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 A Journal to impart knowledge and facts |
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July 22, 2015 I'm going to start today to record on a daily basis whatever happens to strike my fancy. So, it is a very cool breezy day. I just posted 5 short book reviews to The Monthly Reading Challenge. I'm suppose to put away some winter wood today from the woodpile outside but I'm playing hookey from work to write so starting this blog will get done. I'm having a daily fight with a flock of English Sparrows that are trying to take over my barn. They are making a terrible mess so they have to go. I have destroyed several nests so far they don't leave but they get out of the barn when I am around. I'm just starting the fight so I guess I don't know how far I have to go to discourage them. I'm trying not to spread myself to thin on WDC because I find so many things that are interesting here and I am trying to work on a new story. I really enjoy sitting at my desk with a cup of tea and reading blogs on WDC. |
What book (or books) in your TBR (to be read) pile are you most looking forward to reading, and why?   Someone mentioned "Simple Genius" by David Balcaddi in a 30-day blog recently, I wrote it down. I haven't looked it up yet but if I get a chance I will read it. I'm reading 3 different ones now. Encrypted by LIndsay Buroker. It's fantasy about translating encrypted messages. Just a fun story. Then, I'm in the middle of a book I've owned a copy of for a few months but haven't really read much of it until now. (" The Temple of Solomon" by James Wasserman) Then I'm doing a delve into the Proverbs from the Bible. My reading is slower right now because fall has caught my attention. I'm doing some outside and inside special things that will make winter easier, like storm windows on the porches, putting away summer outside furniture, and fixing up the bird feeders for another season. Happy Reading. I'm looking forward to every one telling about some more books to read. |
| War Chest Wednesday! We're gonna do something different today, being that it's the last Wednesday of the month. Of the seven themed days each week, which ones are your favorites and least favorites? If you could change one, what would you put in its place? Keep in mind it would have to be something you could potentially get four entries a month from, and people around the world would be writing for it. My favorite is Sunday News comments. I can't think of anything to put in the place of one of the others but I think after rereading the different days I should pay a lot more attention to the presentation of a subject as it pertains to the particular day we are blogging on. I would like to look at the prompts in the WAR CHEST or maybe be able to submit prompts to the WAR CHEST. Right now I don't have a list so I should attempt to make one then submit it. I like prompts enough to think it might be fun to write some. Can you make up a prompt without running in to a duplicate that has not already been used? |
Are your neighbors genuinely good people, or bad people? And please cite an example   Well, this will get me in trouble. Since, I know someone in the neighborhood reads my blog. Nevertheless, an honest opinion wouldn't hurt??? Firstly, my neighbors are people. Over the years like a lot of the people in a small rural area with a few small communities scattered around, they look to gossip and the opinions of people they know in order to find out information about each other. Sometime in my 30's I was recommitting myself to Christ. I was reading lots of books about Christianity as well as pouring through every book in the bible. I decided not to be involved in any gossip about any one. I maintain this view. I really did not have many neighbors at that time. The farm across the road was owned by my former father in law, who lived there with his youngest son. My first husband died in 1972 in an automobile accident. I was remarried living on the farm I purchased from my dad. There was a house on the same side of the road as mine several hundred yards down from mine. One of my cousins was living there. There is a town 5 miles away where we all went to school. Gossip and superstition runs the area. It is pretty much overwhelmed with brotherhoods, sisterhoods, church congregations, and tight knit groups of all kinds. If someone wants to know something about someone they ask a member of their group. They rarely just try to get to know what the person is really like. I've seen some real horror worked out in people's lives around here. It was not on common within the church group I was part of the watch prayer groups set someone in a chair in the center of a ring of people. Using the person in the chair as a surrogate.During prayer they take turns praying for the non attending person to perform what ever (go to church, get a job, etc.) A pastor I knew and another member of the group who stopped attending called this witchcraft. To shorten a long story. I broke with this group and found a home church closer to the farm. It was Christ based. There is a lot more to this history, then I want to take time for here. We attended Bible College for a year then returned to the farm. K and the boys, did not want to start back attending church anywhere so we don't go. The children grew up. I commuted to a nearby college. Life went on. Land around us changed hands when older people died. We ended up with 3 new houses across the road. 4 new houses to the north of our property. Realtors broke up the farms around here into small acreages for higher