Wednesday, November 22, 2006

some answers.

Saying for the day: Sometimes there is no answer to a question.


I keep seeing these blogs with personal questions that help us to get to know the person doing the blog so I wrote some questions for this blog.

1. Why did you call this blog Dr. John’s Fortress?

Because I am Dr. John. My last name is Linna.

Type Linna into the Google image search and see what you get.


2. Where did Pigeon Falls come from?

It came out of the fog and will someday return to the fog. See the entry for May 16.


3.Who is Dr. Fortress patterned after?

Why me, of course.


4. Who is Eino patterned after?

Why me of course.


5. Who is Mrs. Trumble patterned after?

My mother but don’t think you know her yet.


6. Aside from the ministry what was the greatest job you ever had?

Deckhand on an ore boat. At least on days without storms. The work was easy, didn’t require any thinking, and the scenery was really great particularly on the St. Marie’s River. However, when there were big waves I got terribly seasick.


7. Aside from the ministry what was the worst job you ever had?

Santa Claus for Montgomery Wards. I was practice teaching and the kids in the math class found out I was playing Santa. They would come and ask Santa to bring them an A in Math.


8. Did you grow up in a dysfunctional family?

When I grew up they hadn’t invented that kind of family yet.


9. What did you want to be when you grew up?

A cowboy , of course, just like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.


10. Did you write these questions because you had nothing to put on today’s blog?

I refuse to answer on the grounds that my answer might cause me pain.

News from Pigeon Falls- .The little town in my garage where the trains still run at least until December 15.– Despite all the talk of Pigeon Falls coming to an end Donna Bergall stopped in for her free cup of coffee and told another story. This is that story;

“ Once upon a long time ago there was a young fairy named Edgar. Now Edgar graduated at the top of his class at the Fairy Academy and was destined for greatness. He mastered all the fairy skills and some elf skills as well. He would have made a great fairy godfather or a better than average tooth fairy. But, alas, it was not to be. The head of the E.P.A. (Elf Placement Agency ) decided that Edgar was perfect for a new fairy job that was in the development stage and needed the very best fairy available. So she choose Edgar. Thus it was that Edgar became the first sock fairy in the history of fairydom. It was the great depression and there were many humans whose children had no socks. It was Edgar’s job to take socks from the rich , who had so many, and give them to the poor who had none. Edgar took his task very , very, seriously. Soon poor parents were saying to their children, if you are really good then the sock fairy will come and you will have socks to wear to school inside of your boxes. It broke Edgar’s heart to see how the poor lived . One day his mind snapped from viewing so much misery. He began to take socks from anyplace and leave them anywhere. He no longer took pairs but single socks. The problem for the fairy world is they had never had a psychotic fairy before, They didn’t know what to do. There was no place to send him for treatment or rehabilitation. They couldn’t change his job . Imagine what havoc a psychotic fairy godfather could wreck. So they decided that what he was doing was harmless enough and just allowed him to continue. So now you know why sometimes a sock disappears from your laundry and you have all those single socks in your drawer. You also know why sometimes there is a sock that shows up that you have never seen before. It is all Edgar, the one and only sock fairy..”

******

Link for today:Wowim0:Rember to put the words Dr. John in the commemnt to get tjose adoravle little JCPOINTS. Today's link was suggested by happy and blue2.

Today we went shopping at Stein's. we got flowers for the table tomorrow and some things for the train layout. Betty is becoming more comfortable at driving down here so that is good. In the afternoon I visited all my links and left comments in every place that I could. I thank all the nice bloggers who joined with Margaret in my roast. I could have done without the repost of me in the bathtub but otherwise it was a fun day. You are very kind and very creative people. Well I need a breathng treatment.

GBYA



25 Comments:

Blogger Christopher said...

Happy Roasting Dr. John Night!
http://luthermatrix19.blogspot.com/2006/11/pigeon-falls-roasting-dr-john-night.html
Peace,
Chris

2:10 AM  
Blogger Louisiana said...

hello sir..early morning to you. Happy Wednesday and are just ready for what it's going to be a very warm day for you? Margie's brilliant idea has taken wing and it will a day of joy for you..
**********
I thank you for doing your own Meme. I like it..Good thing that you tagged yourself or one of us be in trouble..He, He..remember the last one..ahh poor Margie, she had no idea.

Here i'm enjoying all your questions and answeres and almost shocked when i came to the one about Mrs. Trumble...What??? The one for months and months i have been calling Mrs. Trouble??? The one i have roasted over and over for so long i think her skin is probably leather? OOOOPPPPSSSS..Well, yeap, that is the one..Oh dear me Dr. John..I not only have the talent of putting one foot in my mouth but both feet and probably my kids too..Ayyy Caramba!

Well..hmmm, I got some soul searchoing to do.
Certainly Mrs. Trouble will be no more and how it will miss here..It was kinda fun to not like her..Lol..

It is wonderful being American. being able to plead the 5th is a great freedom..It never occurred to me that you did this post for you have no other....Right until you said it, lol..

