Watered Garden

I don't think it will confuse him to think you and your husband are both "the boss." Maxx was very quick to perceive that my husband was ultimately in charge, and our son, then aged 9, had no authority at all. This left me somewhere in the middle, but I was the one who gave him food and took him for walks, so I was pretty much "in" in his little scheme of things. Cocker spaniels are pretty smart dogs. Has he been neutered? That might help. I agree with Jim. A great book to get is "How to be Your Dog's Best Friend". Tells about the alpha thing. WG

During the earlier years VPW taught that cancer is caused by devil spirit possession because "cancer is a disease that has life of itself." First of all, I question this statement, because I work in a cancer hospital, and I've noticed that when a patient dies, the cancer dies also. Cancer is uncontrolled growth of cells. There were probably more than the few people I can think of in TWI who were diagnosed with cancer and were basically castigated for not "Believing to be healed" and put down because they were obviously possessed or they wouldn't have cancer, now, would they? So in addition to expensive painful treatments and facing death, they were yelled at by leadershi* for being sick in the first place. This I initially saw in 1973 so it wasn't just LCM. Such BS! How awful to know you are dying a long, slow, excruciatingly painful death and be told it is because you are possessed with devil spirits and not believing God for perfect health! May the fleas of a thousand camels infest their armpits with my compliments! WG

Okay, who is still watching 24? We are now confirmed addicts and there is no cure! If you watched it last night, were you as shocked as I was regarding the identity of the White House bad guy? :blink: WG

Darn it! I have no vacation time! Just got back. However, I will be with y'all in spirit. Wish it could be in person. WG

All of these folks are giving Ohio a bad r eputation...Oh No I'm wrong, it already had one from those weirdos in NK!

((((((((((((CW)))))))))))))) Thanks for everything. WG

Friend Tom, They use different varieties of grapes, for example, reisling wine is made from reisling grapes,( I'm pretty sure) for the most part. There is a late harvest reisling that is made from grapes that have been left on the vine longer, and therefore are sweeter. Ice wine, a delicacy, (an EXPENSIVE delicacy), is made from white grapes that have been left on the vine until the first hard frost, then hastily harvested and pressed into the best, but very sweetest wine, you ever tasted. Some wineries harvest at the regular time then freeze the grapes, but it's not the same. Ice wine comes in cute little half bottles and costs $40-80. Shiraz is a blend of two grapes and I forget which ones they are. It is I think medium dry. Norton wine, a semi-dry red, is made from grapes from Germany. I don't really remember a lot of it. I think they use mechanical presses now instead of stomping them in a big wooden vat a la I Love Lucy. (But wouldn't that be fun?) WG

Lindemann is pretty good. I gotta heartily agree with Belle on the Yellow Tail. for a few dollars more, Kendall Jackson Cabernet is excellent. And, has anyone ever had any wine from Missouri? There are several excellent wineries south of St. Louis, Augusta is one, Hermanhoff, and Adam Puchta, all making very nice and not too expensive wines. There are many more than the 3 I've mentioned. Only problem is that they only ship to certain states. Still there are lovely B&B's in the area and it's nice rolling hill country, and you can drive, bicycle, or stagger around the different wineries tasting their fruits of the vine. We go every so often and bring back a couple cases to tide us over 'til the next time. WG

Interesting. Apparently TWI is now encouraging their kids to get involved with activities in the Big Bad Evil World. Seems quite a change to me. My next to last twig leaders had four kids. The two oldest were fairly close together and the last two were close togetherin age. The parents planned it that way, so their kids would buddy up 2 x 2 and not seek friends outside their immediate family. They participated in a sport or two, I think, but other kids were not allowed to come to their home to play. #1 had #2 as his best friend. #2 had #1 as his best friend. #3's best friend was #4, and vice versa. Sad. Well, if this young lady wants to come be a nursing student at OSU, she is in for a rude awakening. So many different ideas flying around that campus! And it's huge! (Probably bigger than the whole TWI, come to think of it.) Hope she's prepared. WG

Dogs ain't all that great when it comes to farting....our first "child" was Brandy, half yellow lab, half Irish setter, and he would hide behind the sofa during twig and go to sleep...Eventually, usually during prayer, an awful miasma would rise from behind the sofa, such that the folks sitting thereon would be surriptitiously peeking at each other, wondering who did it. Eventually the dog would emerge from his siesta and wander off, to everyone's relief. If the dog was awake when he passed gas, he would leap up with a started expression and twist around to examine his backside with an air of sheer astonishment. Our sweet yellow lab now is scared to death of her own farts, and will suddenly leap up and run to another room in terror if she lets one fly. Oftentimes the rest of the room's occupants follow, but for an entirely different reason. :unsure: WG

Thank you guys so very much! Anyone who has ever raised/babysat a 3-year-old male will know why I haven't been on the computer until now! (Wheew!). On top of which, my daughter-in-law moved yesterday, so he my grandson) is a little confused about where "home" really is. I'm celebrating by taking 4 days off, since Husband is on spring break this week, and doing things around the house. Thanks again! I love y'all sooo much! WG (back on a not-so-limited basis)

