea, or you are tired about the constant political polarization, you may want to tune out.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">While the rest of the world was worried about Trump’s vulgar characterization of many 3rd world countries, our fellow Americans in the 50th state were running for their lives after a hapless employee of the state of Hawaii was pushing the “Kiss your a#@ goodbye” button multiple times.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">When did we become a failed superpower? Whether or not N. Korea has the missile and nuclear technology to reach Hawaii or even California, we believe that they can. The state government of Hawaii believed that they could. By definition, if you have an early warning system, you believe that it is a probability. You could argue that they were monitoring the Russians or the Chinese. However, everyone I know thought that those missiles had the N. Korean flag stenciled on their side.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Sure, there is outrage over the mistake that was made. The lovely Miss Beverly and I were retreating to an inn on the shores of Lake Indiana (very romantic). We were watching a Sunday morning news show. The talking head told us that the idiot felt “terrible” because of his actions. The written word cannot do justice to the inflection given to the word terrible. It was the same inflection that I used early in our marriage when I felt “terrible” about forgetting the lovely Miss Beverly’s birthday. But really is feeling “terrible” adequate, when you have sent 1.5 million people heading for the exits. Once again government providing evidence that they have no aptitude for competence.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">A brief aside here. I know that I have been temped from time to time to think that Israel overreacts just a bit. Her enemies would never want to use a nuclear device against her. Right? We know now that we believe our enemies would use one against us. The Israelis wouldn’t have to wait 30 minutes for the warning to be withdrawn. In 30 minutes, their shooting war would be over. New policy; if Israel doesn’t want to allow her enemies to have nuclear weapons, more power to them.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">If we would have had the same policy, North Korea would not have menaced our population on a January Saturday morning. It is clear that we let them have nuclear missiles. You could argue that with your logic Roger we could have kept Russia, or the Chinese from the nuclear club. You would be wrong but there is nothing lost in the argument. We were not powerful enough to stop their development at the time. It takes inordinate power to stop that kind of development. We were not in position to stop near equals from developing powerful weapons. But North Korea was not our near equal. They still aren’t but they can bloody our nose with a terribly powerful weapon.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">But our leaders, opened the door. Through a lack of wisdom and will, we said go ahead and develop nuclear capabilities for peaceful purposes. I know who these leaders were. I would name them but I choose to teach you to fish instead of giving you a fish. Look it up. Besides, it wouldn’t matter if I told you who it was. If you believe something different, you would blame it on the other side. Whatever. It really doesn’t matter. But you and I both know that the situation has crystallized for our Hawaiian friends. And it should crystallize for all of us.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">While my fellow Americans were putting their children into sewers, I was on a walk through the woods receiving an epiphany. There was a young boy who had trouble focusing walking with the group. He was all over the place. Just a little disruptive but not too bad. Certainly, no restraint was being exerted on the child. Who knows why? He’s inquisitive. It is a big area. Show a little forbearance, he’s not really hurting any thing. After a while, he picked up a stick. Sure enough a few minutes later, someone was crying with a bloody lip. The boy felt “terrible”. It was an accident. “I just picked up the stick and held it over my head and it fell into his face.”</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">You know what? Some people should never be allowed to have a stick. And society needs to be wise enough and strong enough to say put the damned thing down.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take care.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-51089398244665288012018-01-06T10:57:00.000-08:002018-01-06T10:57:57.778-08:00Sharritt 2017 Christmas letter<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Sharritt Friends.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The Sharritt clan is gathered around the Nintendo console on a cold, cold, cold New Years Day. The lovely Miss Beverly and I have entered the stage in our lives where compromises are needed to help everyone to meet Christmas family goals. So we had New Christmas Years Day this year. It was a lovely evening sitting around a grilled salmon, Chinese dumpling supper going through our fondest memories of the past year.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">It was a year of addition and subtraction. The handsome Benjamin invited the lovely Miss Lisa to share in the Sharritt clan. It was the perfect 78 degree July 8th day. That is right. 78 degrees was the high for the day. It was unbelievable. I had to ditch the tank top, flip-flops and shorts that I had threatened to wear upon hearing that the Low-Sharritt’s had chosen July 8th for an outdoor wedding and reception at the farm. Were they crazy? No, it turns out that they were inspired.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg00PdJJgdut9MI4wnaV9lXNSzvTkKj1pkeczeLpjqEFubRHVFFRYv2XM9vD4Ma4xvp37FTERQvbNqLJUF87vK36Ax-YBQjuVJlceGhopb7rQFqswQPkmuKkZQQ71V1aiQIXI8-2bst5QI/s1600/mirror.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The day provided a treasure trove of memories; the whole clan under the wedding meadow oak tree, the traditional Chinese blessing ceremony, and sharing the house with the bridesmaids while making preparations </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Ij6Foi9W5UbN_3CjgSDoghHHmdYhQwUxm3g9ppInkMfO6ROup8_dL5-scAtRnIGBJIpTix4BvF4zOeybPIYKU9hfTn03fbv3cp9LxpXv6E04Q4SGYrtLBDYuHCBuWD3xgaHIxH4Fjo4/s1600/hoovers.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="214" data-original-width="320" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Ij6Foi9W5UbN_3CjgSDoghHHmdYhQwUxm3g9ppInkMfO6ROup8_dL5-scAtRnIGBJIpTix4BvF4zOeybPIYKU9hfTn03fbv3cp9LxpXv6E04Q4SGYrtLBDYuHCBuWD3xgaHIxH4Fjo4/s200/hoovers.JPG" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimqc7u-n9zz0TXbXn9Doz_dAEBJpHNzeSZ1om1EKYE923Cig6-fOX2i-6UJOatcCV-hP2mlvJmW0THz1GKTJkd9HSoHwFQHwmYX-4Zs3gpvJLrHtWb5O_TWRrzLhwETjuJVktoMYE9nYM/s1600/mirror.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="960" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimqc7u-n9zz0TXbXn9Doz_dAEBJpHNzeSZ1om1EKYE923Cig6-fOX2i-6UJOatcCV-hP2mlvJmW0THz1GKTJkd9HSoHwFQHwmYX-4Zs3gpvJLrHtWb5O_TWRrzLhwETjuJVktoMYE9nYM/s200/mirror.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">leading up to the wedding. The setting was perfect except for the 3-inch rain the evening before that forced the rehearsal inside and whose run off left a 2-inch stream of water running right through the seating area on the day of the blessed event. I had my suspicions and went to the wedding meadow at 7:00 a.m. with a good friend and 2 sump pumps. The two </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">pumps only slowed the stream. So I headed upstream with a shovel and channeling my inner 5 </span>year<span style="font-size: 11pt;"> old, I played in the water, digging drainage ditches for about 100 yards. And </span>viola<span style="font-size: 11pt;">, while a bit of a high heel hazard no one got their feet wet. By the time these two </span>great-nieces<span style="font-size: 11pt;"> were peering into the wedding mirror the stories of epic ditch digging were entering into annals of Sharritt myth. The couple will finish the school year in Bloomington, then move this summer for Lisa to pursue a </span>Ph.D.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"> in creative writing.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Grace and Chris continue to turn Michigan on its mittened thumb. Grace loves herding cats, commonly known as American Cancer Society Relay For Life volunteers. She loves the work and is always touched by the survivor stories and moved to tears as some volunteers lose their fight with this disease that affects so many people. Chris graduated from law school in May and proved that he had learned the secret lawyer handshake by passing the bar. He is now a full-fledged lawyer working as a clerk for a federal appeals court judge in East Lansing.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Sd6iCjuK_hrOlrNFXICfuR07fGVii42mt6fDz8tSgyUz55ZagmoRwUQ9TiXIE0h4vJtPUSHS5n3FP4wmP68Dh9SNOLT5VGK6sJ9bYUznRjWb29-QHuefUqgX8beCBFUKlbQe1m6n4X0/s1600/hamburger.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Sd6iCjuK_hrOlrNFXICfuR07fGVii42mt6fDz8tSgyUz55ZagmoRwUQ9TiXIE0h4vJtPUSHS5n3FP4wmP68Dh9SNOLT5VGK6sJ9bYUznRjWb29-QHuefUqgX8beCBFUKlbQe1m6n4X0/s200/hamburger.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">In April, we exercised our “at the end of the driveway” philosophy. JD became our foster child in a relationship that has endured through to the end of the year. He has found that he has an aptitude for wrestling and enjoys his nickname Hoss. Brother Aaron and Dr. Dave from church have been a good listening ear during this time. At times we hear about “how disruptive it must be” to have a 15-year-old suddenly come to live with you. It is. But it isn’t nearly as disruptive as being moved from your house away from your three brothers and sisters into a place where the old farts you’re living with like to go to bed at 8:30 at night and wakes up at 4:30 in the morning. What’s up with that? He does love to cook and bake. Last week he introduced the 3 lbs giant hamburger as the new Sharritt Christmas tradition and last night provided the 4 1/2 star brownies for New Years Eve dessert.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Viki and Vaeh, the two girls that we had in our home through Safe Families a couple of years ago, are still in our lives. They inspired the lovely Miss Beverly to start flower farming and selling bouquets at farmer’s market in an Indianapolis neighborhood. You see the girls are growing into lovely young women. As they do so, they become more concerned about their smile and how crooked teeth affects their self-esteem. While they were with us, we found a program that provided orthodonture for kids who can’t afford it. We got them on the waiting list. However, the list is long; over two years. So all of the profits from selling bouquets go to the orthodonture fund. Plus, the lovely Miss Beverly uses the opportunity to teach 12 and 13-year-olds what it is like to spend a few hours without a cell phone and work.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Bev finished her first year as a PATINS employee. PATINS provides technical advice and support to school corporations providing services to make learning accessible to all. If a microscope projector makes it easier to see the structure of a cell wall for a student with low vision, throw the image up on the wall and everyone can see the same thing only better. Pursuing the best technology requires Bev going to conferences in warm places in winter. She also travels throughout the state. As she helps teachers solve classroom challenges, they discuss the best pie place in town. Her list continues to grow and is kept on a map on her office wall. Who knows maybe she will publish it someday as more and more locations of fine pie treasures are identified. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">While I still work for the state, I have changed roles and have gone from operations to join a team of people who are working at implementing a new computer system to take the department forward for the next 20 years. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiG6TKXMD5lX5LbT9ahIzV1CtOLkL3CqZwcoWrQFmal2Lk6l4FhVGnqb0TNbHovts-BixMFVVAHR0_bufyYnm4nNxFtuC0MQO88n3EDm0i3rQ_IbdczKDkWs4Tcuy-n5ZQvJaXs2HdyzQ/s1600/swarm.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="240" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiG6TKXMD5lX5LbT9ahIzV1CtOLkL3CqZwcoWrQFmal2Lk6l4FhVGnqb0TNbHovts-BixMFVVAHR0_bufyYnm4nNxFtuC0MQO88n3EDm0i3rQ_IbdczKDkWs4Tcuy-n5ZQvJaXs2HdyzQ/s200/swarm.JPG" width="150" /></a></span></div>
