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Our Daily Thread 1-29-15

Good Morning!

On this day in 1845 Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” was published for the first time.

In 1850 Henry Clay introduced in the Senate a compromise bill on slavery that included the admission of California into the Union as a free state. 

In 1856 Britain’s highest military decoration, the Victoria Cross, was founded by Queen Victoria. 

In 1916 Paris was bombed by German zeppelins for the first time during WWI. 

And in 1940 the W. Atlee Burpee Seed Company displayed the first tetraploid flowers at the New York City Flower Show. 

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Quote of the Day

“Character is much easier kept than recovered.”

Thomas Paine

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 Today is Daniel François Esprit Auber’s birthday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=85027636&v=7l8ISQfNT-A&x-yt-ts=1422503916&feature=player_detailpage

And it’s Ferdinand Ries’ too. From Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society of Wisconsin 

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Anyone have a QoD?

45 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 1-29-15”

  3. It’s only 5 a.m. here on the West Coast. My cough got me up, it’s not getting better so I think I’ll call the doctor today to see if they can prescribe something. Also still running a low-grade fever off and on.

    Guess I’ll also need to get a note from them to get me out of work for the rest of the week, I think we need to turn something in after 3 days. Hopefully they can scan & email that …

    There’s nothing much on TV this time of day, is there? I dislike Fox & Friends and those other hokey morning shows on the news channels. And reruns of Law and Order get old. 😦 Cough.

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  5. True confession time. I lie. I told you I lie about my age. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be a great looking 50 year old compared to a washed up looking 30 year old. If you are going to lie about your age, at least do it in a way that will get you some compliments instead of a pitying look. Right?
    I also lie about money. I have a secret stash. You and two of my aunts know I have it. Both of them have encouraged this. I mean if I am going to sneak off and get my toes done, I don’t want anyone telling me “we can’t afford it”, especially if they go to the movie every week while their wife is at work (Not that Mr. P has ever done that–this is my own baggage–yes he does go see a movie every week, but he has never told me I couldn’t get my toes polished, that was the other husband, while he played golf every Saturday).
    It really hit me last night when I “shaved off” the cost of something. We were in our first Financial Peace class together and Mr. P leaned over and asked how much it cost. I told him about $75. I don’t know why. I am just afraid someone will yell at me over the cost of something or worse yet laugh at me. I paid for the class out of my secret stash so it really didn’t come out of “our” budget, so my little white lie didn’t effect anyone else, right? Well I was caught. Several people in the class hadn’t ordered their kits and someone asked how much it was. $93 plus shipping. To his credit P hasn’t mentioned it to me. He just asked me to ask the priest if next week he can use the rocking chair in his office to sit in so his back won’t hurt. I did volunteer that you have to use a debit card to order anything from Dave Ramsey, they won’t take a credit card, so at least Mr. P didn’t have to worry that I charged it.
    BTW I didn’t pay anything to share this with you.

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  7. Kim, it seems to me that one of the big benefits of FP is getting married couples on “the same page.” If you listen to his call-in show, almost every hour you’ll hear a couple do their “debt-free scream.” When Dave interviews them, 9 times out of 10 they say that stuff like you describe was going on in their marriage, that the FP process forced them to work together and be honest with each other, and was the key to their success. Your “confession” strikes me as being very sad and I’m sorry for you. I hope the class helps.

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  9. Kim, there is something rather soothing and so familiar about that theme music

    And I always appreciate your openness and transparency — someday we’ll get it all together, but probably not until God calls us home. Until then, we carry on knowing it’s only by His grace that we are saved and kept

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  12. Cheryl

    I see some reasons for interviewing children at school. It is also reasonable for police to stop children of that age and ask questions. Are we to believe that the officer did not have a cell phone to call the children’s home?

    One person’s choice of child rearing does not have to be my choice. It is not up to me to choose for others.

    MYOB The first police officer could have talked a little and avoided most of this with a little kindness and advice.

