The World of Grandpa Don
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Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works
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What's New In the world of Grandpa Don |
Week Ending Friday |
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Go to the Current Event for ..
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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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I was wrong. (Again) I got mad and that made me loose my focus and my reason and my objectivity. That is what happens when you get mad. Late in December I received a letter from Walgreen's Prescription Mail Service which informed me that in order to continue using their service after December 31, I would need to get new prescriptions from my Doctors ... even for prescriptions for which there were refills remaining. No reason or explanation was given. I called them for an explanation and they told me that Blue Cross Medicare Rx had changed their primary provider and if I wanted to continue using Walgreens, they needed new prescriptions. With any provider, the cost and service would be the same. I was livid! How could they inconvenience me this way. There had been no communication from Blue Cross, no information about a new provider ... NOTHING! I vowed I would not use this "new provider" whomever that may be. (I'll show them!) Last week, I called Walgreen's again. I needed one of my prescriptions and still didn't understand what was going on. I was told that they could fill it but they had to contact the doctor. I said OK and called the doctors office telling them to expect a call. The next day the doctor's office called me to tell me they received no call and they offered to mail the prescription in. I gave them the address and hoped it would get done. I was still mad!
Then last Friday I checked my supplies and saw that I was going to need several prescriptions refilled. This time I called Blue Cross to vent my anger. The young lady was surprised that I did not get the notification which had been sent giving the name of Prime Mail Prescription Service along with their phone number and web address and explaining that all my prescription were being transferred to them. (Lost in the mail?) New prescriptions were required only if I wanted to continue using the secondary provider, Walgreen's. I contacted Prime Mail and yes, all my information was there. I told her that I needed some filled and gave her the names. I included the one I had ordered from Walgreen's and she said all but that one would be shipped that day. The one from Walgreen's was listed as having been shipped that day from them.
I then checked their web site and found it to be far superior to Walgreen's in information available and ease of use. They will also accept orders for prescriptions which have expired or have no more refills and will contact the doctor for the prescription. No more mailing in prescriptions! No wonder Blue Cross changed providers. They will notify me by email when prescriptions are shipped and when they are available for refill. They will transfer prescriptions from other providers for me if I fill out a simple on-line form. They are great and I would be stupid not to use them. I am now only mad at myself for being mad, arrogant and unreasonable. But, I'll get over it quickly and forgive myself now that I have calmed down and discovered the facts. It just doesn't pay to get mad! (How many times does it take to learn that lesson?)
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True prayer brings a person’s will into accordance with
God’s will, |
My cousin Diane Lambert had asked if I knew how the Rumbyrt family was connected to the Simousek family. Diane's father was my uncle, John Simousek, my (adopted) mother's half brother. There were cemetery plots jointly owned by both families but Diane had no knowledge of the Rumbyrt's. Oddly enough, in the year 2000 I had a call from Sandra Rumbyrt who identified herself as the wife of my cousin George. I remembered the name from my childhood and knew we had been at rare family gatherings, She was interested in genealogy and told me that The Simousek and Rumbyrt families lived in different towns in Bohemia, neither of which had a church. They went to a church in a third town and became friends. It was there that Rose Simousek married James Rumbyrt. When Rose's father, Jan Simousek (1846-1916) and his wife Theresa Fritz (1853-1930) came to America with their son, John Joseph (1876-1957) in the late 1800's, Rose and James Rumbyrt came with them. John Joseph was the patriarch of our branch of the family. (See Family page)
I finally put all this information together in a letter along with copies of the genealogy charts for our family and as much as I knew of the Rumbyrt family and sent it to my cousin Diane. I don't have her email address. Shortly after Sandra Rumbyrt's call, Anne died and her and George came to the wake. We have not been in contact since. I looked them up on line and see that a Tracy Rumbyrt is listed as living at their former address. A daughter? Are they still with us? George was (is?) only a few years older than I am.
Mikey and I slept until 7 AM. That is the time I told him to wake us up ... exactly! I don't understand how he knows but he does. The temperature had risen to the mid teens but there was a strong south wind and the wind chill was still around our dreaded zero mark. There was a fine snow in the air and the wind blew it around like smoke. The snow on the ground was rearranged and sculpted by the wind, building drifts and creating bare areas. The snow stopped early enough so that there was little perceptible accumulation.
