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Our Daily Thread 3-13-14

Good Morning!

Today’s header photo is from Cheryl and Misten.

On this day in 1639 Harvard University was named for clergyman John Harvard.

In 1781 Sir William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus.

In 1868 the U.S. Senate began the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson.

In 1918 women were scheduled to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York due to a shortage of men due to wartime. 

In 1930 it was announced that the planet Pluto had been discovered by scientist Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory.

And in 1951 the comic strip “Dennis the Menace” appeared for the first time in newspapers across the country.

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Quote of the Day

“Ideas matter. Legislative proposals matter. Slick campaigns and dazzling speeches can work for a while, but the magic always wears off.”

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Today is composer Hugo Wolf’s birthday. From Hugo Wolf

It’s Donald York’s today as well.

And on this day in 2004 this man made his final appearance at the Metropolitan Opera in NY.

I understood none of that. But that’s the great thing about music, I didn’t need to in order to enjoy and appreciate it. 

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Anyone have a QoD?

76 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 3-13-14”

  3. Well it is good to have Chas back in first place to greet everyone around the globe.
    Good night Chas.
    Karen, you are in a hard place. I would be tempted to go ahead and order a dumpster delivered, since it looks like you will need it.

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  4. Good morning, Chas. Good evening, Jo.

    Becca’s friend went home last night at 9:50 due to homesickness. Becca handled the disappointment very well. That’s what happens when you start sleepovers so young! After all, her friend is only eight. We didn’t really do sleepovers until about fourth grade, when I was little. Becca wanted to have a slumber party for her birthday, but I said it was too soon. I can handle one homesick eight year old, but not a room full of them. Becca was very supportive of her friend, helping her get her stuff together, etc.

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  5. Breakfast shall consist of an omelet bar, bagel bar, garlic cheese grits, hash brown or home fries, link sausage, patty sausage, bacon, scramble or over easy, medium or hard eggs, fruit, and various cheeses. Please let your selection be known to the chef at each station.
    In addition there will be coffee, juice, milk, mimosas, or bloody mary’s.

    Anything I have left out?

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  10. Karen, I was reading your yesterday’s post.
    It seems your biggest problems are over.
    The people are gone.
    I have noticed throughout the years that, except for catastrophic problems like airplanes exploding, trucks hitting you, or tires blowing out at 70 mph, the worst problems are people problems. Everything else can be fixed.

    Everyplace I’ve been has a landfill. Charleston, N. Va. And Hendersonville all have landfills. I have a Ford Ranger to do this, but if Lee’s vehicle won’t do it, you need to rent a pickup truck.

    Take all the junk and separate it into piles. One is useful stuff that goes to the Clothes Closet, Salvation Army, or whatever you have up there.
    The other piles are again separated into categories.
    Recyclable. We have to separate out paper & cardboard, glass, plastic, metal, electronics, etc.
    Then stuff that is clearly trash. I would haul this off first.
    Put some of the stuff in the yard if you have to, but separate the stuff first.

    The reason for the separations first is to reduce the time you have the truck. Just load it and move off.

    I know. None of my business, but that’s the curse of an engineering background. When I see a problem, I want to fix it. That’s one reason I wouldn’t have done well in the ministry. Most people want a sympathetic ear. I want to fix it.

    Good luck. Get to it. 🙂

    I would like to have a breakfast like Kim’s, but my body can’t afford it. Only she left out the scramled eggs..
    What I had was Cheerios, V8, and coffee,.

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  11. I had two boiled eggs and coffee. Now I am off to face the day with a Windows 8 computer. Should be interesting. I do like that it is smaller and lighter than my other laptop.

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  14. I once had “The Searcher” on DVD, but gave it to the Lions to auction.
    I didn’t know it was a book.

    Humans can be inhumane to each other.
    The same thing is going on in different forms in many places in the world.
    And in America, an 18 year old girl is suing her parents for college and support while she lives a life separated from them.

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  15. Chas, Although The Searchers was filmed largely in Monument Valley, Utah, the setting was supposedly West Texas and the movie was very popular there. John Wayne’s favorite line in the movie was, “That’ll be the day.” Buddy Holly, a West Texas boy, turned that line into a hit song.