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">It is a good opportunity. The big news is all of the hobbies that I have now, woodworking, beekeeping, flower farming, bike riding, blog writing, and firewood cutting. It is a wonder that I have time to make it to work five days a week. I think that it may be too much at times, especially, when I am working feverishly to finish chess sets for Chris and Ben for Christmas. I just kept thinking that we really should make that elf on the shelf get to work in the shop making presents for good girls and boys. There is no time for idle loafing here.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Finally, 2017 will be the year that the lovely Miss Beverly’s mother, Bonnie passed away at the age of 85. She had outlasted the hip that was replaced 20 years earlier and needed a new one to ease the debilitating pain that was constant for her. She came through the surgery fine, but complications set in and the anesthesia from subsequent procedures continued to weaken her kidneys and she passed four weeks later. In spite of the sadness accompanying such a loss, one of Bev’s fondest memories from the year was spending time with Bonnie in the hospital. They would wake up at the same time with a nurse’s coming or</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxwe-BrTbTAd8UoAM0_nLXsPJMHHrf4MtjRV4ofBrbcjArp8BF-KVvAgoOAwvWot2LSI6o25HBuZHsbK6qebjGTTixeytSATuByUK6e6H6zOdEJeue8pzt4riz5THi5OntHa2e3H4-58k/s1600/bonnie.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="655" data-original-width="960" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxwe-BrTbTAd8UoAM0_nLXsPJMHHrf4MtjRV4ofBrbcjArp8BF-KVvAgoOAwvWot2LSI6o25HBuZHsbK6qebjGTTixeytSATuByUK6e6H6zOdEJeue8pzt4riz5THi5OntHa2e3H4-58k/s200/bonnie.JPG" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"> going and take the next hour or so sharing a lifetime of memories before slipping back into sleep.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">As always, it has been great reading your stories, notes, and cards during this Christmas season. We know that you too have experienced additions and subtractions during the past year. We hope that both have provided blessings that overflow into the next year and see you to a blessed 2018.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take care</span></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger, Bev and J.D.</span></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-86764061642666316692017-12-10T11:19:00.000-08:002017-12-11T03:02:09.637-08:00End of (Dog) Days<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Blog Reader.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I hope that this finds you doing well. I am fine. I have survived a week that I am quickly coming to know as “My Week as a Country Song.” It isn’t a Taylor Swift, Garth Brooks, or Kenny Chesney country song. No it was a Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, or Conway Twitty country song kind of a week. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">It started with sitting in the Indianapolis International Airport listening to gate attendants tell me and my work mates that the part to get the landing gear to retract was on its way and as soon as it arrived they would get a mechanic from a rival airline to come over on a Sunday night and replace it out of the goodness of their heart. So “no the flight isn’t cancelled it is just delayed,” was the refrain of this country ballad. “We expect to get you on your way at 5:00. No wait; 6:00, Ah let’s make that 7:00. So please don’t leave the airport or reschedule your flight.” Finally, at 8:00 the harried counter person says, “it looks like the flight is cancelled. We can get you on a 5:45 flight in the morning.” To which I responded, “I know that you did not make up the lies and may even have thought that you were doing your job but does your soul die just a little bit every time you have to treat people like you have this evening?”</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">So my alarm went off at 2:45. I sat bolt upright in bed and got up to get on a plane for a one day business trip to South Carolina with a return flight that evening at 6:00 p.m. Mission accomplished. The people of South Carolina were delightful. We learned a lot. It was even pretty good to see how well the members of our work team came together and dealt with a certain amount of adversity and didn’t add to the drama.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Tuesday arrived, and as I was heading out the door for work, Henry our old Jack Russel Terrier lurched up out of his dog bed. Lurching is not his usual method for rising and shining so I was concerned. I watched him for a few moments and decided that his stiff gait was not the usual I am 13 years old and “I am a bit stiff” kind of a gait. The lovely Miss Beverly and I had a consultation and she had the time to get him into the vet for a checkup. We feared that it was bad, but I was out the door heading for work. Ten miles from home, Bev calls and says it is very bad. “Henry can’t move and appears to be in a great deal of pain.”</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Turning the car around, I headed home to comfort Bev and help make difficult decisions about Henry. We knew that he had not been feeling well lately. But this was decidedly worse. I got home and he was in bad bad shape. He could not walk. He was in bad pain. Bev was comforting him wrapped in a blanket on the kitchen floor. It was time.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I have always had trouble with a dog’s end of times issues. I am a farm boy at heart and we would never have taken our dogs to the vet to be put down. Not because we were cheap but because they were our dogs and our responsibility. Yet, I have grown up in a world where there is pet insurance, pet insulin, doggy daycare, and a host of other enhancements to a dogs life. Shoot when I was growing up, dog movies were about dying dogs now they are about reincarnated dogs saving our lives. Times have changed.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I cannot speak for anyone else when I write this. I have followed the evolved world’s view on dog care and have asked the vet to end some of our dog’s days. A few years ago we had a vet end Millie’s suffering. I have never been at peace with that decision. I know that to end a pet’s life in a veterinary office is the only way many people could get through the traumatic emotions due to the end of a family member’s existence. I get it.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">For me, that one time left a gap, a hole that can’t be filled. He took her back to a room and then she was gone. I don’t know how it works now but back then she was suddenly a biohazard and was disposed of properly. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Since Millie, we have always taken matters into our own hands and put our severely injured or dying dogs down. From time to time, we have had dogs who showed the lovely Miss Beverly and I the kindness of leaving unannounced. One day they were here. That evening they were not. Our farm is in a rough and tumble neighborhood. The coyotes sing every time a train passes a quarter mile to the South. Recently, Lucy and Henry’s brother, Hugo left that way. While there wasn’t much closure, I always thought that they left on the hunt, hackles raised and ready to do some damage. I was good with that. That wasn’t going to be the case for Henry.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">On Tuesday, I turned the car around and rushed home. I found the lovely Miss Beverly on the kitchen floor comforting Henry. There was no doubt; Henry was in pain and would not survive for another day. The wheels of death roll on a specific path. Things have to be done. The gun has to be retrieved from the barn. The bullet from a hidden spot in a closet. The shovel is pulled from the garage and a hole dug. Make it deep. Make it wide. I put it out in the rhubarb patch so there will be some good memories each late May eating pie. We gently carried Henry wrapped in a blanket to the backyard. I stop breathing at this moment. I dread the moment. I know what has to be done. The longer it takes the more Henry suffers. It is a hard calculus. In the end, you have to step up to your friend, look him in the eye and end the pain while knowing that you are ending his life.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">For that I am sorry. For that I am sad. I still walk to the kitchen each evening before bed to make sure he is shut up in the mud room. I have checked his water and food bowl each morning this week, and to be honest I could use a pretty good belly rub about now. Those things aren’t going to happen any longer, but I do look forward to that slice of strawberry-rhubarb.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take care.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger</span></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-17403469074147684982017-11-26T16:51:00.001-08:002017-11-26T16:51:26.122-08:00Scared to Death<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Blog Reader.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I hope that this finds you doing well. I must admit that my hands are a bit shaky. I had quite the Halloween fright. It is hard to believe that we have passed Thanksgiving. But let’s face it. Thanksgiving was so early this year that I barely had time to recover from my Halloween ordeal. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving. It is over now and it is off to the next faze of the holiday season which I fondly call; Newthankschristgivemasday. It is a quiet Sunday morning. The lovely Miss Beverly has graciously made me smokies and eggs with one piece of heavy bread. What is heavy bread you ask? Well you will just have to keep wondering and hope that someday we will let you live with us and teach you the heavy bread secret handshake.