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 |  What's new on Pleasant Hill |
 This Blog contains day-to-day thoughts and other nonsense.  {c} ![Merit Badge in Community
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I'm starting to see your name everywhere I go *^*Bigsmile*^*. Thank you so very much for all you do around WDC! It is people like you, who make WDC such the awesome place we call our second home *^*Heart*^*
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Tracey](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Community-210.gif) Thanks to intuey  for the MB![Merit Badge in Cheerleading
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I wanted to give you a badge you didn't have yet, and this cheerleading badge suits you. You are such an encouragement to many members of this site, including me, and I wouldn't know what Writing.Com would do without you. *^*Smile*^* You're a gem, Barbs. Thank you for your friendship and everything that you do. Love, Me *^*Smile*^*](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Cheerleading-210.gif) Thanks to pencilsoverpens  for the MB![Merit Badge in Funny
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I've never laughed more, thanks Barbs](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Funny-200.gif) Thanks Wolfdale  for the MBThanks to pencilsoverpens  for the awardicon for this blogThanks to Equilibrium for the pretty green ribbon she pinned on my poetry folder. Thanks to Alfred Booth for the Awardicon for Happy Book and for my wonderful, vibrant sig. |
| I'm late, I'm late, For a very important date.  Some of you will already know about this catalogue so this entry is for those who don't. I received my summer catalogue from the Vermont Country Store in yesterday's mail. They have been in business for sixty years filling an odd consumer niche. The Country Store has created a successful business model by offering the hard to find, the obsolete and out of the way wares that people got attached to sixty years ago and can no longer find on the open market. If it's still made, The VCS will track it down and offer it by catalogue. What sort of things, you ask. Well, things like Lollipop Bubble Duds (cotton unders), bloomers, all-cotton garments of all kinds, wide suspenders, cricket hats, cotton hankies, folding fans, and Tretorn sneakers. Absorbine Jr, Lotil Cream, Jason's Thin to Thick hair products, Dippity-do, Spoolies, Mason Pearson hair brushes-the extraordinary brush that works wonders on your hair, Evening in Paris eau de parfum, Lifebuoy, Camey, wooden stick cotton swabs, and Wrinkies and Frownies all can be found on the catalogue pages. Moreover, your kitchen is not neglected. They have Jewel-Tone aluminum tumblers, chocolate dipped jelly sticks, Modjeskas, Necco Wafers, Liquorice Allsorts, Walnettos, Horlicks Malted Milk Tablets, and Crown Pilot Chowder Crackers among the many food offerings. They even have Dick and Jane books, magnetic Scottie Dogs, Chenille and Plisse bedspreads, and thousands of other interesting, quality offerings. It is a neat place. If you wish to check it out, you can find them at http://www.vermontcountrystore.com |
| Guten Tag, Hola, Bonjour, Buon giorno, Ola, Konichiwa, Annyong ha shimnikka, Ni hao. Forbes magazine reports that a home garden in Los Angeles is producing Cuculoupes. It seems the gardener planted cantaloupes and cucumbers next to one another. In between them, a third variety sprouted which is a cross between the two. It is producing odd new fruit. They're a yard long and a good few inches across. The skin is waxy, sort of like a cucumber, but yellow and ridged like a cantaloupe. A half dozen have grown there. They're calling it the cuculoupe. The growers are saving the seeds and hope to get more next year.  |
| OK, here is my rant for the week. For the past year, I have been buying the big Kleenex boxes. I think they have 180 sheets in each. I am constantly blowing my nose so I go through alot of tissue. These new, larger boxes do have one drawback though. Frequently when I am about 3/4 of the way down in the box, the last sheet looses contact with the next sheet and there's nothing pulled up to grab next.  My solution was to curse under my breath (and sometimes aloud!) and plunge a hand into the box to retrieve the next sheet. This action only served to widen the slit to a fist-sized opening, thus guarantying there would be no further pop up action.Suddenly last night I had a flash of inspiration. I realized that if I set my troubled Kleenex boxes on one side, gravity would by my friend and help the remaining sheets in the box gravitate toward the slit naturally. Now when I pull out a sheet, another is pulled to the fore, as it should be. I am thrilled and all the cosmic forces are once again aligned. |
| The first successful bone marrow transplantation was completed in 1968. It gave critically ill patients with serious blood diseases a treatment option not available before that time. Life threatening blood diseases are treated with harsh chemotherapy and/or radiation. The extent of that treatment was previously limited to doses that would spare the delicate and critical cells in the bone marrow. Blood cells are formed there and this process is crucial to life. The transplantation of bone marrow allows physicians to deliver otherwise lethal amounts of treatment since the damaged bone marrow can now be replaced following the delivery of these drugs and radiation. In order to facilitate this gift, the National Marrow Donor Program maintains a registry of individuals who are willing to donate their bone marrow to one of the 30,000 children and adults who are diagnosed each year with a disease for which a bone marrow transplant can be a cure. The National Program facilitates marrow donations for people who do not have a matching donor in their family. The NMDP matches donors with patients, arranges collections and transportation of the blood-forming cells, and manages patient support and research programs. There is a critical need to add more committed donors. The NMDP is looking for individuals age 18-60 who meet their health guidelines. The organization welcomes everyone who is medically eligible, but there is a critical need to add more committed donors who identify themselves as Black, Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native, Hispanic or Latino. Thank you for considering this important volunteer opportunity. Individuals interested in exploring being a marrow donor can get more information at: National Marrow Donor Program 3001 Broadway St. NE, Suite 500 Minneapolis, Minnesota 55413 1-800-MARROW-2 http://www.marrow.org |