    You will avoid many problems by asking “What will other people think?” 6 and 10 is a little young for most people. Children from my ghetto Middle School almost always walked home in small groups for safety. I was loathe to keep them after school for more than 10 minutes; it wasn’t safe for them.

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  13. Dogs have a definite reaction to the Law & Order theme, too. It makes them howl for some reason:

    http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AmazingAnimals/dogs-howl-law-order-song/story?id=9931286

    ” ‘Different types of music affect dogs from a behavioral standpoint,” she said. Classical music arrangements, for example, especially those with lower tones, slower tempos and less complexity, reduce anxiety, she said.

    “The higher-pitched, upbeat and complex ‘Law & Order’ theme song could have the opposite effect.

    ” ‘That would be my hypothesis,’ said Wagner. Though the research hasn’t been conducted, she said, based on the reverse finding regarding the lower tones, it seems likely.

    “But, she added, ‘I’d hate to do that to them.’ “

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  17. Donna, just yesterday my sister was telling me that one of her “prior” dogs howled at the L&O theme song. She drove him crazy once when she stayed in bed sick all day and watched a L&O marathon.

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  19. Kim, I know someone who has to keep a secret stash from her husband. It is a sad situation. So I understand why you do it. However, if Mr. P is all that you describe him, I think you could tell him why exactly you keep that stash and he would understand and even let you keep the stash if you find it necessary.

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  21. Oh, I didn’t mean to mislead anyone. He knows I have a secret stash. I told him flat out that we would both be happier if he just accepted that I had a little tucked away that he didn’t know about. He knows about it, just not the amount in it.

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  22. So seriously, no one posted this?

    by Edgar Allan Poe
    (published 1845)

    Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
    Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
    While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
    As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
    “‘Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door-
    Only this, and nothing more.”

    Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
    And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
    Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had sought to borrow
    From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore-
    For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore-
    Nameless here for evermore.

    And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
    Thrilled me- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
    So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
    “‘Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door-
    Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;-
    This it is, and nothing more.”

    Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
    “Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
    But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
    And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
    That I scarce was sure I heard you”- here I opened wide the door;-
    Darkness there, and nothing more.

    Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
    Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
    But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
    And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”
    This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”-
    Merely this, and nothing more.

    Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
    Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
    “Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at my window lattice:
    Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore-
    Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;-
    ‘Tis the wind and nothing more!”

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  24. Was it Lenore?
    We’ll never know. Just as we’ll never know the mystery of all time:
    Did professor Harold Hill settle down with Marian the librarian, or did he move on to another?

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  26. My husband’s former boss committed suicide on Sunday. Rewrote his will on Friday–no memorial, burn up his body–and stepped in front of a commuter train.

    We’re pretty sure he had health issues; my husband had many conversations with him and liked the man. Well read, world-traveling bon vivant, he leaned towards Budhism in his belief system. He’s the type who would have killed himself.

    Still, we’re pretty shocked.

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  27. 😦 Michelle

    I just put it down. I finished reading Stonewalled by Sharyl Attkisson.
    It’s an interesting book, but not easy to take. Heavy stuff. She tells a bit about her career and investigations into Fast and Furious, “Green energy going red”, Benghazi, and Health Care.
    The most important parts of the book start with Chapter 7, “I Spy”. It has to do with government spying on citizens with no warrants. It happens to millions.
    I know that no one is interested in me, but it’s a scary situation.
    Everyone should get the book and read from Chapter 6.

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  28. michelle, how awful.

    Made it to CVS, weakly, to pick up my medicine.

    As I left, the woman behind me said the cough syrup is wonderful. My whole rib cage hurts now whenever I have to cough (which is often), but I won’t take that until tonight. Took the first Tamaflu pill, hoping it doesn’t make me sick to my stomach. But I figure I feel so lousy anyway, what’s one more thing?

    The pharmacist said it “might” be effective, even though I’m 3 days into the flu.

    We will see.

