Six Words

Today's Saying

If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind, give it more thought. ~Dennis Roth

My scooter needs a good charge

Chief Ican is holding on to Eugene while he sobers up. Eugene is not very happy about the entire incident and has reached the I’m going to sue you level of sobriety. So Chief Ican reminds him that he wouldn’t be in this mess if the town hadn’t insulted the old Gypsy fellow and his daughter . ( The idea being that if you tell a lie often enough and in enough forms it will be believed. Ask any politician)
But this is Saturday and while we wait everybody in town is looking at the 1890 Sears catalogue that the train dropped off bundles of yesterday. They can’t believe what it contains and the prices.
There is a Singer Model 12 New Family treadle sewing machine for $9.00 and other fancy sdewing machines, all tredle of course, costing between fifteen and twenty dollars. It’s like a different world.
There is a beautiful , ornate pump organ for just $9.89. The one at Last Lutheran in this age looks just like it. It also had all the parts you needed to fix the organ if it broke.
The catalogue has the first of the Sears Model Homes. It was a two story, no porch, for $762. The kit came with everything cut and fitted and with full instructions. An outhouse kit was extra.
It had saddles, wagons and carriages and all kinds of horse harnesses.
There were four pages of general medicines, two page of homeopathic medicines, and one page of patent medicines. They could cure everything.
There were seven pages of tea kettles. People in those days must have loved their tea. You could get tea kettles in iron, nickel , copper, and porcelain, in an entire variety of shapes.
The catalogue was the best thing they had in this era.*

* Please note all these item were found in Sears catalogues between 1890-1899 but not necessarily in the 1890 catalogue.

Friday Fourteen

Today's Saying

I have my own little world, but it's okay - they know me here. ~Author Unknown

Click HERE to get to my 55s

What you are about to read leans on the truth and bends it ever so little . But in the process every Friday you will catch a glimpse of me.And I save the cost of a psychiatrist.

1. Everyday I get two new entries in the Publisher’s Clearing House Contest but I won’t win ( stems from having no luck at all.)
2. The catalogues we are getting in our snail mail are beginning to out number those in E-mail ( Stems from being closer to Christmas)
3. There are piles of catalogues everywhere .( Stems from Betty’s fear that the perfect Christmas gift will be in the one we throw away)
4. Switched from Diet Coke to Diet Pepsi as my morning drink ( Stems from Diet Pepsi being on sale and we bought lots)
5. I now have five free magazines coming . ( Stems from inability to turn down something free. I don’t even like “ Wired”)
6. Every Sunday it takes three hours to upgrade the Church website . ( Stems from all the really stupid mistakes I make It should take an hour at most)
7. My long lost relatives in Kenya seem to have stopped dying and leaving me millions. ( Stems from their working on some new scam)
8. If I had won one real lottery for every ten scam lotteries I’ve “ Won” I would be so rich. ( Stems from scammers really liking me . What else could it be?)
9. Betty & I have one Christmas gift wrapped and mailed. ( Stems from its needing to be opened now so it can flower by Christmas)
10. Bought two Christmas Cactus plants from Publisher’s Clearing House that were supposed to be blooming by Christmas. There is no way they will. ( Stems from total gullibility)
11. I am doing most of my Christmas shopping for Betty on the internet and am almost done. ( Stems from inability to go anywhere without her driving.)
12. Am enjoying the new season of NCIS but still don’t care for NCIS Las Angeles. ( Stems from some spin offs just don’t have it)
13. Some places sure do charge a lot for the handling end of “plus postage and handling” ( Stems from old fashioned American greed)
14. Finally I am back to selling on E-bay. ( Stems from overcoming advanced procrastination.)




After much thought and discussion , after some screaming and head shaking, after being hit by the realization this is their one chance the group finally agreed on a story for Eugene to tell the old lady.
“It seems that in 2009 , back where the town used to be the daughter of an old Gypsy man fell in love with a man from Pigeon Falls. They dated and lived together for awhile and then he dumped her.
This angered her father who said that the honor of all Gypsies was tarnished by his action. He demanded that the man pay retribution and apologize to the tribe. He refused and some of his friends told the old Gypsy to bug off. They said it was all a scam to extract money from them.
At this the Old Gypsy announced that his personal honor was now at stake. He demanded an apology from the man’s tribe, the town, and a monetary retribution. The town council met and refused to comply with his wishes. In fact somebody on the council called him a scam artist to his face.
In anger he pronounced this curse:
Nothing seemed to happen.
But the next morning here was the entire town in 1890.
Now we really need help to lift the curse.
The people involved are repentant and willing to apologize to the Old Gypsy.
The town is willing to pay the price to restore his honor.
But to get back to 2009 we need help.
We need somebody to lift the curse.
Can you do it?”
Now all they have to do is sober up Eugene and plant the story in his head. Then guide him to the old lady/ Gypsy’s house.
While he sobers up they are going to keep telling each other the story close enough for him to hear.