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Oh don’t be sad. If you were here, you would have to smell my garlic infused fingers. I know that it is too late plant garlic. But what could I do? With Aug-toner temps being so high. It would have germinated the garlic. It’s green sprouts would have emerged and been frozen in Jan-peril. Yes, you would be able to dream about pans of lasagna, and tubs of humus, but it would stink to high heaven. That is one thing that reading on the internet deprives one. If you were here and we were having a story telling conversation, you would be able to smell the garlic oils left on my hands after going out and getting 15 ft of garlic in the ground in hopes that the 50 degree weather forecasted this week will be enough to promote healthy root growth and not so much to promote sprouting. We shall see. That sitting around the table, telling and listening to stories, the lingering evidentiary aroma of a task well done, adds so much to the social discourse that is lost with social media. However, don’t even start to think that I am inviting all one million of you over for smokies and eggs for a story. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">All of that being said, I hope that my words can convey the terror that I felt while trying to change a tire at 8:00 p.m. along I69 during a heavy rain. Hopefully, you will not need to see my wild eyed gesticulating, or see me throw my glasses from my face while demonstrating one of the more frightening moments to get the flavor of the fear that I experienced that evening.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Bev and I were out celebrating our foster son’s good grades at Golden Corral. I know that some of you foodies out there are frightened by that sentence. Don’t be such a snob. Where else can you go and get gummy bears to sprinkle over your ice cream sundae? Pure goodness. And there is so much of everything. It is what J.D. wanted. “What J.D. wants”, has been in short supply as he learns to live under different management. We rolled out of Golden Corral and ran through the wind and the rain to the car. We jumped in the car and headed out for the 12 mile trek home. Just as I pulled on interstate, the low tire light lit up. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">That yellow light blazed on my dash and my adrenaline spiked. First, I hoped that the stupid sensor was malfunctioning like it had for nearly a year before I had it fixed. Crap! That’s right. I had it fixed. Plan B: maybe it was just signifying the regular loss of air that all tires undergo. Pump up the tire once a year and the light goes out and there is no problem. I would just drive the eight miles to the next exit, pull into a gas station and check it out. I would be relieved when looking at the tire and seeing that it might be a little low but drivable. I would pull into our nice garage and pump up the tire and be good for another 12 months. Crap! I don’t remember ever having to pump up the tire every once in a while before. That is the other car; the one with the 8 year old rims that may have a bit of pitting around the rim. Sure I have to pump it up every three months but never this car.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Well I wasn’t going to get out on the interstate to check. So, I pushed the gas down harder and and started doing mental gymnastics. If a car leaves St Louis and drives 70 mph toward Indianapolis 231 miles away and another car leaves Indianapolis and drives 100 mph, will the second car lose control if the tire suddenly goes flat? It turns out that at 70 mph you will make it about 6 miles before the telltale shaking will tell you that your story problem is over, and you did not make it to the safe haven exit number 25, and it feels like it is the driver’s side rear that is going down. Congratulations, you get to get up close and personal to oncoming traffic.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Like an Indy 500 crew going over the wall in the final laps of the race, the lovely Miss Beverly and I hop out of the car, open the hatchback and start digging for tires, jacks, and lug wrenches. The lovely Miss Beverly was a great help. She did a great job standing at the back of the car and shining the flash light around the corner at my work area. During the next five minutes, I had three thoughts that kept passing through my mind in an eternal loop. First, how far will my body fly if someone drifted off the road and hit me at 70 mph? Second, it’s okay if I get hit but I am going to be really sad if the lovely Miss Beverly or the two children in the car get hit. Third, did you know that it has been scientifically proven that the hour between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. is one of the 24 most texting-while-driving hours.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Then at the 5:03 minute mark, things got really exciting. I was just starting to tighten the lug nuts and exhausting my curing thesaurus when a truck came by so close and fast that it blew my glasses off of my face. Yes, BLEW MY GLASSES OF MY FACE! And let me tell you, Roget’s was able to publish a new edition of curses. Thankfully my glasses landed in a crack between my coat and the car. I recovered, put my glasses back on, turned to page two of the new edition and really started tightening lug nuts. During this frenzied two minutes, two more thoughts ran through my mind. First, Bill Cosby (back when he was funny and a closeted abuser) had a bit that told a story about his mother always telling him to put on clean underwear because you didn’t want to have dirty underwear in the hospital. At this point, he looked at the audience and said, “we all know that clean underwear don’t matter. If you are in an accident, first you are going to say it and then your’e going to do it. It doesn’t matter how clean your underwear were.” My underwear were in great danger of being soiled.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Second, I thought why do people want me to watch the Walking Dead or a hundred other horror films. I don’t like them. They scare me, and at that moment along I 69, at 8:00 p.m. in the dark and the rain, fixing a flat tire 3 feet away from cars going 70 mph with the drivers texting and a foot and a half way from some S.O.B. in a semi, I received my lifetime supply of scared s#*%$t-less.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take care.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger.</span></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-36944873000519012912017-11-05T12:19:00.003-08:002017-11-05T12:19:37.973-08:00All Sweetness and Light<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Blog Reader</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I hope that this finds you doing well. It leaves my keyboard trying to come to terms with being beatified. No one more was more surprised than I. My sect is not big on saintly things. I had no aspirations to sainthood but there I was earning my wings like Clarance in “It's a Wonderful Life.”</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"> I learned of my spiritual promotion on the way home from work the other night. I was in the process of stealing (no the irony isn’t lost on me) several copies of Branches from the self service paper dispenser at work. Branches is a small freebie newspaper published semi monthly here in Indianapolis. Based on their advertising, I am assuming that their target audience is New Age believers. With that kind of spiritual pedigree, I am assuming that they have the expertise to make judgements about the hierarchical ranking of spiritual beings. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">So yes, I was taking several papers from the dispenser to shred up to feed to my worm farm that I keep in the garage. They do yeomen’s work chewing up our compost. I take the newspapers and grind them up into bite size nuggets. This balances out the carbon-nitrogen levels that make my worms very happy. I figure that the stealing is actually a good thing. At least, I justify that stealing in this case is a good thing. Everyone is helped all around. Branches can charge a higher ad rate to “Classes at New Age People” because the readership is so high. The paper’s aren’t ending up in the landfill. And the worms benefit from the karmic bs. It is a win win win.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Right there on the front of the July - August 2017 edition, are a bunch of bee keepers with angel wings. I never studied iconography in school but even I could get the picture with their graphical representations. Beekeepers are doing the Lord’s work. I am a beekeeper. Therefore, I am doing the Lord’s work; hence the spiritual promotion. No one was more surprised that I. I went to work that morning, a worker bee in my cubicle, can came out a beekeeping angel. Who knew?</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Actually, I am not much of a beekeeper. I have an expensive hobby that involves keeping boxes with frames of wax foundation. Some bees hang out and do what they do. I know that there are beekeepers out there who are in their hives every other week from April through September. They are searching for the queen, treating for parasitic mites, and naming all of the new larvae. They know every time that pesticides are being sprayed in a four county radius. They are harvesting honey after the spring flow and the fall flow (if there is enough nectar). There are even beekeepers who make hard candy to put in the hive to help the bees get through the winter. These people are keeping bees. I just happen to know where some bees hang out.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">These are all important tasks. They make the hive stronger and less prone to sudden hive collapse. That is a good thing. The fewer hives that collapse the more bees we will have. And since flowers are horrible at unaided sex, the more bees that we have the more flower sex there is and hence more fruits and vegetables. Some predict that the world order is threatened by the factors that contribute to sudden hive collapse. Beekeepers by their actions help or single handedly prevent civilization’s collapse. You deserve those wings buddy. Saving the world through flower sex is certainly more important than what that chump Clarence did by massaging the space time continuum while Jimmy Stewart got his head right. Let the bells ring I say.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I have a theory about why the bees are having trouble. Bees forage for pollen in a three mile radius from the hive. That is a lot of space to cover with those little tiny wings. Who watched bees for long enough to figure that out? And how did the researcher know that one bee flew that far? What if you were watching a bee and he flew close to another bee that was whose hive was a mile and a half away. The researcher got confused which bee they were supposed to be watching and switched their focus mid flight so that bees really only fly a mile and a half. I know difficult right. But I digress. So bees can supposedly forage up to 3 miles away for pollen. There should be plenty of pollen by any standard to keep a hive flourishing with in a circle that large.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">But wouldn’t it be better if the pollen were closer? What would happen if we let the dandelions take over our yards and the bees only had to fly 7 feet to get pollen instead of three miles? The same principle applies in our every day lives. Let’s say you had an option of keeping your refrigerator in your kitchen or in Aunt Betty’s kitchen 3 miles away. Sure you could get in the car or on your bike and navigate the three miles for the sandwich fixings. You could survive on that. But would you get all fat and sassy that way. Heck no! You would get your sandwich made, get it back to the house, sit down at the table, say a little prayer and then cuss because you forgot to put any mayo on your roast beef sandwich. