The donkey answered: “I will be a donkey, but to live 50 years is too much. Give me only 20 years." God granted his wish.
God created the dog and said to him: "You will be a dog. You will guard the house of man. You will be his best friend. You will eat the scraps that he gives you and you will live 25 years. You will be a dog."
The dog answered: “Master, to live 25 years is too much. Give me only 10 years." God granted his wish.
God created the monkey and said to him: “You will be a monkey. You will swing from branch to branch doing tricks. You will be amusing and you will live 20 years. You will be a monkey."
The monkey answered: “Master to live 20 years is too much. Give me only 10 years." God granted his wish.
Finally, God created man and said to him: “You will be a man, the only rational creature on the face of the earth. You will use your intelligence to become master over all animals. You will dominate the world and you will live 20 years.
Man responded: "I will be a man, but to live only 20 years is very little; give me the 30 years that the donkey refused, the 15 years that the dog did not want and the 10 years the monkey refused. God granted his wish.
And since then, man lives 20 years as a man, he marries and spends 30 years like a donkey, working and carrying all the burdens on his back. Then when his children are gone, he lives 15 years like a dog, taking care of the house and eating whatever is given to him, so that when he is old, he can retire and live 10 years like a monkey, going from house to house, from one son or daughter to another, doing tricks to amuse his grandchildren.
I went into work early today to finish the data entry work from Friday. The new state data base is now being used for the verification of all families being served by the county Food Pantry. The computer was set up on the sign-in table and I was able to do the entry of each referral form as the person signed their form of acceptance.
While I was doing all the entries today, I also was training three other women to use the program. I answered questions and still kept the line moving. It was a successful day. I will go back Wednesday and do it again, training two or three more ladies on the computer. The director has scheduled training sessions for me during the next four pantry days.
The pantry is a once-a-month benefit for referrals from Job and Family Services; it is not a walk-in facility. We depend on donations from local residents, non-profit groups, and grocery stores. Today we accepted a Lions Club donation.
Things are good!
Today I learned that I live on Polka Dot Street. Since it was a beautiful sunny day out, and over 60 degrees for a change, I took my dog for a walk. As we walked toward the end of the street, I noticed oil spots all over the roadway in front of the apartment there. A new family had just recently moved in there. They used an old open trailer with wood box sides to transport their belongings. They would back the trailer up into the yard to unload the contents. The spots on the road were in a pattern that you could see was backing up and pulling forward at different angles. Their car must have a massive oil leak. The photo here shows only a small section of the end of the street, but they have managed to 'dot' the entire end of the street in an ugly manner.
Then I went out into the back yard and saw that my daffodil plant is about four inches high. I know we are going to have some cooler weather next week, but I am praying for warmer temperatures very soon so my flowers will continue to grow and bloom.
I checked my row of lilies and they are also sprouting up beautifully. My next task is to get all the debris and leaves raked from the garden area so they have a clean bed in which to bloom.
My front flower bed is also showing signs of tall green sprouting plants. So flowers are beginning to grow on my polka dot street.
I have been attending the church of my choice this year. I like it there. It is friendly, all-accepting, and family-like. Before I started attending there, I withdrew my membership from my previous church (for personal reasons).
I met with the Pastor first, attended, and decided to join the membership. The Pastor and I met again at my home and we talked about the church and being a Christian. I found my original baptismal certificate from 1949 into the Presbyterian Church where I grew up and showed it to him. He later set a date for my acceptance as a church member.
The Presbyterian Church runs the Food Pantry for Fayette County. I told the Pastor I wanted to do volunteer work there.
Sunday morning, March 16th, I went before the congregation, was introduced and accepted. I feel like I have a new home. I know several people who are members at the church, and I am meeting new people.
The director of the Food Pantry introduced herself to me and was glad to hear I wanted to volunteer. I met with her husband today; he is the church treasurer. Once they learned of my computer knowledge, I was trained on the state program run by the Mid-Ohio Food Bank and he showed me what to do. I spent a couple hours inputting all the data for the last two pantry days. The pantry is open three days a week for two hours each.