A Favorite Blog -Thom

Today's Saying

You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted. ~Ruth E. Renkl



It is time to share with you another of my favorite blogs.
This is the thirteenth Thursday that I have done this so I needed to pick out a blogger to receive this dubious honor who laughs in the face of superstition. A person who is not bothered by black cats or ladders . So being the thirteenth on a Thursday will not bother him.
Thom's Place 4 Well Whatever

I almost didn't feature this blog because he has so many readers already that is highly likely that everybody that comes here goes there. But this being my thirteenth blog on favorites he seemed to be the best candidate.
His blog is different.
He remembers and celebrates all kinds of birthdays and events from other blogs.
He destroys memes with answers the meme creator never expected.
He gives out internet awards by the pail full.
He partipates in Raven's Challenge, Quilly's three words, Friday 55, and Portrait of Words. He provides the pictures for Portrait of Words every other time. In addition he enters into anything that comes along that strikes his fancy.
He shares family stories and pictures.
He drives a bus.
And I'm not sure I've even scratched the surface.
If you haven't visited him please do.

The group stared at Herman, stunned into silence as he had just given them the name of Eugene Lepisto as the one who could go to the old woman/witch and save them.
Finally Eino breaks the silence. “Eugene is one of the worst drunks in town. He goes on binges that last three and four days during which time he isn’t sober at all. He opens the Fly Inn in the morning and closes it at night. In the in between time he has his own bottle. I doubt that he is smart enough to lie to anybody, yet alone a witch.”
Herman , almost laughing, says “ That’s the beauty of it he won’t have to lie. In fact he won’t lie. He will tell her the truth. There will be no duplicity. There will be no performance.”
Eino glaring at Herman says “ You told me the truth would keep us here forever. Why would we want him to tell her the truth. Are you crazy?”
Herman laughing,” Your truth will keep us here. His truth will set us free and back home. You see Eino truth is what you believe it to be. If I really believe this town was brought here by a flying saucer. Then that would be my true story. If I really believed that I could take and pass a polygraph test in which that was one of the questions. Personal truth does not have to correspond to the physical world or real truth.”
Eino, now looking confused, “How is Eugene’s truth different from ours?”
Herman responded “ Eugene is a blank slate. We sober him up and we tell him any story we want of how we got here. He will believe it because he trusts us. He doesn’t know the other story because he was drunk during all of this. He is a blank slate. Further we tell him that we are running out of whiskey and only if we get back to 2009 will there be any. Then we explain that he needs to go to this nice old lady and tell her the story and our needs. We need to convince him that he is the only one that can do it without telling him why. Chief Ican needs to lock him up now as a public nuisance and keep him locked up until he is cold sober. While that is happening we need to develop a story to tell him.”
The first winner of yesterday's contest is the 1 st comment. That's what the random generator says.
And the 1 st comment was by :

Quilly
Now I need her book choice and address sent to me at
jlinna@new.rr.com
The second winner in yesterday's contest who gets to choose from the remaining four books is the 2 nd comment.
And the 2 nd comment was by
Boots
Now I need her book choice and address sent to me at
jlinna@new.rr.com
( Please send first and second choice and I will send the one Quilly doesn't choose.)
Congratulations to the winners.

I want to thank all those who took part in the contests. I will do this again sometime next year.

I did check the random generator and the next number generated was not three. Random numbers are random numbers and you never know what it will give you. But a 2 is just as random as all the others.

The last books

Today's Saying

The oldest books are still only just out to those who have not read them. ~Samuel Butler

My book shelf is full and I've ordered seven new books. So I am going to try to give some away.
.Last week I gave away two. I have added two more to the list. Here are today's five books.

Your choice then of these five( If you win):

Cross Country-By James Patterson

A Patterson style thriller




A is for Alibi- Sue Grafton

A Suspense Novel

.

A Lion Among Men- Gregory Maguire

Another "Let's wreck Oz" book

A Cedar Cove Christmas- Debbie Macomber

A Good Christmas Story




The Spy Who Came for Christmas- David Morrell

An edge of your seat thriller.

To win one of these books , your choice, all you have to do is leave a comment and be lucky.
Tomorrow I will enter the numbers 1 through the total number of comments in a random number generator. The number it generates wins. ( No slips and no bucket)
Then I will run the generator again and that person gets the pick of the remaining four books.
This is the last book give away for this year. I will have enough bookshelf space for a while.

So leave a comment and the best of luck.