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Are you going to get up from the table and get all of the way over to Aunt Betty’s house for a little dab of mayo? NO! No mayo is going to make you skinnier. And forget about a mid-evening ice-cream sundae. You aren’t going to get fat and happy doing that. No you are going to be skinny and puny and won’t have much energy for that birds and the bees thing. In short, if your refrigerator is kept three miles away your hive is going to collapse. So I get out there and plant as many high pollen plants that I can. I encourage that first flush of dandelions in the spring and keep planting buckwheat until 3 weeks before frost in the fall. We have mint plants, sunflowers, white clover through out the front yard. Yes, Sharritt Farms is a fat bee paradise. We have “caution o-bee-se in the area” signs posted all around the farm. Sharritt bees have it good.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Am I doing the Lord’s work? I have my doubts. It is important to not read too much into all of the little things we do that just happens help a little bit. I think the world suffers because we beatify the little things; things that just have to be done. It probably started with participation trophies in little league. Yeah, we need to get in there, do our best, play hard, and pay attention. We have to do that for the health of the team and for that matter for our own enjoyment. But that doesn’t make us a star. Bee keeping doesn’t make me a saint. It doesn’t even make me a good person.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">It just makes me a guy who loves a little honey in his tea.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take care.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger</span></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-37090720752770520222017-09-03T18:51:00.000-07:002017-09-03T18:51:03.968-07:00Gore your own Ox<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Blog Reader</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I hope that this finds you doing well. I am fine. This is a blog that was supposed to occur about 4 weeks ago. It was to proclaim my recovery from attendance at the Indiana State Fair. It was to be a pull the pin on the grenade and let er rip kind of blog. I had outrage. I had indignation. I was aggrieved, exasperated and piqued. It was going to be a doozy. However, it was eclipsed by the astrophysical equivalent of shadow puppets. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">So here I am a nearly a month after the fact, sitting down to write about the state fair and I must admit that I have lost some of my steam. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I had not attended the great Indiana State Fair in several years. During my formative, it had provided an annual milestone for the Sharritt's. No matter, how much work needed to be done on the farm, dad would load up the family and we would head for the fair. We were poor back then. So this would have been the budget for our day at the fair.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Car parking $5.00</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Admission $5.00 “You kids will be okay in the trunk now shut up and stop kicking the lid.”</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Tractor tram ride $$2.50: ride from the machinery field to the hog barn.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Lunch $10.00 Toasted cheese sandwich and shake.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Saltwater taffy $2.00.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Grand total $24.50; Leaving $0.50 in our entertainment budget for August and September.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Yes, the Indiana State Fair was a celebration of Hoosier Agriculture. We would roam the equipment field and the antique machinery field. We would watch the thresher machine demonstration with dad regaling us with stories of his time with a threshing crew. It was quick juxtaposition the year when we wandered from the threshing demonstration to a combine that had a cab large enough to hold the entire family. I do not know which company used the small house model for combine cabs, but it never caught on. The extraverted farmer niche just wasn’t big enough to sustain their model. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">We would wonder over to the Bobcat booth where we would marvel at the 5 foot deep hole that they could dig in a couple of hours, and rue the moment when we realized that the door to the cow stall that had to be forked out by hand was too small to allow the passage of this wonderful piece of labor saving technology. Oh how we would dream about how fast the foot and a half of cow poop could be hauled if that door were six inches wider when cleaning those stalls every spring and fall. With each fork full of aromatic bedding, we would curse our ancestors for not being visionaries when building that cow stall and we would covet a Bobcat every summer at the fair.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Yes, we would marvel at the size of the world’s largest boar, but only after a mid afternoon lunch at the Dairy barn; toasted cheese and strawberry shake. There might be some sniggering between the cousins as we vainly tried to cover up our perceived inadequacies when in the presence of such an example of scrotal superiority as we left the swine barn. We would marvel at the Clydesdales and groan with boredom as we made our way through the dairy barn. After milking 65 cows twice a day for years, the dairy barn held no interest. We had literally seen it all when it came to dairy cows.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I know that you are thinking “Roger this is nostalgia not outrage.” You are correct. But if you are a long time reader of “You Said What, Roger?”, you would remember that I have had a hate hate relationship with 4-H, and Lord knows the State Fair is the Super Bowl of 4-H. However, I must admit that 4-H baggage isn’t what I wanted to rant about. I had an enjoyable time at the fair that afternoon and evening in early August. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">It was a different experience for me. After years of boycotting the Indiana State Fair celebrating hot tubs and whirlpools we returned this year. Bev and I have once again listened to the call of the end of the driveway. Read my blog from September 12 of last year if you need some context. This kiddo who is living with us came ready made with 4 friends. They had never been to the fair. So we loaded into the car and went to the fair.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">These are city kids. Their fair experience had to be much different than my old fair experience. In ten years of attending the fair, I never once made it to the midway. Remember the fair budget from above; not much wiggle room. Things are different now. We pay the 15 year old boys money for working in the garden and getting things ready for our son’s wedding earlier in the year. They hit the midway with the disposable income that only working teens living at home have. That money was not going to burn a hole in their pocket. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">At this point, you might expect some ranting and raving. However, I quickly slipped into catatonia. As the lovely Miss Beverly pointed out, “we live such contemplative lives that all of this noise and blinking lights is just too much for us.” Too much it was. I quickly found a bench and sat down with Bev. We told the urchins that they had to check in with us every 15 minutes, and we just sat there slowly rocking back and forth hoping that it would all end soon. If I ever become a state legislator, I am going to force the following change on the Indiana State Fair. They have to have more benches to sit down on and so contemplative can wait while the end of the world approaches.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">But I am not even going to rant about that. Although, I could rant a little bit about sitting 150 ft from a game when the operator needed a thesaurus. For two hours, we listened to her say “every winner gets their choice.” She never once wandered off script to “any prize you want”, or “take any prize” or “the choice is yours.” I don’t know what stopped her from saying “shoot me now, I can’t take it any more!”</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I was okay with that. The kids had fun. It was a new experience for them. They showed the proper amount of awe for 15 year old boys while looking at the world’s largest boar. I only chortled a little when they said that they didn’t want to take their strawberry shake and toasted cheese sandwich with us while we walked through the dairy barn because “they didn’t like the smell.” I wish that I still had a picture of my father in poop stained t-shirts that weren’t completely covered by a full length rubber apron that we wore while milking cows. Oh well, I guess that it isn’t all bad that the youth of America don’t know how their food is produced.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">SO ROGER WHAT WERE YOU GOING TO RANT ABOUT? Take it easy. I was going to rant about an Indianapolis Star article the following day by a Ruth Servens. She was doing an in depth analysis of State Fair Finances. She found that the State Fair doesn’t get as much money from mid-way rides as surrounding state fairs do. It appears that the fair board leaves $ on the table in order to receive a guaranteed income year after year. Bad for us when attendance is up 19% like this year but good for us when it is down 16% like last year. And in the middle of the article was this little gem about the $2.4 million annual subsidy the state fair receives annually; “at roughly $2.4 million a year, it's a tiny portion of Indiana's $31 billion two-year budget, but it's money that can't be spent on other underfunded services.”</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Yeah, underfunded services like the $713,000,000 stadium for the colts to pay in, or the $44,000,000 that the pacers have received over the past 4 years. Give me a break. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Indiana Agriculture generates $44 billion in revenue in direct agricultural sales and ancillary economic activity a year. $2.5 million is too much to spend in celebrating that. The agricultural impact to local services if felt even greater in Indiana. As property taxpayers, I know that my farm pay 10 times more in taxes than my neighbor does. Yet, both households only put one family through the local schools. We both go to the same library and fund one municipal pool. We both help pay for one county court. Yes, farmers are getting too much of a good thing.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">You and Ms. Servens may believe that the state taxpayer has no business celebrating the accomplishments of a free market enterprise. She may be correct and if she is then let the colts build their own underfunded barn to pay in. Or let the pacers find someplace else to make up for their $4 million annual short fall. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">But I bet that Ms. Servens employer disagrees with that plan. The howl that would go up from the pages of the Star would drown out that carnival barker if a legislator had the temerity to suggest that the colts and pacers pay their own way. There would be 25 references to “Naptown” in describing the downtown environment if those two teams went away. Plus, and correct me if I am wrong but the state has roughly half a billion in its rainy day fund and last year ran about a $50 million surplus. So by definition in a representative democracy, nothing was underfunded.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">It just gripes me to no end when uninformed people go about casting stones insisting that world line up the way that they believe it should. It especially galls me when they blithely try to determine whose ox should be gored and whose should be spared.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take care.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger</span></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-64643867595994646562017-08-27T10:29:00.003-07:002017-08-27T10:29:17.829-07:00Lessons of Astrophysics<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Blog Reader</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I hope that this finds you doing well. I am fine. For all of those who readily accepted the media’s tales of doom and gloom, who hovered around loved ones, exhausting themselves in an effort to keep them safe, there was nothing special about the eclipse that will make you blind. The opportunity for retinal burn exists every day. It was just as dangerous on Sunday. It was just as dangerous on Tuesday. It will be just as dangerous all 2416 days until the next solar eclipse in the US. To which, I am happy to say that the Sharritt Air BnB is now taking reservations. Yes, we are pleased to say that SharrittLand is in the direct path of totality. We, once again, will be left totally in the dark. We will not guarantee that the cloud cover will allow you to see the eclipse. However, we do have good internet connection so you will be able to see it on the HDTV that we will purchase with the funds you so graciously provide.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"> It is sad that someone probably did not believe all of the warnings about the brightness of the sun and stared at it and consequently destroyed their eye sight. We are all somewhere on the bell curve. A few people went into the basement and covered their heads and a few said “we don’t need no stinking glasses.” The rest of us to one degree or another took precautions and enjoyed the eclipse and kept our eye sight. I personally, was probably the only person and my large office building carrying a welding mask into work. I could not get it jammed into my back pack. Thankfully, I was able to evade security long enough to get inside. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I remember an eclipse from my childhood. In school, the “Weekly Reader” was our town crier. Oh, those were the halcyon days of print media. The scions of the Hearst Media Conglomerate were bringing up another generation of newspaper readers. The Weekly Reader warned us that we could go blind staring at the sun during the eclipse and a few weeks later, a follow up “I told you so” appeared; reporting on a girl whose sight had returned after losing it looking at the eclipse. Bible Belt miracle? The regenerative power of the human body? Hoax? Hysteria? Who knows? It made great Weekly Reader fodder.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Getting back to the over reaction in some circles to the possibility of injury from the solar eclipse. Some schools kept their children inside during the eclipse to protect them. Some even kept them after regular school hours because ironically that pesky sun doesn’t get on board with daylight savings time. If the sun had believed in DST the eclipse would have been over by the end of school and the sun would have lost its super natural ability to make you blind only during an eclipse.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Why do we give the eclipse super natural powers? It is an interesting phenomena. It happens so seldom that to some appears to be random, to others it appears to be super natural; a sign of the end times. But it isn’t random; it isn’t super natural; it isn’t prophetic at all. It is just physics; actually astrophysics. But you get my meaning. When you have the sun doing its thing over and over again without any concern for the earth (we are not the center of the universe), and you have the moon doing its thing over and over again with concern for the earth (we are the center of it’s universe), things from time to time line up. So the eclipse wasn't random. If it were, we wouldn’t be able to sell you space at SharrittLand AirBnB in 2024. We know that it is going to happen.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">We also know that the sun’s intensity doesn’t increase retinal burning levels during an eclipse. The sun has been emitting photons at nearly the same intensity for about 4.6 billion years. Those photons go screaming out in all directions and a tiny percentage manage to hit us. They warm our cats in windowsills on cold winter mornings. They trigger complex chemical reactions in plant cells taking carbon dioxide and releasing the carbon emitting oxygen for us to respire and hook a carbon back on to it. That reaction does a lot of other things like making your sweet corn sweet but I don’t have time to teach you all of the things you should have learned along time ago. Those photons react with your skin and manufacture vitamin D, which does something important like help you absorb calcium and phosphorus. Once again kids pay attention in school.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">So yes, the sun is a good thing. But beware children, it will still do you great harm. It isn’t out to get you. It is just out there emitting photons. It's intensity allows all of those good things to happen. The intensity for the good things will also blind you if you look at it.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">So remember. Kids keep your heads down, and nature isn’t out to kill you. It just seems that way.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take Care.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger</span></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-23209010735209059822017-08-06T18:01:00.000-07:002017-08-06T18:01:00.627-07:00Winner of the 2017 Limerick Costest<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Blog Reader and Limerick Writers.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Yes siree it is that time again. Each year at the end of July the lovely Miss Beverly in recognition of Doyle Hoover’s (her father) birthday, calls together the tribe an others in the limerick challenge. Doyle was a dairy farmer by calling and a limerick writer because farming didn’t fill every moment of his waking hours. Actually, have you ever milked 40 cows two times a day for 40 years? I haven’t either. But I did a stint (evenings only) for 5 years from seventh grade until I made my escape after high school. That two hours (or 4 hours 2x a day) every day leaves one with an internal dialog that takes years of counseling to make go away. Doyle turned his internal dialog to good by working on limericks that he would share. Some he shared with everyone. These G and PG versions were cute and delivered with a grin and twinkle in the eye. The bawdier versions were delivered with a twinkle and impish grin from ear to ear.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Limerick isn’t only about a short five line story with rhyme. It is a slave to cadence: AABBA if you read the text books. And the words have to fit together with a certain rhythm. I was working on a limerick exhorting more participants last Saturday night. I had the 9 syllable first line but it would not work. The rhythm was all wrong. It wouldn’t work until I found another 9 syllables to fit the correct rhythm. I think that dairy farming uniquely trains a person for writing limerick. Not only are you in a barn with no one to talk to for 4 hours a day, freed to let your mind wander, you are in this environment surrounded by machinery that counts out a beat with the cadence of a militant metronome. The machine is called a pulsator. It is complicated and and explanation will not get us closer to the announcement of our winner this evening. Just know that listening to it day after day you would know all there is to know about meter and rhythm.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">So Doyle was unambiguously trained to write and enjoy limericks. He knew that they were not only created for his own enjoyment but for the enjoyment of others. It is a shame that we didn’t know enough to write them down or tape them for posterity. We can only shine a dim candle on his craft by whole heartedly throwing our oar in the water and giving it our best shot. Next year’s theme cliches?</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">And best shot it was. Thank you everyone for your efforts in this year’s. Over 40 limericks were submitted, and you did great. But this is a contest. No participation trophies here. (Or is that participation pie) There was a log jam at the top, and in the end one did rise to the top like cream in Doyle's bulk tank.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">This year’s theme “animals” provided fertile ground for these budding bards. In judging them, I was struck by how many of us had our worlds expanded because our parents didn’t participate in “fixing” our animals. It seemed like our cats were particularly reproductive. Fat cats becoming thin in bedrooms and out at the barn. There were super pigs, and an animal called a squabbit. I must say when a practicing pharmacist starts writing about squabbits it may be time to step away from the dispenser. I'm just saying. There were surprised and dying ground hogs, and grand champion steers. Dogs were well represented from Iowa to a drool covered frisbee catching, tree climbing Busy and one who likes getting stuck on a retaining wall. While some pigs saved free falling damsels in distress others were my personal heros named bacon and sausage. Who knows? They maybe frozen in aisle B.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Enough of the drum roll of suspense, let’s get down to it.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Honorable Mention;</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Danielle Grandholm</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Watching Busy climb trees like a fool</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Was fun to do after school</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">That dog loved to fly</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Up that tree really high</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">To catch the frisbee smothered in drool</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Cindy Pyle</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Sam Ting was my favorite cat</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">One summer she became quite fat</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I took her upstairs</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Both parents unawares </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">On a towel in a box she sat.