My son Andy, blogged he was surprised most Americans have never heard of Chongquin, China which is a very populous city. He is staying in Beibei which is about an hour away from it. I checked on Wikipedia and it states the metro area population is 31,000,000. Not an insignificant place. It was the wartime capital of China in WW2. My ignorance shows. When I first heard of it when Andy told me where he was going. My only association with the name was the Geno Palucci chow mein brand food of years ago. Do they still make that? Do you suppose there are Chinese people who have never heard of New York City? I think that is smaller than Chongquin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongqing
Monday, June 4, 2007
Cow Tipping
I amused a friend of ours from New York a few years ago by telling him about "Cow Tipping". I have never seen or participated in this activity and think it is an urban legend. Google it and see what you get. A little later, his wife and he had dinner at The Machine Shed restaurant and saw a tee shirt with "County Cow Tipping Team" printed on it and bought it for me. I haven't found a team to join but I have the shirt if I do. It is a real conversation starter when I wear it. Now, when I saw this sign I began to wonder if someone isn't doing that somewhere. That or they have depressed or distracted cows. Imagine explaining to your insurance agent why you have the big dent in the top of your car.
Wonder Woman I Am Not
I have had a foreboding it would come to this. A TV "system" I could not understand and barely turn on.
Today Jon insisted I sit down and learn how to operate his new system. He has replaced all the components. He will not be reinstalling the VCR tape player/recorder. Ever.
There are five remote controls to operate the HD-DVD player, HD up-converter (?), surround system, TV, and I can't remember what the function of the fifth remote control is. Jon wanted to quickly run over how it works over my vocal objections that I MUST write down step by step what he says. "No, it's not that hard", he said. "Let me just show you quickly". I glazed over after the first minute. He refuses to put the VCR player upstairs condemning me to using the downstairs set-up if he installs it there. No, I am not bitter. I am trying to be a good Christian. I am pissed, though. Guys! If he gets hit by a car I will call my kids and say, "take what you want but put back the old stuff!" I counted the buttons (54) on just one of those remotes. There must be 200 or more buttons total on all of them. I think I am like my mom who was lost past "ON" and "Off". We have a 6th remote on the coffee table that operates the new fan on a stand he bought. Really. We do.
All of this mad venting reminded me of my Aunt Elaine who was not known for speaking kindly of her husband. As a kid I remember her grumbling about him. I am including a page from the book I wrote last summer that includes my memories of her and some of my aunts and uncles.
Tomorrow I will plan to repent.
UNCLE IN-LAWS
We were richer for having a large extended family on my mom’s side. It is unfortunate we did not have the same relationship with my dad’s family. We saw them infrequently. Grandpa Carl died before we were born and Grandma Carrie died when I was in first grade. These are some memories I have of mom’s family:
Uncle Ervin was a WW2 vet with a big, booming deep voice and a tattoo of Marcella on his bicep. I was a little intimidated by him. When he drank he would get aggressive with Aunt Marc but he was a friendly, sociable guy the rest of the time. They lived in a house on what used to be the edge of Somerset, about a two block walk from grandpa’s. I remember riding in the backseat of Uncle Erv’s ’56 Chevy station wagon when he went 100 MPH over bumps. The car was full of unrestrained kids. Seatbelts and airbags didn’t exist. Now the irony is, years later it was Uncle Erv who told my brother in-law Mike, “You drive like a teenager” when Mike pulled away from the curb a little fast. He said it with a smile on his face. Uncle Ervin was less intimidating to me after he joined AA and quit drinking. He spent the rest of his life a caring husband and family man.
I thought Uncle Earl was the “black sheep” of the family when I was young. Actually he was more like the missing sheep. He never came to family functions. We saw him if we went to his house but not at any other gatherings. Aunt Elaine was a feisty one and would complain about him in front of us. She once said, “I can’t wait until he dies, I am going to pound big nails all over these walls and hang whatever I want.” They lived in his boyhood home and apparently had some decorating issues. Anyway, we didn’t see much of Earl but got a negative report about him from Aunt El. Earl and my dad were friends in their bachelor days. When dad died we held his memorial service in Stillwater and a teary-eyed Uncle Earl came. He even stayed and ate with the whole family afterwards. A few years later Uncle Earl died. We went to the funeral at St. Anne’s and sat next to people we did not know at the lunch that followed. They were telling wonderful stories about him and saying how they would miss this thoughtful man. Jon and I looked at each other wondering if we were at the right funeral. I visited Aunt Elaine after Earl died and she was still mad at him. Now she was mad at him for dying first and leaving her alone. Maybe the lessons here are to always hear both sides of the story and also to appreciate your man.