In the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo, that wonderful South Carolina senator, Fritz Hollings, who I think is now retired, stood up on the Senate floor, his shock of snow white hair and tall bearing giving him great dignity, and with fire in his eyes in a deep Southern accent, he declared: "FEMA is the biggest bunch of bureaucratic jackasses Ah have evah seen!" Hugo was just practice for them. They are much bigger and more bureaucratic jackasses now than they were then. And bigger jackasses, too, apparently. WG

Oh, I'm sorry, it was Shellon who posted I Hope You Dance. Thanks, Shellon for posting that song. WG

Oh, Dottie, I have the words to that song posted on my bulletin board, with a tiny picture of my grandson on it, from when he was 10 days old! I love that song, it's really more like a prayer! WG (back on a limited basis)

OOO, I just remembered a dandy! When we were living on the Left Coast, this little jerk of a TC reproved my husband and me because he said we did not plan enough family activities for ourselves and our son to enjoy. How there should be special famly outings planned that were special, blah, blah, blah. So my husband's birthday rolls around and family members send him a cash gift. He uses this gift to go up to Snoqualmie Pass and go cross country skiing, the three of us, none who have ever been on skis before. Two of three of us have a great time - son is naturally athletic, dad does okay, yours truly loses an excellent Seiko watch after being knocked down by a 5th grader going 90 mph, the last of many falls. So a few days later, husband mentions, somewhat proudly, to this same TC, that he spent his birthday money on a cross-country skiing adventure. TC blows up, raises holy he ll that, being in debt, we did something so extravagant when he should have used his money to pay a bill! Red in face, ranting, raving, holding forth himself as his own excellent example (his mom-in-law was independently wealthy and loved her grandkids, so he didn't have too much to worry about). My husband was shocked and mentioned to him that he had told him to plan family outings and here he did so and now he is getting yelled at about that. I don't remember what the outcome was, other than mutual annoyance. It was the instaneous end of any respect I might have had left for this man, however. What a maroon! WG, back on a limited basis

Rascal when I was in fellow laborers of an unnamed state, the coordinator wanted 2 tires off an old junky car that I was getting rid of. They were practically new so I offered to sell them for $20/each on the condition that he put the old tires from his car on mine to replace them. The feces hit the fan with that kind offer on my part. Well! Don't you understand that you are supposed to GIVE to the saints that have need? And after all he was going in the WC and I should be blessed to help him out. I had a very selfish attitude. "Don't you want to get blessed?" I told him I have a need too; I NEED the money, and if you want to get tires somewhere else, go for it! Needless to say, this was in the early 70's when I was young, single, and sassy, and really didn't give a rat's nose about what anyone thought. I think a lot of people were caught off balance by the stupid reproof i in the late 80's and following, (I know I was) and probably before that, even. (We lived in the Deep South for many years after I was married, and sometimes the poo from HQ didn't trickle quite that far from the Root Locale in its unadulterated glory). That may well have been the only time I stuck up for myself to leadershi t while in TWI. Geez, it was a long time ago! :( WG (back on a limited basis)

Living in the northwest corner of the country, we had a 18th WC grad as a BC. Truly the result of a proctologic anomaly, this young man was. I had been diagnosed with a chronic disease while in Ohio and we had incurred a generous but not breathtaking hospital bill as a result of my initial treatment, getting started on medication, etc. This fool had a fit, including unfortunately that I had committed the sin of becoming ill in the first place, but also that we had this hospital bill to pay, which we were paying off in increments. He insists that we sell a small amount of stock we owned and were saving for retirement in Frito-Lay, and pay off the debt en bloc, so to speak. Which we unfortunately did. Never again will anyone know about my finances. Never did the young upstart find out that the stock was worth a lot more than the hospital bill, and we put the rest into IRAs!! And God did not strike us dead or give us over to devil possession for doing so! WG, back on a limited basis.

Rascal I don't think Satori was the least bit lighthearted. I really don't care what other people think of PFAL. I feel like just because I did know there are those who would like to have it and offered it, I am being attacked as this stupid piece of crap moron who doesn't "get" it. Maybe I don't "get" it. I'm just not as educated about how to really spend the rest of my life hating, being hardhearted and unforgiving. I wonder how many of the leadership of TWI who have read what posters have written about them have been shocked, and said to themselves: "I was wrong! I must change and reform! How awful that I hurt that poor innocent soul." I would imagine they just say, (If they say anything at all) "Humm! Wonder who that possessed idiot was? Sure am glad I ran them out of the gates of Zion." This is the year I am asking God to teach me about forgiveness. I think it's obvious I have a long way to go. But it's a worthwhile journey. At any rate, I'm not going to bother the elite here by posting anymore.