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  17. Kim, we get a lot of free trips from Hubby’s job. Sadly he has been sent almost everywhere but the Gulf coast. But if he ever does, I will definitely hitch a ride and look y’all up. We might even bring Casey. 🙂

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  18. I moved to Fort Worth in September of 1957. I hated it. I hated the heat and the lack of trees. They told me that if I stayed five years, I would never leave. I stayed four and a half and left.
    But I did learn to like Texas. I traveled over most of it. Went as far west as Kermit. Not really a town, just a place. From there we went up to Carlsbad.
    And in the Panhandle, to a little place called Higgens. we went within half a mile of Oklahoma, but never been to Oklahoma..
    The stars are big an bright in West Texas. I think because of less humidity.
    Sometime in the early nineties, we took Chuck and his family back to show them where he used to live. From there we made a side trip to San Antonio. I was amazed at what they did to the San Antonio River. It was “off limits” when I was in the AF. A bad place.

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  19. Catching up from yesterday: Wise words, Chas, on Karen’s situation. I think the evil one loves to give us the old “hopeless-nothing will ever change” routine. Jesus did tell us not to worry about tomorrow for a reason. We can so easily get bogged down when we look too far ahead.

    As far as Emily taking her time for Forrest, I really don’t think he will have any trouble with the move. It is not like they will be miles away! Many people move to new states and countries, after all, with little children. I wouldn’t let her use Forrest as an excuse. You will have to wait and see what will look like a reasonable deadline and then give it, if needed. We will be praying for wisdom and patience for you.

    My husband’s jam group performed before a Gordon Lightfoot concert last summer. We ended up not going to the concert, however, since we didn’t get free tickets. We do like him, but did not want to pay what the tickets cost. We are spoiled, I suppose. It was an outdoor concert. I remember well the whole Edmund Fitzgerald loss and live by Lake Superior, so the song is meaningful to me. Long before my time, I had a relative who was drowned in the lake while performing his job as a lighthouse assistant.

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  20. While we lived in Ft. Worth we attended Travis Avenue Baptist Church. During that time, they built a new church building and Travis Ave. BC was/is on W. Berry St.
    It happened that they were rededicating the sanctuary they had just renovated. It looked exactly like the one we attended around 1960. That was about 20 years ago now. It may need renovating again.

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  21. Has anyone ever seen the children’s animated movie, Home on the Range? I watched it with L. while we were at the ranch. The storyline is three cows, all of whom have very distinct personalities, try to save the family farm from foreclosure by going after a bad guy to get the reward money. Anyway, L. pointed out that Becca, me and her were similar in temperament to the three cows. The one that was supposedly me was often saying very social worky phrases, trying to get everyone to get along. I almost wet my pants from laughing so hard about myself. It was exaggerated, of course, but hilarious.

    Chas: I’m not a fan of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. I grew up about 45 miles northwest of San Antonio in the Texas Hill Country. I know Texas doesn’t have the best scenery and we have scorching summers, but I love the personality of Texas. And, most of my family is here. I’ve lived in Texas all my life (except one year in Florida for college) and it is home.

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  22. It feels so strange not doing school on a weekday! I keep feeling like I’m playing hooky! It’s awfully nice to have a break, though. I’m so grateful for this opportunity, but it’s a huge responsibility. Becca is definitely enjoying the time off. Connie is here today and they just went out to breakfast. L. is at a friend’s house, so it is quiet here.

    Karen: I’m so sorry — your situation sounds quite stressful. I’ll be praying for quick resolution. Waiting patiently is a skill I’ve yet to develop. And, from what i’ve read on the thread, it sounds like you’ve been being very patient for quite a long time. I am an unorganized, messy person by nature, but I try very hard to keep some semblance of order in my house. I do believe hoarding is a mental health issue. I hope they haven’t done any permanent damage.

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  23. MISTEN!!!!!!! Aww, what a pretty picture of Misten in snow. 🙂 🙂 🙂 Is that the fence she’s been getting out of in the background?

    I haven’t met Misten but feel like I have. I have met her owner though. And her owner’s met Tess and Cowboy. 🙂

    Chas, I love your take on how people problems are the hardest but that everything else, pretty much, can be “fixed.”

