The World of Grandpa Don
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What's New In the world of Grandpa Don |
Week Ending Friday |
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Or to learn more of Grandpa Don and his remarkable family ...
Many of the quotes found on this page are from the daily messages I receive from Covenant House  |
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Anne Marie had been shopping at Orland Park Mall Friday evening and stopped for a pleasant visit. She brought a gift, a souvenir T shirt from Elis Island. We munched on cheese and crackers as we caught up on things. She let me know that Kelley Villa's surgery went well but now there is a week of waiting while the results are analyzed and to find out if further treatment is necessary. Keep praying ... they need a break.
Saturday was another bonus day and my morning stay on the patio was again extended. Later in the day on one of my sojourns to the gazebo a nap snuck up on me until Mikey interrupted with a demand for attention. I have been ordering coffee filters in boxes of 1,000 directly from Bunn-O-Matic on line. While on their website, I spotted an improved carafe. My original one dribbles when you pour and so I decided to buy a replacement. Lo and behold, when I went to check out I discovered that they only accept American Express, a card I do not have. Several web sites carry the filters but none had the carafe so I sent an irate (but polite) email to Bunn-O-Matic. Saturday there was a reply saying that to address my problem they would like to talk to me in person and to call a particular gentleman at their toll free number on Monday. We shall do that. Why buy coffee filters on line, you say. The ones in the stores do not quite fit right.
Sunday morning found me at the 10:30 Mass where I was able to meet and greet people I had not seen since the beginning of my sponsorship for Sarah. Sarah was in Michigan so I had a break from my pleasant duty at the 9:00 Mass. The early afternoon was a time for thought and reflection as well as some reading in the gazebo, a delightful afternoon. Later I went to the Halford's for dinner & cards. My Godson Joe was visiting from St Louis and joined us for dinner. It was great to see him. We dined an Mamma Visouvio's in Palos, a delightful place. Filled to bursting, we returned to the Halford abode for conversation and cards. Joe, went upstairs to watch TV while Dick and I were less than gentlemen in each winning two games while leaving her winless. But it is all in fun and we had a great day.
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Let prayer be the key of the morning and the bolt at night |
Sunday was Sarah's "Michigan" baby shower so that is where she and Dominick were as well as Anne Marie and Dom. The shower itself was great, held in the Lutheran Church hall. Absent of course was Sarah's sister Kelley, due to her surgery on Friday. In addition, Sarah's mother Penney took sick, spent some time in the emergency room and had to remain at home. Saturday evening, Zoltan took Sarah, Dominick, Anne Marie and Dom to a Hungarian restaurant for a taste of real food. They enjoyed it greatly.
When I arrived home Sunday, I checked my email and found disturbing news from my cousin Gay (Lossner) Wands in Cleveland. Her husband Ted was in the hospital. He had experienced wild swings in his glucose levels (Over 500 and down to 45) and she called the paramedics. He was in renal failure when they arrived at the hospital. The doctors managed to get him stabilized and his insulin pump was recalibrated. By the end of the day he was back to normal but they don't know what caused the problem.
This was from Karen on Sunday:
The girls are doing GREAT at cross country. Kelsey is running top 7 varsity and Ana is top 7 fresh/soph. This means they have one of the top 7 times for the 3 mile in their groups. There are 58 girls on the team, so this is quite a feat. Yesterday Kelsey ran in Minooka and came in 3rd in her race and Ana ran a 3 X 1 mile relay at Bull Frog lake and their relay team came in 2nd.
Ana is also still playing soccer. She had a game last nite in Libertyville and today I am heading to St. Charles with her for a game there. Dan is at the Bears game.
Busy, busy, busy. Go for it girls! And As I said last week, Caitlin and Kelly are deep in swimming. Hopefully they come up for air occasionally.
Monday morning's email brought me the prayer from Peggy Cecora. It could not have been more timely. Please take a moment to remember all those who are in need. There are many.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ! wishes go to my brother-in-law and his wife. Harry Lawler and Carol Gallagher were wed in 1962. They came home from their honeymoon a week early and kicked us out of our house. You can read all about it at A time of Surprises . That is another example of one thing leading to another because if that did not happen just the way it did, I may never have discovered that I was adopted.