I have a mystery. My 'grabber" is lost. It is a device with a handle. shaft and two "fingers" with suction cups used to reach things that are difficult to reach. The handle has a trigger mechanism that operates the fingers. I use it primarily to retrieve clothes from the deep recesses of the dryer when I do my laundry. After Bella's baptism party somebody picked up the toys from the basement floor. (Thank you) I wouldn't be surprised if the children had found it on top the dryer and were amused with it, then left it on the floor with the dolls and trucks and such. My benefactor had cleaned everything up and put the grabber someplace. But where? But what is life without a little mystery?
I never, ever thought I would be agreeing with Barak Obama but ... He recently said that "We must have freedom from selfishness". Yes indeed. Selfishness is a prison in which we confine ourselves. It chains us to our ego and prevents us from breathing the free air of wisdom, right thinking and justice. It is selfishness that got me blindly upset about the change in my prescription service (which was for my benefit once I could see it). My ego told me that someone was making changes without my permission . I am still not convinced that the Democratic Party's concept of government and tendencies toward socialism are the right way to go. But, apparently too many of us are in the prison of selfishness and refuse to believe have been created to help each other and doing so ultimately benefits us all more than trying to survive on our own. My favorite song once was "I did it My way" with a capital "MY". Life has revealed to me that I had a lot of help along the way. I was deceiving myself and was chained to my ego. If asked to do something for someone else I looked for excuses because there were too many demands on MY time. Well I now find my prison door open and I have tasted freedom. I love it. I slip back into the illusion of safety that the prison of selfishness seems to provide, forgetting that ego loves illusion. But, thank God, I usually see the light of reality (read spirituality) in time to avert disaster. I think this will be an interesting presidency.
Speaking of the Presidency, Alex sent Our Presidents . It is a great presentation of all 44 of these men. No politics, just each on morphing into the next. Some were great men, some were good and some we survived. Only history will reveal which kind we now have but there is no question that he is our president and he is, I believe, sincere in his wish to be one of the best. I pray that he is. We need the best we can get right now. Alex also sent Aquarelas. It is about the process of ageing and our conceptions of ageing. It is now a permanent part of the Inspiration page.
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We must accept finite disappointment, |
Sunday Morning Bella brought her parents to Mass. She also raised a ruckus and had to be carried out to the narthex twice. OK, she is not perfect ... but she is close. Shortly after lunch my daughter stopped by. She had a pair of pants for me and measured them so she could hem the legs to the proper length. She also went to the basement and in about 20 seconds came back up with my lost "grabber". It was on top the extra refrigerator where the kids could not have reached it during the party. Women are smart! (And I thought I had looked everywhere.)
I am nearing the end of "The Pillars of the Earth". This book has more twists and turns than an unpaved mountain road. There are good people and villains. There is beauty and natural disasters. It is a series of surprises with a disaster coming every time things seem to be going well and beneficial situations evolving out of evil events. There is the early death of virtuous people and long and miserable life of scoundrels. In other words, it is life. It makes one wonder if the good are taken young to give them an early reward and spare them further misery. But I rather believe that we all live out our lives and God does not "take", but welcomes us by taking us to his embrace when we get there. It is a very good book, written by a man who professes not to be religious, but who writes of the values that Jesus taught. Whether he wants to admit it, in my opinion, that makes him a follower of Christ. I can't wait to finish this tale ... he has captured my interest and my imagination.
After feeding Mikey, we went to the Albano's for roast pork, dumplings and sauerkraut. Dominick was there with Bella while Sarah, who was not feeling well, stayed home with Hunter. At one point, I took Bella from Anne Marie and sat her on the table in front of me. I began to talk to her and she started smiling. Was she amused by the nonsense I was saying to her, the expression on my face ... or just my face? Was she amused by my beard? In any case, the more she smiled, the more did I, and then she smiled even more. For a moment I thought she would break into laughter but she is much to young for laughter. But she melted my heart ... she likes me! It was the first time she really acknowledged her great-grandpa and ... she likes me! She administered the greatest complement that a 9 week old can possibly confer, a series of smiles, genuinely and honestly shared, with sparkling Lossner blue eyes and a facial expression of genuine glee. Isn't life beautiful!
