Halloween

Today's Saying

Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen,
Voices whisper in the trees, "Tonight is Halloween!"
~Dexter Kozen

Wind howls and our dog cowers
or
My Dragons fly with Witches tonight

Last night the Town Council met. Mrs. Trumble told about her visit to the old lady/gypsy/witch. She told how the gremlins had moved from Mrs. Pemberthy’s to the Town Hall. She explained that the cost to get rid of the gremlins was now $5000.

(One chance to fend it off)

But Eino then made an impassioned reasonable speech.

(Reason will bring it on)

He pointed out that there was no such things as gremlins. He argued that the entire thing was a gypsy scam. He said the gypsies probably set all of this up and caused all the things that happened at the Town Hall. They were just out to take the town for as much as they could,
The Town Council then voted and the resolution to pay the money was defeated .
Eino said” Reason always triumphs over lies and nonsense.”
Suddenly there was a flash of lightning and standing in the Council chambers was the little old lady.
She said, “ You have attacked my honor. I neither lie nor cheat. You will now bear my curse.

(That which was now is not.
That which never was is now.)

Then she disappeared.

Friday before Halloween

Today's Saying

The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them. ~Bernard M. Baruch

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. I have ordered seven new books including one I saw on Aims blog. ( stems from my fall reading bug getting worse)
2. Halloween was one of my favorite holidays. That’s why I have no teeth. ( Stems from all that candy we got in two neighborhoods)
3. Halloween at the Fortress is a disappointment. ( Stems from no kids stopping by)
4. Betty won’t even buy the large bags of candy for Halloween anymore ( Stems from her desire to keep me from eating all those leftovers)
5. I was a youth so long ago that one Halloween we tipped over an outhouse. ( Stems from our mischievous nature – young people should goggle to find out what an outhouse was)
6. Found out a new drug is being developed that might help my breathing but I have to survive a year or two to get it. ( Stems from a lengthy FDA approval process)
7. My singing voice , which was never good, has gotten worse. ( Stems from my COPD)
8. Am still waiting for the swine flue vaccine ( Stems from distribution problems)
9. The good news is I may have some residual antibodies to the swine flue because of a flue I had as a kid. ( Stems from that flue having much in common with the Swine Flue)
10. The visit of old friend Pastor Les Niemi was wonderful and carried into this week. ( Stems from a need to have somebody to talk theology with.)
11 One of my dragons has disappeared and no longer sits on my computer .( Stems . Possibly, from something I said)
12. Still haven’t chosen a $50 restaurant card or a magazine subscription so my MY points and my Coke points just sit there. ( Stems from blatant procrastination)
13. The dragon wing is still not repaired. ( Stems from procrastination defeating organization)
14. Am happy Victor isn't leaving my soap after all. The actor signed a new contract ( stems from very heavy fan letter writing)

Well Mrs. Trumble went up the mountain to visit the old woman taking the $100 with her. She found the little house and knocked on the door. She was invited n an was surprised to discover the lady knew who she was and had tea waiting.
Mrs. Trumble explained that the town had a gremlin problem and she understood that the lady could solve it. She told her she was ready to pay the $100.
The old lady looked at her and said.” The price to get the gremlins out of the Town Hall is $100 to get rid of them altogether will cost you $5000 .
Mrs. Trumble gasped.” But you told Mrs. Pemberthy it would be $100.”
The Gypsy or Witch or whatever responded.” That was a one time , poor little old lady price. This is a one time rich town price.”
Mrs. Trumble then said “ She would have to call a special town council meeting to get that figure approved.”
The old lady smiled and said “ The offer is good for three days”
So Mrs. Trumble has come back down from the mountain and called a special council meeting for tonight.

A Favorite Blog

Today's Saying

When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me if I'm leaving. ~-Steven Wright

It is time to share with you another of my favorite blogs.

Welcome to My World

I lppk forward every day to visiting this blog. The lady that writes it has so many gifts. At the moment she has turned her life into a Soap Opera called "Best Laid Plans" . In it she handles rough events in their life with humor. You want to tell her how sorry you are that all this is happening while at the same time you can't help but laugh.
Take a look.