I love the pictures of the hotel. I did google your last name. How beautiful the pics are! Still, i would much more prefer to stay on at the Fortress, with the dragon and the rabbit and even the end of the world commeth (which btw, was brilliant forsight on your part, absolutely brilliant but what are we going to do once the prophecies come? No fear, Dr. John is here. He will entertain us to no end).
*********************
I did my own pic from the link. Loved it, it was so much fun..Nice of H&B2 to suggest it. Maybe you can post what yours looks like. I see he is another regular now..Another one caught in your beautiful web sir. How lucky we all are..Enjoy your day along your wonderful Betty..

3:27 AM  
Blogger Louisiana said...

Silly me forgot to comment on Edgar the sock fairy. Finally i know who is really responsible for the one sock situation. i thought it was my kids or worse me, walking through the night in the dark taking socks from drawers and empty baskets.
We love wearing socks in our home. I buy many, many pairs. About every 3 months i do a sock tidy. EVery garment is washed and put away then we get all socks..matched or not...we have a great race to see who can find any partners and what is left on without a partner gets thrown away...we start fresh..no odd ends..and yet, soon enough, within the first loads we have odds again..If you are missing your fairy i think he is living with us. He found a stash of no end here probably and is quite comfy..He is most welcome to stay.

3:42 AM  
Blogger Janets Planet said...

Happy Roast

I met Dr John 30 years ago on a street corner in LA. At that time he was playing an organ grinder. He also had a monkey who held a cup for change. Interesting little monkey. He would jump all over the place, sometimes also looked like he flew a bit. Plus he smoked a cigar and could blow smoke into a variety of shapes. Quite a mesmerizing little fellow. People would just stop and stare – Stare to the point that they couldn’t move. I knocked on the heads of a few, but they didn’t react. You would think they would at least move. But no. Strange little monkey.

I talked with him a while. Said he was from the UP of Michigan. I had wondered about that seeing as he kept on saying Ya Hey. First time I had ever heard the term Booyah, too. Thought he was cheering at something behind me.

I gave the monkey a half dollar and moved on. I walked on a bit and looked back to for a last glimpse of that monkey. But he and Dr John as well as the crowd, was gone.

Years past and I ran across him again at a small Lutheran church on the coast of Lake Erie. Funny, that he should be near Lake Erie – Funny name Lake Erie. Stopped in and listened to his sermon. Was something about sayings for the day. He went on and on listing several. Began to lose count after 150. Ended up being a long sermon, but fortunately he had that monkey with him. Still blowing shapes out of smoke. Kept us entertained at least.

It was a nice little church. But it had this huge garden in the back growing nothing but carrots and a big sign that said STAY OUT. Thought maybe they were for the monkey, but then I remembered that monkeys only liked bananas. I asked a few people from the congregation about the garden. But they would quickly shake their heads and put their finger up to their mouth and not say anything.

I looked around the church a little more. Next to the garden was the cemetery. It was a small one for a church that size, I thought. As I walked I read the names of those interned. Eino, Toivo, Grengicoff, Trumble. Thought them a little odd. Didn’t sound like Ohio names. The grave markers were made of stone. Tall and plain. Except for one. It was of a man and it looked like he was thinking. For some reason I was compelled to stare at it long and hard. I swear it winked at me. I hightailed it out of there quick.

I moved away from there and lived many different places. Never ran across him again. Then one day as I was surfing the net, I saw the words. DR JOHN. Could it be the same Dr. John I knew from back then?

Sure enough. There he was writing about this community in his backyard. I am not sure where he found the Lilliputian community – or if they found him. But I also wonder what came first, Pigeon Falls or Dr John.

3:59 AM  
Blogger Margaret said...

"Pastor Bloom was getting quite a reputation for his sermons. His
church was always packed because his congregation didn't
want to miss a single one of his words. One Sunday, one member
had to go to another Church to attend a nephew's baptism.
Because he didn't want to miss the sermon, he asked one of his
friends to go in his place and tape the Pastor's
sermon. In that way, he could listen to it when he got back.

When other members of the congregation saw what was going on,
they too decided to ask their friends to go in their
places to record the sermon. They could then do other things,
such as play golf or go to a football game.

Within a short time, there were 100 strangers sitting in the
church recording the Pastor's sermon. The Pastor got wise to
this. So the following Sunday, he, too, asked a
friend to attend on his behalf. His friend brought a tape
recorder and played the Pastor's pre-recorded sermon to the
100 strangers in the congregation who then recorded the sermon
on their own machines. This is believed to be the first
incidence in history of "artificial insermonation.""


(PS: I'll have my Roasted Dr. John up around 6 this evening.)

6:10 AM  
Blogger Jan said...

I didn't see pictures, I just saw the html code for pictures. Ah, I am missing out.

I am not awake and probably should wait to post, but not being ready never stopped me before.

6:28 AM  
Blogger Charlene Amsden said...

I love the sock fairy story! Now I understand completely.

6:29 AM  
Blogger The Rev. Dr. Kate said...

Your answer that "dysfuncitional families hadn't been invented yet" is very insightful!

6:41 AM  
Blogger jafabrit said...