Going home, I hardly noticed the frigid air or the wisps of fine snow in the air. Bella's smile was still in my mind and in my heart. People in passing cars probably wondered what the glow was in mine.
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Ask God’s blessings on your work, |
On Monday afternoon I finished reading The Pillars of the Earth. It was a spectacular read, both for all the reasons that I mentioned above and for the history of it. Although a work of fiction, there were bits of history in actual events and the culture of 10th century England. We learned of the civil wars during the reign of King Stephen and then are introduced to King Henry II and his conflict with Thomas Becket. There has been much written of the latter but this brings a different focus to the situation. I am sure that his sequel, World Without End, will be on my next Christmas whish list, unless I go out and get it first.
Speaking of Knights and such, I received certificates from The Order of Saint Isidore of Seville this week. They had not been sent at the time of the promotions and awards due to a simple lack of follow-up in procedures. No problem. I don't plan to frame them or put them on display other than on this web site. See Order of Saint Isidore of Seville. I have said it before that I am not into the snobbishness of heraldry and such but I am an admirer of the noble aspects of knighthood. I was attracted to this order because of it's goals and high ideals. I also invite my friends (you) to join if so inclined.
And ... speaking of noble causes, did you listen to President Obama's
inauguration speech? It was, stirring and the epitome of noble causes. I
am, in at least one respect, encouraged in that the
country has a black president, or for that matter a president of other
than the Caucasian race. He now has the opportunity to demonstrate
beyond any doubt that no race is superior to any other in intelligence,
ability and morality. These things are a product of education and the
example of parents and others ... not something genetic. My hope is that he
and his administration do not swing the government too far to the left
in their efforts to correct the current problems. Our President has, in
my opinion, one other problem and that is in his perception of the
beginnings of life and the right to life of every human. The Right to
Life groups are terrified that he may cause our current laws protecting
the
unborn
to be repealed. That would be unfortunate in my view. However, I do not
believe that morality can be legislated and made into law. Laws are for
those who are in the minority and so selfish that they have no regard
for the rights of others. The abolition of the slave trade came only
after centuries of condemnation by right minded people and slowly crept
through Europe before we were shamed into following. Not even the church
condemned it until educated and morally correct people forced the issue.
And even with the law of the land forbidding slavery, the spirit of that
law is only beginning to be taken to heart by many who still have not
learned that the descendants of former slaves are just as human as are
we, and equally children of the same, and only, God and Creator. So will
it be with the right to life issue. Most modern nations, ... or rather, the people of
most modern nations, consider capitol punishment to be barbaric. (I
agree) This should be the the starting point of a total view of the
sacredness of life. It is the job and duty of the those who are aware of
the truth to turn people
to acknowledge the existence and value of human life from conception to the
point of natural death. Laws will be ineffective until the majority of
people believe in them. I don't mean 51% of people, but 80% or more.
Then we can make laws which are effective. I point to the laws
prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcohol as an example of the
failure of laws which did not have the backing of most of the people.
(see
Prohibition in the United States
) Another example, closer to home for most of us is the incessant
violation of traffic laws. In our ego driven world we all seem to think
they were enacted for someone else to obey and we insist on bending and
breaking them whenever it is to our convenience and when we feel we will
not be caught. Maybe people like Rick Warren can use their influence on our President
to guide him in his lack of understanding of the issue of abortion and of the beginning
of life at conception
and sacredness of life in all its stages. I do not condemn President Obama for this gap in
understanding but place the blame on a lack of education and guidance in
that area. I believe he shares that fault with many others. ... Too many
others.
It is now, and in this world, that we must live.
~ Andre Gide
Until this week you were greeted at the top of this page with a delightful summer scene, not very appropriate for this time of year. On one of our recent sunny but frigid days I was prompted to take some fresh photos of my winter retreat. Starting with these pictures and the help of my SwishMax software a new "flash movie" introduction to the page was created. I love to play with this sort of thing, making various scenes appear and disappear and creating as well as manipulating the text to go with them. I can also play with the time-line and various effects. Being artistic with my computer feeds my ego in a creative way. Clicking on the Continue at the bottom of the picture will give you the story of the room as I perceive it as well as an introduction to this page. I much prefer this kind of recreation to, say, sliding down a steep hill with boards on my feet in the dead of winter with an ambulance waiting at the bottom.