Eino heard from Homeland Security that the green Agent tracked the terrorist to a large The truck was abandoned there and there was some indication a small plane had taken off. The Agent had gone through the truck and found a map of New York City with some places marked with red crosses, He then called in a helicopter and left. Just after they got into the air the truck exploded if it had been earlier the Agent would have been killed.
Nancy says she was visited by two more Federal agents who were not green. They asked the same questions and she gave the same answers. Then she asked if it was true that both the Arab and the green man were aliens from outer space. The agents looked at her like she was crazy and started to laugh.
The head Agent said, “ Lady there are no aliens in outer space “. The only life we know of is here on earth.
But, of course, Nancy and all of Pigeon Falls knows that’s not true. But they also knew it was no use arguing with people who hadn’t been there.

The winner of yesterday's contest is the 16th comment. That's what the random generator says.
And the 16th comment was by Alice Audrey.
Congratulations Alice. Now I need your real life address and your book choice. Send them to:
jlinna@new.rr.com.
To those of you who didn't win but wanted to we'll do it all again next week and I'll add a book to replace the one Alice won.

The Contest

Today's Saying

If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. ~Mary Engelbreit

My book shelf is full and I've ordered seven new books. So I am going to try to give some away.
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Today we run a contest to give away a book.
Your choice of these five:

Cross Country-By James Patterson

A Patterson style thriller




A is for Alibi- Sue Grafton

A Suspense Novel

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Santa Clawed- Rita Mae Brown

A Mrs. Murphy Mystery






Dashing Through the Snow- Mary & Carol Higgins Clark

A Holiday Suspense Novel




A Lion Among Men- Gregory Maguire

Another "Let's wreck Oz" book




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 pf comments in a random number generator. The number it generates wins. ( No slips and no bucket)
You might wonder how a random number generator works. Well so do I. I think its some kind of magic.
But it works.

So leave a comment and the best of luck.

Today Pigeon Falls is filled with stories rising from the visit of the Arab and the green man. One story is that they were both aliens. The first needed the fertilizer to power his rocket ship and the second was after him for crimes on another planet. They felt the town was lucky there was no shoot out on main street.
Eino says that according to Homeland Security this Arab was an international terrorist. He came to Pigeon Falls because he felt there would be less suspicion here than in the big towns. He must have figured out he was being stalled that’s why he left. Homeland Security thinks he had a plane on some little air field somewhere that took him out of the UP. The green man was a federal agent with a fungus infection that made him look green. It was all very rational.
Some people were trying to plug this into Petrovich’s latest translated driblet. But they weren’t having much luck.
Speaking of the driblet a visitor named Jim said to Nancy "This is the mechanism of a swing. Here it is a porch swing. Always the riders are looking forward, then back with hope which will be fulfilled, only to be frustrated, ad infinitum, until balance, equilibrium, is reached and the swing stops."
Nancy says "I nodded but I was so confused. I couldn't figure out how you got the town on the swing. The problem is it's not a riddle but a prediction of our future."

Freedom of the Press

Today's Saying

Here is my advice as we begin the century that will lead to 2081. First, guard the freedom of ideas at all costs. Be alert that dictators have always played on the natural human tendency to blame others and to oversimplify. And don't regard yourself as a guardian of freedom unless you respect and preserve the rights of people you disagree with to free, public, unhampered expression. ~Gerard K. O'Neill,

The good news is that the idea of a free press is still alive and well in America.
I’m sure all of you, at least all of you who live in the United States , know by now that the Obama Administration hates Fox New. They have publicly said so and in the process called Fox News names. They absolutely don’t like what Fox says about some of Obama’s leadership. They want Fox News to shut up.
So as part of their anti Fox campaign the Treasury Department made available Ken Feinberg, the executive pay czar, for interviews with the White House "pool" news organizations -- except Fox. The clear message was that if we don’t like what you say about us we can punish you by preventing you from gathering information from any source we control.
The good news is that every single news organization turned down the opportunity forcing the government to either invitee Fox or alienate all the news organizations. The government invited Fox.
The National News Organizations understood that if the government censors Fox today for what it says then tomorrow it can cut off any of them. In the end you have only government managed news. By pulling together they said “ We won’t put up with that”.
I am not a Fox News supporter but I do support its right to say things the government doesn’t like.
Instead of attacking Fox the government should openly and honestly refute what it says, assuming its wrong.
I also support the right of any news agency to say positive things about the government even if every conservative in the country believes the statements to be untrue.
Freedom is a painful thing.
It is essential that we have free news agencies and that we let them be free.
Threats, boycotts, harassment because of what is said is so un-American.
I know that the chant of the true believer on either side, liberal or conservative, is “ Only allow the truth as we see it”.
That’s why the press will always be seen as biased.
But the government leadership needs to rise above the true believers.
It really does.