Later, after the pantry closed, the volunteers of the day came to the office, because more people will be trained on the new computer system. The treasurer and I showed them the basics of input and verifying their information.
I have now been deemed the Training Officer on the program and will be doing individual training for the volunteers who want to learn the system. Until the training is done, and the computer is implemented in the pantry itself, I will be working a few hours three days a week to input the data necessary to produce the monthly reports to the state. I will then be able to work at the pantry overseeing others doing the entries and be available to assist if there is a problem.
I LOVE MY NEW VOLUNTEER JOB! It suits me and feel productive and active again.
I FEEL BLESSED!
I have not been able to write this week. I lost someone very dear to me last Sunday. I will forever have the memory of her in my heart. She was a beautiful person, and taken to Heaven so young.
I was driving to Greenfield a couple days ago and when I passed an old familiar building, I realized I missed the big sale. I don't know if the sale was at Walmart or Sherwin Williams.
I remember seeing this old building on many of my trips to Greenfield in past years. It now looks abandoned, but it used to be the End Zone Bar. I have never been inside the building, but when the business was active, there were a lot of cars in the parking lot.
I am just wondering why the big sale on purple paint was so good that they had to paint the entire building and the shed out back the same stand-out purple shade. It sure is noticeable on State Route 41 South! The Purple People Eater lives!
A fundraiser was held Thursday night for the McClain High School Wrestling Team in Greenfield, Ohio. The Three Spoons Diner was staffed with wrestling team members who helped serve food and clean tables. Some team members' mothers were also pitching in waiting tables.
I went there early before a meeting I wanted to attend in Greenfield. There certainly was a good crowd on hand and there were a few menu items specifically in the teams' honor.
I sat at the counter and started talking to a few of the wrestling team members. One young gal caught my attention and I asked her a question about the team. Her name is Kylee; she said she was the only girl on the wrestling team and she was in the light-weight category. I was surprised and happy at the same time. I told her I was proud of her and her participation in the sport and wished her well.
We had a chance to talk a bit between her duties and she was a great gal with ambitions and she has two brothers on the team. A little later I was talking to a woman wearing a team shirt and she said she was Kylee's step-mother. It was great to talk to so many members of the team and they were all doing a great job. I'm sure they raised enough money to purchase the new wrestling mat - their fundraising goal.
A few of the team members are: (L-R) Tommy, Jacob, Kylee, Jarrett, and Bubba (John). Tommy and Bubba are Kylee's brothers.
When I went out this morning, I found the driveway and my truck covered in freezing rain and ice. It took longer than normal to heat the truck and melt the ice on the windshield because it was so cold out, but I still got to church on time.
During the hour or so many people were in the building, the freezing rain turned to snow (again) and everything was covered with at least one inch of snow by noon. After cleaning off the windshield AGAIN, I made it home safely.
My surprise for the day was at 4:15pm when I looked out my front window to see a snow plow cleaning my street. The department didn't forget my pleas of late. Last Wednesday, I went to the City Council meeting to publicly thank the head of the service department in front of the council members, for his speedy action on behalf of my request a couple weeks ago. I asked him privately not to forget us again, jokingly.
I can now say that he remembered! Thank you Joe.
"House" for instance, is feminine: "la casa."
"Pencil," however, is masculine: "el lapiz."
A student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?"
Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether "computer" should be a masculine or a feminine noun.
Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.
The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender ("la computadora") because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic.
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else.
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.
(THIS GETS BETTER!)
The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine ("el computador") because:
1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on.
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves.
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time, they ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.
The women won.
Some time ago, Pepsi and Jeff Gordon made a commercial where he wore a disguise and scared a dealership salesman test driving a Camaro. A blogger thought it was faked. So Pepsi and Gordon teamed up to prank the blogger. This one is even funnier than the first one. The blogger is now a believer! Watch this for a good laugh.