But she must not know it is her’s.
Or lost forever they will be

Everybody in the room looked at Herman all wondering who could lie so well the old lady/witch wouldn’t be able to catch it.
Pastor Joan said “ Tommy UK”? He could use his power to keep her from knowing he isn’t being truthful.
Tommy then remarked “ I’m not sure I can use my power that way.”
Herman smiled and said “ Sending Tommy would be risky. Sending who I have in mind contains almost no risk.
Mrs. Trumble then asked , “ Nancy? She spins a great story down at the coffee shop. She has tourists all but eating out of her hand.”
Herman smiled again and said “ The old woman/gypsy is not some dumb tourist. She can will see through any attempt by Nancy to snow her.. No the person I have in mind will do better than that.”
Chief Ican then had to ask “ Wink? From Wink’s Woods. Look at the junk he sells to the unsuspecting tourist . If anybody can spin a story he can.”
Again Herman smiled “ Even Wink couldn’t fool a Witch with all her magic powers” No the person I have in mind will do much better.
Then Eino, by this time exasperated said “ Enough already. Why don’t we just tell her the truth and ignore the stupid driblet. That would be the rational thing to do”
Herman said “Eino the last time we did the ‘rational’ thing ignoring the driblet we got into this mess. The rational thing now would keep us here forever.”
“Enough is enough! ‘ said Mrs. Trumble, almost shouting. ”Tell us who can do the job”
Herman responded “ Eugene Lepisto”
“But” Eino said “he is nothing but a drunk. I can’t remember when he was sober last”.
Smiling Herman said “ Exactly”

Cooking for Old People

Today's Saying

You can say this for ready-mixes - the next generation isn't going to have any trouble making pies exactly like mother used to make. ~Earl Wilson

Cooking for & by old People
EggMcLinna

We begin a new series today that I will run from time to time.
The idea is to give you a way to cook a quick meal with a minimum of dishes to wash .
Today you start with a muffin . Cut it in half, toast it and butter it. Put it on a paper plate.
Then take a small bowl the size of the muffin and spray it with Pam.
Now break in one egg and stir it up.
Microwave for one minute
Then add cheese.
Then Canadian Bacon
Then microwave for 30 seconds on high. Place on muffin and add ketchup jam or whatever.
Put the two pieces together your ready to eat.
Spray the bowl again and your ready for another one.
Only dishes are the bowl and the knife and fork.
You can find paper bowls that work almost as well.

Find then the giver of the curse.

She alone can restore the balance.

This morning Chief Ican reported to the committee on his investigation. He had gone up the mountain and found a cabin that looked just like the cabin of the old witch/gypsy, He had watched and the occupant came out and she either was the gypsy or a twin.
Apparently she didn’t age. But she is what the driblet called for
Find then the giver of the curse
We can assume that she hasn’t traveled to the future. So she doesn’t know about her being the one who put the curse.
We have to keep her from knowing and get her help or the driblet says we will be stuck here.

But she must not know it is her’s.
Or lost forever they will be

We have to send somebody to her that can spin a good story and not get caught lying. Then we have to hope she doesn’t put some kind of truth spell on that person.
Somebody said “ I nominate Mrs. Trumble. She’s a politician and they spin stories with ease and sometimes I think they believe their own lies.
Everybody laughed.
Herman then joined in “ But that does give me an idea. I know who to send.”
.
.

Health Care

Today's Saying

As a people, we have become obsessed with Health. There is something fundamentally, radically unhealthy about all this. We do not seem to be seeking more exuberance in living as much as staving off failure, putting off dying. We have lost all confidence in the human body. ~Lewis Thomas

The health care debate goes on and on.
Conservatives scream at liberals . Liberals scream at conservatives.
One phrase that is thrown around is “ The spiraling costs of health care “
We have to control them.
Why have health care costs spiraled?

When my daughter Pennie was born the total hospital bill for Betty’s two day stay in the hospital was $100.
The Doctor charged $25 for the delivery.
If Pennie had been born today. Betty would have stayed only one day in the hospital and the hospital cost would have been over a $1000.
The obstetrician would have charged a $1000.
Various other specialties would add their own costs separate from the hospital.

