Watered Garden

Although I not regrettably missed the lockdown, I too have an exaggerated reaction to being screamed at. I melt into terror and sobs. Of course if I had been there, there would have been TWO breakdowns. I do not understand why people think they have to communicate this way. Yesterday a guy called me from the warehouse job and told me I was scheduled to come in. Now their work week is Wed-Tues and my brain is Mon-Fri, so as far as I was concerned, I wasn't either scheduled. This guy got really nasty with me. Had he calmly reminded me it wasn't a new week as far as they were concerned, life would have been sweet. However, He screamed and I hung up on him, then left a message on the answering machine that I was too upset to come in. I personally think it's a weakness of mine, but I just fall apart. It's like a knee jerk reflex or something. WG

Oh, trust me! There is nothing worse than a midnight call from your spouse, announcing that you need to come get him right now. "Why? What's wrong?" "I HIT ANOTHER ****ING DEER, THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG?" "Are you okay?" Yeah, but the Honda's a mess. He was so upset he almost forgot to tell me where he was. I liked the Honda. And the Dakota (it was purple). I am still crazy about my husband after 30 years. There was a guy not too far from here driving a full size pickup truck who had a buck jump out in front of him and when he hit it it went right up on his hood, through the windshield, through the back window, and was dead in the bed of the pickup truck. The driver? He was equally dead, behind the wheel. I think the gun season should be at least a month. Every November on opening day I hear the boom of shotguns and it's music to my ears. WG

The first time my husband killed a deer (10 point buck that the guy who stopped to help called a "wall-hanger") and totaled the pickup truck, my supervisor at my then job was horrified. Though for some reason she votes Republican, she wasn't concerned about my husband's safety or the unhappy fact that we were truckless temporarily, but that the poor innocent deer had to die. I asked her if it would have been preferable for my husband to bite the dust. She didn't have an answer for that. The third one that we hit, which also died, she was angry that we didn't stop to be sure it was actually dead and not just unconscious. It had flown about 15 feet vertical and 40 horizontal. I was sure it was dead and more concerned with my vehicle. I did ask her what I should have done if it was not completely dead - call the squad and apply CPR until they arrived? My nomination for a hunter's bumper sticker: "I SHOT BAMBI'S MOTHER --- AND SHE WAS DELICIOUS!" WG

Next truck we get is definitely getting a grill guard, or as we call them here in Buckeye-land, a cow catcher. Maybe a baby grill guard for the baby Ranger wouldn't be a bad idea, either. Save us picking the white deer butt hair out of the headlight rim, at any rate. WG

When my most beloved aunt was dying, I had Hospice for her, and I had a hospital bed in the living room with soft lights and flowers everywhere. I played soft music to remind her that she was a woman after God's heart and she was going to be with Him. Her last semi-conscious breaths, before she went into a coma, were to Pachelbel's Canon. I think it is as close as man can get to the music of heaven. She died peacefully in my arms later that night. I want it played at my memorial service. It is filled with beauty, peace, and joy. On a lighter note, one of my nephews got married a few years back, and their recessional was the theme from "Rocky". The original plan was to carry his bride piggy-back down the aisle, but he kept getting tangled up in her train and veil, so he just swooped her up in his arms and ran off with her! WG

Good Grief! WG

When we first moved here we planted several Montmorency cherry trees and the deer ate them down to the soil. The owner of a big peach and apple orchard not far from here told me when they plant, they plant about 1/3 more trees than they actually need to allow for deer munching the little trees down to the ground also. Our new cherry trees are closer to the house. Last winter when we had a lot of snow, one of the durn things tried to eat the holly bushes that are up against the front porch. Maybe got a few berries. My next door neighbor has a deer feeding stand back in his woods, but sometimes they just like to go out to eat, I guess. WG

I think a lot of folks feel that all Mother Earth Goddess's creatures should be protected from harm done them by evil humans. Like the castigation I got for my complete lack of sympathy for the beautiful, harmless, innocent whitetail deer that keep jumping in front of our vehicles (got another 2 weeks ago, this time in the butt, minimal damage to Ford Ranger). The logical answer is NOT extending the hunting season, but eliminating all automotive travel, so's the little critters can roam freely at will. It is wrong of me to plant a garden for my own consumption; I should plant nothing other than what the deer like to eat. And I should have my dog put down and not get another, unless I plan to use it to feed those lovely coyotes who live out back. And yet, in this country, millions are rabidly virulent about promoting abortion, including partial birth abortion, and protecting Roe v. Wade. So it's perfectly appropriate to kill unborn humans, but outrageous and evil to protect my crops and my roadways (mine because I pay taxes that build and repair them) from coyotes, deer, and the like? That's pretty backwards, IMO. WG

There is a lovely suburb called Powell, Ohio where a couple years ago, a lady heard a ruckus in her nicely fenced backyard and looked out to see three coyotes which had backed her Labrador retriever into a corner and were about to make lunch of it! Those coyote-dog crosses are called in some parts "coy-dogs." They are as Waysider mentioned larger than the average coyote. Haven't seen any foxes in the area since the first winter we lived here. The next spring, the yodeling started. WG

