Thanksgiving is about more than food

Thanksgiving!  All sorts of images, scents, and voices come to mind.

 

 

 

A few days to Thanksgiving! All the food excitement wafts through Mom's kitchen.  

The pies were cooling on our huge freezer, along with Grandma's pumpkin pudding. Mom's sisters appear with some special dishes, and the cornucopia fills the table. The eating is legend.

                                                        
All the post dinner stuff starts. My own sister and I are in the sink duty. This will last for an hour or more.

The pumpkin desert is cut and handed out to the adults. Our cows gave us cream, which mean whipped cream. Good stuff.

Next year? Who knows what will fill our plates then?

 

Jackson and his fleet of tractors

Just a Jackson thing

When people think of their most favorite thing ever, I wonder what those things would be.  Here is a young man, Jackson, who is a farmer at age 8.

Most 8 yr. olds have no idea about life, let alone tractors. Jackson is tremendous. Many seasoned farmers talk with him, ask about different tractors.  The old guys take off their caps, rub their faces, and say something like "By golly, fellers. This here boy knows more about tractors than any of us old gaffers."

 Maybe it is just me, but I love tractors. And pick-up trucks.

Jeremiah 29:11

 

God amazes me all the time.  Not just some of the time, now and then, but all the time.  His creation and miracles are undeniable: God amazes me.  

Why Jeremiah 29:11?

His love never fails. He sees tomorrow or centuries. God does not own or use a wristwatch. God gave this verse to me 1985.

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[b] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

In 1985 we had decided to sell/give every item in our house, save particular gifts the children owned. We condensed important items and toys into a crate 4ft X 5ft X 4ft.  We shut the door of our house, giving the keys to its new owner.

BUT I rush ahead.

We (husband's family company) bought and operated a hotel in Ireland. It was a mansion/manor owned by a Lord Barrymore who was granted the property. In 1769 the Lord built and lived in it.  

Somewhere in the course of Irish History the hotel w/20 acres of wooded land became a hotel. It was more work than we expected.

  When we decided to take this adventure, we lived in a city in the Mojave Desert. Moving with our 3 children was indescribably awful.  I was distraught.

That is when Jeremiah 29:11 appeared.  First it was in a drawer in the kitchen.  The second time I found it was in the a stack of papers I was collecting to recycle. God revealed so much to me in these two times.

We lived in Ireland for 4 years, sold and returned to California.  God guided us through some difficult times and choices  

He knew the plans....

The Eye of the Tiger

 

Halloween was over, the chocolate candy consumed, and empty wrappers told the tale.

Only the good stuff was eaten, leaving Tootsie pops, generic copies and Jolly Rogers in candy collecting containers. The order had been given to toss the losers away.

 

 

The challenge began when ten-year old Lily handed me a Cherry Lollipop, and kept the grape for herself.  “How many licks will it take to get to the chocolate center?”

We both looked at the candy on a stick, judged how small the round candy was, and made predictions.  Me: 75, Lily: 50.  How long would this competition take?  Me: 30 minutes, Lily (bravado of a 10 year old): 20 minutes, for sure.

Ready, steady, GO!

20 minutes in, I had done 120 (cherry). And Lily was up to 100.

25 minutes in, I was up to 200, and Lily was leading with 220.

30 minutes in, I had moved to 308, and Lily was all purple smiles at 315.

As the minutes piled up, my jaws cramped, the type of cramp one gets after eating a bag of Sweet Tarts.

We struggled with sore tongues.  “You’re going down, Grandma…”

600 to 582---653 to 690…would it ever end?

The end slipped in at 45 rough minutes.  Me: 915 and Lily: 998.

Lily danced around the kitchen, hands in the air, singing “Eye of the Tiger”.  Me?  I went to look into a mirror.  Sticking out my cherry red tongue, sweet and sour zones in the tongues had worked themselves raw.

Rule of tongue: eat all the chocolate stuff and dump the rest.  The Tootsie Pops are not a single lick, a couple of crunches, maybe.