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">So after hours did loom</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I worried about my doom</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I confessed to my dad</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">But he never got mad</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Yes, her kittens were born in my room</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Lyn Ellis</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">We once had some pigs that were pets</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Can we keep them daddy? Oh let’s</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">We knew what they were</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">By their new monikers</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Sausage and Bacon, you bet.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Stephen Warner</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">From all around these parts</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">We’re bombarded with cow farts</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The methane does rise</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">And the poor ozone dies</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">So we all bake in the sun like tarts.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Joyce Young</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Being hauled where gloved hands would pluck her</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">That sly hen evaded the trucker</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dad gave her a lift</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Fine eggs she did gift</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">And to that rig she clucked, “I’m free, sucker.”</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Jim Rogers</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">In a lifestyle that’s suited to me.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I haul animals in my truck you see.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">In boxes galore,</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I deliver to the store.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">You will find them in frozen aisle B.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Bill Hoover</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">On my Oliver Tractor, I was dishing.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Fat groundhog didn’t know he was risking</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Heavy crescent wrench in hand</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Babe Ruth swing I did land.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Home run or Dead varsity it’s a WIN thing.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Congratulations to all of the honorable mentions. You did great. Keep practicing and working on it. You were so close. Maybe next year will be your year.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">As I wrote earlier, there are no participation awards. There is only one pie eater here.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Congratulations Stephen Warner</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">On the course, I golf is a squabbit</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The cross of a squirrel and rabbit.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I try but I fail</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">To grab his red tail.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">But I never quite seem to nab it.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Steve, like I said, if you are seeing squabbits you may want to step away from the pill dispenser. Great story, funny, structure and rhyme. Good work.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Until next year, when the lovely Miss Beverly puts out the call for your finest limericks . . .</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take care</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-91533211292547944462017-08-06T12:29:00.001-07:002017-08-06T12:29:19.475-07:00Oh the Possibilities<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dearest Blog Reader.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I hope that this finds you doing well. I am fine. Although I am recovering. I know what you are saying. “That Roger he’s always recovering in his blog. Just get over it. Life isn’t that hard.” Your’e right. I embellish. I make up things. Life isn’t that hard. But you would read it if everything is fine. Nobody wants to read stories or watch TV shows about vacation days leisurely passing by, getting up at noon, sitting by the pool, reading books, going out to eat with the lovely Miss Beverly, binge watching three episodes of the Walking Dead only to go to bed and wake up on day two of vacation and start it all over again. Even when we watched Seinfeld all of those years, we didn’t want the show to be about carefree, easy breezy days. Seinfeld a show about nothing, They didn’t do the things that we did. No they killed off their fiancées with toxic wedding invitation glue. They were not being served soup by a soup Nazi, They even celebrated festivis instead of Christmas, because we don’t want to watch people do the same things that we are doing.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">So yes, I am still recovering. In fact, the last blog was being composed in the middle of the chaos that I am currently letting ebb away. It was the week of Ben and Lisa’s wedding. I am sure that she will some day become known as the lovely Miss Lisa. However, that is Ben’s blog to write in another place and time should he decide that is what he wants to do. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Yes, when I wrote five weeks ago, the Sharritt household was slipping into the chaos of wedding week. The wedding was to be a blessed affair and along the way there were ten acres of parking lot and wedding meadow to cut, a humongous tent to set up, several pizzas to eat, make up to apply, table cloths to press, (I pointed out to the lovely Miss Beverly, that yes there would come a time when that commercial cloths press with the rolling hot presses would have come in handy. But instead we left our $5 investment to rust in a farm field in Northwest Indiana where it would do us no good some 30 years later), and my favorite, the traditional rehearsal day sports extravaganza where we all gather around the bride and groom playing risky sports on uneven ground daring the fates to give the bride or groom a twisted ankle or black eye. When it finally works those will be very special wedding pictures. We’ve come close. We did have an aunt who fractured her arm for one wedding. We will keep trying.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">There is a beautiful 200 year old oak tree that is on the farm tucked away in a small valley. By all rights, it should have been logged out 80 years ago. The family that owned the farm before selling it to my grandfather, logged all of the good timber before the sale. They left about 15 old oaks that were hollow and not fit for lumber. Those old trees have fallen through out the years; returning to the dust from which they sprang. In some strange over sight they left this one. Maybe it was too young at 120 years old. I have no idea. But the tree has stood through 60 years of cows pasturing under it. Idly whiling away the hot summer days under its 100 ft spread; patiently stomping a foot and twitching their tails to disturb the latest biting fly. If their constant pressure caused damaging compaction around its roots, the tree does not appear to be showing any negative effects. It still stands.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I am not sure because two events do not make trend. However, two is the only sample size available to us currently. Any how, the children of the lovely Miss Beverly like to be married under this tree. The intervening 20 years of no cattle had left a classic example of forest succession. The meadow was full of honey locust trees. I know what you are thinking “ah how beautiful and natural, trees that are named after honey.” This is a blatant example of an arborist’s false advertising. Honey locusts if properly named, would be called #@#@# thorn trees. So four years ago, we donned our leather gloves and work boots and cleared out about an acre and a half under this giant oak and had a wedding.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The entrepreneurial Sharritt’s had visions of event planning grandeur. Who wouldn’t want to get married under a two hundred year old oak tree surrounded by nature’s beauty? Indeed, we did have some interest from a few brides who could see the beautiful possibilities. Unfortunately, they were always accompanied by their mothers who could not get past the possibilities of rain, mosquitoes, and 90 degree heat with 95% humidity. So we have set those plans aside and given our money making schemes a rest. In spite of that, last fall Ben and Lisa said that they would like to get married under the tree next July. And just like in Brigadoon, a vision started to emerge. The first step in forest succession is a stand of golden rod killing all of the grass. So last September the weeds were whacked and grass seed was sown. There were a few thorn trees that needed attacking and this spring a regular rotation of mowing the meadow, the wedding parking lot and the reception parking lot: 10 acres in all. No wonder the old farm management loved having cows doing the work for them.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">In the picture, you can see the Friday morning picture of the big tree, all the chairs and the wedding arch. You </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijr5xFK2xXqlkJ2FQf1f4LTh7sBe7mr76XqZWT_MDEMyG8yX-sahA0_DtNpdnd_B0IyGJtupBKtzqcIFhqSfwWw04p3s5iAyAJpqCUb-btbqkZtczUCb4tyhU8MHzvBUIrnwsAUzWA3Ok/s1600/wedding+tree.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijr5xFK2xXqlkJ2FQf1f4LTh7sBe7mr76XqZWT_MDEMyG8yX-sahA0_DtNpdnd_B0IyGJtupBKtzqcIFhqSfwWw04p3s5iAyAJpqCUb-btbqkZtczUCb4tyhU8MHzvBUIrnwsAUzWA3Ok/s400/wedding+tree.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">can’t see is the 3 inch thunderstorm on the horizon at 6:00 pm. That evening. You can’t see the excellent storm water system that the neighboring little town has installed. It is excellent because it dumps all of that water on our farm and it meanders its way to Fall Creek . . . right through the middle of all of those chairs. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">On wedding day, at 7:30 in the morning, I walked down to the wedding meadow and discovered the 4 inch deep stream of water running right through the seating area. I hope that the guests remembered to bring their wellies. High heels were definitely out of the accessory possibilities. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">What do you do with 4 inches of water and 9 hours before the wedding? You bail. You grab a friend, 2 pumps, and build a dam as it enters the meadow and pump the surface water away. After an hour, you realize that two pumps are not enough and grab a shovel, walk 20 yards into the woods and put skills that you acquired in kindergarten to work. You dig a 200 yard trench around the wedding meadow, diverting the water away from the place where 200 well dressed people will be sitting in four hours. Then you go to where the water is leaving and you dig another trench draining the residual water away from the sitting area.