This morning a fellow who looked like an Arab stopped in to Nancy's for a cup of Coffee. He asked where the nearest feed store was. Nancy told him that about a mile down the road was Nelsons Feed and Seed store. They had any kind of animal food you might want. He thanked her and drove off in an old looking truck.
About fifteen minutes later Oswald at Nelsons Feed and Seed called Eino. He said there was an Arab there that wanted to buy twenty bags of a particular fertilizer. He sent Eino the man's picture taken with his wireless phone. Eino said to stall him.
Then Eino called his friend at Homeland Security and sent him the picture. His friend said the man.s name was Haz-mat and he was dangerous. They should try to stall him until Homeland Security could get somebody there.
Eino called Oscar back and said to stall the man as long as possible. Then he called Chief Ican. Who then drove out to the feed store.
By the time he got there the man was gone. Oscar said he had told him he only had three bags but could get the rest in a couple of hours and the man just turned around and left.
A couple of hours later a green man stopped in to Nancy's, identified himself as a government agent, showed them Has-mat's picture and asked if he had stopped there. Then he wanted to know what Has-mat was driving. There was a real disagreement on the color of the truck. But all said it was an odd looking truck.
When he left everybody did agree that the man asking the questions was green. They had never seen a green man before.
Got to the office at 4:50 this morning. My soda didn't arrive until 6:30. I was so thirsty. I have this thought that I should tell you the dragons got some new awards and you can see them HERE. But I am resisting the thought . You know what I think of internet awards. But the thought keeps coming like magic. I will not tell you. The rest of the day passed without any great event except my sister Dawn called. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

Me in a MEME

Today's Saying

Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours. ~Swedish Proverb

Saw this meme on three other blogs and thought it would go well here.
( I'm desperate for content again)

1. Candy corn: Your thoughts?
Love it. But prefer the little pumpkins made out of the same stuff.

2. Briefly, what was the first conversation you ever had with your spouse? (or best friend, if you're not married.) (Or someone significant, like your librarian.)
That was a long time ago. It was after a Christian youth meeting.
I think I said “ Would you like to go for coffee”
She said “ Yes”
We left for the snackbar

3. Could you ever become a vegetarian?
No. Those poor little helpless vegetables shouldn’t have to die for me. Kill me a cow any day.

4. Have you ever dressed up your pet in a costume?
I think we put a Halloween costume on Maggie once. She didn’t like it.

5. Name something about childhood that you miss (like Clark Bars, Teaberry Gum, Malibu
Barbie, cracking fake eggs on people's heads with your fist and "It's the Great Pumpkin" airing only once a year).
I miss going to grandmother’s house for Christmas. Those were wonderful times.

6. Have you ever won a trophy? If not, what do you deserve a trophy for?
No but I won a Detroit Free Press wrist watch for debating. The debate teams I coached won a good share of trophies.

7. When do you think is the appropriate time to begin playing Christmas music each year?
I would prefer to keep Christmas music in the Church instead of seeing Christ be used to sell things at any time.

8. What's your favorite board game?
Scrabble. or Candy Land

9. How do you feel about surprises (receiving, not giving)?
I love surprises .

10. Is it easy for you to say, "I'm sorry?"
Yes, My father taught us that right or wrong when you say you are sorry the healing of relationships begins. And they do.

11. What is your favorite candle scent?
Never burn scented candles or unscented either.

12. October is traditionally "open house" time in public schools. If you had a literal open house in your home (like a reception) what light snacks would you serve visitors and what would you show them (as in art projects, graded papers) that would uniquely represent you?
I would serve tiny little pasties and saffron buns. They of course would be there to see my train layout.