    Karen, I’d make sure to check in with the former tenants to make sure they’re gone for good — call me hopelessly optimistic, but they may plan to be back to deal with at least some of that stuff. If you don’t want to talk to them, do they have and regularly check email? I thought you said they might be back this weekend for a final haul.

    From what you’ve said about them they sounded difficult but not like complete slackers who would deliberately make things harder for you — and there is at least something of a friendship (though by now seriously strained, obviously) there.

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  24. Re the picture: that is what our backyard has looked like all winter. That drift piled up the second week of January and then just kept getting deeper. If you look in the back left corner, the snow is higher than the fence; that is where Misten got out the second time (although the snow had receded a few inches when she did, and my husband had thought it had receded enough; on the right side it had pulled back from the fence as it melted, but it turns out it hadn’t done so on the left). It melted quite a bit this past weekend–we could see the grass in the middle for the first time in weeks–but then we got about seven more inches this week, so it’s all covered again.

    It’s the most snow I’ve ever seen, and definitely the most Misten has. Initially she didn’t like it much (except that she liked to eat it), but once it had been on the ground a few weeks, she realized that walking across crunchy snow gives you greater height, and walking through fluffy snow is fun, and she is really loving it. She keeps forgetting she’s supposed to be a dignified nine-year-old, and the puppy keeps coming out to play.

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  26. Hey, Ann, sorry I missed you last night! I went to bed shortly after my last post, so I didn’t see your comment until this morning. No insomnia for me last night. 😉

    You know, a bunch of us should just start a band here on the blog. Have some impromptu jam sessions in the middle of the night. We could call ourselves “Jo and the Insomniacs.” We can always count on Jo to be here in the wee hours. 🙂

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  27. And speaking of music (which I always am), another bunch of great videos today, AJ. That quartet looked fun — and it had an enjoyable viola part! I always like when that is the case.

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  28. I enlarged the picture of Misten as much as I could on this phone and she has the sweetest face. Her white fur in the front hangs so low to the ground. Is that because it is her winter coat or is it always that long?

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  29. 6 Arrows, that band name cracked me up 🙂

    And yes, the people problems seem to be the big deals whether at home. work or church That’s why I get to sit this tax season out at home. A people problem with no good solution. Bosley makes it bearable or is that catable? God allows these tests to see if we get angry, despairing and forgetting of all His goodness when things in life don’t meet our expectations.

    This (tax season), too, shall pass just as Karen o’s season will, too.

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  30. I am very happy that son has this time of living in Texas so we have a good reason to visit that wonderful state. It is much more beautiful than I expected. It has a lot more variations in landscape than I thought I would see.

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  33. Janice, she does have very long fur. Her fur under her belly would probably be longer than it is except that area is so prone to matting and needing to be cut. 🙂 I once measured the hair on her tail, and the longest hairs were 11 inches. Today’s show collies have only about half as much tail as she does, so I definitely consider it part of her special beauty. It’s not as obvious in the photo, though, since she was excited about having a guest over, and her tail was being held higher than usual. Normally it would be low and touching the snow a bit.

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  35. Oh, the tenants are not finished moving out yet. Sorry if I gave that impression. They are planning on renting the moving van again (for the third time) this weekend. We had just taken a peek up there to see how well (or not well, apparently) things were coming along.

    They were supposed to be out by the end of this weekend, but I just don’t see that happening with the amount of junk still up there. Every room, including kitchen & bathroom, is filled with stuff. If you didn’t know they’d already moved two vans full, you’d think they hadn’t even started yet.

    I am caught between feeling sorry for them (do they all have this “illness”?) & being irked that they’ve had 10 months to go through all this stuff but apparently haven’t done much in all that time. And to think that two months ago, the older daughter (26) told me she couldn’t possibly have time for that part-time job I’d read about, because she was so busy, spending hours upon hours of every day packing & looking for a new place.

    But in most things, my friends are honest & conscientious (at least, I think they are), so I believe they will finish what they’ve started, & will probably do some cleaning, too, before they turn in the keys. Unfortunately, it’s going to take a lot longer than we all expected.

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  36. Kathaleena – Don’t worry, Emily isn’t using Forrest as an excuse. She’s as anxious as I am for this move to be finished. Forrest has had a lot of turmoil & change in his life lately (R has been having him overnight more frequently, in addition to Emily starting school & having to study so much), so she doesn’t want this move to be another source of stress on him. But I agree with you that he will handle this better than she thinks.