HUm how can we roast dr.john, isn't roasting for BAD boys. Ever been a bad boy dr.john ;) I know when you had a bad thought, coz I was there, I saw it. Your left eye twitched and your tongue hung out in a drooling fashion. Yes, I was there, I was with Betty.

7:12 AM  
Blogger jafabrit said...

oops was I supposed to put that on MY blog. duh! never done this roast thing before. need tea.

7:13 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Well thank you so much for the link back. I enjoy learning about new blogs and I guess I'm still wet behind the ears when it comes to the blogging community.

I love the idea of the link of the day. Although in my case it might end up being the link of every 2 or 3 days.

7:28 AM  
Blogger Catch said...

I have never met Dr John in person yet but if I ever get to Michigan I would make it a point to meet him and Betty. I think they are wonderful people and I feel very blessed to have gotten to know them on the computer. Happy roasting Dr John! Its your day!
With much love to you and Betty ~
Catch

8:41 AM  
Blogger Charlene Amsden said...

Dr. John -- I just posted a bit of something for you on my blog. I hope you're happily roasting with the turkey.

9:04 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ha ha ha...cracking myself up! Dr. John you have been duly roasted! Come on by!!!

9:46 AM  
Blogger Margaret said...

My Roast is finally up!! Table is set Dr. John and friends. Come on by!!! -Margaret

1:11 PM  
Blogger butterflies said...

HI Dr John..Oh I get so annoyed having to sign in on every blog with this stupid beta thingy!!!
Im not a patient person)
Thanks for the extra bonus points on monday.
Your a wonderful man and Im grateful that you have linked us all together.The love and caring of my blogging friends sure keeps me going.
Glad to hear the lovely dog has settled down.Im sure everyone will adore him and he will be passed around:)
Now...breathe

1:31 PM  
Blogger Louisiana said...

i so wish i could see your face when you read Margies roast. that picture of you in the bathub is worh millions..:)

2:37 PM  
Blogger QUASAR9 said...

Dr John,
answer to Question 8 - Priceless!
"They hadn't invented dysfunctional families yet"

Whether we like it or not,
one of the prices we paid for the industrial revolution and upward mobility to the City was the break-up of (generational) family ties
one of the prices we paid for the second half of the twentieth century was the desintegration of family units

Now family units who are close, and hold close links with previous generations are not free from the travails of day to day differences

But those who have lost the family unit, and contact with earlier generations are 'not' happier

It is not a matter of good or bad.
A single mother (and there may be many factors why she is single) may be a perfect mother - but does she not hanker for a loving partner

A single person (may be single for many reasons) - but if he is orphaned from family links with sibblings and/or elders and parents will be a lonelier person.

Now we may all at some time had some place else we'd rather be, but be rest assured that as with everything what we take for granted we do not properly appreciate.

Those who have no family or fiends to share Thanksgiving with - you can bet your bottom dollar they all wish they did.

Samo, samo for Xmas and all those family gatherings, which we may sometimes hate, and as teenagers may think interfere with our busy teenage (peer) social lives. lol!

3:37 PM  
Blogger QUASAR9 said...

PS - Just because we can now explain the optical illusion that is a rainbow -
and the "glory" above the clouds
does not mean that the person travelling at 36,000 feet on a plane, or looking down from above the mountain up on hihg is any less enlightened

Equally just because someone understands the science behind something doesn't guarantee they are 'enlightened' - their mind can become closed to other things
Alas, you know what they say if one of your senses is weaker the others become more powerful, and just the same if one of your senses is heightened, it follows the others might be weakened.

Intellect is not a measure of one's enlightenment, but rather a measure of one's intellect.

However enlightenment requires intellect in those subtleties from simple home cooking, to good knitting, to building train sets, to an ear for mechanics, an eye for maths or painting, a knack for woodcraft or pottery, and so on...

After all carpentry, cross making or boat building & log cabin building have been traditional skills of 'enlightened' folk -
How else would we have Uncle Tom's cabin

3:46 PM  
Blogger Sunflower Optimism said...

Ahh, now I get it, google "linna" and find. . . you must like STRAWBERRIES Dr. John!

I did also see some wonderful fortresses along with that basket of strawberries ;-)

Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving, blessed with family, friends and puppies. I am very thankful for all my new blog friends this year :-) (now back to the pumpkin cheesecake, before it burns - already had to redo the crust once, darn it!)

4:26 PM  
Blogger Bare said...

Yay! You know, I like posts like these, they give you insight into things you want to ask, but sometimes forget to ask (I know that makes no sense, but it's how my poor mind works! *L*)

7:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I feel like I know everything about you now..
Hope you have a great Thanksgiving..

7:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Happy Roasting! And Happy Thanksgiving to all the Linnas!

8:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey John... you were Santa ? Well, that's lovely ... or WAS it ? I've heard some interesting stories from a guy I know who did the Santa thing for a season. Talk about a job that required patience ! Honestly, though, I am betting you made a quite the Mr. Claus.
Thanksgiving blessings to you and your family.

12:05 AM  
Blogger rel said...

Dr. John,
Happy Thanksgiving.
I know no-one who is as giving as you and your wife Betty.
rel

3:59 AM  

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