Nobody is able to understand Petrovich's latest translated driblet. It simply makes no sense as far as they can see. It talks of one chance. Then there is something about reason. It is just weird.
Besides except for the problems in the Town Hall everything is going well in Pigeon Falls. The only big problem was the town cable system went down and people missed their soaps. It seems some kind of animal gnawed through the cable right at the Town Hall. That never happened before.
Over at Nancy's things are slowly returning to normal and people are talking about which husband is cheating on which wife. It seems Krlo Loftum is cheating on poor sweet Helen. Somebody saw him sneaking out of the widow Leplow's house at 1:00 in the morning. They just hope Helen never has to find out.
Jack is saying that he may close up his sauna for good this winter but then he says that every year.
Things really are normal driblet or not.
Got to the computer room at 5:10. Read yesterday's comments. Spent a little bit of time visiting Pigeon Falls. At 6:10 Betty brought my morning soda ( Diet Coke today). At 6:30 Pennie brought my morning soda . I told her her Mother was already here. This was my blogging day and I visited every blog on my main friend's list and left comments on most of them.
Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA
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Reformation Sunday

Today's Saying

So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:36

Today in many of the Churches that use the Common Lectionary is celebrated as Reformation Sunday The assigned Gospel is John 8:31-36. In Lutheran Churches the hymn “ A Mighty Fortress” will almost certainly be sung.
The text for the day deals with the very heart of the Reformation. How do you deal with sin.
In the text Jesus tells a group of His followers that following Him can make them free.
This does not make them happy but rather irritates them. They respond “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, 'You will be made free'?"
They should have known better. The children of Abraham had been the slaves of Pharaoh on Egypt and God through Moses had to rescue them. They celebrated that rescue every year in the Passover.
But Jesus wasn’t taking about that kind of slavery. He was talking about the slavery that held even Pharaoh. He was talking about slavery to sin.
This kind of slavery destroyed your relationship to God.
It separated you from God’s family.
It separated you from other people.
But his listeners thought they had a way to control sin. It was called “ The Law”.
You obeyed all the rules and you won.
The Pharisees saw themselves as the victors in this fight.
But Jesus knew better. He saw the cancer of the heart.
Like the bondage to the Egyptians only an act of God could end this bondage.
“If the Son sets you free you will be free indeed.” He tells them.
By the time of the Reformation the Church had developed entire systems for dealing with sin. They were not designed to set you free but to take away the penalty.
Like the Children of Abraham it was a system of rules , of law.
Luther comes along burdened with the truth of his own sin and hears Jesus tell him he can be free.
He believes and the Reformation begins.
We live in an age that handles sin by pretending there isn’t any. Despite all the evil things people do sin is an out of date concept.
Even the churches of the Reformation accept a new good works. It is salvation by niceness. God has to love us because unlike the rest of the people we are nice. We do nice things.
We proclaim that people who never went to Church go to heaven because they were nice people.
But still the only power strong enough to free us from the power of sin is the power coming from the Cross of Christ.
It doesn’t make us nice. It gives us the freedom to be nice.
It frees us to love.
It frees us from our own selfish nature.
It frees us to do good things.
So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
May you be truly free.

It is Sunday in Pigeon Falls and Pastor Joan in back in her pulpit. She could not be happier. Her face is literally glowing.This is part of the sermon she will preach this morning:
“ I stand here a really free person.
I want to shout it. I want to run up and down the aisle screaming it out.
I am free. I am free.
I am not free because I am an American.
The freedom America gives me is wonderful and I’m thankful for it.
But it can be taken away.
The majority might decide to give up their freedom, my freedom for security.
When you are afraid you might do that.
Given a choice between being blown up or giving up your freedom. Well for many that’s the end of freedom.
The freedom I have you can’t take away.
The nation can change. It can forget its roots and I will still be free.
For my freedom doesn’t come from a Constitution or a judicial decree.
No my freedom is a gift from God.
It is freedom from the power of sin.
You see I can live in a free country and still be a slave to sin.
Sin causes me to hate, to do things that are self destructive, to ignore the poor and much more.
But God has set me free at the cross from that power.
I am free to love my enemy.
I am free to care for others.
I am truly free.
Sometimes I forget I’m free. I let sin run things.
But then God calls me back to freedom.
I am FREE. Hooray“.

Six More Words

Today's Saying

History: An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools. ~Ambrose Bierce

I hurt!So I am alive.

As usual the talk at Nancy’s is about the latest driblet although the problems at the Town Hall are also getting some attention. This time nobody seems to have a clue as to what the Driblet means. But they have an opinion about the Town Hall. They are sure, except for Eino, that it’s gremlins. Eino, of course believes it is just a series of coincidences.
This morning every light in the Town Hall exploded while Mrs. Trumble was outside talking and the clerk was home with the flue. There were glass pieces everywhere. The town’s part time electrical person says there had to be some kind of huge power surge for that to happen. He found the transformer behind the Town Hall burned out. It looked like some squirrel had committed suicide on it.
The Pemberthy’s are convinced it’s the gremlins from Old Mrs. Pemberthy’s yard. They have told Mrs. Trumble she should go and see the old lady on the mountain. They also told her to take $100 and get rid of them once and for all.