I majorly doubt if I ever post here again. What bitter, bitter people! With a few notable exceptions, WaWeather, Jonny Lingo, Dmiller, 2Life and Galen, I have been defecated upon with enthusiasm just for offering something that someone might, and a few actually did, want. I was associated with TWI for 23 years of my life from age 28 to age 52. I do not consider every moment of those years to be a total waste of time. If they were, if each and every without exception thought, word and action was vile and loathsome, if everything I learned was a lie, if in fact there is no God, no Jesus, no truth, then every moment of those years was not worth living. My life is worth nothing. But hey, Satori, et al, guess what? The same goes for you. If you spent one millimicron of a nanosecond of your life in a twig fellowship, in a PFAL class or anything else, by your own accusations and meaness to others, you are saying that your life is worthless and useless, too, ACCORDING TO WHAT YOU PERCEIVE/ACCUSE IN OTHERS. I have moved on, and in fact, forward in my life. I don't need to spend endless hours dissecting TWI, cursing and villlifying every person who hurt and maimed me, all of the lies and pain are in the past. There are those of us who would like to keep the good and discard the bad, walk away from it, but respect the good we perceived there. I am not ashamed that I was associated with TWI. I don't believe everything they taught, and I think it was an imperfect organization. But then most people are. I'm NOT an apologist. Please try to remember that innies come here and y'all are supposed to be helping them. I've actually seen new posters dismayed to find what smart mouthed know-it-alls spew their bile here, and never post again. WG

Satori you just don't give up, do you? I would like to apologize to you for ever bringing this up. Obviously you now think I'm a target for your nasty sarcastic humor. Go vent your folly elsewhere.

Ya know, I was not actually posting this so people could throw eggs at me. There are some people who post on these forums who still respect at least that class. I think it's fine if you have nothing but contempt for it, but I don't think you need to give me a lot of crap about it. The frame alone is very nice. So lay, off, okay? WG

I have a very nice framed poster that I would like to sell. I may list it on E-bay if no one here wants it, but I will give y'all 5 days so everyone can see it. It is about 20 x 26 or so, whatever size a regular poster is, with a narrow gold frame. There is one tiny imperfection in the frame at the top, about the size of a pin head. The poster itself is darkish green. At the top in gold letters it says Power for Abundant Living (centered), in the center is an open Bible, and at the bottom in smaller script is John 10:10b. The invoice for the framing is on the back and we paid $44.00 just to have it framed. I'd like $55.00 if the buyer pays for shipping. I wish I could post a picture, but I'm real lame when it comes to that. Some of you who've been around for a while probably remember the poster. I couldn't begin to say when we got it, probably in the 1980's. Anyone interested? WG

Galen, You asked who they are: 1. The woman on the left is Mrs. L. Craig Martindale, Donna Lombardi Martindale, wife (or perhaps former wife) of The Reverend Mr. L. Craig Martindale, Second President of The Way International, and Man of God For This Day and Time and Hour unto The Entire World. Her present title is something like Special Assistant To The President of The Way International..." 2. Skipping the woman in the middle, we see the woman on the right, who is The Reverend Ms. Rosalie Fox Rivenbark, Third President of The Way International, former Vice President of The Way International. 3. The woman in the middlle is Ramona Bidon Mitchell ________, who is the widow of Tom Mitchell, mentioned in the thread "Suicide in The Way", and named in at least one law suit as being a sort of recreation director for the Second President of The Way International, MOFODAT, etc. I've read a lot about her but others more familiar with the sites that mention her by name can better direct you than I. WG

My first year in Ohio Fellow Laborers we had a Saturday class, and some guy from Columbus who was some kind of a salesperson did something very similar to some of the 3rd year fellow laborers. I was so totally traumatized I really can't remember any details, except that after the break the Coordinator, R.A., had to talk to me for quite a while to make me go back in. My wonderful husband was one of the victims, and he has absolutely no memory of it at all, which makes me think he has it blocked from his memory, too. I remember just crying and crying, in utter terror. And I wasn't even picked to be a victim. I don't think we were ever told why this was happening to some of us. I remember it was very threatening and vile and abusive and that's about all. This would have been in 1975. I remember little flashbacks, like I was wearing white slacks and a light blue shirt. I remember where my husband-to-be was standing in relation to where I was sitting. I just remember being terribly shocked and horrified and wondering what on earth these maniacs were thinking. I nearly left the program, but thank God I didn't, because we ended up getting married. Is there anyone else "out there" from Ohio Fellow Laborers, 3rd or 4th year, who remembers this? It was a freaking nightmare and was held at a seminar at a hotel or something. We hadn't been there very long (4th year that is). I can't read the links or anything. It's too awful. But I remember right before this they were talking about the incident with LEAD, and how the only one who boldly and fearlessly withstood and performed the very best was our own dear LCM. I think that was the inspiration for the Fellow Laborers thing. WG

And yet again... The editorial about how the system failed these inmates...I think the inmates failed the system...I have read and been told many times that many sex offenses are not treatable. LIke the fat guy in WA state, these offenders learn how to work the "system" to their advantage, go to group therapy, take medication, appear contrite, get out early and go grab a little kid again, only this time have even more fun. This sympathetic judge has no idea that he is loosing on innocent children some of the most vicous human beings alive today. They don't get help, they don't get treatment. They don't get cured. They just get worse. I think we should sell Vermont to Canada! WG