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The way to progress is neither swift nor easy. |
I made the call to Bunn-O-Matic on Monday and was informed that although
they do feature American Express on their web site there is an arrow,
which, if clicked on, will take you to a page where you can order their
products using Master Card or Visa. They completed my order using Visa
and my new insulated (non drip) coffee carafe should arrive in a few
days. Also, taking care of business, I made a call to Schwab. Last
week, I sold some of a holding in my IRA to "pay myself". A transfer was
then made from the IRA to my normal brokerage account with a tax payment
included in the transaction. Once all that was done, I made a transfer
from the brokerage account to the checking account. All very easily done
on the internet. The status was listed as completed on the 19th.
However, when I went to make a payment through Schwab Bill Pay, I
noticed that the money was not in the account. Going back to the
transfer status screen I found the conflicting message that it was
complete on the 19th but still "pending" What was going on? The Schwab
account rep was baffled also but after following the trail of the
transaction found that I had (stupidly) tried to transfer more cash than
was in the originating account so ... the transfer just hung up! I had
not only transposed two digits, but discovered a bug in the system. I
should have been warned immediately that I was trying to transfer more
than was available but .... it is still not a perfect world. My helper
on the other end of the cable, corrected the amount to be transferred,
it was immediately done, and I was able to continue scheduling my
payment.
This week is the start of Fall but it is a Summer Bonus week. Normal highs at this time of the year in this area are about 70 F but we expect highs in the low 80's all week. I expect to be enjoying God's gift all week. Click on the thumbnail on the right to get a better look at "Lady Astor". I planted three of them last fall but only this one survived. For most of the summer, she was small and just hanging on to life. I coaxed it along with some plant food and all of a sudden she regained her health. You see the results as her fairylike blossoms enhance the sundial from Middle Earth and the little fairy looks on in the background. My extended stays in the garden these days prompted a bit of fantasy in the wanderings of my mind. Along with Lady Astor, the climber that was planted near the patio this spring has been thriving. She is so prolific in her growth that ... well, ... see her pictures and read the story at Suzy - Her Two Sides . It is a story that fans of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings should especially enjoy.
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When you dig another out of their troubles, |
Wednesday morning started cool and when I went out to the patio I sat in one of the chairs that was in the warm sun but situated my head in the shade of the umbrella. Perfection! Again, my stay was extended due to the glory of it all. When it was interrupted for one of the other kind of nature's calls I moved to a place that was completely in the shade. The day was warming fast. While there I realized that my story of Suzie was not finished. I could not leave it as it was and so, when I finally tore myself from my little part of Paradise, I added the epilog to the page.
The day's email brought A look Back from Marilyn Buchler. It is GREAT!. I was a kid in the 30's, the time when these wonderful photos were taken. Speaking of Marilyn, I ran across a name in the genealogy file that jumped out and grabbed my curiosity. ... Phyrne ... The pronunciation had me stumped for a while and I also had no last name to go with it. It A good guess was verified by Marilyn Buchler as her Aunt Fern, wife of her dad's brother. Digging into the census records using a 'first name only' search I came up with 5 hits in Illinois in 1930. Two of the hits looked like the same person but how could that be? A deeper check into the photo of the actual page reviled that on April 5, 1930 Phyrne was listed with her parents Walter and Elsie Littlewood and on April 15 she was listed with her husband, Leslie Harvey. We now know that her marriage was between those dates, probably either the 6th or the 13th which were Saturdays. I would guess the 6th because she would not have wanted the 13th.. We also know the names of her parents The 1930 census lists his origin as France, probably an error since earlier census records show his birth as being in England as does his draft registration card for WW I .
Ok, I got it all figured out ... WRONG! A perfect example of how the Census records can lead you astray, especially when your ego tells you that your "logical" deductions and assumptions are reasonable and correct. The following is from Marilyn Buchler:
Update on Phyrne Harvey. She was born January 1, 1910 to Catherine Hanson, father's name unknown He died early and Catherine remarried to a man named Van Slyke. Phyrne and Leslie were married September 18, 1929.
And ... speaking of the Buchler's ..
HAPPY
ANNIVERSARY
!....
I am told that Ted and Marilyn have had 59 years of wedded
bliss. Congratulations to them and their family.
.
I have used a Bunn coffee maker fo a long time. It was Anne's selection many many years ago. We have been using the model which has a pre-heated stainless steel reservoir of water so that when you pour in fresh water, it forces the pre-heated water into the ground coffee, filters it and makes a pot of delicious coffee immediately. The latest models use an insulated stainless steel carafe to store the coffee and needs no warmer plate, thereby not over-cooking the coffee. It is great for taking out to the gazebo and having great coffee available all day. By supper time it has cooled a bit so a cup in the microwave for a minute provides coffee as fresh as it was for breakfast. When I ordered my filters, I get 1000 at a time via the internet, I saw they had improved the design of the carafe. The old one was prone to dribbling when poured, probably a design flaw. But I have had it for some time and simply ordered a new one. It arrived Thursday, better looking and obviously a better product. I am sure I will enjoy it for some time. .