It was a good day. We left the fortress and went shopping. I looked at Windows 7 but didn't buy. I bought paper, ink, and some card stock. Then we went to the Party Store and I bought some Halloween things. Then we ate out. During the day I visited fifty six word blogs and all the Wordzzle blogs on the linksy. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

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Friday Fourteen Give or Take

Today's Saying

What we remember from childhood we remember forever - permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen. ~Cynthia Ozick

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. I am down to the last book ( I think) in the unread book pile. I have finished six books. I enjoyed every one of them . ( Stems from a Fall reading bug)
2. My baby sister with COPD uses her oxygen at home but goes to work without it while I use it mostly at night at home but always when I leave the house. ( Stems from the fact that one of us is weird)
3. Am waiting for the Swine flue vaccine since I am in a high risk group. ( Stems from having lungs that are already bad)
4. My breathing treatments don’t seem to help much but twice a day I take them ( Stems from Doctor’s orders and legalistic wife)
5. I can take better pictures with my Kodak than with my more expensive Olympus. ( Stems from the Kodak doing a better job of neutralizing my shaking hand)
6. Windows 7 is now available. It will cost around $120 for an upgrade. It should be free if you own Vista. ( Stems from Vista’s many many problems)
7. Now that Fall is here I need to cut back on blogging and work more on the train layout. ( stems from having one new box of equipment that isn’t even opened.)
8. My favorite villain on a soap, Eric Braeden who plays Victor Newman, is quitting. I feel really bad. ( Stems from my need to vent my anger at somebody and better somebody unreal)
9. Have enough “my points” to get a $50 restaurant card but can’t decide which one. ( Stems from inability to make quick decesions)
10. Have enough Coke points to get a years subscription to a magazine but can’t decide which one ( Stems from same problem as in 10)
11. Have new priceless prizes and a new treasure chest so am almost ready to start a new contest ( Stems from not having learned my lesson last time)
12. Weather you see a “ Wrap Up” or a “Here is My day” or neither will depend on what I have planned for that day. ( Stems from getting my life organized)
13. The dragon wing is still not repaired but is on my to do list. ( Stems from a need to organize my procrastination)
14. I intend to go and see Disney’s 3-D Scrooge ( Stems from having seen every Christmas Carol movie ever produced and still wanting another one.)

Petrovich’s latest translation from his old Coptic driblets of the Great Seer Alexis Grengicoff.

Driblet 19

A Voice without a body says
The strange one leads the land where Eagles fly.

To the city of the birds a curse might come.
One chance to fend it off
Or
Reason will bring it on
That which was now is not.
That which never was is now.
Find then the giver of the curse.
She alone can restore the balance.
But she must not know it is hers.
Or lost forever they will be
Forward then
Back to where they had been.

Mrs. Trumble looked at the driblet and shook her head while the microwave in the inner office caight fire.

It was a good day today. The oxygen was up. I planned on going out in the afternoon but it rained hard and it makes no sense to try to get the scooter out in the rain. I think it was an act of God because if I had gone I would have missed a visit from an old friend passing through. Pastor Leslie Niemi and his wife on their way to Beloit stopped to visit. Les was at Bible camp when I began my walk with Jesus. We had so much to catch up on. Thank God for rain. Visited a lot of flash 55's today. So many creative people. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

A Great Priest

Today's Saying

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

~Benjamin Franklin,

It is time to share with you another of my favorite blogs.
New Kid on the Blog

Today I want to share with you my favorite preacher. He isn't even Lutheran but he could be. This is how he describes himself."Alastair McCollum. Husband to lovely Jo, father to Katherine and Jack, minister to Five Parishes.
He is an Anglican Priest who know Jesus and loves people.

He rides a motorcycle and spends time in Pubs.
He plays a guitar .
He writes really great sermons.
THe only problem is he is very busy doing things like marriages, baptisms, visiting the sick, playing with his kids. preparing sermons and the other odd things preachers do so his blogging is erratic.
But at that moment he has two great sermons posted and if you scroll down lots of interesting stuff.
It is a good blog to visit.