    Cheryl – Misten is a beauty! Do you have to brush her every day? My Heidi is a ragamuffin of a dog, & even after I brush her, she quickly goes back to looking scruffy. But she’s a cutie, & it seems to be part of her goofy personality.

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  37. I wonder if the reluctance to move was because the task is so huge? I suppose you should be thankful you discovered this before structural damage occurred and they fell in on you!

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  38. Seeing Misten in the snow brings back memories of our blizzard a few years ago when or dog had to hop over snow drifts almost as tall as she is to get to her “potty place”.

    I am glad we’re seeing warmer weather now.

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  39. I was thinking the same thing, Anon (being reluctant to move because there is so much stuff to sift through, that the task is daunting).

    Along those lines, Karen, could you consider offering them assistance in getting the whole upstairs cleared out this week? (Although, I guess the week is almost done.) Please know that I’m not trying to be bossy with that suggestion.

    I’m just thinking that sometimes, when we’re waiting for something to happen, if there is anything we can do to expedite the process, it can give us an active way in which to bring about the end, rather than passively waiting and stressing that the end is not here yet.

    If they are all very depressed, as it sounds, and overwhelmed with the enormity of the job, sometimes a simple, “Can I help?” can be an incredible relief to someone who is sinking in the mire.

    You are in a much better position than I am, though, obviously, to determine the best course of action.

    I sincerely hope I don’t come across as sticking my nose into business that is not mine. You have shown incredible kindness to these people, and you owe them nothing. But if there is anything helpful or feasible in what I’ve said, anything that might help alleviate your stress, then great. If not, completely ignore this.

    I say this all with love and the best of intentions, Karen.

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  41. 6 Arrows, you said that in such a diplomatic and thoughtful way.

    It is a good idea if it is feasable. I do get the imoression that Karen O has her hands full and energy consumed with looking after Forrest. And Lee has too much workload currently to be able to help out. Emily is swamped with new school load. That leaves Chrissy as a possibilty but I think I remember she may be high functioning autistic so not sure if that would work. Depends on the established relationship I would guess.

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  44. 6 Arrows, I think what you said was such a nice thought of how this world is suppose to work with Christians helping Christians. I just know because I am a low energy person that sometimes having one more thing on the plate could overwhelm someone. I was wishing for the tenants to perhaps get help through their church if it is available.

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  45. Nice to hesr that OKC has warmed up to Spring temps. Finally, maybe, some much needed relief from the cold and snow (global freezing) experienced by so many.

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  46. Janice, I understand. There were several considerations that went through my mind both before and after posting my comment. In any case, I have asked AJ to take it down, but he probably hasn’t seen my email yet, and if I say any more about what I said, why I said it, and why I decided to have it pulled, it will be pretty obvious what was in the comment even after it is down, and that might be hurtful.

    I will leave it at that.

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  47. Oh Misten is so beautiful in the snow…bet she is even more so standing amongst Spring flowers!! 🙂
    Texas…I’ve been in Dallas…ugh…and then I have visited Pickton…I don’t believe they even have a traffic light…and I spent a couple of days in Sulphur Springs…now that town I loved…sweet, quaint, very friendly people…small town USA…and lots and lots of antique shops 🙂
    Good to see you Joe….how’s OK…and the Mrs? Are you all missing Ohio yet?

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  50. 6 Arrows, your comment wasn’t inappropriate, and it was hedged so much with “this is one possibility, and I don’t mean to be bossy” that I don’t think anyone could take offense. (And of course everyone on here knows you and knows you don’t attempt to hurt people’s feelings!)

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  51. Oh,, I’m going to haul my big ol’ bossy nose into it. They have had TEN MONTHS. Failure to prepare on your part does not mean it creates a problem for me. They would have until Sunday at Midnight and after that I would get a dumpster and start tossing. I would send them the bill for the dumpster and whatever got thrown away, too bad too sad.

    I sat through Broker’s Roundtable today.

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  53. They are outside of a lease and I wouldn’t put anything past them. We talked today about when to give possession of a house in a real estate contract. Generally you have to expect the worst of people and prepare for it. Give possession at closing. Don’t let the sellers stay after closing and don’t let the buyers move in before closing.

