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| Entry # 95
(five more to go for the big #100)
Three Things I Am Thankful For:
~~ 1. LATEST VISITORS AT CHURCH: First set of visitors were Tom and LuAnn on last Wednesday night. (I DIDN’T take photos of them!!! I didn’t think about it until we were on our way home from services UGH! That is the second time on a Wednesday night, I forgot to take pictures in such a short time. So now the Woodys will have to come back as well as the Greens). 2nd SET OF VISITORS: This past Sunday we were blessed with the fellowship of the Armstrong family. It was good to see Dennis, Pat and Ann again. They were vacationing here in my litle city. I did take pictures, but it is in a film camera . . . maybe to be developed in a few weeks.
~~ 2. TONY SNOW. I am glad that I got to know him as a talk show host as well as a White House speaker. He did many guest appearances with radio station WLS in the morning on a regular basis before taking the White House job. The hosts Don and Roma got to be really good friends with him and I looked forward to the 15 minutes or so he would spend with them each week during those times Even after he left the news, talk show, and White House duties, Tony would come on WLS once in a while. He would have been one famous person I would have enjoyed meeting. From what I have heard he was one good guy and not a disappointment to meet in person. His death on Friday (correction: that should be Saturday), came as very sad news to me.
~~ 3. NO NEED TO BUY A NEW MICROWAVE. See below.
~~ A strange thing happened the other day. I put in a small pizza in the microwave and after the cooking time took it out and it was barely warm and still completely frozen in the middle. I tried this 3 times and still it was cold. Oh, no, I was thinking, we are going to have to buy a new microwave. About 20 minutes later, all our power in the house went out. It was out in the whole neighbourhood. The next day, I tried the microwave again and it was working perfectly fine and has since. So it must have had something to do with the electric company, maybe they had a lower output or something. It may be if the power is low that a microwave doesn’t work? Is that possible? Seems kind of weird.
~~ Below photo: Know what this is?
According to the man at the "Midwest Appliance" store that sells all different types of appliance parts this is the last one in the world. Isn’t that amazing? I kind of doubt that is true . . . though I was beginning to wonder when we couldn’t find one.
One more clue to this mystery item, Richard Garbi used it one time when he was a young boy when he stayed at our house. And I posted a photo of him using what it is connected to.
Know what it is now?
A few empty spaces to make you guess while you scroll 
It is a foot control pump for our Maytag wringer washing machine! You pump it with your foot to make the wringers turn so you can run your clothes through it. The one for our machine had really fallen apart and hardly any air could get through it to make it work. I have been having a difficult time with it for a couple of years now. It (and me) had a hard time working and hard on the foot as I had to keep trying to force air into the little pump as well as duct tape around the pump. Lots of duct tape. Dad was going to try to fix it but when he tried taking the tape off to look at the pump it just collapsed in deterioration.   He tried putting another little pump on to it, but that was only worse as the wringer would only go a couple of inches at a time as this pump let too much air in.
Luckily, we found the last place Dad got one to replace previously, through the internet and Dad called them up and they had one though they had to look for it and called us back about five hours later. Before that, Dad couldn’t find his papers, receipts from that company in his filing cabinet. Dad saves and organizes his appliance papers, forms and such. He is very organized, so he was kind of upset he couldn’t find the papers or remember their name. Anyway, while he went golfing I decided to look in his filing cabinet under M for Maytag since it wasn’t under W for washing machine and sure enough there it was. I should have looked for it myself sooner. I looked up the name on the internet it indicated the business had moved across the street of where they were and had changed phone numbers since we last used them.
We had tried finding a pump of some sort elsewhere but couldn’t find anything. However a funny moment did happen while we were at Home Depot. I asked a worker if they had any sort of foot or hand pump and told him what it would be used for he was astonished there were washing machines like that. He had never heard of a wringer washing machine. Needless to say this was a VERY YOUNG man. He asked me if I really put clothes through wringers. He seemed interested in how it works. Before he directed me to an older worker in the store, that was suppose to know everything, he said that I must have a washing machine that was a classic.
