The weather is improving, and it is warming up. Today is Arbor Day. We will be working this Saturday in our church’s new contemplative garden laying edging pavers and laying out garden beds. The irrigation system went in on the 26th.
How do you plan to commemorate Arbor Day? Any yard work or green thumb projects planned?
In early June our church handbell choir has a gig in Jamestown, ND at a regional convention of the Eastern Star. Our director is active in the Eastern Star, hence our invitation to provide entertainment. My grandmother was a member of the Eastern Star, as my grandfather was a Shriner. I always thought of the Eastern Star as the old ladies who swept up behind the Shriners and Masons. Our handbell director insists that they are quite independent of the Shriners. I sometimes accompanied my grandmother when she cleaned and straightened up the Masonic Lodge in town. She didn’t seem too independent to me, but perhaps times have changed.
I note that today in history in 1819, the Oddfellows were founded. My grandfather belonged to the Oddfellows, too, as was my Uncle Harvey. I have my grandfather’s Oddfellow sword. It is very sharp and you could run someone through with it. My father was a Mason, but in late life left the Lodge because he thought some of his fellow Masons had been rude to my mother. The men in my mother’s family never joined fraternal groups, as that was frowned upon by the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church.
In our town we have the usual fraternal groups such as the Knights of Columbus, the Elks, the Rotary, and the Optimists. In Winnipeg I noticed a sign for an interesting group called the Zontas, I never figured out what they did. Fraternal groups are fading. We have a big Elks Club building here that sports a restaurant, bar, and space for parties and receptions, The Elks decided they couldn’t keep it going as it was, and leased out the entire top floor, including the restaurant and bar areas to the local Apostolic Pentecostal Church. I think it is a delightful combination. The Elks will carry on and drink and eat in the basement, while the Pentecostals will pray and repent upstairs.
Did you have family members who belonged to fraternal organizations? Make up a fraternal organization that you would be willing to join.
My father had a coffee shop and gas station where all the local working guys and sheriff’s deputies came for lunch. He also had a car wash that took up a lot of his time cleaning and maintaining. We had buckets of quarters from the car wash proceeds that my mom dutifully counted and rolled up preparatory to taking them to the bank. This was before the days of automatic coin counters.
My dad was pretty fussy about how his business looked, but he rarely, if ever, washed any of our vehicles. It was fine with him if I took a notion to wash the car ( I remember a brown Olds Cutlass) and polish it in the driveway, but it never at our own car wash. It was a waste of our money, in his mind. It was fine, and probably expected, that other people should wash their cars in his car wash, but not us. My dad had funny ideas about spending money.
I resist going to our local car washes until the dirt on our vehicles reaches critical mass. Husband likes to keep his truck clean. I could care less. I think I still hear my dad’s voice in my head saying “Car washes are for rubes. Don’t waste your money”. Like him, I am prone to fuss over small charges and not blink at larger expenditures.
What parental spending habits have you retained or rejected in your own adult life?
Today’s post comes from Crystalbay
I don’t have a whole lot of memories about childhood, but my brother hasn’t forgotten a single conversation, event, image, or visual of all of those years. I wish I could. Just imagine having every aspect of childhood in a file drawer in you brain?
When scrolling through old pictures, I found these two. In the first one, Steve and I are sitting with our beloved pets. Bobo, only three months old, and Timmy, who lived 21 years. Timmy was my only best friend until I left home. Bobo didn’t last too long. He had a habit of eating any shoe in sight and trampling our neighbors flower gardens. In an effort to block him from going upstairs to eat more shoes, Dad constructed a tall gate at the bottom of the stairs. This 180-pound dog took one look at it, leaned into it with his weight, and it went crashing down. He ended up at someone’s farm. It broke my heat.
The second photo is one of us, dressed up by home-sewn alpine costumes and all set to go to a “Best Dog” competition. We were certain he’d win – especially given our apparel tying into the theme of a rescue dog. All he got was the “Longest Tail” prize.
Who was the greatest pet in your childhood?
I used to be part of a psychology department at my agency with four other psychologists. We had our own secretary who scheduled our appointments, administered the paper and pencil tests to our clients, scored our tests, and typed our reports.
I am now the only full time psychologist at our agency. We lost our secretary position, and my departmental support staff duties have been divvied up between the remaining support staff. I rely on one person to schedule my evaluations, one to type my letters, one to score my tests, and two others who take turns typing my evaluations. I administer all my own tests now. They all do a great job and I am grateful for each one.