    I obviously am not as nice as the rest of you.

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  54. 6 Arrows – Are you concerned about your comment @4:35? Don’t worry, I didn’t take any offense at it. In some other circumstances it would be good advice.

    However, I don’t think I could deal with what is up there right now. Most of it looks like stuff they have to go through, & deal with, themselves. But we just may offer to do all the cleaning when they are done, especially since we were going to do an extra-good cleaning of the whole place anyway.

    Another reason why I would hesitate to help is that I have realized over the past several months that in many ways, A & M (the dad & mom) have been unintentionally infantalized by some of their friends, & we have contributed to that, too. What I mean is this…

    A & M have struggled with low finances their whole marriage. But they have very good friends who are quite well off, & through the years that couple often helped them out financially, including (for a time, at least) paying for their cell phones, & paying for them to accompany them on vacation. I can’t recall specifics, but I know there’ve been other times when they have been helped by that couple or by family.

    Then we offered them a very low rent & since there is only one meter for both parts of the house, we even paid for all the electricity.

    And yet, despite complaints about how poor they are, they never really seriously watched their spending. They had an expensive cable service, for one thing, & the husband mentioned once about how he had recently replaced a computer monitor with a large-screen TV. (And that was while they were trying to save up money for the move, I think.)

    They have had a lot of help with this move, including from my own Chrissy, who is best friends with the younger daughter. But I am thinking that they need to “own” this mess, so to speak. Could it be that having to deal with this will help them deal with the source of the problem? I hope so.

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  56. I think I’ve previously mentioned that the older daughter, C, age 26, has not found a job since graduating college almost four years ago. And that, as I mentioned above, she told me she didn’t have time to take on a part-time job I had read about & told her about.

    A couple years ago, when asked if C had found a job yet, her mom mentioned that they were hopeful that something would come along that C “will embrace.” I wondered if that choice of words was merely poetic, or if C really was being picky. After she turned down even trying for the job I mentioned to her, I told her mom that my concern was that employers don’t want to see large gaps in employment history on a resume.

    Then, a couple weeks ago, Lee & I were discussing if he should try to hire someone to help him when Emily started school. I mentioned C to him. His remark was that the fact that she hadn’t worked at anything for a few years told him that she’s not interested in real work. Thus proving my point.

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  58. Yes, Karen, it was the comment at 4:35. I won’t go into details, but I do second-guess myself fairly often. Thank you for receiving the comment so well.

    And I’ll add that there is much wisdom in your 8:54 post.

    Cheryl at 8:39, thank you for seeing my heart.

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  59. And thank you for all the love and understanding there is around here. I love the camaraderie we share in this little community. 😉

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  61. Ewwwww.!!!! 😯

    Hugging?

    This thread has officially been girled. I better get out of here. 😯

    But I do love the kindness you all show each other. But if you tell anyone, I’ll deny it. G’night ladies. 🙂

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  64. I’m behind with my Bible reading. Off to do some quiet reading before bed. Have a good night, all. Jo, have a good rest of your Friday. 🙂

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  68. Donna, I am still up. I just had an opportunity to change out the litter box. I tried to do it this morning but my dump bags become a play toy for Bosley so I gave up and waited until husband got home so he could keep her away while I did the chore. She still managed to charge at the broom while I was sweeping. I will soon have to get a bigger litter box since I am still using the aluminum pan (lasagna dish size) that we received Christmas cookies in. Just pat me on the back for being green and recycling in a creative way. 🙂

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  73. I’m still up. Kind of. I lay down for about 90 minutes and couldn’t sleep (I am working on a project that had my mind going), so I got back up for a couple hours. Now I’m ready to try again.

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  75. It is still not 5pm here. I just got home from school and the weight room, but can’t comment until I read everything posted since my morning.
    I, too, felt that Karen had some very wise things to say.
    Hey, I just figured out that those funny marks were hugs. Learn something new, you know.

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  76. Whoops. I didn’t realize I was posting as Misten. 🙂 It came up as cherylandmisten (which is what I have set as my user name in lieu of using my last name), and so I changed it, and thought I changed it to Cheryl.

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