Last thoughts about this wringer foot pump. The little pumps were all the same material but sure different in price as the years have gone by. From Dad’s receipts:
the first replacement pump in 1992 cost $12;
in 2000, $20;
in 2008, $30.00.
~~ I’ve enjoyed all the camp out pictures and stories on the Xanga sites. Thank you campers, one and all for posting them.
~~ Back to the wilds of Chicago: A few weeks ago, they found a 5 foot American alligator swimming in the Chicago River. Some men were on their lunch break, eating their food by the river when they saw the reptile swimming by. At first they couldn't believe it. They called the police who in turn called animal control (they aren't equipped for this kind of animal) who in turn called a father and son team of the herpetological society that handles this sort of stuff. One of the reporters on television said when his boss said to get down to "Bubbly Creek," (what they call that area because it once was "a churning sewer for the city's slaughterhouses,") he thought it was some sort of hoax, but sure enough it was a real alligator.
They think it was someone's pet that either was released because it was too big or escaped and found the river. Alligators are illegal to have as pets in Illinois. The animal behaviourist believes that the alligator was recently released as it is unlikely to be able to survive Chicago winters. This alligator weighs about 45 pounds and is a five year old female, when mature she will be between 10 and 12 feet in length. The wildlife people are planning to send it to some sort of sanctuary in one of the southern states where they living naturally. Yesterday, it was reported on the news another alligator was discovered in one of the rivers in one of the towns outside of Chicago. They showed photos of it swimming. They figure it too is a pet that was released. They are hoping to catch the 4 foot alligator in a alligator trap . . . laced with bloody chicken meat.
One more animal story. Sixteen of our stingrays in the Brookfield Zoo exhibit died due to some unknown reason of the temperature going up 10 degrees. That is about half of the stingrays the zoo has. They don't know why the controlled (doesn't sound controlled) went up in degrees like that. They are checking with ComED (our electric company in this area) and their own security and ComEd is checking too.
~~ That’s it for now. Until then . . . it’s popsicle season again. Aren’t you glad they don’t make bloody chicken meat popsicles? or for that matter alligator or stingray flavour?
 Bye-Bye for now 
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| Entry #94
Three Things I Am Thankful For:
~~ 1. COOL DAYS AMONG THE HOT DAYS. It was wonderful today.
~~ 2. RECOVERING FROM MOSQUITO BITES. Last week I got 17 more mosquito bites as I finished planting my tomato plants. You will recall from a previous post I wasn’t feeling so good after ONE bite. So needless to say I wasn’t feeling too good, but much better now. Yesterday when I worked out in the yard I put on long sleeve shirt, long pants and sprayed with bug killer with deet (thank you, Wendy. I made sure it had deet in it).
~~ 3. LIGHTNING BUGS. Or do you say fireflies? It is lovely to see them come out when it gets dark now.
~~ BEING NUMBER 1 . . .
Being first is not always the best. Chicago now has the highest sales tax in the whole country. A whopping 10.25%. The old adage is true . . ."if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say nothing at all."
~~ BEING NUMBER 1 . . .
On the other hand being first sometimes is wonderful. Here it is The Fourth of July and the White Sox and Cubs are both in first place. Three more months to hold on. This is the best chance in a long time both teams may have a chance to make it together to the World Series.
~~ Below are a couple of photos of two of the Woody’s who visited us a few weeks ago. This is the last I have of our recent visitors that I remembered to take photos of. I just got these developed so that is why so much time has passed by. Definitely will have to look into a digital cam one of these days.
Candace posed so sweet for me that I had to post the first one on the left and I hope she doesn’t mind. And of course, Candace with her dad, Tom, (he had just had a chemo treatment that day).
~~ I think I must be losing my mind or maybe it is this, ( I’ve heard on the news) when a woman has hot flashes her memory isn’t as sharp as it normally is. Well, here’s why: Sunday at our women’s class, after church services we were discussing Pilate’s (the guv...not the exercise  ) wife and her dream that Pilate should not get involved with Jesus. And for some reason I got it in my head that one of the official wives that Paul came into contact had a dream or vision like Mrs. P. Like a goof, I mentioned it and of course nobody else knew what I was talking about. I came home and looked it up and as might be expected I couldn’t find it. I don’t know why I thought that. Is my brain going? Or can I use the hot flash excuse?