prices and ran up the price of land. Jobs are not plentiful around here. So, after college I did not work except for one summer when I had an internship. As new people move into rural place like this is they have the idea that they are free to do whatever they want. What they wanted was wild loud parties until all hours of the evening. (Drugs and liquor are a problem in the neighborhood.) Dogs off leashes running all over chasing deer, killing cats, scaring livestock. For a while I raised sheep. We had a ram that was poisoned. A flock of my chickens was killed by a neighbor in the night. I called the police finally. Then, I was the bad guy for calling in the authorities. My dog licenses were stolen off my dogs who were locked in a run that is attached to the house. One July 4th one of the barn cats was waiting for me at morning chores with his whole tail and the back end of his body burned off we had to put him away ( It was in such pain and crying to me for help), Someone stole my honey bees frames and all. After I went to college I was pretty much down to just 3 horses. (someone ran them through the fence more than once.) I've all ways had trouble getting farriers. One really excellent farrier told me he would not do my horses because he had been told to injure the horses as he worked on them and he would not treat any horse the way he was told, by this unnamed person, who told him what to do to my horses if he knew what was good for his business. Our lawn mower quit working, when I took it to be fixed the mechanic said I must have enemies because he found sugar in the oil pan and pistons. One time someone pulled out one of my horses teeth while I was not home and then knifed his nostril so I would have to call a vet to have it sewed up. My car has been run off the road several times. My horse was stabbed with a needle in his leg then the needle was broken off. Yep. Another visit from the vet. ( Another woman in our township had a horse dowsed with gasoline and set on fire. No one was ever arrested for this although, there is an open case for it / it may have been done because of a divorce.) This is not necessarily a rant just a calm way of saying Why? I stay home. I don't stay up late. I get up early. I take walks on my own property with my dogs. One neighbor boy came here screaming that K shot his dog and literally tried to kick down our front door. (K did not shoot his dog.) I've told this story to others. Recently, a clerk at the farm store asked me why I was still buying horse feed? Did I ever think of just getting rid of the horses. She is elderly and still keeps horses. Some church groups believe that horses are a sexual expression by the owners who ride and care for them. We have compression bombs being set off in this neighbor hood on holidays. They shake the houses, and scare the animals. I've taken in dumped cats over the years but I won't do it on a regular basis now. I'm elderly, what will happen if I die before the creatures in my care do. I figured to just stay steady and they would age one at a time to their own end. Then, someone dumped a cat here this spring. I told the vet about it. These instances of stupidity are not listed chronologically. And, they do not cover all the horror stories I could tell you about how I've been treated in my life time. Personally, I think most of the neighbors who have moved in are  . Not one of them has ever talked directly to me or expressed themselves in anyway calmly and with any proper open speech. I can talk to anyone literally, openly about any thing. Nothing embarrasses me. My one son who has stayed steady agrees with me. He and my daughter have also experienced bizarre behavior toward them and their families. We are on this earth by mistake. I've shed tears until they seem mostly dried up. Still,l I remain fairly stable although I scream (literally) sometimes about life. I guarantee this is a true account. I tried to write a memoir about some of these events in chronological order to leave behind when I die. But, I get bogged down with the writing. I can make up fictional stories on the fly, any time but, writing about my own life gives me the screaming memes. I end up laughing because I remain in fairly good health for my age and continue to keep house, clean barn, throw around hay bales, climb the hay mow for the top bales first, ride my bike, drive a car to shop and keep on writing. It is something to laugh about. Life on this planet is not free, peaceful or without violence yet we expect to be able to speak openly and live without carrying a gun.  The debates last evening were interesting. But, unresolved. If you want to know more, I'll invite you over to ask your questions we'll have a cuppa and talk.  I can site references that will clear up the superstitions and facts that will stop the gossip. |
