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21209. thoughtful - 2/21/2007 4:00:55 PM Thanks for all the well wishes...it means a lot.
We just heard from the wife of a friend of ours. Not unexpected, but sad nonetheless...he died of cancer. Lymphoma which had spread from earlier bouts with cancer. He had other medical issues as well including a stroke when he was in his 40s. Of course, he was a smoker as was his wife...I think she finally quit. He made it to 57 and leaves a son of 18 behind.
A couple of weeks ago we'd heard from the son of a friend of my father's that his father died...age of 89. Mom asked if he'd been ill long. The answer was no...it was homocide. Killed in his own home by someone in the community. Very unusual for that rural, peaceful town.
Just too much bad news lately. 21210. arkymalarky - 2/21/2007 11:49:26 PM Elderly people are sometimes targeted in rural communities. Burglaries also sometimes occur in systematic ways in rural areas. We had a ring of burglars operating out here for a while who were finally caught, and they were from over 40 miles away. They burglarized a friend's house a few miles over and remarked in their plea bargain how friendly our friend's dogs were. 21211. Magoseph - 2/22/2007 2:01:56 PM Our area has become urban the last ten years, but the remaining natives are complaining bitterly about the higher real-estate taxes and the increasing police protection we now enjoy.
They had a series of burglaries years ago and demanded that more police cars cruise the area at the time. Flexy remembers the screaming at the association’s meetings and what they were told at the time, which was-- Sell your extra lots and let’s upgrade! Catching up on the local trend, they all sold and made bundles of money and now they complain of too much local school taxes, too may police cars, and too many new stores in town. 21212. thoughtful - 2/22/2007 3:32:20 PM ah yes, the old: be careful what you ask for. 21213. arkymalarky - 2/23/2007 1:03:12 AM If we all did what the whiners wanted we'd still be living in caves.
I always wondered about our county cop policy of putting a sticker on the mailbox to show they'd patrolled our road. I think if I were a burglar, I'd strike the houses with the stickers first. 21214. Magoseph - 2/23/2007 1:47:38 AM We don’t have a mailbox since an armada of snowmobiles systemically destroyed every one on our street one night and escaped the police.
One particularly good thing now that the new homes have people from the city is that when someone throws a rowdy party or decides to play with fireworks the police are here in a moment.
21215. arkymalarky - 2/23/2007 1:53:10 AM People have gotten to bricking theirs in around here, but if someone hits a mailbox accidentally it could be a serious, injury or death accident. I don't know that preserving the mailbox is worth it. 21216. judithathome - 2/23/2007 7:01:25 PM Our house is so old, we have a mailbox on the front porch...when new rules about mailboxes on the street came into effect, ours were grandfathered in. We still have a mailman who walks up to each house on the street and plops the mail in...if you're outside, you can speak to him! And he'll speak back...friendly guy and in great shape from all the walking. 21217. Magoseph - 2/23/2007 9:59:03 PM I’m going to take Flexy to my older son’s house on Lake Michigan sometimes this weekend, really just to get him out of my hair for a while. I’ll seat him in front of the Panasonic flat-panel TV (one that he wants and I don't)while I water the plants, check the cat-feeder, and enjoy the scenery. The poor man is showing signs of cabin fever and a day away from home, I hope, will improve his mood.
My two sons are at a resort in Cancún for the wedding of the youngest one. The wedding is taking place right now, so here I am waiting for the call to the new mother-in-law.
21218. thoughtful - 2/23/2007 11:23:18 PM How exciting. Weddings are such a happy time.
Congratulations! 21219. arkymalarky - 2/24/2007 12:05:07 AM Congrats on the new DIL Mags! 21220. Magoseph - 2/24/2007 12:11:08 AM The bride's mother and stepfather are strict Baptists and drinking are sins in their world (I guess divorce is not). They wanted a big wedding to take place in their hometown, (rich step-dad), but there were some issues from the start with the daughter, who wanted her father to attend. The mother was opposed to it.
Anyway, the bride's mother and step dad flew in this morning and leave later this afternoon. In the meantime, everyone is behaving sedately and only fruit punch is served at the reception that will be very short. The real reception and fun will begin as soon as they leave. In attendance, the bride has a twin sister, her husband and his mother from Dallas; the groom has his godmother and godfather (aunt and uncle from Chicago); his brother and his sister-in-law from up here and me in spirit, so they tell me. It will be a jolly group, not one Baptist among them!
I’ll post some pictures—I’ll have to wait a while, they are there for a week.
21221. Magoseph - 2/24/2007 12:18:27 AM Thanks, Arky! She's a sweetheart. 21222. judithathome - 2/24/2007 12:26:37 AM To paraphrase Bob Dylan:
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Cancun
With the Baptist blues again.
21223. wabbit - 2/24/2007 1:08:02 AM LOL! Congratulations Mags! 21224. Magoseph - 2/24/2007 3:29:00 PM Thanks, Wabbit--That Judith is so droll! 21225. arkymalarky - 2/24/2007 5:27:19 PM I don't think non-Southerners are used to Baptists. They're not so bad once you get to know them. Not that I'd ever marry one. 21226. Magoseph - 2/24/2007 8:02:15 PM My oldest son was fourteen when we moved southwest, the younger four. The first one married a northerner--the second two southerners.
We still correspond or see the friends we made while there and we never had any problems with Baptists, except for their father (not my Flexy), who came across as being condescending to them—-this attitude cost him a bundle as it turned out later.
21227. Magoseph - 2/24/2007 8:03:45 PM We have losts of snow and more coming tonight. 21228. arkymalarky - 2/24/2007 8:48:13 PM I'm being silly (trying to smoke out Jen ;-)). My family's Church of Christ (the old kind, not the Obama kind) and Bob's are Nazarene. Most Baptists are heatherns compared to them.
We've been under a tornado warning, but things have settled down, hopefully to stay.
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