~~ Below are a few of the photos I took at Christy W’s wedding. I didn’t take as many as I would have liked to, but these came out okay and I am happy with what I got.
Above: Christy and Tom K. saying their vows. Her brother, Bryan W. performed the wedding. Notice all the rose petals on the floor.
Above: Husband and wife. Matron of honour, Christy’s sis Lisa on her right. Notice the bubbles floating around.
Above: Coming down the aisle as man and wife.
Above: The joyful bride and groom make their entrance into the reception.
Above: Yummy cake, that was decorated with shells (beach theme), and orchids . . . you knew there had to be orchids.
Above: The youngest of the Ernie and Irene Finney's grandchildren, Joshua W and his fiancé Shayne. In August, these two are planning to be the next bride and groom.
~~ Well, hope all of you are having a wonderful holiday time week and a BLISSFUL, BLESSFUL AND SAFE FOURTH OF JULY.
Until then . . . remember what responsibilities freedom demands.
 So long for now!
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| Entry #93
3 Things I Am Thankful For:
~~ 1. THE OSCAR MEYER WIENER MOBILE. On the way home from church services yesterday as we were entering the expressway the wiener mobile passed by. So cool to see it again. I was hoping to get a photo of it, but that is one fast hot dog!
~~ 2. Our RECENT VISITORS to church services: BOB AND VIOLET; TOM AND CANDACE, DAN AND GAYLENE AND GRANDSONS, STEVEN, DEVIN AND LOGAN. (Gaylene...please correct if I have spelled their names wrong. . . or worse wrote the wrong name).
~~ 3. HOLE PUNCHERS. I’m glad they were invented.
~~ The first two thankful items above doesn’t necessarily reflect the order of importance  We have been really glad of our Wednesday visitors as our attendance as sunk to very low numbers due to various things (graduations, vacations, visitations, etc). Two weeks ago we had about 13 people including our two visiting Woodys and last week we had 11 people including our 5 visiting Greens. Since the only children that were there last week were the Green’s grandchildren, Gaylene asked if she could have them as she doesn’t get to spend time with them. So that was really nice she had the opportunity to do so. Anyway, hopefully, this week our attendance will be better with members and maybe a plus with visitors.
~~ I am not writing much about Tom’s chemo/nutritionist treatments while he was up here because I think Little_red_hen will be able to write a more interesting report and then the added features of photos when she is able to. PLEASE note the way LRH’s xanga site is written. I hope that I didn’t send someone to a different xanga site than LuAnn’s that was not the best to view. I am sorry if I did. Anyway, I know the treatments were somewhat tiring and nauseous for Tom, but not as bad as I have heard for regular chemo. It seems tho’ right after the treatments he had more energy and I am wondering if that has something to do with the sugar fix he gets right after going into a very low blood sugar state. Anyway, I am glad he is getting some sort of treatment and will keep him and the family in my prayers for a full recovery, if it be the Lord’s will.
~~ Well, I got my first mosquito bite of the season while working in the backyard. The bite is puffed up and reddish and I feel kind of puffed up, but then I always seem to do that when I have bitten by those nasty creatures. It could be that I am slightly allergic to them. Hopefully, no big illnesses from this batch. But with all the rain and humidity it is perfect weather for an infestation of those bugs this month. I hope all those going camping will take along something to protect themselves. I don’t know if West Nile or the encephalitis is down in that area . . . but still good to use some precaution. I don’t want to read of any of my Xanga friends and stalkers getting ill from those bugs.
~~ I was looking at an ad in the paper of L’oreal aging cream...reading the fine print. It says 67% of the women saw "skin re-densified immediately," and then the asterisk. It is based on . . . get this 51 woman. 51! That means about 34 women are deciding what works for women.