Actually, the final straw came when we were told that God does not honor adoption and we were to "get rid of" him. This was a different person who said this. However, we knew of a couple who were family WC grads who adopted a baby with the help of B*** Gr**ne! So apparently God honored some people adopting children, just not us. What a bunch of inconsistent, unloving, godless dummies! WG

We have coyotes in the woods behind our house, which belong to our next door neighbor. We don't see them much but hear them especially on spring nights, yodeling to each other. An eerie sound. The neighbors are concerned they might bring down the spring fawns. I am concerned that if I get a cocker spaniel puppy, s/he might be lunch. One night a couple years ago, coming home late at night after a work-related dinner, I saw one dash across the road right in front of my car. My daughter-in-law was with us and she was half scared by the little critter. They look like a mini-wolf here in Ohio. They have become quite suburban and my brother-in-law, who lives in a very nice subdivision, even saw one slinking through his shrubbery one summer. We have tons of deer in Ohio, probably around 500,000, and I would imagine the over-population of deer attracts them, along with all the bunnies, possums, groundhogs, and other creatures who populate our little bit of heaven. WG

When we were in the upper left corner of the country, the TC's were a couple we had known for years. They now had four children. The woman looked down on my son and was always seeking an excuse to yell at him for something. One time she had baked a cheesecake for twig dessert. Her children were small, one yet in diapers. She cut each of them a tiny slice. She then gave my son, a strapping 12-year-old, an identical slice. He scarfed it down AND ASKED FOR MORE, PLEASE! She castigated him up one side and down the other for his bad manners! No one EVER asks for seconds on dessert! He needs to learn to take tiny bites and SAVOR his DESSERT instead of eating it down like a DOG! Then she started on me. I pointed out that he was not a tiny two year old, but 12. She had brothers, right? She should know how much fuel an adolescent male requires. Another time she jumped all over me about "nervous habits." Seems her eldest had begun drumming his fingers on the table. She was sure he had learned this from my son, as he was a jumpy kind of kid. She informed she DID NOT PERMIT her children to have nervous habits and I was to forbid my child to do so, as her precious angels might learn something bad from him! Right before my son took what was the last PFAL class in the area, she and her husband "invited" me to plant flowers in the planter at their front door. This was a big, permanent brick thing. The husband kindly provided the flowers and she called us to come over in a downpour to plant them. Son and I came over. He was freezing and asked if he could stand just inside the door. She refused, because she didn't want him around her children. She actually told him he was a bad influence and she didn't want her children picking up his bad habits and attitudes. Then she and her husband got into a fight, him screaming in her face, while she smiled sweetly up at him, right in front of the open front door. I took my son and we left, without planting the rest of the flowers. Once they settled their differences, he called me and apologized and she actually drove over to our apartment to get me to come plant the rest of the flowers. I wish I could say those flowers were soon growing where the sun can't find them, but I cratered before the combined force of their will and their conviction of their own perfection and planted them, but I left my kid at home. It is absolutely amazing to me when I look back on my TWI years and think that I tolerated any of this madness. If someone even twitched at my grandson, let alone said such hateful things to him, she would be wearing cheesecake from head to toe, plus a few bruises. Live and learn, I guess. PS: The cheesecake wasn't even all that great. My father-in-law can bake a cheesecake to die for. Put them side-by-side on a table, and hers would slink away in shame. Oh, and he makes sure the grandson gets extra helpings! (my kind of great-grandpa)! WG

I thought she was Miss South Carolina. Am I the only one who thinks she looks like Britney Spears? WG

That was beautiful! Another moon story: About 2 1/2 years ago, when he was three years old, my grandson was spending the night with me. We went out on the front porch and saw this huge harvest moon rising above the trees. "Wow! Wow! Wow!" said my grandson in amazement. "That's a harvest moon." I told him. "Do you know who made it?" "YEE-ZUS! And he made it just for me!" exclaimed the little guy. He was so full of wonder. I hope he never loses his sense of wonder. I hope he never stops realizing how special he is. WG

I remember in the mid-60's before I went back to college to get my degree, working in an office where the second in command needed a secretary. I was all set to apply for the promotion, as I was a lowly typist, but this guy told me "I don't hire young women for jobs like this. They get married and want to stay home in bed with their husbands, which means they end up getting pregnant, which means they have a baby and quit to take care of it." He hired a mid-50's widow and griped about her all the time. She couldn't do the work all that well, but she had no husband and no children at home. I didn't feel one bit sorry for him. I was sexually harassed plenty of times on the job as a youth, including when I worked at a very prestigious medical center during my time in FLO. Some men seemed to think sexual favors were an unwritten given in the job description. At least that's changed now, at least I hope it has. I do think there is a balance. A perfectly decent guy can get into trouble simply by saying "you look nice today." That's the other side of the coin. WG

I never heard of it, but it does sound interesting. Women and children were pretty much exploited throughout that century. I sometimes think the history of women's issues, the socalled "glass ceiling" etc. is one big reason why Hillary Clinton is so popular among some women. Not that this is all history - remember those images a few years back of the women of Kabul in their blue and black whatevers (the name escapes me since I always thought of them as "baggies." Denied even medical care, since they were only permitted to be examined by female physicians, and females were denied an education, so they couldn't go to medical school and become women's doctors. Some of this was in the name of religion. One of the "good gals" in the fight was Queen Victoria. When ether came along as a general anesthetic, and was recommended for women in labor and childbirth, many theologians had snit fits. Does the Bible not state in Genesis that women MUST suffer during childbirth because of the sin of Eve? "Nonsense!" said Her Majesty. She was the mother of quite a few children and thought anything to relieve the pain of delivering one of them was a great idea. God save The Queen! WG

Actually, Johnny, it was much earlier than that. I heard of it but never read it when I was first "in" in 1973, got married in 1977, and soon thereafter all the rage was "The Total Woman". My husband thought "The Total Woman" was total BS! He has no problem with a thinking woman who is honest and loving, and doesn't need to connive when she can have an honest conversation. WG

Shifra, I always really, really LIKED your kids! WG

Exactly how he described FWC! "They were the Nazis and we were the Jews. Put your hand on a wall and someone was right there to smack you with a spoon." he told me once. He fought back with the only tools he knew, stole food, peed in the sanitary napkin receptacle in the unisex bathroom, threw eggs across Adam's Alley, and got us kicked out of FWC. I think he did us a huge favor and I can never thank him enough. I despised the FWC. Talk about dehumanization! How dare you have the unmitigated audacity to have any original thought? Example: Some 19th WC guy, a close friend M***ael F**t, actually REPROVED me for saying "Jumpin' Jehoshaphat," because there is no Biblical proof whatsoever that Jehoshaphat ever jumped! Talk about seeking an occasion! I can just imagine his train of thought: Lessee, I'm a great man of God, friend of an even greater man of God, and I need to start kicking the butts of these lowly 20th FWC folks. Now, what can I do to make this woman feel stupid, useless, and worthless? AHA!!! She said "Jumpin' Jehoshaphat!" Great! I can put on my portentous MOG voice and Nazi storm trooper boots and kick away! That'll put her in her place, with my boot firmly on her neck and her ugly little face ground into the dirt where it belongs! I personally don't see any Biblical evidence that believers should treat each other that way! And people don't treat others like that because of their devotion to God and the Bible, but rather to their own self-aggrandizement. WG

Never read that one, but read "The Total Woman" by Marabel Morgan, which I gather is somewhat similar in that it recommends manipulation and seduction as important tools for the little lady to get what she wants from her man. Pretty sickening. There are great books out there on marriage. Neither of these is on the list. WG

Right now, I'm reading "No Wonder They Call Him The Savior" by Max Lucado. This presents quite a different view in Chapter 6. WG

Well, HappyHeart, yes and no. As Waysider mentioned, there are direct and indirect effects. The direct effects are mostly taken care of. Some of the indirect effects still surface from time to time. Since son was 8 when we got him, it's hard for me to determine what is TWI-influenced and what is a result of his 6 1/2 years in foster care, which were pretty awful. He still has major issues with trust and honesty that could have resulted from either situation, or both. The important thing is that he knows I love him and I know he loves me. And, as Peter wrote, love covers a multitude of sins. WG

Ruined my relationship with my adopted son, and probably any relationship he might have had with God. I diligently followed the teachings of the powers that be and disciplined him strictly. The leadership our last three years in treated him like dirt (he was 12) urged us to get rid of him, one way or another, called him possessed and gave us an ultimatum to either throw him out of the house or leave TWI. We left. The church I go to now impressed me from the beginning with the tenderness and compassion with which they handle the children in their congregation of all ages. Had I heard one voice raised, seen one child thrashed, kicked, whipped, beaten or cursed, I would have never come back. WG

It's actually not state law that I know of, but The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Cleveland Clinic, the other biggie in the state doesn't charge a dime. The Ohio State University is one of the largest state-funded universities in the country. It is very expensive. It is well know for its football team. When I was employed there, I was invited to purchase a set of two season tickets for all home games several times. The last I recall, the cost was $646, and that was discounted a bit because I was an employee. And these were not quite in the nosebleed section, but anyone who had a fear of heights might not have been happy. WG

I would gladly donate my earthly remains to science, except that here in OH-IO there is a hefty fee. The survivors have to pay the OH-IO State U Med Ctr for transportation, cremation, and urn, perhaps also storage fees post-cremation or shipping or something.. I think it about comes out to $600-1000. Cleveland Clinic is free. You'd think it would all be covered by the price of football tickets, wouldn't you? Maybe I should donate my earthly remains to UM's medical center. WG My aunt wrote her own obituary but I didn't find it until after the service. I did know she wanted a graveside service and her funeral expenses were all prepaid. There was no minister handy, so Mr. Garden did the service. WG