The parameters of this game were vague.  I gathered that the more licks it took to get to the chocolate center was the winner.  It shows self control.  Whatever.  It is in poor taste to beat a grandchild who sings "Eye of the Tiger" and knows the words.

 

Office referrals aside, Tootsie pops are not ideal for classroom consumption.

 

Oh, the humanity!

WKRP was a ground breaker, simply because it was about a radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was funny and sharp, unexpected.  An abbreviation from Wikipedia:

"The ensemble cast consists of Gary Sandy (as Andy Travis), Howard Hesseman (Dr. Johnny Fever), Gordon Jump (Arthur Carlson), Loni Anderson (Jennifer Marlowe), Tim Reid (Venus Flytrap), Jan Smithers (Bailey Quarters), Richard Sanders (Les Nessman) and Frank Bonner (Herb Tarlek).[4]

The series won a Humanitas Prize[5] and received 10 Emmy Award nominations, including three for Outstanding Comedy Series. Andy Ackerman won an Emmy Award for Videotape Editing in Season 3.[6]

WKRP premiered on September 18, 1978, on the CBS television network and aired for four seasons and 90 episodes, ending on April 21, 1982. Starting in the middle of the second season, CBS repeatedly moved the show around its schedule, contributing to lower ratings and its eventual cancellation. When WKRP went into syndication, it became an unexpected success. For the next decade, it was one of the most popular sitcoms in syndication, outperforming many programs that had been more successful in prime time, including all the other MTM Enterprises sitcoms.[7]"**

 It was entertaining, each character with their own special gifts. The above segment is about an incredibly generous and stupid stunt to help citizens of Cincinnati have turkeys for Thanksgiving. The results were hilarious.

In 1978 I was immensely pregnant with our son (who was 8 lb. 5 oz. at birth) when we were introduced to this show.  As he kicked my ribs to a fare-the-well , I had something to enjoy.

                                                            Cast of WKRP

 **It is a lot easier to cut and paste, than to struggle with condensing this.

Warm Laundry and Baby Boy

Warm laundry...mmmm

 

Being intrepid did not always work in Little Man's best interests.

When Mummy turned her back, he crawled toward a vase, leading to a crash and broken glass.  Then Little Man discovered a spoon and Daddy’s iPad.  Just a few bashes resulted in a clang, a flash¸ and some loud buzzing.

Yes, being intrepid could possibly drive Mummy over an emotional cliff.

I crawled here, and stood up.  NOW what do I do?

This is a repost from 2013. Italicize underlined word are from Wednesday Words, prompts for bloggers to play with. Little Man is now12 yrs old with a little brother (now 6 yrs) who dearly loves his big brother.  We grandparents love them so much.

 

 

A Day to Remember and Honor

Going through old photos, and finding the veterans from 1800s through modern times reminds me how history is not kind. Ancestry shows so much.  

The veterans shown here range from Civil War to Korea.  There is a great-grandfather who rode with the Rough Riders; I couldn't locate his photo.                         

This is the photo taken of my grandfather before he left for France. He fought in the trenches

, sharpshooter

Lest we forget...

 

                                                     Entering and liberating a town in France

Newspaper photo of Civil War and WW1 veterans
Great-Grandfather B. Peck, 3rd row, 6th from the left;
Great-Uncle Leo Peck, front row, 2nd from the left, gun in lap 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My father in about 1942

 

 

 

 

 

God made the farmer.

 

                                                                    By Paul Harvey

Farmers are the base of food production in the world.  The Great Plains of America and the rich land of the Midwest are the sources of that food.

My childhood was spent on a farm in Illinois, where my folks farmed for about 40 years. The things I saw, did, and learned have been invaluable.

What some may not realize but farming is a 24/7 way of life. The money that goes into harvesting grain and taking care of livestock is unbelievable. Money spent on grain and feed has to provide livestock nutrition and the cost of livestock sales has to be factored into costs.

John Deere combine. Great equipment.

Deere + Massey Ferguson + International Harvester.....
 