~~ I had the children’s Bible class two Sundays ago. The children’s ages ranged from 14 to about 7 or 8, but only had five children. We studied the Cities of Refuge. Hopefully, they got something out of it. After reading about it from the Bible and colouring and boxing off the cities on a paper map, we made a map on the floor. I had cut out some blue plastic to use as the Jordan River, Sea of Galilee and Dead Sea and on 12 pieces of cardboard 12 Israelite cities’ names on pieces of cardboard, 6 with the Cities of Refuge names. Then I had the children make the map with those pieces on the floor. They did a good job of it.
Then I had them pretend, (so to get a better understanding of what the cities of refuge meant) some make-believe cases. One would be the person who did the killing, one the victim, both standing on one of the cities. When the one had "killed" the other, he (she) had to go to a city of refuge and then plead their case before a couple of "elders." Meanwhile, the avenger of blood waited. We did about three cases and I think this help make it more realistic in the thinking of how this judicial system worked. I just gave them a few basics of the account and they used their imagination to work out the story before the elders.
An interesting note on this. After we had put the map on the floor a BIG ant made an entrance carrying a dead ant. This of course brought some excitement to the class. Some wanted to kill it right away, but I said wait a minute and see where it goes. It was funny as it dropped its booty of the dead ant when the kids pounded on the floor by it. It ran to a few of the cardboards and then tried to hide under the Dead Sea (the plastic was up a bit). We shook it and it ran over the Jordan River (ahhhh . . . crossing the Jordan . . . a prophetic sign) and then it ran back. The kids were all in on wanting it killed. And so I let them. It died just outside of "Shechem". . . one of the cities of refuge.
~~ Hoping your summer is going well and that the torrential rains, storms and floods are over for now. I’m so very sorry for those who were adversely affected by these recent calamities.
~~ Well, that is about it for now . . . ~~ until then . . . here’s something to think about when you put on your sandals. The sandals on the Statue of Liberty is in the standard woman's measurement, size 879. Wow! And you thought you had big feet.
~~ Stay cool ! ~~
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| Entry #92
3 Things I Am Thankful For:
~~ 1. EVELYN PAUST. I am glad that I met her and that she had come into my life.
~~ 2. TOM WOODY’s good PET scan report. See LRH’s site (that’s Little Red Hen for the uninformed) for more details. I don’t understand tho’ if he should decide to take chemo why his health insurance won’t pay for any part of that. That in itself is VERY disturbing. Anyone got any suggestions? (Please e-mail me if you haven’t got a xanga account).
~~ 3. JOHN WOODY’s real mail and really neat stuff in his big brown envelope. Thank you John. I loved seeing your certificate of your flying adventure. Guess you and your son, CCT are now both certified (in different areas, also see a LRH’s earlier post).
~~ I know this news is on the late side, but then I haven’t posted for a while. The mother of Carol K, Evelyn Paust passed away on Wednesday May 7. She was a very interesting and good woman and I was glad to know her. I didn’t realize she had ten brothers and sisters. She was two months short of being 96 years old.
Below, is a photo of Evelyn:
What made Evelyn’s death a bit unusual was that Carol was talking on the phone to her when she passed away. Carol had called Evelyn (who lived in a small town in Wisconsin) and they were having a pleasant chat about the garden, birds singing, etc., when Evelyn said she wasn’t feeling well at all and Carol said, "Mom, sit down," and then there was no more answer. Carol redialed but the phone had a busy signal. She then tried to reach her brother who lives in that area but couldn’t get a hold of him, so she contacted the emergency people. In a small town like that, Carol knew the emergency worker and he went in to the house (doors were unlock) and went in and found that Evelyn had died, in the chair holding the phone.
The funeral was in Wisconsin. Carol arranged it so it was like her mother would have wanted. If you knew Evelyn, you know what I mean. Carol got a church of Christ preacher in the area to come do the funeral. Evelyn had not been able to attend the congregation where she was a member due to her illnesses and no transportation. The congregation where she had attended had dwindled down to where it was only a handful of women meeting. An interesting note: they would play cassette tapes from the Itasca congregation that had been taped of our Gospel meetings and listen and learn from them. Evelyn would continue on her own to listen to them when she could no longer go to services. (Another side note: sometimes it seems some get annoyed that a tape recorder is playing or that it has to be turned on, but as you see, it can serve as a very useful spiritual tool).