Poor Mrs. Trumble no sooner had they gotten the problems at the power plant repaired when all the telephones in the Town Hall went dead. It seems something ate through the line just where it entered the Town Hall , possibly a squirrel. It took several hours to get that fixed.
Then the toilet in the public restroom backed up and flooded her office, that of the clerk, and the common area where people waited. It took a while to clear that and then they really didn’t find out what caused it. It took much longer to get the Town Hall mopped up .
Mrs. Trumble said she was beginning to feel like she was in a war zone and under attack.
Two of the men coming out of the Fly Inn last night just before closing time swear they saw two little creatures going into a hole under the Town Hall. But they had had a lot to drink.
This morning when they went to start up the town’s computer system nothing happened. The computer system is down. They have spent weeks transferring all the billing data to the system and now it wasn’t working. It was time for the fall tax notices to go out.
Just when Mrs. Trumble thought it couldn’t get any worse Petrovich posted the translation of another driblet.

It was a good day.Betty and I looked at some possiblities for a new feature on the blog called "Cooking for and by old people". We might try it next week. Enjoyed reading the other stories using Quilly's words. Worked over the flash 55 for tomorrow . Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

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A Political Rant

Today's Saying

The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted. ~Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

If our President had kept his promise for openness on preparing the health care legislation and then posting the proposed legislation for examination and comment for a period of time before the vote a lot of the screaming going on now would be silenced.
But it is business as usual ( no change) in Washington. Important decisions are being made in secret , behind closed doors.
What this does is allow the right the opportunity to create monsters. The monster , unseen, you understand is far worse than the monster seen. In the vacuum of facts the right can create anything they like. One can hardly correct them because the real legislation is hidden.
Does the right exaggerate?
You bet they do.
But secrecy encourages that exaggeration.
The problem is that secrecy is like that.
The secrecy of the Bush administration encouraged the left to do the same kind of exaggeration.
Then both sides can scream at each other for lying and deceiving the American people.
Sometimes I think Democrats and Republicans prefer the game to really producing quality legislation.
That’s what makes this moment so very sad. Our President promised an end to the game.
He promised a change in the way things were done.
Either he lied or he failed because the game goes on.

Since neither of her sons would do it Mrs. Pemberthy hired Hank the town handyman to fill in the hole.
Hank had no trouble at all. It looks like the gremlins are gone.
Mrs. Trumble is almost sorry she became Mayor . Starting yesterday everything seems to be going wrong.
First some squirrel dropped an acorn into something out at the city power plant on the Loon river. That shut down city power for five hours. At the same time a bird flew into a transformer and the backup power from Wisconsin Electric was cut off. So the town was without power for five hours. She quit answering her phone after the first twenty calls asking what was going on. What did she know about power anyway. But bad luck that she understood. And this was unbelievable bad luck.
And it continued when the power came back on something in the street light system shorted and tmain street was left without light.
Nancy got her old wood stove working , put up some oil lamps and went right on making coffee and serving people. Everybody was grumbling about the quality of city services and how city hall wasn’t even answering their calls.

Got to the computer room at 5:15 in the morning. Pennie brought me a soda at 5:30. It's garbage day. I( went to the linksy for the idiom pictures and checked in. I might say there are some weird pictures with my idioms. I worked for much of the time on the Quilly words quivel. Then I visited blogs. I acknowledge that Thom presented this award to me and I did not accept it. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA
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Out with the Dragons

Today's Saying

Rugby is a beastly game played by gentlemen. Soccer is a gentleman's game played by beasts. Football is a beastly game played by beasts. ~Henry Blaha, 1972



I’m giving some serious thought to throwing the dragons off of my computer. Let them use Betty’s or Pennie’s or even Peter’s or Pat’s. Just get them off of mine.
They started out small, a couple of days a week. That was annoying but okay. Then they found more things they wanted to do. Who knew , for example , that there were dragon idioms. But there are. They do fairy tales, and Quilly words. There they tend to show off.
They also get excited and leave scorch marks on my computer.
They keep pushing me to get people to read them. I have enough trouble getting people to read me.
But I can live with all of that if it were not for their latest insulting action.
You can see it HERE.
They accepted an internet award.
You know what I think of internet awards. If you printed them out they wouldn’t be worth the paper you printed them on. Everybody and her sister has the same awards.
They come with rules forcing you to add to the clutter if you do accept them.
But the dragons treat this award like it was gold. They seem to think it makes them special.
Further they obeyed all the rules.
They even added five more blogs to the clutter.
I think they did it just to upset me.
If they do it again out they go.