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Don’t worry. We moved the chairs a little bit, and no one lost a shoe in the mud. The wedding went off without a hitch. It was a beautiful day. I sit down in my front row seat, looked at my step counting watch and realized that I had logged 20,000 steps and I hadn’t started dancing.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The Kozak's, Low’s and Sharritt’s are blessed to have children that see the wonderful possibilities in life. Children who see the beauty and majesty of a 200 year old tree spread out over the meadow. Children who can discount the risks to get to the benefits. Children who know it may be 90 degrees on July 8 but that meadow will be a beautiful place to get married. Children who know that bad things will happen. Children who know that gulley washers happen. Children who know that challenges can be worked through, addressed and overcome. Children who know that there are shovels for that. Actually, we are blessed to have young adults who can stay in the moment and recognize the struggle is part of the beautiful journey.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Lisa and Ben may your ditch digging be as blessed as your I dos.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take care</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger</span></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-56091047831565827582017-07-06T09:20:00.002-07:002017-07-06T09:20:40.536-07:00Thinking Outside the Box<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Blog Reader</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I hope that this finds you doing well. I am fine. This week, I am recovering from a 100 mile bike ride through northeastern Indiana. It is interesting country; very flat and for this 100 miles very windy. What’s the deal with that? It has been a very windy June. I must admit during the middle of the crushing 25 miles into a 15 mph wind I longed for those heady No-Zone action days; those days when the wind dies, the flags go limp, and the smog hangs in the valley obscuring the tree line to the west. I may not be able to breathe but its better than riding into a 15 mph wind.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The ride is up in Adam’s county. I know it hardly seems fair that Eve wouldn’t have a county also. But its Adam’s county. I don’t name them. I just report on the names that they happen to have. This is the second time that I have ridden this ride. It is called the Flat Fifty. Yes, it is ironic when I wear a T-shirt proclaiming that I rode in the Flat fifty; especially as the word flat goes up and over the bulge of my gut. I should probably stick with the Hilly Hundred shirts. At least there will be no false advertising.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Wind aside, I do love this ride. It is farm country. It is also Amish country. It appears that horses hooves and buggies do not put much wear and tear on the roads. So the roads are very nice. I was a bit disappointed with this ride however. Three years ago when I rode, several entrepreneurial Amish youth sold cookies. This time I was prepared and took extra money and alas no Amish youth selling cookies. I managed.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">It appears that Saturday afternoon is mow the lawn time in Amish land. It does take some time to get used to seeing a riding mower in Amish country. Imagine going out to the garage and getting out the Clydesdale and hooking up to the sickle bar mower and riding it around the yard. If you have ever used a sickle bar mower, you would know that it had to be very sharp to cut an inch off of 3 inch grass. But they did a good job; nice and smooth. It also appeared that Saturday afternoon was some sort of social affair in Amish country. Buggy after buggy was loaded down with the family with one lap holding a covered dish.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">What does one do with 100 miles of open road and no sugar cookies? One contemplates. What does one contemplate? Well, I contemplate binge watching streamed TV shows. I must admit that I know very little about the topic. I have no time to binge watch. I can’t even find the time to write this blog let alone watch 100 hours of a same show all in a row. So as you can guess, I do not hold up my end of the conversation around the work water cooler. I try to explain that I don’t feel like I have the time to watch that much TV. I mean. I am 55 years old. I have 5 or 6 hobbies. If I don’t stay focused, I will have several half finished projects that my children will have to sell or burn even if I live to 150 years old. No I don’t have time to binge watch.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The lovely Miss Beverly does have a few guilty TV pleasures. The show du jour is the Walking Dead. I would explain but you know what it is. If you don’t, go stand by the water cooler at work for a few days. I do not like it. I think that I made it through one episode. That was just enough to seed my contemplation for 100 miles. I tried to tell myself that I do not like it because I am too good to enjoy a dystopian tale. But who am I kidding. I am right there for Mad Max, Zombieland (although I still think that killing Bill Murray is one of the most disturbing scenes in movie history) and the Terminator. Even my religion of choice follows an apocalyptic prophet who was sure that the end times were near. Following his lead, the movers and shakers of the cause produced four or five rapture videos to scare me out of the necking row at church camp through the pearly gates. No I am comfortable with the apocalypse. But I am very uncomfortable with The Walking Dead.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">That paragraph took about 50 miles to suss out. Why don’t I like The Walking Dead? It hit me a few days later as the family was gathering together for my son Ben’s wedding. The lovely Miss Beverly isn’t the only one in our family who likes The Walking Dead. J.D., our foster kiddo is a big fan, Grace, our daughter, doesn’t like it but is addicted. With this much commonality, we had a lot to talk about. I had decided that if I were in a zombie infested apocalypse that I would want a samurai sword; light weight and long enough that you can sever that brain stem with little muss or fuss. You never have to reload it and you don’t have to worry about foraging for more ammo. I don’t think you can underestimate the length of the sword as a definite advantage. How many extras have been accidentally bitten doing their killing up close and personal? No, it is much better to keep those teeth far away. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">This brings up another question. What is the infection vector for zombie virus? You can take a bath in zombie guts without getting all glassy eyed and stiff legged but a nip on the leg and you are zombie man walking. I do not get it.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Anyhow, it was during this scintillating conversation that I figured it out. I figured out why I do not like The Walking Dead. It should be easy for these people to identify the most pressing problem of the day. The world is full of dead men walking who want to make you dead men walking. They need to be killed or is that rekilled. That is the bad news. The good news is they have almost no skills. They cannot run, jump, climb, or throw. While they have opposable thumbs they don’t appear to be able to grasp a tool to utilize to their advantage. They just shamble along hoping that a human falls over in front of them so that they can rip out the bloody parts. As a foe, they are pretty underwhelming. The only thing that they have going for them is their vast superiority in numbers. You can’t walk anywhere without some stiff legged jerk wandering up on your picnic trying to rip your throat out.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Why aren’t these people trying to kill all of the zombies? That is the crux of why I don’t like The Walking Dead. No one is focused on the real problem. Kill all of the zombies. Have we lost our industrial know how to the extent that we can’t kill zombies on a vast scale? Have we lost that can do attitude that got us to the moon, won world war 2 or found a way to fill and tie off 50 water balloons in about 30 seconds. For those trying to decide on which camp to join in the upcoming zombie infestation, I have a few ideas that you may want to use to make yourself useful.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">If I found myself in a zombie dystopia, I would go to Kings Island. Those queues would be perfect. Drape the area off on three sides and set up a combine at the exit with a strobe light at the throat of the header. Turn on the lights and fire up the combine. Keep the head up about shoulder high and watch them walk into the combine. It would be just like a dandelion flower popping fest on steroids. “Mamma had a baby and its head . . .” The lovely miss Beverly is concerned that the zombies would gum up the inside of the combine. It is a fair concern. That many zombie guts would mess up your bearings and axles in a hurry. As an alternative, I suggest using a detasseler. No a detasseler has nothing to do with messing up a shriner’s parade. A detasseler is a machine with spinning blades about head height. They are used to remove the tassel, the male part of the corn, when trying to hybridize corn seed. Sure there would be a few of the vertically challenged who got through but for that there is the samurai sword. What happens when the pile of zombies is so high that alive zombies can’t get through? Easy, just put up a sign that says this ride temporarily closed for maintenance. Move your light and machine to a different ride and start up. While all of the zombies wonder off over there, get your bulldozer in there and clean up the mess and reset your trap. If you weren’t tied to the mid-west, you could go to central Florida and then have the advantage of directing the zombies by an app that told them what rides lines were the shortest.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">So what does an urban dweller do with little access to high end farm implements. Don’t fear. You have come to the right blog solution. It is a bit of an indirect route to the brain stem but it will work also. Go to any ramp on the interstate system in your town, get a truck load of bottles and glass, break them from edge to edge the length of the bridge or ramp and put a strobe light in the middle. The zombies will proceed to grind themselves down until they reach their brain stems and then poof their little brain stemless skulls will be sitting in the middle waiting for you to clean up the mess with your bulldozer.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">You also have plenty of sky scrapers in the big city. Simply lure them up the stairwell and set a strobe light a little over the edge. They will wonder right up there and topple over. You could probably get two birds with one stone by placing the “exit” directly above the entrance to the building. Just think how gratifying it will be when a 300 lbs zombie splats five skinny zombies down on the ground. I do think that I would direct the “exit” away from the entrance. You don’t want to block the entrance before you used up all of your terminal velocity.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">And once you have the zombie threat eliminated? Well you would have more free time to stay inside and watch The Game of Thrones.