Back to the funeral: it was arranged to have accapella singing. Carol’s siblings weren’t so sure about that, but it turned out that it went over very well, and all that attended who didn’t know the hymns, sang along with those that knew the songs. Carol said that was a great influence on those who attended.
~~ We are going to have a memorial service Sunday, at the church for Otis T incorporated into Dad’s lesson. We have done this with a couple of others our members who have passed on. It is more for the church as well as the family and I think it is beneficial. I can’t believe it’s been almost a month now since he has been gone. This is the plan for the services:
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Introduction: Sydney Lee
Obituary: Joe Mikos
Song #485 "Does Jesus Care?" – Song leader: Brian Juergensmeyer
Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:1-4 Justin Wheeler
Eulogies read by Sydney Lee submitted by:
#1..... Irene Finney, Patrick and Melinda Funke
#2..... Bryan and Kellie Wheeler
#3..... Vikram and Sue Reddy
#4..... Martha Lee
#5..... Sydney Lee
Song # 402 "God Shall Wipe Away All Tears"
Prayer: Vikram Reddy
Song # 405 "No Disappointment in Heaven"
Sermon: Sydney Lee
Scripture for the lesson includes: Romans 12:15; Psalm 62: 1; Psalm 23:4; 2 Cor. 1:3-4; Romans 8:28; Romans 8:32; Psalm 57:1-2; Rev. 21:1-4; Psalm 23:6
Closing Prayer: Bobby Darling
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~~ On Mother’s Day our car was attacked by an errant canopy tent. We were at church on that day and it was a windy day. When we came out, the church building’s neighbour’s canopy tent and frame was hitting against our car.  It had blown half way over and it had cracked our windshield, cracked the frame holding the windshield and made dents on the hood, roof and trunk. One of the members called the police for us and he came out after finishing another police case. He called in and filed a report. The neighbours weren’t home. We left a message on the door for them.
Dad called his insurance company and we went in a day later. They gave Dad a check for the cost of the repairs....hold on to your hats....$3700 worth of damage and it would take at least 7 working days to fix. Meanwhile, the neighbour called and said that his insurance would contact us and also that he would like to pay for the deductible and the rental car, but he wanted Dad to sign a paper that he wouldn’t sue him. Dad decided not to do that as many people told him that would take it out of the hands of insurance (including me . . . but I was glad others jumped up and were very adamant about not doing that), and we might end up paying not only the rental and deductible but the cost of the repairs.
Oh, and we got a letter from the neighbour’s insurance company saying they weren’t going to pay anything because the accident was an "act of nature." Dad called his insurance and told them about it and they told him to send them a copy of the letter. So we don’t know if Dad will get back any money from the deductible or the rental. So far we are at the 10th day of the rental...at about $24 a day. Hopefully, we can get it today, they are to let us know this afternoon . . . otherwise, since it is a holiday weekend not until Tuesday, another four days. What a headache to the mind and pocketbook. Sorry no pictures...no digital camera yet. I did take a couple of photos with my 35mm film. It’s at the beginning of the roll so I should have that developed sometime by autumn Maybe by then it will seem more amusing.
~~ On the more trivia side, I think I am going to part my hair on the other side of what is usually done. The side that had the part on seems to be flattening out more and more even after curling. It could be as I age I am losing more hair . . .sure hope I don’t lose too much of it.
~~ Guess that is it for now. When I start talking about my hair I know it is time to go. Until then . . . oh. . . here’s something not going up in price. While the first class stamp went up to 42 cents for the first ounce, the 2nd ounce remains the same at 17 cents, so it is still 6 cents cheaper than when they had originally had the 2nd ounces or more at 23 cents. Do you suppose the government hasn’t realized this yet?  Shhhhh, don’t let this get out.
Have a good day!
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| Entry #91
(9 more to go for the next milestone. Think I can make it this year?)