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  31. I see on TV that this is national puzzle day.
    It’s a puzzle to me how we missed that. 😆
    I put a puzzle together once. I was in my early teens, and somehow I got a 2000 piece puzzle.
    My dad said he would give me a dollar if I could put it together.
    A dollar was lots of money to a teen in those days. So, I eventually did it.

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  32. Michelle, how sad for him. Some of the most intelligent are also the most likely to commit suicide when they feel life is no longer worth living. They have not learned the necessary humility for being dependent upon the care of others. It is often voices from that group which demand assisted suicide. They do not realize the barren, sterilized world they would create, with no disability or pain.

    Chas, I love puzzles! Sadly, we already finished the one I got the family for Christmas, so I can’t do one in honour of the day.

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  33. I would add a word to the last sentence in my first paragraph. *They do not realize the barren, sterilized world they would create, with no disability, pain, or compassion.

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  37. Bob, I agree with both of these sentences, but with a really big caveat: “You will avoid many problems by asking “What will other people think?” 6 and 10 is a little young for most people.”

    I think our society spends way too much time asking “What will people think?” Yes, parents need to ask themselves that, and sometimes (at times unfortunately) it will affect their parenting choices. Few parents dare spank “in public” these days, for example. But that isn’t a good thing. Unless a parenting choice is abusive, it is the parents’ choice to make.

    Six and ten may in fact be a little young for most people–hopefully ten is not, but I can see how six is–but parenting isn’t done by committee, and shouldn’t be. Parents have a right to decide that their child is ready. In fact, in this case maybe they assumed that they had neighbors who kept an eye out, and thus the children would be safe, rather than thinking that neighbors who keep an eye out would overreact and call the police.

    I used to have a good friend (now deceased) born in 1917, who told me once that she did some babysitting when she was ten. Many years later the children’s mother recognized her voice and told her she was the best babysitter they ever had. Yet today parents who left their child with a ten-year-old would probably lose him to DCFS, even if they were right next door and the ten-year-old had a cell phone.

    I wouldn’t be inclined to want a ten-year-old babysitting my children. Then again, I’d probably rather have a 1927-era ten-year-old than most of today’s parents! And if I remember correctly, when I was nine (in 1976), I walked across the park to school daily with my eight-year-old sister and six-year-old brother. Since I got out of classes an hour later at the end of the day than they did, Mom or my teenage brother would walk them home, and then I would have to go home an hour later. Sometimes my teenage brother met me in the park when I was halfway home, but I’m nearly positive I sometimes walked all the way alone–basically the rule was look for Mom or my brother and if they weren’t there, head on home, and I think by the end of fourth grade, before my tenth birthday, I usually walked all the way or most of the way by myself. (Actually, by that time we were riding bikes home, but the principle is the same.) I had been taking that trek across the park twice a day, I was responsible, and no one felt that I needed an adult holding my hand to walk a couple blocks across a park I crossed daily. (I did have instructions not to use the bathroom in the park, and other instructions for safety, but it was assumed I was old enough to be careful, and I was.) By the time I was ten, my sister was in fourth grade herself, so it was the two of us together, me a young ten and her not yet nine.

    The bubble around today’s children is harmful, and I don’t blame parents who encourage their children to learn responsibility and give them the freedom they are ready for.

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  39. As I thought, there are more stanzas to “The Raven”: http://poestories.com/read/raven. According to the website, “This version of the poem is from the Richmond Semi-Weekly Examiner, September 25, 1849. It is generally accepted as the final version authorized by Poe. Earlier and later versions had some minor differences.”

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  43. I suppose the animals are laughing, although they don’t much like being shooed off my bed in the middle of the day to make room for me. I should at least be wearing a cone in their world, I guess.

    And yes, Tamaflu is prescription only. Guess I should have requested it sooner, but the potential side effects sounded as bad as the disease & I didn’t think this would be such a bad case of flu, but it’s really laid me out.

    As one blogger described it, the flu is something in between a really bad cold & being run over by a tractor.

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