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An acre of performance is worth a whole world of
promise. |
Thursday also found me at the Urologist's office instead of Bible study. Poor planning on my par. It was a month after my prostate procedure and he had several questions for me which confirmed that everything had gone as planned. No exam was done. I had a question of my own ... Why do I have frequent and very urgent need to use the necessary room? He explained that I have not healed internally yet and I can expect that problem for several months, Ah ... he didn't tell me that before. I was given samples of a medication to use for four weeks to alleviate the problem ... somewhat.
The country is in crisis. Many are hurting, some more than others. My parents would have seen it coming. We are victims of our own freedom and prosperity, one could say, ... too much of a good thing aggravated by a generous portion of greed. Credit has been too available. My dad would say that "a bank will give you a loan if you could prove you didn't need it". That was then. Recently banks would loan on the hope that they would be repaid and then sell all or part of the loan to another company to lessen their risk or even dump it on another company to salvage a bit of profit. In days gone by, if there was an unexpected expense that left a family short of cash, your good friend Frank at the corner grocery store might let you run a tab until payday when he knew you will make it good. Interest? Not even a thought of it. Now some of us max out several credit cards just because we have to have everything that the TV ads tell us we need and we have to have it right now. It is so easy! Young couples may live in a small apartment for a while, but only long enough to establish their credit and then borrow enough for a down payment (set impractically low to entice them to buy) and commit themselves to an adjustable rate mortgage (set impractically low for the same reason) to buy a home or condo which is worth well more than their means to pay. The lender will then sell the mortgage to a broker who knows they can then raise the interest rate and who is gambling on being able to recover their investment either through payments or foreclosure and resale. Every one in the system is gambling on the ability of someone to pay. The result is that more money has been borrowed than exists. Yes, we are living principally on fictional money.
Even many of our jobs aren't real. Not really. There was a time that people worked mostly for companies that manufactured products. They made things that were sold and used by people. They made tools, appliances, vehicles, clothing, houses, bridges, roads, public utilities and such. These are the real things that are needed to live on this earth and enhance our lifestyle. Now, millions of people are employed in the "service" industries and most of these are the banks, lending institutions, accounting companies and such which are dependent on the house of cards which supports the lending industry. We stand now at the point when everyone needs to recall the money they have loaned to people who have, in turned, loaned to others and it is a circle in which we are chasing tails. There simply is not enough money or ability to pay it. It is all caused by stupidity and greed at every level.
We all thought we could beat the system and get our share of the loot and maybe a little (or a lot) more than just our share. Well folks, you get what you pay for, and that means what you actually pay for, not what you can get on credit. It is time to pay up! One way to do it is for everyone to pay what they owe, or as much of it as they can. A lot of people and companies will come up short and many will lose a lot. Companies will dry up and disappear and their employees will no longer have jobs. It will be a disaster. Or ... the government can print more money driving the national debt sky high, or would that be to hell. Remember it is the citizens who will eventually be expected to pay the national debt. Yes, you and me!
Hang on guys, It is apt to be an interesting ride no matter who wins this election. My parents, Joe and Sylvia Plefka, lost their first home to foreclosure in the depression of the 30's. They survived to pass on some lessons in personal finance to me. Thanks, mom & dad. I may have to tighten my belt a bit but I am reasonably sure I will survive until I go to join Anne and all our parents who are probably shaking their heads and saying, "When will they learn?"
On a lighter side, scroll down and take a peak at the links sent by Marilyn and Alex. We can't go back to the past but it is fun to look back.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Peggy, my brother Jim's wife.
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"We spend Precious Hours fearing the inevitable. |
In spite of the current situation, I am ...Too blest to be stressed.
Too anointed to be disappointed.
Too overjoyed to be annoyed
Grandpa Don
Plefka
. Links
of the Week
Following the link is ...
the name of the person who led me to it.
A look Back ... Marilyn Buchler
The
Westerns ... Alex Kapocius
Anne wanted everyone to be 'Nice'.
This button was in one of
her dresser
drawers I cleaned out in August of 2004
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