Yesterday Mrs. Pemberthy put on her hiking shoes and despite her sons telling her she was too old for this sort of thing she went looking for the old lady of the mountain. One way or another those durn gremlins had to go.
After an hour of walking along the usual hiking trail she saw what looked like a trail that hadn’t been used for a long time. She decided to follow that trail. After another hour she came to a little cabin in the woods. She knocked on the door and was met by a very old woman who invited her in for Tea. They chatted about the olden days and how much better things were. Then Mrs. Pemberthy said she had a problem with Gremlins. The old lady said I can cure your problem but there is a charge. To remove them from your property and keep them from ever coming back which is a very short spell the cost is $10. But to send them far far away which is a very difficult spell the cost is $100.
Mrs. Pemberthy thought about it for a short time then gave the lady $10. The woman got a few herbs from a cupboard, lit them on fire, and said a few words in a language Mrs. Pemberthy didn’t understand.
“You can fill in the hole now. They are gone , forever.” the old lady said.


I got to the computer room at 4:45 this morning. I checked in and put my name in the Portrait of Words Linksy. At 5:00 Pennie brought me a can of soda . She was leaving for Madison for a workshop . I started thinking about tomorrow's idiom pictures and made a list which I printed out for Betty and I to work from. After lunch we did some pictures for tomorrow. They were not great ( they never are as the model is too old).My sister Dawn called worried about my getting the flue.But I haven't. If you didn't read my Portrait of Words today you should it is worth the read. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA

New Awards

Today's Saying

A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it's better than no inspiration at all. ~Rita Mae Brown

I have been in my laboratory creating three new internet aewards that will never be presented to anyone. The first is the
It is intended for those special people that make it necessary for us to type those bothersome letters in at the end of our wonderful comments. And those, even worse than that, who have forced people hurt by them into comment moderation. They slap spam on our sweet blogs and they say mean and nasty things or they use language not appropriate to our blog. There is , of course, no use in presenting it because they would never accept it, particularly the righteous nasty ones.

The second is :
This is a blog that is filled with obscene or potty words. They are not used to make a point. They don’t emphasize anything. They just use them. This makes it hard for some ( read me) to read the blog with any understanding. The words distract me. This award displayed at the top of the page would warn people like me to go read another blog. It won’t be presented because I am a chicken.

Finally there is this masterpiece
Some blogs are just dull. The writer has nothing to say. There is no emotion. There is no excitement. They are just plain dull. It won’t be presented because I couldn’t hurt somebody’s feelings.
But I am thinking of presenting it to me. I must be dull since I get so few comments



It seems that Pastor Joan’s husband was as surprised by the name as the congregation. He thought they had agreed on Alexander Zachary. Pastor Joan says that she doesn’t know where the name came from but it just jumped into her head . It somehow seemed like the right name for their son so she used it. She knows that Elijah was a great man of God so she can understand that name but Hoops . Where in the world did that come from?
Tommy UK smiled and thought of the being from another world. He and Herman, alone, remembered her.
In any case, wherever it came from, that is now the baby’s name.
Someone told Mrs. Pemberthy that there was an old woman who lived at the end of a seldom used trail up on the mountain who might know how to control gremlins. Some people said she was an old gypsy ladies and others that she was a witch. Most of what was known about her was from tales told at Nancy’s or around a campfire late at night. Some said she was older than Pigeon Falls and indeed some of the stories seemed to have been passed down from generation to generation. Some said she wasn’t even there any more and that nobody had visited her in a long time. Since one of the stories concerned her putting a curse on somebody whose life was then ruined one can understand why people were not in a hurry to visit. Some said she could cast a spell so that when she came to town to get groceries she would look young. Some said she turned a man into a frog.
But Mrs. Pemberthy decided she had to go and visit her.

Got to the computer at 5:00 this morning. Visited Quilly's blog. Then having hurt my head trying to figure out what her puzzle meant I upgraded my fiend's list.Pennie brought me a Diet Pepsi( The soda on sale this week). After breakfast I read until lunch. The afternoon was spent visiting blogs until we lost our internet and our TV. Back to reading. When the internet came back I finished my blog visits and discovered that Thom gave me this award without conditions. He also gave it to the rest of the internet but I accepted it. After all I am honest, sort of.
Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA.