Respect and Common Sense

 I know that I do not get outside my little apartment to see just what is going on in the world around me.  But that doesn't mean that I can't hear what those I do see and talk to are saying.

When I was young, Sunday church services were a given.  Dad wore a suit and tie.  Mother had a couple of dresses she considered good enough to wear to church.  And she sewed dresses for my sister and me to wear on Sundays.

I once asked my mother why we had to wear special clothes to Sunday School and to Church.  She told me that it was a matter of respect to God and Jesus.  She said that it would be insulting to show up to church in work or play clothes.

Now we know that Jesus loves us no matter if we are worshipng in church or mucking out the barn or mowing the lawn.  But I have to agree that showing respect is important.  And when I see videos of folks casually going to church wearing shorts, Hawaiian shirts and flip flops, I have to wonder where the respect went.

For part of my childhood, my family lived 10 miles from the nearest fairly large town.  Some Saturdays we headed to town to do the grocery shopping or sometimes to the fabric store if Mother had time to sew new clothes for us.  Dad changed from his work clothes into a nice pair of slacks and shirt.  Mother wore a nice dress and my sister and I changed from our play clothes into something more presentable.

That, too, was a form of respect.  Maybe somewhat for the friends and neighbors we might see in town but also some self respect.  Don't see much of any sort of respect lately.

Anybody else notice that Common Sense has also left the building?

There are those who believe it is perfectly OK to let millions of illegal aliens into our country.  The operative word here is "illegal."  And then these same folks raise all sorts of issues when our government decides to deport those who broke the law the minute they crossed our borders.

When do you suppose our laws became optional.  Perhaps about the same time that some states decided not to arrest shoplifters if the value of goods stolen is under a certain amount of money?

Years ago I had a friend who had a 13 year old daughter.  The Mom got a phone call from her friend at the Sheriff's Department, tellng her that he had her kid for stealing some makeup from the local Five and Dime.  Today parents are apt to take the kids side.  Not this Mom.  She asked the Sheriff's Deputy if he had an empty jail cell and she would pick up her kid in a couple of hours.  

By the time the Mom showed up, her daughter was so scared that she had peed her pants.  Mom took her home, got her cleaned up, sat her down at the kitchen table with pen and paper to write an apology to the store manager.  Back into town they went where the daughter gave her letter to the manager along with a tearful verbal apology.  This was followed by being grounded for at least a month.

Moral of the story - the kid never gave her parents a bit of trouble after that - ever.

Respect.  Common sense.  Laws.  We need them.  Badly!

Fun With Scammers

 I am plagued with those scam phone calls.  Irritating, they are.  Especially since I have a house phone line as opposed to a cell phone.  Can't carry that around in my pocket.  So when the phone rings, I have to stop whatever I am doing and go to where the phone is to answer it.

Monday this week I had over 15 of those calls.  That is pretty much the average number lately.  Nothing I have tried has stopped the calls.  So I tried a different approach.

Each of those calls has a point where the scammer asks some silly question.  Didn't answer.  Just said the same words to each.

"I do not talk to rotten, miserable scammers."  And then I hang up.

Might actually be working.  The number of scam calls dropped to 2 on Tuesday.  We shall see what today brings.

Actually was kind of fun, knowing that in all likelyhood, I managed to irritate some of them.  :)

Bits and Pieces

 I really did plan to have another post up sooner than this.  Seems that I am easily distracted these days.  Well, OK.  I have always been easily distracted.  It is just more noticable these days!

I love retirement.  Nobody tells me what to do or when to do it.  So the better part of the day I spent going through a box of family paperwork.  Found all sorts of interesting stuff.  Old Christmas letters from cousins.  Letters written by relatives to my parents.  My Dad's Selective Service papers from WWII.  My parents marriage license from 1945.  Got out my file folders and now I should be able to lay hands on the paperwork I want to see.

The small suburb where I live is about 25 miles from Minneapolis.  Frankly, I am surprised that the crazy hasn't hit here yet.  I suppose the protestors are still busy in the cities.  Fine with me.

I really am tired of all the hoopla surrounding the deportation of illegals.  Other places can manage this without all of the insane behavior.  I have to admit to ignoring much of the so-called news stories concerning Minneapolis.  It has really become tiresome - at least to me.

These days I am much more interested in my adult kids, grand kids and great grands.  All are doing well and I am really proud of them all.  Although I now have a daughter who retired.  And my youngest can now, according to his daughter, eat off the 55+ menu at the local restaurant.  All that is sort of scary.  :)

I have no idea what tomorrow will bring and that is just fine.  After so many years of 9 to 5 and later of working nights, and especially because I really am an ornery old bat, I find this quiet life wonderful!

I pray that your world, my friends, is peaceful.  And is what you want in life.

God bless.     Vicki

Genealogy and Minneapolis Crazies

 I find that I need  few days off.  The genealogy book I mentioned in my previous post has proved to be impossible to scan.  The pages just won't lay flat.  So I am having to enter all the information by hand, including the extremely interesting to my family stories that are included in the book.

I understand that this kind of thing is less than interesting to many, but my family seems to be developing an interest in family history.  So I feel it necessary to work on this.

Plus the fact that at the age I surprisingly find myself, it seems prudent to do what will benefit my family the most while I still can.  I have enough home canned and dehydrated foods plus box after box of staples already stashed away.  Nobody will go hungry for a very long time.  I have quilts and crocheted blankets made and stashed away as well.  Right now, family history seems important to me.

As far as the local news goes, I am sincerely fed up with the Minneapolis insanity.  Don't care which side of the aisle we are discussing.  They all have lost their minds.  And when checking the local news for information, the lies are more than obvious.

My Dad once told me, "Believe none of what you hear and only about half of what you see."  Wise man, was Dad!

Those Minneapolis crazies can just sort it all out without me.

Back to the genealogy.  See you next week, my friends.

Genealogy Treasure

 I have been interested in my family ancestry for a number of years.  Lots of research has gone into finding information on so many of my ancestors.  This has been made easier with the invention of the home computer.  I can find Census records, birth and death certificates as well as a wealth of other information online.

But a few days ago I was handed a small, self printed book that is an absolute treasure trove of information.

My daughter came over and shared this book that was put together by one of her aunts on her Dad's side of the family.  It not only contains several generations of family history, it also contains family stories.  Lots of them.  It is an absolute treasure.

I don't expect my family to care much about their heritage just now.  After all, I was well past 50 years of age before I developed an interest.  But this small book is exactly what I am trying to do just in case one or two decided they want to know about their ancestors.

It is important to know where we come from.  Those who went before are the ones who made us who we are.  I know that many find the genealogy research is dry as dust.  I have been writing down the family stories when I remember them.  Some of my family seem to enjoy them.

With our world seemingly in chaos, I find it soothing to look back in time.  There is much to be learned.

Taking the Weekend Off

 One of the things I really enjoy doing in my retirement is researching my family tree.  And ornery old lady that I am, I find it fun to unearth the reprobates.  Not surprisingly, my ancestry has quite a few!

Today I find myself in the middle of research and I really want to continue, so I am spending the rest of my weekend diving into my gene pool!

While busy with that, I am making sure to pray for those caught in the eye of the storm we have been hearing about.  Here in Minnesota the temps are up from last evening's minus 18 degrees.  Still in the minus column, but better than it was.

Take care and stay safe.  See you all on Monday.

Scam Calls

 Soon after I retired, the scam calls began.  Seems they want to separate me from my Social Security money using a variety of silly reasons.  As long as I can't seem to stop the calls, this morning I decided to have a little fun with it.  The goal was to get them to hang up on me.

There are those who call me by name.  So those I told that she had died 3 days ago and nobody could talk to them until after the funeral.  CLICK.

Some try to sell me home improvement items.  New windows.  New house siding.  Other various and assorted items.  So when they ask if I am the home owner, I proudly tell them that yes, I am the owner of the pretty blue tent pitched down along the riverbank.  CLICK.

Then there are the ones who offer "End of Life" insurance.  I let them run through all of the stellar benefits for me and my family.  And when they ask my age to see if I qualify, I tell them I am 97 years old.  CLICK.

And then there is the ever popular "Car Warranty" scam.  Let them go through their script right up to the place where they asked the make and model of my car.  When I told them that I do not own a car, CLICK.  

Sometimes you just need to make your own fun!

I Want My Country Back

 I understand that I am officially a cranky old lady.  Come summer, God willing, I will hit the 80 year mark.  I am truly amazed that I have lasted this long.

But having acheived cranky old lady status and apparently having brain cells that still work, I have memories.  Lots of them.

I remember when kids could play outdoors all day without needing an adult holding their hands.  My friends and I rode our bikes all over town, played at the local park and in winter, ice skated at the local ice rink 5 blocks from my home.  And when we heard my friend Larry's mother call him (Lovely lady.  Voice could be heard 3 blocks away.) we all knew it was time to go home.  (Grin)

I remember when one of the neighbors would have his car parked in the driveway, hood up, trying to figure out what might be wrong with the engine.  And there would always be a couple of the neighbor men, leaning on the fenders, offering advice.

The ladies often met to sip coffee, nibble cookies and share gossip.  For a time I recall my mother and the neighbor ladies meeting once a month in what they called "The Fat Ladies Club."  None were fat, but all had senses of humor.  Hence the name.

Evenings spent on front porches with friends were common.  I can still taste the lemonade and homemade gingersnaps.

There was a time as a teenager when I would go with a couple of friends for lunch at a small family restaurant in the downtown part of my town.  I am told that harassment is common in those areas now.

I can't recall any place - city or rural areas - that we were afraid to go.  Now I am positive that I would not enter any downtown area of any city without protection.

I realize that the past years are not all bunnies and roses.  We had protests against the VietNam war.  There was a movement to insure civil rights for all.

But even then, our country wasn't so full of entitled people, those who don't seem interested in working but would rather live off taxpayers, those who don't seem to think they are responsible for their actions, and so many full of just plain hatred.

Yep.  I really do want my country back.

Why We Prepare

My son and his family visited me last week.  Always a joy!  During the conversation one of my adult granddaughters remarked that I was the most prepared person she knows.  And that got me to thinking about why this lifestyle is so important to me. 

Many moons ago when my 4 children were young, I found myself in a bad place.  Single Mom.  My job disappeared.  The bills continued.  We were living in a house that was on a plot of land where a garden could not be planted.  Hills and pine forest don't work well for planting seeds.

Before I could get our lives back under control, I ran out of food.  There is little more terrifying than to have hungry children and nothing to feed them.

I loaded my kids into the car.  We drove the few miles to my aunt and uncle's house.  It was late in the afternoon.  I knew that my aunt would insist we stay for supper.

The fact that my kids could eat outweighed the humiliation of not being able to take care of them myself.

Thankfully, things changed for the better right away.  Found another job.  Bought groceries.  Fed my family.

But then I did one more thing.  I moved.

Found an old farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere.  It was affordable.  It had a huge garden area.  It had a shed to house chickens.  There was an old car sitting on the property.  A friend spotted it and said he sure could use that rusted out car for parts.  Worked out a deal where he got the car and I got a milk cow.  Kids now had a source of milk and cream and butter.

You do what you have to do.  To this day, more years later than I care to count, I still feel like if one of my kids or grands or great-grands came to me hungry and I had nothing to feed them, I think it might break this old heart.

Those of us who are living this lifestyle, for that is exactly what preparedness is, have a story.  Most of us have gone through circumstances that brought us to this place.  Whatever the reason, the decision to prepare for bad times is one of the best deccisions we can make.

  

Bat Guano Crazy

 It seems that we are there.  Common sense has left the building and is replaced by insanity.

I live in Minnesota.  My apartment is located in a western suburb of Minneapolis.  So far, things seem quiet here.  But for how long?

I have been watching the local news concerning the events, including all of the deportation efforts.  And I am having a hard time understanding all of the objections to removing criminals from our country.  Seems to me that when a person decides to break our laws the minute they step onto United States soil, that person should not be surprised when they have to go back where they came from.

But what bothers me the most is the raw hatred of many of our citizens.  Minnesota nice?  Really?  The Minnesota Nice thing used to be true.  It still is outside the cities.  I am sure there are still good people living in Minneapolis.  Sadly, those are not the ones we hear about.  We hear about those who have stolen vast amounts of money from the rest of us.  We hear about those who do everything in their power to prevent law enforcement from rounding up the criminals.  And we hear the wailing of those who haven't yet figured out that if one plays stupid games like trying to run over officers, chances are pretty good they will win stupid prizes.

I have tried all my life to be a person who is fair, especially with those of different ethnicities.  Gowing up in the era of the Civil Rights Movement made me more aware.  But now I find that it is not the race of people I am angry with, but those who think it is OK to move into my state and steal billions of dollars from our citizens.

That ticks me off!

As does those who think it is OK to do everything in their power to prevent law enforcement from doing their jobs.  I'm pretty sure that some would want law enforcement to do their jobs if a crisis arose in their lives.  But not in this case. 

It is my prayer that the obnoxious Minnesota leaders - the ones who caused this mess in the first place - be put into handcuffs and orange jumpsuits, for that is exactly where they belong.