Thursday morning found me at the Intermediate Care Center having blood drawn for my lab tests. When the clerk checked my standing order to see if it was still valid, she said, "Oh, you have a lot of time". I replied, "Thank you, it is always good to hear that form someone in the medical profession when a person reaches my age". Leaving her with a smile on her face, I soon had a couple vials of blood drawn, quickly and painlessly. That was followed by my usual reward of Eggs Benedict at Ashford House. That was quite painless also.
After lunch, Joe came by. He had time to kill between his last class and baseball practice. He cleaned up some of the snow near my mail box and a bit more at the back door for Mikey. Then he "crashed" for a while in the recreation room before heading back out. Thanks Joe.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Aunt El. She is Anne's Aunt, sister of her mother but in some ways like a sister to Anne since they were only 10 years apart. We wish her much improvement in her health and many years to come.
It occurred to me that my soap box speech above may have sounded a
little like I was saying that morality and just thinking is a
popularity issue and that is not what I meant. These are God given
absolutes. The problem is that our egos convince us that they are not.
Since "everyone" is ignoring them, so can we. The acid test as to
wheather we are doing the moral and correct thing is to ask ourselves if
it is selfless or ego driven, ... is it for the good of all humanity or
are we taking advantage of someone for our selfish benefit? When I was
in grade school, the nuns told us that we needed to develop "a right
conscience". At the time I had just a smidgen of an idea of what they
meant. I now know that it means that we are to learn what God wants us
to do and make an effort to learn and avoid what was wrong in the eyes
of God. If all of us did that there would be no need for any laws for we
would instinctively do the right thing. But there will always be that
percentage of us who do not want to know the absolute truth because it
would spoil their fun or hold them back in their selfish ambitions and
desires. So, once a healthy majority knows the truth, they will not
tolerate anything but the truth and make laws to dissuade the minority
who ignore the truth by the threat of human punishment ... the only
threat they recognize as real. I have more to say about this subject and
will, in the very near future, have a page on my thoughts on "Right and
Wrong".
Optimism is essential to achievement
and it is also the foundation of courage and of true
progress.
~ Nicholas Murray Butler
Reality dawned on me at 9:15 Thursday, or at least partial reality. I suddenly realized that it was Thursday, the first day of the new sessions of Bible Study which begins at 9:30. I rushed upstairs for sox and shoes and then the second installment of reality came with a phone call from Touch of Class. Was Mikey coming for his 9:00 appointment? Well, not everything can happen at the same time so Mikey's appointment was canceled. I arrived at Bible study as the new books were being distributed and so didn't miss anything. Introductions followed with one new member joining the group and after discussing what each of us hoped to get from the Passion and Resurrection narratives of all four Gospels we watched the introductory video. This series of meetings will take us into lent and so the subject is very timely. At 9:15 ... something had told me I should be there.
My empty refrigerator told me it was time to go foraging for food so that was my after lunch activity. Everyone was talking about how warm it was ... above freezing ... not exactly beach or pool weather but a lot better than it has been. After returning home, then feeding Mikey, it was time to refill my pill organizers for the week. There are seven day organizers for morning, noon, before dinner and after dinner medications. It was more of a task than usual because I had a number of prescriptions recently filled from my new pharmacy so there was a confusing mix of medications, some duplicates of old and new, almost empty and full bottles, as well as different shapes and colors of the same medications due to different manufacturers from the new suplier. I also had to make a record of meds that need new prescriptions when I visit the doctor on Friday. But then, if one is to live in this world, one must expect to work at it a bit.
When I finally got to my computer I found information for another funeral notification to be sent out in an "extra" issue of the parish email news letter. There have been too many of them recently and it seems that this is the time of the year when many of the aged leave us in the Winter of life.
Be sure to check out the Links of the Week found below. They are all sent to us by my friend Alex Kapocius. There is the one on our 44 presidents. "The Seed" is a great example of doing the right thing and "The Model T" will be of interest to car and history buffs.
This week has flown by too fast. ... they all do. I pray yours was as good as mine.
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I am blest |
Grandpa Don
Plefka
. Links
of the Week
Following the link is ...
the name of the person who led me to it.
Our Presidents ... Alex Kapocius
The Seed ... Alex kapocius
The
Great Model T ... 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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