Author T.S. Eliot , born on this day in 1888, once opined, "Where is all the knowledge we lost with information?" What do you think about that? Is it possible now, in this age of information so readily available at our fingertips, that we can have access to too much information at once, and not be able to gather as much from it? Are we ever at risk of knowing too much for our own good? And how much do you think is enough (versus too much) when it comes to your own writing? I've uncovered some knowledge that is not necessarily lost but discovered it when reading older history books. Please don't bother with that old idea that all historians lie. History is written by people who want to record how it was or maybe how they lived it, which isn't always the same but is still historical. That is why Google and Gutenberg.org are trying to copy every book ever written and making so many historical writings available for free. NO. We are never at risk for knowing to much for our own good. It is more like, how will we use the knowledge that may become a problem. The reason we repeat history is because if the generations coming up behind you are not reminded of past mistakes they will make the same ones. I don't really want to go into the way the thought processes of the human experience can be repeated over and over. Every normal human brain is built to function the same. It is what is put into it that changes the experience. So, your environment, teachers, control of knowledge matter. Information available is not necessarily information put into practice or even acknowledged. Yesterday, we were watching an interview of the King of Jordan. He gave a really spectacular explanation of the way ISIL has risen up. He says the West does not really understand Muslim history. Groups like ISIL have been persecuting Muslims (Yes! Muslims) since the time of Muhammad. According to his statements all Muslims are a part of the same God given religion. Some of them are evil. It is up to the others to put down the evil within their society. He says the evil only exists within about a 1 to 2 percent of the religious population. ISL is dragging the west into the fray hoping to make the West persecute the 98 percent of Muslims that are Godly and peaceable. Then, the majority will switch sides and ISIL will control the world. So, human rights matter for all nations. Especially now when storage of mass amounts is available and the study of language is becoming wide spread: the translating of old manuscripts is becoming more important it is a search for knowledge, freely circulated, that will make a difference. Hey we are on the verge of traveling to the stars. This can only happen if we are taking honorable integrity toward whatever we find with us. So, chopping off peoples head just because their society irritates us is a no, no. That is why the USA has always been against torture. Torture rarely produces truth. More often, it produces a twisted type of information that leads to more torture and slows down progress. Ask Joan of Arc! Ask Galileo! Oh well I'm off subject. When it comes to my own writing I will always be upgrading my knowledge of how to but, I will only use the part of what I learn, that will enable me to hopefully do a better job without interfering, with the comfort of my own writing process. One person will never be able to know it all, that's why we form groups to bring a variety of knowledge and action to any scene. October Prep Challenge on It's Way to Us Now. ![Merit Badge in OctoPrep
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 As for the news: Charlotte Police are releasing the film that will keep the city stirred up/ Obama vetoed the 9-11 bill/interview of Trump before the debate are also in the news. Since there is no prompt today I think I will just tell you how the day is here. After some really warm weather a cold front moved in. There was some light frost across the yard at 7 AM. So, no more tomatoes. this is my Daily news. We shopped for fresh foods at a roadside Amish vegetable stand. Now, the frig is full of fresh produce. The homegrown cantaloupe is so good we are thinking of bringing home a few more. The frost is going to kill the tomato plants. I better bring the olive tree in off the porch. I brought all the other plants in last week. The Olive Tree seemed to be ok with the cold nights so I left it. Now, its time to move it in. I found a good book on my kindle and started reading it. I have lots of unread books waiting. If I find one I think I will like at Amazon I often download several then read kindle books from the library instead. Library kindle books have return dates so I will always read them first. When our wifi came up missing for a month I had lots of back log on reading material to finish. In the last prompt hoarding came up as a subject. We should do a prompt on hoarding vs. storing possessions over the years. K puts up wildlife cameras so we can watch the wildlife around the property but there have been so many dogs barking on this end of the road that no wildlife is moving. I wonder what is keeping the dogs in an uproar all night long? OK. Until we hear from fivesixer or someone else about an official prompt, this is my entry for the day. Today's blog is not particularly relevant to a subject of world news. Be Happy anyway. |
Fill in both blanks with the same word to create your question, and then answer it: How ______ is too ______?  How eccentric is too eccentric? I decided to look this up for the answer. Eccentric seems to have a wide range of defining characteristics, from strange to crazy depending on how people view life. The basis of the definition is when you come across someone who may not fit your view of normal. One view I found on the web is someone who has not been properly socialized and may hold views you may not commonly hear. Being too eccentric will fall in the category of crazy. After reading some googled ideas about eccentric, I'm guessing artists, writers, people who withdraw from society because they are bullied, or someone who has experienced improper parenting in their childhood can all have some eccentric habits. October Nano Prep starts in 7 days. Think of eccentric as something special. Never walk the same direction as a crowd of people.  |