What caused this spiral ?
Well my daughter was born in a friendly local hospital. It had a little maternity section.
It grossly underpaid its staff from nurses to cooks.
It had none of the fancy equipment that hospitals need today.
The cost of liability insurance was not very high.
As the staff slowly received better compensation the cost of running the hospital went up.
Law suits across the country ran up the cost of liability insurance on the maternity section.
They closed it.
Now you had to go to a more expensive, better equipped for all emergencies, hospital.
Up went the cost of having a baby.
The local hospital did a lot of tonsil removal.
Law suits through the liability for that out of reach.
They stopped doing tonsils.
They tried to survive but the government said it was not practical and gave aid to the bigger hospital down the road.
The little hospital closed.
People had to drive fifteen miles to the more expensive better equipped hospital.
Costs spiraled.
The Doctor that delivered Pennie discovered that if he continued to deliver babies he needed very expensive liability insurance. He quit.
Now one had to go to a specialist.
Costs spiraled upward.
The same Doctor quit doing tonsils for the same reason.
Now one had to go to the regional medical center ninety miles away to have tonsils removed.
You needed a specialist.
Costs spiraled.
Could the health care legislation help control those costs?
Do you want to pay the staff less?
Do you want the local Doctor back doing tonsils?
Do you want the local Doctor delivering babies?
Do you want to cap medical lawsuits and push the cost of liability insurance down?
Do you want to stop the introduction of new diagnostic machines that save lives? Every machine adds to the costs.
What kind of medicine do you want?

(That which was now is not.

That which never was is now.)

Nancy has adjusted to the new situation. Her coffee is now five cents a cup and her saffron buns ten cents each.. Her coffee and saffron are coming from Marquette at much much lower prices than she paid in 2009. People keep stopping in an expressing their hopes and their fears. Einar Jupola, no relative of Eino, said they should steal an engine, put on one of them things like they had in the movie “Back to the Future”, attach some passenger cars and take everybody home. Never mind the driblet. Nancy had to explain that they didn’t have one of those things to put on the engine. Further nobody knew how to make one since the one in the movie wasn’t real. Poor Einar he was so disappointed. Haden Larson, Elliot Larson’s little boy tripped while running on the wooden sidewalk because of a loose board. He broke his leg. Old Doc Simpson was out delivering a baby and there is no hospital anywhere near at this time so the Nurse Practitioner set the leg as best she could and put it in a cast. She had his father take him home. If they get back to the year 2009 it may need to be rebroken and set properly. Tommy UK has been trying to find some way to use his power to get back. He has tried the trick he learned of bringing up an image in his mind and then thinking himself instantly there. But despite his having a number of future images it has not worked. He has come to the conclusion that time is a barrier his power can’t cross.. In the committee brain storming the driblet has failed to come up with any workable ideas. One other problem is that Chief Ican is missing. He said he was going to check out a hunch and hasn’t been seen or heard since. Some of the group are getting worried.

Today's Saying

Almost all of us long for peace and freedom; but very few of us have much enthusiasm for the thoughts, feelings, and actions that make for peace and freedom. ~Aldous Huxley

Today in many Liturgical Churches is celebrated as the twenty third Sunday after Pentecost. It is almost the end of the Church year. Soon we will begin Advent.
The Gospel for today is Mark 12:38-44.
The people who put together the lectionary wanted us to take one last look at a problem that plagues both the Old and New People of God. This is the problem of words versus actions or hypocrisy.
Jesus says to his disciples “ Beware the Scribes.”
Now the Scribes were important people in this time. They were the interpreters of the law. The law which started out as ten commandments had grown to thousands of rules touching every aspect of life.It was the task of the Scribe to help people live by these rules. They felt important and dressed the part. They wore special long robes, they expected the best seat at banquets and in the Synagogue . They made long formal prayers.
But Jesus says of them “ they devour widows’ houses”.
They used the law to take from the poor what little they had and gave it to the rich. They ignored the prophets call to care for the poor. In fact they ignored all of the Old Testament call to care for widow, orphans, and the poor in general.
The other day I saw a banker on television he was decrying the fact that he had to foreclose on a poor widow. He said “ Why doesn’t the government do something?”
The announcer asked, “ Why don’t you do something?. You have three houses why not sell one of them and make her payments?
He replied “ That’s not my responsibility”.
The Scribes are still with us.
I try hard not to be one of them.

Today Pastor Joan will preach from the pulpit that towers over the congregation. She has decided not to preach on the Gospel for the day. Here is part of her sermon:
In First tomothy Chapter Two we read these words”
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”- 1 Timothy 2:1-Since we arrived in our present time we have made requests, prayers and intercessions to God. I suspect that every one of you has asked God to get us out of her. And it was right to make those prayers.
What we haven’t done is give thanks. So this morning I thought I would help us to see the things we can be thankful for.
Lets starts with the Driblet. Because of the Driblet we have hope and hope is important. The Driblet came from a Monk many centuries ago. I have to believe that Gpd influenced the visions of that Monk so it would be there when we needed it.
Thank you God for Driblets.
We have the opportunity to experience how our ancestors lived.We are learning that life was not as wonderful as we thought it was. We miss indoor plumbing.
Thank you God for this experience.
Not a single person has died so far which is a miracle in itself.
Thank you God for protecting us.
I could go on. But instead I want you to think of things you are thankful for.