Rising Feed $$ + Vet costs + cost of tractor equipment maintenance + fuel + unpaid labor are seen in the cost of meat. When the money is lost at the bottom of the food chain, the loss has to be made up by increasing meat costs or reducing herd numbers or both.  

Who wins in this battle?  Not the farmer.

I learned this whenever I needed a new pair of shoes or winter coat.  When you have to pay for your needs, you just get less for more money. 

So, Don't ever blame farmers for the cost of living. They are doing the best that they can, given the circumstances they face.  When a person opens a can of corn or other vegetables, the farmer was there growing them.

 Each clip is about 1 min. long.  Jackson has been in the fields since he  was in elementary school. Catch him in action at 

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Recess: a learning experience

 

 

 

        Live long             

The teachers shivered as they watched the recess horde which never ever ended. It’s death or life, lies or truth. It's them or us. Their eyes glazed around the mob, knowing that some opportunity could lead to havoc.   

Like the crack of a jump rope, a type of sizzling chemistry suddenly burst around them, exploding loose. Screw philosophy and fact. Forget about instruction, all the facts from teacher education. Clothes? Who needs them when all hell breaks loose?

Somewhere, there is an agency, somewhere that will set the playground in order. Over near the swings there would be a huddled group of people, clutching boxes of books, reading as if their lives depending on it. The agency will know how to help them all. Soon.

I wouldn’t count on help coming anytime soon

I am well versed in recess duty.  There is no joy in that place.

 The colored words are a Wednesday Word collection from ages ago. Recess memories still remain.

 

Sweetheart and Katie

 

These are 2 horses from Dr. J. Smith Thomas stable - that are buried in the southwest corner of Crescent Heights Cemetery in Pleasant Hill, IL in what is known as the Thomas Addition lies a little bit of unusual history. 

 

A one-of-a-kind marker, with faintly readable script that reads "Sweetheart" and "Katie." Altho it is not known when they died or how, Thomas purchased the memorial in November of 1905, although he owned several horses Sweetheart and Katie were his favorites. Story has it they never missed a house call with the doctor.

Crescent Heights Cemetery, Pleasant, IL

From The Pike Press April 21, 1993 - These are 2 horses from J. Smith Thomas stable - that are buried in the southwest corner of Crescent Heights Cemetery in Pleasant Hill in what is known as the Thomas Addition lies a little bit of unusual history. 

 

A one-of-a-kind marker, with faintly readable script that reads "Sweetheart" and "Katie". Although it is not known when they died or how, Thomas purchased the memorial in November of 1905, although he owned several horses Sweetheart and Katie were his favorites. Story has it they never missed a house call with the doctor.

Grandma said that these horses had the routes memorized. If Dr. Thomas fell asleep after a late night house visit, they took him home.

 

A doctor in a small rural county is a gift.  Not every town had a doctor, or even access to one.

Questions we all ask

 

There are many timeless questions that each person asks of himself:

Who am I?

Why am I here?

 

Who is God?

Why do bad things happen to good people?

 

How was the world created?

What happened to the dinosaurs?

 

What I do if there is a catastrophic event?

Why does money exist?

 

Who really is in charge of this?

Obviously this list could get pretty long.  I once considered these questions vital and important.  Once I turned my life over to God, the big questions became small and unimportant. God had it all covered.

However, I am concerned about other things, and have created a new list:

Where did I park the car?

By the way, where are the car keys?

 

Did I close the garage door?

 

What is the expiration date on _____?

 

What is that person’s name—the one approaching me with a big smile?

 

Where is the next exit off the freeway?

 

Where is the closest bathroom?

I mean it, where is the closest bathroom?

 

What is the price of this___?  The print is too small.

These are pretty basic questions, I’ll give you that.

But, they matter to me.

 

I suspect there are many readers who could add to this list.

Any other questions you would suggest?

 

This is a repost from 2011.  Sometimes when I look back at some old posts, I have two thoughts: Dang! That's pretty good and What was I thinking? Do you ever do that?