On this day in 1962, the classic outer space cartoon The Jetsons premiered on ABC-TV; it was the first program on the network to be carried in color. Please answer for me the all-important question surrounding this legendary television show: Why, over fifty years later, do we still not have flying cars that we can fold up into briefcases?   Only 50 years? Humans don't think that fast. OK! I have a NuWave oven. One of my grandchildren would not eat food cooked in it because someone told her it was dangerous to her health. I asked her how much she used their microwave every day.  Because there is a segment of the population that turns down all new gizmo's as dangerous. Actually, it stems from an elderly scriptural prophecy, that involves the state of humanities health during the end times.Yesterday, there was a news story about accidents involving cars that drive themselves. I immediately wondered how long it would be before those types of vehicles have their own lane? The fact that these automated vehicles are actually safer is compromised by the amount of human driven vehicles on the road. A new transportation system will be in the works in the next 25 to 50 years. An article in the Wall Street Journal cites new rules soon to be passed; requiring new technology to be incorporated into all new vehicles offered for sale. It is suppose to help us stop having vehicular accidents. Saving 100,00 lives a year. But, health insurance for everyone is politically up for grabs. Personally, I was always more taken with Rosie the Robot. Other robot stories capture my attention as well. I have always been someones house keeper. So, I dream of the day robots will vacuum the floors, load the dish washer, do the laundry and other irritating regular chores. I love the floor cleaning robots and if there was any way I could afford a Roomba or Dyson 360 I would buy one in a minute. The food cooking system on the Jetsons was also a draw. Another dream of mine equals someone to cook after I have been cleaning barn, doing laundry, mowing grass (K mowed this year), and other busy work. I would have more time to write. Cars that fold up into a suitcase! Not for another 100 years if at all. Who would bother to fold it up? I think they should have parks with trees, lawns and benches in the Walmart car park so people could rest after shopping or during shopping trips.  |
Tell us a little about your writing process (for blog entries, stories, poems, anything...your choice). Is it all digital, done on a computer, laptop, tablet, or even your phone? Do you start by jotting a few notes or lines on paper, or draw up an outline of some kind first, or use a voice recording app when you're on the go, and then switch over to a computer to formulate your ideas into words as you're typing? Or are you still completely old school, writing everything out first completely by hand and then entering it into a word processing program? What works/doesn't work for you? Quote: "No great advance has ever been made in science, politics, or religion, without controversy." by Lyman Beecher(1775-1863) I have been studying writing processes for awhile. There are a mass of books to read about writing systems. So, I take a little from one place and a little from someplace else and use it, when it is needed. My blog is hap hazard. I form it as I go along, using what ever facts I have gleaned from research to answer questions or lay out fact. Editing is my downfall. A lot of the things I write are better after they are thoroughly edited. However, many of my writings don't ever get edited properly because of the time element.The blog all ways needs better editing. I have a note spot on my phone where I jot down things I don't want to forget if I'm not at home. I have one story, in which, the story line evades a proper constant forward movement. For that story I outlined; I was trying to identify factors like causes of action, lists of characters and their habits and lists of scenes for actions. Outlining was a great aide in this instance. I had an idea about a totally different story and just sat down and started writing it. Now, I am into the story about 5 chapters. I am amazed how it develops on its own as I write. The characters were set from the start, because of the story line and their habits and needs develop as they enter the story. I can see research needs that will have to be met but have not hit, that part of the story yet. One author I read about, starts stories whenever he has an idea. He said he has manuscripts all over his table and just picks one up and works on it when his publisher gets onto him about needing new material. I do all my writing on my computer. However, I lost some material over the years by writing while on the web including, a story I started in October of last year. I had printed out the work as I went along so I saved a hard copy. Now I only write stories when my WiFi is shut down. Everything is saved to disk plus I print hard copies as I go along. I need the hard copies anyway, because I edit away from the computer. It is easier to mark copies and change things in an easy chair, then come back later and fix things in my writing program. Journalism articles are different. I get an idea, research the material, pick out the direction the story will take, then interview people for quotes and write the story. Last year, during October prep for November I read that the way to keep writing was to aim for at least 500 words everyday. Do you know how small 500 words actually is in a day's time? After awhile it's easy spezy! Don't forget October Nano Prep Challenge is on its way! Write On. apondia#1781748 apondia#1781748 |