It is Administrative Assistants Day on April 25. That means that I need to do something special for all five of the people who take such good care of me. If there is one thing I have learned in the nineteen years I have worked at my agency, it is that it is really important to keep the support staff happy and let them know how much they are appreciated. They work hard and keep things going. I complained to our assistant regional director that it really isn’t fair that I have so many administrative assistants to keep happy when some people only have one. She just laughed at me. I have decided to bake four kinds of shortbread for them. Husband decided that he had people on the reservation to thank for the administrative work they do for him, so he decided it would be just the thing if I made a chocolate cheesecake that he could take up with him, along with any of the shortbread that I don’t bring to work. It is a good thing I like to bake. I know he appreciates it.
How do you show people you appreciate them? How have people let you know they appreciate you? When haven’t you been appreciated?
I had to go to work an hour early yesterday, well before the agency opened. My agency is housed in a six story former college dorm. It is surrounded by tall spruce and pine trees. I noticed a small hawk in the top of one of the spruces as I approached the front door. It was making a real racket, screeching and flapping its wings. I heard its cry all day as it harassed the flock of crows that also hang out in the tall trees. It zoomed past my window a couple of times. I am not sure if it was a Kestrel or a Merlin. We have both of them here. Work has been pretty stressful, and that little hawk was a real day brightener for me. I hope it is nesting nearby and I get to see it all spring.
What has been a day brightener for you lately?
In 1950, one out of every twenty people needed a license to engage in their profession or occupation. Today, one out of every three people need such a license. Folks with a libertarian mind set see this as government overreach. They may be correct. Others see this as a natural result of the development of technology and/or the result of increasing instances of harm to the public by unscrupulous practitioners. They may be correct, too.
Regulation of any profession requiring a license is a balancing act. Regulatory boards are most often comprised of of individuals who are active practitioners of the professions they regulate. As a member of such a board, you have to balance the need to protect the public interest without restricting trade. Sometimes boards fail at this. Recently, a Board of Dentistry in a southern US state sent cease and desist letters to businesses in malls that were offering teeth whitening services. The teeth whiteners protested, and the case ended up in the Supreme Court. The Court agreed with the teeth whiteners, and stated that the dentists were only concerned with profit for dentists, not with the public interest. This has spurred an anti-regulatory movement, which complicates things for we who are really concerned with the public interest as well as with economic growth.
The problem with regulation is that no one wants it until they want it. If you recall, there were some hot air ballooning accidents last summer, and the immediate reaction was “Why weren’t these balloon companies regulated?!” I attended a conference of regulatory boards for my own profession last week I learned that, in Washington State, boxing announcers must be licensed. That struck me as one of the funniest things I had heard in a long time. I have no idea why that type of license is necessary. Government is the great equalizer, as 45 has yet to understand. No one is above the law. The tension for regulation is uncomfortable, but necessary, in my opinion.
What laws would you pass if you could? What laws would you strike down? Why do you think boxing announcers need to be licensed?
We are in Savannah now. The weather is sunny and in the 70′ and 80’s. I am stuck in meetings all day, so husband spent our first day exploring the historic area of Savannah by himself. He took a trolley ride that took him all over the city with a tour guide who explained the sights and scenes. Then he explored a little on his own. I like guided tours. I know some people like to explore on their own. There is sure a lot to see here.
How do you like to get to know a place? Any memorable guides who you have encountered
Two years ago, husband and I bought cow pots (containers made from cow manure), in which to start our vegetable seedlings. It certainly made sense, since they were advertised to fertilize the plants while they were getting started. Then the plants could be put in the garden pot and all, so they would continue to be fertilized as they grew outside.
They sure didn’t work the way the ads said they would. We had the most pitiful seedlings the last two years. (It didn’t help that last year the cat ate all the pepper seedlings before we could get them in the ground.) The seedlings started out fine, but 6 weeks after of germination their growth came to a stand still as the roots made contact with the pot, and they languished until we got them out of the pots and into the ground. It dawned on us that the manure that made up the pots was too rich and “hot” for the seedlings to tolerate. We should have known, since we put composted manure on the garden in the fall so it has a chance to really rot and cool down over the winter. The cow pots were too much of a good thing. This year we used plastic pots to start the seedlings, and they are the best we have ever started.
When have you experienced too much of a good thing? When has a product (or person) not lived up you your expectations?
It is interesting living in a comunity small enough that gossip can be rampant and misinformation travels quickly . Our latest “urban legend” is that we will get 24 inches of snow on Friday. Fortunately, it isn’t true.
Tell about some urban legends you have encountered.
Trail Baboon 