| Now that you have voted, I will tell you why I am doing the ketchup user's poll. I have been a solid Heinz vote for the past sixty years. Recently, a copy of a cooking magazine to which I subscribe arrived and it contained an article reporting the results of a blind taste test of various ketchups. The other brands were Hunts, Del Monte, Annie's, Muir Glen, World's Best, and Westbrae. I was shocked to read that Hunts was voted the best in both taste and consistency!!!! I'm going to purchase a small bottle and conduct my own test but I'm curious to know what others think. I checked in our two grocery stores and both only carry Hunts, Heinz, and Del Monte so I didn't include the other brands by name. 100 people have responded to the poll and I have sent the results to the editor of the magazine in question. Thanks for participating. I appreciate. Barbs |
| At least 200 dead and another 700 injured in Tuesday's train bombing in Mumbai, India. Mumbai? I'd never heard of Mumbai. It turns out that Mumbai used to be Bombay. The name Mumbai refers to the Hindu goddess Mumbai and natives have referred to it as Mumbai for centuries. Europeans who controlled the area as early as the 1500 used the word Bombay. The change of name occurred in 1995. This is just one of the most recent changes in the geography of the world map. Since I was in school, there have been many such changes. Many African nations have new names and political leanings. The USSR was once a huge country. Now it is splintered into many independent nations and I'm still learning the new names and locations of all of these. The old Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia are no more. They have been replaced now by several smaller countries each. Israel is another instance. All this change is an indicator to me that the many tribes of the world still cannot get along. Greed, prejudice, and power pit neighbor against neighbor and uneasy alliances once held in tenuous unity, dissolve into age-old groups. |
| Mayor Frank Paul Zeidler died last Friday at the age of 93. Most of you will not recognize his name so I'd like to tell you a bit about him. Frank Zeidler was a giant in Milwaukee. He was largely a self-educated man whose thirst for knowledge and understanding obtained right up until his death. He was elected to the Milwaukee School Board in 1942. Later that decade he chose to run for the position of Mayor of the city. Although he was relatively unknown, he was successful in his bid and served the city with honor and distinction from 1948 until 1960. Mayor Zeidler was much loved and respected by those who knew him. He was a simple, unassuming man who lived his entire life in the city he loved. He neither drank nor smoked and he never drove a car. His lifestyle was a modest one and he was unconcerned about earning money. He was a humble man, and incorruptible. Someone referred to him once as "an urban saint." He was a voracious reader and a philosopher. In the end, he died of heart failure but his mind was sharp as a tack. Frank Zeidler was the third Socialist Mayor of Milwaukee. He was deeply committed to social justice and equality. Mayor Zeidler presided over a period of great growth and accomplishment in the city of Milwaukee. Through annexation, it more than doubled in size. Nine new fire stations were built and the first fleet of garbage trucks were purchased. Bridges and roadways were rebuilt and repaved and other improvements were undertaken. The Central Library building was enlarged to twice its size and outlying libraries were created. These, and a host of other accomplishments, marked his terms in office. When he opted to leave office at the age of 47, he worked as teacher, mediator, and consultant. Mayor Zeidler was approachable and affable to a fault. He often exhorted people to "Call me. I'm in the phone book." And many did. He had his finger on the pulse of the city he loved and for which he vowed to be a relentless servant. He was a legend in his time and his voice and wisdom will be missed. |
| I am currently running a poll to determine Ketchup preference among WDC writers. If you have not voted yet, please stop by and make your feelings known there. It's at: "Invalid Item"  When I end the poll I will share an explanation and the results with you as well as the disposition of the information gathered. I would also like to plug another item in my port, an in and out I call the Happy Book. "Invalid Item" It's another quick participation item. List there the things in life that make you happy. Read other's entries. The list gives me a lift every day. Thank you for your input. |
| My, but this was a lovely, lazy day. It was sunny but breezy and cool. We are waiting for a rain in these parts so we watered flowers then spent some time on the back deck. I watched Roger Federer win his forth Wimbledon title in a row. Good match. Then Tony took in the soccer final. I am the only person who enjoys the games decided by penalty kicks so in the end, I enjoyed it too. Today I was working in our dining room when I saw motion out of the corner of my eye. There, on our newly blacktopped driveway next to the house, were two Sandhill Crane fledglings. About three feet tall, scrawny, and lacking their mature plumage, they looked rather comical. Slowly they made their way out to the road and headed east. About that time, I noticed mom and dad coming in for a landing on the newly mowed hay field next door. I suppose they were out looking for grasshoppers, small snakes, and other exposed creatures that hadn't yet made their way to some new shelter. Recently I had a run in with another neighbor. I came out of the back door and closed it. I turned to step off the porch and was startled to find a hummer in my face. I actually had to step back to focus on it, it was so close. I suppressed my laughter as it darted a little right, then a little left for better perspective. Nose to nose, we studied each other for some time before it sailed off and perched on a nearby branch. I suppose I had interrupted whatever he was doing. Hummers are such pugnacious little jewels. It is all part of the quiet rhythm of life here on Pleasant Hill. |
| Several years back, I had the occasion to purchase some live chicks for a friend. (Control yourself, Party) After some searching, I landed at McMurray's Hatchery in Iowa. Between their catalog and their website, I found twenty different varieties and sent her one of each. What did I learn? A chicken is a beautiful bird. There are many varieties and, while they are all chickens, they are as different as night and day. The paintings that I have seen in the past are true depictions of some of them. In life, they are beautiful, living, works of art. Visit the McMurray website and take a squint. You might even want to start raising chickens. I know I had an itch to construct a coop in the back yard.http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html Click on "Day old baby chicks" and then on "Standard Breed or Bantam. There pictures of the individual breeds and information about each. |
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Thanks for these Barbs, we really miss you around here! Update us on everything some time alright! 