| When you’re unwell, do you allow others to take care of you, or do you prefer to soldier on alone? What does it take for you to ask for help? This is a question to cause me to delve into my own history. I'[m rarely unwell. K and I basically administer minor first aide when necessary; cuts, slivers, and such. Last January I had a major problem I called a Dr. and made an appointment. I soldiered through it with the Doctors aide. At the beginning of summer I had to deal with a financial attack. I called my son for support. I have 3 great boys but only one visits me and keeps holidays with his family. Paperwork for the elderly is sometimes unreal. Companies have to be reminded the elderly are not all senile, crippled, slobbering maniacs. K is going through a lot of tests now he has had health problems for 20 years they only get worse with age.Every once in a while he goes through tests and they balance out his medications. Here is what I deal with at my age. I do yoga and I have a small dog companion who takes walks with me. We still mow and when the hay was off the field it gave us lots of places to walk. I have developed good radar about dog toys and cat toys. We have a house full of animals. I clean bird cages and cat box 5 times a week. I also keep the outside bird feeders full when fall and winter are around. Snow is a bummer because it shortens up the walking area. Who wants to tromp through 12 inches of snow? I have muck boots so I can do the tromping if I want and there are 2 elderly horses in the barn who need daily care. Lately 2016 has been working against me. Lots of people want to know when I will die? What the heck! I need to give all people a heads up, after 60 you will start getting regular warnings and questions about what you are going to do with your property. People want to know. Do you have death insurance? Do you have a will? And since the country has basically built an elderly community that has no resources. They don't want younger people to look to closely at the way things really go on the financial bottom layers of society. (Does Trump really think he can change a generation of putting people in poverty?) When my children were growing up there was not any health insurance for my family. They were basically healthy children. There was one Doctor for a large area and he gave families straight answers to questions for small fees. Like the time one of the boys was bitten by a chipmunk. The Doctor knew to ask if the boys had cornered the creature and tried to pick it up. The chippy had a right to bite. So, we did not worry about rabies. For fun we played capture the flag, ice skating on the pond in winter, read books which I bought or came from the school library and lots of home based chores. Now, we have health insurance but we pay lots of co-pays and worry about a major hospital stay or property taxes or just getting to old to coup with paying bills. My son helps with car repair, takes us to movies and out to dinner once in awhile and gets involved in any way we need major help. I call my daughter just to visit now and then and we see her on holidays. She recently brought her girls for a 4 day visit. We shopped, talked and took the girls to ride bikes on a local trail. Yes! I still ride my bicycle. Asking for help is easy. Knowing where to ask to get results is not so easy. Around here if you belong to a sisterhood or brotherhood you can wave your membership at them otherwise you have to hunt for the answers. Life in Northwestern Pa. is not a level playing field. (Ask yourself, why do the candidates talk about changing the problems in this country and how are they planning to make the changes work? In the last 30 years what are the ways our financial systems have changed? Where does the money come from to fix the problems?) Oh well this is getting so long I forgot to stick to the prompt. |
| Talk Tuesday! If you were looking into making a full-scale career change, what are some things you'd consider? Would you go back to school? Would you just pick a field that interests you now that maybe didn't interest you as much in the past, and try to get in on the ground floor? And how well do you think you'd be able to do this time around, especially if you still had to work full-time at your current position, and/or raise a family, and/or hold up social obligations? A. I would go back to school B. I would try for teaching credits. C. I would take any teaching job I could get. D. With a full time teaching position / even at low pay I could hire some of my household work done. I was 55 when I went to college. I still had family at home so my job handling the household, babysitting grandchildren, working in the barn; went forward as normal. I added full time work during my last semester. Now at 71 I could not pay for any more schooling so it would have to be free or I wouldn't go. At the age of 60 I had clocked up a lot of general classes I took for my interest in learning everything. A person in one of the offices said if I wanted they could help get a teaching certificate. Plus, I had two different elderly math teachers when I was in college. The school was limiting their time in course work because as you age you need more rest and time to recuperate from stressful environments. I would rate the elderly teachers as excellent because of their ability to be diverse and share their meaningful life experiences with students. Don't believe that old story that people need to stay inside their own generation. It destroys the wisdom within a society if you don't have friends of all ages. Best wishes for a good day. The sun is shining here again today. |
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