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take care.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.1px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger</span></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356304628992128008.post-38734094901995622102017-06-18T16:16:00.003-07:002017-06-18T16:16:18.520-07:00Finding a Good Book<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Blog Reader </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12.7px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I hope that this finds you doing well. I am fine. I know that I have not posted for a while. That is not the same as I have not written for a while. Around Easter, I started a blog about a complicated subject. I worked it and reworked it and in the end it was not publishable. The work was not a total loss. I got it written about. When a topic climbs into the idea hopper, it has to be the next topic written about. There is no cutting in line. I noodle it around until it is completed. It is one of my basic coping skills to keep me sane. And it works for me. So now I am just like Prince (the purple one). I have a vault of unpublished work to be released posthumously. All the better to increase the value of my estate, and give my children something to fight about at a future date.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12.7px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">There is a paragraph from that other blog that I wanted to share. On Easter morning 2017, I believe that I saw a first in my 54 years. We were getting around, putting on our Easter suits. I had rifled through the easter baskets and traded (swapped) all of the licorice jelly beans for any other kind in the lovely Miss Beverly's basket. Then, I witnessed my very first rainbow to the west. We seldom have the edge of rain move in with the sun low enough in the sky to the east to project the light spectrum someplace over Carmel. I suppose Jim Brainard figured out a way to spend enough money to get it done. It is a bit ironic that Jim, the Carmel mayor, would have "brain" in his name. (A little local humor. I apologize to all of my French fans for the lack of shared context. But there are some central Indiana folks who just blew cereal milk out their nose.)</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12.7px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Rainbows are a bit sneaky like that. They are one of nature's phenomena that help convince us that we are the center of the universe. When I said that the rainbow was somewhere to the West, I meant that it was west of me. I am the pivot point. All of the hundreds of eastern rainbow were simply east of me. For rainbows, I am the center of the universe and all rainbows get their relative positioning base on my center of the universe perspective. Is it any wonder that I never find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? I am simply chasing something conjured up with me as the pivot point for the entire universe. While being the center of the universe is an easy place for my mind to visit, it usually means that the rest of me is rarely doing something that is conducive to actually earning a pot of gold.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12.7px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I mentioned that I had worked on a blog for several weeks without a successful completion. During this time, another idea was crawling into the hopper. The idea of recommending a book that I was reading to all of my readers in the You Said What Roger? Fan base. I suppose that from the center of the universe I was sure that Amazon would suddenly have a run on this book and not have the cash flow to buy Whole Foods. There is a lot of pressure at the center of the universe. So I am not going to give you the low down on this great little book that I have not only read once but have read multiple times and I simply love.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12.7px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">No, I don’t think that I am going to send hordes of reading barbarians to the storehouses of Amazon. I am reticent because reading a book and finding it incredibly enjoyable is a very personal activity. That is something that the lovely Miss Beverly and I had to learn in our marriage. I would recommend a book and she would barely get through one chapter before setting it aside never releasing the spine glue from the death grip it had on the unturned pages. She would recommend a book to me and it too would go unread. Finally we learned that sharing books is not the same as sharing a life. We do find books that we both like. We even find some that we both like with a great passion. However, mostly I go to the murder aisle and she plumbs the wells of authors who beautifully describe the mysteries of life.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12.7px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Ten years ago, I stopped organic farming and took a normal job that paid me for my labors every two weeks and provided the opportunity to pursue hobbies like writing a blog. It is a normal job. However the commute was not normal. For 10 years, I have spent two hours a day driving back and forth to work. Books are the only thing that have made this daily trip bearable. Ten hours of listening a week for ten years has made it not only bearable but enjoyable also. Ten hours a week for ten years is a lot of books. Plus, bike riding hours have had stories whispered in my ears through blue tooth also. So I have had the opportunity to listen to lots of books. Mr. Carnegie through his foresight and philanthropy and the ability to compartmentalize his life between union busting and establishing libraries, has provided me with the opportunity to listen to an nearly unlimited supply listening materials.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12.7px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Some people would say that I have not been reading books for the past 10 years. I have been listening to books for 10 years. You will get no argument from me. I listen to the credits at the end of a book and from time to time the publisher thanks me for being a audiobook reader. Equating listening and reading is playing fast and loose with language. (Yes, I do see the irony.) I don’t mind admitting that reading takes much more concentration and focus than listening. I can listen to all of my mystery novels and describe the plot faithfully at the end. I cannot read a non-fiction book. My mind wanders and I get through a paragraph and think that was important but I did not catch it. I could never teach myself brain surgery by listening to books on tape. I am sure that would get the pre-frontal cortex confused with the brain stem. It seems to me that you don’t want any parts left over when reassembling a brain.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12.7px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Yes, you readers are superior to us listeners. However, there is one little trick that I as a listener can do that a reader can’t. I can relisten to a book and have memories of the physical space that I was in when I listened the first time. I have three or four authors who have created a story or a character that speaks to me so strongly that I listen to it a second time (maybe one or two authors that I would listen to the third time.) I was doing a revisit this past weekend and I was able to relive five days of bike riding from last year’s summer vacation. It was a week of riding through the back roads of norther Indiana. So, as John pulled his gun to clear the room, I was mowing the yard and turning left down a small hill on a tree lined road. I stopped pedaling and coasting along took a drink from my backpack. That is when listening to a book brings me intense joy and a mental juxtaposition that has never happened to me when reading.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12.7px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">So who are those three or four authors? I made a mistake of answering the favorite question a long time ago. The interviewer wanted to know what my favorite book was. I blurted out The Great Gatsby. It wasn’t my favorite book. It was the most recent book that I had read for a college class. So I was able to stand up to her withering cross examination. I was able to remember the meaning of the stupid red light off the end of the pier. I answered her questions but I don’t think that I convinced her that it was my favorite book. It was a passionless discourse on the technical points of a book filled with characters that had no connection to my life. It was a good review for the test I was to have the next week but it conveyed no passion that would translate into a job.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12.7px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The favorite books that I would share with you are all ones that are favorite for very familial reasons. The lovely Miss Beverly and I believed Barbara Bush when she told us to read to our children. So we read. We read the Lorax, Good Night Moon. We read the Trilogy of the Rings while Ben and Grace were very young. I have no idea what we were thinking. Grace recently shared that she had never read the trilogy and can’t remember a single plot line from the books. It all ended someplace in the middle of Harry Potter. These are all fine books and we spent hours together reading and listening. Yet the time together was better than the books themselves. Although, I still wonder how Tolkien kept us following the band of rescuers following the orcs that had captured Peregrine and Meridoc mile after mile across that stupid plain. I still wonder how I got across without skipping a few thousand pages.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12.7px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">My favorite book? The greatest of all time? I decline to answer. I think that “favorite book” has more to do with the frequency of your internal tuning fork. The things that make you tick. I have had books that make me cry. I love books that describe courage in dire testing. In fact if you are driving through southern Madison County at 5:00 a.m and I am listening to one of those tests on a bike ride you will hear me sobbing and gasping for breath. I also enjoy listening about people who enjoy themselves and who they are becoming. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12.7px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">The author who wrote the book that I was listening to for the second time last week, wrote in his foreword “The book, in time, found its people.”</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12.7px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">So get out there. Expose yourself to books that are looking for their people. See which ones vibrate your inner tuning fork. When you find the ones that cause you to sob at 5:00 a.m on a dark country road, you know that you have a candidate. But for goodness sakes, don’t go telling everybody. You don’t want to spoil the finding for everyone else.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12.7px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Take care </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12.7px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Roger</span></div>
Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12423147020877879447noreply@blogger.com0