My Uncle Don was the “lost sheep” in the family. Aunt Lu was one of three sisters who married on successive Saturdays in June 1941. Mom and Dad were in that bunch. Don Stoner was not great marriage material and left her about a year later when she was pregnant with Jeff. He just vanished. They would find out later he had some problems with the law. She lived her life a Catholic single mom, unable to remarry. In the late1980’s when many were granted annulments from the church, she decided to pursue dissolution. The priest asked to see the divorce decree. She told him she didn’t have one. She had never divorced him. He did some investigating and found out Don had not divorced her either and he was dead. As his long time wife, she was eligible for his pension! One time when a group of us went out to lunch with Aunt Lu, she reached for the check and said, “It’s on your Uncle Don”. I guess justice was served
Today Jon insisted I sit down and learn how to operate his new system. He has replaced all the components. He will not be reinstalling the VCR tape player/recorder. Ever.
There are five remote controls to operate the HD-DVD player, HD up-converter (?), surround system, TV, and I can't remember what the function of the fifth remote control is. Jon wanted to quickly run over how it works over my vocal objections that I MUST write down step by step what he says. "No, it's not that hard", he said. "Let me just show you quickly". I glazed over after the first minute. He refuses to put the VCR player upstairs condemning me to using the downstairs set-up if he installs it there. No, I am not bitter. I am trying to be a good Christian. I am pissed, though. Guys! If he gets hit by a car I will call my kids and say, "take what you want but put back the old stuff!" I counted the buttons (54) on just one of those remotes. There must be 200 or more buttons total on all of them. I think I am like my mom who was lost past "ON" and "Off". We have a 6th remote on the coffee table that operates the new fan on a stand he bought. Really. We do.
All of this mad venting reminded me of my Aunt Elaine who was not known for speaking kindly of her husband. As a kid I remember her grumbling about him. I am including a page from the book I wrote last summer that includes my memories of her and some of my aunts and uncles.
Tomorrow I will plan to repent.
UNCLE IN-LAWS
We were richer for having a large extended family on my mom’s side. It is unfortunate we did not have the same relationship with my dad’s family. We saw them infrequently. Grandpa Carl died before we were born and Grandma Carrie died when I was in first grade. These are some memories I have of mom’s family:
Uncle Ervin was a WW2 vet with a big, booming deep voice and a tattoo of Marcella on his bicep. I was a little intimidated by him. When he drank he would get aggressive with Aunt Marc but he was a friendly, sociable guy the rest of the time. They lived in a house on what used to be the edge of Somerset, about a two block walk from grandpa’s. I remember riding in the backseat of Uncle Erv’s ’56 Chevy station wagon when he went 100 MPH over bumps. The car was full of unrestrained kids. Seatbelts and airbags didn’t exist. Now the irony is, years later it was Uncle Erv who told my brother in-law Mike, “You drive like a teenager” when Mike pulled away from the curb a little fast. He said it with a smile on his face. Uncle Ervin was less intimidating to me after he joined AA and quit drinking. He spent the rest of his life a caring husband and family man.
I thought Uncle Earl was the “black sheep” of the family when I was young. Actually he was more like the missing sheep. He never came to family functions. We saw him if we went to his house but not at any other gatherings. Aunt Elaine was a feisty one and would complain about him in front of us. She once said, “I can’t wait until he dies, I am going to pound big nails all over these walls and hang whatever I want.” They lived in his boyhood home and apparently had some decorating issues. Anyway, we didn’t see much of Earl but got a negative report about him from Aunt El. Earl and my dad were friends in their bachelor days. When dad died we held his memorial service in Stillwater and a teary-eyed Uncle Earl came. He even stayed and ate with the whole family afterwards. A few years later Uncle Earl died. We went to the funeral at St. Anne’s and sat next to people we did not know at the lunch that followed. They were telling wonderful stories about him and saying how they would miss this thoughtful man. Jon and I looked at each other wondering if we were at the right funeral. I visited Aunt Elaine after Earl died and she was still mad at him. Now she was mad at him for dying first and leaving her alone. Maybe the lessons here are to always hear both sides of the story and also to appreciate your man.
My Uncle Don was the “lost sheep” in the family. Aunt Lu was one of three sisters who married on successive Saturdays in June 1941. Mom and Dad were in that bunch. Don Stoner was not great marriage material and left her about a year later when she was pregnant with Jeff. He just vanished. They would find out later he had some problems with the law. She lived her life a Catholic single mom, unable to remarry. In the late1980’s when many were granted annulments from the church, she decided to pursue dissolution. The priest asked to see the divorce decree. She told him she didn’t have one. She had never divorced him. He did some investigating and found out Don had not divorced her either and he was dead. As his long time wife, she was eligible for his pension! One time when a group of us went out to lunch with Aunt Lu, she reached for the check and said, “It’s on your Uncle Don”. I guess justice was served
Sunday, June 3, 2007
End of An Era
A fixture on Main Street that has been in business 126 years is closing next month in my town. St. Croix Drugstore's owner is retiring at 80 and selling the building. The store stands on the corner in the heart of downtown Stillwater. It has served the community well and will be missed by the senior citizens who rely on having their prescriptions called in by the Dr. and delivered by the store.
