tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78787214532567455992024-03-05T03:14:28.462-06:00Poet's FarmAn opportunity to explore the big -- and little -- issues of America today.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger173125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-16967931980916148532016-04-05T11:30:00.002-05:002016-04-05T11:32:41.246-05:00We Need A State Budget!
If you live in Illinois, you know we haven’t had a state budget for months. The political fighting between Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and Democratic leaders Mike Madigan and John J. Cullerton have closed that door. That means, among other things, that there are fewer services for those less able to take care of themselves, and that a number of state universities face Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-14513673083531204622015-06-17T11:31:00.003-05:002015-06-17T11:32:12.243-05:00The End of Social Life?
I am beginning to think that the social life of the United States, and perhaps the whole world, is coming to an end. No matter where I go I see folks on their phones, their heads down, their whole attention on the screen. Somehow people don’t interact personally with each other.
I have lately been in restaurants where it’s so loud that the only way to have a conversation with the people I’m Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-64222109438369638552015-04-15T12:49:00.000-05:002015-04-15T12:49:43.033-05:00A Negative Post A bout NegativityI am getting really tired of negativity in our country. It pervades our lives. Politicians use it to scare us about everything the "Other Party" does. Advertisers use it constantly. If we aren't completely "regular," we should take probiotics or certain yogurts with special bacteria. If we have any of a number of problems, there's a pill to cure it.
Unfortunately, it seems to me, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-11261019488515415752013-12-14T14:39:00.001-06:002013-12-14T14:39:41.922-06:00Another Year in Review
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
We hope your year was kind to you, that you enjoyed good health, that your economy improved, and that you found abundant joy.
This has been a pretty good year as we look back. We are still ambulatory, we get up every morning and take nourishment and Bill and Fourteen go to Rover's Run most mornings despite the heat, rain, or lately, bitter Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-37563479085349786192011-12-31T08:49:00.000-06:002011-12-31T08:49:07.613-06:00Our Year in ReviewMerry Christmas and Happy New Year from Ann and Bill Moser!Our year in review:January: Both of us sign up for free (to senior citizens) Drawing I at Prairie State Junior College. We are old enough to be the professor’s parents, of course, and grandparents to the rest of the students in the class. We don’t feel that old! Ann is writing a cookbook. Bill swims a mile three times a week. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-61476237847131399652011-10-03T17:48:00.000-05:002011-10-03T17:48:55.724-05:00Matches When I was a young married adult, my wife, son, and I used to visit my Great Aunt Lyda (pronounced Lie- dee) in Uniontown, PA. She was my grandmother’s sister on my father’s side, born in 1883, and never married (she remained a maiden lady, a curiosity these days).
Aunt Lyda was well educated, having attended college. She taught a couple Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-60834542191479334742011-05-24T15:25:00.001-05:002011-05-24T15:28:28.469-05:00Memorial Day and Cpl. Everett H. WadeMemorial Day was not designed as an occasion for mattress sales, which unfortunately seems to be the way we celebrate most national holidays in the United States lately.This year I am calling attention to the late Cpl. Everett Heber Wade, my wife’s uncle. He was declared Missing in Action on November 30, 1950, a day my wife remembers because her grandfather called her mother with the news Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-59449078969329986002011-04-29T09:49:00.004-05:002011-04-29T09:52:46.115-05:00Spam and religionFirst my disclaimers:1. I consider myself a reasonably devout, greatly flawed, Christian.2. I attend church regularly. 3. I have close friends, relatives, and chosen family of various faith communities: Christians, Jews, Buddhists - and atheists. I also know and enjoy the company of people who are Hindus and Muslims. I respect the beliefs of all these Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-35491313358188305852011-04-19T09:00:00.001-05:002011-04-19T09:10:43.889-05:00Life-Long LearningWhen I turned 65 I got some old age perks.
In my previous post I explained how I want to be treated as an old person, and that includes discounts or free stuff if it's available. My enthusiasm for free stuff and discounts has to do with being cheap more than being old, let me make that clear. Just don't condescend or patronize me.
One of the old age perks is that I'm not paying Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-78841437453030540192011-04-13T11:06:00.000-05:002011-04-13T11:06:10.769-05:00Don't Patronize or Condescend To Me because I'm Old Old people in our society are purported to be revered, but I’m finding we are not. I don’t want to turn this into a rant because I’m not Andy Rooney, don’t have the eyebrows, and don’t want that kind of a reputation. But I am going to offer some suggestions about how to deal with us seniors. First treat us as you would anyone else. We have the same parts you have, they’re just more Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-68903381157440919262011-03-24T10:36:00.001-05:002011-03-24T10:39:47.110-05:00Foundation 153I am a member of the local elementary school foundation, which raises money to fund special events in the schools. Teachers apply and the Foundation153 provides grants. It’s pretty simple - except we have to raise money to fund the grants we make.We raise money with three major events each year: *a 5K “Fund Run,” *“Pastapalooza,” a Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-38554617100543652002011-03-16T11:45:00.000-05:002011-03-16T11:45:36.090-05:00R.S.V.P., dammit!I have to admit that I’ve had it. Too many people fail to respond to invitations.In the past we’ve used the standard R.S.V.P., French for “respond please.” That didn’t work, and we received somewhat better results with R.S.V.P. or else. A few more people let us know that they would or would not be coming with the added or else.A few years ago, Shannon gave us a birthday party Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-53639233390462664972011-03-12T11:19:00.000-06:002011-03-12T11:19:08.066-06:00Language and LentEach year as Lent rolls around I think about what I’m going to give up. A sign of penance and all that. Last year I gave up crude words, and I was pretty good at it - but only for Lent. But the habit didn't take. As soon as Easter rolled around, the rude words popped right back into my speech. I don’t sound like Gordon Ramsey, but I am sometimes a pretty close secondUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-44562414239015021052010-12-13T11:07:00.001-06:002010-12-13T11:07:08.457-06:00Annual Christmas LetterMerry Christmas and Happy New Year!
When we remember the past year, we realize our lives are comfortable - almost to the point of the mundane. We didn't travel much - a couple local trips mostly - and stayed at home doing ordinary things.
The best part of our lives is seeing the good things that happen to the people we love.
Our highlights first: Ann joined a couple of groups and hasUnknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-83921676137465370892010-12-13T11:06:00.000-06:002010-12-13T11:06:20.733-06:00Annual Christmas LetterMerry Christmas and Happy New Year!
When we remember the past year, we realize our lives are comfortable - almost to the point of the mundane. We didn't travel much - a couple local trips mostly - and stayed at home doing ordinary things.
The best part of our lives is seeing the good things that happen to the people we love.
Our highlights first: Ann joined a couple of groups and hasUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-60826561241512222432010-09-28T11:16:00.001-05:002010-09-28T11:20:28.692-05:00Undercover Boss, American Evita, and Education in AmericaI enjoy television - too much - but what I like best are the shows on On Demand because I can watch them without commercials or having to stop and zip through the commercials if I use the DVR.One of the shows Ann and I both enjoy is Undercover Boss. It’s really a pretty cheesy formula: The corporate giant gathers his administrative staff and tells them he’s going undercover in Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-84520809273865975282010-08-31T11:30:00.000-05:002010-08-31T11:30:33.780-05:00Serious Writers Wanted I would like to start a new writing group populated with serious writers.
I am willing to meet on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday evenings; or the group could meet mornings, afternoons or on weekends.
By serious writers, I mean people who write on a regular basis and think carefully about what they write, as well as what they read. Serious writers read widely. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-62095867855837772092010-08-01T10:08:00.002-05:002010-08-01T10:08:34.945-05:00AcronymsMost of the people I know speak in shorthand. We use inside jokes with our close friends or turn a person's name into an act, like pulling a Brenda, whatever that means. In our texting, something I haven't mastered yet, writing emails or on social networks we use computerese shorthand.
Often we use acronyms without even knowing it. An acronym is a word formed with the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-31846391640168213022010-07-21T12:00:00.001-05:002010-07-21T12:09:01.952-05:00The Naming of Things
Mark Twain in his Adam’s Diary, talks about how the names of things came to be. Adam credits Eve, whom he somewhat resents for taking over his privacy and independence.On Tuesday, the second day, Adam writes: Been examining the great waterfall. It is the finest thing on the estate, I think. The new creature calls it Niagara Falls-- why, I am sure I do not know. Says it LOOKS like Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-76051106693417224522010-06-08T10:06:00.002-05:002010-06-08T10:22:15.161-05:00I Need a SponsorI need some sponsors, and I’m open to just about any and all takers. Everyone seems to be sponsored in America, and there’s no reason for me not to join the game. A lot of sponsors rely on product placement to hawk their goods, like Coke™ and Ford™ on American Idol. Not to mention all the prominently displayed products you see in movies and television shows these days. This is nothing new, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-81947184907026501502010-05-25T10:42:00.002-05:002010-05-25T13:34:07.279-05:00Whomp, Whomp, WhompI used to think that all the world’s problems could be solved by using one of two solutions: lobotomy or sterilization. I have, in my old age and (I hope) increasing wisdom, come to the conclusion that while lobotomy and sterilization might be justified in certain instances, I need to add two other solutions to the repertoire. Those are the extreme head-on collision on the expressway, only Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-43182834870702989392010-05-11T09:56:00.005-05:002010-05-11T10:37:38.843-05:00Our Dog StellaWe are sad today. I took Stella to be euthanized.Stella was a beautiful dog, and a smart one. When we went for walks, she pulled a little even on her Gentle Lead, but she always stopped at corners before we crossed streets. I trained her to do that so she wouldn't run into the street if she escaped from her leash. When we turned, I could tell her left or right (once I figured it out) and sheUnknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-26789148532754416892010-05-07T11:26:00.003-05:002010-05-07T11:50:13.782-05:00Mother's DaySunday is Mother's Day, a bittersweet day that we try to avoid, like Father's Day. Our son Daniel, our only biological child, died in 1993, and our mothers are both gone too. It's not exactly a happy day for us. ExceptOur good friend Tim, whose parents died while he was in high school, gave us his two boys a dozen years ago to be grandparents to. We love David and Jonathan dearly, and have Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-45379116511495890232010-05-03T10:06:00.003-05:002010-05-03T10:48:46.782-05:00Return to Blog Writing: A winding essayWhen we were young and foolish and filled with optimism and promise, we bought a run-down Queen Anne house in Joliet, built in 1892, also filled with promise.We subscribed to Old House Journal, and tried not to 'remuddle' it, but I'm sure that despite insulating walls and ceilings, removing paint from all woodwork in the downstairs, refinishing the maple floor in the kitchen, adding electric Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878721453256745599.post-39723320857238080792010-03-15T08:51:00.008-05:002010-03-15T12:04:37.617-05:00A long time, a new projectIt's been too long since I posted a blog, and I can tell some of you keep checking because my counter keeps going up. Thanks for your continuing support.I've been busy with a new novel and that's where my energy is going. At this point I have only about fifteen thousand words. Usually by this time in the process, my characters are sitting on my shoulder telling me their stories, but that Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0