Tornadoes ripped through the state of Minnesota on Thursday. The city of Wadena was particularly hard hit. By late evening we were hearing reports that the police had barracaded their streets so that only residents could access the city. I find that rather alarming. I can understand the possibility of gawkers and looters. What I do not understand is closing off the citizens from outside assistance by family and friends. What if you had elderly parents living in the town, or a single mother with young children. It is the natural response to want to check up on them. It is also common to call on friends and family for assistance. This one might have a chain saw, or a pick-up. That one might want your fallen trees for firewood. Why should the police department be able to say you cannot enlist their help?
The more I hear about the oil spill, the angrier I get. Why would we refuse the assistance of foreign oil skimmers just because the ships were not built with Union labor? Why not let BP burn the oil, or use chemical dispersants, so that the oil does not reach land. Why not let the state of Louisiana build sand berms when and where they want? Why send the Coast Guard out to disrupt clean up for an entire day because the clean-up crews might not have life jackets? Safety is well and good, but there is a time and place for everything. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater by being so tied up in regulations that we cannot move.
Who in our congress is willing to stand up and tell President Obama that he is acting way out of constitutional bounds by placing a moratorium on gulf drilling and by demanding that BP use a third party settle damages?
Yesterday I did a long overdue scrub-down of the bathtub. It is my least favorite cleaning job, and the one most easily left undone. Left undone, it grows into a larger task as each week of soap scum clings to the walls. It requires major elbow grease to cut through the grime. Now it is done, and I wonder what happened to that young bride who set aside one day every week to clean the bathroom, dust, vaccuum, and scrub the kitchen floor. I think she has gone knitting or something.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Christian Mothers
http://www.fatherangelus.com/The national office of the Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers now sends out semi-monthly e-newsletters. They can be reached at christianmothers@consolidated.net, or at http://www.fatherangelus.com/.
Long Time No Blog
Since my last blog I have finished numerous knitted dishcloths, sewn three more Smart Bags and cut out several more, finished reading Andy Adam's Campfire Tales, become a Shaklee distributor, traveled to New Ulm, planted several annuals, and done some much needed weeding and thinning in my flower beds. I hop to figure out our new camera so I can add some pictures of my work.
Campfire Tales was a light, easy to read book. It was broken into three to four page stories, or tales, so I read one or two at a time. I found this book in one of the national park gift shops out west (probably Theodore Roosevelt Nat'l Park), and purchased it with the intention of reading it with Anne for school. We never used it as such, and in retrospect, so much the better. While the stories are told by cowboys around their evening campfires, it seems a book better read to oneself than read aloud. I enjoyed the simplicity of expression, though I did not know the meaning of all of the horse lingo, nor the geography of the trails from the 1800's.
Our annual trip to New Ulm took us to the Holiday Inn New Ulm for a first stay. We visited Domeier's, and while Papa did a tour of Schell Brewery, I paid visits to the two quilt shops and a second-hand bookshop in town. I enjoy the small quilt shops very much. I am not overwhelmed by too many fabric choices, and I feel like I am helping the local economy by my purchases. We discovered Turner Hall with its late 19th century paintings on the walls. Perhaps we will try out their lunch menu on a future visit. We drove past the Wanda Gag house, but it was not open for tour. We did a run through the Minnesota Music Museum, Arthur looking at Whoppee John, Sherwin Linton, and a few other familiar faces. The museum guide had lake cabin connections around central Minnesota, so I am sure his long chat with Arthur made his day. I looked for F. Melius Christiansen, music professor at St. Olaf who probably formed much of Mr. Engen's teaching at White Bear, but I found only the display from his induction ceremony into the Museum. I looked for more on Margie's old favorite, Johnny Holm, as well, but could not find his display. Arthur was not happy with his ribs at Wiegel's Kaiserhoff, so next time we will try Otto's restaurant at the Holiday Inn. Mama will probably like Otto's better, too, since they serve all my favorite German sides with their meals - red cabbage, German potato salad, and sauerkraut.
Marriage makes for truly strange bedfellows. I am hankering for a good pasta salad. Papa prefers potatoes. I like the pumpernickel bread, rosemary bread and popovers when we eat out, and he prefers the white bread. He usually orders the same thing, I usually try something different. He was raised on fried lake fish for Fridays, I was raised on tuna. I like green beans, while he prefers peas and corn. I like cooked carrots, while he prefers his raw.
I have a sparrow in one blue bird nest box, and a wren in the other. I put oriole nectar and grape juice out again this morning, but I may give up if we have another rain, or if the humidity brings on the mildew again. My new oriole feeder does keep the wasps out, but ants are still an issue.
Campfire Tales was a light, easy to read book. It was broken into three to four page stories, or tales, so I read one or two at a time. I found this book in one of the national park gift shops out west (probably Theodore Roosevelt Nat'l Park), and purchased it with the intention of reading it with Anne for school. We never used it as such, and in retrospect, so much the better. While the stories are told by cowboys around their evening campfires, it seems a book better read to oneself than read aloud. I enjoyed the simplicity of expression, though I did not know the meaning of all of the horse lingo, nor the geography of the trails from the 1800's.
Our annual trip to New Ulm took us to the Holiday Inn New Ulm for a first stay. We visited Domeier's, and while Papa did a tour of Schell Brewery, I paid visits to the two quilt shops and a second-hand bookshop in town. I enjoy the small quilt shops very much. I am not overwhelmed by too many fabric choices, and I feel like I am helping the local economy by my purchases. We discovered Turner Hall with its late 19th century paintings on the walls. Perhaps we will try out their lunch menu on a future visit. We drove past the Wanda Gag house, but it was not open for tour. We did a run through the Minnesota Music Museum, Arthur looking at Whoppee John, Sherwin Linton, and a few other familiar faces. The museum guide had lake cabin connections around central Minnesota, so I am sure his long chat with Arthur made his day. I looked for F. Melius Christiansen, music professor at St. Olaf who probably formed much of Mr. Engen's teaching at White Bear, but I found only the display from his induction ceremony into the Museum. I looked for more on Margie's old favorite, Johnny Holm, as well, but could not find his display. Arthur was not happy with his ribs at Wiegel's Kaiserhoff, so next time we will try Otto's restaurant at the Holiday Inn. Mama will probably like Otto's better, too, since they serve all my favorite German sides with their meals - red cabbage, German potato salad, and sauerkraut.
Marriage makes for truly strange bedfellows. I am hankering for a good pasta salad. Papa prefers potatoes. I like the pumpernickel bread, rosemary bread and popovers when we eat out, and he prefers the white bread. He usually orders the same thing, I usually try something different. He was raised on fried lake fish for Fridays, I was raised on tuna. I like green beans, while he prefers peas and corn. I like cooked carrots, while he prefers his raw.
I have a sparrow in one blue bird nest box, and a wren in the other. I put oriole nectar and grape juice out again this morning, but I may give up if we have another rain, or if the humidity brings on the mildew again. My new oriole feeder does keep the wasps out, but ants are still an issue.
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