One of the factors leading to the demise of this pharmacy is the number of people buying less expensive medicine on the internet. Many insurance carriers also designate where you can fill your prescriptions for a discount. The independent pharmacist is in trouble. The eighty year old owner said this was not the reason he is closing the store. He just wants to be able to travel and enjoy time with his family. Perhaps, but the resale of the business probably was did not tempt many to become an independent pharmacy.
When I was the night supervisor at our community hospital, I remember one night the pharmacist went into the store in the middle of the night to fill a prescription (for a child) that we could not locate. They took their turn providing limited hours on holidays like Christmas so patients could get medications for a new illness. When I was pregnant with my last child twenty-one years ago, I was sent to this pharmacy to order special support stockings. They were expensive and I pulled out my credit card rather than deplete our checking account. The pharmacist didn't want to put it on a credit card. He just told me to pay when I could. That doesn't happen at the big box stores.
http://www.stillwatergazette.com/articles/2007/06/01/news/news220.txt
One of the factors leading to the demise of this pharmacy is the number of people buying less expensive medicine on the internet. Many insurance carriers also designate where you can fill your prescriptions for a discount. The independent pharmacist is in trouble. The eighty year old owner said this was not the reason he is closing the store. He just wants to be able to travel and enjoy time with his family. Perhaps, but the resale of the business probably was did not tempt many to become an independent pharmacy.
When I was the night supervisor at our community hospital, I remember one night the pharmacist went into the store in the middle of the night to fill a prescription (for a child) that we could not locate. They took their turn providing limited hours on holidays like Christmas so patients could get medications for a new illness. When I was pregnant with my last child twenty-one years ago, I was sent to this pharmacy to order special support stockings. They were expensive and I pulled out my credit card rather than deplete our checking account. The pharmacist didn't want to put it on a credit card. He just told me to pay when I could. That doesn't happen at the big box stores.
http://www.stillwatergazette.com/articles/2007/06/01/news/news220.txt
License to Lie?
One of the laymen in our church preached this morning. He is a runner who will be in Grandma's Marathon in Duluth next weekend. He talked about "Running the race to win the prize". He encouraged us to focus on the Lord and live the life God has for us. He also talked about the things that entangle and encomber our race. He quoted several scriptures and noted the Seven Deadly Sins. Another quote spoke about God hating liars. I have finally achieved the weight that is on my driver's licence. I suppose it would not be good to have that changed to knock fifty pounds off that number. The picture of me has a pudgier face than I now have, I think. I dislike having it state the correct weight, but...God hates liars. Time to shape up and get glad I am finally telling the truth on that document.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Dad and The Duke
If my dad were still alive, he would be 100 on June 3rd. My father in-law and John Wayne were born the same year, 1907. These men saw amazing changes over their lifetime.
In 1907 we had never had a World War. Teddy Roosevelt was president and had sent the Great White Fleet around the world to impress other nations with the might of our Navy.
The Titanic was still in the blueprint stages. The first helicopter flew a few feet no doubt encouraged by the Wright brothers first flight in 1903. St. Paul celebrated with the inauguration of the new Cathedral.
In 1907 we had never had a World War. Teddy Roosevelt was president and had sent the Great White Fleet around the world to impress other nations with the might of our Navy.
The Titanic was still in the blueprint stages. The first helicopter flew a few feet no doubt encouraged by the Wright brothers first flight in 1903. St. Paul celebrated with the inauguration of the new Cathedral.
Most Americans lived on small farms. Travel was horse and buggy or railroad. Rural kids walked miles or took the horse to school. There were few cars and not many roads to drive on if you had a car. My father in- law loved to tell the story of his family traveling in the Galway truck from town to town playing as a family band. Much of the time they had to ask farmer’s if they could drive across the pasture. No roads connected every rural town.
The Boy Scouts were established in 1907. Cinema was in it’s infancy. The Ziegfield Follies opened on Broadway. Burlesque was big. There was no income tax. The population was 75,000,000 including 170,000 Native Americans. All those not of Native American heritage were immigrants or descendents of immigrants. My dad and father in-law spoke their parents native language before they learned English. My father in-law attended school where German was the spoken language until he was a teen. World War 1 changed that. Americans began to disassociate themselves from their Germanic roots.
Some times it is good to remember our roots when seeing the struggles of today’s legal immigrants in our country.
Some times it is good to remember our roots when seeing the struggles of today’s legal immigrants in our country.
My Secretary
It is not politically correct to refer to your assistant as your "secretary" anymore. They have better titles now, like "administrative assistant". I don't have one of those. I have an antique secretary. My secretary is not a wizened old woman. It is a hundred year old walnut spinet (secretary)desk that I just purchased at a neighborhood garage sale. It was love at first site. It took me two more trips back and feverishly looking where I might put that piece of furniture in our house. Finallly, after measuring, Jon and I went back and bought it. It has a glass inkwell and a top that folds over converting it to a table. It will go in our entryway. (The entryway is not big enough to be called a foyer. I hope it looks okay there.) Now I will have a great place to display my grandpa Carl's old Bible and my stereoptikin and cards. I should be able to find a quill pen for the inkwell. At $80.00 it was a steal.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)