Three Things I Am Thankful For:
~~ 1. MELDA INGLE’S SUCCESSFUL SURGERY. I heard she came home already. Anymore update?
~~ 2. CHEAP DIET COLA AND A HEAD COLD TOGETHER. I can actually drink that stuff when I have a cold because my taste buds can’t tell. Save on money that way.
~~ 3. LACE. It’s pretty.
~~ When Kimber was here, I was telling her that it seems that I don’t get as many as visitors since Xanga put it in that the notices go out in email and the page thats reads subscriptions, (thanks Kumquat, I finally found what you were talking about). After last week, I got quite a lot more than enough. That’s not the way I want people coming to my site. Oh, a short mention on the funeral, there were over 1200 people there. I wouldn’t be good at crowd estimations as I thought oh, about 400 hundred or so. He was real active with his community and school not to mention having a very big family.
~~ On to some more cheerful news. I forgot to mention some of our latest visitors from other church of Christ’s from other parts of the country that came here within the last three months. I just got my film developed and that reminded me. Here are a few photos that I was able to take of some of them.
Below: John O’Hara from New Mexico and Don Bolinger from Martinsville, Indiana.
They both gave a lesson when each visited. J ohn is Emmett’s son. And I can’t tell you how many years it’s been since Don was here. The week that John came here might have been the week CountryGal could have visited us too, but unfortunately plans didn’t work out so she and the boys couldn’t come. It was probably a good thing they didn’t try as the lesson got started about 15 minutes late (setting up a powerpoint display) and it ran over 30 minutes than the usual time. Poor CountryGal might have missed her bus to go back home and had to stay here. Hmmm, not a bad thought tho’ I suspect she would miss her country life not to mention Alvin.
Below are: Kenneth and Erlene Long from Indiana. Glad they came as it was too long since we last saw them.
Kenneth half closed his eyes, so that means he has to come back and get his photo retaken. Those of you who see the Longs you have to tell them that.
Below: Cathy Manning and Rachael, Becky and Jeremy Whitrock. from California.
It’s been six years since I’ve seen Cathy and 10 years since Rachael was up here for the summer meeting! When Cathy walked in I thought that lady looks an awful like her . . .guess I couldn’t believe my eyes it was her.
I have a photo of Brandon Tutterow, who also came for Zach’s graduation from Great Lakes but Brandon didn’t want me to post it on here, (I guess? Not sure if he was serious). Anyway, you will have to take my word for it his two photos came out nice. He said the second one I took of him would have people talking. Ha! Ha! Do you wonder what it was ? Well, you will just have to ask him about it.
~~ Know what these are? ~~
Flat pennies. Or as the Wright family calls them smashed pennies, (I didn’t realize there were two names for them). So that can only mean it’s time for some Navy Pier pictures and those fine people from Kansas. For those who are new to Xanga, every time I go to Navy Pier I get some flat pennies. Next time I go there I will have to take a picture of one of the machines.
Below: The steps leading up to the upper ground where the Ferris wheel is. On the steps assorted Wrights on the upper part of the stairs.
Below: The Wrights getting ready to go on the Ferris wheel. A photographer is always there and takes photos. They want you to buy it when you get off the ride. I think it is $10.
After they got off the Ferris wheel. Good pose and almost everyone looked at the camera.
And below on the left photo, the Wrights are, at the end of the pier, with the lighthouse in the background. I think they just said prayer and were beginning to eat lunch...
The sea gulls would swoop down by us, (Photo on right). So we gave them our apple cores when we had finished eating the apples that Carol K so kindly supplied them with. I was surprised that the sea gulls really liked the fruit. One sea gull flew to the top of one of the picnic table and I walked over with my core, and held it in my hand towards him. He walked over to about two feet from me, but just couldn’t make himself take it from my hand. As soon as I sat it down on the table, and stepped back one or two steps, he grabbed it and flew to the ground on the other side of the table.
There are more photos, and more news on the Navy Pier experience but I thought maybe Kimber might want to post them.
Guess that is it for now. . . Until then . . . Better buy your "Forever" stamps now if you want to save a penny per stamp. First class postage goes up one cent next week. 
TTFN
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